So, yes as I'm sure everyone would be aware of Prince William and Kate Middleton were married today, apparently witnessed by 2 billion worldwide, and of course, cost altogether £20 million. Yay! Hooray! We have a new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! Isn't that great!? Yeah, you might've guesssed I don't really care if those two are married. One, Prince William is not the first in line to throne, anyway. Two, I don't really care that much for the concept of marriage, and finally Three: they're not really going to do anything for me personally. However, I did spend time travelling across London to Westminster just for the heck of it. But what do I see but Union Jacks everywhere? It. Was. Ridiculous. However, Central London did seem incredibly fun. Wish I had my vid cam at the time. Although allow me to get a few things straight:
1: Barack Obama (or whatever world leader you were griping about) wasn't invited because the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is NOT a state wedding (and yet, we blew £20 million over it), so it only allows for the leaders of countries of the Commonwealth to come.
2. It isn't really a "Cinderella wedding story" as people like to paint it as. Well, I guess it is if you saw it as "royal marries non-noble". Yes, Kate Middleton is not an aristocrat. But she is most definitely "nouveau-riche". Her parents own Party Pieces, which has an estimated worth of £30 million. She in 2006, was also an accessory buyer for the clothing chain Jigsaw. She's about as far from a peasant as you can get. The fact of the matter is that she is the 11th generation of princesses, by marriage.
3. Americans, you outta piss off. No joke. You go out of your way to celebrate the 4th July (Independence Day) and gloat how much better you are than the rest of the world, especially the limey, crooked-teeth Brits. But when one of our sweet princes gets married, I hear some insipid talking head for the CBS declaring that the Americans have such profound interest because "We want what you have. We never had royals to look up to, and be proud". Tell me, then, what is the point of you celebrating Independence Day, then? A holiday where you gloat over sticking to George III of the United Kingdom, and when one of his descendants get married, you're all googly-eyed. Well, I'll tell you what, if it was up to me, I'd say: "You want the royals so badly? You can have them." Seriously, what are they there for anymore? The army?
Actually, I might take that back.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Kanye West Wins O Music Awards (Or MTV Is Retarded...)
So, it's that time of the month again. I get increasingly reluctant to do these posts, but a promise is a promise. So what tedious news surrounding my favourite rapper? Well, apparently Mr. West has won a music award that I've never heard before, nor have a flying fuck about called the O Music Awards. Apparently it's the only award ceremony in which he can't interrupt the acceptance speech...as he himself is the winner. Apparently Kanye West has received a nomination for "Best Tweets", an award that they apparently just made up. That's the thing about Twitter: you have to have to little to say, or mention something either briefly or of nominal importance to anyone to fit 140 characters in. It's not all that appealing to me. Probably need to use it more. However, if Kanye West of all people, out of all the artists in the music industry making hits this year, has something of the best tweets, then it says a lot about how interesting and/or insightful our internet-savvy musicians are. Which is to say "not very". Oh, that's right...He was the only nominee there wasn't he? Well, I for one, am proud of Kanye for winning an award that I never heard, much less gave a fuck of, and MTV made the right choice. I mean, who else than top tweets such as this:
And as for MTV, I'd never thought I'd see the day that you'd give awards for music stars on something that isn't music. But you've outdone yourselves haven't you? As you persist in this moronic celebuton nonsense, you might as well drop the "M" from your network. You have become E!-lite. You guys have stopped giving two shits about music whatsoever, and it has become nothing more than a commodity, which you merely make music awards out of tradition. You've stopped giving a fuck ages ago. And that's why you're network is garbage. I won't even ask you next time to actually give, Kanye, no, any music artist, an award beased on the music they produce, not stupid ass tweets, since you guys have ceased giving a fuck a long time ago.Readers, hold on your books tight because this will be a bumpy ride to the imminent Idiocracy!
Monday, 25 April 2011
Satya Sai Baba Can't Save Himself From Death
BTW, This is not me laughing at this man's death (he lived a rather full life after all, for want of a better word). This is me finally calling him out on his bullshit.
On every uncomfortable and pathetic Sunday that I accompany my family to get their "Jesus High", I often meet up with a group of Hindus with their own little shed to do their worshiping. They were pretty pleasant people, perhaps much moreso then the congregation. If anything, I only had one "flaw" of sorts with the group: They are Satya Sai Baba devotees.
Yesterday, on 24th April Satya Sai Baba passed away at the age of 84. So rather than talk at ridiculous length on the nonsense of typical holiday hijacking in the name of Jesus, by the world's biggest religion, I've finally around to talk about the man who claimed he was an avatar of Shiva and Shakti. Will I shed tears like I did in my previous post about the late Elisabeth Sladen? No. Do I have any nice things to say of him? Not really. Do I regret that I had not done this post sooner? Well, like most things in life, the answer is not straight-forward. If anything, Satya Sai Baba was proof that with enough charisma, you can persuade anyone that you can do anything or are far more unique than anybody on the planet. Even when it is blatantly, and obviously, not true. He was also proof that Westerners in the apparent disillusionment of the perceived authoritative qualities in Judo-Christian traditions, and newfound love of the Eastern religions, will mindlessly fall in love with a man purporting to be a gateway to spiritual enlightenment. Even when this man is 1. like every other siddhi that came and went and 2. is just as authoritarian as any pastor, priest, deacon etc. would be. And to bring my point home, he even for a short while managed to grab the attention of The Beatles, until they wisened up a bit.
