45 posts from 2007

I've been productive recently... Two more characters at the Heroes and Monsters Guide from the Carnival of Souls: Mary Henry and The Man. What an awesome movie... I really enjoyed doing this one...

Three more characters at the Heroes and Monsters Guide. This time featuring the characters from the Friday the 13th Part 2 and Part 3: Jason Voorhees, Ginny Field and Chris Higgins.

I have added Wonder Woman and Baroness Paula Von Gunther to the Heroes and Monsters guide... Hurray!

I have been busy at work and not very active at VOX... I have added 5 new characters to the Heroes and Monsters Guide however... Stirba, the Queen of the Werewolves and Stefan Crosscoe from the Howling 2, Santi from the Devil's Backbone, and Paxton and The Dutch Businessman from Hostel... Enjoy...

 

Ladies and Gentlemen - my new favorite band... I wasn't this excited about a band in along-long time.... Please also check out their MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/beatthedevil) for more samples... Here are two YouTube live recordings of semi-decent quality...

Woo-Hoo! I have added two new characters to the Heroes and Monsters Guide: Gorgo and Momma Gorgo. Classics!

I found these on the Internets and they reminded of why I don't want to travel to Russia... The Russian Disco picture is my personal favorite.

The last one translates as "Parking Garage Olympic Family. Do not park in front of the gates. Maximum Fine - One Shovel blow to your windshield"

Do you consider yourself a patriotic person?  Why or why not?

No. In fact, I consider myself anti-patriotic.

My main reason for being anti-patriotic is quite simple really. I think patriotism (e.g. "love for or devotion to one's country") is illogical and dangerous.

Just because some government happens to be in control of the geographic region I happen to inhabit, doesn't mean that I am willing to die (or kill) for it. Because, after all, a "country" is really nothing more than a territory controlled by some government. I agree to follow all the laws and regulations of this government, primarily because I am afraid of the consequences I could face for not doing so, but it doesn't mean that I agree to make any sacrifices for it, love it, or whatever else is considered patriotic nowadays.

I love humanity. However I do not love people that happen to live under the control of the same government, that I live under control of, any more than any other people.

I am willing to make sacrifices for the well-being of all. But I am not willing to make any sacrifices for the wellbeing of some at the expense of the rest.

I consider myself a citizen of the world, and I am not planning on joining the herd of flag-waving patriots that for some bizarre reason love the geographic region they inhabit (or whatever government happens to rule over them) so much, that they are often willing to kill a fellow human being who happens to live across the border, if ordered to do so, and in fact, think that they are doing the right thing. Patriotism might start with something as seemingly innocent as flag-worshiping, but it always ends with murder. Patriotism is always bad. There is no such thing as "good patriotism." And the habit of shooting "traitors" that is so common among all governments (whether communist, fascist, or democratic) is yet another proof of that.

For some reason nobody thinks that an obsessive devotion to one's town or neighborhood is a good thing, especially to the point of readiness to kill in the name of the neighborhood. Hell, I love my neighborhood - but if my local neigborhood association demanded my 100% devotion to them, forced me to honor the neighborhood symbols to the point of idolatry, or requested me to kill someone just because they live elsewhere - I would think they are nuts. However, once, we increase the scale to the size of a country this "obsessive devotion" becomes something supposedly wonderful, positive, and very much encouraged. I understand why the governments of any country encourage it - it helps them to control the population. What I don't understand is why there are so few people that question this ridiculous notion.