Tuesday, October 31, 2006
A break from the fun.
Hey guys. Just got back into a 'normal' workweek back in the good ole' Czech Republic and taking some relaxation time to surf the web about things that interest me. I've been thinking a lot about 'ego' lately and what it means to have one, the different forms of ego and consequences of letting it run wild. I read a book a bit ago entitled "People of the Lie; the Hope for Healing Human Evil" by a well-known psychiatrist named M. Scott Peck. In it he talks about the potential for evil in all of us. He also talks in depth about a major Catch 22 when confronting evil in ourselves individually as well as a society.
To paraphrase, he says those most prone to evil are those most likely to avoid investigating it in themselves because it reveals a flaw in the ego that would send it crashing down to the ground. Those people, he says, are most likely to ignore the foundation of ethical thought which has become a maxim of our time: the ends do not justify the means. In other words, according to the basic principle of ethics, we cannot do 'whatever it takes' to realize a goal. He also talks about scapegoating, the act of projecting evil onto others in order to hide or lessen one's own evil. The excuse we've all heard and used ourselves: "Everybody was doing it." This justification for present and future actions not only goes against every ethical and moral fiber we have but also intensifies the guilt by the acknowledgement that that our actions are not brought about by rational, self-reflecting thought. Namely, that we are slaves to the actions of others. The hope that we are not slaves of others' actions is what is called "Character". That we abstain from stealing even if no one is looking, that we stop and help someone when others walk past. Character.
Getting back to the ego: I can say from personal experience that, when allowing my ego to control my thoughts, words, and actions, it is extremely difficult to admit defeat. To say that I was wrong. I think we can all say that we've been in a situation where we knew we were wrong but continued the argument simply for ego gratification. Whether it be a quarrel with a partner or a friendly debate about sports teams. Most of us accept that we are wrong, when backed into a corner. This is a good thing. A healthy thing. The ego is not in control of you. The other direction that can be taken is to distort the past. "I didn't say that" and then lie once more in order to get out of the sticky situation. Not only lying, but spreading disinformation about one's past actions as well as disinformation about one's opponents. This, as Peck says, is the path those prone to evil take.
With that said, I came upon a man today that seemed to lack the good qualities that I just briefly discussed: Ethical thought and Character.
Not only did he lack Good qualities, he possessed Evil qualities: Tendency towards Scapegoating and Lying to prevent collapse of the Ego.
His name is Bill O'Reilly. And he is a man very much prone to evil thought because, in my humble opinion, his ego has taken control of him.
O'Reilly's lack of ethical reasoning as seen recently on David Letterman
O'Reilly's justification of future atrocities just two days after 9/11
O'Reilly's scapegoating to cover evils of the Iraq invasion, as well as his disinformation to justify his scapegoating
I encourage all of you to call your cable or satellite supplier and request that you not receive and pay royalties to Fox News, the channel broadcasting O'Reilly's program.
I Love you all very much.
To paraphrase, he says those most prone to evil are those most likely to avoid investigating it in themselves because it reveals a flaw in the ego that would send it crashing down to the ground. Those people, he says, are most likely to ignore the foundation of ethical thought which has become a maxim of our time: the ends do not justify the means. In other words, according to the basic principle of ethics, we cannot do 'whatever it takes' to realize a goal. He also talks about scapegoating, the act of projecting evil onto others in order to hide or lessen one's own evil. The excuse we've all heard and used ourselves: "Everybody was doing it." This justification for present and future actions not only goes against every ethical and moral fiber we have but also intensifies the guilt by the acknowledgement that that our actions are not brought about by rational, self-reflecting thought. Namely, that we are slaves to the actions of others. The hope that we are not slaves of others' actions is what is called "Character". That we abstain from stealing even if no one is looking, that we stop and help someone when others walk past. Character.
Getting back to the ego: I can say from personal experience that, when allowing my ego to control my thoughts, words, and actions, it is extremely difficult to admit defeat. To say that I was wrong. I think we can all say that we've been in a situation where we knew we were wrong but continued the argument simply for ego gratification. Whether it be a quarrel with a partner or a friendly debate about sports teams. Most of us accept that we are wrong, when backed into a corner. This is a good thing. A healthy thing. The ego is not in control of you. The other direction that can be taken is to distort the past. "I didn't say that" and then lie once more in order to get out of the sticky situation. Not only lying, but spreading disinformation about one's past actions as well as disinformation about one's opponents. This, as Peck says, is the path those prone to evil take.