So who is Satya Sai Baba? Born as Sathyanarayana Raju on the 23 November 1926, at the age of 13, he claimed to his parents that he suddenly realised that he was an avatar, specifically the Sai Baba of Shirdi reborn. This was an interesting choice since the Sai Baba of Shirdi was respected amongst Sufi Muslims and Advaita Vedanta Hindus alike, so you see basically where this is getting to. His mother claimed that he was an "immaculate conception" akin of Jesus Christ, another "god-man" that he would liken himself with. To properly respond to the alleged "immaculate conception" claim made by his mother, I have this brief clip on The Princess Bride that readers can watch:
He then would later lead an organisation which over the period of his life would grow to around 6 to 100 million. His doctrine claimed that there is no true path to God, so you can choose the religions of your choice and still follow him. It also had the occasional "Be nice to people, life is valuable, don't do any improper sexual actions, yada, yada, yada..." stuff that I hear ad nauseum, that somehow constitutes as proof that he's a good guy, and built dozens of schools and universities in his name. Of course by this reasoning, with the latter, I could argue that Josef Stalin is the greatest humanitarian ever and world leader for all time because his regime had universal healthcare, and 90% of the whole Soviet Union literate. How this would justify 20 million people dying under his regime, I have no idea.
A key part of Sai Baba's influence comes from his purported miracles, most commonly, the materialisation of vibuti, or holy ash, amongst other things like necklaces, watches, rings etc. One of my favourite ones is when he supposedly materialises a small orb of gold from his mouth. The fact that people seem to honestly fall for his sleight-of-hand tricks makes it all the more sadder, especially when truly laughable excuses like, "His miracles are not a key part of his movement", or "You didn't provide sufficient evidence that he is not who he claims he is" or even, "science works in the realm of the physical, Sai Baba deals with the supernatural" are put forward to his critics (The last one was a claim verbatim that Satya Sai Baba made himself). Even when the responses are 1. "Well his teachings don't seem to be either", 2. "Yes, we did. You're just so caught around the charisma of this man, and was legitimately convinced by his parlour tricks, that you'll deny any evidence to the contrary" and 3, "Well, explain his 'supernatural' abilities look extraordinarily similar to sleight-of-hand manoeuvrings? Is the boundary between the natural and the supernatural really that thin?"
At some point, an organisation in India known as the "Committee to Investigate Miracles and Other Verifiable Superstitions", headed by Hosur Narasimhaiah (or simply H. Narasimhaiah), Indian physicist, educator freedom fighter, translator (of Mohandas Gandhi's work), and rationalist; approached Sai Baba to verify whether he could really materialise holy ash and gold, and surprise, surprise; under scientific scrutiny, he simply ignored his request three times, and pretended that somehow, Narasimhaiah's methods were suspect. Seriously, what does a god-man, have to fear from a little scientific test, which would easily fall apart if said god-man really could materialise objects from nothing, make his face appear on the moon, and was really omnipotent? Oh, that's right...He wasn't one, was he?
There was also the child abuse allegations that were made against him. Now, I would normally put those allegations aside for a moment and deal with simply the propagation of superstition. However, these allegations are widespread. In fact, these is an entire website dedicated to claims from former devotees that Sai Baba sexually abused them. Why haven't any investigations towards those claims ever come into fruition? Ah well, no reason. Just the widespread political influence this man possessed shielding him from most of the legitimate criticism presented towards him. That same influence protected him when six people were killed in his bedroom in 1993, after an assassination attempt, from any investigation into the events that occurred.
If anything, the only people I feel sorry for, is his ever-so-gullible followers. The fact that this man claimed he would live up 96, will undoubtedly have no effect on their blind devotion whatsoever. Indeed, Sai Baba's death had initiated a four-day period of mourning, and received condolences from Indian President Manmohan Singh, and the Dalai Lama...all over a man who used magic tricks to get followers. His body is currently lying in state. This is a joke, if I ever came across one. It really shows the absurd lengths that India's elite will go to protect the image who was essentially a conman. There is only a few things that I take as a form of solace in this shoddy public wailing over the life of a charlatan. 1. One of his opponents, James Randi, outlived him. He even wrote an article about him giving his "goodbyes" to one of his greatest adversaries. And 2. Satya Sai Baba briefly before his death, finally accepted the merits of science. For all his miracles and teachings especially this goldmine, which I'll give the quote in full of his response to H. Narasimhaiah's request for scientific testing:
Happy Easter.
On every uncomfortable and pathetic Sunday that I accompany my family to get their "Jesus High", I often meet up with a group of Hindus with their own little shed to do their worshiping. They were pretty pleasant people, perhaps much moreso then the congregation. If anything, I only had one "flaw" of sorts with the group: They are Satya Sai Baba devotees.
Yesterday, on 24th April Satya Sai Baba passed away at the age of 84. So rather than talk at ridiculous length on the nonsense of typical holiday hijacking in the name of Jesus, by the world's biggest religion, I've finally around to talk about the man who claimed he was an avatar of Shiva and Shakti. Will I shed tears like I did in my previous post about the late Elisabeth Sladen? No. Do I have any nice things to say of him? Not really. Do I regret that I had not done this post sooner? Well, like most things in life, the answer is not straight-forward. If anything, Satya Sai Baba was proof that with enough charisma, you can persuade anyone that you can do anything or are far more unique than anybody on the planet. Even when it is blatantly, and obviously, not true. He was also proof that Westerners in the apparent disillusionment of the perceived authoritative qualities in Judo-Christian traditions, and newfound love of the Eastern religions, will mindlessly fall in love with a man purporting to be a gateway to spiritual enlightenment. Even when this man is 1. like every other siddhi that came and went and 2. is just as authoritarian as any pastor, priest, deacon etc. would be. And to bring my point home, he even for a short while managed to grab the attention of The Beatles, until they wisened up a bit.
