Snubben är ju så sorgligt trasig att han är rolig. Skitrolig, rent av.
"Såna här människor som knullar spädbarn, småbarn, ungdomar, vuxna, och pensionärer. Sen äter de upp spädbarn, småbarn, ungdomar, vuxna och pensionärer efter knullandet. Jag är badmästare"
"Den där Carl Gustav, kungen av Sverige, som tar in knarket i Norden, som är knarkhandlare med Englands prins... Tydligen är han slavarbetare också den där Englands prins, den där Carl Gustav."
Halmstad is a small city in western Sweden best known as the birthplace of soccer star and sometime-model Freddie Ljungberg. This winter, Halmstad will be staying warm in novel fashion: using excess heat from the town's crematorium. The plan was developed recently at community meetings to address the massive amounts of smoke emanating from the crematorium's chimneys as corpses are burnt to ashes. The heat will now be redirected to warm the city. Here's more: "When a body is cremated, toxic materials are released from the corpse. For example, fillings in the teeth, when heated to high temperatures, release mercury. In order to filter out the toxic materials before they are released into the air, the crematorium must cool the smoke from around 1,000ºC to 150ºC. But, with the heat now directed into the public heating system, the smoke will already be much closer to 150ºC and the crematorium will spend less on materials, including water, to cool it down."
Coming home to Sweden after living abroad for a year, turning on the TV for the first time in ages. And getting nailed to it! Swedish public service, SVT, was broadcasting a very interesting discussion on the role of literature today and freedom of speech, between renown writer Salman Rushdie and soon-to-be equally renown writer and journalist Roberto Saviano, moderated by literary historian Horace Engdahl. Although being far from perfect - kudos, SVT!
And, once again, a big "fuck forever off!" to corporate commercial stations for constantly passifying the masses with superficial bullshit that means nothing to no one.
Well aware of telling you how much I despise ranking stuff, I sidestepped my principles for a quick second and penned down a list of the best gigs I attended during the year of 2008. Purely in order to promote a few exquisite live acts, of course.
1. Cult of Luna- Hansa 39, Munich, June 24
2. Rotten Sound- Hansa 39, Munich, April 5
3. Dillinger Escape Plan- Backstage Halle, Munich, March 10
4. Slayer- Zenith, Munich, November 18
5. At the Gates- Wacken Open Air, Wacken, August 2
How I hate ranking stuff, especially culture products... But this time I had no choice. Below be my final list of the most bad-ass metal albums this year. Don't blame me, I was forced into it - blame the editors at Sweden Rock Magazine. If you'd ask me in this very moment I'd might as well try throwing in Earth "The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull" there. And Hate Eternal "Fury & Flames". And Crowpath "One with Filth". And...
1. Rotten Sound "Cycles"
2. Gojira “The Way of All Flesh"
3. Misery Index “Traitors"
4. Krisiun “Southern Storm"
5. Bloodbath “The Fathomless Mastery"
6. The Rotted “Get Dead or Die Trying"
7. Cult of Luna “Eternal Kingdom"
8. Coldworker “Rotting Paradise"
9. Jex Thoth “Jex Thoth"
10. The Freezing Fog “March Forth to Victory"
To view the complete list of all writers' top tens and read their motivations, click HERE.
As we're rapidly approaching the forthcoming US election, watch THIS for a nuanced picture of the situation in America gone out of hand. The narration is in Swedish, but these documentaries, recently made by Swedish national TV4 (commercial station), should also attract those non-Swedish-speakers of you, as the interviews are in English (and occasionally Spanish). And the great deal of pictures of this vast, intractable mastodon of a nation speak for themselves.
"War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death"
No matter how politically correct it may these days be to slander and smear the US and its government in every way possible, this documentary is well worth the effort looking into, being one of the most profound and convincing I've seen on the topic. The film, based on and using the same title as Norman Solomon's book, rightly and thankfully makes great concern about the bigger picture, instead of falling into the watered down mainstream-bickering trap of America being a "bad", greedy nation only guarding its vested interests and Bush being a ludicrous goofbag.
Its synopsis, as by the authors:
"'War Made Easy' reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
'War Made Easy' gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer."
