Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
Why are people so crazy?
Well, my own answer to that question you should by now be able easily to surmise. But, and this said, just look how many widely known notables died a premature or untimely death in or from this country alone in the past 50 years or so. Some of these listed, many will rightly or wrongly assumed died simply as a result of accident (say Buddy Holly), but I include such of that sort if for no other reason than their extraordinary fame; while at the same time, to be honest with you, wondering myself if it really was (given all the rest listed) only an accident that caused their death.
J. F. Kennedy (including the too-many-to-name-here others who died in connection with his death
or the investigation into)
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King
Robert Kennedy
Medgar Evers
John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Jim Morrison
Janis Joplin
George Reeves
Ernest Hemingway
Edie Sedgwick
Richard Manuel
Buddy Holly
Ritchie Valens
James Dean
Marilyn Monroe
Jayne Mansfield
Elvis Presley
Michael Jackson
John Kennedy Jr.
River Phoenix
Lenny Bruce
Abbie Hoffman
Anissa Jones (Buffy on "Family Affair")
John Landis
Vic Morrow
Dan Blocker
Sharon Tate
Paul Lynde
Brittany Murphy
Natalie Wood
Dino Martin
various Playmates (from Playboy)
Ramon Navarro
Phil Hartman
John Belushi
Margaux Hemingway
Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys)
William Holden
Jim Croce
Mickey Mantle
Roberto Clemente
Thurman Munson
Freddie Prinze
John Candy
Sal Mineo
Jack Cassidy
Andy Kaufman
McLean Stevenson
Jean Seberg
And, needless to add, there are many more that might be named; bearing in mind also that I am focusing more or less exclusively on people from and or in the United States (so that we might otherwise have gone on to mention such as Brian Jones, and Keith Moon, Pete Ham, Graham Chapman, Heath Ledger, et al.) Now we already know many of these deaths were flat out murder, yet how many of the others were or might have been as well? Some certainly, and who knew these people, have asserted as much. If, at least for the sake of argument, the greater preponderance of these were murdered and or else suicides brought about by the victim's being tormented and harassed, the only ones in that case who could remotely have been responsible are criminal spirit people and those who take orders from them; these having both the extremely cruel, vicious and amoral character, as well as motive (envy/revenge; the victim's refusal to cooperate with them) to do or bring about such tragedies and repeated loss of life.
Earlier before attempting to brainstorm this list, I had been re-reading about the martyrdom of Polycarp, who himself was burnt alive, and it frankly both saddened and frightened me how such things could occur. How on the one hand someone could murder another so, and on the other how could someone willingly submit to such? The best answer and explanation, again as far as I can see, is criminal spirit people (and their henchmen.) I know from first hand experience they are capable of the most incomprehensible brutality; while as for the martyrs, their refusal to cave into such monsters serves as plausible an incentive as any one can think of for their gladly accepting death instead.
My suggestion in sum then, and upon reflection, would be to show relative leniency to the criminal spirit people's regular person henchmen (who typically themselves are simply victims of a sort as well) and use science and the military to track down and destroy the criminal spirit people themselves. You think that sounds crazy perhaps, but is it really that much or any more crazy than all these and other bizarre, suspicious, and not adequately accounted for deaths?
Nor let us forget those immortal words of Father Inclement: "Keep doing the wrong thing my lads, and there'll be booty, wenches, and plunder for all!"
What is bad about America comes from somewhere else. What is bad about Africa, likewise, comes from somewhere, and the same for Asia, Europe, South America, Australia, etc., etc.
Could one hang a criminal spirit person (say, on charges of dedicating his life to being an unrepentant, violent and sadistic "weirdo"?) Offhand, I don't see why not (though whether doing so would actually or somehow kill him, that's a separate question.)
Later Note. The Code of Justinian, as you might recall, directs that a person found guilty of being a sorcerer be burned alive. Harry Potter culture, on the other, evidently encourages those who care to do so to become one. Between the two, which to you makes more sense, do you think?
In the Insanity Beyond Belief Dept...
