On this day you are entitled to celebrate. That is, of course, provided you understand what you're celebrating and why. Furthermore, you owe it to yourself and your country to think about tyranny and oppression and consider whether or not the United States of America have grown to be an agent of those forces. I certainly can't and won't say if we as a nation have become an oppressive or liberating force in this world, but I refuse to spend a day devoted to the topic without taking a few minutes to reflect deeply on those ideas.

Anyone who uses the fourth of July as an excuse to have another meaningless party (but this time with US flags and red white and blue plates!) is no countryman of mine. You're not interested in the reasons for which this country was founded, and you certainly aren't going to be much help in keeping it as our founding fathers intended it to be. Like voting, freedom is a privilege we've fought very hard for. Even now there are many places in the world who don't enjoy the freedoms we take for granted. If you can't take a short amount of time from your day to honor the sacrifice and pain necessary to build this nation and to appreciate what freedom truly means, you are no countryman of mine. I wouldn't recite any pledge of allegiance with you, I wouldn't vote with you, I wouldn't debate US politics with you, and I certainly wouldn't fight to protect this country with you.

This is not the United States of Whatever. Don't bear colors for which you have no regard and don't boast the greatness of a nation for which you care little.

Charlie didn't get much U.S.O. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great R and R was cold rice, and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home - death, or victory.

Mike found a few minutes to entertain my ramblings the other day on the phone. I've been folding over the idea of the current business model that the successful businesses in the world follow right now. I'll give my opening statement of disgust, the problems, the cycle of exacerbation, the downfall, and the solution. I will say, on a related note, that I've realized many of the ideas I've come up with as solutions to issues and problems in the world are impractical with the current mindset that plagues the human race at this point in history - but that's a whole other post.

Anyway, let's get back on track.

I saw this website

http://liekkisusi.wordpress.com/soapbox/unicru-assessment-guide/

It evoked memories of when I applied for a job at Best Buy years ago in high school. Moreover, it really shocked me - or rather, I should say that it disgusted me. Like a flame under my mind, it started a convection current that mixed the ideas stewing in my head and brought them all to the top like rendered fat that I'd rather not include as part of my world. The issue concerns how our companies operate and whether or not morality and ethics have a place in the corporate world. Furthermore, whose ethics should the world follow? Of course, I would submit that following one's own ideals is ideal. However, since most people are often incapable of logical reasoning and being truthful even with themselves, it stands to reason that many people are unable to live morally sound lives using only their own rules and though processes. This, of course, is true, seeing as how we would not need laws, rules, and religious code if it were not. More to the point, I believe that the corporate world needs a serious a serious lesson in morality if it intends to survive at all in the coming future of our nation. And, obviously, it has proven itself incapable of coming up with its own set of rules by which to adhere.

Simply put, the corporate world has, for some time, devoid itself of any policies that are not enforced on it by the law and do nothing to help public image. In other words, if it's not illegal and nobody cares if it happens then it is sound corporate practice. The issue with that train of thought is that people don't necessarily know what is good and what is hurtful - this idea relates to the cycle I mentioned earlier, but I'll get to that in a moment. What caused this phenomenon? Surely the U.S. has had its share of philanthropists who are also captains of industry. Yet, a dangerous, new line of thought has become frighteningly popular among people in the U.S. That line of thinking is something like "who cares about tomorrow?" Tomorrow in this sense refers to the future in many senses including the future that is generally unrelated to the position of the speaker. Generally this includes the time after one's career, the time after one's death, and one's progeny. Adding to the problem is the increasing lack of regard for one's own offspring or the complete lack of desire to reproduce at all. Needless to say, this leads to a viewpoint in business ethics that equates to the term "like there's no tomorrow."

Along this line of thinking (or more accurately, lack thereof) very unsound business practices have been observed. Many employees find themselves without jobs after years of work and loyalty. Loyalty has no place in this zero-sum game played by executives and CEOs. Indeed, such phenomenon as off shore money laundering has been known to take place. Even loyalty to one's own country seems taboo among people who share this line of thought. Surely, then, if there can be no loyalty even to one's own country, there can be no loyalty to one's community or people. Companies may hold annual fund raisers or similar PR ploys to try and maintain their public image, but this slight of hand attempt merely confuses the casual onlooker and convinces them that no foul play is involved.