For the upcoming issue of Sweden Rock Magazine (#56, due November 11) I recently conducted a so called “Forgotten Classic” on Canadian old-school thrashers Sacrifice and their ageless “Forward to Termination” from 1987. As this article form strictly limits the space for qoutes, I’ve put the whole interview with frontman Rob Urbinati here - who's revealing the mighty Sacrifice's about to return!
Rob Urbinati back in the day #1.
First; any general comments on the album? What do you think about it today?
Rob: "This is probably the one I am most proud of. Very seldom do I go back and listen to our stuff, but once in a while I will throw this on for a spin. "
Sacrifice released four high class thrash/speed metal albums, but “Forward to Termination” seems to be the one release people still talk about to this day – why do you think? What was so special about it?
Rob: "When we started writing it, the band gathered a lot of momentum and the songs just started to write themselves. I always find that songs which are written quickly are best, everything just magically falls into place, like you somehow know where the pieces of a puzzle go. The riffs are catchy and the songs fit well together as an album."
What differed “Forward to Termination” from other thrash records at that time? I personally believe its production is a bit cleaner and that you focused more on solid songwriting rather than making an all out chaotic and raw album as, let’s say, Exodus or Dark Angel.
Rob: "Our first LP 'Torment In Fire' was pretty damn chaotic, and while I love that album, the songs weren’t very polished or involved. We were also getting much better on our instruments which played a big part. Our influences were fairly evident on “Torment In Fire”, and we wanted to establish a Sacrifice sound. We also learned that while we loved to play fast, if you do it all the time it becomes a blur. On 'Forward to Termination' we let the chaos settle for a bit with slower parts before we released the insanity again."
Who were your influences back in the day? Any non-musical influences?
Rob: "We started out being influenced by Venom, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Exciter, Anvil, Maiden, Priest, also the newest bands of the time like Slayer and Exodus, and some hardcore like Discharge and DRI. Later on, around the writing for “Forward to Termination” we went back further to music we grew up with like Rush, Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple. Outside of music, horror films were very influential to my lyric writing. Songs like 'Re-Animation' or 'The Entity' were basically about the plot of those movies."
What was the atmosphere in the band like back then we you wrote and recorded the album? Can you recall?
Rob: "It felt like we were starting to be recognized for our music so the atmosphere around us was pretty intense. We were starting to understand what we were capable of with Sacrifice and we pushed each other to make each song better. The only pressure we felt was internal within the band to complete writing the album."
Was there initially a vision when creating it?
Rob: "As a band we wanted to take what was started on 'Torment In Fire', and make it better. Put more thought into the writing, how parts are put together. Our vision was really just to write the best songs we could and retain our heaviness and speed. One thing we knew would be essential to this album was the production needed to be much better. Brian Taylor, Sacrifice’s producer, booked us into U2s producers studio and it was our first experience in a professional recording studio."
How did you write your songs?
Rob: "Most the time, we would bring riffs to band practice and add upon what one of us would start. Many times, the songs came about very spontaneously at rehearsal. I would record the finished songs onto cassette tape and write lyrics at home."
Rob Urbinati back in the day #2.
Would you say “Forward to Termination” is a band effort or an individual effort?
Rob: "It was a total band effort."
Where did the recording take place?
Rob: "Brian Taylor, Sacrifice’s producer, booked us into U2s producers studio and it was our first experience in a professional recording studio. Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada."
Was there any overall lyrical concepts or themes?
Rob: "There wasn’t really an overall concept, the lyrical subject matter is pretty diverse. "
What about the album title itself, what does it refer to?
Rob: "One recurring theme with Sacrifice was how our world is deteriorating socially, morally and environmentally. Basically it refers to the way humanity behaves."
“Re-Animation” is Sacrifice’s ultimate stand-out track, according to what fans write in discussion forums, blogposts and so on. What was so special about this very song? And what is the song about?
Rob: "This is one of those songs that just came together. I remember hearing Joe and Gus jamming the main verse riff and I ran in and said 'remember that!' From there, I think we completed the song soon after. The lyrics were inspired by the movie 'Re-Animator'."
You shot a video track off of that song, can you tell me more about that?
