Historic rant

Back when I was an angry young man (rather than a slightly miffed old man), I wrote the below blog entry:

Prompted in equal measure by this post on deathboy's journal, current events and general train-of-thought-type shenanigans, I have been thinking recently about people taking offense at things.

Personally, I hold no malice toward any particular faith, creed, nationality or demographic. Any vitriol or prejudice I carry with me is certainly of a much narrower focus. That said, I am no big fan of organised religion - or large bodies/institutions that hold undue influence over portions of the masses at all. Though, apart from the envy I have of the comfort anyone gains from their faith/belief/obsession/love, I really can't help but look down upon anyone who formulates their beliefs, ethics, hopes and spirituality on some outside source. Whether that source be the Bible, the Qu'ran, Dianetics, Detective Comics issue 1 or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, those venerable tomes are simply books written by men. Men who were as fallible as you or I.

For me, politics, ethics, spirituality and everything else that matters one iota in this world are intensely personal things. And formulating our beliefs in these fields is an equally personal, and unique journey. It is also a vital part of our growth as individuals. To garner all your beliefs from one single book, person or group to the exclusion of all others is madness and tantamount to saying that what was right for a person you never met years and years ago is also right for you, now. There are no universal truths. Sure, allow yourselves to be influenced by those writers, works, figures, groups or myths that you admire. Hell, even aspire to them but recognise their deficiencies, too. Take what they teach you and mould it with your own personality and shape it with your own personal experiences and other things that you admire.

It has not escaped my notice that this belief in and veneration of personal autonomy ranks my views pretty close to those of satanists. I would like to point out, though, that to be a satanist, I would have to believe in God, too. And, if I did that, why the hell would I pick the losing side? ;)

Too many people expect the rest of the world to adhere to their ideas, their beliefs, their rules. They claim they are offended when anyone contrevenes their narrow-minded view of what is right. Well, in the words of Bill Hicks, "...I'm offended too, where do I send my list?".


I am offended by people who judge me based solely on how I dress or what job I have.

I am offended by the 'every man for himself' capitalist credo we are forced to live by.

I am offended every single time I am bombarded by marketing as some ponce in an office assumes I will do what he says.

I am offended by being lumped in with the other 30-somethings of the world who love Big Brother, starting families, getting a mortgage, pipe and fucking slippers.

I am offended by the sheer amount of crap produced by anyone and everyone that I am epxected to consume even though a chimp could see it's not worth sod all.

I am offended by newspapers and the mainstream media being some people's only form of information about the world .

I am offended by fuckers with no mind of their own thinking themselves above me just cos they drive a BMW and spend more on coke and whores in a week than I see in a month.



The list goes on... Who the hell can I bomb? If I get rid of anyone causing all this shit, three people rise up to take their place. Where can I go to escape all this shit? There is no Generation X Ministry building/mosque/synagogue or whatever that I can go to, chill and chat with like minded people for an hour or so. 99.9% of the people I meet on a day to day basis are wankers who buy into this shit, or at the very least, they are part of the problem - lulled as they are into a sophorific slumber so they won't cause any trouble. Even people who like the same cool stuff as me - World cinema, alternative music, left-wing politics, art, nature - they still buy into all the shit - it's just those lucky bastards find enough solace in their passions to ignore everything else!

I hate the world. What do I write on my placard, eh?