Fr∂nk Castle's photostream

Ride Free, Live Free!
Just a regular guy from New Jersey. Most of my pictures are taken with my cell phone. Some pictures are taken in the course of my work and some are taken during fun times. I am by no means a professional photographer or an expert photoshopper. My pictures are raw untouched and real. All my photos are public, but if you would like to add me as a friend please feel free.



Join me @:
www.flickr.com/groups/thegreendragontavern/


I wrote this as a blog on Yahoo 360:
For a long time I have been on Flickr.com exchanging my political beliefs with people from all over America and some from other parts of the world. Many of these political exchanges quickly become a personal attack on me (what I find strange is that every person who considers themselves "liberal" likes to correct other people's grammar and will do it in a very condescending way) or attack America as a country or personal attacks on the President and his family. Usually I would get a response like "Yeah but Bush lied". After banging my head on the keyboards for about 2 years I finally saw the light. I received a message from one of the Flickr members who I did not see eye to eye with on a lot of political topics. The message was one sentence, "No one wins an internet argument". It was then I realized.... He is 100% right.

It was like seeing the light of god. The internet is such a powerful tool and we as people have been mis-using its power. Technology has progress past the point where society knows how to deal with it responsibly. How many times have you gotten an Email and never question its origin? Its not just political Emails but stupid urban legend emails. You know the about the woman who licked the envelope with the roach eggs on it, got a paper cut on her tongue and 9 months later her tongue exploded with baby roaches? Or how many times do you "google" a topic and never question its origin, its author or its factual accuracy? Have you ever consider the source of a web page when using google? The truth is most of the stuff that we find on the internet is opinion based blogs which may appear to be "credible news" sources. Surely The Daily Kos or The Huffington Report are credible news sources right? Surely the editors of these websites are in search of the truth and are not biased in any way. They are simply blogs like this one I am writing right now. So if you are sitting back and saying "What an asshole this guy is, he is full of shit", shouldn't you being say the same about the millions of blogs, emails and websites out there in cyberspace? But as it turns out we don't. If we need to prove our point in an internet argument we simply search google until we find the right article to fit our argument and say "Of course its true, Look see there it is on the internet!"

The internet has shrunk the world. I have exchanged IMs, Emails, text messages and pictures with people from almost every state in America, England, France , Germany, Sweden, Russia, Ukrain, Japan, China, Philippines, Brazil................blah blah blah.
At the same time that it has shrunk the world it has also caused the dehumanization of people. When you send any type of message via the internet do you ever think of the person who may be receiving it? Or are we just typing a message into a little tan box that is sitting on our desk?
I use this example a lot when I talk about the dehumanization caused by the internet and computers. A man walks into his local Division of Motor Vehicles Office to renew his drivers license. When he gets to the counter he presents all his ID (here in NJ we have a 12 point ID system) to the DMV worker. The DMV worker types his name into the computer and after hitting the enter button turns to the man and says "Sorry I can't renew your license because the computer is telling me you are dead." The man chuckles and says "Well I'm not really dead I am standing here and I have all my ID." The DMV employee says "Sorry Sir the computer says you are dead."
Well one can only image what goes on after that. But it is an example of whatever this little box spits out we believe....... "Well I read it on the internet".

So now after 2 long years of chatting with people about many political topics I have learned that google, youtube, myspace, 360, facebook and the other 1 million internet social gathering places are all 100% completely filled with bull shit propaganda. The propaganda that exists on these web sites is appalling. When a politician has a myspace page, it means only one thing............. Its ALL BULL SHIT! During the Democratic primary we learned that Obama had a Facebook and a myspace web page. John McCain has a myspace and a facebook web page too. Like these two guys are using these "socially gathering places" to keep in touch with all their friends. Awe they are just regular people like you and me............BULL SHIT. Its propaganda!
The website that is guilty of spreading the most political and social propaganda BULL SHIT is youtube. I am amazed at the BULL SHIT propaganda I have seen on youtube. I can't believe that there are people out there making these videos. Just an example: I have watched youtube videos and found out that Bush is the anti-Christ. Oh yeah and I also found out that Obama is the anti-Christ. After searching further on youtube I also found out that it is a combination of Bush and Obama; "Mabus" is the anti-Christ. This has to be true! Nostradamus predicted it!!! Well thats what "They" said on the internet. Before the internet when ever people would pass on a news item it would always stat out as "Well you know they say............." Who is they? Where do "They" come from? When we used the term "They say" it was pretty much a code phrase for I heard this unsubstantiated third party rumor. There is a new "They" in town and it is called the internet. So how is the internet any different then the old "They say"?

The thing I find most disturbing on youtube are videos like this one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tfgZWI3aWM
And it is not the only video of its kind.
Here is man, 1000s of miles away from home, 2 broken arms, two broken legs, and laying in a hospital bed in a prison and someone, 40 years later makes a joke out of the entire situation. What has our society, our world, our species come to if we have to stoop this low? Does the creator of this video understand the effect this will have on the person in the video, the people he was in prison with or the families of the almost 3000 men who didn't come home? Say what you will about the man's political beliefs and policies but the person who pokes fun at this is a completely pathetic human being if we can even call him human.
So how do you have a logical civil debate with someone who makes a video like this and has this type of mentality and mindset? Well lets take a look at who he is.
www.youtube.com/user/dukehillsborough
So now we know the source of the video or at least the person or people who is distributing the video. If you haven't read his/their profile you really should take a moment and read it. At least now you know who one of the "They" is. Do you honestly believe that you can sit down and have a logical civil conversation with this person and have a difference of opinion with him? Do you think it will result in personal attacks and way off the political topic?