May 27, 2006
The Illegitimacy of Evil & All About My Logo
I didn't even realize that evil was in my site logo here....I forgot all about it, until we recently had a great thread at TW about evil.
What does my logo mean?
I think the logo implies the notion that reductionism and viewing the world (and things within it) in terms of black and white or good vs evil is in and of itself pretty evil.What is Truly Evil?
The only thing in the world that is truly evil is describing things you are ignorant to as being evil. The creation of the word evil is in and of itself nothing more than a means to absolve oneself from guilt associated with ones deeds. Labeling something as evil gives us permission to perform massive acts of atrocity onto others without remorse or guilt.Why a Penguin?
Penguins are animals that are typically portrayed as cute and cuddly, but are animals that most people know little about.Why Red?
Red is the color most primitively associated with fear and / or death, from my understanding.Why the Spelling Errors?
I think many people in leadership positions try to portray a certain level of ignorance to allow them to squirm out of accountability when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.I also think their use of the word evil is typically inappropriately applied most times.
Why Nuclear
The penguin being nuclear and a terrorist has a couple different meanings to it as well.The first and most basic level is that I was a nuclear reactor operator and know quite a bit about nuclear power.
The second is that I think the US government labels people or things which they fear as terrorists or evil so that they can mislead the general populous into not caring about all the screwed up things we do to others.
The third thing is that I think organized religions and the United States, through the use of this deceptive manipulation of their members and citizens, teach them to fear anything outside of that which they understand, and the quest for imperial power has allowed the United States to become the largest terrorist organization in the world.
A nice quote for the United States and religion:
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
The fourth is that if you drop bombs on other people nearly every day and have a stockpile of nuclear weapons who are you to judge others for what they do? At the very least collecting all those nuclear weapons and maintaining them costs your own society a large sum of time, effort, and money that could go into creating a better society by trying to educate them instead of spending money to teach them to be afraid.
Why the Transparency at the Footing of the Penguin?
It is rather transparent how manipulative many organizations are. As long as it is not regulated to death I think the web will undermine much of the corruption in the world by making many markets far more efficient and making it easy to become educated...being ignorant will become more of a conscious choice rather than a state of society.While the web will kill many forms of fraud and manipulation it will also breed new types of it.
Large Organizations Are Shady:
The bigger your organization is the more inefficiency it creates. This means as an organization grows it has to "stand for" more things to have enough resources to stay powerful and grow.The problem with that are:
- that there are unintended consequences to any change
- evolving technology means that large organizations are not necessary to cause large change
- as an organization grows in scope it is harder to deliver clear messages to all members of the organization
- in hopes of creating clear messages that will spread many organizations use reductionism and keep things ultra general. This causes many members to miss the purpose or fully evaluate many criteria in deciding how correct the organizations are.
- As organizations grow rich or powerful corrupt ambitious people will be drawn toward them.
- Many organizations end up having a net end effect opposite to their original goal.
The larger an organization grows the more they have to put self interest and growth ahead of actually improving the world, and thus the less you should trust them as a credible information source...and that advice is coming from an individual who has been lucky enough to have far more influence than he would most likely prefer.
Nobody really reads this site, but some of my other sites have many readers and I have worked for some of the largest corporations in the world and I find that so perplexing. The world is a confusing place. Not an evil place...just a confusing one.
Posted at May 27, 2006 3:13 PMHi Aaron,
I have to say you made some undeniably valid points. However as a navy enlistee myself i know from my experience with military authority that these people aren't deliberately trying to portray a false air of ignorance as a protection against accountability. The vast majority of these people are truly stupid, and they are arrogant enough to not even consider the fact that they could ever be held accountable for anything that they might fuck up. I think that this this can be extrapolated to authority structures out side the military as well. Just my 2 cents.
Angela
>I think that this this can be extrapolated to authority structures out side the military as well.
True, but typically the market reacts quicker in most of those cases. The company goes under or the stock tanks, etc. Treat good people like shit and they quickly go elsewhere. When the good people go away and the dumb ones stick the authority figures might have sheep that listen to them, but a lack of good feedback from within the company will surely eventually bankrupt it (unless the company runs a government sponsored monopoly).
All that has been true in our "free" market economy. But our economy is changing in this new global era. Jobs and resources are growing scarce. Soon, good people that are being treated like shit will not have any where else to go, and thier employers will have them over a barell. They will just be glad to have work and will take whats being given. Having that kind of economic and psychological power, I feel that the civilian autority will more and more behave like military authority, acting with impuntiy. That's how i see it. I guess we'll see how it eventually plays out.
Hi Angela
I am pretty negative on a lot of issues, but I think if people get screwed over within the framework of employment and are intelligent they ought to be able to look beyond the opportunities others offer and create their own opportunity.
Speaking from personal experience on that issue ;)
Hi Aaron,
I think when it comes to cynicism on issues i might have you beat ;) but you make a really good point about people creating opportunity for themselves.The navy is totally burning me out on working for others. When my conscription is over i am going to try my best not to ever do it again.
That sounds like a poor decision Angela.
You have to prepare for your future WHILE you are still doing whatever you are doing now.
in the real world transitions are rarely smooth and easy. Make it as easy as you can by starting to open up future opportunities today.
Hi Aaron,
Actually, I am preparing for the transition right now by making a business plan and saving some cash, etc. I know i probably won't be in the military for another year because of some medical problems. I don't plan on getting rich. All i want is to make a living at what i love, which is art. I am going to open an art gallery/co-op back home with my own work along with that of some other artists. I would rather work 18 hours a day for myself than 8 or 12 for these assholes....u know how that is :)
Best of luck with the art Angela artist :)
Aaron-
I happened on your blog via a search. I first hit on your entry re: oth discharges. That got a lot of interesting feedback. I was in the army from '84- '88. I happened to get an honorable discharge, but looking back I'm not sure how. I think it helped that I was in during peacetime. If I had to be in Iraq now I'm sure I'd be doing all I could to get kicked out. Watching what these kids are being put through just to fatten Bush & Cheney's portfolios makes me ill.
Anyhoo, peace out.
