Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

I tend to watch all the Bush cabal speeches and interviews, and one of the things that always strikes me is just how good they are at these “talking points” (more). You know, those canned responses that they have (ie. “America is safer, and the world is safer” or “Americans knew this was going to be hard work”)? What impresses me is not only that they all do it (even Allawi), but that they all do it exactly the same every time — same intonation, same hand gestures, impeccable timing with the same laugh at the same point ever time… It's very impressive.

Of course, it's also a classic brainwashing technique; this type of repetition effectively “tricks” your brain into accepting these statements as strong memories, even if you're only hearing it as background noise. It's why sometimes you can meet otherwise intelligent people who will just parrot these points in the face of any facts that they're presented with.

Anyway, I was watching CSI: Las Vegas last night, and Gil Grissom was talking in sign language. I'm pretty sure this exchange, ending with an Anabolic-style “two in the stink” shocker, got him slapped.

Let's see what else is on TV. Pretty funny coverage of Bush's lying over on ABC. Now, maybe you're saying “damn liberal ABC”, but realize that what you're actually doing is arguing for media to lie to cover up lies by a politician who you misguidedly believe is on “your side”. Anyway, this is what Bush said:

We agree that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell. And that stands in stark contrast to the statement that my opponent made yesterday, when he said that the world was better off with Saddam in power. I strongly disagree.

Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in Hell. But that was not...in and of itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction...that we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure.

What do you think of body modification in general (e.g. tattoos, scarification, piercings, suspension, etc)?

Well, I think they’re great of course!

What are the positive effects of practicing body modification?

First of all, it’s important to realize that body modification is a tool, rather than an end in and of itself. If they allow it to, practicing body modification can help an individual figure out who they are on their own terms. It’s an excellent way of getting to know yourself — very few people do! It can teach people to stand on their own feet and be proud of themselves because it helps show them how to take an active roll in defining themselves and altering themselves into exactly who they want to be — the small physical changes from body modification very often kickstart far larger changes under the surface. For other people it can be a cathartic spiritual act, for others it can make them feel attractive or enhance their sex lives, and for others it helps amplify the type of contact they want with the public.

Do you think a majority of peoples of different cultures out there practice body modification for a spiritual reason or to experience a feeling of spiritual enlightenment? Why? If any, could you please give some examples of body modification practiced for spiritual enhancement?

Yes and no… Historically body modification has been a way of oppressing people because the modifications were designed to physically force people into the way of living that their culture espoused. It’s not until the last five hundred years or so that the trend of modifications built around individual desires rather than group behavior evolved (and it’s still evolving). I’m sure I’m showing my own bias, but I just don’t see “forced” spirituality or culture as legitimate. I believe that people have to discover and explore God on their own to really understand — otherwise they’re just blindly taking someone else’s word for it and become spiritual slaves.

That said, all historical indications suggest that earlier body modification may have been constrained to empowering ritual acts rather than social order — the first modifications we know of (30,000 years ago) appear to be ceremonial digit amputations performed by shamans (more info). We also know that primitive man tattooed himself with the images of the animals he hunted, and that tattoos and cuttings were a part of early medicine in a way similar to acupuncture. Then of course there are things like suspension and related flesh rituals which are designed to cause the person to have a “break down” which knocks them out of reality long enough to have a spiritual journey.

These activities are all still practiced by modern cultures and individuals, and I believe that more people now than in all of human history are embracing these techniques to explore spirituality as they see it.

Has body modification reached a mainstream level yet? Should it?

America is probably the most modified nation in the world right now if we’re to limit ourselves to modifications done by the individual rather than group behaviors such as infant ear piercing and tribal tattoos and so on — it has something like a 15% penetration rate from the last stats I’ve seen on the number of tattooed and pierced people. While that’s definitely approaching mainstream, it’s not yet reached a saturation point where body modifications don’t negatively impact a person’s life in terms of employment prospects, education opportunities, and so on. I hope it does one day. The more individual freedom and expression we have the better off we’ll be.

Do you think popular forms of body modification like piercings and tattoos are over-popularized and have lost a ‘deeper meaning’?

My only concern is that body modification moves toward something more “mass marketed” or “mass manufactured”. One of the most important things about body modification in a modern context is that it has been an act of individual definition, rather than one that just “goes along with the tribe/crowd”. As long as we hold onto the individual interpretations of body modification, the more popular it is the better.