Long Live the King

By Dustin Axe

Michael Jackson is truly one of the most remarkable people to have ever lived. His life was one of flamboyant clothing and hair, bizarre behavior, mystery and controversy, and above all entertainment. His cinematic music videos, jaw dropping dance moves, and unmatched singing makes him superior to all. He really is the King of Pop. Michael Jackson is without a doubt the world’s number one entertainer of all time. Not only is he the best musician of all time, but he’s pretty good at making us laugh. He's the butt of every joke imaginable, and one can’t help from laughing when he adopted a chimpanzee or when he appeared in court dressed in pajamas. To be sure, Michael Jackson’s death came as shock to many people who have been entertained by him for decades.

I remember using a VHS to record and watch the Martin Bashir interviewed of Michael in 2003. When it was over I danced around my room and got lost in his music like I always do. I remember thinking how disturbed he was and how horrible absolute fame and wealth must be. Michael told stories about his childhood and he tried to give us insight to who he really was. He seemed to be a genuine person who lived a tragic, yet magnificent life. It’s hard to understand it.

To really understand someone you must overlook outward appearance and behavior, and instead focus on underline emotions. Michael was abused by his father and denied a childhood. He spent 90 percent of his life as an international superstar. Imagine having no childhood and being a prisoner in your own home. Imagine always being in the limelight and your appearance constantly ridiculed by your father. I’m sure this would create emotional problems for any of us. Now imagine having absolute wealth that allowed you to purchase anything you wanted. The theater, zoo, amusement park, statues, prescription drugs, and continuous cosmetic surgery are nothing more then Michael seeking earthly solutions to underline emotional insecurities.

In a world of materialism, science and money enables any of us to find these “solutions.” Do we not all alter our own appearance in one way or another and take prescription drugs that make us happy? How many of us go to tanning beds, dye our hair, and purchase things that supposedly enrich our lives. All Michael did was do it bigger and better then anyone, something he did in every aspect of his life. He may seem bizarre, but in a way, we are all Michael Jackson.

I have always been a Michael Jackson fan, and I have always defended his bizarre behavior and criminal accusations. He was a self proclaimed Peter Pan who loved binging around children partly because he was denied a childhood, and partly because children didn't ask for money or tell him what to do. We’ll never know for sure if he ever cross the line with those boys, but we do know he tried to help disadvantaged and sick children. This is evident though his music and charity work, and in a sense he was a role model for these children. How many performing artists do illegal drugs, carry guns, and abuse spouses? Michael never did any of this, so let us remember him, not for his faults, but for his intentions.

Michael Jackson’s death is an event people will remember. As I am writing this there are millions of fans waking up all around the world who are hearing for the first time that he is dead. He is one of the most well known people to have ever lived, and people are already comparing his death to Princess Diana's. When I saw an internet headline that read “Michael Jackson goes into cardiac arrest” I immediately thought nothing of it. This is coming from a guy who wears a germ mask, walks under an umbrella no matter what the weather is like, and who sleeps in hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I thought this was Michael being Michael. Unfortunately, he passed way today, June 25, 2009, from cardiac arrest. He was 50 years young. I am absolutely shocked.

The world lost an icon today. I remember growing up watching Michael Jackson videos in the 1980's, and I remember his 1993 Super Bowl halftime show as if it were yesterday. His music career dwindled in the 1990's, because of a personal life full of lawsuits, trials, plastic surgery, divorce, and scandals. I always paid attention to his trials and I kept up on tabloids. I laughed and shook my head at his antics, but I always remained a fan. In 2001, I remember waiting for months for his newest album, Invincible, and hours before it was due out I was dancing to “Billy Jean” and “Smooth Criminal” in my dorm room. I went to Wal-Mart in West Lafayette that night and I had it in my hands at midnight. I had to get employees to open the boxes. I wasn’t alone.

As a good friend of mine, Mark McCormick, put it, Michael Jackson makes music come to life. This is so true. Personally, I have no musical talent at all. I can't sing, dance, or play an instrument, but I always find myself lost in his music, singing and dancing, wishing I had talent like him. I attempt to do the worse moonwalk you’ve ever seen, but it’s fun as hell!

