Wow, it's been a long time since I've written a blog post, a lot has happened.
I have an internship offer for a company, I'm not sure if I want to take it.
It's in Florida, which is a LONG way from PA, however it would pay decent. However
it's not quite the industry that I wanted to goi into. We'll see, I have to decide tomorrow.
I've continued my studies, they are going very well. I'll probably retain my 4.0 this year as well.
Recently in one of my classes we've been discussing international law and genocide. The focus was on
the genocide in Rwanda. It was horrific.
I grew up all my life never knowing this even had occured. It happened only a decade before my birth. And no one
cared to tell us. The state of the US educational system is one of pragmaticism and patriotism. Yes, patriotism is
important, however peace is also important. Post-Cold War American certainly wanted society to become more patriotic
to strengthen us from the threat of Communism, however I believe they may have caused more troubles. In your patriotic education,
you've created generations of young men who are not only patriotic, but now also nationalist. These young men were only ever
given a high school education that taught them about our Revolution as colonies against British rule and about the blot that is slavery.
But do they know about our refusal to intervene in the Rwanda crisis? Do they know of the "nuclear weapons" that we failed to find in Iran?
America, in your attempts to develop strength you may have created blindless that has not come
yet to full bloom. This being said, I am not someone who hates this nation, I am very thankful to live here and I do believe this is one of the
greatest countries in the world, and I will always defend it. I have friends in the military who I wish the best and hope to see again someday.
But I will never vote to allow such friends of mine to fight battles that are meaningless.
I know more about the British taxing us for paints and tea than I know about what "terrible" trade deals we break now.
I wonder when and who decided that this would be the education that I would recieve.
Anyways, moving on from that stint.
I will be going biking with some friends now. The treads on my tired are now rounded out, and the rear wheel is missing a bolt. Would be
exciting if the rear wheel falls off while flying down a mountain.
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I'm back from flying down a mountain on a bike that sounds like it's about to break anytime soon; it was lots of fun.
I've been thinking more about the media and our sources of news, and surprisingly I feel that it can be related back to the philosophies of
GNU and FOSS. The best things in life are free, and our news is no longer free. Reliable news sources need ads and pay walls, while unreliable
news sources need no such additional income because of their funding from their influencing parties. These free news sources either have
the hidden cost of using advertisements, stealing your data, or giving you heavily biased information.
In all the frustration of political polarization, disinformation, and gutteral hatred for opposing sides (or just hatred against groups of
people, all the *-ism's there are), it would probably serve best to ask what we are trying to accomplish in all of this.
What is the goal of information? Why do we care about politics? Why do we care if the masses become frenzied like Rwanda?
To me, as a Christian, I simply want humanity to have a prosperous, peaceful and productive life.
You can call me a child for this. But if all you say is that peace cannot be obtained then you are the source of the problem.
I feel that bringing peace comes down to being good stewards of our communities, which involves:
1. Be at peace yourself. You cannot spread peace if you hardbor the same unrest.
2. Flag disinformative articles and posts, and mention that the information is incorrect in conversation as well.
3. Ignoring blatantly hateful posts, tweets, conversations, etc. Report them if they actually threaten others.
4. Do not hide under a rock. Withdrawing from a community does not mean you will not be affected by it.
5. Do not ignore information when it is presented to you. Don't refuse to read something simply because it is written by someone/thing that you
do not like.
For me, the first item also requires that I spend time in the Bible and in prayer. I am a Christian and I do believe that peace comes from God
alone. For those of you who do not share my beliefs, find other ways/beliefs that also give you this peace.
This was a long post, but it's been a long time anyways.
