The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

If you watch way too much TV, is against the war, and care about the environment, there is a pretty high chance that you are a communist or even better; you could be the Antichrist. Yippee! Thanks to Neuro Linguistic Programming and Neuro Associative programming. The red colour is a Neuro-Associative re-conditioning for the RED flag. We have all been brainwashed to communism. I have read from a fellow nurse-blogger who came across this information from nutters he would rather not link to so as not to increase their website’s Google ranking.

I tested it the other day by staring hard at the red BBC logo. Et Voilà! :

“Wala tayong maaasahang
Bathala o manunubos
Kayát ang ating kaligtasáy
Nasa ating pagkilos.
Manggagawa bawiin ang yaman
Kaisipáy palayain
Ang maso ay ating hawakan
Kinabukasáy pandayin…”

I was singing the communist anthem whilst marching to an imaginary orchestra playing "La Marseillaise". I also couldn't stop raising my left arm with hands clenched as if I was a puppet and some mysterious power was pulling the strings. Scary.

This reminded me of my gramps ( I mentioned in my previous post here ) who showed us in the 80’s that by erasing a few of the sun’s rays in the RPN 9 ( a local Philippine TV network ) logo, you can come up with the hammer and sickle communist symbol. He told us of the subliminal message that will apparently prepare us for the revolutionary takeover. Then came another historic period in my childhood TV life. ‘Voltes V’ was banned by President Marcos. Children all over the land cried as they really love the action-packed anime series. How could children understand the political messages ‘hidden’ inside the story line is beyond me.

“Speculations abound that the show could be used by activists who might use it as a tool to create a revolution similar to the Ilokula, or use it as part of a class struggle leading to socialism or communism, or the freeing of the "slave" class in the Philippines (Voltes V might serve as a code name by the rebels and its song as a password, such as the phenomena of Grândola Vila Morena in Portugal's Carnation Revolution in 1974).” Another issue claimed by some was that the Emperor Zambajil's name (sometimes spelled Zambojil or Zambujil) was changed into Ferdinand, General Bergan's name was changed to Fabian or Vergan(for Fabian Ver - Marcos's Chief-of-Staff of the Philippine Military at that time), etc. which intended to mock the administration. Also, Voltes V was planning a people's revolution throughout the series and Marcos feared he would end up like Zambajil, overthrown by his own people including the "nobility". [wikipedia] Ha ha ha ha!!!
I couldn’t find that old logo but the simple RPN in red background will do just fine. “What utter bonkers!” I thought. Okey, Benedicto, the founder of the TV station is from Negros where peasants working in large tracts of sugar plantation were dying everyday of starvation: good ground for mass uprising, but how could a super-rich media tycoon like him allowed subliminal messages about his downfall on his network? Well, just like Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’, after the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, all of the stocks and assets of RPN were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) under Aquino. Not exactly communist, but still revolutionary at that time.

That was twenty years ago. Now you can watch 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' in the Discovery Channel without the annoying dictator pulling the plug. And nobody takes the mick when an arch-conservative cardinal in his Lenten Speech last week gives a warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”. It's funny that the Antichrist is a bit like Christ Himself. LOL!

Above Us Only Skies...

There is nothing more precarious than having to deal with good old religion when caring for a terminally ill patient. Not only you have to make sure that you are adept with whatever quirks and oddities these religious nuts have, but as a Nurse you have to ensure that you remain sensitive to their cultural needs as well. It is very, very frustrating, but it’s part of the job. Since I have worked in a few other countries prior to coming over here in England, I know what some of them are like. Although most are quite sensible, they have needs that often breach “unit policies”. Some cultures are very, very closely knit as families which I guess is a good thing, but they will overcrowd the bedspace no matter how you tell them that you can only have two relatives at a time. Okay, sometimes you can understand the grief that these families are bearing and you can be a bit flexible, but oftentimes you just find their behaviour quite challenging:

“Hey! Did you buzz before before you bust your ass in here..?”

There is actually a doorbell outside that has a huge sign in English that says: Ring the bell and wait for the Nurse to take you inside.” It is quite understandable if you are dealing with older people who perhaps couldn’t see properly or may have language issues, but not with obstreperous girls and boys who just don’t care about anything whether they know how to read or write.

“And hey! No flowers, please. They got little bugs in them that we don’t need more than what we already have in here.”