With that said, I came upon a man today that seemed to lack the good qualities that I just briefly discussed: Ethical thought and Character.
Not only did he lack Good qualities, he possessed Evil qualities: Tendency towards Scapegoating and Lying to prevent collapse of the Ego.
His name is Bill O'Reilly. And he is a man very much prone to evil thought because, in my humble opinion, his ego has taken control of him.
O'Reilly's lack of ethical reasoning as seen recently on David Letterman
O'Reilly's justification of future atrocities just two days after 9/11
O'Reilly's scapegoating to cover evils of the Iraq invasion, as well as his disinformation to justify his scapegoating
I encourage all of you to call your cable or satellite supplier and request that you not receive and pay royalties to Fox News, the channel broadcasting O'Reilly's program.
I Love you all very much.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Welcome to the Land of Magyar
So what an amazing week Ive had!!! So I dropped my parents off at the tram stop and jumped in the car for a two day tour of Moravia. Moravska Trebova and then Opava. Shows went really well and we spent a night in Olomouc, which is just one of my favorite towns over here. The only problem was with the car, the headlights were so dim I couldnt tell a circus from a cervix. So we had to drive with our brights on most of the trip down country roads. everytime a car came, we had to shut them off and basically drive blind until the passed. Fucking unnerving. But we survived and I can once again impregnate without fear of trading blows with Siegfried. Or is it Roy that's still alive? Either way they're both queers and I ain't about to trade blows with no tigger-lover.
We got back to Prague on Tuesday night, I went right to sleep and woke up to play three shows in a town about 30 km outside the city. It took us an hour and a half to get there and about 2 and a half hours to get back. I fucking hate the roads in this country. Got back in the mid afternoon and at 530, jumped in the car (the one with headlights) and drove to Hungary. To a little town called Békéscsaba. Arrived at 3 in the morning and woke up at 8 to start performing. The first show we had was in a school that had no electricity. And the kids spoke NO English. Usually when the kids arent good at the only REAL language in the world, we have a Czech speaker to guide them through the show. Not so in the land of the Magyar. So it was a major struggle to get through it but we did. After the show we were driving back to the school where we were staying but got stuck behind a horse and buggy for about 10 mins. A fucking horse and buggy. Bringing crops into the town market. Then about 10 mins later, we got stuck behind a guy with a big wheelbarrow pulling cardboard. Who the fuck knows.
So the place we were staying at was like a boarding school. But the kids go home on the weekend. I thought it was just a hostel until the morning when there were about 100 kids screaming and yelling outside my door. And it specializes in gymnastics. So there are kids that come from all over the country to this special school to train in gymnastics. The next evening that kids swarmed me. They just started to say anything they knew in English. So I got a lot of "Hit me baby one more time" "George Bush" and "Pimp my Ride". Im glad they know our most important topics. My room was decorated with the Olsen twins and Desperate Housewives translated into Hungarian. It gives me such a good feeling to know that we are exporting our most influential and sophisticated parts of our culture. But anyway. Some of the kids started just counting in English. They went all the way to one hundred. Seriously. It was like a bad Ali G skit. This one girl was trying upstage the rest by counting faster. Its really hard to keep up enthusiasm about kids counting to 100. I know how this is gonna end. We ended up playing football together. These kids schooled me good. Even the 9 yr old girls were doing circles around me. But then the best kid fell down and sprained his ankle, so that made me feel better.
After the football, David and I dropped by the school we'd played at earlier. We saw about a hundred 13 yr olds get down on bended knee and swear allegience to the seniors. They would swear to let them skip in the cafeteria and then bow. They would swear to speak to them in the formal "You" and then bow. It went on like this for about 10 minutes. All of this was in Hungarian, of course. The chuckling teachers were translating it for us. Such a good-natured rite of passage that could never happen in the States anymore. Teachers in a public school allowing what falls inside the definition of "Hazing" to be performed not only in their company, but openly encouraging it? It sounds horrible, but it was in the best of intentions. And I agree with it. Lets not pretend that 13 year olds are the same as 18 year olds. Theyre incredibly different. And with some rite of passage, whether symbolic or visceral, we as a society are recognizing that difference. I think thats a good thing. Its not about superiority, but about coming of age and respect. Superiority enters into it only when the ego does. But it is presumptious of us to think that ego MUST enter into it. Granted, it is very easy for the ego to take hold of the power trip, but it is selling the human spirit short to forbid potentially spiritual experiences simply because of doubt of the participants' character. That is to say only if the one coming of age is accepting of coming of age. Nobody should force you to become an adult. It is a personal decision.
