Root of All Evil

They say money is the root of all evil. I disagree. Evil is the root of all evil. Money is just a popular guise that evil hides under. In fact, it isn't money, it's power. People want the ability to do things* so much, that they have learned how to use natural powers**
It was explained to me recently that Money is just a form of transfer and isn't power--I think that's true, however I think Money is tied directly to Power and is synonymous(sp?) with it. When you have money you are carrying the liquid form# of power, it's still power## though.

So when people talk about the root of all evil being money, it's more like they are saying: power is evil. But power isn't evil--misusing it for selfish purposes or wasting it on trivial things is evil. Using it to buy slaves is evil (whether physical slaves like America had in the early days, or modern indentured servants like we have today who are people that just can't get out of debt) using it to get power OVER other people is bad. But using power to HELP other people is good.
I think developing a healthy habit of giving alms to the poor is a very safe and very good path for life. Paying your tithing is a definite must, but I think giving alms, real alms, to the poor is also pretty important. I'm not talking about JUST humanitarian aid or fasting meals to give the money to poor people so that they can buy food. What I am referring to includes things like: taking friends out to lunch now and again because you have money to do so and they do not. I'm talking about saving up for your children's college education, because you have money and they are just getting started{BRANCH #1 (see below)}. I am talking about offering people jobs who are hard workers and desperate for work, when YOU have money and they do not; this can come in the form of starting a business, supplying capital for businesses, even hiring someone to take care of your lawn, house, farm, etc.
When you have power/money, you should use it for good purposes and not bad. The way I see it, investments always come when you use your money for good things. They become wasted when you use your money for bad things and you rarely get returns on those investments. (pornography, drugs, alcohol, etc)

If you want to be wealthy, use your money for good things. If nothing else your wealth will be invested in maturing assets (children, loyal friends, etc) and you can liquidate those assets in the eternities when your good name is brought before God and you are told that you have done well, you are good, you are faithful, and that you left life better than it was when you entered it.

......But what do I know? I don't have a lot of money (liquid power)--I took Benjamin Franklin's advice and have thus far invested my money in knowledge, because I know for sure that I can take that everywhere and can use it to help other people. Money on the other hand is sometimes hard to know to use for good purposes.



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* I suppose doing things can equate to using our agency, which was given to us from God.
** Natural powers -- I'm referring to non-godly powers. Things like oppressing others, domination, wars, threats, unity of masses: riots & voting, etc etc.
# liquidity is a business term that means you have the ability to purchase things at any time rather than having to sell products or assets first.--I am rolling off of this idea because businesses with a lot of liquid assets can do a whole lot more and more quickly than those who are locked up with assets or otherwise.
## I suppose I need to explain what my definition of power is: the ability to DO things. Having lots of power increases your agency (the ability to choose) because you have more options, more things you are capable of doing if you CHOOSE to do them. Satan fought over power (God's power) and he couldn't have it, he essentially misused his agency to get it, so he wasn't able to get a body like the rest of us because that would give him MORE power--God knew he couldn't handle it based on prior performance and that's why he was cast out of God's presence.
We too are here to see if we are worthy of greater power or not, whether we'll use it properly or squander it or misuse it for selfish purposes. Those of us who can learn to use our power in the right way receive more, even priesthood power, which is greater than all power, which is guaranteed to be ours after this life if we live faithfully and learn to control ourselves and our power, which is of course associated with agency.

{Branch #1}
I really ought to write another article on this, but for now I'm just going to branch off into another section and write a blurb about it:
Your children are God's Children, they are your brothers and sisters just as much as your earthly brothers and sisters are. When you can learn to treat everyone equally, you're right on track, the difference is that you have been trusted to mentor and raise these children and have a greater responsibility to them than you might to your best friend (who is your spiritual brother) or to your earthly brother (who is also your spiritual brother). Rich families that have a tradition of paying for their children's tuition and thereby create a perpetual system of paying for college are what we call the upper class (though I disagree with most sociologists's definition of the upper class, because I don't think most of them are a part of the upper class or know enough about them) In any case, in the system I and referring to, when you pay for your kids' college educations, you are essentially paying for your own college education--your creditor is your parents (your kid's grandparents) and you have it on loan until your kids are old enough to go to college and then when they are old enough, they pay it out to your grandkids (their kids). No need to go to a bank, just keep it in the family and let your grandparents spoil their grandkids some more, through you ;)

Top Websites

This post is going to be a little out of the ordinary compared to the purpose of this blog and what have you...I'm finding that I don't have a good place to just write random thing unless I put it on my poetry blog, and out of the choice of putting this with a bunch of poems and with a bunch of rhetoric, I think it's closer to the rhetoric.

