the darkerside to rants

иконографияI admit it, I do believe people should not be told what to do with their own bodies or minds if they do not endanger others in the process.

Having said this: I have an ethical problem / dilemma when it comes to immunization.

Here’s the deal. Immunization works because everybody gets the shot. This creates a protection for the group (society) as a whole and even protects the few that are falling through the cracks (herd immunity).

The problem is that lately in the US (where else?) there has been a war on immunization. The arguments against it range from the paranoid fringe who perceives the immunizations as an attempt by the Government to control us to the fears that it causes autism. Unfortunately it seems more and more people all over the Western world seem to come to the same conclusion and as a side effect herd immunity is quickly disappearing and the rise of former vanquished or at least mostly controlled sicknesses like measles are making a come back. This is obviously not good at all.

So here is my ethical dilemma. I do not think we should force people to do something they do not want to do, but in this case? The cost in human life and economic impact is enormous. So should we go and force people to get their children immunized? Should we just tell them that it is their choice and live with the consequences?

I think the whole thing would be easier for me to answer (no, they shouldn’t) if the arguments of the vaccination opponents had any merit in a scientific kind of way. But they do not. So here I am now, wondering if there should be a limit to self-determination.

I guess I could make the argument that not having most of the children immunized poses a risk to others and as such my initial stipulation (as long as they do not cause anybody else harm) has already been violated, but is this really enough to force people to inject their kids with something they oppose?

Opinions welcome.

Sitting here in the Holiday Inn and having a cup of “coffee”. I put this in quotes because even though it is supposed to be a “Puck Signature Series” coffee it is just brown water with a bit of bad after taste as it goes down the throat.

I am sometimes thinking I need to pick up drinking harder and smoking unfiltered cigarettes, isn’t that what writers and musicians all do in order to get to their art? Some of the most interesting books and most emotional music I have listened to or read was done by people who lived over their excess, maybe not too surprising considering that we all come with built in “blockers” that allow a society to function.

Of course these blockers are counter productive if you try to “break through” to get to the raw of human emotion, either by words or by music.

But then I am a whimp and I doubt I’ll ever be a real “artists” (however you want to describe this).

Either where, after the jump is a first draft of a new “story”, not too happy with the flow yet, much less the ending, but I would appreciate some feedback.
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Just posted a new short story.

Feedback appreciated.

…. or in my case:

I have nothing to write, yet I must type.

Call it spelling flatulence….. Yes, pity me you fool!

Gee…. and I am not even drunk…. Do I hear voices? Hello? Is there anybody in there?

[Currently listening to: Mercy Street from the album "So (Remastered)" by Peter Gabriel]

BoingBoing had an interesting post about MSN Spaces apparantly censoring Zhao Jing, a popular Chinese blogger who seems to have assumed the pen name of Michael Anti. It seems that MSN Spaces decided to remove his blog for “no apparant reason”

Microsoft’s MSN Spaces continues to censor its Chinese language blogs, and has become more aggressive and thorough at censorship since I first checked out MSN’s censorship system last summer. On New Years Eve, MSN Spaces took down the popular blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti. Now all you get when you attempt to visit his blog [Link] is the error message pictured above. (You can see the Google cache of his blog up until Dec.22nd here.)

The echo chamber that the blogosphere is of course is recurseviely linking to itself and people are chiming in, including Robert Scoble who went ahead an offered Zhao Jing a new blog in order to continue what he was doing.

Read more »

I think we should act as if. I think we should read books, and tell children stories, and take them to the theatre, and learn poems, and play music, as if it would make a difference. . . . We should act as if the universe were listening to us and responding. We should act as if life were going to win.”

Philip Pullman

…. though still not freezing, thank god.

Snow is on the sidewalks, not much, maybe a millimetre or so but it is clearly winter.

It’s overcast too and I have a slight throbbing in the back of my head which seems to block the path to the story idea that has been rolling around in my head for the past two weeks.

I think I need an Aspirin….

I wrote a journal for around a year two years ago, then I dropped it and put more on here.

Since last weekend I am back at it again, sure The Internet Archive will archive my thoughts, but by far not all of the “personal” stuff goes on here.

So I am back to pen and paper….. And I admit I love the simplicity of it.

I am currently finishing a book called “The Black Angel” it is a really nice Mystery Thriller and the Ossuary at Sedlec in the CZ plays a big role in it.

Flickr has some photos from it (like the above one), I really would like to visit it and take some pictures.

[Currently listening to: Right Behind You (Mafia) from the album "Spiritual Machines" by Our Lady Peace]

…. dream like Jonathan Carroll seems to be able to….

I read stories like in his blog that make me (on a deep level) wanna cry:

A nice looking twenty-something man was standing in the middle of the sidewalk this morning holding a bouquet of long stemmed red/orange roses. As women passed, he took individual flowers out of the bouquet and offered it to them. Not one woman accepted. I saw this from far away and so had a while to watch the process several times. Not a single woman took a flower. They either passed hurriedly, consciously not making eye contact. Or they looked at him and you could see them trying to decide whether to take it or not and what would be the consequences if they did. Old young large small– he offered a rose to any female who passed but was always rejected.

I read this, and I feel a connection. The first book of his I ever read was “White Apples” it really hit something with me. If I’d be more of a romantic person I guess I would have said it touched me… It did. I guess in part his characters and their life is somewhat something I can relate to.

Then I read “The Wooden Sea” and I feel in love even more with his writing. I also became jealous, because he has such a wonderful prose, in comparison to what I put out is just a hack job.

There is some kind of emotional joy in all of his writing… It is hard to explain. Over the years I have taught myself (rather successfully I am afraid) to not feel. I can write, I can write emotionally clean prose, that is to the point, conveys the matter very well, but beyond that…..

What is art if not emotion translated into a new medium?

People tell me I can write, they tell me I can write well. But if I read my stories I see a certain emptiness, there is no emotion there.

I tried to write some porn, just to entertain myself, to see where that would go, and although I could put something in there, I again, though it was a hack job (and no, you cannot read it, it was just an exercise to see how I could handle it).

I sometimes feel cheated of life. I feel cheated of a chance to feel what it means to be 20 and have no care in the world.

Jonathan will have a new book out in September… I can’t wait. I am currently in the mood where all I want to do is sit on my bed and read, and maybe be able to get back to that spot where I was three years ago where ideas at least were available in abundance.

Or, maybe I just need to be in love with someone who is in love with me………