11/17…..How to Hire Fake Family and Friends
—–A booming business in Japan has a product claimed to bring about an experience that surpasses reality. ‘More than real’ is the business theme and it means they provide life situations that include, ‘less concerns, misunderstanding and conflict’ as the clients can expect ‘better results from a more perfect, more clean version of reality.’ The business believes the word ‘real’ is misguided as things like Facebook which are ‘real’ have pictures and people in them who haven’t been paid to be there but everything is still presented to such an extent that it isn’t ‘real.’ The ideology behind the business of Family Romance is that the world is an unfair place which needs balance brought towards injustices. A woman with a boyfriend doesn’t need to hire a boyfriend as a man with a father doesn’t need to hire a father. Hiring out, a la carte, human interactions is becoming a new norm, and the demand is rapidly increasing…
—–Other than the obvious fact that guns allow people to kill themselves and others much more easily here are other truths about guns in America.
Relative to the ratio of population and guns, America has 6 times as many firearm homicides as Canada and nearly 16 times as many as Germany. America has 4.4% of the world’s population but almost half of the civilian-owned guns around the world. There is more than one mass shooting for each day in America. States and developed countries with more guns have fewer gun-related deaths. The states with the most guns report the most suicides.
9/17…..The Dogmatic Religious Practices of the Church of Social Justice
—–Telling people what to do and how to live out their lives is endemic to dogmatic religion and activism. It’s not that my peers are the bosses of me, but that dogmatic activism creates an environment that encourages people to tell other people what to do. This is especially prominent on Facebook. Scrolling through my news feed sometimes feels like sliding into a pew to be blasted by a fragmented, frenzied sermon.
7/17…..Intelligence = Awareness
—–Two things come have come to mind lately playing a hypnotizing, thumpy, trance in my head. One is: intelligence equals awareness. If one’s intelligence doesn’t make you more aware then you’re probably only very smart to mostly yourself. And the other is a saying. The saying has always gone, “great minds think alike” but that is misleading and doesn’t really mean to include others, and promotes a dismissive personality. It is nice in various other ways for comfort, intimacy, ease of communication, getting rejuvenated, feeling comfort and security, etc. but in really hammering out what it means to be human and grow, having awareness, and getting along with each other through understanding each other, the saying should read, “great minds think unalike.
5/17…..The Shortcomings of Liberals, Identity Politics, and Intersectionality
—–If you don’t show up to every poorly planned collegiate protest, your silence is violence. If you show up and dare to speak to the media or any of the other attendees scowling at you from a safe space away, your privilege is showing.
That liberal identity politics and call-out culture both focus on disproportionate treatment rather than structural oppression exposes the policing and reformism at their root. Call-out culture mirrors the cultural of criminal punishment it has not yet escaped from.
Focusing our ire on people who receive privilege instead of people who dole it out is a losing strategy for ending oppression.
5/17…..Psychedelic Science 2017: Adam Andros Talk on Cognitive Liberty, Neurodiversity, and Non-Pathologizing Approaches to Mental Health
—–Acceptance and reciprocity of intersectionality of thought is a means to an end to a true pursuit of happiness and healthy communities.
—–People take on and become an –ism WAY more than an –ism becomes a piece of them (Vegan-ism in this example). People become ego identified with their -ism and due to this it seeks out and looks for division and opportunities to spread the agenda and to judge negatively if agreement doesn’t adhere to said –ism. Most of the time, it directly leads to quick division and forces sides to be taken and more conveniently puts people in boxes that really are far from defining them. It leaves bystanders feeling attacked when someone from that –ism starts to express themselves. When people feel attacked, they feel defensive, and when people feel defensive they don’t want to look at those issues. This is a lose lose situation as we are social apes and opportunities that are lost that relate to influencing and being influenced is a big losing venture for all.
In a very real sense, every –ism is a form of authoritarian-ism. If we really want people to come around to our –ism it needs to come from a place of freedom, dialogue, reciprocal communication about values and experiences, etc. And we also need to be honestly open to that our –ism may be wrong! We can’t be offended and grotesque feeling if people don’t agree with us. That will just lead to us spending more time within our echo chamber groups and our echo chamber heads. This usually does not pan out well for people and gives people a distorted view of reality…
11/16…Standing Rock Native Space Holders. Masters of Dealing With Trauma
—-The native leaders spoke of really introspective, peaceful approaches to life and their cause at large in a calm, casual manner that allowed for space and time for reflection and thought, and saying things from the heart. Some of the main messages of these leaders were that the native people are, “warriors of love and don’t have to be angry to be brave. Courage is the ability to overcome reactionary emotions. Fear, anger, and hate are not the strongest we can be. There needs to a big effort to keep from fear overtaking us.” Negative emotions can, “spread like wild fire. Many are watching us all the time including children and peers and we need to constantly be teaching them and showing others how to be. When we are united and standing against fear this actually puts fear into the hearts and minds of those who spread negativity and stand against us.” The strongest statement I connected to most of all was their view on resentment. “Resentment can have traumatizing effects. If we move beyond it our life is better. If we move beyond it the life of the one we felt resentment for who maybe wronged us, their life is also better.”