But then again, a company is all about profit, right? Why should a company exist if not to make a profit?

The former statement is perhaps the biggest problem facing our nation's economy right now. The problem with that line of thinking is that it removes the human element from the business. I assume that a very morally educated person will have already noticed the lack of the human element in the thought processes already presented, but this misconception about the reason for which we work is the most obvious. When a company becomes nothing more than a tool that transcends dreams and ideals, it becomes more machine-like than human-like in nature. The purpose of any organization should follow some sort of ideal. When a business is based on an ideal and reason, it allows the people within the company to work for a purpose: perhaps the most powerful motivating factor to humanity. It also allows workers to take pride in their work, knowing that their work is going to something greater than lining pockets with money. Money becomes far less important when one has a reason to exist beyond "stuff," but maybe I'm straying a bit far from the constitution on this one.

Back on topic, another pitfall here is the complete lack of accountability in businesses. The U.S. believes that it needs to have relaxed corporate policies in order to keep business from leaving, but that is a likely cause for a lot of this trouble. By allowing the corporation to exist in its current manifestation, we have allowed liability to fall on an arbitrary idea of an organization. However, all organizations are made of people, and people need to be held accountable for their actions.

We, as a world, don't really understand this problem yet because it's a product of globalization. Globalization is a new phenomenon that is allowing companies to become more powerful than nations. In this sort of neo-imperialist expansion of companies, people around the world are exploited inequitably. The entire venture is very dangerous. The government doesn't legally see companies this large as a monopoly, but these companies can more powerful and more devastating than any monopoly could. The government does not stop these companies from doing dealings in countries where work laws we have in place in the U.S. don't exist. There is no penalty for companies exporting their labor or dealing with countries who participate in child labor or lax working conditions. In fact, the World Trade Organization forbids us from doing such things.

I've only touched on the problems surrounding our system of companies and corporations, and yet we have the power to change things - sort of. We can do our best to eschew products from companies who don't follow basic moral guidelines and who don't treat their workers fairly, but it's hard to discriminate and it's often hard to tell where one's products come from. Furthermore, most people simply don't care. Of course, the apathy indirectly affects their life, but most people are too short sighted to understand interconnectivity and many others refuse to acknowledge its effect on them. It's all the blanket.

The solution? Well, we can change the way everyone thinks... but I know that even though I'm going to spend my entire life trying to do just that, it will take a long time and a lot of misery in order for the world to understand what we're doing wrong.

If this age of globalization is going to continue for humanity we need a stronger world government.

Also we need to start teaching ethics to our children (note: write this post)

What is it with the internet population? Why are the vast majority of internet people such insufferable assholes? Everyone whines and complains about every little thing and takes any small opportunity to jump down someone's throat. I never really cared or noticed when I was younger, but I just can't understand why there's so much hate and cruelty in the minds of so many people.

Here's a simple test: go to any forum on the internet, start a thread about how you are new and don't know what's going on, and I guarantee you will be made fun of.

I've been a part of multiple internet communities since I was young so I never really questioned it, but it's just really sad how people get a sense of superiority and pride from bashing people on the internet. I wonder if the same feelings carry over to their every day interactions. Could the biggest internet trolls be the biggest douche bags in real life? Probably. A better question is what's wrong with them psychologically that gives them so much satisfaction from being a complete asshole? Is that real human nature? If people had no consequences for their actions in real life like they did on the internet, would they be the huge piles of shit that they are on the net? Too bad I'm not going into psychology, because this is a pretty good question.

Remember all of that antitrust business that Microsoft had back in the late 90s? I was thinking about that today and the truth of the matter is that Microsoft was hardly to blame. Furthermore, they shouldn't have been prosecuted over that IE vs. Netscape business. Why? Because Netscape wasn't any different than IE. If you look at the market for web browsers now, nobody uses IE anymore because it's such a piece of shit.

I guess the lesson here is that where Netscape could have evolved, and tried to improve their product with things like tabbed browsing and smart history, they just chose to invest all of their resources in complaining. After all, why shouldn't Microsoft ship their OS with their browser? If Netscape really had a superior product, people would want to get it anyway. Case in point: Firefox.

Although Firefox has had all of its security holes poked through now so I don't use it anymore, but that's beside the point.

