SUICIDE GIRLS, SADDAM HUSSEIN and SPIRITUAL SPAM
Happy New Year everybody! 明けましておめでとうございます to my friends in Japan where it's already 2007! Pretty soon it'll be 2007 here too and I'm stunned and amazed. I never thought we'd make it this far — we being the human race, of course. 20 years ago I'd have predicted the end of civilization way before this. I was certain all that would be left of what once was mankind would be smouldering radiation poisoned craters. But we made it. Yay for us! There are certainly a lot of very real, very urgent problems that we absolutely must deal with right this very second. But the fact that we are no longer worried the whole world is gonna go ka-boom at any minute makes me really optimistic. As big as the problems we are facing now are they're really small compared to the immediate threat of WWIII breaking out before the next commercial break.
And speaking of terrible problems facing the human race, as some of you have figured out already, I am now writing a weekly column for the Suicide Girls website. If you want to take a look there are links over there to your right. I'll try to keep the one that says "latest article" update each week. But I'm pretty incompetent. Even if I forget, the other link below that will get you to all the articles. So far only one person has really got his knickers in a twist over this, demanding that I explain myself. This brings up another point, if you write me, I might use your letter in an article here or on Suicide Girls. If your e-mail is long and I use it, I will edit it. If you don't want me to do use your e-mail that way, say so and I will not. I won't identify you by name in any case, so you can always deny it was you. I'm pleased it hasn't become such an issue for most people. But maybe it will when word starts spreading (heh, heh, I said "spreading"). Anyway, they asked me to write for them, I accepted and I'm happy with that. I think it's a great forum to talk about Buddhist philosophy. In fact, I could hardly have asked for a better place.
And speaking of better places, Saddam Hussein has almost surely not gone to one. Poor Saddam. Not that he was a nice guy or anything. But I see him in those old video clips patting kids on the head and smiling and I can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy, even though I know he doesn't really deserve it. Even having said that, I'm a little distressed to see the glee everyone is getting at watching his execution over and over and over on YouTube and Google Video. No matter what the reason, the violent death of a fellow human being shouldn't be drooled over that way.
And speaking of drooling, I can't make any transition to the next topic using a metaphor about drooling. But yesterday I deleted a spam comment from this blog. I do this pretty regularly with spammers and don't think too much of it. I do not delete anything else, by the way. This particular piece of spam was a bit different, though, in that it came from a rabid follower of some self-styled Zen Master who wanted to let us know none of us would ever be as Enlightened as his teacher. I saw it, determined it was spam and zapped it pretty fast. But later on I thought I should have left it there to bask in its own idiocy. Unfortunately, once you delete a comment it's gone forever so it's too late for that. C'est la guerre I guess.
I did go over to the site in question and took a look. Pretty typical stuff if you ask me. Sounds like what happens when someone has the kind of initial big wow experiences you often get when starting off in Zen. There's a real danger of going off the deep end and declaring yourself an Enlightened Being after one of these. It's always sad to see that happen. But it does. A warning to us all.
Have a Happy 2007! Drive safely and all that.