Zeitgeist: Addendum

I am a huge fan of the Zeitgeist movies, and finally got around to watching the second one last weekend, titled "Zeitgeist: Addendum."

I must say that I'm becoming a huge fan of producer Peter Joseph, and I believe the premise of his movie is right on the money. In fact, MONEY is exactly what this two-hour movie is all about. Zeitgeist: Addendum primarily focuses on the corrupt Federal Reserve Bank and the International Monetary Fund. While the monetary system remains a central theme throughout the movie, Joseph does take some side ventures to take swings at his favorite targets — religion, government, and corporations. His underlying point is that these institutions are CORRUPT!

Unlike the last movie, this time Joseph focuses on positive solutions and he devotes a lot of footage to an organization called "The Venus Project." Admittedly, The Venus Project is a little way out there. These folks want to get rid of money and just provide for everyone's needs using technology. My first impression is that they are just replacing one god with another god, but then I started thinking — maybe we are underestimating the good that technology can do for us. Of course, we've sure as hell seen the bad.

My overall take on the movie is that Joseph is dead on with his assessments of the Big Three — corporations, religion, and corporations. Indeed, I agree that our institutions are corrupt to the core and attempt to control and enslave us in many ways. I think the greatest benefit that the Zeitgeist movies provide is that they will hopefully encourage people to QUESTION their institutions and challenge the status quo.

In both movies Joseph does a superb of putting extremely complex topics into very simple and easy-to-understand terms. I strongly recommend that EVERYONE in the world watch this movie. I think the discussions it spawns will help pave the way for change.

Enjoy the movie!

Female Capture

Today I gave my population PowerPoint presentation to the Humanist Class at the Atlanta Unitarian Universalist Church. During my visit to the church, I met a really fascinating Italian philosopher. He is 81-years-old and has degrees in philosophy, theology, and mathematics.

One of the things he told me has stuck in my mind all day. He said religion originates from ancient days when myths were used to unite clans. This allowed clans to develop social order and military power so they could take over other groups. And for what purpose? Female capture. The idea was to steal your opponent's women (I'm guessing they just killed the males).

He said there are examples of female capture in the Old Testament, where God ordered the Israelites to take over another group and kill everyone except the virgins, which were to be brought back and made to carry little soldier babies.

The point he was trying to make is that religion served a specific purpose in our evolutionary history, and that now, perhaps, it has outlived its usefulness.

I have heard this theory before as an explanation to what makes some people so religious. Simply put, religious people beat out other groups in the natural selection process because religion provided the organization, order, motivation, etc.. that ultimately led to a military advantage. Thus, those ancient people who were less religious were eliminated through natural selection.

Well, this idea does help me to understand modern religious behavior. The reason why we have so many religious folks in the world is because THEIR RELIGION GAVE THEM AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE.

That's all for tonight. The Goose is tired and is signing out.

Zeitgeist - The Movie

Okay, last week I watched this movie several times. All I can say is "wow."

This is one of the most incredible movies I've ever seen. The flick basically sums up things that I've found on my own from years of research. While Zeitgeist is a complex and powerful video, the one theme that stands out is how our institutions -- religion, government, corporations -- all lie to us and manipulate us. The Big Three institutions also work together to screw us -- the little people, and the world we live in.

As far as religion goes, I can't help but think that everyone would be better off if they didn't turn unproven stories into stated facts. Humans might be less dysfunctional if they shot straight, instead of playing religious mind games with themselves.

In regards to the suggestion that 9/11 was a conspiracy, I don't believe that. Although I'll say that our leaders may have "allowed" it to happen, and once it did happen, they certainly exploited it to the max. They used 9/11 to get us into two wars, and maybe more wars to come.

For me, perhaps the most poignant part of the movie is the last six minutes, where they talk about how we Americans are detached from the environment and how we are intentionally distracted with pop entertainment and "dumbed down" by a U.S. education system that is designed to keep us all ignorant. People like me, who have broken out of the shell and are looking around and going "What the f$*#," well, we will be the first ones to be rounded up and shot.

