Mainstream

Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct. This includes:

* something that is available to the general public;
* something that has ties to corporate or commercial entities.

As such, the mainstream includes all popular culture, typically disseminated by mass media. The opposite of the mainstream are subcultures, countercultures, cult followings, and (in fiction) genre (believing they are different but they are NOT, they are the same but on another level i.e. still herd mentality, disillusioned within their 'ranks' etc.). Additionally, mainstream is sometimes a codeword used for an actual ethnocentric or hegemonic subculture (:jaded and/or jealous) point of view, especially when delivered in a culture war speech. It is often used as a pejorative term by subcultures who view ostensibly mainstream culture as not only exclusive but artistically and aesthetically inferior.

Wikipedia (slightly adjusted)

Armchair Revolutionary

Armchair revolutionary is a pejorative term, to describe a person who endlessly criticizes the thoughts, ideology or practice of social movements or armed groups from a metaphorical armchair — i.e., from a mostly or totally inactive, theoretical position. When someone is referred to as, or accused of, being an "armchair revolutionary," it is always a term of abuse, intended to invoke a defensive reaction on the part of the accused, or to discredit the (political) ideas and/or practices that person subscribes to, or both.

Inherent in the meaning of armchair revolutionary is the idea that the person knows that their ideas require them to be physically involved in (political) struggles, but that instead the person chooses to be intentionally ignorant or dismissive of real-world issues and problems, in an attempt to continue believing in the false reality their views create. In this way the armchair revolutionary is often regarded to see the world in at least a quasi-idealist manner, i.e., one relative solely to his or her own perceptions, rather than bothering with what s/he should really do — to absorb the physical and practical reality s/he would be compelled to see around him/her if s/he stopped the alleged "(political) posturing" and became an activist in actual (political) causes.

Wikipedia

Slacktivism

Slacktivism (sometimes slactivism or clicktivism) is a portmanteau formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is usually considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. The acts tend to require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist.

Examples of activities " include signing internet petitions, the wearing of awareness ribbons or awareness bracelets with political messages, putting a ribbon magnet on a vehicle, writing blogs or statuses about issues on social networking sites, joining a Facebook group, posting issue-oriented YouTube videos, or altering one's personal data or avatar on social network services.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS derided slactivists as people "performing simple measures [who] are not truly engaged or devoted to making a change".

Wikipedia

Individualism vs Herd mentality

Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own interests, whether by society, family or any other group or institution.

Individualism makes the individual its focus and so it starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation."

It has also been used as a term denoting "The quality of being an individual; individuality" related to possessing "An individual characteristic; a quirk." Individualism is thus also associated with artistic and bohemian interests and lifestyles where there is a tendency towards self creation and experimentation as opposed to tradition or popular mass opinions and behaviors as so also with humanist philosophical positions and ethics.

The individual

As commonly used, an individual is a person or any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics, individual means "indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person." (q.v. "The problem of proper names"). From the 17th century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires.

Individualism and society

An individualist enters into society to further his or her own interests, or at least demands the right to serve his or her own interests, without taking the interests of society into consideration (an individualist need not be an egoist). The individualist does not lend credence to any philosophy that requires the sacrifice of the self-interest of the individual for any higher social causes.

Wikipedia


Herd mentality

Herd mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include stock market trends, fashions in apparel, cars, home décor, etc.

Definition


The term herd mentality is derived from the word herd, meaning "group of animals," and mentality, implying a certain frame of mind. However the most succinct definition would be: "how large numbers of people act in the same ways at the same times."

Herd behavior is distinguished from herd mentality because it applies to all animals, whereas the term mentality implies a uniquely human phenomenon. Herd mentality implies a fear-based reaction to peer pressure which makes individuals act in order to avoid feeling "left behind" from the group. Herd mentality is also sometimes known as "mob mentality."

Wikipedia

Sheeple

Sheeple (a portmanteau of "sheep" and "people") is a term of disparagement, in which people are likened to sheep.

It is often used to denote persons who voluntarily acquiesce to a perceived authority or suggestion without sufficient research to understand fully the ramifications involved in that decision, and thus undermine their own human individuality or in other cases give up certain rights. The implication of sheeple is that as a collective, people believe or do whatever they are told, especially if told so by a perceived authority figure believed to be trustworthy, without critically thinking about it or doing adequate research to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them. The term is generally used in a political, social, and mostly in a spiritual sense.

The label seems to have originated in the United States and refers to people who tend to accept and follow everything at face value, especially if it is cited in mainstream media.

The term is also used more broadly to describe any person whom the speaker feels is exceedingly conformist.

Wikipedia

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (pronounced: hexa-koseeoi-hexe-konta-hexaphobia) (derived from Ancient Greek roots ἑξακόσιοι (six hundred), ἑξήκοντα (sixty) , and ἕξ (six)) literally meaning "fear of [the number] six hundred sixty-six") is the fear that originated from the Biblical verse Revelation 13:18, which indicates that the number 666 is the Number of the Beast, linked to Satan or the Anti-Christ. Outside of the Christian faith, the phobia has been further popularized as a motif in various horror films. Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobes will strongly avoid things related to the number 666.

Wikipedia
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Celtic Frost - Totengott (Triptych)



Words: I have never heard his voice nor have I ever seen his form. Yet still he casts his dark shadow on the light of my being. Death -- Negation of being. Wraith of inner sanctum. Apparition of my amorphousness. Solemnity of my disembodiment. Death -- Decay. Creator of corpses. Principle of annihilation. Secret of negativity. Unspeakable silence. Despairing monologue.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

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Quote Unquote: Oscar Wilde

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.

Oscar Wilde
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Death Drive ("Todestrieb")

In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive ("Todestrieb") is the drive towards death, self-destruction and the return to the inorganic: 'the hypothesis of a death instinct, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state'.

The death drive opposes Eros (libido, libidinal energy or love, the life instinct innate in all humans), the tendency toward survival, propagation, sex, and other creative, life-producing drives.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_instinct
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

World of the Vampires aka El mundo de los vampiros (1961)

A piano made from skulls and bones has the power to destroy vampires.

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