A Lesson in Humanity, taken from Animals
Current mood: disgusted
Category: Life
Before we can claim to be humane, before we can have a perspective of where our place is in this planet, we must learn to respect all forms of life, not just human life.
We all are guilty of disrespect to our fellow earthlings, whether done intentionally or not.
Anyone purchasing meat in a grocery store, only hopes that the method that lead to the production of the food bought, was done in a way to limit the amount of suffering for the animal.
Unfortunately, in most cases, this is not so.
The following film is hard to see, but necessary. You cannot ignore where your food and animal products come from. I believe it's important for us to see the lack of respect paid by humans to creatures, from THEIR perspective for once.
Imagine the same action being taken against a human being. It would be considered torture, something expected in a concentration camp, a scene from a horror film, or what is going on behind closed doors in Guantanamo Bay.
Animals are not lesser beings. They experience pain, they have the same needs as us, for shelter, companionship, food, water, safety and freedom of movement.
Think about what you buy, and what you consume. How animals are treated DOES affect us. For example, doesn't it seem to make sense....that after a lifetime of consuming products from tortured animals, that it would make us, in turn, sick?
You are all being killed at this moment, slowly, from the inside out
Current mood: shocked
Category: Food and Restaurants
I wanted to sleep, in order to process it all correctly, before I wrote this.
When I woke up this morning, it was all still fresh in my mind, what I saw on television last night. I just don't know the best way to present it to you, to hold your attention, to make clear the seriousness of this situation.
This is something bigger than any terrorist attack, any war, because it affects us at a national level, at a world level, on an individual level....it is creeping into every home, setting your lives in a direction that no one should ever have to deal with.
Goud me nutrit me destruit x 100
M O N S A N T O
I've adjusted this Latin saying, because I think it should be the motto of the above mentioned company. They are the epitome of corporate greed and evil.
I can only say that what I have seen has completely shocked me and I fear for the health of my friends, family....everyone who is being lead to believe that genetically-modified foods are safe and who are unknowingly consuming these products.
I don't understand how the US government, and other governments around the world, have let themselves be coerced by this company, to essentially contaminate their own people.
If you are in the US, food products do NOT need to state whether they have been genetically modified. If anyone can please refute this, please do so, however, it was stated that approximately 70% of the food ingested in the US is genetically modified.
Reseachers have determined that genetically modified foods cause cancer.
Those who argue my point may say, "Why would the government knowingly allow a product to be served to it's people, if they knew it would make them ill?".
I don't know, but I can speculate....
Greed, thinking only about the profit, without concern to the victims
Illness is a huge industry. If no one is sick, then certain companies, especially those dealing with cancer cannot profit.
Dying before or soon after retirement saves the economy a lot of money, don't you think?
They have no concern for humanity, health, quality of life
They knowingly poisoned people with PCBs in an American community in Anniston, AL for 40 years
They are the creators of Round-Up Pesticide – an anti-weed agent sprayed on soybeans which alters their genetic make-up, poisoning the land and water around the crops at the same time, leading to deaths in wildlife and illness in those living in the area
If you have the time, please check out this video on YouTube:
The World According to M O N S A N T O (delete spaces in search)
There are ten segments to this video, if you have the chance, please take a little time to educate yourself. Take care of yourself and those that you love.
How have you changed?
Current mood: awake
Category: Life
It's been 6 years now.
I can't really watch videos of the event because it makes me too sad and sick. It's like a horrible movie, where I know what's going to happen to the characters in the end and I can't do anything to stop it.
Whatever your take of the events on September 11 is, I think that it has united humanity in some ways and severely separated us in others.
Anyone with any sense of compassion is saddened and angered by the basic fact that two skyscrapers containing innocent people were struck and collapsed with people trapped inside. We are all united by these feelings.
The division in society now is between those who accept the official report of what happened and those who believe something else.
Are you a patriot because you fully support the government, or are you a patriot because you question what the government does? What is your definition?
Did something die in us all after this event? How has this changed you?
