When Michael Jackson’s Death Marks Life

For someone who was never really a fan of Michael Jackson, rarely listened to his music, and only recently downloaded “Billy Jean” after hearing someone play a nice cover of it, my heart sure feels heavy with the burdens that come with death.

LHIA: Moral Relativity

No universal morals exist. Nothing is absolutely right or wrong. At the same time, everyone has values and therefore everyone lives up to their own relative moral code.

LHIA: Iraq (Faux Blog)

I was just about to write how busy my week’s been, somehow justifying why I am not actually going to blog much today, but then I figured, I probably should try to cut excuses from my life as much as possible. While my week has been busy, I had plenty of opportunities to stick to my goal. Lucky for me I never specified in the LHIA rulebook how extensive my blogs had to be. Muhahaha. Although I do feel the guilt, because it’s not what I had intended it to be in the unwritten rules.

Discontent

I feel sick of use, when I’m not the one feeling the brunt of the abuse. When he omits, I am disgusted. Yet when he commits I feel guilty for persecuting his actions. My emotions all too often depend on others when I should really be standing firm. Am I in the wrong for being critical of him or am I seeing the light and unveiling the hurtful truth that he himself has tried to keep hidden?

At times I feel like I can read people like I would if I had picked up their diary. But through mere actions, I extract information, pulling against a fierce resistance. This man that I know is sad as he witnesses the power he once had deflated before him. He tries to regain this power in the most maladaptive way: by pushing others down and climbing on top. It’s almost as though he feeds off of others demise, but I know this isn’t true—he is a good person deep down. But perhaps we all have a negative aspect to our personalities that will ensure that two individuals cannot be compatible. Or perhaps life changes us in a way for the worse and we don’t realize the hurt that we cause as a result. I don’t want this to happen to me. Yet sometimes I feel I pick up his negative behaviours and use them against him. I don’t want that negativity to escape to anyone beyond him—this would be detrimental to my own well-being. I want to confine it to a box, lock it, and discard it in the nearest ocean.

Among the many problems that arise, this man’s a hypocrite—but aren’t we all? Is he more hypocritical than most or am I just finding problems because I’m in search for problems? Do I desire a confrontation? In part, yes. As stated, I’m worn. I try to trust him but lies surface. Lies with no purpose other than to hurt the person I care the most about. Somehow he doesn’t realize that those lies affect more than just one person. And so this is why I become so involved and have knocked on the doors I never should have knocked. I have knocked, entered, but don’t have the power to go further. Hopefully that time will come, but I fear that when it does, it’ll permanently isolate me from this miserable man. Strange I’d say that, ain’t it?

LHIA: Liberalism

Being on the extremes of liberal and conservative must be so boring. Really, labeling oneself under any party or political position makes me want to yawn.

LHIA: Scientology

Alright, alright. You got me. I missed the Sunday deadline on my self-established project. But…perhaps it reveals a valuable lesson: start early. For you see, I drafted on Sunday, stayed up until 2am getting creeped out by various scientology videos (this one’s particularly eerie), went to bed, remained lazy. I’m confident I can stick to the plan from now. This first one is always a test run anyway.

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Here’s one of the those topics that I hear all about, yet never about. I’ve never had the desire to dwell into this apparently ludicrous topic until now. So while I will do some dwelling, let’s just get me sounding like an asshole out of the way by saying this right off the bat: why in hell would you use the eight-point cross for the ‘i’ in the ‘Scientology’ logo? Any logo designer knows the t was more deserving, you bastards. Phew. Sorry about that. There could be a completely legitimate reason for designing the logo that way…perhaps the symbol represents “I” as an indication of what comprises the self. But that would be crazy talk.

[LHIA] Living Hell Isn’t Alive

Being the los—winner I am , I’ve decided to do something productive this summer. “Productive” seems to imply that I’ll be preparing myself in some way for my future (although it could also imply I’ll be spewing out babies this summer, but…nah, I’ll pass). You could say this sort of productive is preparing myself, in the sense of knowing myself.

Being the innovative, creative person I am, I’m stealing this idea from Dennis…with a twist. For the rest of the summer I will be educating myself about the world around me, and more importantly, about myself. Each week I’ll present myself a topic and then blog about it on the Sunday. The topics aren’t all greatly controversial, I don’t plan to say anything profound, and the really beauty of this project won’t ever be seen by my blog (assuming blogs have eyes). To make my week even more of a living hell I’ll choose an article pertaining to each topic and critique it (maybe I’ll do that biweekly…I’m not sure if I can commit to that; though I do want to, as I’ve realized over the past school year that I need to critically think way more than I currently do). So this should just be one big learning experience. The question is, can I do it? Dun dun dun.

