Don't go too deep!

I love music.  No matter what you are going through or feeling there is a piece of music out there that will "fit".  Probably more than one, too.  Sometimes the same song can even have different meanings depending on how you listen to it.  I have recently learned new things that have caused me to back through my whole music collection and really listen to the lyrics of each song.  The results are surprising.

I've found that although many old songs I have always loved are still just as good or in some cases better than I thought.  There are those however that I simply can't listen to anymore.  For instance, I used to like the Waving Flag song.  It has a nice beat and is easy to move to.  The problem is that it is meaningless.  The lyrics are nonsensical and don't really say anything.  A flag isn't freedom...even Nazis had flags!  A flag is just the fabric that has been printed with a specific pattern to distinguish one country from another to those that are illiterate (yes that was the historical reason - so that illiterate soldiers would know who to fight with).  If this is the essence of freedom please, let me off this planet!

One song I now love more than any other is actually a one-hit wonder from the 80's that never seemed to make much sense until I found out what I now know.  We are being deceived and manipulated and if we want the truth we have to be able to bend our thoughts.  Here it is:

This song has so much meaning for me now.  I never got it until I bent my brain and looked at the world.  Somehow the way things should be is not the way things are and it is up to us to figure out why and how that happened.

Now I could probably just tell you everything you need to know and you'd probably scoff and go on to the next blog never really learning the truth, or you might be open minded, but now you would be dependent upon me to tell you what is the next step.  Neither is the reason I am here in blog-land at all.  Yes I want people to wake up, but I also want to re-teach the world to think.  We know how to memorize and regurgitate because that is what they teach us to do in school and this makes people think they are educated when in actuality they have simply been sophisticated and institutionalized.

If you are educated you can process any information and learn, if you are sophisticated and institutionalized you can only do exactly as you have been taught and are unable to think and reason for yourself.  This is the difference between a doctor that prescribes amoxicillan for every patient in his clinic.  Instead of analyzing his patient he has learned that prescribing something useless is more likely to prevent a lawsuit.  In fact there are simple ways to avoid over-prescribing antibiotics - 1. if your mucus is clear or white you are fine, it's a virus, drink fluids eat chicken soup and rest.  If it is yellow, orange or green, go get some pills from the doctor, it is bacterial and not going away otherwise. - 2. if it lasts more than 7 days you probably have a bacterial infection and need a prescription.  These two little thought processes are what our parents and grandparents used to judge when to take us to the doctor, but they forgot to mention it to us when we became parents ourselves.  

When our work ethic extends only to doing the least amount necessary or whatever will keep us from getting sued or fired, we lose a huge piece of what makes humanity great.  Suddenly everyone I meet is now only concerned with how little they can do to get what they want.  Facebook access is more important at the office than what duties you are to perform.  Number of vacation days exceeds salary in most University students' requirements for employment.  It is now a source of pride for many people that they have managed to skim by on no merit.  It was once considered a shame for others to discover that you erred or were less-than-hard-working, now does anyone really care?

One thing I started seeing long before anything else became apparent was the reluctance of my peers to think on any level beyond the most frivolous.  If you were discussing anything more meaningful than the latest Simpson's episode (it was the late 80s & 90s) then you were mocked for thinking too much and being a geek.  Since I liked Shakespere and preferred exploring the human condition as well as elements of psychology and philosophy as early as 8 years old, I had very few people to talk with.

Next time you are talking with someone and your brain starts to hurt, try listening closer instead of turning away.  You might just come away with something that'll serve you better than gossip a la water cooler.

I'll leave you with one song that I used to hate and now I love both for the same reason, this is the mantra of the average person in society today:

What are you?

In the beginning...

