Knowledge desert, thirsty brain

[Oneironaut]

Anyone else get the feeling that our society is becoming too anti-intellectual? In my frustration I wrote a poem about it.

Knowledge desert, thirsty brain,
I'm the one who feels this strain.
Ignorami bumbling by,
Drooling, blank stares in the eye,
Noises coming from their necks
On fashion, sports, T.V. and sex.
On matters of some real import
I speak my mind, but no retort.
"Was Nietzsche right?" â?? "Are those fake boobs?"
"The euro...good?" â?? "What's on the tube?"
"Is free will real?" â?? "I like big trucks."
"Can AIDS be cured?" â?? "The Yankees suck!"

[Acouwaila]

I like it...especially the last bit

and I completely agree with it..

I call it the big game....everyones into shit that doesnt really matter whatsoever

and I don't understand how so many people can be blind and ignorant...ya know?

Most teenagers and kids lives today revolve around sex, television, fashion, and gossip...

Its really sad that most kids will grow up without wondering why we are here....or even appreciating things like art, nature, and science...

another thing that makes me kind of sad....is when most people look into the sky at night and see stars....sure...they all say its beautiful...

but I mean...isnt it mind blowing? I mean think about what you are looking at......

[timothylearyisdead]

People aren't becoming dumber, they're just being real. Most people don't want to come off as a prick like pretty much ALL intellectuals do. And honestly, I'd rather be dumb and happy than someone who has too much shit to think about who has no friends because everything that comes out of their mouth makes them sound like an asshole.:twocents:

[187]

haha great peom dude i totally agree

[Matt the Funk]

People aren't becoming dumber, they're just being real. Most people don't want to come off as a prick like pretty much ALL intellectuals do. And honestly, I'd rather be dumb and happy than someone who has too much shit to think about who has no friends because everything that comes out of their mouth makes them sound like an asshole.:twocents:Word. I just have to say why would you care? Just let people live their life how they want to live it. Asking questions can lead you to the truth, but it can also lead you to insanity. Ignorance is bliss.

[PaRRoTT]

Read my sig... its how i live my life.

good poem.

[timothylearyisdead]

Ignorance is bliss.

Indeed. After all, the meaning of life in my opinion is just to be as happy as you can possibly be. Knowledge sure as hell doesn't bring happiness, if anything the more you know, the more you realize how fucked this world is.

[Acouwaila]

Indeed. After all, the meaning of life in my opinion is just to be as happy as you can possibly be. Knowledge sure as hell doesn't bring happiness, if anything the more you know, the more you realize how fucked this world is.

I completely agree that ignorance is bliss

however ignorance is not at all REAL...NOT AT ALL

If you aren't real, you aren't yourself....if you're happy not being yourself...then God help you

The big game today is full of sin and wrong....

I agree that one of the meanings of life is to just be happy and enjoy life..and thats where my passion for music comes in..along with smoking...but being ignorant of everything else that matters just means you are some generic doll playing along in the doll house...its rediculous..

[timothylearyisdead]

I completely agree that ignorance is bliss

however ignorance is not at all REAL...NOT AT ALL

If you aren't real, you aren't yourself....if you're happy not being yourself...then God help you

The big game today is full of sin and wrong....

I agree that one of the meanings of life is to just be happy and enjoy life..and thats where my passion for music comes in..along with smoking...but being ignorant of everything else that matters just means you are some generic doll playing along in the doll house...its rediculous..

Yeah this is an issue that pretty much leaves people torn. I mean, I am by no means a dumbass, but I don't cloud my mind with information I really could care less about. And I certainly don't try to act like I know everything. All I'm sayin is it's better to be happy and enjoy the things in life that truely make you happy rather than exhausting yourself for knowledge that really isn't all that relevant WHILE AT THE SAME TIME making yourself look like a prick.


ps. Do you have any of your music online? If so I'd love to hear it!

[Staurm]

Nice poem, for some reason it reminded me of Chris Morris! :thumbsup:

[Acouwaila]

Yeah this is an issue that pretty much leaves people torn. I mean, I am by no means a dumbass, but I don't cloud my mind with information I really could care less about. And I certainly don't try to act like I know everything. All I'm sayin is it's better to be happy and enjoy the things in life that truely make you happy rather than exhausting yourself for knowledge that really isn't all that relevant WHILE AT THE SAME TIME making yourself look like a prick.


ps. Do you have any of your music online? If so I'd love to hear it!

"WHILE AT THE SAME TIME making yourself look like a prick."

Ok...sure people that point certain things out at certain times may LOOK like a prick or come off as a prick...but im sure that they are being 100% real and have no intention of making anyone or anything look worse than them....people that ask questions and hold the "understanding" type of knowledge don't try to be anything they are not...they don't try to be better than anyone, and they don't think they are better than anyone.....

maybe some do....but those are the ones who are ACTING like know-it-alls...

anywho...

yeah Ive got two songs I wrote before I went to college

I don't agree with the style of music I had, basically because I have a different understanding of music and art now...and also LIFE ...lol

www.myspace.com/wesherring (http://www.myspace.com/wesherring)

as of now, Im still trying to find my groove....My art in music that defines me and expresses my thought....

