Speechless. Nearly.

Here's one for the anti-environmentalists amongst you.
Take a moment to read this news article.

Now: feel ashamed. Take your trash back inside and start recycling. And stop voting for moneygrabbing dicks and start voting for the environment. And quit referring to people who care about nature as 'tree-hugging hippies'.

Do I have to tell you people what to do ALL THE TIME ?!

I didn't learn much, this time around.

Although Wednesday and most of Thursday were kind of low on activity for me, being ill and all (feverish, semi-delirious, and downling gallons of stuff like milk and bitter lemon) one of the things I did do while conscious was watch a few new movies in my collection (I had the time for it, after all..).

The one I appreciated best was The Straight Story. It re-inspired my own (legendary) stubbornness (because it always goes to show that enough stubornness, when thrown in a mix with enough time, can get you anywhere) and so, by Thursday evening, I was up and about, getting things done (while still coughing quite a lot) and I've been busy designing something that needs to be at the print shop early tomorrow. Well, today, really, seeing as how it's 3 30 now.
I'm still not in the best shape I've been but my head's a lot clearer than it was yesterday, the coughing's less rough and less frequent, and so I hope I can handle the upcoming Friday. It's not going to be a smooth ride, from the looks of it:
First there's the print shop, where I have to get a booklet printed, and also hand over the Str!pdagen booklet files again for a second printing (for the Probeersel.com artists only) as well as several business cards (again, for the Probeersel artists). I also have to shop for a birthday present, and then I have to be back at home by noon, because somewhere between noon and 6 the ADSL man is visiting to set my access up. I could do this myself, no doubt, but I'm ill and I have better things to do with my time than fiddle with that stuff when a pro can just come by and do this for me, for a relatively sweet price. While he (or she, but statistically these people are most commonly male) is messing with the modem and my PC I'll be perfecting a new storyboard for The Grim DotCom as well as attempting to come up with another one, so I can draw Saturday and keep the illusion of a backstash going. Then after 6 (or earlier, depending on when ADSL-man is done) I have to hurry and get all the groceries for next week in da house, and once that's done, I have to be off to a birthday party I promised I'd go to (hence the birthday shopping early in the morning). I'm sure sleep and food have a place somewhere in that schedule, too. Normally a day like that would be a piece of cake for me (hell, aren't all my days like that lately ??) but as said, I'm still ill, so I hope I can handle it all. If not, it'll be the shortest birthday visit I've made in quite a while.
Now if you'll excuse me, my head is killing me and I could use at least a little bit of sleep before all this madness commences.

Ill.

I'm ill. I'm fairly certain it has to do with biking through wet ice-cold snow last Friday to do groceries, and getting completely soaked in both directions of the ride.
And it's extremely inconvenient, because this is a very, very busy week for me and a lot needs to get done. With that in mind, I decided to spend the entire day in bed - but I feel slightly more capable of handling (a small bit of) the world right now, so I'm up. Reluctantly and meanwhile coughing up my longues. And dressed as if this is an arctic area.

That's all for now. I hope you understand I don't feel like updating.

Special delivery: Fear, just like you ordered.

The heated debates and opinions about Theo van Gogh's death are quieting down a bit. Instead, people are blowing up buildings now. Nice.
I dunno. I get queasy when I see the masses of people getting afraid. People do the weirdest things when in fear - they get so easily manipulated by leaders, or they group against other people, or they get violent.. all rational thought and action goes straight out the window. All they can think about anymore is fighting 'the enemy' and somehow restoring their own illusion of safety that way again. Once the bad guys are gone, all will be safe and we'll live happily ever after.
I think if Michael Moore showed us something (with Bowling For Columbine), it's that that won't happen. We'll always find something else to be afraid of. And if we don't, the media and our leaders will. I'm sure in some ways fear keeps us in line, makes us decent people amongst (most of) our fellow man, or something. But can't we be decent without fear ? I know I'm fairly decent, and I chucked all fear out the window about a decade ago (I replaced it with rational, realistic thought - yeah, I know, revolutionary stuff, where do I get this crap from huh ?) so why can't we all ?

Why can't we all... just stop fearing each other ?

Fear. Buy it now. Available anywhere near you.

Today Theo van Gogh, writer and movie-maker, as well as well-known Dutch public figure, was murdered in public. Although it took a long time to confirm, latest news updates seem to state that the perpetrator 'looked Arabic', and after Van Gogh was shot, a message apparently was pinned on him. Van Gogh was well-known for his strong, controversial, anti-Muslim (extremist) opinions, and, although nowhere officially confirmed, assumptions are abundant that he was murdered for those very opinions.
Everybody and everything is discussing it. I couldn't walk the streets without getting interviewed about my opinion, and the one 'big' question they had for me was wether or not I was now afraid to express my opinion. The simple answer is: NO. "Not even if you could get killed because of it ?" NO. "May we ask why ?" Because if we start being too afraid to express our opinions, regardless of their consequences, we're officially a country where I don't want to live anymore. When you stop expressing your opinion out of fear of violence, you're giving up on public debate and free speech, the main two qualities of a DEMOCRACY. When you become ruled by such fears, you're in a DICTATORSHIP. That's a very black-and-white viewpoint, I'll admit, but my point remains: no matter what extremes some INDIVIDUALS go to when you have controversial opinions, you should never feel CENSORED.
But that's not what the government wants. Or wat the media wants. Fear sells, and fear blinds, fear allows actions taken 'in your best interest' when they really aren't. This is what happened in the States, this is what ALMOST happened after the political assassination of Pim Fortuyn in May 2002 in this country. I'll be damned if I'll let it happen now. Show up at my door, armed with an UZI or whatever, and ask me for my opinion. I hereby guarantee you, you will get an honest answer. No matter what you threaten to do to me. Because each and every one of us who continues to express themselves honestly and freely, is a sign that this is still a free country and no matter which individual may or may not get away with killing someone for their opinion, it doesn't make a real difference to our freedoms. If you stop saying what you think out of fear, you give up your most important right. And if you act on fear, you become a string puppet to manipulation of media, commerce, and government. So don't.

This is one thing I won't apologise for. The above expresses exactly how I feel.
I know that in the past few days, several roles I've taken on have forced me to apologise to some people for actions I didn't feel I did wrong. And I also made a few screw-ups because I stepped out of my role and acted as my own person. But the above I'm saying as MYSELF. René van Densen, Tilburg. I'm in the friggin' phone book, so if you want me for it, come get me. I have nothing to hide.

But all the things that I've done, said, and experienced the past week did basically leave me a bit sickened with people for a while. Instead, I stayed in tonight and enjoyed watching my cats.
Aren't they cute ? Look - they're NOT killing each other !