Rob: "The idea was to keep the video looking underground by having it a grainy black and white. Our initial location was to be a church which fell through, so we ended up filming in Brian Taylor’s enormous loft apartment. The video producer John Zytaruk did a great job at editing it, we didn’t have too much of an expectation about getting airplay with it, but it ended up getting quite a bit of play on our music video station MuchMusic. If you were into metal in the 80’s in Canada, I guarantee you saw this video at least 10 times. The look of the video we saw copied by numerous bands. Very few extreme metal bands had done any videos yet, so we kind of broke new ground with it. There was no flashiness, lasers, cheesy themes, just black and white footage of a band jamming."
Which are your own personal favorite songs from that record and why?
Rob: "My favourites are:
'Terror Strikes'- really straight forward fast song with a great middle part. Lyrically, about someone snapping. Someone who has had enough and unleashes the fury.
'Afterlife' – I love Gus’ drumming in this song.
'Flames of Armageddon' -Influenced by Rush, and Mercyful Fate but really thrashing.
'The Entity' – This was the last one we wrote for the album, we were having trouble coming up with ideas and suddenly, again, this one just wrote itself.
'Light of the End' -Joe’s leads in this are awesome. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened around this time and was the inspiration for this one."
Anything you dislike or wish to change on the album? Song-wise, lyrically or production-wise?
Rob: "I would change nothing. Over 20 years later, metal fans still regard this as a classic so we must have done something right."
I know the album cover is just a tiny piece of a much bigger painting. What made you go with this cover? Who made it?
Rob: "The entire cover was great, but the label felt it lost too much shrunk down to album cover size. I disagreed, but they decided to use bits and pieces of it for some reason. I can’t recall the name of the artist, and I really wish we could get our hands on the original."
To this day, how much has “Forward to Termination” sold? Do you have a clue?
Rob: "I have no idea on the sales figures, but I know it was our best selling release."
How do you feel the album has aged? I’ve heard people saying it’s now dated, while others claim it sounds fresher than ever. What is your opinion?
Rob: "I listen to old Sabbath and it sounds dated, but I will always love it and actually prefer the production from back then. I am sure it sounds dated to some but I don’t consider that a bad thing. Newer thrash bands are trying to recapture the sounds from back then, and they should be commended for it. Today’s production values are shit, everything sounds the same… The same drum samples, the same quantized drum sound, the tight, gated, compressed guitar sound. Sometimes I feel like metal is getting a bit too fake in that department, I wish bands would actually mic up the drums properly, forget the click track, and create their own sound."
Sacrifice made itself quite a name in Canada and the US back in the day, but in Europe you remained virtually unknown. Why do you think?
Rob: "Our first two albums had a release in Europe, and did quite well, but we lost our Roadrunner distribution which really hurt our popularity in Europe."
What are you doing these days? Involved in any music?
Rob: "These days I am pretty much a regular dad kind of guy. Since our reunion show in 2006, we have been writing a new album which is almost complete and should be recorded by the end of 2008. The songs are fast, heavy, we are really happy with how they are progressing. The vibe is similar to 'Forward To Termination'… It has elements from all our albums really.One thing I will say is that it is definitely recognizable as Sacrifice. The album title will be 'The Ones that I Condemn'."
Sacrifice back in the day. Left to right: Rob Urbinati, vocals & guitars; Scott Watts, bass; Joe Rico, guitars; Gus Pynn, drums.
As we're entering the final quarter of 2008, it's about time to get ourselves prepared to sum up this year's record crop. You readers of Sweden Rock Magazine will probably find my final top ten-list in one of our forthcoming issues. I hold no doubt it will be damn hard compiling it, as there have been plenty of solid releases both during spring and the past few months, and no obvious winner among them. The candidates so far, in alphabetical order:
Ladies and Gents, let me proudly present the band of the - um - day:
Australia's own PORTAL! Hooray!! Hooray!!
Now here with their sophomore effort "Outre". Try penetrate that chaos-ridden, jet-black sonic art right HERE if you dare.
What exactly do they sound like? Well, I'd say the exquisitely enchanting album cover of their full-time debut "Seepia" (2003) below says (shows) it all.
Just relax and let get sucked in into Portal's dark musical maelstrom.
Recent empiric field research made by Yours Truly at spot in northern France has it that this culinary oddity/cheese soup/fat shock might just be the most unhealthy thing ever served.
