East Coasting...

Dear Everyone,

This will be my last entry to this journal, as my coasting in the East has come to an end. Tomorrow morning, I rise with the sun and leave PEI behind. It's not often that words escape me, but I'm at a loss for a fitting way to describe the way I feel about closing this chapter of my life, so I'll just keep it short and sweet, and end things with a quote from Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels: "It's been emotional."

Thanks to everyone who read my journal and kept in touch. I'll see you all very soon.

Love,
John

Just a quick post, I wanted to share a good quote that I read as I was learning about the Milgram experiment.

"The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.

Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority." - Stanley Milgram


Today's homework: Write angry letters to your MPs!

This morning, an unidentified gunman killed 33 and wounded 27 students at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia before turning the gun on himself; it was the largest civilian massacre in U.S. history, and will no doubt generate all kinds of self-righteous indignation from news people, religious and political leaders and other public figures. Personally, I'm not even going to turn on my TV for a few days, because I don't want to have any part in the sick media circus that is probably already taking place as a result of what happened today.

It breaks my heart to think about how politicians and others will undoubtedly begin to spin this story for political ends. I realize that my own words on the matter don't mean much, but this was so unexpected... I just came home, turned on my computer, and there it was on the newswire. I feel deflated. It makes me so sad that this kind of thing happens. I don't know what to do... it's this sort of thing that makes me so aware of my own mortality... I can't believe that 33 people who are university students, just like me, are now dead because of a psycho with a gun. My heart goes out to the thousands of people who have been affected by this incident, and I too grieve for this utterly pointless loss of human life. Has there ever been a time when the world was in greater need of love and understanding? What good does pointing fingers do now?

I'm having a private wake tonight to remember the students who died. Anyone who feels like joining me, send me an email, maybe we can talk on the phone or something.

Sometimes, I log-on to my LiveJournal a few days after writing something and read what I wrote, trying to remember exactly how I was feeling at the time. Occasionally, it makes me want to write again on similar subjects. Other times, like this afternoon, I feel like I should try to be less depressing and angry when I write. Everyone rants about politics these days.

These past few weeks have been difficult. I really haven't felt very well at all, either emotionally or physically, for about a month. I let the world get to me, and I felt overwhelmed by my responsibilities. I didn't handle it very well. But I'm more aware of it now, and I'm already feeling better. I recognize what I have to change, so instead of focusing on what's negative or difficult, I'm really trying to think about the benefits instead of the costs. My analysis has been biased in the wrong direction.

As I'm sure that any who read my journal know, I think a lot about politics and philosophy and the state of the world. Sometimes, I get caught up in the madness of it all, and I forget that the world is too big to change. I don't enjoy feeling helpless, or as though I am not controlling my own life. I don't think that many people do. There's a whole philosophy paper right there - "In 2,500 words or less, explain whether or not you agree with the following statement: 'The extent to which the government, large corporations and other organizations control our lives is such that freedom and/or free-will is basically a fiction.'"

My point is, there's little sense worrying about changing things that you can't change by yourself. As I reflect on all that has happened since I arrived here on PEI last year, I think that one of the most important things that I've learned is to remember to focus my energy on the more immediate consequences of my actions, rather than devoting too much energy to imagined, long-term consequences. To a certain extent, I feel that it's important once in a while to step back and let the chips fall where they may. I don't believe that life is random, but I also don't believe that it's smart to try to schedule, budget and ritualize too many aspects of your life. It's something that I've learned from being with Natalie, that I now recognize more than ever. Sometimes, it really is better to let things be. Gotta focus on the road, but when you concentrate so hard that you miss the scenery, you miss the whole point of the act of taking the journey. It's something that I'll really enjoy when I'm driving back to Edmonton with Natalie this month.

By June, I'll be a married man, starting a family and a life of my own with the girl I'm in love with. A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that I'm too young to get married. I don't think that I've met more than a handful of people who haven't questioned my age as negative factor in my decision. It got me thinking about spending the rest of my life with one person, and the more that I thought about it, the better it sounded. I really do believe that the quality of our lives has declined since the average age of married people has been steadily increasing. Instead of learning how to grow together, people focus outward on their careers, school and money instead of family. By the time they've acquired a degree, a salary, a car and a mortgage, they find themselves in the same boat as a group of people just like them - those who were determined to be individually successful, but now, are unable to adapt to the lifestyle of cooperative success. No wonder the divorce rate is over 50%.

Well, here I am, as always, trying my best not to let my life become a hike that follows the statistical compass of probabilities for people in my age group. What are the 18-25 year olds up to this year? In my logic class, we call that one the fallacy of bandwagon appeal. Well, this is one logician who's unwilling to commit that particular fallacy. I'd much rather have a red herring, thank you very much.

Going into my last month of life in Charlottetown, and finishing off my first year of university, I'll be sure to take plenty of time to reflect and write about the good things that have happened. There's no sense in taking the negativity with you as you walk away from a life-changing experience, so I don't intend to do so.

To everyone who reads this, I probably won't update it anymore after I've left. I think that I'll leave it as an internet artifact of my personal history. Maybe by the time I'm 50 and we can all access the world wide web just by using our minds and the computers that are embedded in our forearms, I'll flip back to this page and think about all of the crazy ideas that I had as a university student, and remember how it felt to be sitting in front of a laptop, thinking about the world.

Love to everyone, and I'll see most of you in May.