Project*:
May 18^th-24^th: Scientology
May 25^th-31^st: Liberalism
June 1^st-7^st: Iraq
June 8^th-14^th: Moral Relativity
June 15^th-21^st: What is Love? (baby don’t hurt me)
June 22^th-28^th: Human Life I (Abortion)
June 29^th- July 5^th: Human Life II (Death Penalty)
July 6^th-12^th: You Obscene ****
July 13^th-19^th: Objective Truth
July 20^th-26^th: Economics
July 27^th- August 2^nd: Hollywood
August 3^rd-9^th: Logic in God
August 10^th-16^th: Hiroshima
August 17^th-23^rd: Gun Control
August 24^th-30^th: Closing the Debate
* Schedule subject to change or interruption.

Yes, this seems like a strict schedule, and really, why even bother blogging about it? Because apparently blogging makes me more likely to do things. At the beginning of the school year I set out a few goals. I’m happy to say I accomplished some of them, but there is still much work to do.

In any case, good luck, young padawan.

Little girls are the devil

Previous title changed due to unpleasant vibe; calling them “the devil” is far more friendly

It’s hard for me to say I’m ashamed of my past. The past is unchangeable (or last I checked), so dwelling on one’s mistakes is as stupid as purchasing a Loud ‘N Clear™. At the same time, it’s relatively hard for me to be delighted in what I’ve done. But it is those mistakes that have made me who I am, and so that is one thing I cannot regret.

The other day I encountered a surge of memories about my elementary school days. As I cleaned my room, I came across a note. If you were once a little girl (if not, you should try it sometime), you may be familiar with such notes. You’d pass these to your friends, they would circulate, and you may have even developed a masterful way of folding such notes. Problem was, those notes weren’t always just friendly. Being a little girl, you’d have a tendency to talk about things other than tamagochis, and often you’d hold to sending or receiving rumours about your classmates. So after reading this particular note, I confirmed my previously-held belief: little girls can be such little jerks.

While I was never a little boy, I could imagine the maliciousness of rumour-spreading being just as hurtful as physical fights. This note detailed how and when a friend would be “kicked” out of our group (kicking consisted of telling person x that we hate them and don’t want them conversing with us). Supposed friends backstabbing supposed friends. A constant occurence. A bunch of bitches in the midst of puberty, who, instead of having a good time with one another, spent most of their days being assholes.

Though I hadn’t participated in this specific note, and don’t quite know how I got a hold of it, I was not much more innocent. I’ve been teased. Consequently, I’ve teased others. It’s unfortunate that I was ever that person that would emotionally hurt someone, but I feel the combination of being teased plus teasing have made me into that person that will do what I can to avoid hurting others, while also helping those who’ve been hurt. Sometimes I feel as though I might be too sensitive to other’s feelings…but that’s another story. It’s nice to think that everyone has matured since those wretched elementary school days, but unfortunately what is nice is not always true. Throughout our lives, we will most definitely encounter bitches of both little and big variety.

The Downfall of Society Captured in Three Images

A few weeks ago we were discussing obesity in class—a topic which was accompanied by several disturbing images. That very night, flipping through a Christmas gift catalogue, I was further disturbed to discover that they actually make children’s treadmills. Brace yourself (these images need no commentary)…

Skeptical About Evolution

Evolution is one of those fun topics that I take particular interest in. I think it’s safe to say most people, some of whom haven’t ventured beyond their grade 8 biology textbook, reject the idea of evolution to flatter their religious convictions. Many get so passionate in their denial that no amount of poking and prodding will get them to appreciate even the fundamentals of science. When I think of such a notion, I can’t help but visualize an angry, torch-wielding mob pinning scientists against a wall with their pitchforks—just so they can’t escape being collectively distrusted. Yet, not only would the mobs’ lives be impoverished by the lack of scientific gains, but the scientists they are pinning are the only ones that can discredit the very theories being despised.

What a lot of people don’t realize is scientists don’t all have the same mind and don’t simply support evolution because they want to (they support it because it’s the best theory we have and the one that clutches the most support). If scientists did have the same mind, you wouldn’t see the great innovative theories coming out of the field. Many new theories spawn in contradiction to weaker theories or become a consequence of active criticism that only scientists know how to deliver. It would be a scientists dream to be able to contradict the current theory of evolution. Think about it. Your colleagues have, since Darwin, been investigating, researching and finding support for a theory. Would you not be amazed to find an exception to the rule? Would you not take pleasure in the notoriety gained from such a discovery? Many scientists go through life without ever being recognized (nope, not everyone gets a Nobel). To find an exception to evolution or to find support that would alter the current theory would be to make your mark in history.

I think this is where the excuse of, “But the majority of scientists outcast those contrarians” comes in. To deny an exception that is consistently supported would be an example of poor science. No respectable scientist would deny it and then outcast the contrarian from the field unless there was reason to (it would be for their benefit too if they supported an exception; real scientists aren’t afraid of being wrong). Unfortunately for most contrarians, they (1) don’t provide more than one supportive study, (2) can’t account for errors in their existing study or (3) can’t explain existing findings with their new theory. It is only those ’scientists’ that are supporting an agenda, unwilling to concede error, or incapable of supporting their theory that should be pitchfork-pinned to the wall. These are not real scientists…they’re fake, like Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio.