But here’s the catch: like everything that was designed to educate the masses, it will not go well, not at all perfect. The vast flow of information — in this case amateur information — has actually caused an informational tsunami in where there are no longer filters that help us validate what are urgent, important, or plain crap (some old bullshit). If corporate media was criticized for disinformation, this leads to misinformation.

A sort of accidental disinformation.

Which can be far worse.

Because this is The Internet.

Where the reach of information is way beyond anything imagined before.

So, why is this a problem? Surely you would believe that you’re smart enough to apply your own filters, of course you are, who isn’t? Andrew Keen pointed out nicely in his book The Cult of The Amateur: How Internet is Killing Our Culture that on the internet the amateur sometimes outweighs the academics and professional. Like IRL (“in real life” for those non-geeks) the mass popular wins over the educated few, this becomes true in forums that tend to misguide or even defy laws of logic and are held true by these mass popular fundamentalists. Keen himself has been portrayed as an idiot by some people, yes i agree he is hyperbolic, but still he has a very good point.

What differs between corporate media and open knowledge is that one misguides for a purpose (either political, financial, religious, etc.) and the other misguides for the sake of misguidance. Plain and stupid misguidance in which the misguider (i don’t think this is a word) himself has no idea that he is misguiding.

I am not saying that SOPA or PIPA is a good idea, internet censorship is actually a hilarious concept. A tired concept put forth by Orwell about six decades ago: the monitoring of the world. Even if SOPA and PIPA were made for that exact reason, it wont be long until people make independent hubs that evade monitored network, a sort of pirate connection outside the system. (i would point out how US policy affects most of the “civilized” world, but that would be pointless)

But that is besides the point, most users on the internet are consumers, and the content producers are often not more knowledgeable — sometimes less — than the consumers themselves. Which will make open knowledge unreliable, prone to misinformation, and just poorly made. The reason this becomes a problem is that free culture/open knowledge has the potential to become a worthy adversary to a. formal education b. corporate media c. mainstream entertainment. The bloated properties of user content only dismisses this potential.

In the spirit of maintaining the continuity of free culture/open knowledge this should be the basis of content creation:

1. seek professional assistance (not implying to go to a shrink, but if you feel you must….)

2. read a book (pirated books if you live in a third world country)

3. refer to whatever contains truism and validity

4. end hunger

5. world peace

#freeculture #libreculture #openknowledge

Awoke, in front of the 24 hour convenience store. Morn’s light finally arrives. Shining through the UV protected tempered glass. Opened just a peep to avoid death by carbon monoxide. The new dawn fades, a morning arrives. New Year. End. Routine.

Social beings, like many of us, by default crave acceptance. Recognition by the masses, no matter how small that mass may be. Extending the fifteen minutes of fame so prominently proclaimed by Warhol – which was more likely caused by the short attention span of the hipsters of those days and their regeneration, until now – into more or less a half hour variety show but hardly gets any better than that. Like so many post-modern anomalies, instead of re-imaging ones appearances to a more stable, resourceful, and civilized personality; they pity themselves crying that their lives were fucked – usually more than one ways, including the literal meaning – and that they cant help themselves for being a total attention whore.

Good argument, a valid one at that. Yet, I don’t give a fuck.

There are actually two types of people – that I know of – who present themselves as “involuntarily fucked up” or in a simpler jargon “troubled”, the first is those who are actually troubled, and the other the not so troubled or “troublesome” as this ramble points out. The difference of the two is that: one actually has been conditioned by external forces, constructing such a personality which may up one’s chances to survive in society; and the other one becomes troubled by themselves because of their lack of adaptation into society. The latter actually wrecks themselves, creating drama of sorts to justify their inability to adapt to norms and standardized rules of society while simultaneously envying those who actually can adapt especially those who they feel are “similar” to them. The probable cause why these troublesome people act the way the do is probably frustration in the process of fitting in.

Regarding to the troublesome category, we probably see these people everyday, especially if you are still in high school (or of equal level) or university (or of equal level). These are the ones who usually have everything but problems. They are usually the privileged who lack a pivotal position in the society of their peers, but this is a whole-heartedly blind assumption. These are the pseudo-quasi-[unintelligible word here] conditions in which the person burden themselves with seemingly unsolvable problems in which (part of) society would not dare sympathize for these burdens – for the fact that they are (disturbingly) undeniably specific. The kind of fuck-ups that doesn’t really happen to a large amount of people in a large area in society. Somehow a confession of sorts; signifying that: “I am an idiot/insane but I can not help myself – but no, wait, I actually can, I’m just too fucking selfish to fix myself, let others pay for my inconveniences, fuck ‘em!” Alas, no actual fucking involved.

Sometimes, these are quirks, leaving the troublesome unaware of their actions of attention seeking and/or solicitation. When that is the case, fine. Something may be worked to avoid extensive damage. The crime is when the action of attention seeking and/or solicitation is actually premeditated. Meaning: they exploit the fact that their conditioning draws sympathy and pity. The problem is that these people – the troublesomes – actually and ignorantly label themselves “troubled” as if it was some sort of achieved status by means of attention seeking and/or solicitation. Eventually, to keep this “troubled” status valid, they continue to fuck themselves rounding up more sympathy and pity into a state where they actually believe they are troubled.

