Random Thoughts

Facebook – The crack of a nation

I'm not back, Padawans. I'm not coming back. LiveJournal crossposts to Facecrack is all. There's no reason to change that so breathe and calm down. Now, moving right along then...


I left Facecrack this morning. I deleted the program from all mobile devices, fired up the Mac, crippled the fuck out Facecrack, logged out of all devices, updated some contact info, left a message and walked the fuck away. I was tired of the abuse. The silence, quite frankly, has been fucking orgasmic.


I'd been thinking about leaving for some time. The last thing needed to push me finally happened. Someone I love chose someone abusive and then broke off all contact because she'd been told to. I finally understood something important with that.


I'd always wanted to be important enough to someone for them to fight for me. To have a person actually want to be there. That's not a realistic expectation. Those people do exist. We just never find them until we are willing to fight for ourselves. Even then we won't find them. They'll show up on their own eventually.


There was also all of the political bullshit going on that lent itself to my leaving. The moronic crap of believing what you want, throwing out or ignoring anything that contradicts your opinions and being abusive as fuck to anyone who dares to call you on it. Otherwise known as business as usual for America.


Someone I once worked with unfriended me and was verbally abusive on hi way out. Why? Because I didn't agree with him, suggested that he actually research before he opened his mouth again and said that FOX and YouTube aren't valid sources. One of his complaints was that not only we have children walking over from Mexico into Texas to go to school, but that they are taking away from our citizens and our government is doing nothing about it. Why don't we actually look at that?


Our government did do something. It set this in motion by giving power to agencies without sufficient restrictions. Our administration wants to do something about illegal aliens and went too far. People are being deported who have lived here for years and, in some cases, decades. Many of these people contributed more to this country that others who have lived here their entire lives. Now they're being sent back to a country that many fled from and they have to take their underage children with them even though those children were born here. That's right, Padawans. The kids that he was bitching about are U.S. Citizens. They're entitled to that education even though the country of their birth looks more fascist than the country they're now forced to live in. He didn't bother to read anything. He saw videos online and took them for gospel.


There's a meme making it's way around Facecrack that states that the Democrats did not vote to lower our taxes. Context people, context. The Republicans didn't vote to lower taxes either. They also didn't approve a budget. They did, however, vote for massive tax breaks for large companies and the upper 1% of the population. Isn't it funny how things always get left out?


I have another friend on Facecrack, that is fond of saying, “Agree to disagree” That's unadulterated bullshit. She simply doesn't want to hear opinions that call her political beliefs into question. If all you do is talk about your beliefs with like minded people, that's not a political discussion. I don't have time for parrots, racists, obstructionists or anyone who believes in “Alternate Facts” If you talk to me then be prepared for me to use logic. Considering that I'm willing to discuss viewpoints other than my own and leave myself open to your logic in the process, it seems only fair.


I'll log in long enough to make sure that my LiveJournal notifications are going to the proper filter and to check for new pictures of my son. I also still use Messenger because it's a separate program. That's it though. If you see me logged in to Facecrack, ignore it. It's just a figment of your imagination. I may miss people from there, however, I did leave ways to contact me and I'm not interested in dealing with the abuse anymore. If you want to continue to be abused that's your choice. I'm fighting for myself because I'm the only one who will and can.


Be Well.

Intro

Ask anyone what Magick is and they'll probably reference David Copperfield, Harry Houdini or whoever is the current rage. Magic is sleight of hand, misdirection and usually performed on a stage or in front of people and is, primarily, for entertainment purposes. We also think of what we see in the movies or on TV. That's also strictly for entertainment and they had cool effects and sound so that you can believe that something mystical is taking place.


If you noticed the spelling I used then you know that we're talking about something else. When Magick is mentioned the common responses are disbelief and anger. Science cannot prove the existence of Magick. It cannot be disproven either. Most people forget that last part and get upset because they feel that we're daring to tread where only divinity is supposed to go.