His death comes a few days before a scheduled tour in July 2009. Lets be clear here, this wasn’t a comeback tour. It’s important to remember that MJ has never left. His music has always been here and it always will. There are millions of people all over the world who absolutely love his music and millions more will discover it after his death. He is the most influential and successful entertainer of all time. Michael Jackson will NEVER die.


Rest in peace.

The War on Terror

President Obama has repeatedly regarded Afghanistan as the top priority of his foreign policy agenda. An escalation of fighting has led to increase concerns about advances by the Taliban into Pakistan, as well as untold civilian deaths. On May 6, 2009, over 100 innocent people, including children, were destroyed by U.S. war plans, total deaths could reach 200. If so, that would make this single act of terror the most deadliest since the start of the campaign to topple the Taliban in 2001. By shamelessly killing innocent people, the United States has brought nothing but more terror to a country wrecked by war for over 30 years. Author Noam Chomsky wrote, "There is no flag big enough to hide the shame of killing innocent people ."

In his book, The Audacity of Hope, President Obama writes, “I wonder, sometimes whether men and women in fact are capable of learning from history--whether we progress from one stage to the next in an upward course or whether we just ride the cycles of boom and bust, war and peace, ascent and decline." He wrote this just before he expanded the war in Afghanistan, where the armies of Alexander the Great, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union threw in the towel. I agree with the President; Americans are ignorant of history, and so is he.

Just what is the “The War on Terror?” The U.S. spends billions of dollars on high-tech weaponry and it sends soldiers all over the globe to wreck havoc on the world in order to defend itself against loosely organized bands of terrorist. According to FOXNEWS footage, these terrorists train on monkey bars and practice leapfrog, a child’s game. The Bush Administration claimed these individuals hate freedom and democracy. Yet, these terrorists appear to be targeting military and economic symbols of U.S. hegemony around the world--the World Trade Center, embassies in Africa, the U.S.S. Cole, and basically anything associated with the Pentagon, including the Pentagon itself. This should be a clear message that these so-called terrorists do not hate freedom or democracy, rather they hate U.S. global occupation and exploitation.

Millions of people, not just Islamic fundamentalists, but good-willed people all over the world, dislike America, We are the most militaristic country, above and beyond everyone. Of the 121 nations evaluated for the Global Peace Index in 2007, America is ranked 96, between Yemen and Iran. The United States has 700 military installations throughout the world and over 310,000 military personnel stationed in 120 countries. Likewise, every branch of the military, along with sixteen intelligence agencies, that make up the Military Industrial Cartel come at an extreme price to American tax payers.

For the last half of the 20th century the Military Industrial Complex was justified by a cold war with the Soviet Union. This included nuclear armament and endangering the world with nuclear proliferation--the U.S. has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world five times. Astronomical military spending started during the Truman Administration and went through the Reagan Administration. The latter spent $2.5 trillion on the military in only eight years, which is more than all the money spent on the military since the end of World War II. The Reagan administration, which consisted of many neocons that are currently serve under King George, was utterly unconcerned about any consequences to this reckless spending. It triple the nation deficit in only eight years. Many argued this helped end the Cold War, but others say it was more due to Soviet reforms then anything. Either way, with the Cold War over, has the United States discontinued massive military spending? Of course not.

Currently, the War on Terror further warrants a massive military budget and global military occupation. America spends well over $400 billion a year just to maintain the military during peace time. Add another $500 billion or more for the War on Terror. For 2008, President Bush has requested between $600-$700 billion, including money for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Adjusted for inflation, these current wars have cost more than every war in American history with the exception of World War II.

The War on Terror is based on preemptive war on countries with abundant resources that have little to nothing to do with Islamic fundamentalism. If the United States was engaged in a “just war” with clear objectives and enemies that were directly threatening its citizens it would have no problem fielding an army pumped up on nationalism. But, instead, this is an unjust war, based on lies, so President Bush had to hire private military companies, such as Blackwater Worldwide, to maintain occupation.

