skullclaws blogs

Age?
20


Sex?
male


What is your degree subject (both if joint)?
Psychology


Does ‘Being Bad’ relate well to the other modules you are taking?
This module does relate in some ways to my other modules.

If so, how? And if not, why not?
For example, it allows a critical perspective on attitudes to abnormal behaviour which is important and is considered in psychology and my sociology modules. The way people view others behaviour as bad can be important when understanding mental illness such as depression or anti sociol behaviour.




Have you found ‘Being Bad’ too demanding, too easy, or at an appropriate level?
I have found most of the module to be at the appropriate level however the blogs seem to be too based on quantity instead of quality which is unfair to those who have little I.T knowledge.


Do you think the list of topics covered on the module was appropriate?
Yes they have covered a wide range of very interesting areas.


Are there any topics not included in the module that you would like to see included?
Abortion and euthasia.


Do you think that the format for classes has worked well?
mostly however smaller groups would create better discussion and exchange of views.


What did you think of the module team?
They were interesting and were able to help with any problems affectively.


Do you think it would have been better to have had more:

Small group discussions?
yes
Discussion and debate among the class as a whole?
yes
Information and talk from lecturers?
no


The approach taken in the module is interdisciplinary (drawing on perspectives from English Literature, Film Studies, Creative Writing, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies and Politics): do you think this a useful way of approaching the topics covered in the module?
yes


Do you think that interdisciplinary modules are a good idea?
Yes they give a broader range of skills which can help in other subjects.


Do you think you have benefited from the interdisciplinary approach taken in the module?
Yes it has helped me to look at topics in a better more logical and rational way. Also it has gave myself a better understanding of how i feel about some topics.


Would you like to see more modules that cover this kind of subject matter?
Yes it would help students discover thier own views and give them a better understanding of the world.


Are you planning to take the follow-up module PH2004 ‘Thou Shalt Not’ (note: the name of this module is likely to be changed to ‘It Shouldn’t be Allowed!’) at level 2?
If it is possible i may.


Would you recommend ‘Being Bad’ to a friend?
Yes and have on several occassions.


Do you think that the blogs (web logs) were a good idea?
Yes but are not marked in a fair way. Should be on quality not quantity.


What did you think of the other assessments (e.g. would it be better to have one longer assessment rather than two shorter ones?)?
These were fine having two assessments means showing ability in a variety of areas.


What have you learned from the module?
That my opinions are not as clear as i would like them to be.


What parts of the module have you found most useful and why?
Learning more about areas that i knew little about and ordering my arguements so they are communicated clearly.


What parts do you think were a waste of time and why?
Doing so many blogs as often you run out of things to say.


Are there any other comments you wish to make regarding ‘Being Bad’?

Telling lies with integrity.
I in my day to day life try to be an honest person, I very rarely lie about anything therefore I should be against the idea of lying with integrity however I can see a place for it in our society. I believe that if a person lives by lying they are both inconsiderate and selfish and they will find that eventually they lies will come back to them. I believe that lying as a device to help someone other than the person telling the lie is a good thing on the whole such lies as telling someone they look nice etc are in my view acceptable.

Tattoos and Piercing.
In our lecture about tattoos I found it very interesting to hear about the variety of reasons why tattoos are done. Before this I had little idea about the significance of tattoos as a part of some religions.
My views on tattoos are much like that of many of the other blogs for example http://sukiya.blogspot.com/ Basically i believe that people can do what ever they want to their own bodies, I don’t mind people with many tattoos nor do I mine people with many piercing’s .Many of my friends have either tattoos or piercing or both, I do not see them as different to someone who has none. It should be what is inside that counts.
Check out this site for cool tattoo related stuff.
www.eviltattoo.com

Bad Cinema.
I am a major film fan, I watch most types of films however I do prefer horror films and films which include dark humour or adult humour. As a result of my film preference I do find it annoying when a film is cut and made less violent or graphic. Films have ratings that should stop people from seeing anything they may find disturbing therefore censorship is in my opinion often wrong as it takes away the full impact of a film and stops the director getting across the message of the film fully. See (www.cradleoffear.com) for info on a film that you may think is bad cinema.
http://www.cradleoffear.com/site/html/im043.html
I also find censorship of music extremely offensive most bands work very hard to get their music and ideas across, then they are persecuted for having views that go against the grain which if considered properly have some truth. For example, Marilyn Manson who in his early days was persecuted for having views that criticised American society, people were basically afraid to admit what he was saying was true. Music and art that has a message should be embraced, commercial music which has no point should be replaced with something that has meaning

Masturbation.
A very quick blog about masturbation, I don’t have any problem with the idea of masturbation it is a common and natural thing. I was shocked to see how it has been demonised in the past and happy that I live in a more liberal society. I believe that people should be comfortable with their bodies and I would like the topic to become less taboo.

