Gafoo's Blog

So yeah, it has definitely been a while since I have posted anything. Partly because AT&T/SBC fucked over our internet access and phone lines and partly because I felt uninspired to come up with anything new (side note: Att&T/SBC sent me a rebate check for all the downtime so I guess they’re not total bastards). It’s that whole artist struggle of trying to create something from nothing. Part of the fun of this blog is to realize that what seems like old news to me is actually highly thought provoking and revolutionary to others. The really cool thing is my readership has grown. I have 10 registered user on this here blog and I get about 100 hits a day. After I wrote the Drum Corp World Peace article I got close to 1000 hits in one day!

Wow! I have to thank Lee for that since he pimped that article out to every drum corps related forum in the free world. I tip my hat to you.
So today I wanted to promote a favorite book of mine. If you are a fan of existentialism then this book will be right up your alley. The book is by Scott Adams (of Dilbert comic strip fame) and is titled God’s Debris. Just click the link and you can read it for yourself. Scott Adams and his publisher decided to give this book away for free in pdf format since they were having a hard time marketing it…
Frankly, this is the hardest book in the world to market. When it first came out in hardcover, booksellers couldn’t decide if it was fiction or nonfiction. Was it philosophy or religion? It’s a religion/science book written by a cartoonist, using hypnosis techniques in the writing. It’s a thought experiment. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever read. How do you sell something that can’t be explained?
I actually bought this book in hardcover when it came out. I am HUGE fan of the Dilbert books (not the comic books, the ones they sell in the buisness section) and when I found out he was writing a book without a comedic slant to it I was the first in line to buy it. Unfortunately, my copy was stolen last year. I was up in Concord for a Renegades camp and I left it in my backpack (along with 5 million drumsticks). I forgot to lock my car and all my cd’s and my backpack was gone. Good thing I remembered to bring in my laptop! In a way, I am almost happy that the book was in my backpack. In the back of my mind I envision this person cracking it open and having a thought provoking read. I’m nothing if not optimistic.
Anyway, writing like his reminds me of something that I always tell Alyssa. Smart, dumb, whatever…If you ask the right question, you can get an answer from anyone on any subject. For example, If you think you are so removed from the “Redneck” culture that you can’t have a philisophical conversation with them, all I have to say is you aren’t trying hard enough to create an understanding. This sort of thing is the basis for our capitalist society (along with a healthy dose of vanity). You can sell anything to anyone if you just market it right.

Warning: Really fucking preachy stuff ahead…

One of the big “truths” that I have stumbled upon is that life is pretty random (stating the obvious like I always do). For those of the notion that free will is something you have, you are sadly mistaken. Alyssa and I got into a conversation about the book “The Stranger” which I haven’t read but it is now on my list. She has a real problem with the overall reasoning in the book. Essentially, the main character killed someone because he is too hot. Most people would have a problem with that, but the problem occurs because we are bred into a society with rules of behavior. Society by sheer definition is a group of people that thrive together. Because they operate TOGETHER (key word), they are a unit, a system of rules. We assume that since we are all human, that we all know these rules, but that is not necessarily the case. Like any system, it has to be taught. If it turns out that the central character wasn’t taught these rules then it is perfectly acceptable that he killed someone because he was too hot. As humans, we are essentially just walking vanity personified. This is actually going to be the basis for my webshow (Credits teaser). We are the product of whatever rule system we were brought up to believe with the majority of the western world being of the Judeo-Christian morality.
The real big thing that I think we are all reaching for and we will someday realize is that the human race is pointless. It’s an extrememly hard thing to accept but the fate of our society depends on
1. Achieving this knowledge
2. Reacting to it in a way that doesn’t destory us.
I still think that as a society we are still very far from realizing that one tidbit of knowledge. We are too tied to our differences be it race or class or intelligence or whatever. As my wife always tells me, “once you learn something, you can’t unlearn it.” In a society that statement is magnified.

Now here’s the fun part…

Is the narrator flawed here? Have I just wrote all this just to have a little fun or was there a point?

_{hint…I am God}