Leaving aside the question whether the person purportedly sending the message (see link below) actually is Ben Ladin (or just a hoax concocted by the likes of Dwaine Esper or Phil Tucker), and or whether Ben Ladin is himself merely a dupe of certain criminals in this (or some other western) nation using him as an international distraction and cover for their own clandestine and nefarious enterprises here at home, which to you is more scary and or lunatic to you?
Later Note. Inasmuch as I have been able to detect upon my own inquiry, reconnoitering, and surveillance, part of the mind control technique applied on many young people as practiced by such as Mr. ghoulish and his affluent friends involves two main aspects; which are these.
1. By means of (a) "magic" (emotional tricks, feeling "waves," various kinds of bait & artificially hyped up psychological and or libidinous gew-gaws so as to seem "out of his world;" (while simultaneously isolating them from healthy, legitimate wonders and or at least relatively nocuous and that could more than easily compete with such as the magician, et al. create.) "exhilarating" them; and (b) frightening them to death. They are then given the choice, without much time to think about it, to decide which they like better and would prefer.
2. Get them to feel worthless, and in turn get themselves to sell themselves more cheaply for purposes of the better bargain on behalf of Hell, inc.; as part of which feeding them on cultural and spiritual trash of the most noxious and unredeeming sort.
Regarding the second, proper and necessary self-esteem becomes more difficult to procure and maintain in a world that seems (and not without good reason to think so) sinking into chaos; all the more so for young people growing up in it. How much more challenging an ordeal it must be for them when even well known, beloved, and famous people can be so slighted as to feel less worthwhile than they actually are! Part of the solution here is to get people be less tied down by the irrational, albeit empirical otherwise, finite experience of this world, and instead direct or encourage them to be in touch with the infinite; because it is in the infinite or eternal that there a even a mere atom can become priceless. There are, certainly a number of ways in which to effect this, including:
1. Become par of the greater tradition that reaches to the eternal; such as we find in rightly practiced religion, philosophy, art and our own local and national history and heritage worth priding ourselves on. These when engaged in or pursued in their right spirit make us a part of something more lasting than the present world's ongoing throes of mortality. And though many live their lives without the animating inspiration and consolation of some illustrious ancestors or family name, the ineluctable fact remains that given the length of the hereditary lines of any given one of us, extending back thousands upon thousands of years (while factoring in things like extra-marital births, and once rich, titled, or proud peoples being captivated in war, from thence sold into slavery, and being so scattered in ancient times), the odds are exponentially high that we have, at least somewhere way, way back when, some lauded or laudable foremother and or forefather who (based on character, talent, and accomplishment) could fairly rub elbows with any even the greatest in anything humanity ever knew.
2. In the first Epistle of St. (father) Clement (c. late 1st cent. A.D.), we read: "So let us yield obedience to His excellent and glorious will; and imploring His mercy and loving-kindness, while we forsake all fruitless labours, and strife, and envy, which leads to death, let us turn and have recourse to His compassions. Let us steadfastly contemplate those who have perfectly ministered to His excellent glory. Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him? Noah, being found faithful, preached regeneration to the world through his ministry; and the Lord saved by him the animals which, with one accord, entered into the ark." Note the statement "the Lord saved by him [Noah] the animals which, with one accord, entered into the ark." In saving the animals, Noah indeed saved for us a tremendous blessing; for, to enumerate just some reasons, we see in animals how they can live their lives without caring less about what's on television or in the news, etc., and if they can do it, then so can we. Meanwhile, all animals are susceptible to love when treated respectfully, kindly, and dutifully (over time), and if the world forgets or ignores us we can always count on a good and reliable friend in them; even if, given perhaps our unfortunate circumstances, we can turn to no human of that kind; while, at the same time, doing what little we can to help make the world a more just place to live in.
3. Nature, the natural, and the ecological environment, more ancient than any of us, generally.
Last, there is that most favorite of mine stanza from William Blake's poem "Auguries of Innocence;" which, if I haven't quoted it elsewhere yet (as I ought to have done), now is as good an occasion as any.
"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."