This morning when I got home from school, I watched a film called "Jesus Camp," which turned out to be one of the most disturbing movies that I've ever seen. The horror and war flicks that Hollywood produces might seem disturbing with their depictions of gore and violence, but they need not be, because it's not hard to reassure yourself with the fact that they are fictional, and created in a studio. On the other hand, I don't know about many things that are more offensive, disturbing and scary than the actual serial indoctrination of innocent young children.

I can't recall another time in recent memory when I've felt like I wanted to cry, scream, and vomit all at the same time. If watching a pastor scream at a group of crying 8 year olds that they're hypocrites, sinners and phonies, and that they need to go to war with non-Christians doesn't make you cry, I don't know what will. And if watching a room full of kids praying to a life-sized, photo-realistic cutout of George W. Bush doesn't make you feel sick and disgusted, you definitely need to have your head checked.

I realize that this is nothing new, and that indoctrination of children for political purposes takes place all the time, all over the world. It's just being an observer of it actually taking place, and its direct consequences on the kids that really shook me up. My feelings on the subject are no different now than they were before I watched the movie, I'm just having a fairly emotional moment right now, and I had to come exorcise my demons, if you will, by spelling it all out.

I don't really know what else to say, other than to emphasize that there isn't even a word in the English language to describe how disgusting it is for people to terrorize children with religion, whether it be Christianity, Islam, or what have you. If there is such a place as a Hell, I really hope that it's drastically worse than religious people say it is, and that everyone who abuses children by twisting them into mentally caged ideological soldiers for their corrupt causes ends up there for the rest of time. I literally feel physically sick from what I just watched...

I happened upon some quotes while doing research for my ethics class, which I now share with you.

Quotes from America's moral leadership:

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve. And, I know that I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

--Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; quoted from the September 14th Washington Post.


"The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. And that's what's been happening."

--Rev Pat Robertson, asserting that the Constitution only applies to Christians, on The 700 Club TV show.


"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

--Rev Pat Robertson, in a 1992 fundraising letter.


"An across-the-board assault on our Anglo-American heritage."

-- Pat Buchanan, defining the word "multiculturalism" for the Christian Coalition, 1993.



God bless America.

How many times in your life have you been told that you should "stand by your convictions" or "stick to your guns?" What opinion poll can you read that doesn't, to a certain extent, ask its participants to identify their level of commitment to an idea, a theory, a political party, a policy or a religion? In fact, people tend to define themselves by their convictions to a great extent. Ask somebody to describe themselves, and you'll hear answers like "I'm Christian, I vote Liberal, I'm married with 2 children, etc." They put forth a facade for any observer to judge, and cultivate what are often very specific assumptions of their character based on their answers. I feel that this idea is fundamentally flawed. The extent to which our population is influenced by politicians, scientists, and especially the media has never been higher, and consequently, I believe that the ability of most to think critically about the ideas that are presented to them has never been lower. When our convictions are reinforced only by tradition, or by the word of an authority figure, there is no reason why they should not be questioned or changed. Denial and questioning of the status quo should be viewed as a virtue, not as a cardinal sin of society.

As my case in point, consider the recent phenomenon of the Atkins diet. Imagine for a moment that you have put yourself in a position whereby you are able to publicly broadcast to a group of fat, grease loving Americans that they can eat as much bacon as they want and still lose weight, so long as they don't go anywhere near a slice of whole wheat bread. Completely ignoring any and all cautionary evidence to the contrary by legitimate dietitians and nutritionists, the low-carb obsession takes hold over the minds and wallets of the public, driving ever higher the profits of the meat industry, already subsidized by the government to the tune of $5 billion per year. Meanwhile, thousands of independent bakeries, pasta-makers and breadmakers across the country go out of business. Nobody wanted to think critically about the gospel of Atkins, because they absolutely loved the idea that they could eat steak four times a day and still claim to be "on a diet."

People define themselves by their convictions because they've been told for their whole lives that they should seek out a direction or philosophy of life with which they most strongly identify and adjust their behavior and thought processes accordingly. As was obvious in the 2004 presidential election in the USA, the unforgivable sin of "flip-flopping" was the proverbial nail in John Kerry's coffin. We live in a culture where we are taught by our leaders to abhor change on a fundamental level, and that once we have aligned ourselves with a belief system, we ought not to change it, regardless of arguments to the contrary. As such, those who change their mind are viewed as being weak or lacking in their convictions or the moral fortitude of their own ideals. This belief represents a failure of our society to acknowledge the importance of asking difficult questions of our leaders and the beliefs that they espouse, which are in turn accepted and internalized by the public.

Politicians are excommunicated from political parties for refusing to toe the party line on sensitive political issues, which undermines the democratic structure of our government and divorces the electorate from the democratic process. Children are disowned from their families for converting to or departing from certain religions, or for coming out as being homosexual. We're taught from a young age to obey our leaders unquestioningly, and to accept the words of high-ranking political authorities, scientists, panels of "experts" and anybody with a long string of letters after their signature as incontrovertible gospel of policy. Anyone who exhibits loud, public denial of commonly held opinion becomes a social pariah or a target of ridicule in the media.