I would like to begin by pointing out that I am in no way a religious person, I do not believe that religion can help me there are more real and observable areas that can i.e. science and rational thinking. To me religion seems to be an easy way out of taking responsibility for your actions. I have been reading daves blog about this topic and agree with the view that religion is often based on false figures such as jesus being no more than a magician.http://decayingmind.blogspot.com/
Derren Brown is a good example of this many people nowadays think he is amazing and that he can read minds so think about the people 2000 years ago who were less educated they would see most illusions as miricles.
On the topic of religious cults I believe that if people feel this is the right path for them, then they should follow it however I would not want them to try and change my beliefs. Freedom of choice is important, in my opinion, a person can believe in whatever they want just as long as they don’t hurt others or force their views on to people.

Some brief points about infidelity, I have in the past cheated on a girlfriend however after doing this the relationship fell apart (not due to my cheating however). I do very much regret what I did and how I treated the girl, I have learnt from my mistake and I would never do such a thing to a future partner. Nowadays I hate the idea of cheating, I have grown up since then and realised you can’t treat people in that way.
I have however found some rules about cheating put forward by Marilyn Manson in his autobiography Long Hard Road Out of Hell. These rules should not be taken seriously they are just for fun.
1 You can squeeze fake tits because they’re not actually real, so your not cheating.
2 If you don’t remember their name it doesn’t count.
3 If you don’t call them afterwards it doesn’t count.
4 Blow jobs don’t count- they’re like handshakes and autographs.
5 If you cuddle, you’re cheating.
6 If you fuck someone the night before seeing your girlfriend, it’s okay because it’s just practice to make sure you don’t prematurely ejaculate with your girlfriend.
7 If it was part of a public performance, it doesn’t count.
8 If you’re doing it to help your career, it doesn’t count. But if she thinks you can help her career, then you’re cheating.
9 If you remember the name of a girl that someone else had a one-night stand with, then you cheated because you thought about it more than the person who got laid did. If you don’t have a girlfriend, this just makes you desperate and counts as one cheat against your future girlfriend.
10 If its someone’s birthday, it doesn’t count (especially if its your own).
11 If the girl has a tattoo with your name on it , then its just common courtesy to have sex with her.
12 If she has the same name as your girlfriend, its not cheating- or if the first letter of her name is the same. If neither of these apply, spritz her with your girlfriends favourite scent before having sex and you’re alright.

My opinions about smoking.

My views on smoking may seem a little unusual but this is what i believe and its unlikely to change. My main view about smoking is that it is definately harmful to the smoker and people around them. This view comes from being around smokers for along time being a non-smoker i can see that their health is poor, they often have a cough that won't go away and are unlikely to carry out exercise without becoming completely out of breath. I also believe that smoking should be banned in public places, I recently left my job as a barman at a club as I was getting sick of people blowing smoke in my face and causing me to stink of smoke when I got home. Smoking in public places i find is offensive, I smoker should keep thier habit to themselves and not endanger other peoples health. see (www.ash.org.uk/)for more anti-smoking dogma.
My unusual view of smoking comes in when asked what is being smoked, I do not understand why people smoke it just seems to be pointless however smoking something such as cannabis i can kind of understand as it may be fun or may help someone through pain. I would go as far as to say that i would prefer cannabis to be legal and alchol to be made illegal. This view needs justifying, since being a barman for nearly a year i have seen many people get very drunk and become offensive and often violent. Alchol causes many problems for the police and also families, wives and husbands and thier kids. If it had only been discovered recently it too would be seen as a drug and would be illegal. I see cannabis as the better of two evils it would cause alot less violence on a saturday night than alchol does now.

Why do some artists get seen as bad/evil?
Last night i went to see Marilyn Manson at the NEC and whilst there i found myself wondering why this person is so feared for being bad/evil. His performance consisted mostly of him roaming about the stage occasionally feeling himself with scantily clan strippers dancing around him. His performance was only exciting if you were young and of the opinion that having half naked people on stage is original when performers have been doing the same thing for decades. His music and his image have become so popular that parents are willing to take thier very young children along to see him. This must now mean that he can no longer be seen as bad/evil if he is accepted by so many people he can no longer live up to the image that surrounds him people will always expect more from him.Look at www.marilynmanson.com for more about the band.
Before september 11th such people as Manson and Eminem were seen as anti social and bad for society, however now people have more important things to worry about i.e terrorism. Such artists may even now be seen as good as they are symbols of freedom and the right to speak out they are no longer the scapegoats that they used to be. Society uses scapegoats to explain the bad things that happen to people this whilst often unfair has been a part of human nature for thousands of years it can even be said that Jesus was scapegoated by society for the unrest felt towards the Romans. These scapegoats may be neccessary for society to function smoothly.