So who is Satya Sai Baba? Born as Sathyanarayana Raju on the 23 November 1926, at the age of 13, he claimed to his parents that he suddenly realised that he was an avatar, specifically the Sai Baba of Shirdi reborn. This was an interesting choice since the Sai Baba of Shirdi was respected amongst Sufi Muslims and Advaita Vedanta Hindus alike, so you see basically where this is getting to. His mother claimed that he was an "immaculate conception" akin of Jesus Christ, another "god-man" that he would liken himself with. To properly respond to the alleged "immaculate conception" claim made by his mother, I have this brief clip on The Princess Bride that readers can watch:
He then would later lead an organisation which over the period of his life would grow to around 6 to 100 million. His doctrine claimed that there is no true path to God, so you can choose the religions of your choice and still follow him. It also had the occasional "Be nice to people, life is valuable, don't do any improper sexual actions, yada, yada, yada..." stuff that I hear ad nauseum, that somehow constitutes as proof that he's a good guy, and built dozens of schools and universities in his name. Of course by this reasoning, with the latter, I could argue that Josef Stalin is the greatest humanitarian ever and world leader for all time because his regime had universal healthcare, and 90% of the whole Soviet Union literate. How this would justify 20 million people dying under his regime, I have no idea.
A key part of Sai Baba's influence comes from his purported miracles, most commonly, the materialisation of vibuti, or holy ash, amongst other things like necklaces, watches, rings etc. One of my favourite ones is when he supposedly materialises a small orb of gold from his mouth. The fact that people seem to honestly fall for his sleight-of-hand tricks makes it all the more sadder, especially when truly laughable excuses like, "His miracles are not a key part of his movement", or "You didn't provide sufficient evidence that he is not who he claims he is" or even, "science works in the realm of the physical, Sai Baba deals with the supernatural" are put forward to his critics (The last one was a claim verbatim that Satya Sai Baba made himself). Even when the responses are 1. "Well his teachings don't seem to be either", 2. "Yes, we did. You're just so caught around the charisma of this man, and was legitimately convinced by his parlour tricks, that you'll deny any evidence to the contrary" and 3, "Well, explain his 'supernatural' abilities look extraordinarily similar to sleight-of-hand manoeuvrings? Is the boundary between the natural and the supernatural really that thin?"
At some point, an organisation in India known as the "Committee to Investigate Miracles and Other Verifiable Superstitions", headed by Hosur Narasimhaiah (or simply H. Narasimhaiah), Indian physicist, educator freedom fighter, translator (of Mohandas Gandhi's work), and rationalist; approached Sai Baba to verify whether he could really materialise holy ash and gold, and surprise, surprise; under scientific scrutiny, he simply ignored his request three times, and pretended that somehow, Narasimhaiah's methods were suspect. Seriously, what does a god-man, have to fear from a little scientific test, which would easily fall apart if said god-man really could materialise objects from nothing, make his face appear on the moon, and was really omnipotent? Oh, that's right...He wasn't one, was he?
There was also the child abuse allegations that were made against him. Now, I would normally put those allegations aside for a moment and deal with simply the propagation of superstition. However, these allegations are widespread. In fact, these is an entire website dedicated to claims from former devotees that Sai Baba sexually abused them. Why haven't any investigations towards those claims ever come into fruition? Ah well, no reason. Just the widespread political influence this man possessed shielding him from most of the legitimate criticism presented towards him. That same influence protected him when six people were killed in his bedroom in 1993, after an assassination attempt, from any investigation into the events that occurred.
If anything, the only people I feel sorry for, is his ever-so-gullible followers. The fact that this man claimed he would live up 96, will undoubtedly have no effect on their blind devotion whatsoever. Indeed, Sai Baba's death had initiated a four-day period of mourning, and received condolences from Indian President Manmohan Singh, and the Dalai Lama...all over a man who used magic tricks to get followers. His body is currently lying in state. This is a joke, if I ever came across one. It really shows the absurd lengths that India's elite will go to protect the image who was essentially a conman. There is only a few things that I take as a form of solace in this shoddy public wailing over the life of a charlatan. 1. One of his opponents, James Randi, outlived him. He even wrote an article about him giving his "goodbyes" to one of his greatest adversaries. And 2. Satya Sai Baba briefly before his death, finally accepted the merits of science. For all his miracles and teachings especially this goldmine, which I'll give the quote in full of his response to H. Narasimhaiah's request for scientific testing:
"Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena ..."...He couldn't even live to fulfill what would be his greatest miracle, and change the world before his death. He needed the hard work and determination of the excellent doctors around him to keep him going as long as he did. So, if you're some spongehead who scoffs at the achievements that science has brought to us and even made our lives better, even for one such as Satya Sai Baba, and remarks on supposed deathbed conversions of the greatest scientists to have ever lived, as some sort of support for your B.S. beliefs, on supernaturalism or whatever, remember this well: When your sick and/or dying, or otherwise incapacitated, we all become rationalists in the hospital room. Try to resurrect yourself out of that one, God-man. And I'm not talking about Jesus.
