It's a Smokescreen

Those of you who know me know that I hate the government, or rather, what the government has become, and that is a gigantic, conglomerated, hulking mass of expensive hypocrisy whose ability to waste money is rivaled only by its ability to waste life and destroy liberty. Today I would like to discuss another beautiful example: Big Tobacco.

Americans used to love their cigarettes. Many of them still do. But today, it is fairly popular to take an ideological dump on the tobacco industry, saying that they are ruthlessly robbing innocent, oblivious people of their lives and money. And we all know that tobacco companies snicker evilly every time someone dies of lung cancer. It is ingrained. As a culture, we are trained to hate big companies, and among all the other sinister behemoths of capitalism, Big Tobacco stands out as the biggest, most malicious assailant to the public good. But what is Big Tobacco? It is an industry like any other. They recognize that people like to and therefore will smoke tobacco, that tobacco requires an industry for production and sale, and that, by farming tobacco and putting it into a form you can smoke, they can make money. They recognized that a market existed and they filled the role of the seller. People are always going to smoke, therefore people are always going to buy cigarettes, therefore someone will always be willing to sell them cigarettes. No law or prevalent social attitude is going to stop this.

Furthermore, the tobacco companies do not have an ethical responsibility for their customers' health. No one who smokes is unaware of the danger they put themselves in. The responsibility lies with the individual. No one blames Ford for endangering its customers when they make a Pop Tarts box on wheels like the Fiesta. People who care about their safety in the event of a crash simply do not buy Fiestas.

When the government perceived that the public attitude towards smoking consisted of the brief, insufficient, and wholly misleading phrase "smoking kills," they saw that, by depicting themselves as anti-tobacco warriors on behalf of the public, they could improve their public image. So, the government has been in the business of legislating against tobacco companies and trying to usurp the responsibility of the consumer, a behavior which seems to be innate among politicians. But does the government really care about the consumer? People point to the government's requirement of the Surgeon General's warning on tobacco products. They point to the high taxes imposed on cigarettes. They point to government regulation about the kind of health information tobacco companies can publish. But does this really stop people from smoking? Is the government really working for us on this? We all know that smoking is bad for you. I highly doubt that anyone buying a pack of cigarettes ever looked at the Surgeon General's warning and then changed his mind about his purchase. If government really wanted to stop smoking, if they really thought it was so dangerous to the public health, then why don't they simply make it illegal?

The only thing that the government is gaining out of all this is, surprise, surprise, money. They are taxing people for being smokers. The government recognized the power of the tobacco market, just like Big Tobacco did, and the government wanted a piece of the pie. They recognized that people would always smoke, and that because nicotine is addictive, people will pay high prices to continue their habit. Follow the money, my friends, and you will often find the government skulking nearby.

Limited Sedition

Geez, it has been a long time since I posted something here. Sorry to starve all those who are hungry for my insight. Here are the lyrics to a song I wrote today.

Limited sedition,

We’ll only let you get so far,

We’ll murder your ambition,

Before you get brave enough,

To go to war for what you believe.

Let’s all live

In harmony.

Why would you question

Our authority?

We’ve got the answers

Whether you like it or not,

And if you don’t,

Then we’ve got guns.

We’ll sell you a rebellion,

Buy it or we’ll sell you death.

Repeat a corporate slogan,

Accept your fate as a

Faceless, hopeless, voting machine.

Let’s all live

In harmony.

Why would you question

Our authority?

We’ve got the answers

Whether you like it or not,

And if you don’t,

Then we’ve got guns.

We are a people

Of one hope, one mind.

If you don’t buy in,

Then you’ll get left behind.

Be a capitulating patriot,

Be a capitulating patriot,

Be a capitulating patriot,

‘Cause we’ve got guns.

Outside of Terrestrial Life

Hey dedicated readers (and by dedicated, I mean those of who remembered that I have a blog), it's been a while. I'm sure your hearts have been starving for my words.

I would like to speak about what gives life its value. Since I like to explore societal and ideological phenomena in our world, at least at a cursory level, I often encounter things that trouble me. So many massive, over-arching issues weigh on my mind, as they may upon yours, including, but not limited to, our country's most popular crime (abortion), the individual freedom of Americans whether they be economic or civil, the vices of an increasingly imperialistic government, the destruction of the dollar, the widespread monopolistic and philosophically misguided tenets of evolution, the overall stupidity of people in general, and, most egregiously, people who don't like Radiohead. The desire for truth has me addicted to its pursuit, but it's a tiring chase. Every time I catch a piece of truth, it rewards me by kicking me. Every new truth out there, the ones which are not euphoniously delivered to us by the establishment, is something else to despair about. And beyond even this, the pressing fear of the unknown, most significantly the fear of the supernatural unknown, and the idea that at some point I must have faith, devotion, and servitude to a being that I cannot see, hear, or perceive in any tangible way or otherwise risk eternal punishment with no hope of relief... this pressing fear is enough to drive one batty. Even with the surest of chances, even with 99.9 (continuing) percent chance of passing on to the more favorable afterlife, it is a risk I would rather not entertain. But who can choose whether or not to live in a world with awful truths or in a realm of absolute dependence on God without equally absolute surety of salvation? None. All these thoughts press down on me at times.