I would just like to point across a few points of my own about last weeks lecture on Bandits. I believe that figures such as Robin Hood (if he existed) and others such as Bonnie and Clyde are only seen as good by a certain group of people. For example, if you were one of the poor benefiting from what Robin Hood was doing then you would see him as a hero, on the otherhand if you were the person being robbed you would see him as just a criminal. The view of such figures is relative, different individuals and groups have different ideas about the same subject. Also such views are relative in time too, a person may be seen as a criminal etc at one point in time but later may be seen in a much more positive light. For example, Tony Blair may at this point in time be seen as incorrect about invading Iraq however in the future he will probably be seen as someone who liberated a country from oppression.
Another point i would like to make is that it is in peoples nature to follow such figures as it is basically entertainment, if a couple such as Bonnie and Clyde are on the run people will follow thier progress and will have thier own opinions about what they are doing. A good example of this is the story of Jack Sheppard (look at www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/courses/95c/texts/sheppard.html for more info)who in the 1800s was a small time thief who was arrested on several ocassions but managed to escape from jail about three or four times. His story was reported in newspaper which had just become popular and available to the public, people were very interested to see what the young 'jack the lad' would get up to next. People started to follow his expoilts like a soap opera today, he became a public figure or pop-icon and to some people a hero as he was fighting an unfair system that punished the poor harshly. The general public were fighting the system through him, by giving him support. In the end he was finally caught and executed before he could escape again, however his execution was attended by a massive crowd who had come to see if he could escape the gallows sadly he did not.

In conclusion i see the view of such figures as socially constructed, a persons place in society will affect thier view of these figures. The media nowadays would be very important in any construction of views, in the past stories of such figures were passed on by word of mouth this leads to exaggeration of the truth and the forming of legends, ie Robin Hood.

Just read Zelator's blog (http://zelator1.blogspot.com/)about Alester Crowley in which he questions why he was considered a Great Britain in the BBC poll. In my opinion i see Crowley in a similar light he was a great man he was able to make people look up from there little worlds to see that there is more to life than being a boring normal person. He was able to push back the boundaries and was a taboo breaker, despite this some of his antics are still taboo today and will be for alot longer. Alester Crowley in my view was evil in his own time and was scapgoated as the evil in socity. This happens nowadays alot with people such as Marilyn Manson who are blamed for being indecent and evil but when looked at seriously are infact making a very good point about how society is so rigid that any deviance is looked upon as evil but in the future will most likely be accepted.
Another man who has been compared to Alester Crowley is Anton Lavey (check out www.churchofsatan.com) who was the author of The Statanic Bible which i have read. Despite what many people have heard about Lavey his is not an evil person nor did he worship the devil. The Statanic Bible and the religion of Statanism infact has very little to do with the devil in the christian sense of the word. Lavey used the word Statanic in his new philosophy as it was disagreeing with christian dogma. He put forward the idea that religion should not be worship of a god but worship of the self, he believed that you should live for the moment instead of hoping there is life after death. He believed that you should be able to act as you want unless it hurts someone mentally or physically. His work has been widely disregarded as evil by people who are afraid of free thinking and who have not read the book. In my view there is nothing wrong with what he has put forward and its a shame that his work is not as widely read as it should be.
Here i have put the basic views of satanism.
The Nine Satanic Statements

from The Satanic Bible, ©1969

by Anton Szandor LaVey



1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!

2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!

3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!

4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!

5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!

6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!

7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!

8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!



9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

In our lecture yesterday we were asked what we would do if we wouldn't get caught. I considered that robbing a bank would be a good idea, this lead on to me thinking that if i had the chance i would do something that would set me up for life i.e defrauding a bank for millions of pounds. Later i wondered would this be a good thing to base the rest of my life on. I considered the fact that i would feel as if i hadn't earnt what i had, it would be a hollow life without any achievement to show for it. Also i think this would affect the way in which my children were brought up, they would not have to work to get anywhere, they would not have as many goals or dreams to follow, this would create great guilt for me as i would be preventing them from having a full life. In conclusion basing your life on an immoral act may not be as good as i had once considered it might be, therefore basing your life on hard work and effort is a much more rewarding avenue to follow even if you don't live as comfortably.