I do encourage everyone to watch Zeitgeist. If you think it is BS, please share with me the facts to dispute it. I'm checking some of the facts as well.

A Peaceful Feeling

This week I started re-reading my favorite book of all time — the 1992 novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It has given me a strange sort of peace.

It's like after all these years I'm finally starting to understand the "big picture" and I have a good feeling about that. Whatever happens to either me or humanity as a whole, I'm cool with it.

I still want us humans to win, but I am no longer so perplexed at why humans are so non chalet about their demise — the book Ishmael helped me to understand.

I also have peace in having the courage to finally say that religion is a collection of stories. I was on to this at age 15, but who wants to be struck down, so I kept quiet about it most of my life.

As for Darwin, he nailed it. Many people are taking a long time to accept it. I imagine the same thing happened when folks finally had the balls to say that the Earth rotates around the sun. I know that was a shock and probably took a few decades to swallow, but people are okay with it now.

To get people to understand that we are like any other animal species and that we could very well go extinct, well, that is going to be a reality shock for a lot of people. It's funny that when I bring this little problem up to people I know, they just zone it out, and they even zone ME out.

Christian fundamentalists are not surprised that the World is going to end. They've already been given the story line. The shocker is that the end is not going to follow their script. The World is NOT going to end, only our Culture. But maybe we will screw things up so badly that the World WILL END. The only problem is that the good Christians will have to ride it out with the rest of us — the Almighty doesn't do rescue missions, especially for irresponsible people.

Well, I've entered a new level with all of this thinking, but I think I'm okay with it. And yes, most of the ideas above come right out of Ishmael.

Oh don't we wish that life could just go on the way it has been — like a long episode of Leave It To Beaver. Sorry.

Conform or Die

Freaky looking riot police in Miami who have
been turned into Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles with your tax money.

Believe, obey, do not question!

Let's milk terrorism so we can have an excuse to turn our nation into a Police State. Let's humble those little demonstrators with our clubs, tear gas, dogs, fire hoses, rubber bullets, armored tanks, and any other weapon we can find to humiliate those who question us. Let's throw them in jail; maybe even kill them. For we are the Think Police, and we know the One Right Way, and if you open your mouth in protest, you'd better find a good dentist.

So, allow me to digress...

I would like to take a break from my usual idealism to give a more personal example of why I'm so screwed up and why this world is so screwed up.

Today, my mom insinuated that I'm a bad parent, and that really hurt. I spent this morning cleaning the house and eating a bowel of rice, I really can't figure out where this is coming from. I can't really understand why my own mother has to continually remind me what a rotten scum bag I am.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon getting my oldest daughter's car worked on and washed, and I spent 45-minutes at her college getting her financial aid paperwork completed. I stopped by the state patrol and picked up a driver's handbook for my youngest daughter and later took her to dinner. I love and idolize my daughters more than anything in the world — they are everything to me.

But I am a bad parent? Why? Because my youngest daughter left a video at my mother's house that contained "really horrible stuff." My mom is a religious fundamentalist, and she says it's MY FAULT for my irregular church attendance, and for not "making" my 14-year-old daughter attend church. My mom says if she doesn't "attend church" she will get in trouble, and fall into the ways of the world.

Okay, let's talk about the video. I'm not sure what the hell my mother is talking about. She says my daughter downloaded stuff from the Internet. Now, I have NO IDEA how to download a video from the Internet onto a VCR tape, and I don't think my daughter does either.

Secondly, I am suspecting the incriminating video contains some Good Charlotte videos. Now, these kids are covered with body piercings, body art, they wear black leather, one of them has colored hair, they are really freaky looking, and I love them. This is a band that has clean songs, who sing about the pain of growing up. They talk about when their dad left them, or what it's like to be a geek in school. They are helping my daughter and her friends get through growing up. But since they do not look like Eddie Haskell, then they are immediately deemed as evil and satanic. Okay, let's take a look at wonderful Eddie Haskell.

