When you walk into a door...of perception!!

Perception is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, aside from gravity and the other laws of physics. Words like "Good" and "Evil" are based upon forced perception. So let us examine what perception is and what it does to us.

Because I love quoting from the dictionary so much here's dictionary.com's definition of the word 'perception':
"per·cep·tion   [per-sep-shuhn]
–noun
1.
the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.
2.
immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment: an artist of rare perception.
3.
the result or product of perceiving, as distinguished from the act of perceiving; percept.
4.
Psychology. a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.
5.
Law. the taking into possession of rents, crops, profits, etc."
Seems unusually convoluted, huh? Well it really is, but for the purposes of this writing, we'll only focus on the first two uses of the word.

Now a big problem with people's perceptions is that they can be conditioned. As I've mentioned earlier, words like good and evil are based upon perception. How can we intuitively know what is good and what is evil? Well outside of civilization, we can't. In the wild, other animals understand that surviving is 'good', though they don't comprehend the concept. More interestingly, in the wild, 'evil' does not exist. There are of course, genetic and socially deviant behaviors; but using words like 'evil' implies that such behaviors are performed with malicious intent. When a new male lion rises to dominance in a pride the first thing he does is kill all of the cubs. To us, this might seem wicked, but to him it's simply preservation of the species.

Words like 'good' and 'evil' were created by early society's leaders to make sure people felt rewarded for following the laws set before them. Otherwise, as we gathered together in groups, we would have fought each other for dominance and property (and probably more unsavory reasons, such as mental illness). We were taught from a young age to perceive actions such as stealing and murder as being evil and to refrain from being evil. In similar fashion we are taught to perceive our home nation as being superior to all others and worth killing for.

The more frightening thing about perception is that even when it's not controlled, it's still wildly chaotic. A good example is from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet...kind of. I maintain that the movie West Side Story is a modern (for the time) musical remake of Romeo & Juliet. I've known people who claim that this isn't so, due to a few differences in the story. I believe that they're wrong. But when you look at the ending of the movie and the hero dies, but not the heroin you could say that it isn't Shakespearean at all. Maybe it's not, but from where I sit, West Side Story is Romeo & Juliet set in NYC with a bunch of fruity looking synchronized dancing (if only gangs really fought like that, we might just be living in a safer world).

Another interesting thing about perception is that it is the root of all justification. If you're at a bar and someone spills a drink on you, you could easily justify breaking his nose, if you perceive the spilling as being intentional and/or insulting.

That's yet another fascinating thing about perception is that if you can observe the way someone perceives things, you can get to know him very well without even exchanging words with him. For example if a man were to be dumped by his girlfriend via a "dear John" letter, and the man reacts angrily and violently; you could note that he is probably a very aggressive person who doesn't handle loss very well at all. In all likelihood, though the man's girlfriend just fell out of love with him. Or maybe she found someone better. Another great example of this is nearly any Abrahamic religion (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism). All of them have conflicting messages somewhere in their holy texts, or have some clergy who corrupts the messages of said texts. Christians can justify hate, condemnation, torture, death, misogyny, or almost anything just by turning to the right page of the bible (a book I use in this case because it is the text I'm most familiar with). Meanwhile another Christian can pick up the same book and use it to justify universal love and peace to all living things.


What you must keep in mind though is that perception is highly individualized. What's black and white to some may be shades of gray to someone else. What you need to remember about perception is that just because someone doesn't share yours doesn't mean you should tell him he's wrong. Perception, like faith is dependent on belief (or lack thereof). So unless someone's perception is hurting you, you should probably just leave people and how they see things alone. Everyone's entitled to two things: their opinions and their perceptions...even if they're wrong.

*credit for this essay's idea goes to PuNkTuReD*

Vampires

By popular demand, here's my considered opinion about the vampires. Shut the fuck up about them already, world!! I'm over hearing about them. I admit I used to play Vampire: The Masquerade.....in High School! And really the only reason I did that is because I liked the super powers, and Machiavellian back-stabbing (that and I couldn't slit someone's throat or hit them in the ribs with a sledge hammer in real life). But how many people have seen earlier vampire movies? What's the big deal?


I just don't get the allure anymore. People think they're erotic? Nosferatu was not fucking sexy, he was about as deformed a creature as I've ever seen. The myth has also been kind of appended to the extent that a vampire's bite is supposed to bring an almost orgasmic sensation. Now I didn't make it too far into Bram Stoker's "Dracula", but from what I remember, getting bit by the him hurt like a mother fucker and left his victims paralyzed and unable to resist. As for their unnatural beauty, without fail, the only hot chicks in any vampire movie are the ones who aren't vampires. What does that tell you? Bella Lugosi was probably the last (if not only) mildly handsome yet believable creature of the night.