I begin to think I would rather have it the humanist way. I think, "My, wouldn't it be grand if this world was all there was? What if my only purpose in life was to party and get laid? What if the love for humanity I feel so keenly is misplaced and my resulting concern for cultural issues is unnecessary? What if there were no God? Just me being born, living, and then the lights going out forever." This idea often appeals to me.

The other thing I sometimes think, though less frequently, follows an ancient claim: "It would have been better if I'd never been born." For, if I didn't exist, what would I have to worry about? Would the collapse of the dollar mean anything to me? If you never take the blue pill, you don't care that the machines own the world. Why would you? This approach is also appealing.

But the one thing that always quells my anxious spirit is this: the glory of God. All the above dilemmas spring from a singular perspective. They spring from my self-centered viewpoint. They also spring from ignorance of the absolute magnitude of God's glory. When one considers what lies beyond those gates of splendor, even the most certain chances of eternal damnation are worth risking for a chance to see God's face! This tiny little man on this tiny blue dot has no quarrel with God! All this terrestrial tumult will one day fade away as we celebrate the extreme joy of living in God's presence! "Fear not, for I am with thee!"

Oh for the Days of Chocolate Graham Crackers

Hey folks. I realize this is a lightly read blog, and proportionately so to its light content and even lighter number of posts. I would like to share with you, however, just how much I miss my bowls of crushed up chocolate graham crackers with milk. Now, this is hardly an example of skilled food preparation. It involves only a bowl, four whole chocolate graham crackers or so, a spoon to mash them into bits, and enough milk to cover and/or drown them (depending on what level of sogginess you prefer). If you are diligent in your crushing, you should have what approaches a thoroughly mushy bowl of chocolate ecstasy. I have not had chocolate graham crackers in a long time, and as they say, absence makes the stomach grow fonder. Please come back to me, my chocolate mush!

Free Verse

The Fall

The trees shake off their weathered leaves,

Shedding their clothes in preparation for the long sleep to follow.

They are tired from living vibrant and green.

They need their rest.

The trees have completed another long day of work,

Having filled the fruit stands of the world with their labor.

Now all they want is peace and solitude for their cold night.

They will stand in the wind,

Their branches shivering,

All the while dreaming of the glorious summer,

And when it has come and is over,

They will don their bed clothes again.

The King of Limbs

Those of you who know me know I like Radiohead. For months I waited for the new record, and when I downloaded it last Friday, I was initially disappointed. The weird, chaotic mix of noises and percussion at the beginning of the opening track, "Bloom", had me worried that the band had gone batty. Then I remembered that at first I thought the same thing about Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief. By the third listen I understood the song, and suddenly the chaos made sense. That's how this whole album is. That's Radiohead. The first four tracks are especially alienating if you don't know what Radiohead is about, but they're worth the trouble. With The King of Limbs, Radiohead seems to be not writing cohesive, traditional songs, but rather trying to translate feeling into music. Unlike previous records in which songs would often elevate in intensity and end with a powerful boom, this album is soothing and chill. It invites you to close your eyes and just let it fill you. I had high hopes for this album, and they have been, for the most part, met. I give it 3.5/4.

Exploring a Library

I love a good library. That's something I realized tonight. For me, I have mostly thought of the library as the place where I go to pick up my requested books or CDs, and then I go home. In and out in a flash, so to speak, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But since I've been at college, life moves a lot slower. I feel I can ponder things better; I do a lot of thinking. This mental patience prepared me for the experience I had tonight: the new experience of exploring a lonely library just to soak up the feel of the place.

Previously this semester, I had only used the library to print off stuff in the Honors lounge. The building was for all practical purposes to me a printer. Also, since I had never visited NSU prior to my coming here, the remainder of the library remained foreign, a mystery. So, I walked around the library for a half an hour, my ears wide open. The third floor especially caught my attention because of the shear silence. I could hear myself breathe. I found out that my right shoe squeaks slightly. Whenever I started walking, anyone on the floor could hear me. The sounds of my backpack brushing against my jacket as I walked were obvious to me. It was nice to be reminded of the absolute beauty of a few tiny sounds. They draw your attention to the minutia of life. It's not often you get to take a moment and look at the world through a different scope, under a different magnification. Sometimes I get it when I'm looking at the stars on a clear night, or sometimes a dazzling orange sunset will do it. We're so used to looking through our own eyes only that it's hard for us to remember that there's anything else.