Ok with that little tangeant off my chest, back to Békéscsaba. After the students' show, we went for a couple of beers and met some of the students out. So we chatted them up for a while, talking about music and sports and all other non-confrontational topics we could think of. Not because it would be a sore topic, but only because they were 16 and spoke a different language. Even if Politics or Religion or whatever was on their mind, they'd have a very difficult time getting their opinions across clearly. So on it went about cars and the Grand Canyon and Robbie Williams. After two beers, we said goodbye, were offered to join them the next night and went on our way. Walked back to the school and went to bed.
The next morning I had free, so I slept in til 9, laid around and read til 10.30 and then showered, got yelled at for having the cd player up too loud and then ventured into the town. Ran into Lenka and David walking down the Promenade. They pointed me in the right direction for a good lasagna gyro and then we parted ways. After a pointless trip to the Vodaphone store, I settled down on a park bench and dug into "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Phenomenal, one of the best books Ive ever read. Such a great mixture of so many elements. A motorcycle story, a father and son story, an instruction manual, philosophical meanderings, a psychological story, a spiritual metaphor. Just fantastic. Im only half way through it, but its such a great feeliing to be totally into a book early on and be excited everytime you pick it up! Anyway, I had a great time reading under the sunlight breaking through the trees. The light hit my page with a strange mixture of shadow that seemed to liven my senses, made me look around at my surroundings, my situation, and the world at large, and smile. I saw the small shops lining the street, selling clothes and household items and everyday things. I saw the cafe waiter taking orders and chatting up customers. The people on bicycles, going to and from these shops, going to work, picking their children up from school. The violin player, taking requests for 10 Forints, Que Sera Sera! I live for this!
I ran into one of the students and she invited me out again with her friends and I told her I'd try to make it. I slowly strolled back home and stopped in a market and bought some snacks. I walked out and saw a strange thing. There was a car on display with its stereo blasting. Standing next to the Skoda was a man in a tuxedo and sunglasses. He moved only as a robot and only to the beat of the music. A guy came up to look at the car and the Robot popped the trunk and and displayed the engine. All very bizarre. A bit closer home, I stopped by the main Church and had a look inside. Nothing compared to what was to come. But thats for another time, I gotta hop a train back to Prague where Ill hopefully find some time in the next couple of days to catch up with everything. If you are a person I know, I miss you very much. If you are'nt, quit reading strangers' blogs you loon.
We got back to Prague on Tuesday night, I went right to sleep and woke up to play three shows in a town about 30 km outside the city. It took us an hour and a half to get there and about 2 and a half hours to get back. I fucking hate the roads in this country. Got back in the mid afternoon and at 530, jumped in the car (the one with headlights) and drove to Hungary. To a little town called Békéscsaba. Arrived at 3 in the morning and woke up at 8 to start performing. The first show we had was in a school that had no electricity. And the kids spoke NO English. Usually when the kids arent good at the only REAL language in the world, we have a Czech speaker to guide them through the show. Not so in the land of the Magyar. So it was a major struggle to get through it but we did. After the show we were driving back to the school where we were staying but got stuck behind a horse and buggy for about 10 mins. A fucking horse and buggy. Bringing crops into the town market. Then about 10 mins later, we got stuck behind a guy with a big wheelbarrow pulling cardboard. Who the fuck knows.
So the place we were staying at was like a boarding school. But the kids go home on the weekend. I thought it was just a hostel until the morning when there were about 100 kids screaming and yelling outside my door. And it specializes in gymnastics. So there are kids that come from all over the country to this special school to train in gymnastics. The next evening that kids swarmed me. They just started to say anything they knew in English. So I got a lot of "Hit me baby one more time" "George Bush" and "Pimp my Ride". Im glad they know our most important topics. My room was decorated with the Olsen twins and Desperate Housewives translated into Hungarian. It gives me such a good feeling to know that we are exporting our most influential and sophisticated parts of our culture. But anyway. Some of the kids started just counting in English. They went all the way to one hundred. Seriously. It was like a bad Ali G skit. This one girl was trying upstage the rest by counting faster. Its really hard to keep up enthusiasm about kids counting to 100. I know how this is gonna end. We ended up playing football together. These kids schooled me good. Even the 9 yr old girls were doing circles around me. But then the best kid fell down and sprained his ankle, so that made me feel better.
