Please forgive this post wandering a bit but hey that is what many blog posts are. Well class lets start off with a little science lesson. Most high schoolers and extremists have heard and thought about Darwinism. Darwin was a scientist in the 1800’s that traveled to the Galapagos Islands and saw many species of animals. He realized that over centuries of isolation from the outside world they actually mutated to be able to survive in their surroundings. Everywhere he looked he saw evidence of these mutations like monkeys with telepathy, birds that can control the weather, and fish with adamantium claws. Anyway, like any good scientist he slapped his name on this discovery and called it, creatively enough, Darwinism. Boiled down to its basic level Darwinism says that the strongest will survive (i.e. Natural Selection).

Fast forward several generations and lets look at Darwinism today. Besides sparking the debate between Creationism and Evolution it has given rise to several corollaries. My favorite iteration is Social Darwinism which is in societies and nations the strongest will survive and thrive. Oh can you imagine. If this theory actually worked in industrialized nations then the following things would not be around:

• Hair Dryer Warning: Do not us in shower. (Who is in this big of a hurry)
• Do Not Eat warning on the silica packs in stereo equipment (Lucky day a subwoofer and a pack of chiclets)
• Woman suing McDonalds because her “Fresh, Hot Coffee” burned her when she spilled it in her lap
• “We Will Rebuild” signs after the same house has been knocked down by a hurricane for the 10th year in a row

Lets look at this in a Hollywood perspective. Specifically super models and Miss America. A few years back Budweiser had a commercial out where the final 3 contestants in the Miss America pageant were answering the “Pretend to be intelligent” question. After the first 2 girls gave completely idiotic answers to the question of “What would you do to save the planet?” the third girl responded with “*giggle* Which planet?”. She of course was crowned as the supreme American beauty.

This commercial was hysterical and absolutely terrifying at the same time. It is almost a social commentary on how we protect and even idolize beauty over smarts. In nature beauty is important as it attracts stronger mates and allows that individual’s genes to propagate to the next generation. HOWEVER, we are not in nature. In fact living in a desert city I have not seen a naturally occurring tree in months, our wildlife consists of domesticated pets, and many days I am unable to see the mountains due to a layer of pollution. As our society has grown more sophisticated we have actually slipped backwards in our priorities.

Lets consider a situation where a group of people are dropped in the middle of the wilderness. Who would survive? a) A 12 pound super model that can actually be used for a high school lesson on the human skeletal structure. b) A beauty pageant contestant who probably would try to pet the first bear she saw c) Average looking, semi intelligent citizen.

An even better example of this is the show Survivor. I remember getting excited about this show when it first aired thinking how cool it would be to watch a group of normal people survive. I watched in disbelief as the contestants “survived” by firing rocks at a plate to see who gets the steak dinner for the night. There is a significant portion of the population who can’t afford steak dinners EVER and these people are just surviving? Then I watched in horror as they voted each other off the island. I remember similar things in high school. So basically your ability to survive is directly related to how much you piss off your fellow players. In real life, if I was stranded, I wouldn’t care if the leader woke me up each day by kicking me. The guy who can find food and water will never be voted off.

In essence almost everybody our society idolizes is actually the opposite direction in a Darwinistic point of view. A super model couldn’t survive long enough to find food before collapsing from lack of energy and most pageant contestants wouldn’t survive without their non-fat sugar free latte. In fact an overweight person would probably stand a better chance of surviving as they would have a day or two of reserves. So let us take a moment and marvel in our fabulous lack of Darwinistic Priorities. Also, the next time you see that overly popular girl or guy who is basically as intelligent as the clothes they are wearing, salute them and say “I agree we should save the planet by giving puppies to every little boy and girl.” That is, if our science people figure out which planet we are trying to save.

One of the great hot topics of the day is downloading music and movies. In case you are wondering yes I am speaking of the *whispers* illegal kind. Of course I am not going to reveal whether I do as the RIAA now has ninja lawyers who will swoop down and attack. They appear out of the night silently armed with subpoenas. There is no mercy and no way out. The problem and the topic of this article is that there is no common sense either. In fact the whole start of this represented a complete lack of common sense.

