LedgerGermane

My basic question: is war ever justifiable? Certainly, there are profits to be made (for a few - and those few…jeez). Yet, given recent wars, and their intensity, can humans learn to transform an apparent ‘need’ for armed conflict and use it for cultural/creative accomplishments?

Furthermore, Just War Theory, shows how through ridiculous, ivory tower speculation a fundamental aspect of a religion is warped. From this distorted place, further and more obscene theories arise. Christianity was originally intended to be pacifist. Constantine couldn’t have an Empire without soldiers willing to fight and die. As time passed, debased doctrines of warlike behavior that co-opt religious traditions to provide ‘cannon-fodder’ continued.

How infectious is the Just War theory? Think of the saying “Onward Christian Soldiers” and ponder what connotation that brings up for most of the United States. This only briefly illustrates how large amounts of people, conditioned to avoid thinking, have swallowed the “blue pill”.

(via azspot)

Thought police in academics? No way! [that was sarcastic]

“The more familiar we are with people, faces, colors, geometrical shapes, odors, foods, and many other things, the more we like them (for a review, see Bornstein 1989). Robert Zajonc termed this phenomenon the mere exposure effect to indicate that the mere repeated exposure to an object suffices to increase one’s liking for it (Zajonc 1968). It now appears that mere exposure to an object is especially likely to increase liking for that object when people are unaware of this exposure (Bornstein 1989; Bornstein and D’Agostino 1992).”

…Our beliefs are manipulated on many different levels. This is a good example of a technique which is used to engrain a certain narrow set of beliefs into a large segment of the population…..

Makes perfect sense. If the Gov’t wants to restrict the Internet, what better way to do it than create a situation bad enough that people will agree to an I-Patriot Act? I wonder if it will be something something similar to the Live Free or Die Hard scenario. Yipee Ky Yay!

” Amazing revelations have emerged concerning already existing government plans to overhaul the way the internet functions in order to apply much greater restrictions and control over the web.

Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Half Moon Bay, California, that “There’s going to be an i-9/11 event” which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law pertaining to the internet.

Lessig also revealed that he had learned, during a dinner with former government Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, that there is already in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act, an “i-Patriot Act” if you will, and that the Justice Department is waiting for a cyber terrorism event in order to implement its provisions….”