There is nothing inherently wrong with adopting firm beliefs and defending them from scrutiny, nor is it my point to argue to the contrary. Neither I am promoting the idea that the advice of our leaders is never a legitimate basis for the foundation of our beliefs. Rather, I wish to suggest that most people's fundamental beliefs on the major topics of politics, religion, and hot-button ethical issues are typically based on tradition rather than legitimate opinion. We fail to teach our children how to critically evaluate the ideas that are offered to them by their teachers and other authority figures, and punish them for asking "why?" By the time they reach their impressionable adolescent years, they have become so ingrained with the idea that the answers to life's most important questions are to be found in the words of authority figures, that even their typical "rebellion" is flawed, because they simply trade the dogma of one set of authorities for another that contrasts the mainstream. Hence the paradoxical teenage culture of "conforming to non-conformity." In some ways, this can be viewed as an important step towards learning to question our authorities. Unfortunately, it rarely extends past those turbulent, transitory years, and more often than not simply leads to either espousing anti-authoritarian rhetoric with an equally ignorant degree of fervor, or relinquishing the struggle by simply accepting the status quo and moving on.

The solution that I would propose to this dilemma is that from a very young age, we ought to begin teaching our children to adopt a philosophy of conditional acceptance. More than ever, we need to encourage young people to ask the question "why?" and to challenge their leaders to answer that question for them in a direct and concise manner, until they are of sufficient maturity to begin seeking and independently evaluating the answers for themselves. They need to be equipped with skills of critical thinking, rather than simply learning right or wrong, true or false, black or white. We need to teach children to accept the teachings of their leaders only on the condition that they are able to provide adequate proof for the legitimacy of these beliefs, and to rationally and carefully refute contradictory evidence. This may seem like a tall order, but I believe that young minds are far more capable than they are given credit, and the only reason that our youth are incapable of offering opinions on ethics, politics and religion is because we teach them that this is the business of "grown ups" and we shelter them from the truth of what is happening in the society that they will be forced to inherit based on the choices of their predecessors.

Unconditional acceptance of commonly held beliefs, traditional doctrine, and ideals offered to the public by people in a position of authority is an exploitative practice of our society that leads to a cross-cultural, trans-demographic brain drain. People who ask questions are pushed to the outside and labeled with tags of "rebel" or "disturber of the peace," labels which we have been taught are negative and undesirable, rather than virtuous, intelligent, and worthy of critical praise. The most important thing that we as individuals can do to defend our convictions and to fortify the strength of our ideals is to seriously consider the source of these beliefs, and to ask the critical question - both of ourselves and of our sources of idealism - of why these must be true or proper, then to adjust our beliefs until they are properly aligned with secure, rational, defensible positions. Paradoxically, one of the most widely spoken but least followed epithets in our common vernacular is the charge that we ought to "think outside the box." To internalize this idea is the only way that we can truly have legitimate strength in our convictions.

I was thinking about how I always include the song that I'm listening to when I post on this journal, but amidst my life updates, political rants and whatever else, I've never actually posted specifically about music, which seems silly, since I spend so much of my life listening to it. So I decided that a post about music would be a good idea. Here then is a list, just off the top of my head, of some really good music that you should definitely listen to. I'm going to try to limit it to songs/artists that are fairly easy to find. I strongly encourage everyone who reads this to broaden your musical horizons, even if they're already broad! There's always room to appreciate something new!

Artist: George Brassens| A French folk singer, sadly under-appreciated outside of France. His revolutionary folk songs are musically and lyrically superior to anything that Bob Dylan or Jerry Garcia ever did. Not to dis Bob and Jerry, I love them too, but really, if you haven't ever heard George Brassens, you should seriously re-evaluate what you're doing with your life. Absolute genius, through and through. Even if you can't understand the lyrics, seeing as how they're in French, you should certainly be able to appreciate the elegant songcraft and superior musicianship. One of the best folk guitar players that has ever lived, hands down.

Artist: Amy Winehouse| The kind of music that you can put on any time of day, no matter what's going on, and enjoy every single second of it. Amy Winehouse is a progressive jazz/soul singer with an amazing voice who writes great songs. The type of artist who has extremely broad appeal, because there's nothing about what she does that could be described as grating, boring or atonal in any way. Give the album Back to Black a listen, ASAP.

Artist: The World-Famous Beat Junkies| Here's where I start straying into musical territory that some people might be hesitant to follow. If you don't like rap, I'll probably have a hard time convincing you to give the Beat Junkies a listen, but you're really missing out if you don't. It's a million times better than the so-called rap and hip-hop that shows up on the radio and Much/MTV. Their DJs, are freakin' genius. Their beat juggling and scratching skills on the turntables are unparalleled anywhere, and every song has a cool beat and a great sample. They also collaborate with some of the best names in rap and hip-hop today, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Check out World-Famous Beat Junkies Mix CD Vol. 1 + 2 for a real treat for the ears. It's music to groove to. I dig it.

Artist: Opeth| Progressive/acoustic/fusion/black/thrash/speed/folk metal. Listening to Opeth is equivalent to listening to a masterful group of classically trained musicians integrating the best elements of a variety of genres into a cohesive piece of some of the best metal ever recorded. Even people who hate heavy metal can find things to love about Opeth. Their latest album, Ghost Reveries (which I am listening to as I type this) is overall one of the best written and produced records that came out last year. If you can't be bothered to find and listen to a whole album, at the very least try to hear the songs "Master's Apprentices" and "The Grand Conjuration." Epic and beautiful.