I'm no longer innocent.
I stopped trusting those in power.
I see everything with a cynical eye.
I'm now aware of the suffering endured by so many people.
The Media is your Ministry of Truth
Current mood: awake
Category: News and Politics
I've noticed that the truth in your world is presented in many different formats. For those who want to indulge in the mainstream truth, there are many channels on television that present the "news". One can use the internet as a tool to find documentation and information. For those looking for older information, libraries are accessable and offer a world of knowledge.
I envy the fact that in your world, there is the opportunity to research and discover your own truth, or what some may call an alternative truth. Perhaps the alternative truth is actually the real truth?
You have the freedom at this moment to decide what to believe. I never had that luxury.
What I have learned though, is that the truth is always altered before it is presented to the public eye.
A few carefully spun words can create an entirely different perspective on an event. While the media (or as we called it from where I came from - "The Ministry of Truth" ) had no qualms in rewriting history, destroying documents to erase a past that no longer supported the current reality, and offering no alternative views, your media has not yet gone so far as to erase the past....
It's human nature to alter the truth.
It's human nature to believe what you are told.
It starts when you are a child. Parents alter the truth to create a perspective of the world for their children. The reasons vary, but the lies a parent tells a child usually serve to give hope or protect. I've heard of a fictional man named Santa Claus, created by the tales that parents weave for their children and existing in the collective imagination of many children. This is an alteration of the truth, for innocent means, in order to give children a dose of magic.
I've also heard of the bogeyman, a nightmarish figure created by parents to instill a fear in their children of strangers or used as a threatening force. I'm guessing that this symbol, the idea of it, is used to protect children and make them aware of potential dangers that exist outside the home.
Eventually, children find out that both of these figures don't exist.
When the media alters the truth or hides part of the truth from us, are they trying to be a "parental force"? Are they trying to protect us? Should they be? How much of the truth is being hidden from our eyes and ears?
Am I being too kind when I say that the media wants to protect us? Does the media only want to hide the truth from us so that others have more control?
The way that the media presents the information to our senses also influences us. The media knows exactly how to present a scenario in order for us to react a certain way. Do they want to control our emotions and thoughts?
Although, you must keep in mind, that our senses can sometimes deceive us as well.
However, any clarification of an event is ALWAYS up to interpretation. Any concept or idea or law or statement or situation can and will be altered to fit the paradigm of reality that the media wants you to think in.
Right now, you still have the chance to choose what to believe. Think before you ingest everything that the media presents to you. Try to find the absolute truth in the news. Realize, that the snippet of a newstory that was presented to you is what THEY want you to see. And who are THEY actually? Trust your instincts more. Don't let your buttons be pushed to the point where your emotions carry you away and prevent you from thinking clearly. Objectivity is the tool to learning the absolute truth and being aware.
To Those Who Have Been Left Behind
Current mood: indescribable
Category: Life
As I start to slip back into my alternative reality again, a memory comes to mind. My birthday, a long time ago, when I was still a child. I was precocious and already reading at age 6.Before this time, I used to open books and pretend I was reading. Since the desire was already there, my grandfather took it upon himself to teach me this skill. I was one of the lucky ones, who learned to read Oldspeak, which is so much more vivid and colorful than the latest version of Newspeak.
On the last birthday with my grandfather, he gave me a book of short stories, with the specific instructions to keep it hidden when it was not in my hands, to never bring it outside, and to remember the content of the tales even if the names and authors slipped from my memory. He said that the book came from "the other side". I never knew what he meant by that, but I did my best to obey his conditions on keeping this book. It remained under a loose wooden slat in the floor when it was not being read.
Soon after my grandfather disappeared, our family was removed from this house and I never saw that book again.
Today, I started thinking about one of the stories from the collection and used this amazing search tool from the internet. I figured that if I typed a sentence into the search function describing the tale, that I may be fortunate enough to find that story from "the other side" again.