Callously creeping Khold do primitivistic black 'n' roll so good it makes me wanna knit myself a black lusekofte in the Bavarian summer heat (superfueled by festival-frenzy - Wacken Open Air is up tomorrow, oh yeah!), and their oven-fresh "Hundre år gammal" is yet another proof. Do yourself a favor and enjoy these underrated Norwegians (what else?!) in the appetizer below!
"Hundre år gammal"
Remembering spinning "Blod og blek" on endless repeat when "Krek" came out, I just couldn't help but include these fine vids as well.
"Blod og blek"
"Innestengt i eikekiste"
"Død"
...and if Khold isn't enough for quenching your thirst for blackened rock minimalism, you might wanna check out their sisterband Tulus.
It’s not so much about metal but the true face of the ongoing war in Iraq and daily life in the constant shade of its impending danger. The viewer also gets a useful glimpse into how the bullshit media actually works at the spot; how it uses different techniques to produce pro-American/anti-Muslim propaganda in order to further sell the war.
Metal fans are known for being dedicated to their faith but these guys in the film, including its makers, must be extremely brave or just utterly stupid. At the same time, that’s what keeps them going, obviously the only thing. They seem to have lost everything – every joy, every ambition, every prospect is deadened – but their passion for music.
When watching, you're (well, almost) sensing this. Whereas many bands just fool around on their instruments trying to create some weird noise while sharing a few sixpacks these young men really do play to stay alive rather than merely (still) breathing. There’s also this creeping nerve - this fear - to the film that you’re under attack and knowing that any second The Bomb could literally come tear you and your whole existence apart.
Being active in a metal band – something that’s reportedly mischievous enough to get you locked up in Iraq, even in times of peace – under these circumstances, man... Fuck the world-music has never before been so real.
Say what you want about Soulfly’s sound but the new stuff, though a bit too photoshopped and digital, at least looks promising!
And, no matter how much one may miss his time in Sepultura, one must give Max cred for those adoringly exotic ethno-elements. An album like "Prophecy" definitely deserves the tag "world metal".
Finnish Florida-styled deathheads Sotajumala have to my great appreciation come out with their sophomore effort "Teloitus", and as expected it's far from a disappointment. These guys know how to make sonic meat of the new millennium. Only one thing seems a bit odd; is the man on the frontcover taking a piss, or what?!
In the microscopically small case anyone stumbled upon the Neuraxis-review (awesome band, btw!) in the brand new issue (#53) of Sweden Rock Magazine and happened to give a shit and then happened to stumble in here, I'd like to clarify I'm not the author of this review. Yes, I know my name's underneath it so you might think I wrote it but I didn't. Jane Cedenberger did. And of course she didn't put my name instead of her own there by accident or so. It's the dear sirs at the editor's office that fucked up. Woe to thee, bad bad editors.
Today's post pays homage to a few of the many promising unsigned metal/rock/whatever acts in Sweden, some with whom I've had the pleasure to get acquainted with through my writing. Do the underground a favor and check 'em out, folks!
As for the powers it's been a short and easy ride and finally they brought us home. Sooner than any of us could predict. Year 1984...
The insanely insane and highly anti-democratic, Stasi-like FRA-law - which gives our now totalitarian state tight to monitor every single step we take - is REAL, as you might already know as journalists, bloggers and - believe it or not - public woke up in the eleventh hour.
One reflection, amongst several hundreds, on this issue:
Many have asked the question what's with all the hurry. There obviously was no certain terror threat circling above our Swedish heads, only waiting to strike down upon us like a horde of evil buzzards, whatsoever the last few years. It's documented; this was never an urgent matter. They could easily have waited a few months, a year if not ten. So, why now??
Because for an extraordinary thing like this to pass through without causing some major protest - words and demonstrations, loud and pissed-off yet peaceful and harmless won't stop them - it takes extraordinary distraction.
And extraordinary distraction these very days rules.
It's summer, even midsummer; media and people are busy with "quality life" and holidays. It's the European Championships; even if Sweden would have beaten the Russians yesterday media and people would have been busy celebrating, haussing our ridiculous national team instead of grieving and projecting their disappointment on the head coach.
The powers are not stupid. They never have been and will never be stupid. But they are greedy. They grab all they can get. Thus, they also took advantage of this opportune moment and truly fucked us again.
Swedish regional newspaper Sydsvenskan have these days published an article on my thesis. For those of you who read Swedish - voilà!