Artist: Death Cab For Cutie| I'll start by saying that I don't like all of their music. Some of it is just a bit too tame and pulpy and emo for my liking, and I think that they get too much credit in the media. Despite that, I'm listing them here because two of my favorite songs from last year are "Pulling Teeth" and "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" from their album Plans. Again, overall they're not really my thing, but those songs are definitely worth a listen.

Artist: The Dillinger Escape Plan| For my extremely tough sell of the evening, I offer you this insane quintet from New Jersey that plays some of the most wild, crazy, brutal, out-there music that you're ever likely to hear. This isn't going to be a lot of peoples' cup of tea, and it's difficult to listen to if you don't like hardcore/grindcore metal, but it's brilliant in its own right. It's an incredibly talented group of musicians who play virtually unclassifiable music (some people call it "mathcore" because of the technical skill involved) that defies almost every musical convention I can think of. I really like artists who push the envelope of musical creativity, and these guys definitely do that. From lurching, bizarre in-song time signature changes and key changes to noise-only guitar solos, wild syncopation and vocals that run from meloding singing to whispering to throat-rending screams and roars, these guys do it all, and with a lot of style. Check out the song "Panasonic Youth" if you dare. There's a lot to appreciate about this band.

Artist: Kronos Quartet| I'm no expert when it comes to classical music, and I haven't listened to a lot of string quartets in my day, but I'm just going to go right ahead and suggest that the Kronos Quartet is probably the best string quartet in history. Feel free to argue with me on that one, but you won't win. Kronos Quartet was organized by violinist David Harrington in 1973, and they've done no wrong ever since. They play all kinds of folk and classical music from all over the world in addition to their own compositions of absolutely fascinating experimental music. I can't even imagine how anyone could possibly dislike anything that this group has done. For something interesting that you've probably never heard, try their album Lachrymae Antiquae (Early Music), which is a brilliant arrangement of a broad spectrum of pre-classical music from all over the world. It's music to feed the soul, and I guarantee that you'll feel like a better person for having listened to it.

Artist: MSTRKRFT| An extremely cool dance techno/electronica group, home grown right here in Canada. Less than a year after their debut album, The Looks, they're already playing world-renowned music festivals (Coachella, anyone?). It's party music with a twist, and absolutely perfect for the times that you want to let loose and dance like a maniac to forget the problems of the world. Come on, everyone has those times... right? Crank it up loud and go nuts! Probably the most fun you'll have listening to music all year.

Artist: Tool| Finally - because nobody wants to read this much about bands that I like - I have to mention Tool. I'd be surprised if anyone who reads my LJ hasn't heard of Tool, since I talk about them so much, but I'm still going to mention them, because they're amazing and geniuses and make the best music ever. Tool is by far my favorite band of all time, and their latest release, 10,000 Days gets my undisputed vote for best album of 2006. It's challenging, passionate and thoughtful music that contains some of the best drumming in the history of recorded music, period. It doesn't get any better than this anywhere on the musical spectrum. The creative genius of this band continues to floor me, and I'm still not sick of hearing them, even though I've probably listened to their latest album 100 times since I bought it a few months ago. Do yourself a huge favor and give it a listen, start-to-finish. I guarantee that it'll be one of the best hours of your life.

That's it, I'm not going to do any more, hopefully some of my musical obsession will be contagious. Please listen to at least one of the bands that I've listed, so that I can feel vindicated for sitting here for an hour thinking about which ones I wanted to write about and then trying to say good things about them.

Until next time, happy listening!

I was having a conversation with a friend who's recently converted to Catholicism, and it got me thinking about the occupation of being a priest. I realized that it's a completely ridiculous occupation, and that it's something that I could never do, even if I was religious.

Consider, if you will, my take on the job description:

Needed: One Roman Catholic priest. Must take a vow of celibacy, then sit in a small, darkened room and listen to confessions of sexual indiscretions. Must keep thoughts on Jesus, regardless.

Is anyone actually surprised when these men break their vows? They're MEN, for crying out loud! Men can't hold it in for their entire lives! It's bad for the prostate!

Way back when I was just a young, impressionable high school student in my 12th grade year, I had the privilege of studying under Fred Sproule, who was my teacher of IB History and World Politics. Fred was a brilliant teacher, and to this day, I have learned more from him and his class than any of my university courses have taught me. I bring this up, because reading about some current affairs has me thinking about my grade 12 History class, and one of the messages that really hit home for me there: the importance of remembering that the principle of "every action has a consequence" applies not only to individual people or small groups, but entire countries as well. Case in point: Iraq.

Now, everyone, do your moaning "oh no, he's bringing up Iraq again, everyone's talking about Iraq, blah blah blah, why can't he just leave off it?!" Okay, done whining? Good, now keep reading.

There's one aspect of Iraq that everyone seems to have forgotten, in the face of the troubling immediacy of civil war, or "sectarian violence" as we politically-correct westerners have taken to calling it, which is the fact that it has a history, and that the Americans had a lot to do with Saddam, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and all of the things that got them into this mess. When countries try to deny - or become ignorant of - their histories, it causes all kinds of problems.

