From a Certain Point of View

I’ve been receiving quite a few E-mails containing this link, calling for a Christian-wide boycott of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books and the related movie. I thought I’d post my thoughts on all this.

I’ve read the books and, just for the record, despite what this article says, no female circumcision or castration actually occurs in these books. Occasionally, characters will briefly talk about castration happening elsewhere or in the past, using terms like “removing sexual organs,” but it doesn’t get any more explicit then that. But all the other facts in that article are pretty dead-on. The books are definitely anti-religious, in an obvious way. God is depicted as decrepit and, in fact, brain-dead, the Church as a corrupt, hypocritical, and tyrannical organization, and the afterlife as a grim, gray wasteland populated with sadistic harpies.

But why boycott it?

A boycott wouldn’t actually accomplish anything. I can confidently say that any religiously motivated boycott will have no noticeable effect on the sales of the books or the movie. It didn’t work on Pokemon, it didn’t work on Harry Potter, it sure as heck won’t work here.

Strangely enough, every religious boycott I’ve seen has been over a work of fiction. If the ideas in these books were presented in a purely philosophical form, I seriously doubt anyone would care. Some people would discuss it, but no one would try to boycott it.

The only reason I can see for this is that fiction, unlike non-fiction, tends to attract young readers. So, the offensive part must be in the fact that children and young adults are reading this stuff. I can understand why that would bother some parents with impressionable young children. But if you don’t want your kids exposed to that kind of material, then don’t let them read the material. It’s a simple as that.

Of course, it’s a different situation when you have no power whether or not your children are exposed to the books. But that’s still no reason to boycott the books themselves. If a teacher is reading the books to your children’s class, that’s not a problem with the books, that’s a problem with your school system, and you should deal with it on that level.

To me, the whole religious boycott thing reveals a disturbing trend among Christianity. When I find something that I don’t agree with, or that threatens or offends me, I analyze it in order to find out what about it disturbs me, why the parts that disturb me don’t make sense, and, if they seem to make perfect sense, what the error is in my thinking. I believe this process is called “learning.”

But when Christians feel threatened or offended, they make no attempt to figure out why. They don’t bother to figure out what exactly the errors are in the other’s thinking, instead giving in to emotions and trying to silence the offending material so they won’t have to deal with it. By doing so, they do not learn how to combat whatever offended them, they do not notice the sound points in its logic, and they do not figure out how to deal with the insecurities it brought to light. Criticism is a necessity for growing in any capacity, spiritual or otherwise, and if you just ignore or silence the criticism, you will not grow.

Well, that’s all. If you don’t agree with me, please leave me a comment telling me why. It’s the only way I’ll learn.

Every once in a while, I’ll see a commercial telling everyone to have a disaster plan, just in case your house catches on fire, or there’s a flood, or earthquake or something. I suppose that’s a good idea. Be prepared. So I thought I’d share the disaster plan me and my neighbor came up with.

If a zombie attack catches you by surprise, always move up. Zombies have problems climbing, so if you make it to a roof, you should be able to hold out for a while. Keep an extendable ladder in your bedroom, so you can climb down when things get under control, or if you need to move to a different roof, you can just use the ladder as a bridge.

When zombies attack, they will most likely attack large population centers first, so you’re more likely to survive if you are living on the outskirts of town. If you have to live near people, try to find a neighborhood with a large population of rednecks. They’ll probably already have large supplies of weapons and canned food, so it’ll save you some looting.

Chances are you will get about a three day warning before the zombies actually arrive in your area, so you will have time to stock up. Hit sporting goods stores first. Shotguns and ammunition are the first things you should pick up, but don’t forget a water purifier and a generator. The water supply will most likely be contaminated by dead bodies, and the electricity will probably fail within the first day. After sporting goods, head to the supermarket and grab anything you can get your hands on. Then stock up on as much gasoline as you can. Install a cowcatcher on the front of your escape vehicle. When the zombies arrive, the roads will be filled with undead and fleeing pedestrians, and you can’t afford to stop to replace a wheel or tire.

When the zombie attack hits, make sure you have your escape route planned. Pick up family and friends who have something to offer, and head to the hospital and grab some doctors and medical supplies. Don’t forget to pick up a mechanic and an electrician! When you start your new civilization, you’ll need trained professionals to make sure things are running smoothly. Head to the nearest coast guard, and grab a few patrol boats. A patrol boat is the perfect mode of escape, as zombies are slow swimmers, and each patrol boat has at least one M60 machine gun on board, perfect for mowing down undead and desperate refugees alike. Drive your patrol boat to the nearest major port, and hijack a cargo ship, oil tanker, or cruise liner. Any one of these can support a small group for a reasonably long time. Wait out the zombie invasion in your ship, or head to a remote location and attempt to rebuild society; it’s up to you.

I was bored of all my music, so today I went searching on my favorite free music site, Youtube. I found every song off of the first(and very rare) Linkin Park(called Hybrid Theory back then) album. It’s actually some of their best stuff. Here’re all the tracks (warning: there’s a bit of language in some of the songs in this post):

Carousel
Technique
Step Up
And One
High Voltage
Part of Me
Secret

Yep, you can find almost every song ever written someplace on Youtube. I’ve found some sweet “unreleased” songs by Disturbed (Monster, Two Worlds, Dehumanized, Sickened, and Hell), some live covers (Thoughtless, now by Evanescence; Fade to Black, now by Disturbed; and Sober, now by Staind), which I actually think are vast improvements over the originals, and some remixes (Disturbed/Linkin Park mash-up and the amazingly awesome The Pot remix), which I find entertaining.

Well, I’m done for now. No, this post wasn’t supposed to have a point.

Well, I got a blog.

When I was eight or so, I wanted a diary. But I soon realized there was no point to a diary. You write down all your thoughts and experiences, and then you shut them in a drawer and make sure no one reads them. No one would know how deep and insightful you were till after you died, and I wanted my gratification now, darnit!

But then blogs were invented. The perfect means of personal expression. A blog has the same sense of freedom a diary or journal has, but blogs are much more satisfying, as you can delude yourself into thinking your thoughts are actually affecting other people.

How very morbid.

Anyways, I’ll be updating this blog approximately “whenever,” I’ll be posting about anything I’m thinking about. Music, movies, books, society, religion, death, life, whatever. I’m hoping that this blog can be a place I can jot down my thoughts freely.

A bonus for those who actually read this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jM4LOCd7rIQ