Who's Tracking Me?

My paranoia tends to drive me in different directions than my global adversaries want or expect me to go.
I know that this sounds a little tautological, however, with all of monetization of everything we view online, I think its reasonable to try to avoid what is expected.

Anyone who is familiar with the use of complex algorithms which are designed to strategically place ads on web pages, will understand that the Amazons and Googles might try to capitalize on a person who just did an index search for synonyms to "tautology".
Although I will admit that I'm not sure what a tautological explorer might crave to spend his/her money on, the very fact that "they" have algorithms for such things makes me shudder.

All of this cookie tracking of the corporations is "child's play" compared to the nation states who have the ability to sniff our packets without a person really knowing that it's happening. It sounds obscene, but, all data packets are subject to getting sniffed.
I understand that it makes us safe, that Uncle Barak or Papa Putin is keeping an eye on who's posting movie reviews on IMDB, but, I don't like it. I will turn left when "they" expect me to go right. I may be the only one turning left, which by its very nature could make me more distinct. Nevertheless, I will try to be random, the embodiment of the chaos principle for the zuckerberg algorithms

Lies that Western Christians Believe (Not a complete list)

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1. God wants me to be happy
2. (re: Item 1) God's blessings are always pleasurable, fun, exciting & "good"
3. (re: Items 1-2) Events and circumstances that are boring,"bad" are curses from God
4. (re: Items 1-3) We should only thank God for things we enjoy
5. Jesus was theologically and politically conservative
6. God helps people who help themselves
7. God expects me to defend my stuff
8. God expects me to defend myself
9. The bible is the Word of God
10. Knowledge is power (knowledge of scripture)
11. Bible debates and arguments are good.
12. Thinking about useless things is okay.
13. Life is short.
14. People should insure ourselves and our property against acts of God.
15. We should take care of things, ourselves, and pray if we find ourselves "in too deep"
16. We shouldn't bother God with small details that we can handle on our own.
17. God needs us.
 18. God can use me only when I'm strong.
19. Death is "bad"
20. Worry and fear is okay.
21. It's ok to be greedy.
22. Self-interest is a pure motivation.
23. Complaining is good if the problem is "real".
24. Scary movies/stories are innocent fun.
 25. God wants us to be moral.
26. God wants Christians to make the world moral.
27. Religion makes men godly.
28. People in the world are happy
29. Persecution is bad
30. The Church should be run like a business
 31. The Church should legally incorporate, so that members can get tax benefits.
32. It's okay to critique
33. God expects Christians "to use common sense"
34. God expects Christians "to be logical or reasonable"

Invisibility

I'm disappearing, avoiding most things.
Syd Barrett

Eric Arthur Blair & his "Orwellian stuff"

Orwellian Stuff of 2012

This post celebrates the Orwellian stuff of current Newspeak, (a la Lesley Stahl's interview with Jose Rodriguez).

• RODRIGUEZ: No. He gets a good night's sleep. He gets his Ensure. By the way, he was very heavy when he came to us and he lost 50 pounds.
• STAHL: What, his Ensure? You mean like people in the hospital who will drink that stuff?
• RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Dietary manipulation was part of these dire techniques.
• STAHL: So sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, I mean, this is Orwellian stuff. The United States doesn't do that. 

Stahl is not the only person who is using Orwellian stuff to manipulate perceptions of reality. 

It seems like every Tom, Dick, and George are dumping their "Orwellian stuff" in the public square; trying to get noticed.

President Obama launched his "Forward" campaign, which it so happens has been labeled "Orwellian" stuff for socialism, communism, marxism, or nazism. 

Which particular "ism" will manipulate the audience's perception most, is not clear, however, people who oppose another Obama term could not allow the Forward campaign to progress without some Orwellian stuff being dropped in its path. 

Twitter also, is full of large stinking piles of Orwellian stuff. 

If one has a bit of commonplace news that he wants to be seen in the most cliched terms, and to be utterly ignored by the people who generally ignore him anyway , then, he should categorize the news as "Orwellian stuff". 

In this way, no one who hears or reads the characterization need use an iota of critical thought processes to come to an informed opinion. 

To be sure, many people do not "think" in any true sense, so, removing a potential need for sporadic thought, by people who either agree or disagree, is a shrewd move on the part of the Orwellian commentator. 

And mind you, the term "Orwellian" is only one potential trigger, which may shut down all logic of the religiously left, religiously right, or religiously religious. Some other terms, which will suffice to inoculate catatonic partisans against free thought, are terms like Marxist, Stalinist or Reaganomics.
These Orwellian adjectives may effectively paralyze the mental faculties of what could otherwise be wise & reasoning humans, aka. Homo sapiens sapiens.

Knowledge as a smart bomb

This post is intended to convey my belief that knowledge is futile for all purposes, with the following exception; making personal choices with wise discernment.

It has been my experience that knowledge, and often its complement; intellect, are most often used to inappropriate purposes, specifically, they become weapons. As a weapon, knowledge is ill equipped to the task.
When attempting to defeat the ignorant with missiles of knowledge, one should reflect on who the enemy is. Is the enemy "the ignorant" or is the enemy "conceptual ignorance"?
Nevertheless, I am no longer in a battle against ignorance or ignorants. Instead, I come in peace and make gift offerings of empirical understanding that have been seasoned with personal opinion; laying them at the feet of the ramparts of ignorance.

• Knowledge is not a smart bomb.
• When attacking with erroneous facts, knowledge becomes a defective grenade, and gouges ravines that will impede further advance.
• Knowledge is made clumsy and fruitless, when being assailed from high ramparts of willful ignorance.

Absurd (I miss calvin and hobbes)

The fact of godlike Human power (A letter from Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood)

(The Screwtape Letters: A 21st century addendum)
Dearest Wormwood,
What has motivated your patient's doubt in the fact of human global warming.

The scientific-media has gone to great lengths to persuade the carnal populace with the knowledge that they may all, individually, have a godlike power over the fact of this imposed warmth.

I am concerned that you are allowing him to dismiss global warming, so easily.

Dearest nephew, you must be aware of the vast amounts of blood and treasure, not to mention the warm CO2 (a.k.a. “hot air”), which has been spilled by our sacred & faithful scientific-media followers, all of which has been done with sanctimonious piety, (as provided by the Proud Spirit of our father down below), and this hard labor has been done so that these mortals may take a prideful comfort, in the fact that there exists a human power to provide global HVAC to the masses.

Wormwood, I recognize that you, probably, remain hopeful that Earth may be moving into a warming era of human history, not unlike our blessed home, and therefore, you do not want to encourage your patient to cool the globe, however nephew, If you should be so FOOLISH as to allow him to deny the fact of man's culpability in the warmth issue, then you are, by necessary inference, denying the almost divine power of the fact of secular Humanism.

Nephew, your actions with your patient, also appear to be denying the fact that mankind's secular activities hold the power to alternately, provide either perdition or salvation by the shear force of human will.

Are you daft? Do you not have enough sense to know that mankind must, at all costs, have and maintain a proud comfort in their ability to “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps”? Do you not understand that any silly little concession by you, (a very junior Tempter), is an unforgivable sacrilege, and the penalty for such heresy is no small matter.

Lest you think that our adversary’s quaint little book should hold any sway over our father down below, please remember that he is only bemused by the words “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

Therefore, you should, with all haste, confirm in your patient’s heart & mind, that human activity is the only physical matter, that holds power to “save”. Whatever “save” means is irrelevant, because humans rarely take time to consider such words in anything other than a temporal sense.
Your Affectionate Uncle,

Screwtape