01.12.10 - 10:07 am

zionist propaganda. new world order. shadow and puppet governments. the great global warming hoax.

ugh.

"Start the brainwashing early... A lot of things about the environmental movement I can get behind, but when it comes to carbon footprints and global warming, that's where I draw the line. Kudos to caring about your child's education and the quality of care, making sure that they share the same values, I just hope that they teach that the Sun warms the earth and not Mankind."

this is prestons response to my supporting my friend lucys new school she developed:

Natural Beginnings offers high quality child care services with a unique hands-on, interactive curriculum. We aim to enhance traditional day care methodologies by providing a sustainable & environmentally friendly atmosphere, natural & organic foods and education based on respect for the world and its cultures.

im quite sure with this attitude he believes that all the smoke stacks, all the exhaust fumes, mercury, lead and carbon we pump into the air just....goes away. maybe it all just turns into prettier sunsets. this coming also from the guy that thought i was an idiot for not believing 9.11 was an inside job:

"Responsible for 911?!? Have you taken the time to look at any of the information out there that points to it being an inside job and a false flag attack? I thought you were smarter than that, but I can point you in the right direction to several documentaries that prove that we were lied to, and are continually lied to."

when i was growing up, i consumed what i was fed: christopher columbus was a hero. the president is a infallible leader. the world loves america. all homeless people choose to be homeless. the civil war was fought over ending slavery. america conquered racism.

but i can recall three distinct moments in my memory that caused a dramatic shift in the way i perceived facts.

8th grade, civics. the trial of christopher columbus. i was responsible for prosecuting columbus for his maltreatment of the indigenous people he encountered, the barrage of illnesses he infected them with, as well as the pillaging of their resources. up until then, i thought christopher columbus really did discover the american mainland and that he was really nice to the indians he met.

oliver stones jfk, highschool. the movie for me wasnt so much about the assassination and whether or not there were multiple guns involved. it did show me however, how easily a government can manipulate information and how it can redirect the course of history.

american history 101, college. it was here that i learned the value of documented history. that the history most people know is the glossed over summary of events. that often times the major events in our history had far more complex circumstances surrounding them. and depending on the historian, what circumstances made information relevant into popular knowledge. was the civil war about freeing african slaves, sending them out of the country or stopping the south from becoming more wealthy and powerful than the north?

these events influenced my interest in politics several years later.

in 2000, i remember watching a presidential election with interest for the first time. my grandmother had all four of her televisions on fox news showing the-up-to-the-minute poll information.

then in 2004, my roommates and i all sat and watched bush defeat kerry. and then ben and justin lit their farts with a lighter.

"If you're not Liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not Conservative when you're 35, you have no brain."

my step father repeats that frequently. but it leads me to thinking about the span of my political ideals, and how other peoples change or dont change as they age.

i think i always supported abortion. i dont remember ever not liking homosexuals. i dont think ive ever really liked america being responsible for the rest of the world. i dont think i ever appreciated religious injections into my education. and ive never really understood the american financial system.

i think my political ideologies mostly match the democratic or libertarian stamps and havent really changed much since i was much younger. the spectrum of my political beliefs has really only become slightly more distrustful of politicians and disappointed in the slow rate of change in issues i see as obvious and necessary. let gays marry. destigmatize abortions. use all the stem cells you want. invest in renewable energy. stop fighting muslims in other countries. snap your fingers. make it happen, government. i do have many voices whispering in my ears about fiscal conservative values and some of those are making more and more sense. i dont foresee myself becoming without a brain, as the adage suggests, just because im 35 and still feel like homosexuals shouldnt be treated as second class citizens and intelligent design taught in schools is completely irresponsible. im sure those things will remain passionately imbedded in my ideals. maybe ill grow tired of government spending, higher taxes and the federal reserve. but as for now, its all ive known. ive always been taxed. ive even depended on government programs.

the more involved i get with listening to peoples political stances, i do find that most adults several years older than me believe democrats ruin countries and republicans can save the american way of life. i havent met many older liberals. people much younger than me repeat talking points they see on the news, whether they be from either political agenda. and then my age group is full of people with intelligent mixed perspectives....or complete fringe ideas. new world order, a planetary government, really?

where does that come from? what are the influences that cause people to immediately discredit global warming? are these same people convinced about intelligent design? why is the world out to get them? why havent i fallen into these beliefs? have i not read enough? have i not seen enough? have i not lost enough to shift my distrust of science, history and politics altogether? what balances political beliefs to a more centered approach to the information available?

what could it take to make preston believe that the planet is really warming due to human impact? what would it take for brain to be excited about social services? what would it take for me to give a shit what rush limbaugh says? what makes people follow infowars more than the huffington post? why do i trust the government more than others? why dont i see all the hidden agendas in absolutely everything?

even my step dad falls for ridiculous conservative email forwards about gun taxes.

im trying to soak up all the available information presented on all sides. but i guess im still not convinced everything is always as bad as its supposed to be.

yet.

i have seven more years before i have to trade in my heart for a brain.

"well its a well known fact, sonny jim, that there's a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as 'the pentabrit'. who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in colorado known as 'the meadows'."

"so whos in this pentabrit?"

"the queen, the vatican, the gettys, the rothchilds and colonel sanders before he went tits up. oh, i hated the colonel. with his wee beady eyes and that smug look on his face, 'oh youre gonna buy my chicken oooh ooh'..."

"dad, how could you hate the colonel?"

"because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes you crave it for it nightly, smart ass."

of course he does. right, eric and preston?