11/16…Ending Corporate Rule. The Plight of Our Generation
—-There were full military, with their huge guns and about 50 vehicles and drones all standing guard in defense of defenseless people who are praying and seeking peace. I was in a group of mostly media members who were taking pictures and doing interviews at this spot. There was one point where it was projected on a loudspeaker that we would be arrested if we continued to trespass on the other side of the barricade. Continue to trespass on the other side of the barricade? Are you kidding me? Is this what is has become where we are trespassing by staying on our side of the fence and on the land we were invited to be on? This is basically what the native people have been putting up with for hundreds of years.
—-Close to 1000 clergy people showed up and participated in a prayer ceremony of peace next to the barricaded corporate police blockade. It was remarkable to see so many faiths come together and agree on peace and standing as one in the face of what was happening at Standing Rock. Each congregation would say prayers in their own customs in a giant people ring, holding hands. I have not had the best experience with religion in my life standing for positive things and seeing this act of solidarity was so motivating and inspiring to know that there ARE religions in the world that can have peace with people who think differently than them and ultimately know that standing for peace and tolerance and the oppressed makes us all win. I was taken aback with emotion by these events. The ring looped in on itself too and, even though it took many hours, each person shook hands and/or hugged everyone else in the ring. I loved the connection created from this. It made me feel like everyone at this event today felt connected with everyone else and it led to really wonderful conversations throughout the day. The people here today are the true leaders in the world. What happened here today should be emulated all throughout the world.
11/16…Standing Rock! America 2016: A Police State Enforcing Corporate Rule and Privilege.
—-Firing rubber bullets into a crowd was absolutely unnecessary as well. Nobody on the shore was doing anything and the few people that were on the bridge were walking off it. When people swam across the river the officers that sprayed pepper spray and/or rubber bullets would do it in such a way as out of nowhere and like they were in a gun slinger, quick draw shoot off. They would spray/shoot at them when everyone was just sitting in the water on the shore. It was as if it was a game where eventually the officers would become bored and decide that suddenly they would shoot some defenseless people in order to be entertained again. There were even a few officers so fired up from firing on peaceful protestors that they would lay down their arms and beat their chests as if they were a gorilla or in the NFL and getting ready for a big game.
10/16…Organized Info For Standing Rock resources for being informed, donating, helping out the cause, etc.
—-Bad things happen in the world. Good people are getting hurt that are standing for peace and it makes our hearts hurt and heavy. We can internalize this and become our supposed ‘enemy’ and become tempted to adhere to hatred, fear, and anger, but does this actually serve us? It may seem so in that short term moment as intense, negative feelings are easy to grab onto and exercise and feel powerful with, but ultimately it will turn us into what we hate and the cycle will forever fester within itself, ourselves, and only be perpetuated. Do we want to be possessed by such things, by emotions, and especially by these types of negative, short term reactionary feelings? How will that affect those and everything in your life around you? What kind of energy do you want to be spreading and influencing others with?
5/16…Hilary Clinton and Election Fraud
—–“The United States spends substantially more time, money, and energy telling people to vote rather than ensuring the process in which they do so is just.
Our democracy lives on transparency, fairness, and justice, and when our elections are blatantly corrupted and fraudulent, that democracy dies. We can either stay silent and watch our country disintegrate or stand up and fight for our rights.
There was not any voter suppression disadvantaging Hillary Clinton. Always only negatively affecting Bernie Sanders.
When exit polls are way off, either the polls are wrong, electoral fraud was committed, or both.
The discrepancies favoring Clinton between exit polls and voting results, from lowest to highest during the primary season: -6.1%, -1.9%, 1.1%, 1.7%, 3.4%, 3.9%, 4.1%, 4.3%, 4.6%, 5.2%, 8%, 8.3%, 9.3%, 9.9%, 10%, 11.6%, 12.2%, and a whopping 14%…”
12/15…The War on Drugs, Progressives, Why People Don’t Vote.
—-When I wear my Bernie Sanders shirt in an all Black room, I get disgruntled looks but also an opening for conversation. Instead of instantly writing me off as a stupid white person who wears a Trump shirt or a slightly less stupid white person who wears a Hillary Clinton shirt, it’s like the Sanders shirt is a starting point for connection. I say things like “Bernie is the only option. His record and history is consistent that he would help your cause” and they say “yeah that’s where it needs to start but unfortunately that is the peak of the iceberg for someone who might cater to us. We’ve seen this before. What does this old white man or white people in general know about what most colored people in the U.S. have gone through?”
11/15…..Confronting Homelessness in Utah and Abroad
—-“I left the man and said goodbye. I ran back down the trail and he walked back to his tent. I couldn’t help but realize how different our lives were, yet how similar. If I had met that guy in a coffee shop or at a community meeting I would have instantly felt a connection and a desire to keep in touch and possibly work together. I still felt the connection but it was different. How do I go about helping this man? Do I simply just go up to the mountains again to chat and/or to see if he’s alright? What is the block I’m feeling where I’m at a loss for how to help him?”
The Avid Fan 
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