I just watched that movie, The Pirates of Silicon Valley - you know, the one about the origin of the personal computer - and first of all, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are two huge douche bags. Second of all, those guys started with absolutely nothing. They went up against IBM, Xerox, and all the other big IT guys with nothing but a few people and won. The reason they won is because they were innovators and they had a superior product. It just makes me think about how much talent and creativity really matters in the competitive market. Millions of dollars in research and development can't hold a candle to Steve Wozniak's vision for a personal computer. If you don't know, Steve Wozniak is basically the father of the personal computer - Gates and Jobs built off of him and stole everything else.

The point is that you can't feel helpless or held down in this country; you just need a great idea.

It's getting harder to figure out what really matters and what doesn't. I don't see it as clearly as I once did. I feel like both everything and nothing matters at the same time.

How can soothingness matter if everything is meaningless?

Less than 5% of the cosmos is composed of the same elements that compose human life.

>>> What does that matter?

You should be asking these questions!

I need to watch that movie.

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I don't remember what I wrote last night but I was really tired and just sort of throwing ideas out on paper. I think I was trying to make an analysis about social hierarchy and its impact on the average person.

I'll read that and try to organize it into something coherent.

The biggest downfall of our society is the worship of that which is easy.

It's because we worship that which is easy, we worship that which is stupid.

A conspiracy to keep the masses passive? Nah, not my style of thinking.

A result of a country without morals.

People bring up arguments like "no morality exists without religion." That's a fallacy.

Both the religious and anti-religious movement have collapsed morally. The anti-religious movement became amoral as a counterculture and the religious movement became amoral trying to "fight the heathens" so to speak. Both are wrong. Both should disappear.

A new movement of thought and morality could arise, but over these long years I have yet to think of a solution to the issue of introduction. One cannot inform, convince, or trick someone into morality - I've tried them all. Morality comes as the result of a revelation and even recreating the perfect circumstances for such a revelation is insufficient. The individual must want to change and must be willing to accept it.

It's not easy and so it won't work.

How do we change a country to change its values? Even though the current system has failed us so utterly in the fields of politics, economics, and education, no change has been called for - it's too hard. How can you inspire a generation in which so few members truly seek knowledge and truth? Those who do feel outcast by a society that condemns their very nature.

We all saw the same movies growing up but it would seem that very few of us took to heart the lessons that those movies attempted to teach. I always wonder if the amoral people I meet saw Aladdin and said "Jafar is a pretty awesome guy."

I always remember the people from my grade school years who struck a nerve with me. They were considered the best because of their arrogance and exclusivity. Who could blame any of us for thinking so at that time? When you don't know who you are or what matters in life what choice do you have but to take things at face value? Surely those people must be the best because everyone else seems to think so. I know I didn't have the self esteem to believe I was the best, so surely they knew something I didn't. I know now that to hold that much awe and respect and to abuse it is wrong. But then again, one can hardly blame children for such a thing. But how about now? Can we blame them for living a shallow life of drugs and clubbing? Sure we can be considered adults, but they were never given the chance to grow up. Not really, anyway. Having the responsibilities of financial independence and a family thrust upon you by life doesn't make one an adult or mature - it just demonstrates the incredible ability of life to adapt to its environment.

Nevertheless, to think of those people as unfortunate is incorrect. Well, it's correct, but no more so than to think that way of the average person. The average person still hasn't yet (and will probably never) realize the facade of the people who pride themselves on shallowness and exclusivity. In fact, the average person is the person upon whom we should take pity. You see, the average person ends up working for those they assume superior. And this is not a result of talent or even confidence - this is a result of a lifetime of advantage taking. Because, you see, when you think yourself superior to those around you, there is no reason not to take full advantage of and abuse your peers. Those same peers who follow the definition of the status quo as defined by "good" to be a product arrogance and exclusivity - the road to wealth and happiness in America. And thus, the arrogant are just because the people give them the power to decide what is right. The people don't know what is good, and those who do have a lifetime of smashed confidence to keep them at bay.

What is easy and what is right.

Pick one.

As I write this I realize that this is probably the natural order of things - and things in nature have probably always been this way. But we, as a species, are beyond that. There's not much natural about us left. We spend millions of dollars to ensure that nature does not take our life before we are ready. 90% of all health care costs in the US are spent on people in the last six months of their life. It seems random but it's all related. It's all the blanket.

