This guy, an ex-Scientologist, has some pretty interesting views on Co$, which pretty much sum up everything people are saying about them. It’s good to know that at least some people figure out what’s going on before they get in too deep.

In the past few days, I’ve been reading more and more rumors about Skype containing a kind of back door, with which they could be allowing governments and other agencies to listen in on your conversations. (Slashdot, Heise, Winfuture.de (german))

Opinions on this topic seem to span from “Who cares, I have nothing to hide…” to “Those guys deserve to be drawn and quartered!”. I hate to sound like a defeatist, but as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think there’s much anyone can do about it. The starting shots for this kind of thing were fired long ago - almost seven years, to be more exact. By now, most western governments will be making sure that they can tap into as many forms of communication as possible. The more popular IM and VoIP programs are an obvious target. And who’s really surprised?

Ever since 9/11, governments all over the world have been using international terrorism as an excuse to do just about anything, including gross invasions of privacy. The most laughable scheme of all being the US Patriot Act. The name itself is nothing more than a ridiculously obvious appeal to american patriotism, because patriotism is a good thing right? So hey, the patriot act must be good too! And if you don’t like it, well then you probably hate America!

So will the tapping of VoIP calls really turn out to be an effective weapon against terrorism? I doubt it. Although terrorists obviously need to communicate in order to achieve their goals, I really don’t think they’re sitting in front of their computers shouting “Allāhu Akbar! Death to the infidels!” in a Skype conference call. Does anyone honestly think that any government is stupid enough to think they can catch terrorists by listening to millions of conversations, filtering eMails for key words or tracking people who search for info on terrorism or genocide? I hope not, because the idea is totally ludicrous. So what could they really be doing? Well, let’s look at the facts shall we?

Using terrorism as an excuse, many governments are now legitimately reading private eMails, listening to private phone calls and even tracking peoples movements using mobile phones and GPS devices. More and more personal data is being stored about each and every one of us, just in case someone turns out to be a terrorist. Soon everyone will be required to have their fingerprints stored on their passports, essentially meaning the western governments will be able to build up a huge database containing personal and biometric data on every single citizen alive. It’s not inconcievable that some time in the near future, the movements, conversations and activities of every single person will become fully transparent.

At best, the entire population is being placed under general suspicion in the hopes of catching one or two really dumb terrorists, effectively sacrificing freedom for a false sense of security. At worst, we’re being brainwashed into happily accepting a new world order that has complete control over our lives - or something like that. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.

The Flat Earth Society forums are still down, and I’ve noticed that some people have landed here when searching google about them. If anyone has any clues about what happened, or possibly knows about a new location - please let me know. I miss the insane discussions…

Was the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center an inside job? Lots of people seem to be asking themselves this question. I spent some time pondering this myself, and ultimately I found that I am not convinced either way. I admit to being suspicious of the investigation that followed because it failed to answer the important questions. I also distinctly remember reports on the news that several different terrorist organizations had initially claimed responsibility for the attacks, but then mostly retracted those claims. So wasn’t it pretty convenient that Bin Laden, Al Quaida and the Taliban were almost immediately found to be guilty beyond doubt, therefore poviding a nice justification for the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The other thing is the way proponents of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are being treated. Sure, conspiracy theorist are often ridiculed, but this is different. Looking at the way these people are being harrassed, bullied, threatened, slandered and even assaulted by public officials (see the videos linked above), it seems that some people are feeling rather threatened by these theories. It’s pretty fishy when someone deems it necessary to resort to such personal attacks, instead of discussing the matter like a civilized person. Especially news reporters in the US seem to be very happy to promote the idea that 9/11 truthers are all quote: “pin heads”, “nuts”, “idiots” etc.

I won’t even go into the whole controlled collapse and building 7 issues because I haven’t done enough research in those areas - but judging from the videos available, they seem to raise valid questions.

All in all, I see a lot of ignorance when it comes to this topic. Many people are simply unwilling or too scared to ask or even listen to the important questions raised by this movement, so they attack those who do. It makes them uncomfortable. People seem to feel more comforted by the thought that some evil guys in an obscure part of the world want to take away their freedom, as opposed to an evil group of people much closer to home. It’s blatant ignorance and it’s almost sad to watch.

I just stumbled across this awesome article on Cracked.com about actually possible scenarios for a zombie holocaust. Of course most of it is pretty far fetched, but still it gets you thinking. How would you react if you saw a news report on actual zombies roaming the streets? Considering how a certain female almost emasculated me in her sleep after we watched Shaun of the Dead (one of the best comedies of all time, in my opinion), I guess most people would totally freak out.

Not to forget that it is indeed possible to turn a human being into a mindless idiot simply by introducing him into hip-hop culture early in his life. Judging by the number of those people I see every day, I think the world is already suffering a zombie apocalypse.