Same with media. Corporations pay the wages, control the career progression of journalists. So journalists' first loyalty isn't to readers, but to the corporations they depend on for their livelihood. This *structural* analysis of social power is ignored by the media, of course
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) January 17, 2020
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Narcissistic assholes. Hmm. Whatever may be thought of anyone or anything is simply one view of what is. Another is that nothing depends on nothing and nothing doesn’t change. In other words, nothing is other than the whole. No one is. There is no unchanging essence to anything or anyone. Even a so-called narcissistic asshole is nothing other than the whole.
“… things are not as they are seen, nor are they otherwise.” Lankavatara Sutra (!tw)
We’ve all known people who’ve changed their belief systems. Whether it’s switching political ideologies or converting to a new religion, we’ve all witnessed with our own eyes that people have the ability to willfully change their beliefs. Unless you’ve been living an incredibly boring and immature life, you’ve probably made such a change yourself at some point, too.
What’s very, very strange, and very very unfortunate, is that when such changes in belief systems occur it tends to go unnoticed and underappreciated just how significant it is and how enormous its implications are. We discover that we have this incredible superpower to change our beliefs whenever we want, and instead of paying attention to that superpower and what it means for our lives, we focus on the new belief system instead.
december solstice this year, date and time in ISO format: 2019-12-22T04:19Z
in Vancouver: 8:19pm on December 21
wherever you are, the winter solstice is five minutes or so from now, at 04:19Z https://t.co/R4DMclsrYP pic.twitter.com/CB2Miedp80
— George Atherton (@notrehta) December 22, 2019
er, make that *December* solstice https://t.co/a5SZR1ip66
— George Atherton (@notrehta) December 22, 2019
Many former contractors say they’ve stopped using virtual assistants and unplugged their listening devices. The audio sexts were awkward and all, but some are more haunted by the idea that people are listening even to the most quotidian of conversations, like a father chatting with his son after school, or a husband and wife talking in the kitchen after work. “In my head, I would say, I shouldn’t be listening to this, ” says a former contractor who spent months working on Siri transcriptions. “This is none of my business.”
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