Is Beyonce A Witch?

Normally, I wouldn't even trip on this article, but I am because, right before I saw it, I had just been turned on to this interview with Fat Joe (below) who had some pretty creepy things to say about the Queen Bey's posse, which ain't like him to do, so....I don't know. That "illuminati" chatter has always followed Jay-Z around, but, maybe, it was Bey who bought into it. Go to 16:20 and see what you think:

 I know it's not much, but it's enough to make me wonder.

TMR: A Simple Blog - Partially About Making An Album

"It isn’t the money that makes people thrilled with their life, since we already know their day-to-day experience doesn’t change past $75,000 in terms of emotional happiness.  Rather, it is the fact they landed the CEO job or sold their company to Wall Street or signed a record deal.  The money, in these cases, is a symptom, not a cause."

"Everyone wants to be happy, but even revered thinkers have struggled with the how. The Dalai Lama said happiness comes when we practice compassion. Thomas Jefferson claimed it requires "a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits." The ever-optimistic Ernest Hemingway noted that "happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know," yet the hyper-intelligent Albert Einstein had a simple prescription: "a table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin."

Back at it, I guess - kinda, sorta,...

 

NewAge Is A "Spiritual Practice" (And They Do Practice)

She said:

"Why must an atheist bother with the subject of religion at all?"

As though atheists can ignore the religious' evangelical tendencies.

And, since we know this, who is actually deigning to "bother" whom?

And who - as usual - is "blaming the victim" here?

("Blaming the victim" - I am enjoying these Flaws In A Perfect System - our popular catchphrases for the casual cruelties Americans needlessly inflict.)

She said:

"If you think you're so rational, be rational about the reasons why people are religious, including many reasons that you could be empathetic about."

Oh my dear, you are aware the divorced are listening, aren't you?

Why aren't they - or, even better, their religious spouses - more emphatic?

Do you seriously think a fanatic is being rational, or even helping, when they're all "you think you're so rational" towards the subject?

Mocking the very endeavor society builds on - while insisting we must be empathetic towards the irrational - what does that reveal?

Didn't I just mention evangelism?

She said:

"By the way, even in that little quoted squib, the guy is still being a jerk, likening religious people to a brick wall and being a bit of a brick wall himself about the possibility that religious people are seekers of knowledge and truth."

"Seekers of knowledge and truth" - yeah, sure.

Having been there before, we know there is no "possibility that religious people are seekers of knowledge and truth" when they've always insisted - as you are right here - that batting away knowledge is the way to truth.

You are, once again, arguing for insanity and nothing more.

And doing so insanely.

And I even understand why - which is why it's my job to tell you:

Avoiding "being a jerk" is NOT what this is all about,...

 

It's A Future Shock, II: Talib Kweli On The Illuminati

I know (some of you are like Talib who?) but trust me, Black Star's other star (the first is the now-famous Rapper/actor Mos Def) is one of the quickest, and most respected, minds in Rap - known for delivering lines and flows (the rhythmic foundation) that go far beyond the normal call of duty:

I wanted to know if Kweli's rep was justified away from the mic, and so here he is, speaking on some of my favorite subjects - the difference between belief and reality, how one influences the other, cultism in society, etc. - and (to my relief) he comes out looking pretty good. 

Mind you, his isn't some scholarly dissertation or anything, but I can hear the acknowledgement that he gets it, and - in my desperation - that's enough for me: 

Come on, next generation, come on,...

 

Truth Is Scary: Vinnie Paz (He's Been Saying It!)

I love Truth Is Scary because they get rappers to divulge the most bizarre conspiracy theories. Here, Vinnie Paz goes off on chemtrails, crop circles, the New World Order, 2012, and Barack Obama as a member of the Illuminati (who can leave out the Illuminati?) all said with the confidence of a true believer - like, if you don't know this shit, then you're the one who's out there. Umm hmm.

Oh well, not a great statement on our education system (will they ever introduce critical thinking?) but one hell of a good time. The truth is scary:

This is what people believe.

Kweli: "The Definition Of Proof Has Changed"

We like this talk with rapper Talib Kweli - not because we agree with anything he concludes - but because it shows how a black man today - a "smart" person, even a successful person - can be as wrong, confused, and ignorant as they come, even though he's wildly talented and can sound surface-level intelligent in conversation. To his credit, Kweli does repeatedly say he's not bright enough to answer some of the questions thrown at him (which is silly, because none of them are hard, just controversial) but then he concludes by giving credence to nonsense like Gary Webb's the-CIA-got-blacks-hooked-on-crack schtick and blows even that statement. (He's also never clear on the existence or not of the illuminati. Another tough call, right? NOT.) Basically, his mind, like most people's today, is really an arrogant mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and, otherwise, of no real use to anyone but folks who really like to hear good rhymes that, in the end, no one's going to demand add up to much either.

But that lack of demand, that lack of standards, that lack of desire for an ultimate judgment one way or another - more than anything else - is finally why things are so across-the-board fucked up. And that won't stop until people really want to actually know something.

The Church Of What's Happening Now

This David Icke video - displaying his famous Illuminati conspiracy theory - has all the elements of a religion:

His followers put in a lot of time, effort, and money, to build it.

It's heavy on symbolism.

It's got decent music.

And it was created to draw you into it's cause.

It also asks you to take action.

And just like religion, it's message is a perfect example of solipsism.

Solipsism is when an idea looks or sounds right, but when you really think about it, it doesn't make any sense.

It's the same type of thinking NewAgers, who self-identify as "spiritual" or "open-minded," are referring too.

They're telling you they're fond of making symbolic relationships, much too easily, and aren't the least bit concerned if you discover they're mistaken for doing so.

They have "faith" they're not.

Such people aren't capable of (or simply don't like) thinking too deeply - especially about the consequences of their actions.

So they have a huge investment in not appearing wrong.

Once they have a large enough group of people to believe the same, together, they try to force their agreed upon lie to be true.

I hope you consider solipsism the next time someone says "climate change is our new secular religion," or "environmentalism is the spiritual calling of our time."

Because thinking like that can really do a lot of damage.