I watched a show on sky one tonight about how to survive if terrorists attack a city near you with nuclear weapons. The guy was piling mattresses and pillows on top of some doors to protect himself from fallout radiation. Now, I’m no expert, but I have a hard time believing that a mattress could stop anything. It’s only some fabric, springs and air.
The guy who planted the bomb was a slightly-brown man in a suit. Message: it could be any of them!
Gimme a break.
I got myself hooked on webcomics recently. I thought it might be nice to share my addiction, and in honour of my recent changing-of-sides, here’s some OS zealotry based humour:
Ctrl-alt-del on…
Ctrl-alt-del guest-strip on AppleGeeks
XP or 2000?
Windows everywhere
AppleGeeks don’t seem to do the whole OS zealotry thang, but here’s a couple of theirs anyway:
I really like this comic. There’s a lot of cultural references I don’t understand, and sometimes it’s just bizarre, but overall it’s very interesting. It certainly gives me a better idea of what this postmodern thingy is all about.
These images come to you courtesy of the “select contiguous regions” tool, which I didn’t really like before, but now don’t think I’d be able to live without.
I need to create an image library, because this isn’t what I had in mind as a centrepiece.
The strange thing is, I agree wholeheartedly with many of the conclusions that a rejection of absolute morality lead you to, although you seem to think that they are somewhat ridiculous.
Slavery is a perfect example. I happen to think slavery is wrong, not because some ineffable higher power tells me so, but because it causes suffering to other human beings. However, I do not hold that that judgement is in any way absolute. If the prevailing opinion of society was that slavery was a positive thing, that the suffering of a mass of people for the benefit of another mass of people was acceptable, or even desirable, what good would appealing to absolutes or gods do me?
And there we have a hint of Christianity’s origins. At the time of Jesus, the Roman Empire was supported by a huge mass of slaves. Neither the Roman religion nor Judaism had anything in particular to say against this, as far as I know (I’m a little unsure of the details here). Now, I’m sure not all the jews were slaves, but they were an oppressed people, servile to the empire. Unfortunately for them, the morals that would have condemned slavery and their condition of oppression as wrong simply did not exist. Those “absolutes” were not yet absolute. Christian morality, then, is simply a set of ideas that evolved out of social and historical circumstance as a reaction against the dominant ideology of the time.
The question of historical right and wrong is largely a moot point in any case. The fact of the matter is that slavery, both in terms of the slave-based empires of antiquity and more recently on the American continent, were necessary stages in the evolution of civilization. Todays slavery is an unfortunate product of the capitalist system, another necessary step in that evolution. Socialism is the next step. Capitalism is not, and does not have to be absolutely wrong and socialism absolutely right for the next step to be taken. Is fascism wrong? I think so. Absolutely? No. Fascism arose as a reaction against the failed social revolutions that took place in Europe at the time. Until it became a threat to the capitalist classes in other countries, it was applauded by them. Look at US imperialism, where morality has become a tool to manipulate people. Zionism is actively supported by the US government. Baathist oppression and brutality in Iraq was ignored until it became clear that Saddam Hussein wasn’t going to play ball. They then embarked on a genocide campaign of their own by systematically bombing Iraqi water supplies, which couldn’t be repaired due to UN sanctions. Now they’re going all out to impose American “freedom” on part of the muslim world, a people with an entirely different set of “absolutes”. Many people support this. My opinion differs from theirs, but they aren’t wrong in an absolute sense.
But maybe I’m getting a little side-tracked. I’m not great at explaining what I think.
I agree that happiness isn’t a great basis for morality, but many people do judge right and wrong on this basis. So what? Why are you looking for some universal way for society to decide an absolute moral code? Isn’t that gods job? And what good would such a universal code do, god-given or not? Indeed, what good does the christian moral code do in our society? What was that figure, 87% i think, of the Irish population consider themselves catholics. So I would assume that it is the catholic moral code that would be taken as “absolute” in this particular corner of the world, despite the myriad of other moral codes represented by the other 13%. So who is responsible for our culture of materialism, violence and idol worship? These are all things deemed wrong by catholicism.
Anyway, it is the chaotic and uncertain mess that you suggest in your last paragraph. Hobo-bashing maybe be largely considered wrong, but allowing people to go without shelter seems to be perfectly acceptable. This is not because any higher power, individual or group, or society as a whole sat down and reasoned out that that was how it was going to be. It’s just the consensus. Yesterdays virtue is todays sin, and tomorrow there will be a new consensus. No god or overarching moral code is going to change that.
A few months ago I wandered into Waterstones, penniless, just to kill some time, and I happened across a selection of books by one Haruki Murakami of Japan. The last book by an Asian author I read was Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui, and it was a steaming pile of dog faeces, it’s popularity driven only by it’s controversy. So I was on the lookout, because I like reading literature from around the world. I was particularly drawn to The Elephant Vanishes, because I was thinking at the time that I should really read more short stories too. I have bought it since (3 for 2! I also got Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell and Jennifer Government by Max Barry (just because)). However, until that fateful, penniless day, I had never heard of the guy.
In a prime example of how the universe conspires to fuck with my mind, I have been hearing his name fucking everywhere since. I’ve seen his name mentioned 6 or 7 times in the last hour, and even been reading the weblog of a guy who designed a cover for The Elephant Vanishes. I suspect I may have been subject to the influence of forces beyond my control when I “discovered” him…
I still haven’t read the book though. It better be good now after all this buildup.
