Category Archives: Keep it Metal!

Ayn Rand, Death, Freedom, Keep it Metal!, Mark II, Property, Thomas Jefferson, Voluntary Euthanasia

Pull the Plug

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This letter to the editor was spotted recently in the Press.

Ken Orr’s argument against euthanasia is that ‘‘the state is to provide legal protection for the right to life of every member of the community . . . and not preside over their destruction’’ (March 13). What a travesty of truth. In a civilised and free society, all individuals have rights and responsibilities. The role of a government is to protect those rights, not assume those responsibilities.

If I choose, when my time comes, that I want to die with dignity, that is my right, and one that should be protected by law.

The state is not ‘‘presiding over my destruction’’, as Mr Orr says it is. It is protecting the wishes of a free man who rightly owns his life and death.

A reasoned morality of man qua man is where true human compassion is found, not in Mr Orr’s cold mysticism.

MARK HUBBARD
Geraldine

A travesty of truth? Yes. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin, not the same side of the one coin! A right to remain alive is not a duty to remain alive. If confounding the two is Ken Orr’s argument, then the best I can say is that I don’t like his style. There’s a fine line between disingenuity and dishonesty, and Mr. Orr should check to see he hasn’t crossed over to the other side. Meanwhile, Mr. Hubbard should check his premises!

(Suppose, for the sake of argument.) You don’t own your life. God does. Your life is God’s property and He’s entrusted it to you. You are His servant. You have a responsibility to take care of God’s property as you would your own.

Think of your life as if it were a car. Except you can’t trade it in for a new one. So you look after it. You service it regularly. You keep it in good running order. If it breaks down you get it fixed if it can be fixed. You drive it until it grinds to a halt.

But what if your life still “goes” but is in no way, shape or form “roadworthy”? What’s the right thing to do? A good and faithful servant doesn’t leave rubbish lying around, cluttering up the place. Your life is rubbish now. I say dispose of it. Drive your life to the dump. Or pay someone to take it away.

(Old abandoned cars are sometimes photogenic. Dying in pain is never pretty.)

Memories are all that’s left behind
As I lay and wait to die
Little do they know
That I hear their choice of life

End it now, it is the only way
Too cruel, that is what they say
Release me from this lonely world
There is no hope – Why don’t you

Pull the plug
Let me pass away
Pull the plug
Don’t want to live this way

Once I had full control of my life
I now behold a machine decides my fate
End it now it’s all too late

What has now been days, it seems like years
To stay like this is what I fear
Life ends so fast, so take your chance
And make it last

End it now, it is the only way
Too cruel, that is what they say
Release me from this lonely world
There is no hope – Why don’t you

Pull the plug
Let me pass away
Pull the plug
Don’t want to live this way

Hell, Keep it Metal!, Nile

Annihilation of the Wicked

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This is the title track from Nile’s fourth album, Annihilation of the Wicked. The lyrics are based on the Amduat, an Ancient Egyptian funerary text which dates to around the middle of the second millennium BC. The English translation by Yakov Rabinovich is titled The Book of What’s in Hell.

What’s in hell, according to the Ancient Egyptians?

Seker
Ancient and Dead
Primeval Master of the World Below

In Thick Darkness
Amid Violent Tempests of Unendurable Cacophony
His Serpents Make Offerings unto His Image and Live upon Their Own Fire
His Servants
Hideous Reptiles of Terrifying Aspect
Whose Work is Nothing Less than the Annihilation of the Wicked
Consume the Bodies of the Damned by Flames of Liquid Fire They Emit from Their Mouths

On Their Blocks
They Cut into Pieces the Flesh of the Dead
Singing Hymns of Torture and Mutilation to Their Master
Accompanied by the Wailings and Anguish of the Damned
They Wreak Destruction upon the Wicked

Censorship, James, Keep it Metal!, Metallica, New Testament

James 3:1-10

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Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. (NIV)

Despised Icon, Freedom, Keep it Metal!

Furtive Friday

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I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. Since 17 November 2010, to be exact. (You think I have a memory like an elephant? You should see my database.)

I dedicate this to a frequently furtive fellow freedom-fighter and friend. Why frequently furtive? Because, when you’re taking on the faceless forces of the grey ones, shining a light, Christ-like, in dark places where scuttling Statists sleeplessly scheme to grind our God-given rights into the barren dirt of despotism, anonymity is never a bad idea. (My friend is also no stranger to alliteration.)