I wanted to make a tops list for websites that I like and I suppose the only way I can tie it into rhetoric is to explain why I like them--I suppose a claim could be made that these are the greatest advances in the internet of our day, but I'll let you decide:

Aside from my own websites and tools like Google Analytics, Blogger, email account sites, school work sites, and facebook (which is also just a tool), this is my list of sites I visit most, appreciate most, and enjoy the most.

• Wikipedia - Although not a professional encyclopedia, I think wikipedia is one of the best places to learn about pop culture. All you need to do is look up a topic or word and it'll give you the general consensus of what that topic is (rhetoric in action).
• Dictionary.com - I always find words to look up--particularly latin phases like quid pro quo or nosequenter, etc. that you can only learn about in a dictionary. The folks at Dictionary.com are doing the world a great service.
• IMDB - The internet movie database is chalk FULL of data about movies...while watching a movie I find myself questioning where I have seen this or that actor before, and so I look him or her up. It is also helpful for distinguishing real indie actors or filmmakers from all of the phoneys. It's almost like a barrier to entry: if you're not listed on the IMDB you better have some proof that you're legit. --I have to be careful though because I'm not listed on the IMDB, plus people can get on there by signing up for a one year membership.
• CG society - This nifty website is awesome for finding desktop backgrounds. Plus it exposes you to the world of art. Who knew that looking at artwork could be so entertaining? (I did...that's why I became a filmmaker) Not only does it expose you to different art styles, if you set up a basic account, you can talk directly to the artist about any of your questions pertaining to their art.
• Craigslist and KSL.com - I love searching around CL or KSL for bargains and to sell my old stuff. Although everyone has a different purpose for why they buy stuff, I typically buy stuff that I can fix and resell. Recently I helped my dad buy a camp trailer that we can leave up on our mountain property, we've done a little fixing up on it, but we needed to buy something cheap because trees fall down a lot in that area and we didn't want a tree to just fall right on it and ruin it, so we bought a cheap one that looked decent to camp in and fit our needs.
• eHow.com - I remember back in the olden day turning to howstuffworks.com to figure out how things work and how I can do things like pick locks and how metal detectors work, but nowadays I don't need to. eHow has really fixed the world by making it easy to find how to do things on your own. There are even articles on how to pick locks!
  However, even though this made it on my list, I Think eHow is incomprehensive at this time. It's not finished...there are TONS of things that aren't on there, like techniques for playing with polymer clay, but I think that's the purpose of eHow...they have tons and tons of junk (for instance, 100 different ways to sandblast your pants) but they don't have other, more intricate things that not as many people do. So I think it would be better to put eHow alongside other websites that do that and more.

Other sites that almost made it:

• Hulu - Hulu almost made it into the most important websites of our time list, but they recently changed their business plan. If they would have continued to offer free internet movies (all of them) and they were good quality movies, then they would have won this prized spot. Instead of benefiting humanity by bringing back old classics like Gone With the Wind, The Sound of Music, or the Wizard of Oz, they are charging people to buy a Hulu+ account, which makes no sense because Netflix has a better selection of better movies. Essenturally, Hulu sold out it's position as a benefit to humanity and is now offering free crappy movies to anyone bored enough to resort to them. Granted, I still watch them because although the movies are terrible, they made money somewhere and have some aspect to them that could help me improve as a filmmaker, if I can only find it...
• Google and particularly GoogleTranslate - Google is amazing, let's face it. I'm not just saying that because my blog is hosted in the google universe. But I didn't want to put google on my top list for some reason... It has provided millions of people with jobs, even people outside of google's company simply by providing services (tools and adsense and adaware) that have the potential to make money. That means SEOs are given jobs, Web Marketers are given jobs, and professional bloggers are given jobs too, all because of what google has done. If I were to list a site represented by Google, I would choose GoogleTranslate or GoogleMaps. Translate is nifty when you want to translate a phrase or read something someone else wrote in another language. You can even translate whole websites, which means I can go onto Japanese websites to learn about samurai armor, or singaporean websites to read about pirating video games (heh, I'm joking). Maps is a good tool because SOOO many people get list with verbal directions. However, I think one reason I excluded it from my list is because it still has many kinks to work out, like the fact that both my house and my film studio are not accurately listed on googlemaps...
• Launch (YahooMusic) and Pandora - Although I don't use it, maybe you do... Launch (its original name) was THE place to go for free internet music and music videos. I think they still are the best place for music videos and the top 100 chart, but I don't necessarily think they are a benefit to society. . . Not only are their other tools that do the same thing equally as well or better, but they are missing components that might be beneficial to humanity, Pandora included. I don't use them much either. Sure, they make people happy, but I don't think they're worthy of a standing ovation.
• Youtube and Facebook - No way would you catch me listing these too thugs! Youtube and facebook are places for junk. People post the stupidest videos on youtube and often times you find yourself thinking: why am I watching this video? just because someone recommended it? It hink it would be better if there were a better sort of ranking system other than user's opinion. Like a professional judges panel along with it or some categorical system that prevented you from watching anything non-professional. I get sick of seeing fat kids shake and fat girls try to striptease only to hurt themselves... In fact, I get sick of seeing fat kids altogether. Plus, Youtube is full of plagarism and there is no way to stop it...the crackdown police aren't watching EVERYTHING. Facebook too, is just a bully. They are full of pictures of fat kids shaking, fat girls strip teasing, slim girls strip teasing (I don't want to see that! geeze!) and sure, I can block them and unfriend them, but in order to use it as a tool I have to have them on there to reach other people. Plus facebook can be used as the ultimate stalking too and...don't let me ramble on about somethign I already wrote about...
• Dating sites - Being a dating and relationship coach and not out for money (some dating coaches start their own dating websites and that's how they make money)I can honestly say that dating sites are a waste of time. You would have better luck going to the county fair or church on sunday to find a mate than you would hiding behind a computer screen. And there really isn't science behind it, even though you might think there is...opposites attract as well as likes, so what does that say when the site recommends you to someone simply because they are similar to you or opposite to you, or both?--it just gives you an incentive to like someone you wouldn't otherwise think about. Try meeting people outside and you'll find that you have a much higher chance of success together...
• the Guttenbergproject (Sp?) - Free Ebooks, a lot of them ancient. I didn't include this because they haven't done a well enough job advertising themselves, nor accessing books. If they ran a business model rather than a non-profit, they'd do much better...even if you had to view a few ads here and there to get at what you want...
• Amazon.com - Amazon IS worthy of this list, but I think they get neglected on a few sides and that is preventing them from really helping humanity. Sure, purchasing products online is great, but until they find a way to really bring the asthetics of shopping and instant take home, it's going to be hard (maybe when transporters are invented they'll REALLY have something spectacular).

