Alan Wake 2 is one of the greatest video games that I have ever played. Its story is full of twists and turns that will surprise you, and has the kind of detail that will cause you to care for the characters in it. The music is superb and not only elevates the gameplaying experience but is legitimately great to listen to on its own. The gameplay is fun, balancing the tension of the survival horror genre with moments of levity and action that make for a rich gaming experience. And it incorporates various media, everything from video to interpretative dance to prove that video games can be true art. The depth of meaning in the story’s symbolism and storytelling is surprising and provides insight into the importance of ritual in the lives of the faithful.
Tag: rituals
Public Education Conditions Us For War
The purpose of education has been warped. Education used to be about more than educating people in the kind of math and technological skills that make them good cogs in the machinery of the State. It used to be about expanding and liberating the minds and spirits of people by exposing them to the greatest thinkers and ideas that human history has to offer so that they learn the ideas that will make them better people, so that they will be better humans. But since the government has assumed control over the education systems in every nation this purpose has been falling ever more steadily by the wayside. Instead, today people are educated and miseducated into the ideologies, moralities, and values that justify the ever-expanding power of the police state and the unceasing waging of wars abroad. As this article argues, this condition is not some perverse accident caused by state mishandling of education. Rather, educating us into the beliefs and ideas that convince us to remain subservient and obedient to the State is the very point of public education, a cause that finds its ultimate expression in war.
The Religious Nature of the Political Right
A few weeks back I wrote an exploration of the religious nature of the political Left, exploring the ways that Leftist ideology acts as a religion within the lives of Leftists themselves. Today’s article is about the religious nature of the political Right and about the ways that right wing ideology acts as the religious beliefs of Rightists. Unlike many people, who make the easily understood and common mistake of equating the religion of the political Right with some aberrant form of Christianity, I have relied upon the works of Dr. Carlton J.H. Hayes, an eminent historian who pioneered the historical study of Nationalism, to study the true religion of the political Right and the impact it has in the lives of Rightists. In doing so I also dig into what it means to be on the political Right in terms of conservatism, traditionalism, and nationalism, seeking to reach the true taproot of the political Right, that set of beliefs which defines it even when all its other ideas shift and change over time. Here I believe I have hit on the definitive truth of not only what motivates right wing politics but what also drives the faith of Rightists in their ideology and what motivates them to try and remake the world in its image.
The Modern Moloch Part 4: The Religion of Statism- Section B
In Section A we explored the foundational beliefs of the Cult of the State- its temples, gods, prophets, sacred texts, and common prayers. Here we continue this exploration of how the governments of the world act as secular religions within the lives of those under the power of the various countries of the world. We do this by looking at the churches, religious leadership, some mystical rituals and forms of worship, and the holy wars of the Death Cult of the State. If Section A was the motivating beliefs of the government religion then Section B is what those ideals look like put into action both in the government’s efforts to indoctrinate us into the cult and what it looks like we when do as we are taught to believe. Though far from exhaustive, hopefully by the end of this part of the Modern Moloch series you will know enough to pull back the curtain on the government and begin to root out all the ways it has manipulated you for its own glory and gain.