This is taken from a Leave it to Beaver fan website:


Eddie’s two trademarks are his unctuous politeness to adults and his weasly, sharp-tongued meanness to everybody else. He is a model white-collar delinquent, a creep who goads people into trouble rather than perpetrating the crime himself. He was a born shirker, not worker, and a strain on any parent, especially his own long-suffering mother and father, Agnes and George.

Now, let's talk about those freaky looking people. This comes from today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Letters Section:

To the guy with the rainbow-colored mohawk, tattoos, and earring who picked up the lunch tab for Lt. Col. Steven Butler, Capt. Ed Ray and me at Harold's last Tuesday, and then slipped out before we could acknowledge your generosity: Thanks.

—Lt. Col. Kelly S. Jennings

So, in conclusion...

To my mother and others, I ask that you please not judge people by their appearance. Only judge another human by what's in their heart.

As for Christian fundamentalists having a monopoly on morality, I fully expect everyone on this Planet to be moral. While I support gay marriage, I expect these couples to live a moral life. It is the moral duty of a gay couple to have a divorce that's just as ugly and drawn out as a heterosexual divorce. After all, 53 percent of marriages end in divorce, and then I hear people mumbling something about the "sanctity of marriage." I'm tired of hearing about the Conservative Right's definition of morality: Hate, self-righteousness, prejudice, and intolerance all ring hollow with me.

Yes, I am...

...a rotten person. I am rotten because I cannot support big religious institutions who tell me that God will judge me, and then their members judge my every move. There is no need to send my daughter to church every Sunday — I'm sure there are plenty of other places where she can learn to be a hypocrite.

"He's a bad one, that Yellow Canary, he is a truly lowly, sorry, no good, loser."

"Yes, you're right Ms. Whipple. He is pond scum. Now get back to knitting those socks."

The Loss of Nature-Based Religions

Rather than living WITH nature, our attitude for the past 500 years has been to dominate and exploit our Natural World. From the beginning of the Industrial Age, such an attitude has caused major environmental problems, and if we don't change our ways soon, I feel like we're heading for the grand finale of our existence.

...Regretfully, the three major Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judism, and Islam — appear to lack a strong environmental ethic, and most of society has followed their example.

...“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Rather than living in harmony with our world and as PART of the world, folks have taken the "dominion" word out of the Bible and have gone crazy with it.... I will only focus on Christianity here, since that's the religion I know most about.

...If we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour, we spend eternity in Heaven, living in our own mansion, enjoying streets of gold, and spending zillions of years "glorifying God."

...And by doing this, they ultimately seal their own fate, the fate of their children, the fate of nature, and the fate of others.

...No, but I believe that we Humans will have a close call, and that we have a lot of learning ahead of us. If I didn't believe we will ultimately survive and prevail, I wouldn't be operating this website.... I am NOT against any religion, I only oppose interpretations of religions that endanger nature, other Humans, and put our future at risk.

...I thought I had made some big discovery, only to find out that religion and industry have worked together for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

...Most of us only know the one faith that came to dominate the Mediterranean and then spread into our homelands.

...Over the centuries, the Christians, the Conquerers, and the Industrialists have all done a good job of marginalizing the early and indigenous peoples of our Planet.

...We are all either controlled or influenced by a belief system that operates on a double standard and forces us to live the one right way — the way of the modern Industrialists and Christians.

...The bottom line is that if we neglect and exploit the world that sustains us in the name of our religion, maybe it's time to find a new religion or at least re-examine how we're interpreting our current faith.

...While some fundamentalists, with the enthusiastic support of industry, continue to push the "dominion" idea, more and more denominations are standing up for environmental protection.

In the last two weeks I think I found another huge chunk of the puzzle to our current world dilemma. See, Western Civilization doesn't have much of an environmental ethic. Rather than living WITH nature, our attitude for the past 500 years has been to dominate and exploit our Natural World. From the beginning of the Industrial Age, such an attitude has caused major environmental problems, and if we don't change our ways soon, I feel like we're heading for the grand finale of our existence.

One thing I've realized is that religion has had an incredible influence on our progression during the past few centuries. Regretfully, the three major Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judism, and Islam — appear to lack a strong environmental ethic, and most of society has followed their example. Essentially, the three major religions are anthropocentric, which means that Humans are seen as the Center of the Universe. This could be part of the problem, since many folks, especially conservative Christians, are hung up on the word "dominion."