Maybe that's what people like so much. Vampires are hunters in the darkness. Well guess what people? SO ARE RAPISTS!! And I don't see any spooky-sexy movies about the guy in a ski mask who holds a knife at your throat while you're at the ATM at 2 a.m and fucks you against your will.

Perhaps the main draw with vampires is that they hunt living beings and kill them in order to sustain themselves. Jeffrey Dahmer did that too, and if we hear about anyone sexually attracted to someone like that we assume they're not right in the head. Here's some food for thought, vampires drain the blood from living beings in order to sustain themselves. Sometimes they don't even kill their victims. They leave said victims alive so they can drink from them again later. There's a word for people like that: parasite. That's right, vampires are basically super-powered humans with the feeding habits of a flea. Not something I'd consider hot.

I suppose one of the main draws of vampires nowadays is that they seem tormented. I'll freely admit that I got bored reading "Dracula" and stopped reading it. But from what I did finish, Dracula didn't seem all that tormented at all. From what I saw he actually reveled in his nature and was in fact trying to recruit the main heroin into his harem of undead brides. Not seeing much self-loathing here.

Now one of the more popular vampire stories these days is Twilight. I'd like to point out something about the main character from the movie previews I've seen. More than a fair amount of the movie takes place during the day time. Now by folkloric definition, vampires cannot go out during the day or they die. That's not an opinion, that's the very root of the vampiric mythology. The fact that the hero of the Twilight story, Edmund apparently spends his days doing anything other than sleeping kind implies that he's not a vampire at all, but more of a Highlander with Renfield's Syndrome (look it up. it's a real thing). And as the story goes, he's several hundred years old and a virgin! How on earth could one live that long looking like someone on his way to tryouts for some boy-band and not have gotten laid at least once over the centuries?! Is that even physically possible? Okay, maybe it's a moral thing for him, adultery and such. But then how the FUCK can you reconcile drinking the blood of a living human to stay alive and consider sex wrong? It defies rational thought. Seriously, I can feel my brain cells popping like a bowl of rice crispies just considering it.

Now don't get me wrong, I am quite fascinated by various folkloric figures. But you can bet dollars to pesos that not one of them has ever been a masturbatory fantasy for me. That being said, all you vampire lovers need to get your heads out of your asses and find something better to do with your time.

The Global Connection

People rave about how the internet has connected the world into one giant, electronic, global village. Have people lost all desire for privacy and individuality? I know that I haven't. There are people who actually post everything about their lives on their blogs. That seems like kind of a waste of time and energy. Granted I'm sure they're never at a loss for things to talk about, but why? That question covers a lot of ground, so I'll elaborate.

Why do they feel the need to put their food preferences, their sex lives, and life in general on display? Does Joe Average really think that people care? Chances are if these people were of any consequence, they wouldn't be self-publishing their biography as it happens. We all know that's what the media is for. Not only that, but media has the power to make people's lives seem entertaining. Perhaps, Joe thinks he's connecting with people on a personal level?

Why does Joe Average think that having readers in Algeria or Norway is of more substance than connecting with someone in person? If I want to connect with people I'll go to a party, or a bar, or even just talk with a neighbor. If you want to connect with someone don't tell the world. The world is not a person, and no amount of hits on your website is going to be a substitute for talking with someone face to face.

Some people might say that their blog or Facebook or Twitter or what-have-you, allows people to feel a sense of community. Well if people want to feel a sense of community, why don't they get more involved with it? People talk about how the internet let's people connect as a group? Well there's a little website called meetup.com which exists for just that purpose! It exists solely for helping people with mutual interests get together in the flesh to engage in or discuss these interests. It can be anything from some silly activist movement to role-playing games, cooking, or anything you can think of. If you want to feel some community connection, go to this website, or move to a smaller town. Despite what the urban sprawl of the United States would have you think, there are still small burgs where everyone knows and cares about the business of everyone else.

Now one might argue that my own blog renders me hypocritical in such matters as these. After all I'm posting all these essays online where anyone can read them. Well to date I'm only aware of six, maybe seven people who have actually read even one of these essays. The difference though is that I understand why I'm posting these here. One: It's free.
Two: It saves room on my computer's already bursting hard-drive
Three: These essays are relevant. Not just to me, but to anyone with two working brain cells who find their way here.
Four: I need to give vent to my thoughts and this seems like a good enough place to do it. It's kind of like mental exercise.
But I don't delude myself into thinking that I'm making friends doing this. Hell if some far left activist came across this blog, I'd probably start receiving death threats. But this page is largely for my own benefit. But believe what you like.

My point is that if people are posting online journals that anyone can read, don't do so under the pretense of making friends. Just admit to yourself that you're an exhibitionist or just trying to make yourself feel important. I think I can safely say that the only time either of those things is wrong is if you're not doing anything to make yourself a better person. So to quote Edward R. Murrow, "Good night, and good luck".