Happy Easter.
Thursday, 21 April 2011
R.I.P. Elisabeth Sladen AKA Sarah-Jane Smith
On the 19 April 2011, the actress Elisabeth Sladen, known for playing the companion of the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who, has passed away at the age of 63. Sladen spent her last months bravely battling the onset of cancer.
Now, I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who. And one of my favourite eras of the series was the Tom Baker years (1974-1983), otherwise known as the period of the Fourth Doctor. Much like the Rose Tyler of the modern era of Doctor Who (Who Sarah later met in the Tenth Doctor Doctor Who episode "School Reunion"), while Sarah Jane Smith was known for standing besides Tom Baker for about two of his nine-year tenure, the character first appeared in in the Jon Pertwee years (1970-1974) or the Third Doctors time. It all started when she being the plucky young girl she was and snuck aboard the TARDIS of the Doctor as the time-travelling alien had to deal with the militaristic species called Sontarans. As John Pertwee left, Sladen continued to portray Sarah Jane Smith as Tom Baker succeeded the former.
Even so, reportedly preferred her time with Jon Pertwee (not that Baker was awful, or anything, as she was one of the few members of cast he actually liked), and when she heard of Pertwee's death in 1996, she reportedly cried for weeks. It was there that she took part in what was arguably the greatest period in the entire Doctor Who series. My personal favourite was the "Pyramids of Mars", when the Doctor and Sarah faced up against the alien destroyer known as Set.
The team-work between the time-travelling duo was so effective, you'd think that well, they're some sort of...duo or something. I mean, she wasn't exactly his equal (then again, which companion was the Doctor's equal?), but by the end of it, she came pretty damn close. Indeed, she became the template for future generations of companions. And when she returned with her own series, she became deliciously Doctor-like.
It is said by her co-workers that Liz brought much of her personality into Sarah-Jane. She was warm, receptive and encouraging to work with. Especially with the younger generation in the Whoniverse. This was especially the case of Tommy Knight Anjili Mohindra and Daniel Anthony (Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer respectively). Even David Tennant, the actor who portrayed the Tenth Doctor, reportedly could barely contain his glee when he found out she would work alongside him in "School Reunion" (Tennant was only three when she first appeared on screen).
Other work involved appearing in various advertisements, in particular in a Letts Alice in Wonderland advertisement, starring Alexa in the radio drama The Stranger, and portraying a mermaid and Mrs. Darling in the Peter Pan pantomime.
If there's any solace in any of this, it is that she died at 63 years young. And if you don't fully understand what is meant by that, here's a picture:
Sladen is survived her husband Dennis Miller, whom she married in 1968, and their daughter Sadie Miller.
"The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss are what define us, as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world or a relationship. Everything has it's time, and everything ends." - Sarah-Jane Smith.
Now, I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who. And one of my favourite eras of the series was the Tom Baker years (1974-1983), otherwise known as the period of the Fourth Doctor. Much like the Rose Tyler of the modern era of Doctor Who (Who Sarah later met in the Tenth Doctor Doctor Who episode "School Reunion"), while Sarah Jane Smith was known for standing besides Tom Baker for about two of his nine-year tenure, the character first appeared in in the Jon Pertwee years (1970-1974) or the Third Doctors time. It all started when she being the plucky young girl she was and snuck aboard the TARDIS of the Doctor as the time-travelling alien had to deal with the militaristic species called Sontarans. As John Pertwee left, Sladen continued to portray Sarah Jane Smith as Tom Baker succeeded the former.
 |
| Sladen with Jon Pertwee. |
Even so, reportedly preferred her time with Jon Pertwee (not that Baker was awful, or anything, as she was one of the few members of cast he actually liked), and when she heard of Pertwee's death in 1996, she reportedly cried for weeks. It was there that she took part in what was arguably the greatest period in the entire Doctor Who series. My personal favourite was the "Pyramids of Mars", when the Doctor and Sarah faced up against the alien destroyer known as Set.
 |
| Sladen with Tom Baker as Sarah-Jane Smith and The (Fourth) Doctor. |
The team-work between the time-travelling duo was so effective, you'd think that well, they're some sort of...duo or something. I mean, she wasn't exactly his equal (then again, which companion was the Doctor's equal?), but by the end of it, she came pretty damn close. Indeed, she became the template for future generations of companions. And when she returned with her own series, she became deliciously Doctor-like.
It is said by her co-workers that Liz brought much of her personality into Sarah-Jane. She was warm, receptive and encouraging to work with. Especially with the younger generation in the Whoniverse. This was especially the case of Tommy Knight Anjili Mohindra and Daniel Anthony (Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer respectively). Even David Tennant, the actor who portrayed the Tenth Doctor, reportedly could barely contain his glee when he found out she would work alongside him in "School Reunion" (Tennant was only three when she first appeared on screen).
Other work involved appearing in various advertisements, in particular in a Letts Alice in Wonderland advertisement, starring Alexa in the radio drama The Stranger, and portraying a mermaid and Mrs. Darling in the Peter Pan pantomime.
If there's any solace in any of this, it is that she died at 63 years young. And if you don't fully understand what is meant by that, here's a picture:
 | ||
| Helen Mirren had nothing on her. |
"The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss are what define us, as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world or a relationship. Everything has it's time, and everything ends." - Sarah-Jane Smith.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
In Soviet Russia, Space Visits You!
