Thoughts on Blind Acceptance

I have been slacking majorly in the blog post department, but tonight I have a good rant. The topic is Blind Acceptance, a term I have coined to describe a phenomenon that really really irks me. What it boils down to in at a base level is the idea that a large majority of people will agree with something if they hear about it enough. I notice that in areas like health issues, and being "eco-friendly", blind acceptance occurs at an all time high. These areas shall be the main topics that I will talk about. I just get so upset when people just regurgitate what they have learned, constantly suggesting that you should take part in something because it is right, or it is the healthier choice.

Probably the worst case of Blind Acceptance has got to be the whole "High Fructose Corn Syrup" issue. Before I get into let me just preface by saying, Obesity is a huge problem in America and the reason for it is our diet. There are far to many calories in the food we eat. That being said I am so tired of hearing "High Fructose Corn Syrup" is the cause of obesity, it is a horrible refined sugar that is terrible for you. BUY this version of Stupid-Product, it has ZERO high fructose corn syrup. REAL ALL NATURAL SUGAR. The scientific fact is that High Fructose Corn Syrup is 99% the same as any other sugar out there. Fructose is the real name for Cane Sugar and it is no better for you then HFCS. There is a minuscule difference in the way your body metabolizes HFCS but it is insignificant. What happened was the Obesity Epidemic occurred and companies like Pepsi, Coke and other junk food peddlers started to take some serious flak for the high level of sugar in their products. Knowing how blind and ignorant a large majority of people are they started making the switch to "Real Cane Sugar". Pepsi Throw-Back is basically the best example of this. Ironically I think Throw-Back has way more sugar in it then normal Pepsi. So the smear campaign against HFCS continued on and people looked towards all natural cane sugar as the sweet tasting savior. Lately I have seen Corn Syrup commercials that are trying to inform people that it is not some evil sugar demon, let's hope it works.

As for being Eco-Friendly, this one really gets me. I am not as informed here so I will admit a lot of this will be opinion. Since I tend to be untrustworthy of people who are in the business of making money, and sometimes have a pessimistic streak my outlook can sometimes be bleak. Anyways, a couple of years ago consumers in America had an onslaught of eco-friendly products unleashed on them. It became the new thing to advertise that your product was eco-friendly. Whether you used less materials to create the packaging or you used less damaging chemicals in the creation of your product, green was definitely IN. I diverge here to again clarify somethings. I am not an idiot, I do agree that many companies have gone green, using less and have less waste is a great thing. I just think that many companies just jumped on the bandwagon, made GREEN claims and rode the profit wave that ensued.  I am referring to companies such as Arrowhead Water; a year or two ago they came out with a new design for their plastic water bottles. It was slimmer and each bottle proudly proclaimed that it was made with 20% less plastic. Well isn't that great. The company that uses and obscene amount of paper and plastic to sell tap water in tiny amounts has reduced the amount of plastic used to make each bottle. They are still contributing heavily to the pollution death machine running rampant across the world. But, not many people think that way, most are excited by Arrowhead's progressiveness. They happily support a company so invested in protecting the environment.

All I can say is do some research before you believe everything you hear! Don't just blindly accept things to be facts cause you hear them all the time and they seem like they are "good"
Night Night Folks...
Here is a great tune about those people I mentioned, the ones who have businesses in the business of making MONEY! I think it is also about Clear channel, a group that controls and censors songs and artists on radio stations. They deem what is safe music for people to hear. You know how me and Leftover Crack feel about that. It has a long intro...be patient...it is definitely worth it.



-KGM

Thoughts

Thoughts

Not much to say tonight. Tommorow is my birthday. Oh how things change in one year. Life is quite the trip, this song is about a trip, sort of. It works.



-KGM

Thoughts on Internet

So a Senate Committee approved of a rather controversial bill today, and it will moving into the voting phase soon. The bill is known by most as the IP Act, the IP standing for intellectual property. It is, obviously, an anti-piracy bill designed to give private parties and the US gov an upgrade in their legal recourse when it comes to combating piracy. If the bill becomes a law, a website that  has copy write infringing content on it, Private parties or government entities can seize the website and all its assets with a simple court order. That tenant applies to domains located in the US. For foreign websites that have copy write infringement, the private parties or government can force search engines like Google to removed the website from their search engine, force Internet Service Providers to black list the sites, making them inaccessible to their customers. Lastly, they can force Advertisement and payment services such as Ad-Sense and Paypal to remove any ads or payment service from the website. This bill would strike a serious blow to the movement for an Internet uncensored by governments and corporations. It has been supported heavily by many large corporations in the TV, Motion Picture and Music industry. While many view it as an Anti-Piracy bill a large group of people fear the eventual abuse of the powers granted through this bill. Anonymous has already planned an attack on some government websites and what not. I think them taking a stand on a lot of issues lately is pretty cool. I think that sometimes they may be a little but over the top, and misdirected. Most of the time though their "attacks" are pointed and relevant. I have to agree that Internet censorship is a very bad thing, in countries like China and Egypt it has run rampant, but I think the seeds of similar systems are being planted right here in America. I think the whole piracy is rather ridiculous. I remember getting into an argument with my economics teacher from high school about it.  We went back and forth about whether or not it was stealing. Eventually I conceded that it was technically stealing, but it was so rampant and uncontrollable that it has become socially acceptable. It kind of comes back to the whole tragedy of the commons thing. If the individual makes the decision to not "illegally" download music, good for them and their morals. Millions of others will continue to have free music and the individual has to pay cold hard cash for his tunes, while the piracy continues to raise prices for him/her. Basically what is the point of not doing it.
To sum it all up, I don't want the government to choose what parts of the Internet I am able to see. Down with censorship!



-Kyle Griffith McChesney

Thoughts on EAAARTHQUAKE!!!

So I read in the news today that 7 Italian Government Scientist's have been charged with manslaughter. Back in 2009 a massive earthquake occurred in Italy that left some 300 people dead. The 6 seismologists and one lead government official were members of a group put together to asses the level of earthquake risk in this area of Italy. The group was formed in response to a cluster of insignificant quakes across the fault line. From what I have read the fault line is a highly irregular one, consisting of several different tectonic plates intersecting with each other in multiple areas at a variety of different angles. In other words it is a seismic nightmare. The argument against this group of seven is that they should have predicted the large quake to occur and thus they should have warned the people of the danger so that they could prepare. Essentially they are being held responsible for the deaths because they were unable to psychically foresee an earthquake. I am not going into the geology behind earthquakes but I think that anyone who graduated from high school would have some idea about how they occur. For those of you that may not know, there is no possible way to forecast an earthquake. Unfortunately we are not able to accurately keep tabs on numerous rock layers miles under the earths surface. These charges are some of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I can not even begin to think of what may push a prosecutor to bring such ridiculous charges against someone. Then again I do not live in Italy so I guess I am not the best judge of it. That being said I was under the impression that Mussolini had been ousted a few years ago.
 On a lighter note is is some thing to rock you to sleep.
(This is a double pun)(I am extremely intelligent)(get it..cause Cradle of Filth) (Babies are often rocked to sleep in cradles)(It is also a rocking song)(I think explaining it kind of ruined it)




-Kyle Griffith McChesney