Rational Rant

It’s Rampant

It seems very peculiar to me that in the presidential campaigns of the U.S, people don’t care if the person running gives any examples of what he/she HAS DONE to prove that they will be the best candidate. No, instead the spout rhetoric and ideological perfection and at times complete nonsense because they know they can get away with it. They know they can do what most politicians do. Say one thing and do another. It’s absolute crap.

Take Obama for example, he claimed he would have our troops home from the middle east within months of his election. What did he do? He comes on T.V with some Bull**** excuse trying to make everyone believe he must keep them there. Am I the only one who sees the contradiction in this? Well you could make the argument HOW COULD WE HAVE KNOWN HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS? Simple. CHECK HIS BACKGROUND. No one ever talks about what he has accomplished, or the legislation he has tried to pass. Instead people would rather gossip about his personal life.

This behavior is not acceptable for one who holds the most powerful position in the ENTIRE WORLD. Yet the public elected him fully knowing that had limited experience and was only a senator for a short time. So what have we got here, a person who spouts meaningless statements such as Change! Change! As well as a person with hardly any political background.

So please people if you get anything out of this remember that campaign slogans are nothing more than an over-hyped impractical ideas meant to subconsciously train you into thinking they’re true. When you have a sound belief like those which are repeated constantly, regardless of whether or not they are true you’re going to remember them. It take a person of considerable intelligence in my opinion to not play into these meaningless statements.

Good luck.

Politics (don’t worry I’m not spouting left/right) :]

Politics is a fun, and heated topic among lots of people. Tempers rage over ideological difference, and friendships are broken through hot-headed people on both sides.

But seriously folks why have an opinion if you don’t know, or understand the topics at hand? It’s severely bothers me that people have the nerve to think their opinions matter, or are even relevant when they hardly understand the political spectrum.

You wouldn’t go around having an opinion on the Windows XP operating System if you hadn’t used a computer before, so why chose Left or Right if you don’t understand what the extremes of either are?

A word of advice. Only History can be turned to for an accurate representation of what works and what doesn’t.

You’re Smarter Than You Think

The word intelligence is used in a variety of different ways by many people. However most of these definitions seem to be part of a larger misconception of what intelligence really is. A lack of understanding of a true meaning of the word has lead people to confuse gifted people with highly motivated people. This is due largely to the fact that most people tie together success and intelligence when the two words often don’t come hand in hand.

Have you ever taken a look at a student in your school that seems to have the best grades, and thought to yourself WOW! He/she must be intelligent? Well so do the majority of people who I believe have a common misunderstanding of the word. I strongly believe that although a person may be highly intelligent they can also be highly unmotivated. The same is true for many with below average IQ; they can be highly motivated and be just as successful as any other person is capable of being.

To be more straightforward I believe that being talented, or having an above average IQ does not mean that you’re going to be successful by any stretch of the word.  As Thomas Edison once put, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. This statement puts forth the idea that without motivation or a good work ethic a high IQ is meaningless. This is simply because an intelligent person many have many good ideas or be very talented but simply doesn’t care to be successful, or possibly that they are very lazy (me) and don’t want to work.

The same way an intelligent person can be lazy and unsuccessful, a person with a low IQ can be extremely motivated and become hugely successful. Once again having a good work ethic and having a drive to succeed is 99% of success. It is that 1% or possibly more for some people that contains their specific talents that will HELP them on their journey through life. Whereas an average person may lack any beneficial talents but still be massively successful if they are motivated.

There is much evidence to support that motivation is a key ingredient to the recipe of success. From a psychologists point of view this shows a potential for improving the lives of many people. If motivation has as big of an effect on a person’s stressfulness as I think it does, this leads me to believe that huge improvements can be made in our school systems in terms of teaching methods and our general philosophy as a culture. Maybe even a change in the way our culture looks at the world could increase the amount of successful adults who enjoy life. In conclusion motivation is a key factor to a person’s achievements and can help even those below average, our specific talents are just a bonus to what we are capable of.

Check Your Beliefs

There are many human characteristics of that I admire, one being a person’s ability to check their beliefs for hypocrisy and above all question themselves. However I find that the majority of people have contradicting beliefs especially within two different sectors of their lives. For example a person many have one belief or ideal around one group of friends, and another with a different set of friends. This is in my opinion representative of a person who is having trouble finding out their place in society and which group of people they get along best with.

The art of questioning yourself is one that I believe all should master. Being able to take beliefs that have been with you for some time, and put them under scrutiny is a very valuable characteristic indeed, one I believe is the core to the advancement of our species.  When looked at closely I believe every situation experienced is of value. Every time a person come across a problem, or finds a new way of doing something it improves the overall quality of their life in that the knowledge they have learned is remembered due to positive reinforcement. This concept is unfortunately overridden by the need to belong and acceptance of the beliefs of a group of friends which are more often than not similar. It is this simple reason that I believe the ability to question the inner beliefs a person has, no matter how fundamental to their personality should be taught at an early age.

A person can do many things to improve their life but most importantly is working to learn from their mistakes. When a person gradually begins to question themselves it starts small, beginning with topics such as their favorite music, or group of friends. After some time it becomes clear to many that even their most core beliefs should be picked apart and searched for hypocrisy and unproven understandings. These thoughts may even become a chain reaction of personal revelations for many people. Particular changes in understanding can in many cases change the way someone looks at the world from extreme pessimism to a view of complete optimism.

The ability to question yourself is a core factor in personal understanding and enlightenment. However many make the mistake of expecting their personal revelations to be the same for everyone and become so excited of their accomplishments they want to show others and indirectly try to force their beliefs on those around them. This is a huge mistake, everyone is different for the simple reason that no one person goes through the exact same experiences and therefore two people cannot look at the same event and come to exactly the same conclusion.  This can be primarily attributed to the fact that people put more positive emphasis on different parts or supposed lessons of every situation. This can all be boiled down to the fact that you are you. You shouldn’t expect anyone to think the same way you do because well..they aren’t you! However when a person becomes more personally enlightened through meticulously questing every core belief they hold dear they consequently more confident, and happy with themselves which I believe should be the goal of everyone.

Is Music Going to Hell?

Have any of you ever compared the music of the 60s -90s compared to music from the current day? Seriously we’ve got Metallica, the Doors, and Led Zeppelin in the late 1900s and what do we have now? Soluja Boy, and fucking Miley Cyrus.  It shows how much things have changed in society with the way children are raised, it brings up the question of whether or not babying children is really the best idea.

From my perspective when a person has to struggle through something, find their own solutions they are ALWAYS better for it. “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. “ I’m sure most of you have heard this but it also brings up that a person wont learn if they are told how to do something but can survive if they don’t practice it or figure it out for their self. Essentially a person  needs to be in a stressful situation in order for the shit they go through to have any lasting effect on the way they act in the future.

If kids had to struggle through life, and kids weren’t given everything they needed they would be 100% more competent. People aren’t getting more stupid they are just lacking experience because they are handed everything from day one.  I hate to seem like the guy who acts like a parent but it’s so frustrating to see the incompetence in your friend while knowing they aren’t stupid but they just have been given everything. They have never had to work for anything, never had a job and don’t understand how the world works.