After the football, David and I dropped by the school we'd played at earlier. We saw about a hundred 13 yr olds get down on bended knee and swear allegience to the seniors. They would swear to let them skip in the cafeteria and then bow. They would swear to speak to them in the formal "You" and then bow. It went on like this for about 10 minutes. All of this was in Hungarian, of course. The chuckling teachers were translating it for us. Such a good-natured rite of passage that could never happen in the States anymore. Teachers in a public school allowing what falls inside the definition of "Hazing" to be performed not only in their company, but openly encouraging it? It sounds horrible, but it was in the best of intentions. And I agree with it. Lets not pretend that 13 year olds are the same as 18 year olds. Theyre incredibly different. And with some rite of passage, whether symbolic or visceral, we as a society are recognizing that difference. I think thats a good thing. Its not about superiority, but about coming of age and respect. Superiority enters into it only when the ego does. But it is presumptious of us to think that ego MUST enter into it. Granted, it is very easy for the ego to take hold of the power trip, but it is selling the human spirit short to forbid potentially spiritual experiences simply because of doubt of the participants' character. That is to say only if the one coming of age is accepting of coming of age. Nobody should force you to become an adult. It is a personal decision.
Ok with that little tangeant off my chest, back to Békéscsaba. After the students' show, we went for a couple of beers and met some of the students out. So we chatted them up for a while, talking about music and sports and all other non-confrontational topics we could think of. Not because it would be a sore topic, but only because they were 16 and spoke a different language. Even if Politics or Religion or whatever was on their mind, they'd have a very difficult time getting their opinions across clearly. So on it went about cars and the Grand Canyon and Robbie Williams. After two beers, we said goodbye, were offered to join them the next night and went on our way. Walked back to the school and went to bed.
The next morning I had free, so I slept in til 9, laid around and read til 10.30 and then showered, got yelled at for having the cd player up too loud and then ventured into the town. Ran into Lenka and David walking down the Promenade. They pointed me in the right direction for a good lasagna gyro and then we parted ways. After a pointless trip to the Vodaphone store, I settled down on a park bench and dug into "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Phenomenal, one of the best books Ive ever read. Such a great mixture of so many elements. A motorcycle story, a father and son story, an instruction manual, philosophical meanderings, a psychological story, a spiritual metaphor. Just fantastic. Im only half way through it, but its such a great feeliing to be totally into a book early on and be excited everytime you pick it up! Anyway, I had a great time reading under the sunlight breaking through the trees. The light hit my page with a strange mixture of shadow that seemed to liven my senses, made me look around at my surroundings, my situation, and the world at large, and smile. I saw the small shops lining the street, selling clothes and household items and everyday things. I saw the cafe waiter taking orders and chatting up customers. The people on bicycles, going to and from these shops, going to work, picking their children up from school. The violin player, taking requests for 10 Forints, Que Sera Sera! I live for this!
I ran into one of the students and she invited me out again with her friends and I told her I'd try to make it. I slowly strolled back home and stopped in a market and bought some snacks. I walked out and saw a strange thing. There was a car on display with its stereo blasting. Standing next to the Skoda was a man in a tuxedo and sunglasses. He moved only as a robot and only to the beat of the music. A guy came up to look at the car and the Robot popped the trunk and and displayed the engine. All very bizarre. A bit closer home, I stopped by the main Church and had a look inside. Nothing compared to what was to come. But thats for another time, I gotta hop a train back to Prague where Ill hopefully find some time in the next couple of days to catch up with everything. If you are a person I know, I miss you very much. If you are'nt, quit reading strangers' blogs you loon.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Mental Fodder
Hey guys, Just a quick one this time. Have been working like mad. Traveling like crazy. And falling on my face like its my job. Got lots to talk about. Venice. Florence. Mountain Biking. Czech Politics. Aliens. But all that will have to wait. My parents, yes that's right, my parents are flying across the pond as we speak. My father's first venture outside of Right to Bear Arms ever. Evuu. I'm sure he brought lots of steak knives. So my time will be spent with them, and not with you. You selfish scabs. To stave off your hunger for more controversial antics by yours truly, here's a couple of links.
Enjoy mon amis.
The History
The Fringe
The Truth
Chip Gardner's Hero
Enjoy mon amis.
The History
The Fringe
The Truth
Chip Gardner's Hero
