Two videos, one funny, one not so much
For those of us who regularly hunt the big bad evil tentacled things in regular gaming sessions, I give you this:
The Ancient One, Cthoolou, Speaks!. (Lou to his friends.)
And for those of us who regularly watch the news and thing that something with tentacles running amok would be a welcome change of pace from the everyday horrors, there's this:
Kieth Olberman takes the Bush Administration to task (again). (A few weeks ago, he took Rumsfeld to task.)
These videos pose some of the same questions in different ways, yet with the same amount of importance to the people (or creatures) involved.
Our buddy Lou, the animated beast from beyond, poses the question "Who decides that a god is a god?" Isn't there always something bigger, something meaner... something that came before? Something... that's waiting to assert it self in very definite ways whenever it needs or wants to? And if there is something else, doesn't that mean any god can demoted, be made less?
Olberman reminds us that there are no gods in this country. At least none that regularly make themselves known with grandstanding stunts and press conferences. The kings and emperors of old behaved as gods, ruling their domains from on high, looking down on the people. Some ruled well and kindly, others struck hard and fast to remove their enemies and entrench their power.
There are no gods in charge of this country, but our politicians often seem to be vying to be our kings. Regardless of the political party or intention, both sides make mistakes and have made mistakes. It is a real leader, however, who accepts the blame for his mistakes and does not hoist it onto others.
Our leaders seek to re-write history, to shift the blame from themselves, to paint a rosier picture of how things were. They seek to re-create a non-existent golden age and point to the people who destroyed it, while all while slowly picking away at the good things we have going in the here and now.
We're letting them do it. We the people, who put them in power (one way or another, we did), have systematically (though sometimes grudgingly) handed over the rights we have been granted not just by our Constitution, but (ostensibly) by God, to these flawed and greedy demagogues who, when given the proverbial inch, have again and again proved more than willing to take the actual mile.
We have to remember that there is something greater out there. Something bigger than the politics and the media spin. Something that is, perhaps, smaller than the unknown greater god that has our animated buddy Lou worried.
That something is our ideal of freedom and everything that comes with it.
Watch the videos. Laugh at the first, but then bring the ideas with you into the second.
And then, if you still have hope that there is a chance for change, a way to strike down the illusions created by the false gods and those currently fighting them, do something about it.
Tell your friends to think when they vote in less than two months time.
Tell them to not take anything--even your warnings--at face value. Encourage them to seek out the real Truth.
And all the while, prepare for the worst. Because if we don't act swiftly and decisively and in unison, we will be subjugated to gods of our own creation.
And they won't even be as diverse and interesting as Lou.
The Ancient One, Cthoolou, Speaks!. (Lou to his friends.)
And for those of us who regularly watch the news and thing that something with tentacles running amok would be a welcome change of pace from the everyday horrors, there's this:
Kieth Olberman takes the Bush Administration to task (again). (A few weeks ago, he took Rumsfeld to task.)
These videos pose some of the same questions in different ways, yet with the same amount of importance to the people (or creatures) involved.
Our buddy Lou, the animated beast from beyond, poses the question "Who decides that a god is a god?" Isn't there always something bigger, something meaner... something that came before? Something... that's waiting to assert it self in very definite ways whenever it needs or wants to? And if there is something else, doesn't that mean any god can demoted, be made less?
Olberman reminds us that there are no gods in this country. At least none that regularly make themselves known with grandstanding stunts and press conferences. The kings and emperors of old behaved as gods, ruling their domains from on high, looking down on the people. Some ruled well and kindly, others struck hard and fast to remove their enemies and entrench their power.
There are no gods in charge of this country, but our politicians often seem to be vying to be our kings. Regardless of the political party or intention, both sides make mistakes and have made mistakes. It is a real leader, however, who accepts the blame for his mistakes and does not hoist it onto others.
Our leaders seek to re-write history, to shift the blame from themselves, to paint a rosier picture of how things were. They seek to re-create a non-existent golden age and point to the people who destroyed it, while all while slowly picking away at the good things we have going in the here and now.
We're letting them do it. We the people, who put them in power (one way or another, we did), have systematically (though sometimes grudgingly) handed over the rights we have been granted not just by our Constitution, but (ostensibly) by God, to these flawed and greedy demagogues who, when given the proverbial inch, have again and again proved more than willing to take the actual mile.
We have to remember that there is something greater out there. Something bigger than the politics and the media spin. Something that is, perhaps, smaller than the unknown greater god that has our animated buddy Lou worried.
That something is our ideal of freedom and everything that comes with it.
Watch the videos. Laugh at the first, but then bring the ideas with you into the second.
And then, if you still have hope that there is a chance for change, a way to strike down the illusions created by the false gods and those currently fighting them, do something about it.
Tell your friends to think when they vote in less than two months time.
Tell them to not take anything--even your warnings--at face value. Encourage them to seek out the real Truth.
And all the while, prepare for the worst. Because if we don't act swiftly and decisively and in unison, we will be subjugated to gods of our own creation.
And they won't even be as diverse and interesting as Lou.