Religious Apology

By: Jonathan Seidel

YouTuber polemic and hyperreal persona: Crusades and Inquisition good? Jewish overreaction and Christian bad apples? (Baudrillard, 59)

A YouTuber Pax Tube titled his video “why the inquisition was awesome actually”. Other history says otherwise. Is his point valid? Does Christian rejuvenation exempt the persecutions?

Pax Tube calls it awesome and then proceeds to number three to five thousand persecutions but this is apparently in actuality only 2.7% of cases. Any regime that persecutes thousands of people is not awesome. No matter the percentages. Somehow even with exaggerated formats, it was a targeted persona that relied on ridding those that disagreed with the church. Whether Germany was worse does not change the impact nor reduce its liability. Claims found on Quora of those pushing the burden on German propaganda may have some historical relevance but it does not mitigate the assault on medieval Jewry. The same goes for his seeming joy concerning the crusades. Killing innocent villagers of a different faith is not justified. The bloodbath that ensued in Jewish villages is itself a demeaning episode for the church. The irony in calling something awesome with the intent of removing a certain ethnicity from the floor is truly not an awesome thing unless apologists are attempting to dismiss intentional outlets. Awesome means electrifying and homogenous not rising at the cost of another. 

Ironically, Pax Tube never mentions the Jewish cost. Nor is there a mention through thousands of comments on his video of the Jewish suffering that occurred. The “nuance” that is praised seems to be at the expense of the victims. The victims are nameless just consequences of an unfortunate accident. To be frank this a lot more frightening. The issue with the inquisition is not so much the witch-hunting but the heresy-hunting that included Jews. Jews were exceptionally targeted for their lacking Christianity. Forced to convert or die. Such targeting is not a good start. This was not unique to Spain nor does rank amongst the brutality of later persecutions but still horrid. Germany expelled Jews in 1280 and killed 6 million during the Holocaust. Numerically, Germany is on another level. The inquisition does play a more prominent role in the memory of Judaism for good reason beyond the propaganda. The near centuries of Jewish flourishing came to a complete halt with the persecutions. It would be as if England expelled all their Jews once again. The monarchy was fine with the Jews so much so that Isabella condemned her husband King Ferdinand for submitting to the inquisitors. Though this may only further anti-semitic prose of regal aid to Jews. 

Already acknowledging its forceable problem. Maybe it is not the worst of the worst but it was pretty awful. So the persecutions weren’t as high. Yet the expulsion was massive. Jews who had flourished for centuries were forced to pack up and ship out. It wasn’t just against Jews but they were a main target. Any current apologist who affirms the need to cleanse the nation of religious diversity is at best amoral and worse immoral. Saying for their time, it wasn’t bad, yes it was. Arguing that state 

morality was somehow normative even if genuine was conventional. Either the argument is that their morality was good for their time so current apologists would argue that such an occurrence today would be problematic making it retroactively immoral or upholding a potentiality today would heavily undermine an objective morality that a Christian who kills a Jew in the street shouldn’t be charged. The lack of personal accountability permitted people to act viciously whether for christ or a private vendetta. Intent was never measured. Though a clerk who met with Eichmann said that he repented in his last days so he will be saved but the murdered Jews at his hand have no salvation. Quite the twisted ethical clause. There is salvation for the scum of the earth but not innocents. 

Contrary to popular belief, the inquisition was rejected by multiple outlets. Officials barring their cities from its advancements. Their hand was forced when the army arrived and conquered their land. With their hands tied they could not overcome the inquisitors' force. While the monarchs used it to their advantage by demonstrating their power, the church also gained veracity through it. Villages were quite loyal to their homes. Many saw this institution ideal as a front. As a projection and an imposition. Many saw this as awful and refused to agree to it. Yet through fear and coercion, the people turned on each other. A diabolical plot to contaminate social cohesion. A way of undermining the webbed collective into insiders and outsiders. Jews had always been isolated. Prior to the inquisition, riots did shoe them aside and hurl their anger at the innocent Jews. Yet through it all towns stuck together. With prevailing fear and potential punishments, villagers sought an easy road to erase the scum in their vicinities. Dissenters were quickly brought in line and manipulated to hurt their friends even more. The inquisition was not receptive but was shoved on the public in order to capitalise on its goals. 

