What If… There Were No Religions?

I WAS READING the comment trail for an article I wrote recently entitled “Alien Anthropology: Religion Is Dead But Faith May Yet Prevail” when it sparked off a few chaotic thoughts in my noggin and got me thinking about a hypothetical scenario. It’s a simple enough question to ask, but the implications for any answer are likely to be far reaching and widely debated.

I’m not looking to evolve a perfect answer here folks, but I do think it might be interesting to see what perspectives you can bring to this topic, so please do feel free to comment on it. And so to the question at hand…

What if there were no religions?

Imagine a world without religion, any religion; what would it be like? Not a world where religions suddenly ceased to exist, rather a scenario where they never began in the first place. Would we be better or worse off as a result?

Please don’t just run to your comfortable corners with this one folks and spew out any practiced positions if you can avoid it, rather take some time to examine the possible implications and then let rip with your views. To kick things off here are my initial thoughts on the subject.

I decided to look at some key topics and examine if they would be significantly changed or not in light of the hypothesis and to be honest (speaking as an agnostic) I was quite surprised by the results myself because I would have predicted a completely different outcome… Read more

A Cyberwar By Any Other Name…

LANGUAGE IS A WONDERFUL thing, but it’s also a convenient way to mask the truth sometimes. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter yes? Are they prisoners of war or “Enemy Combatants” over there in Gitmo? When does Iraq become a civil war and not a police action? Actually when does a conflict become a war? The list is endless.

The use of language has always been a very powerful weapon in the politics of persuasion and the media generally laps it up and plays along because it’s all good press and sells newspapers and TV advertising slots. It’s a perfect symbiotic relationship between the media, the politicans and the consumers. The politicians invent the lie, the media propagates it and the public eat it up willingly and convince themselves that they are “informed” as a result.

So how informed are you about the cyberwar cyberterror information warfare denial of service issue which occurred in Estonia earlier this year? Did you realise it was the beginning of the end? Have you started building your electronic proof bunker yet?

In April Estonia’s government moved a Soviet-era war memorial commemorating an unknown Russian killed fighting the Germans. Not a big deal you would think, but you’d be wrong. Estonia broke away from the then Soviet Union back in 1991 and has been making it’s own decisions and carving it’s own future ever since then. This seemingly innocuous decision to move the statue sparked off riots in the country between the ethnic russian communities and those who couldn’t care less about the “old country”. To make matters worse in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin very publicly criticized Estonia and demonstrators blockaded the Estonian embassy.

And that’s about the point when things started to go all cyberpunk and weird and the cyberwar broke out… Read more

To Whichever Drunk Driver It May Concern…

DEAR FUCKWIT, How many dead bodies will it take? How many ruined lives do we need to add up before the numbers start to take effect on you? In case you missed it, there were 8 more road deaths this weekend, just like every bloody weekend; but do you care?

I read a story recently that claimed the cops are making on average over 400 drink-driving related arrests per week here in Ireland. I’ll bet you didn’t realise that. Even after all the advertising campaigns, after lowering the limit so much it’s hardly relevant anymore (one drink is enough!), after the seemingly endless weekly lists of road deaths… there are  still over 400 of you dumb fuckers who insist on drinking, then turning yourself into a weapon on the roads, every fucking week.

WTF is wrong with you people? What will it take to get through to you?

It’s a simple enough formula… drink + drive = death. Simple as that, and yet over 400 of your stupid bastards are out there on the roads every single week, causing mayhem and destruction. Jesus H, it’s not as if you are brilliant drivers when you’re sober for fucks sake. What the hell makes you think you can do it better when drunk? That’s 400 who get caught every week… just how many of you are getting away with it I wonder?

When you get behind that wheel you are making a conscious choice to do so. You are in effect committing an act of terrorism, albeit a localised one. You turn yourself into destructive weapon which can – and does – kill, maim and ruin lives almost every day of the week. You, my druknen friend, are a murderer. And all it would take to change that is for you to just get a bus, grab a taxi, take a lift or friggin’ walk home instead of getting in that car.