Magick is the direction of energy, through non traditional means, to produce a needed change. Non traditional meaning that it cannot be measured, you aren't using your muscles and you're not employing the tools that we commonly used. Needed meaning that the change you want to produce is necessary and Magick is the only way to accomplish it.


Conditioning

We are conditioned, from birth, to believe in a certain set of rules. These rules, while they may vary somewhat with population and geographic location, remain fairly consistent and are focused more on limitations than anything else. What we can and cannot do and what is and is not possible. The first word that all of us learn the meaning of, regardless of language, is "No". The word is associated with negative things and sometimes accompanies punishment. The next word we learn is "Yes" and this word is associated with positive things and typically accompanies rewards. So before we learn anything else, including how to question and reason, we are taught to recognize limitations and we learn where punishment and reward comes from. This training holds true for the rest of our lives, typically.


Afterwards we are taught even more limitations. Some of these are universal and some aren't. Wet vs Dry, Hot vs Cold, Up vs Down and so on. We also learn a great deal in school, although most of that is skewed or sanitized, depending on your location, or if you go to school at all. Speed of light, Gravity, Earth orbiting around the Sun, the Moon orbiting around the Earth, The Sun will rise tomorrow and so on.


These are only constants because our focus is so limited. It's limited by our lifespan and the current scope of scientific knowledge. If we could live long enough then we would see the Earth burned to a cinder when our Sun goes nova. Where is our local gravity then? The Sun isn't rising because we have nothing to stand on. The Speed of Light is the current constant only because science has found nothing faster. All that means is that science either hasn't located anything faster or lacks the ability to track it at all.


What truly matters is that because of our conditioning, most of us are highly resistant to new ideas that go beyond the limits we were taught in childhood. The concept of Magick shatters those limits. Or does it?


Magick vs Science

Due to our conditioning, many of us need help to accept that we're about to do something mystical. Our brains rebel at anything outside the norm of what we've been taught so we need to set the scene, as it were. Some use special clothing, meet with others of a like mind, meet somewhere special or meet at a specific time. Some of us use tools that are used for nothing else, chant, sing, dance or stand in universal silence. All of this is designed to allow our minds to accept that we are about to do something that cannot be measured by our physical senses.


Science tells us that we are held to this planet by gravity. Our planet is moving through space and we are moving at the same speed. We don't feel it but we are under the same acceleration as our planet is. Magick says that we can do anything that we want to so long as we can direct the energy properly. Even if we accept the fact that Magick is real, then it is the application or the directing it properly that screws most of us up. For example, what if you wanted to fly?


You put your mind in the proper frame, you concentrate, you focus your energy and you raise up off of the ground. I'll bet that sounds simple, right? Now either that worked and now you simply decide where to propel yourself to or you've just killed yourself.


Remember now, you're on a planet, revolving around the Sun, in a solar system that is circling the center of our galaxy and our galaxy is also moving through space. You can't feel any of it yet you are subject to all of it just as much as the rest of us are. Keeping that in mind, did you simply rise up off the ground in relation to everything else or did you just cancel all other forces on your body? If you did the last one then you're either a blood splat somewhere or you're in space, trying to breathe, as everything moves away from you. Either way you're toast.


Let's table that for a moment and tackle another issue. Why isn't Magick visible? You see people throwing mystical bolts and stuff on the screen? Welcome to Hollywood and TV. None of that is real. It's all just special effects. Can you make something visible like that? Of course you can, once you know how much energy it takes to ionize air into the visible spectrum. Does anyone know the answer to that because I don't.


It takes energy to do anything and, as always, you're limited by the physical body or tool directing it. It takes as much energy, if not more, to do something with Magick as it does to do it with tools. I can lift my cup of milk off the table and hold it there with Magick. As long as I haven't cancelled out the other forces and I've simply lifted it in relation to everything else, no mayhem results. If I've done anything else then I'm going to require a hospital, if I survive the experience at all. I can lift the cup up with my arm and hand and hold it there. The longer I maintain its position, the more effort or energy I have to expend to keep it there. Eventually I'll set it back down because I become tired. My energy is not infinite.