“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
—Genesis 1:26

Rather than living in harmony with our world and as PART of the world, folks have taken the "dominion" word out of the Bible and have gone crazy with it. They have used it to justify selfishness. "My property rights," is what a lot of traditional folks scream. So, coal miners are blowing the tops off mountains in West Virginia, all the while screaming "DOMINION." I will only focus on Christianity here, since that's the religion I know most about.

The common conservative viewpoint in Christianity is that we Humans are just passing through. We are here on Earth to learn, make the right decisions, and build our relationship with God. The world is temporary and will get blown up. The real focus should be on the Afterlife. If we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour, we spend eternity in Heaven, living in our own mansion, enjoying streets of gold, and spending zillions of years "glorifying God." I've never gotten a straight answer on the term, "glorify." I think it means we will be singing hymns. If we do not accept Christ, we will perish in Hell, where we will swim in a lake of fire, we'll feel incredible pain, but we won't die. This is the way it has always been explained to me in Church.

All of this is fine, but too many people use this Biblical premise as an excuse to shirk their responsibility to the environment. And by doing this, they ultimately seal their own fate, the fate of their children, the fate of nature, and the fate of others.

Will the fundamentalist interpretations of the Abrahamic religions eventually unravel the Human Race and Planet?

Yes, probably. But will we become extinct and destroy the Planet beyond repair? No, but I believe that we Humans will have a close call, and that we have a lot of learning ahead of us. If I didn't believe we will ultimately survive and prevail, I wouldn't be operating this website. The whole purpose for me, The Yellow Canary, is to simply warn about what I see as a Great Danger. I am NOT against any religion, I only oppose interpretations of religions that endanger nature, other Humans, and put our future at risk.

Last year I did a lot of research and even gave a presentation at a conference on the marriage between industry and religion.

I thought I had made some big discovery, only to find out that religion and industry have worked together for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. For instance, there was the feudal system in the Middle Ages, and today we have Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader and Enron consultant. But the biggest example that comes to mind of the industry-religion connection is the Spanish invasion of South America. Throughout the continent, on one hand the Spanish were sending missionaries to "save" the natives, while at the same time they robbed them blind. In the Quechua society of modern day Peru, the Spanish forced thousands of indigenous people to the mines, where many died.

SO, CANARY, WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

My point is that I'm not so sure the Abrahamic religions have been good for Earth. Throughout northern Europe, including Britain, nature was an integral part of Pagan worship. The acknowledgment of nature in the Pagan religions showed a certain appreciation and respect for the Earth. But the Holy Roman Empire came along and converted Europe — often by force — from naturalism to anthropocentric monotheism. Then, in the following centuries, Europe pushed their religious "enlightenment" on indigenous peoples around the world. Like ancient Europe, the religions of the Americas were ALSO nature based.

There is so much the early Europeans and Native Americans could have taught us, if only we had of listened. But WE were too busy growing our Industrial Society, with Religion serving as the barking herd dog that kept the sheep in line.

As for me, my ancestors come from Britain, Germany, and Lithuania. All three regions were rich in Pagan faiths. So, if you are Northern European like me, it may be helpful to study the faiths of your ancient ancestors. Most of us only know the one faith that came to dominate the Mediterranean and then spread into our homelands.

Maybe if we understood the religions of our ancestors, we could have a better connection to the Earth, as well as ourselves.

Over the centuries, the Christians, the Conquerers, and the Industrialists have all done a good job of marginalizing the early and indigenous peoples of our Planet. We hear terms like Heathens, Witches, Pagans, Barbarians, and Savages used in a bad way. These are terms given to individuals who do not meet the norms of both the early and modern Christians. Again, rather then listening and learning from the nature-based religions, we smeared them.

Now, we are in a predicament. We are all either controlled or influenced by a belief system that operates on a double standard and forces us to live the one right way — the way of the modern Industrialists and Christians. We must buy a car and fill it with Saudi fuel because that's the way our world is built. We must absorb millions of commercials that entice us, and our children, to buy junk, especially at the holiest time of year — Christmas.