Further analysis of the War on Terror reveals that most acts of terror are carried out by domestic terrorists. Ironically, they are often by right-wing, Christian fundamentalists, such as the Ku Klux Klan, which has been terrorizing, lynching, murdering, and intimidating blacks, Jews, and immigrants for over a hundred years. Not only did the government not protect victims of violence from the KKK, but it actually participated in state sponsored racism and violence. Unfortunately, a black president, a poor economy, and continuous non-white immigration has led to more and more domestic acts of terror. In the first half of 2009 a prominent abortion doctor was assassinated in Kansas and a neo-Nazi, white supremacist stormed into the Holocaust Memorial Museum with a rifle and opened fired on guards. These terrorist, along with the likes of Timothy Mcveigh, are from the radical Right, but be sure, the Left has produced domestic terrorists, as well. Ted Kozinski, the Weather Underground, and the Earth Liberation Front are only a few.

Michael Moore was right when, during his 2003 Oscar acceptance speech, he said, “We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.” Simply put, the War on Terror is based on lies. It is nothing more then propaganda justifying an interventionist foreign policy all around the world, used by corporations to increase profit and to protect international finance capital. The words, “War on Terror”, is nothing more than propaganda used by leaders to justify an endless war that benefits corporations. When pharaohs, kings, emperors, caesars, and presidents speak about “national security” and protecting “our interests”, they are really talking about protecting the economic interests of the rich. The interests of Haliburton and ExxonMobil are not the same as the interest of average Americans. “National security” for average Americans really involves affordable housing, retirement plans, health insurance, adequate schools, and unemployment relief for the poor. This is real national security in a time of economic hardship.

In his famous farewell speech, President Eisenhower warned us of “grave implications” regarding the Military Industrial Complex--the siphoning of money away from basic human needs to fuel the military. This was a president who cared about America's infrastructure by building thousands of miles of roads, paying for it as he went. Leaders today waste 1 trillion dollars in Iraq, while levees break in New Orleans, steam pipes break in New York, and bridges collapse in Minneapolis. The richest country in the world cannot even take care of its own citizens, yet it maintains a colossal military budget and continuous war across the globe, not for the welfare of the majority of Americans, but for the benefit of the rich.

Democracy as Propaganda

Democracy is a form of government where power rests with the people who all have an equal voice in the governing processes. For it to succeed, all men must be seen as equal, and most importantly, all men must be treated as equal. The Founders wrote the words, “all men are created equal,” but they did not truly intend this. Women, slaves, Indians and anyone outside the merchant class were not treated equally or given an equal voice in the government. In fact, Democracy, since its rebirth during the European Enlightenment has been nothing more than convenient way of spreading out power among the rich. During this time, cities grew larger as science and technology improved, and a middle class emerged. More people demanded more power, parliaments grew stronger and Kings grew weaker, until revolutions broke out. Democracy was their answer. It was never meant to free people from an oppressive king or queen, or to hold leaders accountable for their actions. It was merely a convenient way of shifting power from a monarch to a few more wealthy individuals.

Howard Zinn reminds us that the Founders setup a government to protect the interests of merchants, traders, slaveholders, and land owners, to establish law and order, and to prevent rebellion. They did not created a system where power exist with a majority vote; they created a system where power rests with those who have wealth. Sure they established a system of checks and balances so no one person or institution would become too powerful, but they left out the most important element to checks and balance--the people. Real checks and balance exists, not within three branches of government, but with the people checking and balancing the government. The Founders saw this as a threat to their interests, so they created a government that checks the people in order to carry out the interests of the rich. It gave tax cuts to the rich, land to railroad companies, and it used armed forces to displace and kill Indians and Mexicans.

Our founders did not create a democracy, nor did they intend to. The word “democracy” was a bad word in 1776. It does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, or any state constitution. In fact, Democracy was not part of our nationhood until the Great War, when Woodrow Wilson vowed to “make the world safe for democracy.” He was using the notion of democracy as propaganda to unite a country, just as George W. Bush is doing ninety years later. Bush justifies an interventionist foreign policy in the Middle East with the claim that “our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens.” This is nothing more than propaganda used by the ruling class to give everyone a sense of cooperation and togetherness. It gives us a sense of nationality; that we are all in this together. This allows us to see all our interests--those of presidents, multinational corporations, and average Americans--as one and the same. The truth is, when presidents claim to be exporting democracy, whether to Eastern Europe, South East Asia, or to the Middle East, they are actually using it to justifying global military occupation and economic exploitation.