The real question is have I flown or lifted my cup off the table that way? Of course not. It's not that I can't do it. We all have the ability to. It's that I don't believe that I can. I'm unable to wrap my mind around the mechanics of it. Writing about it and doing it are two vastly different things. I, like those around me, went through the same conditioning. I learned the meaning of "No" before I learned anything else. I'm bound by science, universal constants and societal constraints because they've been hammered into me since birth. While I can talk about it and I know that it's valid, until I can convince myself that I can actually do it, my feet will never leave the ground without technological assistance.


Those that truly practice Magick, tend to do so around others, although some are solitary practitioners, and it also tends to be for religious purposes. They're trying to connect to Divinity or whatever they view as Divine and that's probably for the best. If you put the energy out there to make a change and leave the myriad of details up to Divinity then you're much less likely to require a doctor or a mortician.


Head Fake

If you've been around me long enough, you know that there's usually a point to what I write but did you notice the head fake? While everything I said about Magick is true, this has been about how we view the world, not about having you risk going to the ER.


You can do and be anything you want. There are limitations, of course. Those are primarily dictated by where you live, what type of government you have and so on. Regardless of any limitations, it always comes down to a choice and, as I've written previously, that choice is Yes vs No. Will you or won't you? Do you remain sitting in your current state, bound by training and the perceived limits of science or do you reach for more? Do you stand up and protest your government or do you accept the status quo? Yes vs No isn't always an easy choice. In the end, it comes down to responsibility. To yourself first, to your family second and to everyone else third.


You don't have to remain bound by prior conditioning. All I've done is try to show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it. Don't accept things at face value and, please, above all else, think. As of this writing it still isn't illegal.

Since the Presidential race and the subsequent election, the American public has become ridiculously polarized politically. Family squabbles, destruction of relationships, beatings, death, property destruction, loss of employment, witch hunts and social media idiocy. In other words, shit you would expect to see from non medicated humans with severe impulse control problems who are in serious need of an ass beating. Get back on your fucking meds and chill out. Preferably while we still have a country left.


Go on, tell me I'm wrong. You can't do it. We're destroying each other over what we believe politically. It's a long standing tradition. We've been doing it since before the beginning of recorded history. What do you think the crusades were? On the surface it was about “What invisible being in the sky do you believe in?” In the end it was all about power and that's the focus of politics.


“Who has the power?”

“How can we take it away or keep it?”

“How do we keep the public stupid and uniformed so that they don't get in our way?”


The last one isn't hard to accomplish. Truthfully, we do most of it to ourselves. The politicians just sit back, watch and, occasionally, poke someone in the right direction. Americans aren't interested in the truth because the truth might disrupt their world view, prove them wrong and shine some light into the darkened corners of the psyche. We can't have that, can we?


The reality is that we did this to ourselves. As always, humans give away their freedoms for the illusion of safety. That's been going on since the first group of primates picked their first leader. If you have leaders then they have more power than those they lead. Politics 101 in action. Look back to the attack on September 11, 2001 for a perfect example.


We were shocked that it happened. A terrorist attack on American soil. What utter philosophical bullshit. We'd had previous attacks but they were carried out by white Americans, mostly. They were't terrorists. They were misguided or insane but they couldn't be terrorists. Right?


While we were reeling, we gave away privileges for the illusion of safety. The Patriot Act and other atrocities were born. We're still feeling it 16 years later and we have yet to learn our lessons. The two most important ones are: America is not immune to attack and there is no such thing as rights.


America has always been under attack just like other countries. Our politicians hide it from us or we refuse to see it for what it is. Frankly, it's a combination of both. We've fallen for our own hype and we've bought in to the history books. History is a pack of lies perpetrated on the losers by the victors. Non American history texts tell a different story. We're just as guilty of terrorism as other countries. The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima spring to mind although there are other examples.