Today, is the 50th year of Russia's Cosmonauts Day or Yuri's Night, internationally. After all, it is 50 years since the first ever human to enter space. In effect, validating that humans need not be confined to the pale blue dot floating in space, but they can potentially fly out into the cosmic oceans themselves to explore. When I was a kid, I was really enamored with space travel and astronauts. If anything, I was more in the U.S. Apollo program during the space race in the Cold War. Still, I couldn't help but admire the human achievement of actually being the first person to enter space. Sure, it was born out of some petty rivalry between the Soviet Union and the U.S., between who's got the best defence: military and technological advancements. But so long as it potentially helps humanity at large, that's good enough for me. So, who exactly was Yuri Gagarin? I mean, really?
Yuri Alekseyich Gargarin was born on 9 March 1934 to Alexey Ivanovich Gargarin and Anna Timofeyna Gargarina. While his mother was a voracious reader, his father was a carpenter. And the family spent time working in one of hundreds of the collective farms in the Soviet Union. When World War II came about, like millions of Soviet citizens,
Yuri Alekseyich Gargarin was born on 9 March 1934 to Alexey Ivanovich Gargarin and Anna Timofeyna Gargarina. While his mother was a voracious reader, his father was a carpenter. And the family spent time working in one of hundreds of the collective farms in the Soviet Union. When World War II came about, like millions of Soviet citizens,
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Glenn Beck: So Long And Thanks For The Lulz
Yesterday on April 6th, it announced that Fox News' favourite hysterical media raver: Glenn Beck announced he was leaving the network. At least for me and several others, this is a shame. You see I was actually planning to do several posts on his moronic outbursts watched by millions of Americans. And there would always be one comment that riles people off. The man, for want of a better term, was an ideological crackpot. And his role in Fox News seemed to be no different than to provide a 21st century right-wing spin on the insane news reporter on Network. So, as much my sole post on Glenn Beck before didn't even have me actually addressing his stupidity, but someone else. It upsets me even more because I was so caught up with other work I pretty much missed his retarded claim on atheists a few weeks back. Oh, how I wished I started this blog when he went after Malia Obama, apparently referring to her as "ghetto trash": An act of hypocrisy at the very least since during Bush's presidency, he said that his daughters are off-limits. It is this story that should've kicked off my blog. Not some musician whose awareness of the world isn't expected to be significantly high so long as he sell records. In any case, all that's really happened is that he's leaving his own show. He still has the syndicated radio talkshow where he can deliver similar rants. So he's not actually gone.
Also, this entire affair beautifully demonstrates that even the Fox News Channel has limits. You see, the Fox News Corporation doesn't care that much about media accuracy, or even that matter about political views. Well, it does, but certainly not nearly enough. What it cares about is money. Shoot, it's speculated that Beck's own rhetoric isn't actually representative of his actual views, but in actuality part of the carefully constructed persona he built to draw ratings. Of course, I personally take that with a grain of salt, since he was pretty serious about his Mormonism, and spent the time on his show to present the "theory" that America was one of the places where the 12 tribes of Israel in the Bible went to, becoming the Native Americans and even suggesting that the pyramids were part of the Hebrew culture they took with them. Nevertheless, Beck's show at its height, achieved the highest ratings of any 5PM show around in 2009. Now, it has a third of its viewers from last year, which numbered 3.1 million in 2010. With Beck's increasingly ridiculous rants, the advertisers are leaving by the wayside. Apparently they don't want to me associated with a blowhard prone to crying fits over changes in America he doesn't like, and invoking Godwin's Law repeatedly to people he doesn't agree with, not to mention his tirades are beginning to sound like the right-wing militia groups that emerged in the 90s, and the survivalist sorts. Fox News needs advertising revenue, especially on prime-time and Beck isn't providing that, instead shilling to the gold companies. So they let him go. From prime-time, anyway.
So what's new for Beck? well, I told you, he's still got the radio show. As for who'll replace him: Well, I would say I don't care, but considering the warnings Glenn Beck gave that he was only the calm before the storm, I'm actually a little concerned about who's next. So here's a clip I took hosten by some Fox News spongehead:
Also, I think it's again relevant to post this on the blog one more time as in the first Glenn Beck post:
Also, this entire affair beautifully demonstrates that even the Fox News Channel has limits. You see, the Fox News Corporation doesn't care that much about media accuracy, or even that matter about political views. Well, it does, but certainly not nearly enough. What it cares about is money. Shoot, it's speculated that Beck's own rhetoric isn't actually representative of his actual views, but in actuality part of the carefully constructed persona he built to draw ratings. Of course, I personally take that with a grain of salt, since he was pretty serious about his Mormonism, and spent the time on his show to present the "theory" that America was one of the places where the 12 tribes of Israel in the Bible went to, becoming the Native Americans and even suggesting that the pyramids were part of the Hebrew culture they took with them. Nevertheless, Beck's show at its height, achieved the highest ratings of any 5PM show around in 2009. Now, it has a third of its viewers from last year, which numbered 3.1 million in 2010. With Beck's increasingly ridiculous rants, the advertisers are leaving by the wayside. Apparently they don't want to me associated with a blowhard prone to crying fits over changes in America he doesn't like, and invoking Godwin's Law repeatedly to people he doesn't agree with, not to mention his tirades are beginning to sound like the right-wing militia groups that emerged in the 90s, and the survivalist sorts. Fox News needs advertising revenue, especially on prime-time and Beck isn't providing that, instead shilling to the gold companies. So they let him go. From prime-time, anyway.
 |
| Aw, Glenn, please don't cry. America will survive without your mid-afternoon rants. |
Also, I think it's again relevant to post this on the blog one more time as in the first Glenn Beck post:
Monday, 4 April 2011
Terry Jones: With Great Attention Came Great Irresponsibility
Oh, boy. Yet another religion post. Ah, well. Ever hear of Pastor Terry Jones? He is the pastor of a church known as the World Dove Outreach Center in based in Florida.
