I think one of the saddest things I've learned in anthropology is that there's no use being myopically an eco-freak, a Feminist, a Marxist, or an economist, because the issues facing us are too many and too divergent. That's why there's anthropology, I guess.
But the problem is again, that we're still a stupid species.
It started out with something a friend said to me, "Democracy isn't good, but it's the best system we've got." I'm starting to agree more and more with Varg Vikernes (not about his racism, and all the crazy conspiracy theories he believes in, God no) about his idea that despotism isn't bad. I keep on feeling like a technocracy might be better, like if we put together all the scientists and anthropologists and sociologists in the world we'd be able to come up with a comprehensive idea to solve the problem.
Then I remember ideas like Terroja Kincaid's about how human civilization functions much like clockwork, that the individual cogs are forced to turn in one particular direction or another, whether of their own volition or not, or whether for the greater benefit or not.
More and more I'm realising that either we're a smart species that's just not smart enough (and we all seem fucking stupid in the context of what we face), or if we're smart enough but incapable of doing anything about our problems. It's a little like Epicurus' riddle, in a sense.
Music is my way of escapism, of ignoring the problems of the world for a while, and also as a way to cotify it all into a small bubble before me where it seems smaller and less threatening. I've got lyrics for a pretty angry, pretty narcissistic, pretty despotic song with the same title as this journal that I'm going to commit to music quite soon...I'll post it too.
My Long Descent Into The Snowclad Forests Of My Homeland
January 21, 2013, 12:30:pm
In the winter snow
In the land where mice once ran
And foxes chased!
Now falls with the onset of night
Silence is broken by crows
In their beaks are creature-flesh
And their eyes are red for man-blood
(Run!) And you fall down in the snow
(Bleed!) And your blood paints the floor
Of the cursed, snowclad forests of my homeland
A thousand cries go up to the night
Kah-kaw! Kah-kaw! Kah-kaw!
And your view of the night sky obscured
As white turns to black
From these specks in the air
The dark body, moving through the trees
One master of this fel wood
The trees reach out to trap you
One clawed hand, one taloned vine
Your cross turns to thorns, then to iron
Red-hot as it leaves your hand
And the crows have found you
Everyday I feel more and more like anthropology should be taught in schools. Not only taught, it should be compulsory. The area it's most damaging is where people hold fucking racial/gender beliefs or even stereotypes to be fact. People will believe any load of bollocks chucked at them, so long as it allows them to be proud for being born fair, brown or green-skinned.
What's sparked this? I finally forced myself to read the "Lord of Lies" articles by Varg Vikernes, and I've watched his wife's (Marie Cachet) piece of shit video explaining her fucking Neanderthal theory. She uses the most patchy and disproven evidence you could have thought of. The Neanderthal integration theory holds far more water than the Homo-sapien integration theory.
I'll link you to her video, and I'm going to run through some of the points that piss me off the most and hopefully prove my case that anthropology needs to be taught in schools.
It's not only Varg and others like him who believe this horseshit. He didn't believe it for very long, but my friend Joe saw a similar documentary claiming that the Chinese are a different race entirely. I only had to show him a few migration maps, and point to the evidence of human settlement all the way along those paths, leading to China, before he changed his mind. (There's a particular order our ancestors took, but I've forgotten it. I think they went somewhat more towards Europe, then took a dip towards China because it was an easier path).
But Joe's a smart guy, and he's a rationalist. God knows how many people that documentary persuaded. And Joe said he saw it on the BBC or ITV (I forgot which - I'll make sure to ask him). It's quite terrifying thinking how many people may believe that the Chinese are a separate race because of bollocks like that.
Here's the link to Marie Cachet's piece of shit theory :
Firstly, SHE SHOWED HUMAN SPEARS. They are very specifically human spears. They are thin, and designed for throwing. Neanderthals simply did not have the anatomy to throw a spear. It's like how we can't twist our forearm all the way round, or stretch our legs out beyond the point where the knee locks. The spears she showed would have broken if they'd been used in typical Neanderthal hunting tactics (usually they'd trap an animal against a forest or cliff, such as a deer, and move in with thick, long spears, to stab at it 'til it died). Humans, on the other hand, couldn't risk getting that close, as our bodies were smaller and more lithe from having being in Africa for so long. So, we developed throwing spears which allowed us to stay out of range. Neanderthals could afford to get hit, as they were much physically tougher, so close-quarters combat was fine for them, not for us. That's partly what led to their extinction - at the end of the ice age, when we moved in, the forests started to disappear and give way to more plains. Neanderthals simply couldn't hunt as well in these plains as humans could. Our hunting technique worked best in an open plain, where there were no trees to block flying spears. So, we bested the neanderthals at that.
Also, her claim 99.7% of your DNA is Neanderthal, is probably true. Also about 90% of our DNA we share with flies. I think about 50% we share with cabbage. And we share at least 99.1% of our DNA with chimpanzees. As for her percentages of specifically Neanderthal and Homosapien DNA in mordern populations, it's bullshit. The most generous studies I've seen have never even suggested a higher percentage than 3% Neanderthal DNA, and that's from those trying to prove the integration theory...
This bitch also said at the start of her video that neanderthals were tall, and implied that they were as tall as or taller than humans by showing the skeletons side by side. This picture is just misleading. The neanderthal skeleton is either fake or zoomed in (I think it looks zoomed in to me). Neanderthals HAD to be shorter, as shorter bodies conserve heat better. Also, our bodies were stretched like salami because of the heat in Africa.
She claims that Neanderthals have the largest brain of all species, and while this is true, it doesn't imply intelligence. The vast majority of evidence shows that Neanderthals were not intelligent. Infact, other signs of their intelligence ("bear cults" associated with some neanderthals, burying their dead, jewellery, musical instruments) all usually appeared AFTER the arrival of humans. It is believed by many anthropologists that Neanderthals copied the rites of humans without any understanding of their meanings.) Granted, Neanderthals were still pretty intelligent beings, and their intelligence might have played a part in their taking up of these technologies (infact, some believe they might have buried their dead before humans turned up), but they certainly weren't smarter than humans. Men have bigger brains on average than women, but we're both just as smart. Intelligence is determined by a creatures brain-to-body ratio. In Neanderthals, it was relatively small (compared to anatomically modern homo sapiens sapiens anyway). They also had a much thicker skull, which explains why the skulls she shows appear bigger.
And her implication that "cro-magnon" was a hybrid was bullshit. It is defined as an anatomically modern homo sapiens sapiens. Fucking shitbricks...
The rest of the video is just nonsense that doesn't even bear delving into. But fuck Varg and fuck Marie Cachet for believing this bollocks!
I'm starting an anthropology club in school now (or at least I'm going to try to) to prevent people buying into this kind of trollop...I just hope I'm somewhat successful.
I looked back on one year of playing the piano today, and thought I'd done good.
I haven't. Not by a longshot.
All my compositional career (which, admittedly, is still only just older than 6 months) I've been striving to be as good as Tuomas Holopainen.
But yesterday, my friend showed me an artist with a level of skill far beyond Tuomas even. It's like finding out how hard uni work is after leaving high school.
Joanna Newsom.
All the songs I've written seem lazy and bunk now. I don't care if I have to spend years on it, I want to write at least one song like "Monkey and Bear".