[crudemood]

its all mtvs fault.

[MagicalHerb]

"They keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be"
-john lennon

its all mtvs fault.
dude it is, sometimes i wonder if its a government plot to make knowledge and free spirit look "stupid" and "uncool" so they can finally eliminate the undesirables.

[CanaDanKs Inc.]

Beautiful poem man, it speaks the truth

and Acouwaila, you are right about the big game
everything is a game, a competition...

seems like there is little room for love these days

[GHoSToKeR]

I agree, Ermitonto. It's not a recent problem, although I feel it's getting worse. I'm going to university soon, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to find people willing to have some kind of intellectual conversation. Most of the people I meet in social situations bore me (and alot of my friends) to death. I've been insulted for being reasonably intelligent, laughed at, chastised for having an interest in things other than television or getting wasted all the time. My response is always just "fuck you", and then I move on. :P

[Oneironaut]

another thing that makes me kind of sad....is when most people look into the sky at night and see stars....sure...they all say its beautiful...

but I mean...isnt it mind blowing? I mean think about what you are looking at......

I know. It's the whole freaking universe! The sun is not just a light. It's a gigantic nuclear fireball bigger than we can possibly imagine with our puny monkey brains at a distance greater than we can possibly imagine with our puny monkey brains.

"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be." -Douglas Adams

And when that Sun begins to set, we see a bright light in the sky near it. That's the planet Venus. Besides the Sun and the Moon, it's the only celestial object you can see during the daytime. If you know exactly where to look, you can find it in the right conditions while the Sun is still up. The surface there is so hot it's melted all the probes we've sent there. And even though it's the size of Earth, it's so far away that it is just a point of light to us. That's pretty mind-blowing right there.

But once the Sun completely sets, then we see an even bigger picture. There are more suns out there than we can possibly imagine, most with their own planets. If it's dark enough, you can see the Milky Way galaxy, the giant swirling mass of suns whose suburbs we inhabit. And if it's really dark, you can even see our closest neighbor galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy.

I think the reason a lot of people are attracted to the idea of an infinite God is because it makes them feel small and humble. But you don't need a God for that. Just look up at the sky. I don't think it's any coincidence people have associated this humbling God idea with the amazing vastness of the heavens above us.

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and, I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." -Carl Sagan

[wayoftheleaf]

i was looking through many many myspace profiles recently, and i was startled by the amount of people who had *i hate books* or *i hate to read* or *ive never read a book in my life* on their interests.

My friend jared, who can read as fast as i can*i read the last robert jordan book in under 7 hours*just read his first chapter book. The gunslinger by Stephen King.

[REEFERDREAMZ]

Yea , Dr's should prescribe health, instead of prescription drugs. Some healthy natural fruit, veggies, tons of water.

sighs.. is discontent ..:wtf:

:jointsmile:I like my pills though.:jointsmile:

[Oneironaut]

I don't see what's wrong with pills. Doctors prescribe them because they've been scientifically proven to help the patient with whatever ailment they're suffering from. A healthy diet is a good thing to have, but it can't do everything. Sometimes people need specific drugs to combat specific ailments. Antibiotics being an important example. Do you have any idea how many lives have been saved by penicillin pills?

Although I am skeptical of these anti-depression drugs that are out there. As Jennifer Michael Hecht explains in her book The Happiness Myth which I am reading, the only reason our culture prefers Zoloft and Prozac to opium and marijuana (which have been among the primary happiness drugs in past cultures) is because clear-headedness is important in our culture that is obsessed with efficiency and productivity.

[chiqo76]

....Ignorance is bliss.....

This is the same attitude that keeps cannabis illegal today. Research the reasons and arguments for why it was made illegal and you'll realize its BS. Its not just cannabis, think of the war and many other things, like gas prices, etc., the list goes on and on. As long as people focus on material objects and become content with this false happiness that is thrown at them, then there will never truly be happiness as a whole.....


VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!!!!!!

[chiqo76]

Pills also make the companies that make them extremely rich even with all the side effects.......

[chiqo76]

oh good poem by the way...

[wayoftheleaf]

penicillin wouldn't save me lol. deathly allergic.

[Oneironaut]

Yes, that's one of the caveats of the medical profession. Different bodies react differently to different drugs.

And yeah, the pharmacological companies are making a lot of money on pills, but pills are important for combating diseases. They're not allowed to market pills unless they can actually scientifically show that they actually work for what they're advertising. I don't see how anybody with even a rudimentary understanding of medical science can honestly deny that isolated drug compounds in pill form can have profound health benefits when prescribed wisely. But that's the problem, too many people are scientifically illiterate. They couldn't tell a neutrino from a neutron star.

Why doesn't science fascinate people as much as it fascinates me?