Rights? Freedoms? The entire concept is flawed. As long as anyone can take something from you, it's a privilege. We don't even have the right to breathe. Put a bullet in my skull. Choke me to death. Where is my so called right to breathe? It's only free because there's no way yet to charge us for it beyond pressurized tanks for certain situations.


What is the point of this? Was there one when I started? I'd have to say no. This is all a stream of consciousness thing. It's occurring to me as I type and I'm tired of remaining silent. A subject isn't required to write. It helps but it isn't mandatory. I've been writing on legal pads for a decade. It's not enough now.


A point to this, if there is one, is to wake the fuck up and pay attention to your surroundings. We're being led around by our noses with most of us going willingly. Your brains still function, especially those of you reading this. Think while it's still legal. Research while the information is still available. Americans live in a political system that allows for politicians to be voted out of office yet we don't make use of it.


Most of all, remember that differences in opinions, politics or ideologies do not need to cause dissension. Someone I love dearly voted for Trump. We've agreed to disagree because we love one another too much to allow this difference to destroy us. We did that easily, with almost no thought. We still discuss politics occasionally and we do it politely. If we can do it then why won't the rest of us?


It's a simple choice. Or do we intend to be led around by our noses for the rest of our lives? If so then I suggest a brass ring and some anal lube. It'll hurt less.

Chris Cornell died. I feel for his family. Do I grieve with the world? No. I didn't know him any more than I knew Robin Williams or the thousands of others that commit suicide yearly that we never hear about. So why write about this? Because the same thing that happened with Robin is beginning to happen with Chris. People are beginning to point fingers at one another. Others are stating that this could have been avoided if more attention had been paid. It was bullshit when Robin died and it's bullshit now.


The truth is that Chris lost the battle with his inner voice just like Robin did. There's nothing anyone could have done to stop it. There's no way to have known what was going through his mind. Those of us who fight that voice will never reach out because that's not how our society works. For those of you that actually want to help, you need to reach out to us.


I've been dealing with that voice for about 40 years now. I finally admitted that it was real about four years ago. That's about the same time that I went on medication to quit smoking. The meds didn't accomplish that, however, they did help give me back control of myself.


I may have been born this way. Ritalin may have caused it when I was a preteen. It's more likely that Ritalin aggravated what was already there. ADHD, Depression, stuck at around 16 years old emotionally. The meds help with the worst of that and I do the rest. I'm happy to say that I'm a functional adult. Something that I'd given up hope of ever attaining. Throughout all of that, the voice was there, whispering to me.


That voice is insidious. It whispers promises of peace, quiet, freedom from pain, responsibility, loneliness, ridicule and lack of acceptance. It can all be mine. I'll finally be free. All I have to do is stop breathing. That's not a big thing, right?


One day, if I live long enough, the voice will win. It will kill me. It's a mental illness and that means that it's not subject to being cured. There is not therapy that will eradicate it. You can't cure it with pills or shots. You live with it, learn to adapt or you don't. My goal isn't to get rid of the voice. That's not possible. My goal is to outlive it. This is where society screws things up.


Mental illness is not readily visible and there is no way to guard against it. There are no vaccinations. There is no cure. As a society that terrifies us. We rationalize it away because we can't face it. We say things like, “It's all in your head!”. Well, yes. It is. That's what makes it so dangerous. Those around us refuse to see reality and those of us with the issues don't want to admit it that we have a problem. I should have been on medication decades ago but I refused to admit that I needed to be. I didn't want to be different. I stumbled my way into the proper prescription while trying for something else.


If you truly want to help us, then do two things. First, simply love us. Be available. Be receptive. Be the type of friend or family that we can confide in. Be the type of person that we can reach out to, safely.


