The World I Live In

Conventional TV with parents.

We start out with a show made by... what does one call them these days, mentally challenged people? Where they interviewed leaders of two political parties in Sweden, which one can't say too much about since it's made by mentally challenged people.

No. They don't stand beyond scrutiny, or quality, or justice. If they have the same rights and value as all other people, something they liked to repeat over and over and I wonder if they even understand what it means, then they are just as accountable for their impact on everyone around them. So on best viewing hours, we have people lacking even the most basic grasp of politics, and any sense of impact on the environment or consequence, interviewing politicians. So that is clearly the level of intelligent debate we need. Obviously this provides us with information, like, for example, it's a glaring example of how it's impossible to have a discussion with a person who doesn't understand any of the basic underlying assumptions of the topic. One of the hosts came with the fantastic argument "we should keep nuclear power because then we have more power". Are you serious?

Maybe I'm upset because I don't trust the majority of people to remain uninfluenced by this. I can see a large number of acquaintances going "hey did you see that thing last night, you know they have some points those retarded people, maybe they aren't so stupid, because more power is great, and thinking about consequences is so bothersome".

We continue to regular news. Forest fire. Instead of straight information, like show on a map where the fire is, describe what the firemen actually do, ask questions like "why have you pulled only the nearby firemen and not firemen from further away, since people are at risk and you can't get control", we have a few sentimental interviews with people going "hey this shit sucks terribly", and some general complaints about "how the authorities are handling the issue" which is what media loves to do; complain on the people working their asses off to try to fix a problem. God forbid the police or the firemen show some humanity and forget to jump through every exact hoop. Of course people have complaints. Everything can be made better, especially in a high-pressure situation. These people need help and cooperation, not whining. If nothing else, evaluate AFTER for the sake of.

Also anti-semitism is rising in Sweden because what people of the same religion do in another country. Clearly they should abandon their religion because other people of the same religion are doing terrible things, because that's what all other religious people do, and that really speaks of character and true faith. Clearly by continuing doing exactly what they've been doing for generations, they are supporting every act of others. So when Christians are harassing abortion-clinics or beating up homosexuals in the US, we should start harassing randomly selected Swedish Christians. FUCK ME YOU FUCKING MORONS ARE YOU SERIOUS.

They interview a Jewish person about it, some kind of official or professor or something, that says exactly what the entire thing has said, that it's because of what Jews are doing in another country. The interviewer feels the need to bring up what the leader of the Swedish Democrats have said, because the man could use more media exposure, despite the fact that the question is phrased in such a way that it will get EXACTLY the same answer as the one he JUST SAID because there's literally no other way to answer it. So you just wanted to give SD some more media time, or you're so bloody stupid that you can't skip or modify a question that has already been answered. Journalism woo. Good job. Fantastic.

By now I'm starting to feel dizzy and my chest is hurting, so I stop watching actively and try to read my book. I notice that I'm taking everything I read in a really negative light; I've read this book before and I love it, but suddenly my brain is pointing out that it's objectifying the female characters (it's from 1921), and there's this bitter tone to it (that is certainly imaginary). I find it hard to concentrate.

When my brain calls me back to the TV again, they've moved on the sports news. They're talking about people behaving like assholes at a sports event; soccer of course. Can't breathe anymore, I feel physically sick, and if I read the book it'll only get more tainted by the ambient stupidity.

I drop some comment on how stupid it all is, and that I'm leaving. Dad says I shouldn't listen. I can't not listen. It's physically impossible for me, that's why I don't watch conventional TV, that's why I shut myself in most of the time. Just the *tone* of some of the news, while I was reading, without me actively taking in the words, made me *physically ill* and mentally super negative.

Are you all listening to what is said in your living rooms? Are you understanding the power of suggestion, of passive information absorption, of attitude assimilation especially in children? Is this the level of professionalism you demand from media?  The level of understanding you're after in immediate, relevant events?

And you are the people I'm supposed to share this "democratic" country with.

I wouldn't recognize my mother if she walked past me on the street...

I had a mental breakdown a day or two ago because I watched one of those tv-shows where they find people for other people who have lost them. They helped a taiwanese guy adopted to sweden find his birthmother. Those shows are really tear-tweaking and I tend to avoid them. But it was decent, and they found her of course, and whatever. Then, when it ended, I realized that the guy had had a picture. Someone had given him a picture of his mother when they sent him off to Sweden. And my head started raving about why the fuck didn't I have a picture, who the hell sends a kid off to the other side of the world without one single line back to their home?