There's a question that we all ought to be asking ourselves at this point: Why are the Americans under George Mission-Accomplished Bush, who have an army of over 130,000 troops currently deployed to Iraq and an annual "defense budget" that amounts to a giant slap in the face of the world's impoverished, STILL trying to gain control of a region populated by underground fanatical religious groups who have no central leadership and equip themselves with small arms and budgets of thousands rather than billions? Why wasn't it incredibly easy for the immensely tactically superior USA to step in and literally plant their flag in the Iraqi soil and claim their oil in the name of freedom, democracy and Wal-Marts? Why doesn't 100 billion dollars a year buy as a region where people are safe from being blown up by trucks full of bombs when they go out to buy their groceries? Why have over 3,000 Americans died and over 15,000 sustained injuries in battle to install a puppet government who have absolutely no control over the state (although it's not for lack of trying)? Why? Because the people who planned the invasion of Iraq didn't do their homework.

It should have been a cake walk - Saddam doesn't even have enough money to buy boots for his soldiers, because he's spending the state's money building himself summer homes and statues in Baghdad squares. The whole country has been sanctioned to hell by the UN since 1991, and the Oil For Food program money that was supposed to keep the citizens in bread and water ended up in the pockets of corrupt businessmen. How does Iraq manage to stand up to the US under these conditions? Simple. They acquire a target for their discontent. The Americans and other international governments have been indirectly responsible for the suffering of the people of the middle-east for years. The atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s were funded and equipped by the companies that were directed by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the same guys who were certain that they would be "greeted as liberators" when they started dropping bombs on people.

When the United States charged into Iraq, guns blazing, they forgot about something: old rivalries, not to mention the number of guns they'd shipped over ahead of time. They neglected to consider the existing level of discontent for the US and all things Western, as well as the ages old internal conflicts of religious groups and their extremist supporters, which had only been curtailed to a limited degree under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.

People in Iraq aren't stupid. They know that the big guys are fighting over their oil, as much as it scares us to admit it over here that somebody else in the world might have a clue about what's going on in their region. The problem was, we weren't going in there to fight against a powerful state with a large, standing army, like we did in World War II. Hitler - who, by the way, is much worse than Saddam Hussein, despite what the Bush administration says - was the extremely influential leader of a powerful, heavily equipped nation. Despite failings of intelligence, we basically had a decent idea of where his army was, what their objectives were, and where we had to put our troops to stop them. Not so in Iraq.

When the "coalition of the willing" attacked Iraq, their fight against Saddam Hussein's army was a joke. The formal resistance was pitiful, hence the big photo-op on the aircraft carrier with Bush in the big-codpiece flightsuit. "Mission Accomplished, we'll be home by in time to go Christmas shopping." Unfortunately, they forgot about the OTHER resistance groups that don't wear fancy uniforms, or fight under the bemustached image of their beloved leader. The way CNN has simplified it for public consumption sounds something like: "We're the good guys, and we're fighting against two groups of bad guys: the Shiite muslims, and the Sunni muslims, who are all terrorists, but determined to kill each other too, not just us."

Unfortunately, they leave out the part about how the Sunnis and the Shiites aren't two distinctive groups, each of which has organized central leadership and and army. They're fragmented into dozens of factions and tribes, almost all of whom have a bitter rivalry with another tribe that goes back a lot farther than the start of the "War on Terror" that they supposedly were instrumental in starting. They fight with small arms and improvised explosives, which, although crude, have so far been effective in halting both the military and political progress of the US. The elusive enemy that they seek to identify has no face. There are no entire armies to fight, there are basements full of angry men with the will and the hatred to secretly assemble devices or plans that result in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people every day.

It was an arrogant and horribly misinformed administration that lied its way into an illegal war with Iraq. The Bush administration is guilty not only of atrocities of war abroad, they also have the blood of every single dead American soldier and the grief of their families on their heads. They sent their soldiers to fight for a wrong-headed and selfish cause, without realizing what would happen when they tried it. Try to imagine, even though none of us truly can, how it might feel to be sent to fight and possibly die overseas while politicians in your country sit around and discuss the reason for doing so in a committee. They've let down their own people in a terrible way. But now, it appears that they may not even be held responsible for their mess? Where are the war-crime tribunals? Where are the demands for impeachment?! Where is the widespread outrage for a government that spends its citizens' tax dollars to murder innocent people and violate international law, as well as to rape its own constitution by denying its own citizens the rights which that document protects?

It troubles me how the apathy for this situation seems to have reached the point of "I don't want to hear about Iraq anymore." We've become culturally desensitized to the violence. Because this isn't happening in our own back yard, we can casually put down a paper that reads like a Baghdad obituary page and dismiss it as things that are going on "elsewhere." Well, wake up and smell the coffee. We are all humans on one planet that we all share, and right now, we have governments that spend our tax money to go kill other humans like ourselves with bombs, guns and chemicals, right here, on our very own planet. It is our own back yard. We talk about the middle-east as if it were actually far away, but our society is piggybacking its self on their oil supply right now, and if something should ever happen to that precious oil supply, our economy will grind to a halt. What happens when our machines stop working? What happens when we can't drive our cars anymore? Does anyone see the relevance to what's happening in Iraq right now? The Bush administration made a huge mistake going to war in such a pig-headed way, and now, it's costing innumerable people their lives and their livelihoods.

The area that presently constitutes the country called Iraq is sitting atop a largely untapped oil reserve that is second only to the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia. It's even the conventional oil that we like that's relatively easy to get out of the ground. The problem is that in order to get to it, we have to get rid of an insane dictator named Saddam Hussein and his huge stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Then after we do that, we need to immediately put a big band-aid on the angry wound of historical sectarian conflict, and make sure that every interested group is happy with their stake so that we can start getting the oil out and keeping our automobile industries in the black. The belief that we could do this quickly and easily seemed reasonable at the outset, but that was because everyone forgot about the history, and nobody was prepared for what would happen when the killing started to spread outside of the battlefield.