Once upon a time there was a bright eyed little baby girl born to a very dysfunctional royal family.  Mom (The Queen) was Protestant and English, unpardonable offences to her in-laws, Dad (The King) a French Catholic Canadian Man's man with all his neolithic ideals intact and the Prince of the realm was a 6-year old genius with an identity crisis.  Little did the Princess know what she was in for.  The Prince wasn't very manly, in fact he was more interested in art than mechanics and hated getting dirty.  As an infant he learned how to use a spoon before most babies were learning how to grab a Cheerio with two fingers, could be left on a blanket in a yard for hours because the grass felt icky and was therefore a terrible disappointment to the King.  The King believed that all boys had to be tough, love dirt and grime and be able to do anything physically demanding.  Since the Prince was more effeminate than expected, the Queen did all she could think of to mitigate the issue and make peace between the two.

When the Prince was four the Queen was told she was no longer able to bear children, however when the Prince was five she was granted a miracle that answered her prayers.  The Queen was very excited to be able to have another child, a little worried about the age gap between her children and even more thrilled to find she was having a girl.  The King was proud as well, but he had no expectations for girls, he only knew what it was to be a man, not a girl.  He was soon delighted to find that his new little girl was about as feminine as a girl ever need to be yet also as masculine as a girl can get.  She loved to run and explore, got into more trouble and more messes than the Prince and generally delighted the King in every way.  Every complaint he had about his son was remedied in his daughter.  The King's love was great for the Princess and she could do no wrong in his eyes, the Queen and Prince were not happy with this turn of events.

Although she didn't like the way the King favoured one child over the other, she couldn't do much to persuade the King that he should give his son a chance.  The Prince on the other hand was too smart to let this baby take over his place, he was the only heir until she'd come along and he deserved all the glory and attention.  It wasn't fair that he tried so hard and couldn't obtain the King's approval only to watch it go to an infant that hadn't earned a thing.  The Prince also had six years of knowledge over his sister, it shouldn't be hard to manipulate her.

And so, the Prince set out to ensure that the Princess would never hold any power in the kingdom.  His ability to talk circles around her and the Princesses natural temper (genetic trait from the King) and wish to please everyone became the Prince's tools of revenge.  Soon the Princess was confused enough to doubt everything she thought she knew, filled with guilt and suicidal thoughts because she was convinced that she was worthless and stupid and unsure of others.  The Queen was too busy taking care of the kingdom and the Princess' naturally cheerful manners disguised the torture she suffered.  The King was always travelling to ensure the renewal of funds for the kingdom.

One day, when the Princess was six and her brother twelve, the King had an awful accident and died.  The Prince had only recently made strides in his growing relationship with the King and the blow to his goals was more than he could take.  He began to rebel almost from the start.  The recreational drugs that were once just for fun were now essential to his life.  There was no longer purpose to his existence, no longer a reason to strive for anything because the King whose acceptance he needed was now gone and that acceptance so much dust in the wind.  In his youth and anger he turned on the Queen.

No matter what the Queen did to reign in her son he became more and more irresponsible.  He would party, skip school, do drugs, drink and vandalize.  As she watched her brother continue to hurt her mother, the Princess made a vow to always be the "good" child to ease the pain for the Queen.  To always support, to always do the right thing and to listen to the Queen's advice no matter what.  The King had been the love of her life, her world was gone and all she had were two kids and a mountain of bills to pay on her own, no need to add to her burden; the Princess would help where she could in her limited capacity at six and a half.

The Princess didn't realize though that her limited capacity to help was more limited than she thought.  One day she tried to start supper for her mother, she'd helped make cakes and cookies and muffins, how hard could soup be?  She filled a pot with water, added spices and herbs from the cupboard and started chopping a few vegetables with the knife her mother let her use when they cooked together.  Alas the Prince came in to see what she was doing and proceeded to shout at her for being so stupid and sent her to her room for playing with the stove.  He threw away all of the soup she'd worked so hard on and threatened to tell the Queen that she'd been playing and had ruined all that food for fun.  The Princess knew this would just upset the Queen and she went to her room and kept silent.  This laid out the pattern of the Princess' life.  In order not to burden others with her complaints, the Princess simply withdrew into herself and tried to reason it out on her own.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions and the Princess was to find this out the hard way.  She wished only to help everyone she met, she wanted to be useful and hoped one day that if she were good enough and smart enough and pretty enough that she'd earn the right to be loved just like the princesses in the stories she'd read since she was three.  No matter what she did though she was admonished and tossed aside.  She couldn't understand why her peers reviled her for her efforts, could not understand why her brother hated her so, could not understand why those that were supposed to care never wanted to help.  She grew sullen and depressed.  None of her questions seemed to have answers.

