This is a little piece I wrote a while ago for the Vancouver Sun. Seems appropriate now when considering the whole Chris Benoit, WWE, and steroid fiasco. The published piece got watered down and had some of the humor stripped out of it, but I’ll post the original here:

There is a recent movement growing that is attempting to change our society for the better: The Skinny Model Debate. Now as a male it is a little tricky for me to comment on this delicate situation because I really don’t have a personal problem with skinny models. However, I will go out on a limb and attempt to speak on behalf of the “too proud to speak” male population in regards to our issue: The Muscular Model Debate.

I am constantly exposed to fury of magazines, reality shows, and television programs that display some shirtless muscular monster strutting his 12-pack stomach and 14 inch arms for the world to admire. It puts a significant amount of pressure on young men to live up to these high standards. Men may be inclined to take steroids, hormones, and supplements - or even risk serious injury at the gym in order to obtain that picture-perfect image. Young men of today are quietly being pressured to take abnormal physical risks that may lead to serious physiological health issues for the rest of their lives.

I am a tall skinny male that could probably eat 10 lbs of beef a day, workout for 20 hrs a week, and make next to no progress over a period of months. Doesn’t anyone realize that not all men can attain those magazine body types? Some of us just can’t live up to the standard. I bet you’ll never see this shirtless toothpick on the cover of Men’s Health magazine.

Perhaps we should impose some kind of size restriction of male models. Limit the shoulder, chest, and calf size of all male models that wish to make a living as stage props. This way, the rest of us average Joes won’t be desperate enough to alter our chemical physiology in hopes of attracting the gaze of the public and mainstream media. Are any men starting on their picket signs?

Fortunately I’ve come to terms with my muscle-less body type. I understand that although some aspects of my culture tend to value those body-types, I don’t necessarily have to fit that mold in order to succeed; there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate value and gain respect. I also understand that forcing some magazine to show skinny male models will not change the over-reaching issue of the importance my culture places on appearance. If appearance wasn’t so highly valued by each of us individually, then there also wouldn’t be this collective pressure that leads many people to take such extreme measures.

If we don’t think appearance is worth risking lives then we should start acting like it. Admire teachers, leaders, charity workers, heroic parents, and all the people that you think have traits that are truly significant. Make those other people famous and stop spending atrocious amounts of money on luxury clothing or style magazines! All this model debate and pressure will amount to putting a bandage on a broken leg. As the age-old saying goes: All true change comes from within.

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Finally.

After decades of continuous onslaught and negative media attention on the tobacco industry, smoking gets some good publicity at last! Its about time really; and no, I am not a smoker. I get worried whenever hearing too much exclusively positive or exclusively bad press about any given topic. It feels like an autocratic informational waterhole, blindly propagating the provincialisms of the status-quo. Besides, everyone has that innate desire to cheer for the underdog sometimes… in this case its the tobacco industry.

Apparently researcher’s have found that smoking, even years after you quit, will decrease the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.¹ Smoking pipes and cigars will lower risk by 54%, having smoked at some point in your life will lower risk between 13-32%, and the more you smoke the lower your risk. Think you might be at risk? Why not light up every now and then with a friend?

All in all though, its probably not such a good idea to just pick up and start smoking. Considering, of the typical drugs, tobacco has the highest rate of addiction (higher than cocaine or heroine)² , has probably the 2nd most severe withdrawal (just behind alcohol), and is responsible for 20% of all deaths in western countries³ . Parkinson’s disease will only affect 0.5% of the general population⁴

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1. Ritz, B., et al. (July 2007), “Pooled analysis of tobacco use and risk of Parkinson’s disease.” Archives of Neurology. 64: 990-997. [↩]
2. Schelling, T.C. (1992), “Addictive drugs: The cigarette experience“. Science. 255: 430-433. [↩]
3. Laviolette, S.R., & Van der Kooy, D. (2004), “The neurobiology of nicotine addiction: Bridging the gap from molecules to behaviour“. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5: 55-65. [↩]
4. Sawada, H., & Shimohama, S. (2000), “Neuroprotective effects of estradiol in mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons“. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews. 24: 143-147. [↩]

I suppose this is a bit of an outdated story, but I thought I would touch upon it because of its historical significance. The issue is salvia divinorum, and according to NBC,

It’s a powerful and dangerous hallucinogen — and it’s legal.

Quick! Lock up the kids, take their money, and tell them what horrors accompany consumption of this human scourge!

How bad is it parents? Well lets see… what buzz word might jar the memories of your generation for widespread panic and fear? No word, maybe 3 letters: LSD. Thats right parents, Salvia is like LSD - maybe worse. We’re talking hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, delusions, sensory confusion, and yes — short term memory loss.

Salvia is the latest straw boogieman that has attracted the gaze of panic-stricken parents and blood-thirsty crusaders. It is the newest target of fear-mongering in the tradition of the pot, LSD, and ecstasy witch hunts. In fact, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest salvia has any addictive or habitual properties; anecdotal evidence often suggests that many people either try once or use very occasionally. But what does science have to say about Salvia Divinorum?