Our band-aid wasn't nearly big enough, and now, we can't even dream about setting up shop and going to work in Iraq, because the American presence there has triggered a volatile chain of events that's now got the country tearing its self in half, and leaving a giant hole in the heart of the country's political leadership that cannot be filled by any number of American troops or stabilized by any number of American guns. It's time for everyone to own up on how much we have staked in the oil supply under Iraq right now, and realize that the reason we can't just pick up and leave the mess there to sort its self out is not because the Bush administration feels some kind of guilt for the ruin that it has caused a country. It's not even because they're still devoted to champion the causes of freedom and democracy for the people by holding fair and free elections. It's because they've already invested thousands of lives and literally hundreds of billions of dollars in trying to stick their straw in the oil slurpee that is Iraq, and to leave now would be to basically admit that they're never going to get it, no matter how many people or dollars it costs. And that, my friends, would not be a well-principled move.

I'm going to bed.

Well, the Oscars are on tonight, and I'd like to respond with a resounding "I just don't care much." As far as I can tell so far, I've only seen one out of all of the films that have been nominated, and as much as I would like to see all of these films, I know I never will, and somehow, I don't really feel as if the quality of my life has been in any way diminished for having missed out on them. I can hardly hold it against people for producing good films, but I just can't get behind the whole red carpet scene. It's difficult for me to find good things to say about people who make millions of dollars already, and then get to go to an enormous party that's entirely dedicated to stroking their egos. Hey, I once used my webcam to film myself playing guitar in my bedroom! Oscar? No? Maybe next year.

I haven't been posting very much lately. Writers block. I sit down to spit out an entry, and I come up with nothing. I'm diverting all of my creative energy to writing assignments for school, and I haven't been doing very well with keeping up on my livejournal.

Well, here's what's been going on, anyways:

Currently, I'm trying to regain my health, as I've been coming down with something akin to a combination flu/sinus cold this week. It's not the most terrible thing that's ever happened, but still quite unpleasant. I have very little energy, and have been very slow to accomplish things that I need to get done. I'm still doing them, just slowly.

Next week, I'll be leaving early Monday morning for another long sales trip. I'll be going all the way to the southernmost point of Nova Scotia and back in the course of my journey. It's going to be a lot of driving, but I'm sure the scenery will be very pretty, and I'll get to go see some new places that I've never visited before, so that'll be alright. I'll post some pictures and updates when I get back next Friday or Saturday.

That's really about it. I wish that I had something clever or witty to say, but really, everything is pretty mundane right now. Happy Valentine's day to everyone, especially to Natalie - I'm sorry that I'm not Don Juan - lots of love and chocolate and all that good stuff.

This past weekend, I went to Halifax for the SYC conference on environmental sustainability. I met some amazing people, heard some brilliant speakers, and generally had a fantastic time. I came back to Charlottetown feeling refreshed and spiritually uplifted. It's frustrating sometimes to be involved in activism, it feels like a constant uphill battle, and it's difficult to get people to listen. It was so nice to be around a lot of people who are after the same thing, and who have all kinds of great ideas. It's really reassuring to know that no matter what you're doing, there's always someone who has your back. I was able to see how many people working passionately together towards similar goals have been able to create big changes. I feel renewed and inspired.

A lot of my time out of school lately has been spent working on projects with the UPEI Enviro Society, but I realize that I just posted about global climate change, so I'm going to try not to make a big thing of it again, even though I could pretty easily turn this whole thing into John's Enviro-Blog. That said, I would like to encourage everyone who reads this to take some time to read about what's going on right now, since it's a pretty major thing. For those of you who don't know, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released the fourth revision of their report, which leaves no doubt that human activity is a direct cause of global climate change, and without immediate reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions, we will have irreversibly damaged our planet. You can read about some of the findings of the IPCC here. It's more important now than ever to change our lifestyles so that our activities are more environmentally friendly.

Please take the time to read more about this issue, you owe it to yourself, your children and your children's children to take this seriously, because ignoring it will not make it go away. These links are all independent, not-for-profit sources that provide scientific information and news about climate change.

Questions & Answers on Climate Change
David Suzuki Foundation
World Wildlife Foundation - Save Our Climate
It's Getting Hot In Here Climate Blog
Climate Justice Now!


That's all for now. Be peaceful, and please, be green.

I think that I probably eat more peanut butter than anybody else in the world. I ate a lot last semester, but so far this year, my overall consumption is up almost 50%, which is a lot, considering how much I ate already. Today I figured out that if I keep it up at this rate, by May, I will have eaten almost 20% of my own body weight in peanut butter since last September. Not bad, maybe I should shoot for 30%?

In other news, I've been trying to independently improve my math and computer skills, so I started learning about Bit Torrent clients and .torrent files, and how they work. I've finally figured it out enough to get a client working properly on my computer, with an optimized network connection and whatnot. I've been learning all about server ports, the DHT method, DHCP protocols, seeding, peer exchange and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't really understand very well, but for my efforts, I've managed to download the entire discography of several of my favourite bands for free, so it's all good. I'm downloading 8 Bob Dylan albums right now. The best part about it is that I now have a 30 gig iPod (thanks Natalie, I love you!) with which to store all of my new music, so I don't have to bother with burning it all onto CDs in order to listen to it whenever the mood strikes me.