Svenska hårdrockare lever långt ifrån den rockmyt som odlats flitigt senaste åren i biografier som The Dirt. Urflippade bilder från sommarens musikfestivaler visar bara korta besök på dekadent mark.
En kultursociologisk avhandling från Växjö universitet slår nu fast att hårdrockare är vanliga människor. Två tredjedelar motionerar minst en gång i veckan. Drygt lika många har i en enkät angett familj och vänner som det viktigaste i livet. Den politiska åsikten hos landets metalfans liknar svenska folkets.
Vidare har 60 procent arbete, medan 30 procent studerar. Det ser alltså inte ut att vara någon större idé att be en hårdrockare att ”klippa sig och skaffa ett jobb”. Sex av tio uppger sig ha haft sex med en partner senaste året. Två av tio har haft ihop det med två till fem stycken. Många av de svarande är födda på sjuttio- och åttiotalet, och siffrorna står därmed inte ut jämfört med svenskarna som helhet.
Men trots metalfansens påfallande normala liv känner de sig ändå ringaktade. Runt hälften av de svarande tror att de ses som anti-intellektuella och aggressiva. En tredjedel tycker att hårdrock är för socialt missanpassade.
Rapportens författare Andreas Rana menar att hårdrocken mist sin revolutionära status. Även om många i undersökningen är unga, tyder känslan av marginalisering på att det i tanken är viktigt att odla sin särart. Inte minst för subkulturens överlevnad. (Kristian Svensson)
"...den västerländska fundamentalism(en) /.../ hotar inte enbart den ideologiska och kulturella mångfalden i världen, utan den äger också medel att utplåna den. Dess beslutsamhet mot att forma hela världen i västerlandets avbild är skrämmande. I ljuset av den ökande islamfientligheten får följande fråga, ställd på femtiotalet av en västerländsk kristen och humanist, samma aktualitet idag som då: 'Om det är fråga om huruvida islam ska rätta sig efter den västerländska civilisationen, så är det också en fråga om västerländska civilisationen utvecklas så att den även omfattar islam.'"
Vår västliga ödesgemenskap där kristna, muslimer, sekulära, och många andra grupper försöker (?) samsas under ett och samma realpolitiska tak mår, som alla säkerligen tagit notis om, inget vidare idag. Den här artikeln kan öka din förstaelse för det socio-religiösa kaos som rader, där bland annat intressanta distinktioner görs mellan traditionell/intellektuell tro och fundamental/radikal tro. Låt dig inte avskräckas av mastig och tungrodd text.
"As populations increase and shortages become more frequent, lack of water isn't just a poor nation's problem any more. At least 36 U.S. states are expected to face shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates, and by 2025, nearly 50 per cent of the world's population will live in water-stressed areas, according to the UN."
Oh, finally I get it, that's why you morons are all buying that ridiculous bottled water - you actually care!!
Joking apart, you may read this if this subject attracts your attention. Which I, of course, hope it does.
I was interwieved a few days ago by Swedish nationwide public service-radio for their heavy metal show named P4 Dist. The final result can be heard HERE. The actual interview is around the 40:30-mark.
Have another talk coming up tomorrow, this time with Metro.
I've previously mentioned my thesis about fans of metal music, which I completed in January this year, graded "pass with distinction", and finally I've managed to make it available for the public - i. e. you!
Its abstract (sort of scientifical rundown) is right here for you to behold. Please find a link to the whole thing in PDF-format further below.
Social groups primarily coherent of deviant taste in music and deviant lifestyles, thus riddled with mythopoeia, are a colourful and common contribution to (post)modern society and have long been subject for research in the Culture Sociology field. Although, some are more investigated than others. Studies on metalheads, i. e. fans of heavy metal music, are moderately few and the greater part focusing on an American audience, taking off in the moralpanic-stricken media debate during the 80’s.
In its English translation, “They Call Us Metalheads: a Culture Sociology Mapping of the Swedish Metal Public”, is most likely the first one on the Swedish metal audience. The study thoroughly makes concern of the values, ideals and lifestyles rooted among fans of heavy metal music, relating their cultural spot and aesthetics to the society in whole.