I would usually sum this whole ramble with the usual case-in -point, but – ah, screw it. Case in point: the concept of troubled/troublesome was actually discovered after a series of conversations with some people who label themselves troubled. The most ridiculous aspect being there was a group of them, openly calling themselves troubled. Gag or not, I actually sensed an actuality of collective faith in this group; that they were indeed troubled. Problem is: they made themselves what they are; a conditioning, whether accidental or on purpose. What they are, whatever they are, that created this self-pity movement , is hyperbolic at most. Yes, they do have problems, specific problems that are – as stated above – uncommon. But yet, they drew all that to themselves; a blame game played solo.

Fucked is when you actually have seen with your own eyes: a body lifeless, taken by it’s own hands, laying cold and motionless and being punished for it for most of your life growing up. That is what troubled is fueled by.

The human mind is a beauty at work. As though an abstract randomized burst of neurons linking to one another but creating a pattern observable if closely peeked. In seek of solitude and the company of society simultaneously. Parallels of paradox woven and interlocked.

We worry about the future;

We worry about reactions;

We worry about leaving our mobile phones at home;

We worry about leaving our wallets at home;

We worry about leaving our keys at home;

We worry about leaving the house;

We worry about where we parked the car;

We worry about where we put our car keys;

We worry about car accidents;

We worry about not filling enough fuel;

We worry about the yellow fuel  indicator going on and off and no gas station in sight;

We worry about what we eat;

We worry about obesity;

We worry about illnesses caused by obesity;

We worry about being late;

We worry about being neglected;

We worry about being monitored;

We worry about being rejected;

We worry about sin;

We worry  about grace;

We worry about not being thankful;

We worry about the presence of god;

We worry whether if there is a god;

We worry the earth will be hit by a giant meteor;

We worry the earth will be swallowed by the sun;

We worry about food additives;

We worry about cancer;

We worry about AIDS;

We worry about getting her pregnant;

We worry about marriage;

We worry about commitment;

We worry about infidelity;

We worry about being too nice;

We worry about being mean;

We worry about fitting in;

We worry about spending too much;

We worry about the shoes we wear;

We worry about the colour of our shirt;

We worry about which jeans to wear;

We worry about being over-dressed;

We worry about being under-dressed;

We worry about the latest trends;

We worry about what’s hip;

We worry about being hip;

We worry about bands we used to like becoming hip;

We worry about being proven wrong;

We worry about being stingy;

We worry about not making enough money;

We worry about our job security;

We worry about hating our job;

We worry about becoming mindless corporate whores;

We worry about what would happen if we quit our jobs;

We worry about what other people think;

We worry about worrying to much;

We worry about not worrying enough;

We worry about eventually dying and there is nothing we can do;

And we worry about the afterlife;

Or whether there is an afterlife;

Would we go to heaven;

Would we go to hell;

Would we go into limbo;

Would we feel our body rotting;

Would we taste the earth in our mouths;

Would we feel numb;

……………………………;

What would it feel like?

—————————————————————

A worry list, how cliché and unoriginal.

Ego booster or placebo? The feeling of adrenaline, loss of control, primal instincts kicking in, are adequate enough to topple fear and worry boosting the ego and consequent confidence. But is it real? Placebo projects has made me believe that psychological suggestion actually effects physical being. We are what we believe we are in compliment to who we were. Understanding these mechanics are the actual key to really balancing the option-chances/wants-needs that occur in life. True orgasm. Universal fulfillment.

Even the most paranoid and germ-phobic person would let go of fears and do it in a public bathroom stall because the mind numbs and falls into a state of frenzied crave dismissing all logic. To harvest this power is to paving the path to self control and – In extreme conditions – world domination. If we can actually arouse some sort of adrenaline driven, primal psychological state, and physical being by will alone, it would seem hard to find any form of obstacle. But then again there are emotions and other factors that steer us away from a totally unbiased state of sober self control. Being the basic mammals that we are, emotions still come as an integrated packet which we can not fully deny.

It is these emotions – and other factors – that acts as a barrier in reaching our full potential. That said, full potential is actually a myth, an illusion of, an ideal type of sorts. Melancholicly (this is not a word) speaking, in context to the aforementioned phallic confidence, when the physical pleasure is substituted by emotional wants¹ the understanding of domination is replaced by submission. For dominant types this results in extreme insecurities, because the imagination of dominance is clouded by the fear of subordination even though in reality they still are dominant. At this point the phallic confidence crumbles and leaves only a residue of itself. This residue is a complexion of fear, anxiety, self-pity, and paranoia rolled into one tiny atom, most likely hydrogen. Little effort is needed to trigger nuclear fusion.

The conclusion: simply, we all need to fill our needs every once in a while and gain confidence from crotch-oriented pleasures even the barriers acquired from emotional instability. This is human and necessary.

Yes, it is that shallow.

Image Stolen from http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2000-06-25/ if offended please contact admin (smiley here)

This made me smirk… An almost-smile.