The bottom line is that if we neglect and exploit the world that sustains us in the name of our religion, maybe it's time to find a new religion or at least re-examine how we're interpreting our current faith.

Maybe the invasion of Christianity was an unexpected twist in our human evolution that may one day bring about our undoing. Or maybe more and more Christians will begin to acknowledge the importance of Creation to their faith. While some fundamentalists, with the enthusiastic support of industry, continue to push the "dominion" idea, more and more denominations are standing up for environmental protection. Most notably, the Quakers and Episcopalians have passed strong resolutions on protecting the Earth. I have also seen moderate groups, like the Presbyterians, Methodists, and even a rare handful of Baptists, also stand up for God's Creation. This gives the Yellow Canary hope.

People Are Humans Too

Lately I've spent a lot of time studying my dog Teddy. Dogs are MUCH smarter than you might think. They can sense your moods and react accordingly. Teddy knows when I want to pet him, and when I'm going to scream at him for digging another hole in the yard. When he's in trouble, his little ears sink and he runs around in a circle thinking, "Oh man, here it comes." If Teddy is smothered with love for a week, he becomes lovable. When he's screamed at for scratching up the door or using his step sister for a play toy, well, he becomes stressed out.

People are the same way. Humans seem to play the role prepared for them. If you treat someone like an inferior, they will become inferior. If you treat someone like a criminal, they become a criminal. If you treat someone with respect, they will become respectable. If you honor someone, they will become honorable.

I bring this up because we live in a world full of arrogance and ignorance. We slight people and make others feel second class simply because we are ignorant or we don't care. That's arrogance. We scream about the terrorism in the Middle East and the crime in the inner cities. We declare entire groups of people as enemies without even thinking why.

If we subjugate groups of people, support the monarchies that enslave them, and take their resources for our SUVs, they will get angry. If we are perceived as taking sides with the Jews, if our U.S.-made missiles are used blow up fellow Arabs in their cars, or in their sleep, there will be a lingering anger.

If you treat a man like a terrorist, he becomes a terrorist. If you suggest that a billion people are going to hell because they are the wrong religion, they will sense that. They will sense that they are second-class humans and they will fill that role. If a U.S. Christian leader calls the prophet of one of the world's main religions a "demon-possessed pedophile," well, you are demeaning a billion people.

"Some Muslims want to allegorize their own scriptures because they don't want to defend jihad," Emir said. "But if you take the Koran at its word, or Muhammad at his word, then you'll find physical jihad." In fact, he noted, the highest level of Muslim heaven – which has 70 perpetual virgins on couches – is reserved for Muslims who "shed their blood" (Hadith 135). Islam's inclination toward violence, he added, also is reflected in the Koran: "Slay the enemy where you find him" (Surah 9.92).

Makes perfect sense, right? The only problem is this statement is written by a Muslim turned Christian, who has an agenda, and who is now being used by the Christian Right to perpetuate their campaign against the Muslims. Whatever happened to the love? And of course, "tolerance" is a dirty word only uttered by those evil U.S. LIBERALS who collude with the hell-bound Muslims. And most importantly, whatever happened to the RESPECT?

Our enemies attack us because we have made them feel inferior.

But oh great Western White Man, do not worry. You have the right religion, you have the money, and with the barrel of your tank, you can get your barrel of oil. You have the morality, you have the gunships, you have the Humvees, you have God on your side, you have nice clothes, you have McDonald's drive-thrus on every corner. My God, White Man, you have it all.

Maybe if we showed love, respect, and understanding for others in this world, the schism of our own evil and hatred would not manifest itself in the form of terrorism. Maybe if we treated the rest of the world as well as our dogs, we wouldn't have all the problems we're facing now. How much does the U.S. spend on dog food in a year? How much do we spend annually on foreign aid? Hmmm.

As for Teddy, I 'm going to give him a Milkbone, and I'm going to figure out a way to get to the Middle East. Sleep well.