After acting like a like a helpless child who can't time his shoes, i.e., he can't admit to or discuss spirit people (seeing how the latter are ostensibly so all omnipotent and omniscient compared to humanity) then will he go around parading himself as the great man giving orders and running our lives; think little as well about lying and keeping secrets about other matters, and effectively acting as if he knows as much as a person of most high importance among us needs to know; while laughing up his sleeve at basic law, justice, morals, honor, and religion. Yet did not our national and spiritual forefathers fight for our liberties and rights to property, press, personal communications and honest trade, as well as freedom from personal violence and robbery; starve on scraps, trudge naked and barefoot in the snow, lose their lives and homes that their descendants might know these most cherished blessings? Shove all that, it doesn't matter now; when here are ghosts and angels come to direct policy, justice and govern us from the shadows!
Even so, since it is become so common to act in accordance with the wishes of the great man, I think little to blame regular people for what goes on, and instead cast most of my ire and resentment at the spirit people. It is they we must now fight; it is they who must be defeated; as for everyone else, let us forgive them all.
By this time, I think you can see that if you end up in the heaven of my opponents it's open to question quite what you're in for. My guess, to judge from their people (whether of the spirit or regular sort), is mostly a lot of junk or at best a lot of phony baloney (not unlike the billion dollar movie career.) By contrast, at least with the heaven I believe in, you have some idea of what you're getting.
But that's about as much as I have to say at the moment, and not much else. So how about some more music instead? Although Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) wrote some very famous church and liturgical music, most notably his "Stabat Mater," and that gets a fair amount of replaying on disk and in concert, he also penned some wonderful comic operas and that, among their other merits, clearly served as an inspiration to Mozart. The following are extracts from some of these opera buffa works of his, namely "Lo Frate 'Nnamorato" [1732] (filmed at La Scala with Riccardo Muti conducting and singing here, Elizabeth Norberg-Shulz); and "La Serva Padrona" [1733] (with Patrizia Biccirč and Donato Di Stefano, and La Petite Bande led by Sigiswald Kuijken.) Both are available on DVD, at least the first of the two presently is; while hopefully the second will turn up again sometime soon.
It is no little ironic how historically some of those seemingly preoccupied with the divine, highest standards of morality and righteousness think so very little of basic honesty and reasonableness. But then this kind of hypocritical attitude -- which also just happens to be a convenient excuse for the most truly heinous and pernicious evil (i.e. based on the argument: we humans are not perfectly righteous; ergo and consequently we are most perfectly damned,* and therefore liable and freely and potentially susceptible to attack by spirit people) -- has its origin and emanates from spirit people, who cannot -- to our knowledge -- be held accountable or responsible for their actions outside the auspices of their own authority and self-policing; all of whom, again to our knowledge, are either criminals or slaves. These spirit people, on the basis of such putative "theological" morality and jurisprudence then are justified in forming criminal partnerships with certain regular people (traitors) among us, and thus can wage unscrupulous and ruthless war against all of humanity who won't cooperate and go along with them. While those who do suffer flagrant injustice at their hands can hope to receive compensation for their pains one day from whom? Spirit people! Or so, at any rate, some would have you think and believe.
If spirit people are fundamentally honest, rational and moral in the way we would ordinarily and practically speaking understand these terms to mean, I have no qualm with them. But when have we ever seen or heard of a spirit person ever fitting that description?
* Which also has the neat advantage of effectively making any single one of us as culpable and morally reprehensible as even the very worst offender.
Biagio Marini (1594–1663), like Heinrich von Biber (1644–1704 whose "Battlia" we heard via YouTube a few weeks back), was quite avant garde for his time in trying out new and till then unheard of musical techniques; so much that even today new listeners (unfamiliar with their works) can still be caught unawares and surprised by some of their innovative approaches and clever inventions. The following two tracks, via amazon.com mp3 downloads, are passacaglias from each composer; which though perhaps not among those pieces of theirs that will actually surprise (such of which I speak), are nonetheless passionately lovely and at least worth hearing for other reasons. (As for their more "avant garde" forays, if interested, try a full CD or more of their violin works to listen through.)
They are "gods" to him, but that is only because he is a cowardly, ignorant, and irrational person. (Now to me, on the other hand, they are little better than ordinary, everyday slime, albeit in motion. "The blood of the innocent cries out from the ground to the Most High against you.")