Second, don't feel guilty if we lose. It's not your fault. I cannot stress this enough. If we lose the battle, it's our fault, not yours. Don't carry that guilt with you over something that we did. While it is a mental illness, it doesn't absolve us of personal responsibility.


I'm fortunate in that I don't need people to reach out to me. I'm fully aware of who and what I am. I reach out when I need to and I'm not afraid to talk about things. If all any of you do is help one person, then my time spent on this is worthwhile. If you don't, then you're just as trapped as I was and you need some help. Think about it.

( Polite Disclaimer )


( Rob 101 )


( Politic Americana )


( Third Party Voting )


( Congress )


( Religion )

Into every life a little drama must fall. Not anymore. You can consider this an expansion of my last entry. Some will applaud this, some will hate it and some will run screaming. I could give a fuck less. You can either live by it or you can leave.


1. I make my own decisions. I've been doing it for years and I'm still here. If you don't like it then you can keep your mouth shut or leave. If you're paying my bills or you're my significant other I might listen to you. I wouldn't place any bets on that if I were you though.


2. If I ask you out then it means that I'm attracted to you and I respect you. It also means that I overcame my Social Anxiety Disorder to actually ask the question. Look it up. Very few people are worth that kind of effort.


3. If we're dating then the first two dates are paid for by me and that includes your gas. I don't drive and I won't ask you to pay for it. If we get to a third date then we can discuss splitting costs. I'm old fashioned in some respects so I suggest you talk fast.


4. Just because I asked you out it does not mean that I'm trying to fuck you. There are a lot of dipshits out there. I'm not one of them. I love sex as much as the next person but if that's all that I wanted then I'd do that. Refer back to #2 and read until understanding dawns.


5. “No” is a perfectly acceptable response and requires no explanation. Silence is not. If I ask you something then have the common courtesy to respond. Silence means that someone is not worth a response. We both deserve better than that.


6. My name is Rob, not ATM. The Bank of Rob is closed and no longer exists. The money I received was from my Grandmother's will. I loved her more than anyone and I helped some people because she would have wanted me to help those in trouble. That's over now and you can blame the people who took advantage of me. No one gets shit now unless it's life or death and I'll decide what qualifies.


7. I always tell the truth. There are no hidden motives. If you ask a question then be ready to accept the answer. I will not lie to feed your ego and I don't sugar coat shit.


This has been brought to you by several idiots that include the four that prompted the prior entry. Don't bother asking who they are. It's none of your business. I'm being nice and providing everyone a warning. There won't be a second one. Being in my life is a privilege. It's not a right and it never has been.


I disabled the comments field on purpose. I'm working on a few things so back to your regularly scheduled programming you go.

The longer I'm exposed to humanity's stupidity, the more I love my cats. The male gender, especially the last generation or two, seems to be pretty fucking stupid. Some advice to these idiots before I get started. Throat punches and dick crushing are valid responses to most of the shit you're pulling. Not only would I not feel sorry for you, I'd film it and post it on YouTube.


Where did these brain dead fucktards come from? We've all heard of these morons. The ones that think that they can say anything they want to because they're doing it in social media. Last night, I read what a friend received via Facebook Messenger. I was so stunned that I sat there with my jaw open for about a minute. This isn't isolated either. The same thing happened to her today. Same medium, different asshole. If this is what women deal with daily then it's no wonder that I take myself out to dinner.


As far as the whole dating scene goes I must be a fossil. My idea of a first date isn't complicated either. Food and conversation at a decent restaurant. She picks the place and I pay for it. As long as the food is good, we're both comfortable enough to have fun talking and there's decent beer there then I'm a happy guy. A first date isn't supposed to be about getting laid. It's about meeting and finding out if there's going to be a second date. How fucking complicated is that?


I haven't had a date like that in years and now I'm getting why that is. If all you see are sex crazed morons then most males look like that after a while. And no, this post won't solve anything. It's just to get it off my chest because it irritates the fuck out of me. My friend is gorgeous, intelligent, on top her shit, takes care of her kids and doesn't hurt anyone. She and other women get this shit daily without looking for it.