Why didn't they give me a picture?

But I think it's healthy. This is the first time I'm really, really angry at the whole thing; the country, my parents, the people working these things both there and in sweden, even in part my adoptive parents. I think being angry is good. Because I should be. It's the first time I'm thinking; I was damned well worth a picture. I'm damned well worth to be really, really angry.

Why I Don't Like Journalists (sry you serious ones, all five)

I helped my brother with his history homework yesterday (it's actually fun because I get to renew my own knowledge) and he said something kinda striking concerning Hitler and his paranoia: Han ä ingen som får nô bäst vänner iallafall. Hehe ^^

Jag läser den andra boken i Millenium-serien, "Flickan som Lekte med Elden", den är SÅ bra! Den första är bra, men man måste inte läsa den, den här... den är... samhällskritik at it's very very sharpest best, förklädd till fiktion som också är bra i sig själv. Jag tänker ge ett exempel för att övertyga, men om nån tänker läsa den ändå, sluta läsa här.

Den första meningen i boken är: Hon låg fastspänd med läderremmar på en smal brits med en ram av härdat stål. [...]En del av hennes medvetna lyssnade efter ljudet av fotsteg som innebar att han skulle komma. [...] Det var hennes fyrtiotredje dag i fångenskap. Okay. Vad tänker du? Den sista meningen av prologen säger: Det var natten hon fyllde 13 år. Vad tänker du nu? Sedan börjar boken, och fortsätter egentligen där den förra slutade, helt vid sidan av prologen. Den handlar om trafficking, och man gör sina associationer. Så på sidan 398, trehundranittioåtta!, inser man att prologen inte hade någonting med trafficking att göra; att det är beskrivningen av en flicka på "psykiatrisk behandling", och det här, damer och herrar, är bara en liten liten pettitess av alla de små och stora pikar som spretar åt alla håll och vrider om i magtrakten när man tänker på hur så många småsaker faktiskt underminerar all mänsklighet. Inte minst är kritiken mot media och sensationsjournalistik intressant, med tanke på att författaren själv var journalist (en seriös sådan). Jag har alltid haft samma åsiker själv, exemplen på tidningsrubriker är t.ex. en ren orgie i anledningar att hata pressfrihet, och exemplen på den usla psykologi som den flesta människor använder är också rent infuriating.

Den enda anledningen till att den här boken inte bara får mig att grabba min fars tjänstevapen och gå bärsärk är just att kritiken den framställer inte stannar vid mig; den går vidare med varje person som läser den. Jag hoppas bara att den generella intelligensen är ett litet snäpp högre än vad personerna i boken stoltserar med (bortsett från Lisbeth Salander) så att folk ser och förstår.

Men jag hoppas nog in vain.

Screw organized religion

Aside from writing like a smurf on speed and finally doing my Buddhism homework (should have been done two weeks ago =P) I have tried out MechQuest (.com) which was fun as a waste of time for a little while, and talked to Madde on msn until her computer had the heating experience of too much Jocke-bullshit and with a smashing goodbye entered the next gigaplane of existence.


A very good quote from the buddhism papers I have:
If you understand, things are as they are. If you do not understand, things are as they are.

While I think buddhism is okay, it's like this in the end: I do not believe organized religion is the right path. Sure, it sounds great that someone finds the true purpose of life and then passes it on to the rest of us. But doesn't this sound quite reasonable too: that we all discover small parts each, and if we puzzle them together we will get to the truth? The atom bomb would never have been discovered by one single person; it was a collaboration over dozens of years, discoveries built on each other. The ultimate truth would be something like that, I imagine.

I puzzle together my own belief through what feels right in the soul, and while traditions and stuff is nice and a way to bond with people, they are just that: traditions to honor because it gives peace of mind and shows respect towards our fellow humans. Religion, on the other hand, is personal. It shall be practiced alone and in seclusion. That's what I think, anyway.

We have too few traditions in Sweden, also. For a muslim to turn to Mekka, a Japanese to pray in front of the home altar, a catholic to say the evening prayer, it focuses the mind and gives a sense of familiarity in which we can always relax no matter where or what. I think I'm going to construct my own little tradition. I will return on that.