• Salvia appears to have therapeutic value in the treatment of addiction and substance abuse. It is believed that salvia may help treat addiction to stimulants (speed), amphetamines (crystal meth), and opiates (morphine, heroine, codeine).¹
• Sensationalistic media pumps out misleading scientific rhetoric that salvia “is the most potent naturally occuring hallucinogen”. However, potency is often confused with toxicity. Research suggests that salvia is not considered toxic in doses that are consumed by humans and does not cause organ damage.²
  
• Reports of flashbacks and long-term negative effects have not been conclusively attributed to salvia. These reports come from users that did not exclusively use salvia, but also used other psychoactive drugs.

Meanwhile, attempts in Quebec to lower the alcohol limit for driving have been met with large opposition. Critics argue that such an act may have devastating effects on the economy and will not save many lives. What place does the government have in forcing useless legislation on mature, peaceful, and level-headed individuals? Can you imagine drinking only 3 beers instead of 5 while watching the big game? Disastrous. Thank god someone is fighting to protect our liberties…

Stay tuned for an in-depth investigation of these matters…

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1. Schenk, S. & B. Partridge (Apr 2001), “Effect of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist, U69593, on reinstatement of extinguished amphetamine self-administration behavior.“, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 68 (4): 629-34. [↩]
2. Mowry, Mark; Michael Mosher & Wayne Briner (Jul 2003), “Acute Physiologic and Chronic Histologic Changes in Rats and Mice Exposed to the Unique Hallucinogen Salvinorin A“, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 35 (3): 379-382. [↩]

There is a lot of bad logic in this world.

Some things are held as vicious, life-threatening, menaces while others are claimed to be necessary for the salvation of humankind. Some religions receive special privilege that is above the law and others are denounced as cults or even criminal groups. How much of the decision making process behind these labels do you think is political and how much is reasonable? I hesitate to even use the word reason…

Presumably we designate things illegal because of their potential harm to society. Drunk-driving causes accidents, chemicals can be used to make explosives, drugs influence addiction and crime, etc. We hold this standard in our society that when something is associated with a particularly harmful behavior or event then we should ban it. In fact, often we do not even consider whether there is a causal relationship; association is often all that is required. In the spirit of our culture’s logic and aim towards safety, I would like to present a case to cleanse our society of a common ill that may indeed lead to our destruction. May I present the Mindinclined case to Criminalize Christianity:

Download ipod version

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Music By Linkin Park entitled “No More Sorrow”.

In the spirit of Canada Day and Independence Day I think that one of the most important things to celebrate is an increase in freedoms. The freedom to vote, speak out, criticize, and many others. Of course this isn’t unique to us here in North America, but it is time that we symbolize these things on this side of the world. The word freedom seems to be rather straight forward really; more-or-less it is an increase in choices and a decrease in forceful persuasion. However, not all people are so inclined to define freedom in this way. The catholic tradition for instance seems to define ‘freedom’ as ‘obedience’. I mean how can you really be free unless your a slave to the Pope and his minions?

In a speech by the Pope he says that freedom is

“to follow Christ in the giving of self even unto sacrifice on the Cross.”

Not only that, Jesus also

“gave meaning to freedom, otherwise would have remained as an empty possibility of doing or not doing a particular thing.”

So instead of choice, Jesus redefined ‘freedom’ as ‘obedience’? And we are supposed to follow his example.

This is equivalent to saying that there is no need to free slaves because their ‘choice’ to work is the ultimate expression of their freedom. I mean who needs real freedom when you can just make a choice to be a slave? Slaves have freedom don’t they? They can:

1. Be tortured through never-ending work and self-sacrifice.
2. Refuse to work and be tortured/killed for their lack of obedience.

Sound familiar?

In fact, Jesus is the perfect example of the Christian conception of freedom. Choose to be tortured or have torture forced on you. Isn’t that right? Jesus had the choice of physical torture for following God as depicted in the crucifixion story or the physical torture of hell for not following God. This is the idea of Christianity known as love of freedom.

So should we even give credit the the martyr’s of Christianity? Are they really all that brave for choosing a temporary form of torture in order to avoid an eternal one? How about the believers of today? Do we give credit for strength, bravery, and perseverance to these cowards that are actually just taking what they believe is the easiest way out?

I believe that the truly strong and the truly brave are those that are able to resist this form of psychological persuasion; those of us that under threat of eternal torture are still able to cling on to our rationality and find meaning through other avenues. It actually takes an enormous leap of faith to break the shackles of your safe and familiar cage in pursuit of the freedom that lies outside.

The church is right about one thing: freedom is well worth the hard-work it requires.

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And now……

*drum roll* *drum roll*

Mindinclined.com launch post!

Like anyone gives a damn.

If your like most people, you don’t know what this is or what its doing here. If thats you, gimme a frickin’ break ok? I’m just innocently trying get my ideas published and heard by someone, anyone! No, i’m not famous, gorgeous, or exceedingly talented at any one thing in particular. In fact, I really cannot think of a single good reason you should be reading this now, or ever again. Come to think of it, why am I writing this? Why did I spend all those precious hours of this one, short, and spectacular lifetime on some…some…BLOG!

I guess its too late now; once the ball’s rolling, its rolling. Stay tuned you hopeless net-wanderers - maybe I’ll write something with some substance come next post…

Oh, and if you actually came here on purpose then don’t worry, today is the beginning of a fascinating journey into the heart of human consciousness… or something.