I sit here late night on Christmas day, attempting to solve a 5x5x5 rubik's cube (yep!), watching family guy and drinking Jack and Coke. Actually its technically tomorrow now...or...whatever.
It IS christmas. I want to talk about consumerism and christmas being over commercialised, but its all been done before. Instead I shall take a slightly different approach.
What IS christmas? I've already established pretty firmly before that I don't believe in God and am not a christian, therefore the celebration of the birth of christ seems rather pointless, and, to my best knowledge, isn't even accurate. Jesus wan't born in the WInter. It was later changed to fit with the pagan holidays. In which case, I might as well be celebrating the winter solstice (which, actually, doesn't sound like a bad idea.) My brother celebrates the winter solstice, and the summer solstice, and the equinox. It actually makes more sense to me. It's a rather pointless holiday, we're basically just celebrating the fact that its cold. But then again, what does that make christmas? It appears to me to be just a random date that I celebrate because everyone else does. It's the one day that everyone looks forward to and even though the day has no real significance, it brings families closer together. It forces us to think about others, by wondering what sort of presents they would appreciate. I enjoy christmas. Ofcourse I do, I'm not a square. Perhaps we as humans need a day to look forward to. Perhaps we're just working all year round for this one celebration at the end.
We don't really celebrate much either. Aside from giving gifts, all we do is eat and drink a LOT. Don't get me wrong though. My idea of a perfect day includes doing very little and/or sleeping...a lot... but I reckon the symbolism is dying out. Maybe not for other families, but we don't even bother with Turkey. Our Idea of decorations is a few baubles and a christmas tree thats the smaller than my arm. We DO enjoy our stockings, but once again, none of this has anything to do with Jesus.
Also, christmas is cheesy. Come one! cheee-eeese! I ADORE cheese, but I get tons of cheese during the year. Maybe most of the world doesn't get the amount of cheese I do DURING the year, but they seem extra cheesy during christmas time. Every single song that has the word "christmas" makes me instantly cringe. Its not a very poetic word, and when it turn up in a song, it is always followed by horrific sleigh bells. But I'm NOT a scrooge. I love the cheese. bring on the cheese! Just...cool it a wee bit, and if shops could relax a little on the christmas music being pumped directly into our blood stream, that'd be cool.
And what's with the queen's broadcast? Does anyone watch that? I only realised that she did it a couple of years ago. And its boring! Seriously, I can't be bothered with starting about the queen but seriously...pointless...
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Hello world
The first thing I shall talk about is the internet in general. I have always thought that the internet is a fantastic thing. Think about it. REALLY think about it. What is the internet? How come there's only one internet? Shouldn't there be a mac version and a PC version? It seems strange to me that after so many years no-one has tried to remake the entire internet. Everything else has many versions. You can access the internet via firefox, safari, internet explorer or google chrome (I'm sure there are others...linux?) but there is only ONE internet.
What I love about the internet is that its a combination of the thoughts of EVERYONE in the entire world who so wishes to contribute. Its like wikipedia, but on a larger scale, where nothing gets deleted. Idiots and geniuses alike can create and post blogs full of misinformation, and yet we continue to look to it for answers. Any time a controversial issue occurs anyone can comment on it, and there will be a diverse range of opinion, some more extreme than others. I don't believe in god (or in any kind of divine spirit) and I can say so freely. I'm glad that people do believe in God though, 'cause I'm sure they are happy to do so. But thats another topic. As i said, I don't believe in God but I believe in people. The governmental system is complex but its a fair system. Issues of morality (racism, anti-semitism, any kind of prejudice) are always resolved eventually. Everyone has their own opinion but the majorities opinion is what counts and I believe that most people in the world are out to make it a better place. Not directly, but maybe they vote for the party they believe in. The party that stands for issues that will resolve problems that they feel is important. Maybe a child "tell on" a boy in school who has misbehaving, believing that it is the right thing to do, despite taunting. Or maybe they will try to break up a fight between two drunk people, knowing that they will regret it in the morning. Little things make a big difference and everyone, i believe, at heart thinks that they're doing the right thing whenever they do anything. This includes selfishness.
Anyway, the internet. The consistency of people blogging and uploading information I think is a brilliant thing for our society. Everyone's information combined is valuable. People fight in real life a LOT but the opportunity for people to fight with anyone who disagrees in the whole world is better. There will always be someone who thinks they know they're taking about, and if they don't they are very soon told so. But this can also be a wake up call for some. If you have an opinion that you express strongly on the internet, and the majority of people disagree, maybe you aren't wrong at all, but maybe you need to look at it from their perspective. I already said that I don't believe in God but I take no action in preventing people from believing in God as it is not my place. It used to make me angry. I used to think that it was a reflection on a person's intelligence if they participated in such a culture. (I know, controversial. Internet, get it?) But I'm over it now. I'm sure each individual person has a reason to believe in what they do, and if they can be easily swayed into disbelieve by me, maybe they should have questioned it more to begin with. Anyway, once again, another issue.