After a few failed attempts, I typed in the following words and hit the search button: short story, utopian city, one child, imprisoned
From the search results, a word appeared that reawakened my memory. How can I describe it? It was as if the word had been seen from the bottom of a lake and gradually floated up from the murky depths into my consciousness.
I will leave the bulk of this story undisclosed in case anyone decides to read it, but as I reread the words today, I remembered the sadness I felt for the child in the story. I was much more sensitive when I was younger and although I realized that this was a fictional work, the fate of this child always bothered me. The child didn't really exist, except in our collective imagination and on the pages of this story, but in a way, it did exist because it was a creation that remained in my subconscious after the book was closed.
I'm starting to realize now, why Murat Kurnaz's story affected me the way it did. It reawakened a sad memory and brought that memory to life. His story, and the stories of others who are still waiting to be set free, the innocent people who are still there and deteriorating are all real-life examples of the child from Omelas.
Recently, in Germany, it has come to light that the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier "rejected an early U.S. offer to release Murat Kurnaz in 2002 and allow him to return to Germany."At the time, Steinmeier was the chief of staff to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a Social Democrat (SPD).
Officials from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service had interrogated Kurnaz in Cuba in September 2002 and found no evidence linking him to any terrorist activity, according to documents recently leaked to several German newspapers.
Essentially, Murat Kurnaz could have been a free man as early as 2002. Instead, because of the decision of Steinmeier, Kurnaz was kept at GuantanamoBay and subjected to further torture.
Steinmeier today states that he made the "right decision" in 2002 about the fate of Kurnaz.
There has been talk of Steinmeier stepping down from his position. However, Steinmeier has stated that "resignation is not open for debate". Recent public opinion surveys seem to be supportive of Steinmeier's decision in 2002.
I can only shake my head and wonder, "Why???". Why does it seem that the burden of hate and fear of free nations has been placed on the shoulders of a handful of people?
An innocent man, who had the opportunity to come home was denied his freedom and kept in a "dungeon". Others are still being kept in "dungeons" around the world, without trial. What is the sense of it all?
It seems to me that those who are still imprisoned at GuantanamoBay and other secret prisons, the ones who have been labeled guilty, and not yet proven innocent, represent something much larger than themselves. It's no longer about the individuals there, it's about the IDEA of what they stand for.
Are these people the modern-day versions of the child from Omelas? Does their indefinite imprisonment, the stripping of their humanity, the demonization of them, make us feel as if we are progressing in our fight for goodness and democracy?
Do we as a society, feel safer knowing that these people are locked up and may never return home?
Although the tragic conditions of these people remind me of what is important, I don't need them to be imprisoned to make me realize what I'm thankful for in this life. A birthday is enough of a trigger to make me reflect on how lucky I am at this moment.
I am thankful to be alive and healthy
I am thankful to live in a land without war
I am thankful to sleep in a warm bed every night
I am thankful to have a roof over my head, clean water to drink and food to eat
I am thankful that I can write what I feel and post it for anyone in the world to see
I am thankful that I can feel the sun on my face, the wind in my hair and the rain on my skin
I am thankful for the kindness I have received from people I've encountered
To all those who can say the same things, we have to admit to ourselves that we are truly blessed.
I don't want to walk away from the Omelas in my mind, I want to set that child free.
If I have requested your friendship, what does it mean?
Current mood: content
Category: Friends
I feel the need to clarify myself. Fortunately, almost ALL of my friendship requests have run smoothly, with the exception of ONE person. This unnamed individual basically accepted my request, went ahead and left a few nasty comments on my profile (which I deleted), and wrote me a scathing, hateful email (which I didn't bother to answer).
To any new faces that have received a random "Julia wants to be your friend!" request (or any older friends who maybe wondered why I contacted them), this is why...
I have read SOMETHING on your profile OR blog that made me want to contact you. I am NOT randomly clicking on people's profiles and adding them. It doesn't work that way. I don't have the time to just click on 1,000s of profiles, hoping that I find some good ones in the bunch. I'm not trying to gather everyone, just those who I think can relate and those who may have something to contribute. I am reading your words and if I requested your friendship, I liked what you had to say.