I actually first became aware of his antics through YouTube when I watched a video by the atheist vlogger known as ""xxxThePeachxxx" posted a video on the Qur'an and book burning. It was then I was informed of this man and his organisation, and his intentions to burn the Qur'an on September 11, 2010: the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, since according to Jones, the book had inspired the terrorist attacks. At this point, I wasn't much of a vlogger myself but if I was, I would've pointed out on YouTube that by his own reasoning, the religious book he uses: the Bible, isn't entirely clean from people doing horrible shit to fellow human beings with this particular holy book being used as inspiration for them:
Now, xxxThePeachxxx's video suggested that as backwards and obsolete of modern-day society as the Qur'an is, burning it is at best, an infantile approach to show your disdain for a book, and at worst purging our collective civilization of manuscripts of ideas and beliefs we once had, for generations to come. During the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" media frenzy in the United States (which wasn't a mosque, nor was it even near Ground Zero of the WTC), I noticed that widespread global media attention actually went to this man and his followers, and it seemed like he was seriously considering this. It was then that several US government officials, no less than Secretary of the State Hilary Clinton; General David Petraeus, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan; and the commander-in-chief President of the United States Barack Obama himself specifically warning him that his actions could potentially threaten the lives of the soldiers abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq. It would've seemed Terry Jones didn't care and would rather uphold his constitutional right to burn the Qur'an if he so chose, just because; but then he supposedly received a call from the developers of Park51 (aka the "Ground Zero Mosque") informing him that they'll move the building elsewhere, and so he relented. Of course, no such promise was ever made to him, and when this was brought up, Jones tried to turn it into them breaking their fictitious promise. Still, he relented saying he'll move the date and that his point was made (He also received a lucrative Toyota deal if he didn't go through with it).
Turns out he was serious when he said he'll move the date elsewhere. This fucking moron on the 20 May 2011, held a mock trial for the Qur'an, in which he found it guilty of crimes against humanity (or something) and burnt it after dowsing it with kerosene. A member of his congregation filmed the whole trial and the video was uploaded onto the Internet. The world's media caught wind of his new attention-whoring antics and "somehow" that news became within Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reach, who then condemned the Qur'an burning. This news spread and a protest was held on April 1, 2011 in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan; which quickly turned violent with 12 people killed as a result: 5 of them Gurkhas and 3 UN staff members. Terry Jones being the amoral fuckwit he is, bears no responsibility for the protests.
Now this post is going to be my honest opinions on the entire thing. Also what I found is that I can put my thoughts properly when I write it down, so here it goes: Terry Jones, you sir, are an attention-seeking moron. Did you not consider that for one second if you were really as patriotic as you fancied yourself to being last September, then you would've taken heed of the warning of Gen. Petraeus and President Obama of the consequences of your actions? and how it would affect the situation abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq? But you didn't care. You just wanted your 15 minutes of fame, and put it at the expense of the lives of those operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. If this was your way of finding proof that there is a violent element to Islam that still exists in areas like Afghanistan, my response is: "No fucking shit, Sherlock!" The Taliban is still actually out there. Of course there's violent elements to Islam. It's a religion with a book written 1400 years ago.
Protesters: As much as I find this Terry Jones guy vile, I'm aware you for the most part don't know much about the United States and the Western world in general. And I understand that since you guys have dealt with warlords fighting each other, the Soviet Union invading your country, and being ruled by the Taliban who basically controlled your exposure to the Western society (which is to say they only showed the bad bits and exaggerated them). But one of these days, you must realise that not everyone in the world is going to respect the religion that is predominant in your nation. Not everyone will put the Qur'an on top of the shelf, and that in the West, there are a number of people that will not view your holy book as the source for all morality and even in many cases, find it ridiculous that people in this day and age still use it. In the same way that the accusation is often made that people in the West generalise all Muslims as terrorists because of the sort of media there, you also can't generalise as some homogeneous block where everyone shares the same sentiments. The reality is far from what is presented to you about the way of life experienced in the West and the freedoms you will experience there. Sure, we've been absolute dick things abroad, especially in your neighbourhood, but that still doesn't warrant you to go and kill people you identity to be foreigners, or look Wetsern, or associated with Westerns. All you're doing is legitimizing the Islamophobic sentiments that is becoming a problem in Western culture. If you want people to respect your beliefs, then try to do everything that is within your power, to stop reacting violently. Terry Jones does not give a flying fuck if you burn effigies of him. In fact, he's hoping that you do just that to prove his point. And do not listen to those religious cunts who claim to speak for you and uphold your religion. They are part of the problem, and a significant reason as to why your country can't experience the liberties they deserve. They are even worse than Terry Jones. They are the ones who will tell you to give up your son to them, so that he can fight for some vague, unachievable goal as part of some fictitious Jihad.