That's it. I'm a fossil, the race is doomed unless women start reproducing through technology. To the morons, you can continue but please go get your dicks clipped so you stop polluting the gene pool. You're probably where most of the deadbeat fathers come from. If you wouldn't say that shit to your mother, sister, daughter and so on, then what made you think it was OK to say it to anyone?

I don't have the energy to be funny. It's no longer worth the effort. Also, as much as I miss my brother, my grandmother and my uncle, part of me is glad that they aren't here to see what we've done. We The People, as in the American public, have screwed ourselves royally to the point where our children will be paying for our mistakes.


The Democrats and the Republicans have been bouncing the Presidency back and forth, like a volleyball, between them for close to two centuries. We've done nothing to stop them and it's not as if couldn't have. Because of our refusal to actually use our political system properly we're now faced with two choices for President and neither one of those choices are good.


For those towering intellects that continue to rant and post about wanting to vote for a third party or write someone on their ballot, stay home and do nothing. All you'll do otherwise is cause damage. Write ins are ignored and no Independent candidate pulls enough of the vote to be a blip on the radar normally.


I say normally because this election is unique. Bernie Sanders is the one candidate that could run as an Independent and possibly win. That's if he is actually on the ballot and that's only because we're so polarized over the two main candidates. He could, conceivably, pull enough of the electoral votes that no one has enough votes to win. It would go to the House of Representatives at that point. The House may elect Sanders over Clinton and Trump just by being the least evil choice.


If he does run then vote for him. If he doesn't then vote for Clinton or Trump. If you refuse to do either then do nothing. You're banned from the game since you won't bother to learn the rules. Don't waste our time with the “sending a message” bit. Messages are only valid if the recipients are paying attention. Congress doesn't care about us so they aren't listening. We cannot change the rules of this election. We can, however, influence how the next one plays out.


Congress is the perfect place to start if you want to change things. If Congress refuses to change then we go and change Congress. We can start by voting most of them out of office. If you want to wake up Congress then depopulate it of the ancient fossils there. If they've been there more than eight years then it's past time for them to be replaced. Vote some fresh blood in there that can actually relate to the common American and who are in touch with modern reality.


We continue on by pushing for salary caps, term limits, the end of riders on bills, the end of lobbyists, full financial disclosure, full accountability and a vote of no confidence in elections, to name a few. Push for change at a level that we can impact and we can, eventually, turn this back into a Democratic Republic.


We need to teach our children how the system works and impress upon them the importance of voting. The changes I suggested won't happen in my lifetime. If we start working on it then they may happen in our children's lifetime and that's what really matters.


This is reality so it's time to grow up and be adults. We need to take responsibility for our place in society and leave something positive behind. I don't write these pieces just to piss people off. I want people to think instead of react. I want us to make a difference. Most of all, I want to make this a better world for my son to grow up in.


Finally, argue, debate, discuss, actually do something about what's going on around you. You can be a proactive part of the process or you can get out of the way while the rest of us do it. If the latter is your choice then I will gladly leave you with the fossils where you belong.

Here we go again. The news agencies have jumped the gun and declared Clinton the presumptive winner of the Democratic nomination and the public is responding as expected. They're screaming like a five year old that has had their favorite toy taken away from them.


This is the home of the scared and the delusional, not the home of the brave and the free. The scared and delusional ones are the bulk of our population. The ones who will throw a fit at any imagined slight, inconvenience or challenge to their opinions. The brave ones are our soldiers. You remember them. The ones that are treated like crap by their own country once they return home. Where are the free? They've been gone for decades, if they ever existed at all. Keep in mind that I love my country. I love the freedoms that we once had....oh. Wait a minute. There's our first segue.


( Privileges )


( Politics the Second )


( Thinking )