Our own Republic evolved over the course of centuries, how can it be forced onto another country through war? Take the Iraq for an example. Not only will you find no democratic tradition in Iraq, but, with the exception of Turkey, you won't find it anywhere in the Middle East. Democracy engineered by marshal law under these conditions is doomed to fail. Henry Kissinger once said: "Democracy in the West evolved over centuries. It required first a church independent of the state; then the Reformation, which imposed pluralism of religion; the Enlightenment, which asserted the autonomy of reason from both church and state; the Age of Discovery, which broadened horizons; and finally capitalism, with its emphasis on competition and the market. None of these exists in the Islamic world."

The power structure not only uses the idea of democracy as propaganda to create support for wars that benefit the rich, but it also uses it to suppress Americans at home. They give us a false notion that somehow voting will make things better. For example, in 1963 both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations endorsed Martin Luther King and put him at the head of the Civil Rights Movement, because he was advocating nonviolence. By embracing Martin Luther King and his message of passivity, the government was able to channel a violent revolution into a movement that advocated voting rights. Sure enough, thousands of people registered black voters in 1964, and the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. But nothing changed. Voting did not end discrimination, racism, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, or the war in Vietnam. Voting was not a fundamental solution to any problems, and the power structure used it to divert change.

Activist Abbie Hoffman once said, “Democracy is not something you believe in . . . it's something you do.” Unfortunately, Americans believe in democracy, but they do not practice it. It is an abstract concept, floating in the air. No where is it practiced. More people vote for American Idol every week then those who vote for the President. This is partly because they know their American Idol vote will actually count. It is virtually impossible for votes to get counted in a general election because of disenfranchisement, electronic voting machines, confusing ballots, and gerrymandering. And what is one vote out of 330 million? People also don't participate in democracy because they are watching mindless television or rotting their brain with some new electronic device. Not to mention, people are demoralized and indebted and find themselves with every little time to get in the streets.

Additionally, people do not practice Democracy because it is not taught in our schools. History in general is not taught correctly. George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act only holds schools accountable for student productivity on reading and math tests, causing other subjects, such as history, to get shorted. What better way to prevent people from thinking about the present then by keeping them ignorant of the past. Adolf Hitler once said, “What luck for rulers that men do not think.” The power structure knows that an educated populace is hard to govern, so there has been a well orchestrated plan to dumb down the public school system. It is much easier to govern when students are indoctrinated with nationalism, forced to recite allegiances and bow to flags, and taught to be mindless consumers in a world where everyone is equal in their ability consume and waste.

* In theory, if all men were treated equally, all men would have a equal voice in the governing process. In reality, all men are created equal, but not all men are treated equally.

* In theory, if power existed with a majority vote, it would shift power and wealth from the rich to the poor, creating a balanced system that benefits everyone. In reality, power does not exist with a majority vote, because in America, the more dollars you have, the more votes you have. This is a systems where the minority rules.

* In theory, if a government was ran based on a system of checks and balance, no one person or institution would become too powerful. But in America, people forget that real checks and balances lay, not between three branches of government, but between the people checking the government. This is not practiced. In fact, political dissent is shunned.

* In theory, if governments were accountable to their people there would be no war, because people do not wage war. Governments, corporation, and the ruling class wage war.

Democracy does have flaws, as the American system has shown, but I still accept it as a way of solving problems. It seems to be a much better way of enhancing society than war or technology. A situation where individuals sitting around a campfire making decisions based on the needs of the many, rather than the few, would be just. If a small group of people did not agree with the decisions made, then they could vote with their feet; they could simply walk away and start another tribe. This, however, would be impossible today. There are too many borders and fences and just not enough freedom for any dissent. We are stuck with our current system until enough people decided that democracy and a more egalitarian system is worth having.

The best thing about true democracy, according to Harry S. Truman, “is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.” Unfortunately, however, America does not have system where the people can simply point out problems and correct them. If this was the case America would not have an interventionist foreign policy. Current polls suggest that nearly 70 percent of Americans are against the occupation Iraq. Democracy would end this war. Likewise, in 1916, Woodrow Wilson said World War I would have never occurred if democracy was practiced: "I am convinced that only governments initiate such wars as the present, and that they are never brought on by people, and that, therefore, democracy is the best preventive of such jealous and suspicions and secret intrigues as produce wars among nations where small groups control rather than the great body of public opinion."