Through an extensive Internet-based questionnaire survey in the fall of 2006 – ranging from issues concerning social background and aesthetic taste to politics, religion as well as everyday practices and alcohol and drug consumption – the study’s quantitative foundation is built. This aiming to map out the group’s socio-structural composition, cultural preferences and practices, and to fulfill its main purpose: to make research into the up-to-here underexamined Swedish heavy metal public.
The collected data are overhauled empirical as well as theoretical analysis. The latter one using theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Göran Bolin and Sarah Thornton, amongst others, to outline the group’s internal and external relations in terms of identity, cultural ideals and social power structures.
Like similar subcultural elements in the society of today, the Swedish metalheads consist of white, moderately young and blue-collar males. Imbued with deviant and underground-ish aesthetic ideals the group rejects culture that is considered as commercial and legitimate, the prime reason being their need to rise against mainstream hegemony from a low position in the social hierarchy. In terms of aesthetics the group may therefore be referred to as anti-culture.
Through consumption of underground music and related culture products and practices the fans create their own aesthetic avantgarde, helping to maintain and legitimate their deviant ideals and developing both an individual and a collective identity. This may offer the group’s members intimacy as well as solid ideals and beliefs and ways to deal with weariness, resignation and spleen from confusion upon the complex postmodernity. Social hierachies within the group and its subgroups are based on the individuals’ degree of commitment to lifestyles reversed to the overall mainstream society, given the group’s anti-cultural status.
The thesis in its entirety is to be found here (only in Swedish, sorry!):
For those of you not too familiar with the insanely complex German tax system I’d like to shed some light on this matter. What the above (click the pic!) basically means is that in Bavaria, and Germany in general, you pay taxes to separated and sometimes private institutions, unlike at home where a lot of it is still centralized. I. e. the social insurance; in Sweden it’s state-run, more or less equal to everyone and included in your total %. In Germany, you get to choose between different private-run social insurance companies and between their different products respectively in order to find what suits your own special needs best.
All in all, I pay like 35 % of my income in taxes, which might not be a big difference to home. But once you’ve managed to decode the cryptic abbreviations and ciphers above you begin to realize that you pay shitload of money for nothing if you’re unmarried and childless.
I honestly think this is pretty goddamn ridiculous.
Of course, there’s some background to it; Bavaria and it’s capital, Munich, are the most prosperous parts of Germany and they are anxious to stay rich, so they also want you to stay right where you are. It’s like this: if you have less bonds to the region, like (well, quite) young and lost people like us, you’re more likely to move to search your luck elsewhere – you are taxed higher. If you instead choose to settle down and form a family and all that shit – you are taxed lower. And as the true God fans they are here, they marry.
To me, that’s not all fair play. Why through unjust means force youth, newly graduated students, international labour, etc, to more or less permanently give themselves to this place? Why not welcome them with somewhat reduced taxes? They obviously need it.
I hold nothing against taxes in general – I hail them; our taxes are the foundation for our welfare. Just look at the parts of the world where the taxes are the highest: the Nordic countries and western Europe, Canada and (at least a few states in) the US and other territories where society is built on similar welfare state-models. In terms of materialistic wealth and health most of us here lead good lives.
After all I didn’t come to Bavaria neither make money nor work my ass off so maybe I shouldn't be bitching too much, but still I can’t help to think of the greed of the city of Munich like a nail in the eye.
Basically it means that everything and everyone is linked together, everything I do will affect someone and something else. Nothing new, of course, but still of frighteningly present interest. Just think of the below as yet another reminder.
The consequences of your actions doesn’t pay no attention whatsoever to territorial, organizational and personal borders. What goes around on earth, if not the universe, also comes around. What you do here affects someone else there. What you get for free someone else has to pay for. The responsibility is not his or hers, ours or theirs, it lies on all of us, every single man walking the earth. So, there’s no way out but to cooperate, all and everyone, otherwise we’ll go down alone.
And it’s so obvious! Even though you’re duped in a capitalistic, secular christian system, forcefed fucked up values and ideals, and your biggest passion is to senselessly consume everything that makes you not having to use your brain I know you know it. And I know you don’t wanna know it. I mean, just lift your gaze for once, will you?! This time no one but you can save yourself.