Now I am sure there are some critiques of this list...It focuses more on intellectual and scholarly-like sites than entertaining and loving sites. But You have to remember that I wrote this for humanity sake, not entertainment sake. If you want to talk entertainment with me I'll go get my copy of old greek and old norse myths, then we'll compare modern humor to ancient humor and you'll find that it is the exact same. But if you compare greek libraries and databases to databases of today you'll discover that knowledge is MUCH more accessible.

Thinking

With the recent hot weather (I know...I know, it's summer time so I should expect it!) my body has been trying to take advantage of the cool nights and the hot mornings...It slows down in the hot morning and speeds up in the cool nights. I wake up in the morning and I lie in bed thinking of how hot it is outside my room and that if I start moving around i'll only be in more heat. It's so tiring that I usually sit htere...the worst was when I sat there for 2 hours!
That brings up my topic (which I mentioned last post): Thinking and not doing anything.

I think a lot. I LOVE to think. I love when I can just sit down like The Thinker by Rodin. However, as I grow older, I realize that very few jobs allow you to just that: think. (Google does! but you have to have a pretty good resume to get into their R&D lab).

Another topic on my mind of late has been my English Degree. I've pondered over the specifics of what my degree is teaching me and I've concluded that I have learned skills most applicable to a lawyer...without the law degree. But...what is the significance of mastering one's own native language? To add to it, what is the significance of mastering the language of the world? (english is spoken in 90% of countries as their primary 2nd language). Also, what ancient occupation was equivalent to the English degree?

As I contemplate these questions, I recall that English is a language controlled by those in power.--People don't just make up random words, they make up words (and more importantly, terms) that sound like other significant things and force you to think of certain things when they are spoken. Mastering one's native language is the equivalent of taking up the powers of rulers. (Rulers were made rulers because of 1 of 2 things: their ability to communicate, inspire, incite, and command; or their ability to force, coerce, and pressure others.) When you master your native language, you gain a power over your countrymen that is unseen and unknown to them. When you learn to persuade people to fulfill your objectives, you are essentially controlling them. You are made a leader over them.
War is a very persuasive form of rhetoric: it clings to emotions and uses force to persuade the other side to surrender and submit. So even when rulers are waging wars, they are using language to do it. [I may touch on this at a later time].

Thinking empowers you. Without thinking, you are not. ("I think therefore I am"). If you stop thinking for yourself, you stop pausing every now and again to determine what it is that YOU want and what your opinion is, then all of your actions are for and in behalf of other people. (they control you.) Chances are, if you don't do a lot of "thinking" you are following other people who you assume are leading you in your best interests. And usually those people have become so skilled at your native language that they are capable of convincing you on things to the point where you don't even think about them (Hegemony) I would say that thinking and rhetoric go hand in hand, because sometimes you have to persuade yourself in order to break from other people.

So to recap what I just said: Knowing Rhetoric (which I am using synonomously with the term " mastering one's native language" or in my case, mastering the use of English) allows you to become a leader and a ruler.
Thinking helps you break from other people's rhetoric and start using your own rhetoric. It makes YOU into a person, rather than into a slave. And if you don't think...you're nothing!