This is one of my favourite tracks by legendary Canadian deathcore band Despised Icon. Did I already mention that Despised Icon is the best thing since Slayer? I did.

I expect my friend won’t appreciate the music much, although the anguish in the vocals matches the often anguished tone of his blog posts. But it is the accompanying video which reminds me of him. The man in the video is being pursued. Pursued by whom or by what? By person or persons, entity or entities, unknown. But the IRD is a pretty good guess. Although I suppose it could be his own personal demons. Maybe even the Big G? Well, how does it all end? In victory or submission? Or both? With an enigmatic smile.

Atheism, Ayn Rand, Keep it Metal!, Martin Luther, Philosophy, Slayer

Believe absurdities? Commit atrocities!

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Over on my other blog (where I’ve wasted way too much time lately, but that stops right now) it’s often heard said (for example, right here) that

They who believe absurdities commit atrocities.

It’s often heard said to me. Apparently, I’m an apologist for irrationality, the epitome of stupidity and number among “they who believe absurdities”. Which, apparently, puts me on some sort of watch list. I’ll commit atrocities, for sure. It’s only a matter of time. Truly I tell you, I’m a ticking totalitarian time bomb!

In fact, belief in God is absurd. The Christian world view even more so. Tertullian, the early Christian writer who gave us the doctrine of the Trinity (the term does not occur in the Bible) is said to have argued, “Credo quia absurdum.” (“I believe it because it is absurd.”) I disagree with Tertullian. The absurdity (or otherwise) of Christian belief has no bearing at all on its truth or falsity. This is a point I want to return to in an upcoming post. All I’m saying now is, yes, I believe absurdities.

The belief that “they who believe absurdities commit atrocities” is itself absurd! And false. It’s axiomatic that all Christians sin. But few Christians commit atrocities. Most sins we commit are “venial” sins as the Catholics say, or “token” sins or “trifles” as Martin Luther put it. Not atrocities. The wages of sin is death. I sure as hell ain’t asking for a raise!

Charity is both a Christian virtue and an epistemic virtue, so I’m going to be charitable and assess the watered down claim that

They who believe absurdities are more likely to commit atrocities than those who don’t.

It’s an empirical claim. We have reason to believe it only if we have evidence that they who believe absurdities are more likely to commit atrocities than those who don’t. But we don’t. So it’s an irrational belief. (Stupid, too.) End of story.

Time for a quick sequel? The original saying is attributed to Voltaire, and I got to wondering if Voltaire actually said it. After all, he never said

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

either. (That was Evelyn Beatrice Hall.) So I did some research. Here’s what Voltaire actually said.

They who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

And here’s what Voltaire said next.

If the God-given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God-given sense of justice in your heart.

Objectivists score own goal! Christians sit on sidelines and drink beer. Sounds good to me.

Time for a quick coda? If you do happen to be in the mood to commit an atrocity, but you’re short of ideas, look no further than your friendly, neighbourhood atrocity vendor. (Psst! Want some atrocities?) (I’m kidding. Thou shalt NOT commit atrocities. I hope I didn’t really need to tell you that. You came here from SOLO? Oh, okay.)

WARNING: The lyrics to the song below rank among the most violent, gruesome and sadistic that I’ve ever set ears on. They qualify as extremely gross even by death metal’s usual lyrical standards. Self-parody? You decide. Either way, the lyrics are testament to Slayer’s pure epicness. As one YouTube commenter remarks, “Wow if this isn’t genius what the hell is.”

Cannibal Corpse, Hell, Keep it Metal!

Festering in the Crypt

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Eyes tied tight forever
Mouth wired shut forever
Body parts dissever
You will see no more, never

Lowered into the ground
You will never hear another sound
In your coffin you’re bound
Underground, forever

To the earth you’re now enslaved
To the creatures long depraved
Flesh has now turned to grey
As the larvae gnaw away

As you rot in your smallish tomb
Insects care not how you met your doom
In your casket eternally lie
Many were pleased to see you die

Fester in the crypt where you lie

Victims pass by
They watched you die

Flesh melts off of your frame
Infamous was your name
Years passed since you moved on
Nothing left but carrion

This is a more or less accurate portrayal of the fate of the wicked according to annihilationism. (It leaves out the second death, a brief event which is held to occur between “Years passed since you moved on” and “In your casket eternally lie”.)