And here we go again - listen to
Crazy Charley:
Prince Charles lashed out Wednesday at climate change skeptics, saying they are playing "a reckless game of roulette" with the planet's future.
Skeptics are having a "corrosive effect" on public opinion, the British heir to the throne added.
"Their suggestion, that hundreds of scientists around the world ... are somehow unconsciously biased, creates the implication that many of us are secretly conspiring to undermine and deliberately destroy the entire market-based capitalist system," he said.
That can't be possible, right? Because everyone understands their biases, right? Of course -
remember this from just yesterday?:
Some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting.
But Prince "I talk to trees" Charley's more aware of his biases than they are. We won't belabor the point, but merely leave you with a quote from
Join Us, Ondi Timoner's documentary about cults:
"When people say, 'There must be a certain type of person involved in the cult phenomena', what they're really trying to say is 'I don't want to accept that this could happen to me'."
Oh - what the hell - here's one more, from Deborah Layton of
The People's Temple:
"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...."
Sounds about right from here,...
And here we go again - listen to Crazy Charley:
That can't be possible, right? Because everyone understands their biases, right? Of course - remember this from just yesterday?:
But Prince "I talk to trees" Charley's more aware of his biases than they are. We won't belabor the point, but merely leave you with a quote from Join Us, Ondi Timoner's documentary about cults:
Oh - what the hell - here's one more, from Deborah Layton of The People's Temple:
Great Photoshop work, Crack. Though actually my favorite is the one that wasn't, that inane stare into whatever wooded symbol Charles is staring into. You can just feel the effort he's making to look like he gives a shit.
ReplyDeleteA tad of history. You remember Werner Erhard, EST, right? How about Elizabeth Clare Prophet? Have you heard of her? I was enthusiastically introduced by others to both and more in my 14 years in San Francisco. Though I declined to participate in any of the cult madness presented to me. It seemed no different than the Baptist 'word' I heard as a child.
But then that's my generation. What I mean is... you say New Age. But really, this shit has been going on forever. Eugenics, remember that movement. Phrenology, remember that, at the time, new age smartness.
I guess my point is, is that there are always going to be susceptible people. And there are always going to be charlatans to take advantage of susceptible people. So, though I agree with your premise completely, I'm not so sure that you aren't having a Quixote moment.
Let me say that I so admire you for saying what you think. I have a difficult time with doing so. I'll blame it on my dysfunctional upbringing. :)
Then again, perhaps I'm just an obtuse ass. Missing your point entirely.
ReplyDeleteHey, it's not the cult of Crack. But might you not slither up to some of that, I might. You're a soul searcher, my friend.
Forgive the euphemism, please.
James Randi said this is like trying to empty the ocean with a paper cup, so, yes, I know what I'm doing. But, as I see it, the problem isn't the gullible types - or even the charlatans and criminals - it's the rest of us. The people who say nothing, or barely care ("shruggies") or are non-judgmental when lives are being lost.
ReplyDeleteTwo nights ago, I came home to my roommate saying a friend left her daughter at home with a 106 degree fever. His friend had given her daughter some homeopathic preparations and felt that would cure her. Then he said, as soon as his friend told him that, he thought of me and shook his head. He didn't feel comfortable saying anything at that moment, but he said, the next time he sees his friend, he's going to inform her of what homeopathy is.
Keep in mind, my roommate is a guy who used to think Andrew Weil and Kevin Trudeu were on the level.
So it's worth it - even if progress is slow, it's progress - and, with effort, it'll gain critical mass eventually.
But I hear you - and you should have no doubt - I know it's a mighty big ocean.
Thanks for writing, Luther, your kind words are much appreciated.
Oh fuck my kind words. Don't be nice to fools such as me who weaken your message, even though in good will.
ReplyDelete"it's the rest of us"
Now see, there it is. The real problem. I'm reminded of 'first they came for'... well, you know the rest. I'm guilty of that mindset.
Thing is, Crack, is that you need to reach the mainstream, as you should in my opinion. But then I come back to the picture of the guy blowing himself.
You place yourself in a difficult situation... a NEED to be outrageous, which I agree with by the way... but also a desire to be taken seriously.
Fuck me... you've found a path (Ha... new age expression) that you're comfortable with. Go the fuck for it. Pay no attention to naysayers like myself.
Thing is, Crack, is that you need to reach the mainstream, as you should in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat's up to the gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers hate me - they're "the rest of us" and resent that I'll nail them as part of the problem. (If I was them, I wouldn't care.) They must be seen as whiter than white, those guys, even as they crawl around on the dark side for fun. It's confusing.
Every day, I talk to countless people who have the funds that could easily say, "Here - go - do it. Change everything", but they don't - and they won't - because they're too cynical, or afraid I will and no one will listen to them any longer, neither of which is about caring for us all or considers who I am. Shit, what Michele Bachmann spent on drinks yesterday, could change my life - and thus the world - forever, but she (and many others of her ilk) sees more worth in ladling it out to useless wonders (who already have it and have done nothing) than to anyone else. Politicians, doctors, law professors, judges - these are the people who have the power - and they use it for one thing:
Another vacation.
In that way, they're no better than the French.
Gosh, there is a lot of useful material here!
ReplyDelete