And finally, media: I sincerely hope you dickheads had your lulz out of this mustached cunt. Care to explain how someone like Terry Jones was able to get your attention in the first place? Because I sincerely doubt he's that charismatic. I mean, look at the size of his congregation. How an organisation of no more than 50 members, all of them almost as uneducated as an 8-year-old girl under the Taliban were able to get the world's media's attention is beyond me. And worse, before you ask Terry Jones if he feels responsible for the protests in Afghanistan, why don't you take a good look in the mirror and ask yourselves: On what slow day was this newsworthy? Should we pander to attention-whoring pricks like this man? Is it worth pestering government officials on this man's actions? Would these protesters even know about this man if you ignored his attempts to showcase his fundamentalist idiocy on the six-o-clock news? Well, guys it was funny while it lasted (well actually, it wasn't) until people got hurt. So that's my take on this whole sorry affair. Misanthropy is becoming a more promising position when you have: 1. An idiot who can't voice his objection to someone's beliefs without it feeding his own ego, and pyromania; 2. A group of people who get really upset over their shared favourite book being burned that they have to kill someone as compensation (although showing them other, better books that can inspire practical use from its information gained from it); And 3. The media morons thinking number 1. is more interesting enough to report time and time again, until something cool happens. Like 12 people being killed, 5 of them Gurkhas. Awesome(!) There's enough asshole to go around.
So, what have we learned? Burning books are not arguments against them. And if you want respect, stop behaving in a manner that makes it harder for you to get it. Act like your fucking species, please. That's all. See you soon.
UPDATE 06/04/2001: My position has somewhat changed. Pastor Terry Jones is an idiot. However, burning the Qur'an does not kill people. Overreacting to the burning the Qur'an with violence kills people. The media just does what it does and it was pretty inevitable that they'd report on him again after last September. Also, where does the blame go from there, to relations between the West and the Islamic world? No. It begins and ends with the guys who killed innocent people for whatever reason. The real problem is people who cannot behave even in a slightly reasonable manner when their favourite story book is burned. Even if they had a lack of education, I still suspect that the killing of these people wasn't an accident. Shoot, even the Dove World Outreach Center is uneducated, I still think burning a Qur'an harms any diplomatic measures that should be taken. And so the ones who killed those 13 people, are a bunch of cowardly butthurt assholes. What reason was there to react like that and kill those people, none of them are Terry Jones or related to him in any way? Why did you kill the ones who weren't Westerners? And if they should be found and arrested for their actions, what will their excuse to the police?: "I killed those people because someone across the world burnt the Qu'ran"? That's a pretty fucking pathetic reaction to a Qur'an burning, as infantile as it is. If any protesters there do not advocate the murder of these people, then they should distance from them. As I said before, do not allow yourselves to be swept up by cunts who care less about you and your rights than their dogma. They are the ones that have ultimately ruined your country, not the West (well, kinda). So stop overreacting over a book and take personal responsibility.
 |
| Terry Jones: The only awesome thing about seeing him on TV, is looking at his moustache. |
I actually first became aware of his antics through YouTube when I watched a video by the atheist vlogger known as ""xxxThePeachxxx" posted a video on the Qur'an and book burning. It was then I was informed of this man and his organisation, and his intentions to burn the Qur'an on September 11, 2010: the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, since according to Jones, the book had inspired the terrorist attacks. At this point, I wasn't much of a vlogger myself but if I was, I would've pointed out on YouTube that by his own reasoning, the religious book he uses: the Bible, isn't entirely clean from people doing horrible shit to fellow human beings with this particular holy book being used as inspiration for them:
Now, xxxThePeachxxx's video suggested that as backwards and obsolete of modern-day society as the Qur'an is, burning it is at best, an infantile approach to show your disdain for a book, and at worst purging our collective civilization of manuscripts of ideas and beliefs we once had, for generations to come. During the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" media frenzy in the United States (which wasn't a mosque, nor was it even near Ground Zero of the WTC), I noticed that widespread global media attention actually went to this man and his followers, and it seemed like he was seriously considering this. It was then that several US government officials, no less than Secretary of the State Hilary Clinton; General David Petraeus, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan; and the commander-in-chief President of the United States Barack Obama himself specifically warning him that his actions could potentially threaten the lives of the soldiers abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq. It would've seemed Terry Jones didn't care and would rather uphold his constitutional right to burn the Qur'an if he so chose, just because; but then he supposedly received a call from the developers of Park51 (aka the "Ground Zero Mosque") informing him that they'll move the building elsewhere, and so he relented. Of course, no such promise was ever made to him, and when this was brought up, Jones tried to turn it into them breaking their fictitious promise. Still, he relented saying he'll move the date and that his point was made (He also received a lucrative Toyota deal if he didn't go through with it).
Turns out he was serious when he said he'll move the date elsewhere. This fucking moron on the 20 May 2011, held a mock trial for the Qur'an, in which he found it guilty of crimes against humanity (or something) and burnt it after dowsing it with kerosene. A member of his congregation filmed the whole trial and the video was uploaded onto the Internet. The world's media caught wind of his new attention-whoring antics and "somehow" that news became within Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reach, who then condemned the Qur'an burning. This news spread and a protest was held on April 1, 2011 in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan; which quickly turned violent with 12 people killed as a result: 5 of them Gurkhas and 3 UN staff members. Terry Jones being the amoral fuckwit he is, bears no responsibility for the protests.