There is not a single thing in this world that is not related. I know that not everyone can see it as it appears in my mind - most of that is because my mind is organized like my room: spread out all over the place but I know where things are and where they all belong. But if a stranger came in and looked around they wouldn't see a method. They would think nothing is in its "place." They just can't understand that everything is exactly where it's supposed to be - the place I put it because at the time I believed it would be the best place for it to go. Short term planning leads to long term failures doesn't apply to me and my room. Things needed to be the way they were at the time in order to make sure that the machine could function properly. The machine being me.

Nothing has changed. I've always connected seemingly random things in this way, but I was too young to make any sense of it. I've always though that my subconscious brain was a genius and my conscious brain was a fool. But my conscious brain is the moral brain, and without it I would run amok. End of line.

I have most of the pieces, but I still can't fit the puzzle together. Perhaps I never will.

'nuff said

I have decided after over a year of deliberation that the song I find most enjoyable on Justice's debut album, †, is Let There Be Light. The rest of this entry will be dedicated to my attempt at qualifying my feelings on the matter.

First there's the opening - although it's the interlude from Genesis, it sort of thrusts you into the world of Let There Be Light wildly and without regard for your safety. The opening says to me "It's going to get rough henceforth, so you had better pick up the beat now."

Then it hits you: The Light. Beams of varying wavelengths of light bombard you with photons from every corner of the universe. These photons have have taken millions of years to reach your eyes to appear as stars, and they want you to see what their journey was like.

Then, as if to demonstrate that it's unimpressed by The Light's feeble journey, The Earth brings in a staggering base line.

The two forces fight for supremacy and you can hear the clashes of the musical battle for supremacy as the fight continues.

Then, even after warning you of the intensity of the upcoming battle, the beat falls silent with The Earth as if it was in awe of the events that have transpired.

The light then thinks it has won as silence falls upon the earth, but it was but a ploy. The Earth retaliates with renewed strength and vigor.

Yet, just when it seems as though no end is in sight and the two are doomed to annihilate each other in their fury, the sun speaks.

Peace falls upon the earth as the life giving Sun shows how planet and light can live in harmony together.

God is in his heaven, creation can commence, and the radio starts to tune into the human voice - a voice whose power comes from dance.

I feel the need to express that I don't do drugs at this point. I just... daydream a lot.

Oh standard RPGs, how I've missed you.
All of the gimmicky battle systems in the world just don't match a well made turn based one.

Top 10 Reasons why Sean Wozhockey Will be a Professional Wrestler:
10: Buff Hardpeck
9: Unique "Math Nerd" Persona
8: Persona 4
7: Butch Deadlift
6: Jacks off with brillo pads
5: Anger management issues
4: Hobbies include Cat Fisting
3: Practices "wrestling" with Tom on a nightly basis
2: Bold Bigflanks
1: Likes dudes

riddle:

what has 1000 tentacles with a bunch of screaming crying japanese girls at the end of them?

answer:

tentacle monster

If the events of our lives cannot be contributed to fate, then by what means? Causality? Choice?

What's true is that we often have little or no control over many situations in which we find ourselves. Our tests as human beings are the choices we make in those scenarios. However, we often find that living and coexisting with other people is more difficult and complicated than we like to think it is, and many of us often make poor decisions.

These ideas, I believe, are an inevitable part of the human condition. That is to say that we will A) Be put into situations over which we have no control B) Will be forced to make difficult decisions and C) Will make mistakes.

That being said however, I believe that the important part of this condition lies in two ideas. First, very few humans often make the correct decisions, and no person of youth can reasonably be expected to live a life of meaning without making poor choices. After all, how are we to learn if we are not allowed to make mistakes? Second, I believe that regardless of the path chosen, the reason for ones chosen path is often as important as the path itself. For example, Ozymandias from Watchmen is a deplorable character for his lack of respect for human life. Yet, he (supposedly) had altruistic intentions in terms of keeping the world safe from itself. He is a very difficult character to classify and like/dislike because he does terrible things for good reasons, and he seems as if he wants to be god. That sort of leads me to the idea of "who are you to think you have the right to do this?" I've had to face that question in the past and there really isn't any good answer. Only history books decide who had the right and who didn't, but in general we don't question people like Alexander the great by saying he unjustly conquered the world. While that is probably true and reflected the feelings of the people of that era, nobody seems to care now whether or not he was justified in doing what he did.