Your indolence will kill you. Thinking you driving your car, wasting energy and buying stuff shipped three rounds around the world “doesn’t matter, someone else will do it anyway” is but the most stupid thing ever. It fucking does matter. You can’t honestly tell me you actually believe it yourself. I mean, would you rob the bank, beat down the old lady, rape the neighbour’s daughter just because “sooner or later someone else will do it anyway”!? Don’t think so.
Outsourcing the earth works exactly the same. Your mother doesn’t belong to you, you belong to your mother. You fuck with her, she fucks with you.
So, dear mankind, fuck you for being so vain and so ignorant, for slowly killing yourself without understanding shit. That’s exactly where all your fears and your foolishness come from and where the root to all your abominations lies: your ignorance, your vanity, your pettiness and your indolence. See, you’re not cool, you’re not smart, you’re not sexy, you’re not strong, you’re not young, you’re not beautiful and for sure you’ve got no style. You’re just embarrasingly silly and no one likes you.
Always remember: just because you’re born into this world doesn’t mean you deserve your place in it.
When people think of "Activism", most envision some form of awareness program, protest or public disobedience. While these forms of Activism are functional and important, they often only operate on a limited level, usually failing to address root causes. In fact, our whole society tends to address any and all social problems from a superficial standpoint. For instance, we imprison millions of people in the US, based solely on the supposed "illegal" actions of that person, with little to no regard as to what has occurred in that person's experience to cause that action.
This is an important point, because the "Truth Movement" that exists today, while doing a good job in educating people about the problems themselves, falls far short in regards to actually accomplishing anything. This is because they are operating within a myopic understanding about what the actual problem is. Just like all other elements of society, the "Truth Movement" has created factions, which, out of ego, serve to compete rather than unify. Furthermore, no holistic, logically derived, philosophical disposition is understood.
For instance, we often hear about this thing called the "Patriot Movement". Not only is this an outmoded concept, it is entirely offensive and counter unifying. We all should know that at this stage in our social evolution, we as human beings cannot allow a "One World Government" to take hold, because the Religious/Corporate/Government/Banking Institutions that rule our world will only manifest even more tyranny and totalitarian dominance. This is the tendency our social systems create - the need to consolidate power, to the most extreme. As an analogy, Corporate America continues to monopolize the retail sales sector by producing powerhouse retail outlets like Walmart. Walmart is an example of how the world economic game works. It is a logical step in the unenlightened self interest of a company to do things like use cheap labor from poor countries, drop the price of each product, and build huge stores in small towns, consequently destroying the smaller shops in the town as they are unable to compete. This is essentially what the Banking Systems of the West are doing to the world. They are moving to absorb anything and everything and reduce/eliminate competition. The One World Government that the Council on Foreign Relations and numerous other despots speak of, is merely a manifestation of the corporate tendency to reduce competition and consolidate power... no different than Walmart. The United States, and the banking institutions behind it, operate completely and entirely as a Corporation. Their entire interest is in the self perpetuation of their institution. They don't care about people - They can't afford to.
Now then, the Patriot Movement, on a certain level, functions very well in its work against the North American Union and the like. However, it is also broadly counter productive because it implies support for "America" and nothing else, by definition. In reality, the problems with the elite that are working to create a One World Government are not solved by protesting for "America". In fact, it is an entirely biased and inadvertently racist disposition to say things like "America is the greatest nation on earth", for America is, just like all countries, another manifestation of million of years of development by human beings of all nationalities. Additionally, the "Pledge of Allegiance" is a horrific invention, which serves the same underlying operation - to Separate and create Arrogance.
Religion, Race, Class, Patriotism and all other arrogant notions of dominance and separatism is the actual problem. We must understand as human beings that our religions, races, classes, nationalities, and even fear, greed and arrogance itself are learned associations. They are no more a part of you than the clothes you have on, and you are free to take them off at anytime and discover who and what you actually are.
Therefore, the reality for true Activism resides not only in "divisionary" protests and disobedience as they relate to the issues at hand, but also in the critical analysis of the social environment that is creating the problems to begin with.
We can continue to kill the cockroaches that keep coming into our kitchens, but until we find the hole in the wall or the spoiled food behind the fridge, they are just going to keep coming.
[http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/activism.htm]
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On a completely different note, we are finally online at home! It only took our dear Internet provider Alice like 2½ months to set up our connection! Not bad, huh!?