Even though I'm taking four classes instead of five this semester, I have considerably more homework than I did last semester, due to the workload of the courses I'm taking. I think that I'm probably spending about 2 hours more per day on average doing school work than I was at this point in the semester last year. I can't believe that mid-terms start next week already. The amount of time I spend studying is only going to go up from here. I'm also trying to organize a sales trip during Reading Week, but so far, that's not going so well. The level of customer enthusiasm out here is pretty low. Maybe they've all still got seasonal depression or post-Christmas brokeness disorder or It's Cold and I'm Lazy syndrome (hmmm... that one sounds strangely familiar) or whatever type of stress is fashionable to have these days.

In more exciting news, I'm leaving on Thursday to go to Halifax for the weekend for the Atlantic Region Environmental Sustainability conference, put on by the Sierra Youth Coalition of Canada. Three other people from UPEI are going, and I think it's going to be a fun and very informative event. It's going to be nice to get out of the house and go do something interesting after a month of fairly monotonous schoolwork. I could certainly use a break from routine right now.

I've also really noticed as of late that I'm turning into my parents, at least when it comes to speech patterns and certain aspects of my personality. I think that most people probably have this realization at some point in their life, but I really noticed today when I called Natalie and she told me how much money she spent on her wedding jewelery. After I hung up the phone, I realized that the nature of my reaction was frighteningly similar to my mother, with undertones of my father. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just kind of weird when you start to consciously pick out things that you say or do that remind you of your parents. It's kind of disturbing to think that my kids will some day become like me... I hope that they take after their mother, she's a lot less sarcastic than I am. It worries me somewhat that I may someday find myself in an argument with a miniature version of myself.

I've also been thinking a lot. A dangerous pastime, I know, but it's difficult to avoid. My most recent subject of serious contemplation is my academic future. Since I've been back at university, I've been running my mouth off about how I'm going to keep studying English and philosophy and get my Master's degree in English and become a teacher because I like it so much. Which is true, I do enjoy studying English quite a lot, but I've also been thinking about the kind of job that I want to have, and I'm really not sure that teaching is it... There's a lot of things about teaching that attract me to the profession, but recently, I've also been considering learning a trade, specifically, learning carpentry, instead of spending my life in the classroom. I'm still weighing the pros and cons on either side, and I really haven't made up my mind at all, so I think I'm going to stick with what I'm doing for the time being, but I can't shake this feeling I keep having that some day, it's going to serve me better to be able to build a house than to look at one and wax philosophical about the merits of home ownership. That said, it'd be much easier for me to finish my degree and then get a trade later than to do it the other way around. I think that a lot of this stems from the fact that I like the idea of building and fixing things, but I've never really done it, and it just seems like it would be something that would be incredibly useful to know at some point in the future.

I do think of myself as somewhat of an intellectual - and I do say that with a great degree of humility - in the sense that I like the academic environment, and I enjoy learning about philosophies and theories and history and whatnot, but again, I keep having these doubts. So far, my take on university is that it's really not so much the courses that you take or your declared major area of study, but the professors that you have and the people who you meet while you're there. In that sense, I feel like going to university is really more useful for networking than anything else. Of course, academic learning is hardly a small factor, but I don't really think that it's the primary reason for going, and anybody who does is probably fooling themselves. The vast majority of people who go to university don't actually end up in a job that has anything to do with their field of study, which isn't a bad thing at all, but I feel that the most relevant skills that you learn from attending university aren't classroom specific. It's things like learning how to budget your time and money appropriately, think critically, make presentations, speak in public and make logical, rational decisions. The experience as a whole is more valuable than the content. Either way, there's a lot of benefits, and I can't see myself easily deciding to leave university (like I said, maybe I'll get my degree, then get a trade?) but sometimes, I can't help but feel like I'm paying people $500 a class to have them tell me which pages in the textbook to read. Maybe I'm just feeling a bit put off right now by the large volume of homework. Becoming jaded now would be a bad idea, considering that I've got at least 3 years to go.

Anyways, that's my long-winded rambling for the day. Now that I've got the lead out, I can go back to sorting fabric samples and reading about language use in constructing logical premises. Hoorah!

There's something about laying awake on my couch at night, staring at the expanding minefield of debris on the floor that makes me wonder about the future. Don't ask me how I make that connection, there's no way I could possibly outline it in any sort of logic, but it's just something about stacks of disorganized CDs, unmated socks and leftover microwave popcorn kernels that makes me reflect on the world and my place in it.

Allow me, then, for just a moment, to address my friends and family on the ever pressing issue of global warming, and its potential consequences. Now, I realize that many of you may believe that global warming, or more accurately, global climate change, is a myth, a hoax, a fabrication. I'm not going to bash you over the head with facts and statistics, or even get angry and rant about it, because I've recently come to terms with the fact that some people just don't want to be told that they're wrong. That's fine with me. There's just a couple of things that I want to get off my chest.

Recently, for personal reasons, I became a vegetarian. With the exception of the Christmas holidays, I haven't eaten meat or dairy products since the beginning of last semester, until just this week when I decided to start drinking milk again because I believe that I need to have more fat in my diet to remain healthy. But I digress. The point is, I'm concerned about the planet, and while I realize that I am personally incapable of changing the course of global industry and that I cannot force everyone to stop driving their cars and take the bus or ride their bike, I'm trying to live in such a way that my personal impact on the planet and its resources is minimal. If nothing else, it helps me to go to bed every night with a clearer conscience.