Thus, the only reasonable answer I could come up with was intent. Were your actions justified? It's hard to tell and hindsight is 20/20. Did you have good intentions?

Well... yeah, I really did.

I also learned that sitting alone in your room for a month is a good way to drive yourself insane and to have all of the crazy things you think up to go completely unchallenged. In general, it's a good idea to bounce ideas off of other people before you do anything serious. Or else you might start thinking that fantasy is reality and the way things happen on TV reflects real life.

It does not.

CYBIDWHTS



I watch this every morning while drinking six raw eggs and working out with Richard Simmons.

There were two outcomes I would have been happy with.

This is the one that I actually wanted to come to pass - which makes me an asshole.

I still have no idea how I could have handled things better other than sitting on my hands.

Seacrest out

I want to chew broken glass
I want to cover myself in mud and fight a predator
I want a scar big enough to make a child cry
I want to run until my veins pop and my heart pumps battery acid

I don't want to play crappy board games that girls think are cute to try and be popular.
You know who I'm talking about.

I'm sick of this metrosexual transformation. You think because you watch football on TV that it's OK when you get a manicure? You think playing basketball means that you're allowed to cry your eyes out when you get a scuff on your shoe?

Here's a movie I'm going to make:
A lumberjack lives in the woods with his woman. One day a bear tries to eat his woman and so he crushes its skull with his bare hands. The end.

Like it? It's gonna be called "Comb your beard, I don't want to hear that shit" and Henry and Sean can go pick out curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond while I ride to the premier on my chopper.

Excuse me while I rent this awesome looking western: Paint your Wagon

Let's say life had stats. I don't mean like statistics that one uses in analysis; I mean like numbers that correspond to values that comprise a human's characteristics. Now, if all things had stats, and this held true for personality traits, the one stat worth stacking the most would be Truth. The hardest thing to see about the truth is how great it is. We often forget this because we're so busy hiding the truth from our friends, our family, our acquaintances, and our neighbors that it becomes so easy to forget why this aspect of our lives is important. Lies we tell to people we trust with our essences become truths because we actually begin to convince ourselves that these things happened.

But that's not what happened. That's not fact. That's not history.

I would rather have my heart broken a thousand times over than be lied to. Why? Why should you care so much about the truth if it will only cause pain and unhappiness? Because it never does. You might think somewhere in your shortsightedness that it does, but it never causes true pain or true unhappiness. True unhappiness is living a lie. True unhappiness is going through your life having convinced yourself something you want to be true or hope to be true is, in fact, true when it is nothing more than a facade.

You'll never know yourself and you'll never know anyone without truth. And lies beget more lies until you no longer care about the truth and your lies become the only method by which you can accept another person. Any relationship built upon lies is not a relationship worth having. And if you can't be honest with someone about everything, then you'll never understand or know each other. You'll never share a bond with someone that carves its name into the ages.

Wouldn't you feel better if you lived in a world where you could say the things you keep buried inside and not have to feel sad, ashamed, or fearful? Where people don't judge you for mistakes you made so you can continue with your life and not bury your past deep inside. If you don't know where you've come from, it's hard to know where you're going.

We have this one life and it's so short. It's nothing but breeze on a summer day. It's a flash of cosmic radiation. It's the only thing we have. When you bury your feelings inside and forget the lessons you've learned by lying to yourself, all you're doing is wasting that one life. The few years we have will be for naught if you're so focused on keeping up appearances.

Someone asked me how I write these entries one time. All I do is look in the deepest, darkest parts of my soul and tear at the things that disgust me about myself. This is the only kind of cleaning at which I have any success, and I'm ashamed to say that I have little more than I do with cleaning my room. But I'm done blaming other people when I was too cowardly to believe in the truth. A real man takes responsibility for his actions. A real man bares the truth on his chest and lets the world stare.

Underhanded tactics don't become me. I should have left them behind with everything else I vowed to throw away. All I can do now is face forward embracing my rhetoric that gives me +1000 to truth saying.

It makes me wonder how many failures I've endured because of my inability to be honest. Damn society for robbing us of our divinity.