It’s all gone pear-shaped. Life could not be more fucked up than it is right now. And yet… I suspect that how great it was recently was just an illusion. No, that’s not true. It’s been real. Fucked up. Painful. Intense. But real. Maybe I even learned something.
Ha ha, I’m not going to explain. Suckers.
I’m fighting sleep right now. When it gets to 7:15 and you’ve to be up by 7:45 to get ready for your second programming lecture of the year, there’s really no point. On the other hand, I already know what it’s going to be about. I already understand the concepts of objects and classes (yawn).
Oh goodnight.
It’s been a while. I was busy with college. Christmas was shit. New years was worse. Soon I’ll be back in Cork though, and everything will be ok… Strange how it feels like home. I don’t feel like I can do anything in Galway. I don’t do much of interest in Cork, but the possibilities are there.
My projects for the new year include quitting smoking (lies, all lies), getting a decent job that’s not too much work, saving for the summer and connecting to the Cork wireless network. They’re all going to be quite tricky. I also get to set up linux on my girlfriends new computer and teach her how to use it. That one will be fun and easy. If I actually do quit smoking I might join the orienteering club in the college as well. I used to enjoy that. I’d even go so far as to say I miss it.
Ah yes, starting to feel better again already. Tomorrow I’ll be back in Cork, Tuesday I’ll see my girlfriend and then I’ll be back on track. This year might even turn out ok.
I didn’t have experience, I had education. Other people lived, I was processed. Ok, ok, I exaggerate. Life is a wonderful happy shiny thing.
Sometimes life gets in the way of computers. Periodically I lock myself in my room for a month and do nothing but tinker with my computers. I only emerge when I get really stuck on something, get fed up, or start thinking that maybe I should be doing something better with my time. I enjoy it, despite the bleary eyes and throbbing head, despite not being able to relate to anybody afterwards, I just wish I had something useful and productive I could actually do with my skills.
I still have to do it though, even if I never achieve anything with it. I have to reassure myself that there’s something, one tiny little thing in this world that I have a hope of understanding. It’s like a drug the way it alters my conciousness and personality. The world melts away. Politics don’t matter. Friends don’t matter. Life doesn’t matter. When I wrote BASIC I used to dream in code. Maybe this is the escape I’m always trying to find somewhere else…
Writing has a similar, but subtley different effect on me. When I’m messing with computers, all my problems and depressing thoughts kind of fade into the background, but when I’m done they come back with a vengeance. When I write, I’m letting the shit out, so I can move on. It gives me the same feeling, but for a different reason. That must be why I’m such a damn perfectionist and never actually write anything, if I get it wrong it’ll ruin everything.
I think I need both.
What was I thinking? Nah, I kinda like it actually. At least it’s different. I was getting sick of that pastel shit.
I’m not cut out for constant activity, or even constant mental effort. I need a lot of down time, which I usually fill with movies and drinking. I don’t have a VCR in my apartment though, so I end up watching shit TV. It’s extremely depressing.
My soul is worth £14582. 62% of people have a purer soul than me. Apparently.
When I was drunk last night I had a conversation with my friends girlfriend about poetry. She said she’d critique some for me, if I write it on a sheet of paper and pass it to her next time I see her. I think I was annoying her. I don’t know which ones I’m going to pick anyway, so I probably won’t bother. Sometimes I love my stuff, but the moment I consider showing somebody every word turns to shit. Liquid shit. Verbal diahrea! (How the hell do you spell that?)
I know, I’m gross.
So I might as well stick some up here just to get it out there and ease my mind. It’s not like anybody’s going to read it, but at least it’ll be in the public domain.
This Place, by Kevin Houlihan
This place-
It’s sullen streets
Slick with the venom
Of unbanished snakes,
Teeming with vermin
And cancer’s disease
And nowhere to run;
It’s infected me.
I was going to post another one, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head.
I met my mentor today. He seems pretty cool. I should have asked him more stuff about the computers on campus and stuff.
Gotta run take a tour!
I noticed as I was writing an email to my sis a while ago that my writing style varies drastically depending on who I’m writing to. When I write to her I’m witty (possibly) and full of shit, and wierd wierd language. It’s somewhat similar for another group of people, but somewhat toned down, and then anybody else I’m totally serious. I think the middle one is best and I should write like that always, but it just doesn’t come naturally, or at all, like it does with my sister. Bizarre.
Sometimes it seems like I live in a very oppressive society. I am wary of any form of public self-expression, either in speech or in writing, because I fear ridicule. Could this be a common occurence? Is it why the most succesful Irish writers have to go abroad to realise their full potential?
I have great ideas, and then as soon as I have a pen in my hand I start to worry. How will this be percieved? By friends, family, strangers on the street. The only time I let myself go is when I write something that I have no intention of ever sharing. Even then, I am somewhat inhibited.
I thought that a blog might help me somewhat. Writing in a public forum composed primarily of non-Irish people that I don’t know seemed like just what I needed. But still, when I find the time to blog (and I never make it my first priority), all I can think about are the insignificant details of my relatively boring life. It’s very strange considering only a few “real world” people know about this site, and I don’t think any of them are judgemental. I should be able to reach the same standard of content and style that I achieve in my paper journal, maybe with a bit more entertainment value, but there’s still something holding me back.
I guess I’m just insecure.
I think it’s time I spruced this site up a bit. Y’know, colours, photos, animations, flash, javascripts, music, cookies , that sort of thing…
No, I’ll post a few photos from Metallica whenever my sister gets them developed, and I’ll change the colours and layout and add links when I learn about html and css, which hopefully will be soon enough.