Moslems may request a special food that may have been ritualistically slaughtered in whatever manner their religion called for, and may ask for it to be placed in a location that does not necessarily conform to unit policy on infection control, but cultural sensibility is tops- so you can perhaps, let them get away with it. Make sure there is no newspaper lying round the bed with cartoons of Mohammed in it. They also get ‘arsey’ when they find little specks of blood on the bed, but this time they can keep their anal behaviour with them and shut it because you can’t be bothered to change the bed sheet every time you take blood gases. You stick to your priority: Save the patient by keeping him breathing and the planet by conserving energy and reducing laundry detergent use.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses will get barmy if you give them blood even if they will die bleeding. Imagine this: A man is dying of bleeding from a perforated duodenal ulcer, but the family is refusing a much needed blood transfusion. Jehovah's Witnesses believe blood is sacred, representing life, and the Bible tells them to abstain from blood. Some artificial blood products may be permissible but never natural human blood or its byproducts. I know this is quite painful to watch, but to be a culturally competent care provider means recognizing that patients have a right to make this choice. So you’re faced with the dilemma whether to save their life or their soul. Okay then, save their soul.

It’s the added pressure of having to deal with self-righteous, over zealous and raving evangelists that makes saving lives much, much more difficult that it is quite a refreshing break to find a simple good natured atheist on a deathbed. He was admitted following a bowel operation and was extubated the next day. Because of his cancer that has already spread to his lungs and kidneys, the Doctors decided not to re-intubate him in case he deteriorates. He was told of the poor prognosis and he was pretty much happy with the plan for his care and even refused to be resuscitated. “I’m not scared to die”, he said. I noticed that he had loads of books with Jedi Knights on them and a copy of HG Wells: War of the Worlds, so I asked him:

“Do you believe in aliens?”

He said, “Not really”, then added, “Same as I don’t believe in an all powerful being who demands to be loved and adored by his people unconditionally, then punishes them according to his whims and fancy.” He asked me if I go to church, and I told him sometimes, because I’m Roman Catholic.

Then he said: “Pardon my irreverence, but do you believe in God?”

I told him, “If you mean God that punishes according to his whims and fancy, then maybe I’m an atheist, but non-belief doesn’t stop me from being a good Catholic.” So he laughed hysterically, and told me it’s the funniest thing he ever heard.

The patient died the next day and I was told his family was very angry that a Nurse asked for a Catholic priest to do last rites for him. I learnt that this Nurse thought he was doing good service by providing spiritual care even if he didn’t know what the patient’s religion is, which I thought is very insensitive. There should be a commandment that says:

Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself!

Mad, mad.

“When the person prays, the prefrontal cortex is focused on the words. The left lobe processes information about our position in space and time. It gives us the idea that we have a distinct physical body. When the parietal lobe shuts down, we can no longer distinguish between our self and the rest of the world. As a result, the subject believes that he or she is in contact with the timeless and infinite power of God. It feels like a spiritual experience, but it’s really just a neurological illusion.”

I just read this book by John Twelve Hawks called: “The Traveller"

And it is really mad fiction. Take note: Fiction. But I'm not trying to avoid dissing someone's religious sensibilities here. Make no mistake. The cover will tell you that it is the new “Da Vinci Code”, but I think it is actually more engrossing. A cross between Masamune Shirows’ “Ghost in the Shell” if you like Japanese cyberpunk manga, or ‘The Matrix’, I can understand if some people would compare it to that movie as most of it was taken from the Japanese anime and George Orwell’s “1984” if you’re serious with your books. Sorry. I have been reading a lot of ‘trashy’ novels lately, but I can say that trash is good.

The author could have added a bit of Michelangelo’s painting of the “Creation” in Sistine chapel to illustrate his “God is a creation of our neurological system” theory.

God superimposed on the mid-sagittal outline of the human brain.
id blog

"The Creation of Adam fresco shows Adam and God reaching toward one another, arms outstretched, fingers almost touching. One can imagine the spark of life jumping from God to Adam across that synapse between their fingertips. However, Adam is already alive, his eyes are open, and he is completely formed; but it is the intent of the picture that Adam is to "receive" something [life/knowledge/spirit] from God."

The Brain of Creation

It has posed some controversial issues regarding which one is the creator. God or Adam?

Does Michelangelo just like Da Vinci had some issues with the church?

Si vis pacem para bellum! Pope Benedict XVI has wittingly or unwittingly joined the politico-religious mayhem. Check out Hillblogger's take on the latest religious extremism.

So, which is mad?

Religion or science. Any of the two can blind you. Take your own poison.

Although, it is not fair that people always refer to UFO believers as nerds and weirdos, as when you think about it, the universe is a vast space with perhaps millions, if not billions of potentially livable planets that may actually have life-forms with more brains than the rest of us, whilst those who believe in an invisible all powerful being from the sky are feared and venerated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

infection. the almost sterile. sanitised climate. of the white tiled room. belies. the bleaker side. just as the fetid odour. of the amputated. diabetic leg. reflects. deformities. should perish. derived pain. mollified. by anaesthetic. more potent. than. the opium. healed. the spirit. what the high priests. have. which the people don't. when they make. revolutions. to cure aberration.