I know business and I can understand that the RIAA would worry about losing the stranglehold they have on the industry. I mean the thought that they might not get 6000% profit (10 cents to make + 10 cents in royalty - $15 for the retail) makes me weep *gag*. Admittedly, they probably don’t get that in pure profit but it doesn’t justify that the artist is getting next to nothing and the consumer is getting bent over paying for them. I mean come on that is like paying $4500 for a PS3 *winks*
Then there is the movie industry and the instigator of this article. If you watch any DVD’s now days you get the joy of watching the “Don’t steal movies” trailer. This forced advertising is really the flagship message on piracy. It is also a clear message in desperation extending an almost brainwashed view on this tricky subject. It is basically heavy metal music over sporadic MTV like scenes. Each one has a message superimposed. A couple of these messages include:

• You wouldn’t steal a purse
• You wouldn’t steal a car

Then it goes on then you shouldn’t download movies. Piracy is illegal!!!! My only comment is: Seriously? They are actually comparing downloading a movie off the internet to Grand Theft Auto. I get so shocked every time I see it. I am waiting for the phrases: You wouldn’t kill a puppy or You wouldn’t rape a goat. This link is one of the most absurd things I have heard and just wreaks of greed, self importance and heavy duty crack usage. I mean come on stealing a car is not the same as downloading music and cds. They are both illegal but so is a dog barking after dark in some cities.
Similar Relations to downloading movies = grand theft auto:

• Stepping on an ant = killing a puppie
• Throwing a rock = dropping an nuke
• Speeding = Vehicular man slaughter
• Swimming in a private pool = Drowning your brother

Just seems to me that industries that obviously live in the glass house of screwing consumers and artists alike shouldn’t be so obvious about throwing stones. It shows me personally that they are finally starting to realize that technology has leveled the playing field, at least in music. The RIAA is no longer needed and they know it so they will sue their way to profits. Artist now do not need to sell their soles to make 8 cents per cd. They can be free to play and express themselves without the noose of pop culture. Imagine a brave new world where the people are not forced to listen to Ashlyee Simpson or charged $15+ for a 10 cent piece of plastic. Where MTV played videos, Tom Cruise was never allowed near another camera and being a whore did not count as good publicity. *sighs imagining*

Lets start the morning with a little talk about society, children and cultists. A strange cobble of terms I know but if you have gotten this far in your reading why turn back now? First, let me define terms for anybody that doesn’t know what each of them means.

• Society: n. an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. For our purposes we will consider our society as this great country of ours. One built on some amazing ideals of tolerance and the need to buy the right shampoo so you too can look like a supermodel.
• Children: n. a person between birth and full growth.
• Cult: n. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. I define cult due to the fact that dictionaries use the root word to define the word. I personally learned in elementary school that this was a big no no in english on the level of drug dealing or murder.

In a futile attempt from keeping this blog entry from wandering around like most of mine I will explain how these 3 things relate in one simple term: Stepford Mom. This term comes from the story of the Stepford Wives where in a small town all of the wives become very compliant and are in love with their lives to a creepy level. Later it is discovered that these women were actually robots simply adding to the idea “If God can’t do it right, make up for it by creating sentient robots in our image that will eventually decide we are a threat and take over earth.”

Everybody who is married and childless has met a Stepford Mom. They are the ones who cannot possibly fathom why someone who is married doesn’t have kids. They have taken the fact that our society has placed children in the path to a happy life and turned it into their whole life. You usually find them at friend’s holiday parties, as it is the only time they are outside of the house. If you are unsure of whether a parent has gone “Stepford” here are a few indicators:

1. They are the ones that watch their children dismantle someone else’s house piece by piece without doing anything about it.
2. They allow their children free reign to hit other children.
3. They somehow do not hear the 120 decibel yell of the kids. Somehow listening to it has made them completely deaf.
4. They look at any married couple without kids as incomplete.
5. And as a tie in they preach to anybody who will listen about how wonderful their lives are now that they have allowed children into their lives.

The last point in the indicators list is the first in relevance to cultists in this brain dump of a blog. The parents are infatuated with their children. I am not speaking of normal love and the tendency of a child to dominate the parent’s life. The type I speak of is obsession where the parent not only allows their life to be dominated but literally absorbed by the child. Normal Parent: I love my kids but they are so much work. Stepford Parent: My children are my life. They are wonderful and I don’t understand why you don’t have kids. The cultist proceeds in much the same way. They find someone that claims they have the way to something wonderful and proceed to give thier whole being to it. The leader owns them and they will share their new found obsession with all who will listen.

If you still do not see the parallel then lets do a quick comparison:

• Cultists find a leader and worship that person as a god. Stepfords have a child and worship the ground they walk on.
• Cultists believe the leader is infallible and often ignore inconsistencies or contradictions within the leaders message. Stepfords see their children as perfect, simply writing off destructive behavior and ill manners as part of being a child.
• Cultist preach to anybody listening about their new found faith in the leader. They show pictures and give reasons why you should join them. Stepfords tell anybody listening about their new child. They show pictures and give reasons why you should join them.

This relation of course does not extend to all parents. Many parents see the difficulty in raising children and really like time away. These type of parents also do not feel non-parents are incomplete. The best things to say to the Stepfords at a party is “Hey we are gonna go catch that new movie, wanna join?”. This points out the total lack of freedom they have and often makes several other people love you for saying it.