[wayoftheleaf]

^^some pharmaseutical companies have been selling medications that turned out before distrubuting to the masses were harmful, to third world countries.


I want an unbiased scientific research on marijuana that won't be disputed.

Give me that and i'll be happy to never talk about it's benifits and harmfull side effects again

and what language is your sig in right now? i want to translate it and read it.

[chiqo76]

... I agree that some medication is needed, like anitviral medication for AIDs patients, but these medications that are scientifically shown to have profound health benefits are approved by the same FDA that approved Phenphen, Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra, and Thimerosal...

I try to stick with cannabis as my cureall, but if im in a hospital bed dying and the doc says i need some pills, of course Im gonna take them....

.... I used to be one of those "ignorance is bliss" people untill I smoked and realized that everything I was told as a kid about MJ was complete BS, not its got me reading about other stuff... well the MJ and the fact I dont have cable....

[Oneironaut]

^^some pharmaseutical companies have been selling medications that turned out before distrubuting to the masses were harmful, to third world countries.
Lots of pharmaceutical companies have been selling medications that turned out to be beneficial to people of all nations. Yeah, sometimes they screw up, but that's because they're human and they make mistakes. When you look at the big picture, pharmaceutical companies have saved many many many many many more lives than they have inadvertently killed. Sometimes we accidentally send poisoned food to starving third-world nations. Does that mean we should stop sending food altogether? No, because we're saving many more lives than we're destroying.

And I'm not really one to stand up to the corporate fat cats. I'm a freaking communist. But I attribute the good of this situation to the progress of medical scientists who have spent their entire careers finding out how certain chemicals interact with the human bodies to be able to get the right chemicals to the right people. These people genuinely want to save human lives; this is why we have medical science to begin with. It's unfortunate that these drugs have to be distributed to the public in the current way via huge pharmaceutical companies, but at least the drugs are based in science and they're saving and improving lives.

I will not deny that the capitalistic lust for money has driven some pharmaceutical companies to do some obscene things, but for the most part they don't get too far with that. It's not like they're out to make people ill. They're taking scientifically approved drugs and marketing them to the public; they have the FDA to keep them in check and make sure they don't step outside the lines.


I want an unbiased scientific research on marijuana that won't be disputed.

Give me that and i'll be happy to never talk about it's benifits and harmfull side effects again
I want that too. I want cannabis to be publicly recognized as a drug with scientifically proven benefits, so that doctors may prescribe it to the public. Yeah, it would be a bummer to see the pharmaceutical companies take hold in the cannabis industry, but if that's what it takes to save and improve lives in the meantime, then I'm all for it.

[wayoftheleaf]

I meant they sold it to third world countries KNOWING it was unsafe. I read a report on it somewhere, if i find it i'll post it.

[Oneironaut]

I can believe that. Companies do all sorts of unethical shit for profits. That means we need to change our economic structures, not medical science.

[wayoftheleaf]

I wasn't saying to change our medical science. I just think the world is fucked up in general.

I don't really believe in any government, and anarchism doesn't suit me either. Something like (please forgive this oxy-moron) An anarchy with minor laws, to protect a person's individual freedom.

Not saying that, that type of government(or pretty much lack there of) would make things like that happen less often, but it would make a crime such as that heinous to the utmost extent of the word. And the punishment swift and severe.

We shouldn't give up on furthering our knowledge, but we should find a better way of protecting a person's *individual* rights to live and have utter freedom upon his or her own self. Any physical damage to a person.*i don't mean mental damage, that would have to be accepted unless it was harassment* is harming a person, thereby limiting their freedom in some way by use of corporal punishment.

That is just the way I see it though.

[Oneironaut]

I don't really believe in any government, and anarchism doesn't suit me either. Something like (please forgive this oxy-moron) An anarchy with minor laws, to protect a person's individual freedom.
Anarchism does not imply the absence of rules. Of course civilized society needs rules; murder and rape cannot be tolerated. Anarchism is about the lack of rulers and hierarchical power structures. An anarchist community finds solutions to combat murder and rape without creating positions of authority; the rules are decided by the community and enforced by the community. Anarchism is about maximizing liberty. Murder, rape, capitalism, slavery and government are all crimes that anarchists will always oppose, because they are examples of one person or group restricting another's freedom to live as they choose. Anarchists recognize that every person deserves the right to do as they please so long as they do not impose on other people's freedom to do the same.

It is a sad fact that anarchism is so often misrepresented by those who have never taken a minute to read anything an anarchist has written about anarchism. They think it is a lack of social organization, a lack of civilized rules, and a lack of order in general. This is a lie. Anarchy is about abolishing power hierarchies, not about abolishing civilization or organization or orderly behavior.

[wayoftheleaf]

^that is what I thought it was, but every time i said something like that I was struck down saying it was exactly what anarchism isn't. Thanks for clearing up the situation a bit.

But yes, that is exactly what I am talking about.

[halo]

That is a really good poem. You should try and get it published. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[halo]

That is a really good poem. You should try and get it published. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.