I've also become active in the UPEI Environmental Society, of which I am now the editor and writer of the bi-weekly newsletter, and through which I will be attending a conference in Halifax next month on environmental sustainability for university campuses, with a focus on the Atlantic region. One thing that I feel I've really gained perspective on since I left Edmonton and moved to Charlottetown is the effect that people have had on the planet, and the way that we have hurt it in the name of "progress." You see, I've seen enough, read enough, talked to enough people and experienced enough personally to buy in to this whole global climate change thing, and I'll be completely honest: it scares the #%!* out of me.

I know that I said no facts and stats, but I just have to sneak one in. In a study of peer-reviewed scientific journals and articles, out of over 900 publications, not a single one disputed the veracity of global warming. Zero out of 900 PhDs argue against global warming. The media, on the other hand, spins it at about 50/50 for true/false. No wonder people are confused. It's why so few people are lining up to get involved in making a change. And that's what scares me the most. Melting glaciers? No takers. Slashing and burning the Amazon, the source of 20% of the world's oxygen? Still nobody. Broken ice shelves off of Ellesmere Island? No takers. Hurricane Katrina, possibly the worst failure in government response in the history of the USA? Still, people won't get involved. I'm afraid that it's going to take a massive, millions of deaths sort of global disaster to wake people up, and I don't want that to happen. I don't want the world that my children grow up in to be ruined, and have my generation be the one who had the chance, but failed to stop it from happening.

Sometimes, as I lay on my couch, staring at the scattered papers and books on the floor of my bedroom, I think about how beautiful the world is, and I wonder, how could anybody look at a tree, or a waterfall, or a polar bear, or a river, or a golden field of grain and not want to fight to protect it? So with what little voice I might have through the few people that take the time to read this, I just want to say, please help me to save our planet. Take a few extra minutes and walk instead of driving. I have a car, but I still walk 3 kilometers to school every day, even when it's cold. Have 3 or 4 showers a week, instead of every day. You really don't need it. Turn down the heat in your house a couple of degrees and put on a sweater. Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Buy locally made products. It's just a few little things, but imagine how much good it would do if everyone did a few little things.

Before I run off to bed, I want to share with you two quotes that I have transcribed and put up on my wall so that I read them and I am reminded of their importance every day:

"In this country we have been misled by our plentiful supply of land into a false philosophy of inexhaustibility. We have come to regard the land only as a source of immediate wealth. We have forgotten that it is a fundamental heritage, belonging as much to our children's children as to us, in the little time we are permitted to remain here on earth."

- H.H. Bennet

"In truth, neither faith in God nor trust in business as usual, nor even commitment to sustainable development, acknowledges our true dependence; if we fail to take care of the Earth, it surely will take care of itself by making us no longer welcome."

- James Lovelock

Sweet dreams, everyone.

Christmas back home on the prairies was great, seeing family and friends was lovely, and eating mom's home cooking again was tasty! Overall, no complaints about the holidays, I had a wonderful time. If only I could have stayed for longer... But here I am, back in Charlottetown for another semester. I have high hopes, though! I'm in a nice new house, and I once again have good professors and interesting classes. This semester, I am taking:

English 211 - Continental Literature in Translation
English 381 - Professional Writing
Philosophy 202 - Critical Thinking & Logic
Philosophy 111 - Contemporary Moral Issues

Not a bad course load. Tons of reading, but the subject matter is interesting, so I don't mind. I have a good schedule as well: 3 classes on Monday and Wednesday, and two on Friday, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I only have Eng 381 from 8:30 - 9:45, which gives me the rest of the day to read, nap, work and do homework or reading from my other classes. It's a pretty good setup.

Other than that, I don't have much of interest to report yet. The school got some scanners in the library, so I'll finally be able to make good on my promise to post pictures of my house as soon as I develop my roll of film. Otherwise, I'm just trying to get used to the idea of being back in a routine and doing homework every day. I have early classes this semester and I need to start going to bed earlier, since I'm usually up by 7:00 or 7:30 every morning. My new place, while much nicer than my old one, is a bit farther away from UPEI, so it's about a half hour walk each way. I don't mind walking, but the weather has been nasty of late, so I need to get myself a rain slicker and some waterproof shoes. I've come home wet and cold a couple of times already.

Finally, before I go, I wanted to mention that although Christmas has now passed, my birthday, another occasion to give me presents, is coming up next month. Normally, I don't make much of a thing of it, and I'm sure this year won't be any different, since I don't really hang out with anybody, but I'd like to take this opportunity to submit a humble request for a few things, if anyone is feeling generous and would like to send me a little care package:

1) Socks & underwear/long johns
2) Pajama bottoms
3) A mousepad
4) CDs or DVDs
5) Money to help me buy a djembe drum

That's about all. Also, the Feed John For Another Semester fund is still accepting donations. The current balance is $0.00, we didn't have a very successful holiday season, but that's okay, because I was being fed by somebody else while I was away.

I'll be back next week with photos and more to talk about as school really starts to get going. Happy New Year to everyone! And I do like to stay in touch with people back home, I like emails. You can reach me at wildgeetar@hotmail.com or jmcneely@upei.ca. Don't be a stranger, now!