Why is it that we all agree that being selfish is bad but we all act selfishly in even the most minor of ways?  Why do we believe it is bad to be stupid but refuse to put any effort into learning something?  Why do we revere those that offer nothing of value to society and ignore those that truly benefit the world?  Why do those in power claim to work for the people but refuse to listen when we tell them what we want?  Why is it that children no longer listen to their parents and teachers?  Why are our elders treated like secondary citizens when their wisdom should be revered?  Why do big companies have more power than the people they were created to serve?

It took the Princess 35 years and much heartache to find the answers.

Rethinking Right has the answers, but they aren't pretty.  They are incredible and fantastic and totally true, but you really don't want to know.  The answers to these and more unanswerable questions will become clear if you stick around, but you really don't want to know.  The truth is frightening and unbelievable and probably too late in reaching your ears.  If you stick around for more you can't tell me I didn't warn you.  All I ask is that you look into your own life for examples of what I am talking about.  Don't just look at what I show you as my own "proof" open your eyes and look for it in your own life.  If you can't find a single example of what I talk about you can walk away with all your ideals intact, if you do learn to see the signs I am going to show you be prepared to be terrified.

Introducing myself

Hey there!  My name is Joelle (pronounced Joe-Elle kinda like Noel).  It is a common enough name in most French speaking countries, but even in Western Canada where I live it is baffling to most people.  Not only is it very close to its male counterpart (Joel) but the added letters (making it feminine) confuse people.  Therefore for your ease and mine I will mostly refer to myself as Joe.

I've avoided blogging since My Space was new because I just don't seem to have the discipline needed to focus on this kind of thing and don't really feel people want to read what I have to say.  So I am starting this blog for me.  This is where I plan to put into words those random thoughts I have every day.  Where I can rant and rave about the world or share a recipe or craft project if I so desire.  This will be what I want it to be on any given day, including ignored.

Being that it is all for me I will not guarantee a new post every day, I won't even promise to stick to a theme or a style. I change every day and so will this blog.  I may post 5 times in one day and not at all the next, I may post pictures, but more often than not I won't because my own suck and people tend to get bent out of shape if you use theirs.

I hope some people out there like my kind of crazy and get inspiration or helpful tips from me that can improve their lives, but I am not going to worry about making a living out of this so I am not concerned if you don't like it.  I am beyond broke and not affiliated with anyone, so I won't be supplying people with giveaway contests or subjecting them to posts that read more like ads.

I have very solid and defined opinions and most of the time they offend, if you want to make a comment feel free.  If there is no intelligence behind your argument then I will simply ignore you.  Please refrain from acting like a preschooler and simply insulting people who do not see the world as you do, I may actually have to moderate this shit and that is not my style.

Oh yeah, I swear.  Like a sailor.  If you can't handle it, leave.  Sometimes there isn't a nice way of saying things no matter how broad your vocabulary.  I'll avoid it if I can or if it is not appropriate, but there are always occasions where swearing is not only appropriate but vital to getting a point across.

My life has not always been pleasant, my ideals are often controversial, I go from frivolous to serious in 2.5 seconds and I hate people but love humanity.  I am a study in contrasts and would probably be the perfect candidate for being dissected in the name of science.  I have two kids but I am not a "Mommy-blogger", They are their own entities and separate from me although I love them both a great deal.  I am nowhere near the perfect parent, in fact I have made a lot of horrid mistakes, from getting pregnant at 16 to leaving my daughter on her father's doorstep at age 11.  I had/have my reasons and unless you've been involved you can't know whether they were good or bad ones, so I don't apologize.  Read on and you'll have a chance to learn who I am, who the players are and get your chance to pitch in with comments that would be more than just "OMG!  How could you?  You are horrible!".  I know I am.  What else do you have to say?