So my drunken friend I’ve decided to apply some chaos thinking to this problem and I believe I’ve come up with a potentially workable solution, however there is something you need to know first… Read more

Ignoring The Ghosts Of Vietnam

IT’S PRETTY HARD to ignore the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq, and yet that is exactly what Bush & Co. seem to be doing in their latest anticipated announcement – due later this evening – when it is widely expeceted that the new ‘strategy‘ will be to send an additional 20,000 troops into the fire over in Iraq, in order make things better apparently.

Yeah – I know. Go figure!!

Still – it amazes me how the current American administration can just ignore the lessons of the past, and in particular those hard learned lessons from the disasterous Vietnam conflict war campaign - or whatever the hell the revisionist historians will end up calling it if they get their way.

This could take a while, so get comfortable, make sure that coffee is hot and settle down in that chair of yours. I hope by the time you have finished this article you will have found it both informative and just a little bit disturbing. I know I did while writing it. You see this is what happens when I get a few unexpected hours off work – I end up writing long bloody posts on the site. So - where to being then?

There is a quote from the poet and philosopher, George Santayana, which says “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it” but personally I think the more apt quote is this sentiment from George Wilhelm Hegel: “What experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles“.

This is certainly the case when we compare the Vietnam situation of the past to the Iraq debacle of today. Just take the following four scenarios for example:- Read more

Does Truth Exist Anymore?

IT’S THE FIVE YEAR anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers and most of the media, blog sites and politicians are focused on either reliving the tragic events again or looking at how the US/rest of the World has changed since then. Me? I’m not walking that path, I’ve been down that way before and it’s a dead end. I choose instead a different path to explore.

Suffice to say that any loss of life is tragic and remembering the dead is good for those that need it; a cathartic process which seems to yield some levels of comfort as time passes to most folks. This post is not about those terrorist attacks five years ago, it’s about the absence of something which we will come to regret more and more as time passes. It’s about seeing through the illusions and looking for the real information. What it boils down to is essentially a simple question.

Five years on from this attack, does anyone really know the truth?

By anyone I’m referring to the majority of us, you know – you, me the public in general. I’m sure there are a privileged few who know those elusive facts, but for the rest of us the truth is still shrouded in mystery. It always has been. Consider the JFK asassination for example - what really happened there? We still don’t know because just as the files came up for public consumption, the date was put back. Theories and conspiracies – absolutely, but hard facts? Nope.

Similarly the actual facts of 9/11, WMDs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the so-called ‘war on terror’ remain hidden. All we have to go on is the spin. It’s either the politicians spewing forth their rhetoric and whipping up the public into a frenzy or it’s the media, doctoring images and putting their own ‘spin’ on things to increase publication statistics and profit. Where do we go for the actual truth of things anymore? Even in remembering the tragic events of that September in 2001, there are changes and adjustments in the streams of digitised ‘facts’ being implemented for public consumption.

Does truth even exist?

If it came up and bit you on the ass, would you recognise it? In this spin-fuelled, mass marketing, soundbite world we live in… where do we go to hear the truth?

Religion? Don’t think so, since the so-called ‘truth’ there is simply more intepretations and spin from clerics and priests based on manuscripts that are more metaphor then substance in the first place. It’s a great gig for anyone preaching because there are no established ‘facts’ which can be used to counter any slant or perspective on the subject matter texts.

Politics? Don’t even get me started on the myriad of reasons why there is no truth in this realm; in fact I’m not sure there ever was to start with. Can you honestly say that you believe even 50% of the stuff that your local/regional/national politicans feed you? Exactly what qualities are prized among politicians – because it sure as hell isn’t straight talking?

Science? Well it could be argued that science brings us closer to the ‘truth’ of things, but the problem here is that it’s based on theories, which frequently get disproved and changed by even more radical thinking than the last lot to attack any given problem, so over time it’s in a state of flux.

Economics? Of all the possible ways to view ‘truth’ I like this one the most. I read a book recently which said that if Morality is how we want to see the world, economics is how it actually is. In other words, the appliance of economic analysis to data (facts) results in outputs and answers to any range of applicable questions. This works (sort of) but it is dependant on quality data in the first place. Numbers don’t lie? Yeah right!

