So I was sitting at the pub a few weeks ago, and me and my publy friend john were enjoying pleasant discussion as we do every Friday, when our topic slowly became the impending North American Trade Agreement. The glue that will bind three nations, willfully allowed by the people only because it is unknown to them. Once we got going on this, one off the off work waitresses asked us what we were talking about. When we kind of gave her the scoop on it, her and her boyfriend totally disregerded it with apparent disdain. They looked as if they were insulted by the notion there government could slip something like that by them. Im not saying its going to happen for sure, but the idea is out there and things are starting to lean that way. I simply told them that if they didnt believe me, look it up. The proof is everywhere. Even popular news mentions it once in awhile.
These people however told me they wouldn't bother wasting their time. Like its not a waste of time to sit believing a lie, they would rather that than spend 5 minutes learning that they might have been wrong. Is this how lazy we've become? We would risk systematically losing our rights, rather than READ A FUCKING BOOK? Ignorance isn't cool, but some people sure act like it is. These people in particular. They puffed themselves up and tried to call me a conspiracy theorist for presenting them with undeniable evidence of the N.A.U. prospect. You could see in their faces they were shook by what I said, but proud of their conviction in remaining ignorant. Congrats people.
Wisdom can come from anywhere. Information can come from unlikely sources. Unless you KNOW the truth about what someone is talking about, dont dismiss things without a little research. Whats the worst thing that could happen?

Shortening of the Span

Now I might be dead wrong here, or I could be right. I am not informed enough in this issue to claim I know the truth. That being said, I cant help but feel a little bit disgusted at TV these days. I know that everyone else feels the same way. I don't run into too many people who can truthfully say "I Love T.V." Then why is it we are continually captivated? Now I'm sure that question has been answered a million times. Any reasonably intelligent person, given a minute to think about it, could give you at least a few reasons why they feel T.V. has a tight grip on the balls of our collective attention span.
Yet nobody seems to stop.

Everyone knows that the news lies all the time, that commercials are getting more and more idiotic, that T.V. is a distraction and (for the most part) a monumental waste of time. But take almost any group of individuals, put them in a room with no TV. People will talk, they will get to know other real people, and most importantly they will be living their own life. Now put a TV in that same room and people will eventually begin paying attention to the TV. No longer in their own individual realities, in their own lives.

I understand everyones need to escape once in awhile. Keeping that in consideration, I feel the need to point out that maybe now is not the time for such mass distraction. There is so much that goes on in this world that slips by us, simply because we now use our forms of media and communication to build false realities that slowly persuades us to lose touch with the real thing. Because of this, we now care more, feel more, for the spirited young doctor character who dies tragically, (when the actor gets a better job or gets fired), than they do for their fellow real humans who are (insert one of many human sufferings here) everyday.

Money makes the world go round. Some people can say this from experience. If you want to make any kind of difference in this world, you will undoubtedly need money. And lots of it. Those with the money right now are definitely motivated to keep it that way. Now if all forms of news and media were owned by the people, instead of private business, this thirst for wealth would not affect our consciousness, or our lives to the extent it does now. Big business owns the news, business dictates the news and business tells us what WE think is important enough to be broad casted, and irrelevant enough to be disregarded. So if anyone thinks for one second that things aren't made up, that truth isn't skewed, and that perspectives aren't bent to better serve the new masters of our consciousness, I envy them. Ignorance is bliss.

Thanks to T.V., we are now a fat, dumbed down, paranoid, diluted, distracted version of ourselves. Truth and real knowledge are being made harder and harder to find, while stupidity is everywhere. Businesses are following the trend of having short, catchy names for their company. Something short, easy to spell, and gets the point across. (Newspeak, anyone?) You want affordable groceries? Save on Foods. You want a bank with fair policies with ethic minded staff? Integris Credit Union. Advertising follows a similar trend, only leaves out the part about getting to the point. Ads these days are full of stupid repetitive jokes, and catch phrases that insult the intelligence. ("Stuff your face for less!")

In closing, I guess I just feel that if we know what we are doing is unhealthy, that we are being lied to and insulted, and that there is so much more to life, shouldn't we be doing something about it? Sure its easier not to, but if things are bad now they are only going to get worse if the condition is left to deteriorate. Its easy to believe the news when anything contrary to what they say is often demonised or disregarded. But as we all know, life isn't easy. Perseverance is not easy. Failure and surrender? Piece of cake. Easy as pie. So I'm not saying "don't watch T.V", or "be a freedom fighter" or something. Just keep informed. Question. Demand truth. Demand proof. Never surrender your consciousness. Its the most important "defense" you have.

Father Badtouch and friends

A Week For The Books

It's growing. Slowly but surely, the prince george music scene has been on the uprise. I had the priviledge this week of seeing 3 concerts, (two for free, i might add) and i must say, turnout and enthusiasm has been simply getting better and better with every show. Even the bands, it seems, have been able to feed off of the growing appreciation for live music, enabling them to imrove with every show, however hammered the band is.
I remember that it was only a few years ago when the concerts would be held at Growlies pizza. Reaching, (and sometimes exceeding) capacity at nearly every show, Growlies was an awkward venue at best, cramped with youth of all ages. This could probably explain why it wasn't exactly the most popular place in town, at least not among the "mature" crowd.
However cramped and nasty Growlies may have been, it still provided an excellent vessel for planting seeds of musical appreciation among the youth of Prince George. Now, several years of guitar and drum lessons later, those same kids skanking around the tiny pizza house mosh pit, are the ones headlining local venues much larger than ol' Growlies. Connaught Youth Center, Sound Entertainment, and untill recently, the Generator, now provide our local talent a chance to throw bigger and better shows, inspiring more would-be, could-be musicians to create their own tunes. These people will form the bands 4 or 5 years from now, and the scene will continue to grow.
This, of course, all depends on you. If you havent been out to a local show recently, then you really should. Even if you dont like the music, go just for the sake of bearing witness to the enthusiasm. If i didnt go to any shows this week, I would not have known what its like to be defended by gandalf in a fireworks battle with megatron and robocop. I would have missed out on barbarians playing jazz and funk. I would have lost my opportunity to watch the Joker, Leatherface and Jason rock out as one. Its all a spectacle if nothing else. Now if you have been going to shows recently, the you know what I'm talking about. The scene has grown up since the 40-50 people shows of yore and as long as we are willing to go out and dance, mosh, headbang and tap our toes, the sky is the limit. Let's make this town known for more than lumber.
Kudos to friends in Axis Disrupt for rocking a solid show. Also, to the Hellsmen, Vexen, Mamaguroove, Assassin Nation, and Adamant for making my week an entertaining one. Keep on Rocking in the Free World....if you can find it. Peace.

Huh. So this is what the fuss is about.

So this is a blog eh? In all honesty, I haven't had a computer in years, untill just recently of course, so this is all very new to me. I ask that you simply bear with me if I don't "get it", or if my input into this form of mass thought sharing is benign at best. Like the title says, "Read...or Don't." I cant stress my indifference enough.

Now I'm not sure if I exactly enjoy this idea of just posting my thoughts, opinions, stories, and ravings for the curious world to see. But since i apparently have nothing better to do, it seems only fit that i join the recorded masses and log my useless musings, so maybe i can....ah hell, there is no real reason. Its here, I dont want to explain it, and thats probably just the way it's gonna be. Like or hate it, love it or leave it, read it or don't.