The problem with democracy is that it gives too much power to too many people. This gives hundreds of people in the ruling class the chance to profit from a system designed for them. Democracy cannot exist outside a small town, and it definitely cannot exist in a country with 330 million people. But was it ever meant to exist in the first place? How can someone actually buy into the false sense of democracy in this country? There is no democracy, and the very idea of democracy is a tool used to suppress us. In reality, we live in a country where the few rule the many. Oligarchies are the most common form of government in history, and it does not have to be a bad thing. But it is bad if we live in an oligarchy and we think we live in a democracy. Democracy is propaganda.

Society

hmmm ooh hooo hooo

It's a mystery to me
we have a greed
with which we have agreed

You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won't be free

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
you think you need
and when you think more than you want
your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'cos when you have more than you think
you need more space

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

there's those thinking more or less less is more
but if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make
your level drops
kinda like its starting from the top
you can't do that...

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Jerry Hannan and Eddie Vedder

Settlement of Indiana

The French explorer, Robert La Salle, navigated the Great Lakes regions and the Mississippi River in the late 1600's, including the waterways of Indiana in 1679. He saw vast tracks of unused land, Native American goods, and new plants and animals as something that could be profitable for his home country. He quickly claimed the entire area for France, including what would become Indiana.

Trading posts were established around Native American populations and along major rivers in Indiana. In days before railroads and automobiles, rivers were used for transporting goods. Therefore, riverbanks became places of commerce, mission work, and settlement. Military posts were built to protect these areas from rival European powers. Three major posts of the 18th century are Indiana cities today: Post Vincennes, established in 1732, is presently Vincennes; Fort Quiatonon (1717) is near present day Lafayette; and Fort Miami (1721) is now Fort Wayne.

Benefits of Trade
The story of the fur trade is usually one of genocide, the death of millions of Native Americans because of disease and war, but there was also considerable amount of peace between Europeans and Indigenous people of Indiana through trade. Bartering is a win/win situation, because people only trade when they are expecting to gain something. In addition, the voluntary nature of trade between two people creates peaceful relations and cultural awareness. There is evidence of these peaceful relations in Indiana between Europeans and Native Americans.

Native Americans initially embraced French settlers and traders, because of the benefits of trade and because there were too few Frenchmen to threaten their way of life. As trade expanded, more interaction between the two people created peaceful relations. Alliances were built by trading goods and friendships were developed by exchanging gifts. It was important to learn languages and customs of the other side to determine what trading goods were desired. For example, European traders made iron arrowheads, something that was not part of their culture, because they knew this was a marketable item with Native Americans. Cultural awareness also lead to integrated wardrobes, and Europeans sometimes chose to live among Indian tribes, some even married and raised families.

Native Americans bartered for items such as firearms, cloth, metal tools, jewelry, and alcohol. They were interested in obtaining items that had practical use in their daily lives. For example, arrowheads and cooking utensils made of metal simply replaced existing tools made of stone. Furthermore, because trade allowed European goods to arrive in places long before Europeans themselves, Native Americans often tried to position themselves as middlemen in larger trading networks with other Indian tribes to improve their trading power and social prestige.

The French were interested in trading for animal furs and skins from Native Americans. Companies entrusted goods to traders who transported them by canoe to exchange for deerskin, and beaver, muskrat, and raccoon pelts. The furs were then sent to Paris to satisfy fashion demands in Europe. A beaver pelt hat, for example, was popular among the aristocracy; it was a symbol of wealth and prestige.

Costs of Trade
The benefits of trade, however, came at a cost. European tools often made daily life easier for Native Americas, but trade creates a problem of dependency. For example, using metal arrowheads may have made daily life easier, however over time ancient skills of making stone arrowheads by hand were lost. This made Native Americans dependent on trade with Europeans to obtain more iron arrowheads. Another example of dependency involves firearms. Once an individual relies on the use of a gun, he or she becomes dependent on trade to maintain it; one must obtain shot, powder, spare parts, and anything else to keep the gun working.