This strip is very likely a satirical attempt from Scott Adams’ highly famous Dilbert to portray the manipulative schemes of the corporate world. But beyond that, this strip actually made me think about the considerations about challenging jobs versus non challenging jobs – non challenging jobs in this context are not specifically menial jobs but more in the areas of administrative tasks – in which i raise the question: are we willing to work in a non-challenging work environment even-though the pay is good enough? Most of us, most of the “normal” majority that is, would probably say yes, why the fuck wouldn’t we? Well, while most would, there still would be some that disagree. Their argument would be “it is a waste of talent”, to this i would probably agree, half-heartedly.

But as the french say: “cest la vie”, and that says a lot. We are forced by society to merge in with the others and become economic animals, to follow the herd into the capilistic heaven known by a large number of people as wealth. I myself have no problem with this, the first answer to “are you working for money or passion?” i answered money in a split second. But this answer does not go without reason. The problem with economic animals these days is that greed becomes the centre of play, we earn to consume products that are beyond our spending power which aren’t consumable or long lasting. Even if they are long lasting society dictates that it expires as it goes “out of fashion”. This is the “mass culture trap” we as the consumers are no longer the subject, we are no longer actors with free will, we are objects that can easily be manipulated into submission. Submission to consume; to buy things that you find no use of by the advertiser, brand consultants, and marketers who are paid by the companies that produce such products. I chose money, and my argument here — as defensive as it seems i still claim as valid — is because i can use this capital to fuel my passion. Whether it be arts, culinary, or plain leisure my income suits my wants and needs. More importantly this capital is used to create. Items of interest: production tools. It is still a form of consumerism, but at least constructive consumerism. A sort of buy to sell attitude, even though the selling part does not have to be true. Consumption as a lifestyle if not complemented by production is,well, dumb. Not dumb in a sense that those who sport this fashion are idiots, but more in a sense that it is counter productive.

Production here is not measured by financial gain, it is not profit in an economic sense. Production is producing something from raw materials, whether it is physical materials or abstract ideas. The profit is pleasure of creation and an ego boost catalysed by appreciation. In doing so, maybe, just maybe, we can escape the mass culture trap and start being our own producers instead of the dumbfounded shoppers that we already are.

*For further reading on “mass culture” search for Theodore Adorno’s The Dialectic of Enlightenment

Note: This post will probably be one of the few with a positive perspective.

Memories of personal accounts are often biased, we remember what we want to remember and obscure the details for the more unwanted incidents. Well of course everyone already knows about this, I assume. But this well known fact raises an assumption that there must be two sides of a certain memory, two polarities: a negative and a positive. I would’ve written down “good” and “bad” but these terms are a bit too subjective to be used here. Anyway, these to polarities aren’t of the memory itself, but the effect of the memory. A photograph of a not so long ago occurrence for example, awkwardly it produces a very not so obvious smile. This photograph, although in a way a reminder of heartbreak, had a quality that reminds of a very unique moment that is enjoyable. A memory irreplaceable and still un-replaced. This is the dualism of memories, how something that triggers despise triggers joy as well, simultaneously. Most of the time, especially under minimum logic, we fail to see these dualisms that occur. We become one sided. A narrow minded attempt to recalling past events. But rest assure these dualisms are real, and to realize it exists balances our biased logic and raises introspect. Amin.

It feels like, overlooking everything, being in the position of the panoptic, but on the other hand unable to see anything at all. Not because there is nothing in physical form, but because there is nothing of interest to see. Traveling by bus, seeing a lot of people, realizing there are none at all. People stop becoming people as they avoid eye contact, searching aimlessly for a blank spot on the floor or ceiling to focus on, trying to be as cold and closed as they possibly can be. We, of the city, are soulless. We are forced into individuality without the possibility of an individual character. Lemmings. A term some would use that i feel very much fits this phenomenon. Lemmings (the rodents not the video game) are well known to migrate in large groups, blindly following a leader; a trend setter, often to their deaths. Our leader, our trend setter, is fear. This fear is what we follow, a fear to be left out of the group, lonely and isolated. We are ourselves therefore we shall never be alone. We shall never be the same therefore we shall never be alone. We are isolated only in our minds therefore we shall never be alone.

We are similar in variation, by this fact, we will always relate to whatever is thrown at us. To conform is to be fake, to adhere to conformity is to die a non-fatal death. But then again, we enjoy dying, for dying leads to quenching our thirst. Our thirst for establishment. Establishment makes us happy. This is the formula and forever will be true. It comes in many forms: capital, art, goals, epiphanies, welfare. Establishment are these things and more. The popular paradigm is of course capital, for in the modern world capital may allow us to buy other establishments, fulfilling the need to obtain. The city of false hopes and overrated desires. The needs fulfilled temporarily, eternally. Ironic is that i am writing this from the 19th floor, myself contained in the rat race of capital fulfillment. Yet, again paradox interrupts, alas we have our options served and choices made up. We, of the city, the lemmings, the soulless, the blank floor searchers, are addicts of banality and boredom. But in the end we shall survive eventually, more or less intact.