I am looking to create a global network on this profile, it would be ideal for me if I could connect people from across the world in one spot (well, I guess MySpace does that already...but I'd like to have a more condensed version).
Some things that make me want to click the "Add friends" icon are if (not all points need to apply)...
1. You are currently unsatisfied with the current administration and state of the world.
2. You are against Guantanamo Bay, secret prisons and any other modern day concentration camps.
3. You think outside the box.
4. You are intelligent, interesting, creative, linguistically eloquent, etc...
5. You seem to have compassion for humanity.
6. You commented on another person's blog and I agreed with your point of view.
7. You are brave enough to express your opinion and go against the grain.
8. You seem to be open-minded.
9. You are respectfully passionate about your views.
10. You do not readily accept what is force-fed to you by the media and try to carefully weigh the news with your own insight and further research.
11. You are positive and caring.
12. You mentioned "George Orwell" somewhere on your profile.
13. You are a friend of a friend.
14. You have at least one of the above qualities and actually come from a country that is not yet represented on my friends list.
These are some of the basic reasons why I click the "Add Friend" button.
You may have fallen into one, two, three....or maybe all of these categories.
I am an open-minded person. I would consider myself to be a humanist. I look at people as souls, which is why I am open to and searching for communication and friendships with people from all races, nationalities, religions, backgrounds, ages, orientations, etc.
If I have requested your friendship and you do not want to click the "Accept" button, that is perfectly O.K. Go ahead and block me if you like, I respect that. Just don't send me nasty emails, it's really not necessary and honestly, is there ever a good reason to spread negativity around?
ROOM ONE-OH-ONE IS NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Current mood: scared
Category: News and Politics
*** Warning: The photos present in this blog depict real and simulated acts of torture. ***
Sometimes, I wonder if President George W. Bush spent some time in my world before accepting his post as the President of the United States.
Perhaps he did an internship here and between drunken nights of drinking Victory Gin, he was able to spend a little time learning about the 4 Ministries.
Ministry of Love – Fear, torture and brainwashing were used to convince people that Big Brother was good, right and all-knowing.
Ministry of Truth –Media is a great tool for the government to promote their own agenda. Effective, yet simple and almost indiscernible alterations of the truth can leave a butterfly effect in its wake. Some truth can be hidden from the public or completely ignored. Finally, some newsworthy items could be completely changed to serve a different purpose.
Ministry of Plenty – Controlled economy to keep the people poor, easily controlled and weak.
Ministry of Peace – Never-ending war to keep the proles, I mean general population, focused on hating an enemy that most would never see, rather than turning their frustrations and anger about their bad quality of life onto their own country.
I'm sure that anyone taking a brief trip to my world would learn so many fascinating things about human nature.
Overall, the one thing, the most fascinating, horrible and frightening thing that one could be exposed to in my world (as an observer of course, not a victim) would be ROOM ONE-OH-ONE. It's also the most powerful thing in my world. The fact that this room exists keeps most people in line, and the use of this room guarantees that those who do fall out of line never will again.
In Room 101, no one is safe from the demons in your mind. Each person has a fear that is so unbearable that you would do ANYTHING to prevent it. When exposed to it, you would betray yourself and your own mind to stop it from happening.
Not many people have had the privilege of observing what happens in this room, although countless people have been victims of the atrocities committed there, and then most of them do not survive the experience. Those who do survive it are never the same, the experience so profound, that one never wants to speak of it again. It becomes a locked Pandora's box in your mind, and you are conscious of the heaviness it creates in your soul, but you somehow forget it because to relive the horror would only make you insane.
****
I started thinking of Room 101 again recently...I was saddened to hear yesterday about the following document being signed:
MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006 (HR 6166)
Some people think that it will not affect regular law-abiding U.S. citizens, some people think that those who fear this are only paranoid.
disgusted
shocked
awake
indescribable
content
scared