Though Native Americans traded for European tools, they did not trade beliefs and values. They resisted ideas about property rights, year-round farming, and religious beliefs. Therefore, as more and more settlers arrived, the culture difference between the two people intensified. Another cost of trade included the exchange of diseases. Europeans spread diseases, such as smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and influenza, to indigenous people of the New World, who had no immunities against them. Disease, along with war and genocide as a result of culture differences and racism, led to the death of millions of people and nearly a complete annihilation of an entire race of people.

One Land, Two Peoples
Competition between Native American tribes for European goods, along with competition between France and Britain, reached a turning point in the 1760's during the French and Indian War. Native Americans generally chose to fight alongside the French, because they were more dependent on French trading goods and because the British were more interested in settling large tracks of land. Great Britain won the war in 1763, giving them dominance over trade relations with Native Americans for a short period of time. The British traded items that reflected an empire–tobacco, guns, and rum. This lasted until the Revolutionary War and the birth of America. Eventually, in the 1800's, more and more Americans moved west of the Appalachian Mountains because of cheap land and resources. As more settlers arrived to places like Indiana, conflict with Native Americans intensified. This conflict, along with fashion changes in Europe, helped bring an end to the fur trade around the 1850's.

Howard Zinn on Empire

Howard Zinn is the single most influential author/historian in my life. This is my creed.

"Have we not reached a point in history where we are ready to embrace a new way of living in the world, expanding not our military power, but our humanity?"

Astronaut Jesus

Jesus died. He is on his way to Heaven. Heaven has to be a large place, considering all the people that apparently fit in there with great comfort. Therefore, we can conclude that, because astronomers can see billions of light years into space, Heaven cannot possibly be anywhere near earth, otherwise we would be able to see it.

Lets assume that some how Jesus was traveling at the speed of light. This means he is roughly 2,000 light years away from earth. This means he has 23,000 more years just to reach the center of our galaxy. That is, assuming he didn’t have to go around the sun to get through our solar system. If he was not going in that direction, then he is probably heading in the direction of one of the billion of galaxies out there. It will take him 160,000 years just to reach the nearest one. Whatever he is going, he has a long way to go. The billions of galaxies in the universe are each constantly moving apart, so there are millions of light-years between each one. So, considering the universe is mostly empty space, it is safe to say that Jesus is still traveling in space and he is billions of years from his destination.

Also, do not forget astronomers know approximately how fast the universe is expanding, and it has be doing so for 10-15 billion years. This gives Jesus little hope of ever actually getting closer to his destination. That is, if he even knows where he is going! Chances are he is lost. Our galaxy alone is filled with too many stars and clouds of dust to see the center (hence the name Milky Way). With all the stars, planets, moons, asteroids, meteors, comets, dust clouds, and dark shadows with no light between galaxies, there is a great chance that Jesus is aimlessly drifting in space. Even worse, he is probably caught up in some asteroid field or black hole, or he might be caught by some planet’s gravitational pull. This would mean he is aimlessly orbiting a planet!

Despite all this, I will give him the benefit of doubt. After all, he cured the sick and walked on water as a man, so I’m sure he knows how to get back to Heaven. (Though, I doubt he is there yet.) After all, he was sent by God and somehow got to earth in the first place, so I am sure he can find his way back. However, what about all the other people on their way to Heaven, too. I doubt anyone knows the way or has the capabilities to get there.

Wait a minute. I want to know how Jesus got to Earth in the first place! Considering (a.) the distance from Heave to Earth is billions of light-years, and (b.) the age of the earth is 4.6 billion years. This means he had to have started traveling here billions of years before Earth even existed--billions of year before he knew humans needed a savior!

Wow. Maybe I’m thinking too hard. In any case, I do know that there is a certain point in childhood development that children learn concrete items much easier then abstract concepts. They do not learn abstract ideas like patriotism, freedom, or racism until a latter age. They learn by picturing abstract ideas as concrete imagines in their head. This is why people believe stories in the Bible are actually true. They believe God is sitting on a cloud with angles feeding him cherries and playing harps for him. This isn’t likely.

Lets read religious text metaphorically. The messages, themes, and lessons should be taken seriously, not stories that divert what is really important. This logic, of course, can be applied to any story, such as Lord of the Rings. The messages and lessons taken from this book are as deep and meaningful as the Bible. Lord of the Rings is my religion. Gollum died for my sins.