A Thread To Feed Your Head

Good day ATS!

For the six months now I have been on a quest for new perspectives, trying to question what I have learned and what I have been taught. As I studied, I found myself rethinking many of my ideals and beliefs ranging from politics to spirituality.

There are few things better than the feeling you get when you read something profound which impacts your life significantly, which makes you think "This makes since! This is important!". That feeling is astounding, it is as if a veil had been removed from in front of your eyes.

With all the distractions in the world today (i.e. propaganda filled media, video games, TV, Netflix...NETFLIX!!! the bane of my existence...so much time wasted there ) It is hard for many to focus on educational subjects. When we get home from work many of us just want to relax after a stressful day, not have to deal with complex problems or the woes of the world (we are all guilty of this). But we have reached a time in our history where we don't have the luxury of wasting that time, things are moving so fast, faster than any other time in history. Our generation cannot be left behind, we are the future of the world. We need to take our place as leaders and as the inspiration for the next generation. We need to buckle down! (dear lord I'm turning into my father!)

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have fun and enjoy life, but we have taken advantage of our technology and are such suckers for entertainment that we are nearly consumed by it. You know what people thought was fun 100 years ago...READING!! most kids now hate it, some would even say loath it. The ignorance which is rampant in our generation is not our parents fault...its not our grandparents fault...its not the entertainment industries fault...it is our own. We suck in information and don't know how to arrange it, that's why we are so susceptible to preconceived wisdom which comes from talking heads on TV, or some empty suit sitting on capital hill. That is why we have more and more naive young people buy into extremist left propaganda and go join OWS, and why there are more and more hateful extremist right wingers hanging on to outdated philosophies and disastrous economic policies.

We have to educate ourselves and come to our own conclusions and our own ideas!

So that all being said...let me get to what I want to accomplish with this thread.

I want as many people as possible to post some educational material (namely the names of authors and titles of their work) which has changed their perspective or further "enlightened" them. I would prefer the material be non-fiction but if it has some extreme profound meaning it would be acceptable, same goes for documentaries. Try and give the best description of the material as possible so people can have a general idea what it is about.

So i guess I'll post the first one...this is a book I'm reading right now and so far is very enlightening.

It is called "Killing the Cranes: A Reporters Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan" by Edward Giradet.

As the title implies Mr.Giradet has spent over 30 years going back and forth to Afghanistan. In the book he talks about how uneducated westerners are when it comes to Afghanistan and its people, how the country has been plagued by invasion and interference for hundreds of years. He also goes into many aspects of journalism and how the new age of journalism is sensationalized and relies on government and the like for information, instead of doing any real investigation for themselves.

So ATS I hope this thread is successful...and remember what the dormouse said “Feed your head, feed your head” .

reply to post by Openeye

Yummy, good food for thought!

He also goes into many aspects of journalism and how the new age of journalism is sensationalized and relies on government and the like for information, instead of doing any real investigation for themselves.

Volumes here, and I decided a couple of days ago to discontinue my internet until next year because I spend too much time soaking up the sensationalism. I will still check in via cyber cafe, but my spare time will be better utilized. No more droning.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


that sounds more like a personal problem... I wouldnt cut off your internet seeing as it is a portal to the rest of the world and something important MIGHT come up that you need to know about.





maybe a little self control would do the trick............................................................

reply to post by Gwampo

That's just it, I am lacking self control! Personal problem? Yes!
Like I said, I will still chime in, but I can't waste as much time as I have being entertained and over informed.

Albert Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus

Foucault's Pendulum- Umberto Eco.