I have an analogy for you all. When a crowd sings at a football match or at a concert, it is safe to say that most of them are terrible singers. This means that each note is probably not exactly in tune, and there are a lot of people singing too high (sharp) or too low (sharp) and it is safe to say that most of the audience will sound bad. The overall sound, however, actually is quite nice. If you listen to a large crowd singing in general, they will be not only in tune, but EXACTLY in tune. The amount of people above the note cancels out the amount of people below the note, and creates an overall impression that is perfect. MOST of the audience can't sing at all, and yet it sound completely in tune because the majority sound that comes out is good. It's a combination of the people that are singing the right note because they can, and the people that are accidentally singing the right note, but the majority will always be in tune. The bigger the audience, the more likely it is to be in tune. Therefore, the more the amount of people typing on the internet, the more likely it is to be true. Wikipedia, despite having a reputation for inaccuracy, is, in my opinion, the BEST way to obtain information. Sure, some idiots may defile a page, but it is always being updated and is always quickly fixed. The combined information of the entire world is better than the informed opinion of one or two experts.
So keep posting intelligent information on the internet people, and keep posting rubbish too. But thats the beauty of it. You don't need me to say it. You already are!
What I love about the internet is that its a combination of the thoughts of EVERYONE in the entire world who so wishes to contribute. Its like wikipedia, but on a larger scale, where nothing gets deleted. Idiots and geniuses alike can create and post blogs full of misinformation, and yet we continue to look to it for answers. Any time a controversial issue occurs anyone can comment on it, and there will be a diverse range of opinion, some more extreme than others. I don't believe in god (or in any kind of divine spirit) and I can say so freely. I'm glad that people do believe in God though, 'cause I'm sure they are happy to do so. But thats another topic. As i said, I don't believe in God but I believe in people. The governmental system is complex but its a fair system. Issues of morality (racism, anti-semitism, any kind of prejudice) are always resolved eventually. Everyone has their own opinion but the majorities opinion is what counts and I believe that most people in the world are out to make it a better place. Not directly, but maybe they vote for the party they believe in. The party that stands for issues that will resolve problems that they feel is important. Maybe a child "tell on" a boy in school who has misbehaving, believing that it is the right thing to do, despite taunting. Or maybe they will try to break up a fight between two drunk people, knowing that they will regret it in the morning. Little things make a big difference and everyone, i believe, at heart thinks that they're doing the right thing whenever they do anything. This includes selfishness.
Anyway, the internet. The consistency of people blogging and uploading information I think is a brilliant thing for our society. Everyone's information combined is valuable. People fight in real life a LOT but the opportunity for people to fight with anyone who disagrees in the whole world is better. There will always be someone who thinks they know they're taking about, and if they don't they are very soon told so. But this can also be a wake up call for some. If you have an opinion that you express strongly on the internet, and the majority of people disagree, maybe you aren't wrong at all, but maybe you need to look at it from their perspective. I already said that I don't believe in God but I take no action in preventing people from believing in God as it is not my place. It used to make me angry. I used to think that it was a reflection on a person's intelligence if they participated in such a culture. (I know, controversial. Internet, get it?) But I'm over it now. I'm sure each individual person has a reason to believe in what they do, and if they can be easily swayed into disbelieve by me, maybe they should have questioned it more to begin with. Anyway, once again, another issue.
I have an analogy for you all. When a crowd sings at a football match or at a concert, it is safe to say that most of them are terrible singers. This means that each note is probably not exactly in tune, and there are a lot of people singing too high (sharp) or too low (sharp) and it is safe to say that most of the audience will sound bad. The overall sound, however, actually is quite nice. If you listen to a large crowd singing in general, they will be not only in tune, but EXACTLY in tune. The amount of people above the note cancels out the amount of people below the note, and creates an overall impression that is perfect. MOST of the audience can't sing at all, and yet it sound completely in tune because the majority sound that comes out is good. It's a combination of the people that are singing the right note because they can, and the people that are accidentally singing the right note, but the majority will always be in tune. The bigger the audience, the more likely it is to be in tune. Therefore, the more the amount of people typing on the internet, the more likely it is to be true. Wikipedia, despite having a reputation for inaccuracy, is, in my opinion, the BEST way to obtain information. Sure, some idiots may defile a page, but it is always being updated and is always quickly fixed. The combined information of the entire world is better than the informed opinion of one or two experts.
So keep posting intelligent information on the internet people, and keep posting rubbish too. But thats the beauty of it. You don't need me to say it. You already are!
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