Now this post is going to be my honest opinions on the entire thing. Also what I found is that I can put my thoughts properly when I write it down, so here it goes: Terry Jones, you sir, are an attention-seeking moron. Did you not consider that for one second if you were really as patriotic as you fancied yourself to being last September, then you would've taken heed of the warning of Gen. Petraeus and President Obama of the consequences of your actions? and how it would affect the situation abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq? But you didn't care. You just wanted your 15 minutes of fame, and put it at the expense of the lives of those operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. If this was your way of finding proof that there is a violent element to Islam that still exists in areas like Afghanistan, my response is: "No fucking shit, Sherlock!" The Taliban is still actually out there. Of course there's violent elements to Islam. It's a religion with a book written 1400 years ago.
Protesters: As much as I find this Terry Jones guy vile, I'm aware you for the most part don't know much about the United States and the Western world in general. And I understand that since you guys have dealt with warlords fighting each other, the Soviet Union invading your country, and being ruled by the Taliban who basically controlled your exposure to the Western society (which is to say they only showed the bad bits and exaggerated them). But one of these days, you must realise that not everyone in the world is going to respect the religion that is predominant in your nation. Not everyone will put the Qur'an on top of the shelf, and that in the West, there are a number of people that will not view your holy book as the source for all morality and even in many cases, find it ridiculous that people in this day and age still use it. In the same way that the accusation is often made that people in the West generalise all Muslims as terrorists because of the sort of media there, you also can't generalise as some homogeneous block where everyone shares the same sentiments. The reality is far from what is presented to you about the way of life experienced in the West and the freedoms you will experience there. Sure, we've been absolute dick things abroad, especially in your neighbourhood, but that still doesn't warrant you to go and kill people you identity to be foreigners, or look Wetsern, or associated with Westerns. All you're doing is legitimizing the Islamophobic sentiments that is becoming a problem in Western culture. If you want people to respect your beliefs, then try to do everything that is within your power, to stop reacting violently. Terry Jones does not give a flying fuck if you burn effigies of him. In fact, he's hoping that you do just that to prove his point. And do not listen to those religious cunts who claim to speak for you and uphold your religion. They are part of the problem, and a significant reason as to why your country can't experience the liberties they deserve. They are even worse than Terry Jones. They are the ones who will tell you to give up your son to them, so that he can fight for some vague, unachievable goal as part of some fictitious Jihad.
And finally, media: I sincerely hope you dickheads had your lulz out of this mustached cunt. Care to explain how someone like Terry Jones was able to get your attention in the first place? Because I sincerely doubt he's that charismatic. I mean, look at the size of his congregation. How an organisation of no more than 50 members, all of them almost as uneducated as an 8-year-old girl under the Taliban were able to get the world's media's attention is beyond me. And worse, before you ask Terry Jones if he feels responsible for the protests in Afghanistan, why don't you take a good look in the mirror and ask yourselves: On what slow day was this newsworthy? Should we pander to attention-whoring pricks like this man? Is it worth pestering government officials on this man's actions? Would these protesters even know about this man if you ignored his attempts to showcase his fundamentalist idiocy on the six-o-clock news? Well, guys it was funny while it lasted (well actually, it wasn't) until people got hurt. So that's my take on this whole sorry affair. Misanthropy is becoming a more promising position when you have: 1. An idiot who can't voice his objection to someone's beliefs without it feeding his own ego, and pyromania; 2. A group of people who get really upset over their shared favourite book being burned that they have to kill someone as compensation (although showing them other, better books that can inspire practical use from its information gained from it); And 3. The media morons thinking number 1. is more interesting enough to report time and time again, until something cool happens. Like 12 people being killed, 5 of them Gurkhas. Awesome(!) There's enough asshole to go around.
So, what have we learned? Burning books are not arguments against them. And if you want respect, stop behaving in a manner that makes it harder for you to get it. Act like your fucking species, please. That's all. See you soon.
UPDATE 06/04/2001: My position has somewhat changed. Pastor Terry Jones is an idiot. However, burning the Qur'an does not kill people. Overreacting to the burning the Qur'an with violence kills people. The media just does what it does and it was pretty inevitable that they'd report on him again after last September. Also, where does the blame go from there, to relations between the West and the Islamic world? No. It begins and ends with the guys who killed innocent people for whatever reason. The real problem is people who cannot behave even in a slightly reasonable manner when their favourite story book is burned. Even if they had a lack of education, I still suspect that the killing of these people wasn't an accident. Shoot, even the Dove World Outreach Center is uneducated, I still think burning a Qur'an harms any diplomatic measures that should be taken. And so the ones who killed those 13 people, are a bunch of cowardly butthurt assholes. What reason was there to react like that and kill those people, none of them are Terry Jones or related to him in any way? Why did you kill the ones who weren't Westerners? And if they should be found and arrested for their actions, what will their excuse to the police?: "I killed those people because someone across the world burnt the Qu'ran"? That's a pretty fucking pathetic reaction to a Qur'an burning, as infantile as it is. If any protesters there do not advocate the murder of these people, then they should distance from them. As I said before, do not allow yourselves to be swept up by cunts who care less about you and your rights than their dogma. They are the ones that have ultimately ruined your country, not the West (well, kinda). So stop overreacting over a book and take personal responsibility.
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