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that ‘truth’ no longer exists. It no longer has a place in society; it’s been over-ridden by national security interests and need-to-know mentalities, it’s been replaced by spin doctoring and profiling, it’s become defunct because as a population we now respond more to threats and fear than we do to actual facts. Would we even recognise a fact these days? Exactly where do you go to check the data and the information to establish if it’s ‘fact’ or not?

Some things happen – that’s a fact. The holocost – for example – happened and all the holocost deniers in the world can’t change that, but the truth of what happened is still being uncovered, gradually. Eventually, maybe we may find the truth behind 9/11 and all the subsequent bullshit and spin which has led the world to the state it’s in now, where we seem to be gradually sliding towards an apocalyptic East Vs West stance. Eventually the facts may see some daylight. Hopefully those facts will help yield some truth as well. Sometime. But not anytime soon.

Until then we have learn to question everything and accept nothing at face value, for to do otherwise relegates us to the level of sheep being herded from one field of lies to another to graze upon the carefully prepared info-grass of the mass media and the politicians until such time as it’s our turn to be sent to the slaughter house to feed the self-fulfilling prophecy merchants and make the fat cats fatter.

And all without ever knowing the real reasons, the real truths behind things.

If such fantasies even exist any more.

Armageddon Days Are Here Again!

PICTURE THE SCENE. There I am on a nice Sunday afternoon, heading down to the local multiplex in my shiny new toy, listening to a long ago forgotten CD when suddenly the lyrics hit me, and I nearly crash into the car in front of me as I come to a stop at some traffic lights. I had just transferred a new selection of CDs into the car, stuck it on ‘random’ and then I came across “Armageddon Days (are here again)” from the album “Mind Bomb” by The The and my jaw dropped.

Keep in mind folks that the album and this song are 15 years old – and yet the lyrics on this song are so relevant to what is happening today, so absolutely accurate that the song could be considered a prophecy. I was so struck by the lyrics that I decided to reprint them here today, and draw some parallels to what is happening around us. Some of you will find this uncomfortable, possibly even objectionable – but the theme of this song is so accurate it’s frightening – so I ask you to take the extra 3 minutes you will need to read the rest of this post and then make your own mind up. I believe it will be worth it – but as ever, you will be the judge of that. Read more

Life Is Not A Sound Bite…

… AND NEITHER IS THIS WEBSITE. More Importantly – it never will be! Don’t believe the hype folks. The world is collectively trying to get you to believe that life is a soundbite, that less is more, and that everything must be smaller, faster, more efficient in order to be better. It’s all bullshit however and if we are to have any hope of getting beyond the Illusion of Truth to the actual reality we inhabit, then we must challenge this status quo. Why now you may ask? Well it’s a combination of several things actually, but it all began to take shape in my head a few nights ago when I was stopped in the street by a perfect stranger who asked me a very personal question out of the blue, a heart felt question if you will, and when I realised they were serious and wanted an answer I thought about it for a while, answered as honestly as I could and then carried on my way… I was kind of shocked that this had happened at all; it’s never happened before, but it got me thinking and we all know that’s a dangerous thing right?

I’ll deal with the question later and more importantly the answer, but let me throw some other things into the mix as well. You see, today is an occasion of sorts. On the one hand Howl @ The Moon! is nearly one year old and on the other hand it’s also my birthday. It’s a milestone birthday according to some, the kind where you find yourself looking back on life, considering where things are at right now and contemplating what lies ahead. In this respect I’ve decided to put forth my reasoning for arguing against the soundbite. I’ve also been reviewing some of the interesting content and discussions which have taken place here in the last year and it’s reminded me of some things which are appropriate to this article. If you find yourself among the legions of hopeless who believe the hype, the folks who can’t handle an article which takes more time to read than a goldfish takes to swim a circle, the walking talking attention deficit disorders who have bought into all the directives and behave like good little sheep to bolster all those wonderful statistics – then by all means continue your pointlessness and skip over to another site and admire the pretty graphics.

If on the other hand you want to delve deeper into this issue, if you are prepared to consider an alternative to being driven in a singular direction and have become used to my Chaos Thinking approach to things – then you are in for a treat and I hope to teach you something useful which you actually already knew, deep down, but just forgot for a while.

Read more