Expelling Jews is terrible but those who stayed and converted remained targets. In the past, converts were afforded the luxuries of Christianity. Yet the inquisition changed the image. It is here that the nazi ideology finds its parallel. Not in quantity but in methodology. The inquisition continued to persecute conversos. Jews who gave up their Judaism were attacked as fake Christians. Acting as full religious catholics was not acceptable anymore. A speck of Jewish heritage was sufficiently fraudulent Christianity. For a religion that prospered on conversion, this was quite a reversal. Mass incarcerations at the behest of possible innocence. Potential guilty freed was too much to bear. This was the first generational assault. To demonstrate their allegiance to the church and forgo persecution they turned on their Jewish brethren. Becoming rabid anti-semites. Jews were ousted even quicker to display their faith in the church. At the same time these conversos were never accepted. Despite their allegiance they were outsiders. Coined new christians and thus outsiders even put on trial for their breath of life. Nothing could change their legacy. They were Jews and forever will be Jews. Many conversos immigrated to the new world to escape persecution. Realising that converting would not save them maybe travelling across the ocean could be their salvation. In a sense, there was no protection nor salvation for converts, the old defensive models became ingrained ontological assaults. 

Yet the worst disaster was the denunciation act. The Edith of Grace was imposed to route the heresy. Pressing commoners to turn on their neighbours. Cooperate with authorities to receive a lesser punishment. Yet such cooperation could be their downfall. The coercive tactics were not well received and people went into hiding or denied these claims. Terror formed the catalyst of denouncing. The Edith of Faith that followed instituted with the inquisition entrenched in society. Focusing on social elevation or good graces they denounced hoping for a validated purpose. Opportunism greatly affected the growth in denunciations. While both were effective it reveals a greater threat that of social upheaval. The inquisition decided to undermine the public with its own infighting. First through coercive means and then by voluntary compensation. No punishment nor responsibility. Denunciations were basically shot of a canon. At times extremely off but at the expense of revenge or a grudge. Outside the Jewish fray, Christian neighbours assaulted one another in the hopes of generating more buzz to their own prestige. In a sense, this institutional metric put the whole country into disarray. A consistent theme of corrupt elites shifting the burden to culture wars over their own menacing actions. Such moral upside to have countrymen fighting one another for social climbing and prideful enjoyment. 

Pax Tube’s conclusion is that Inquisitors were not perfect and even the wrongdoing doesn’t denounce the truth of christianity. It solely demonstrates man’s sinful nature. Those who attack the inquisition dislike the christian religion. While some of this can be posed against exaggerated claims, none of the aforementioned claims can be debunked. While the truth of christianity is based in metaphysical uncertainty and faith alone, the events of Jewish suffering during the inquisition are hard facts and real terror. He is correct life was tough but was even tougher when countrymen incited by the state attacked others for having different beliefs. It wasn’t as if these beliefs emerged out of nowhere. The reason for conversos was due to the constant attacks and lack of protection by the state. Some conversos were legitimate but still were assailed for their Jewish heritage. It wasn’t imperfection but evil. The magnitude of evil is regulated not to the quantity of deaths but quality of evil. No one believes Alexander the Great to be a nefarious man even though his kill count is super high because he did it under the auspices of war. A respectable even if quite immoral standard. Yet to punish citizens for diverse beliefs. Beliefs the state has upheld for centuries is a different mechanism. Persecuting people for their fate has a lot of Nazi propaganda spilt all over it. 

Vindicating the church of this travesty is difficult. It was a combination of religious and political power to rid variety. The idea itself of vanquishing diverse religious beliefs is itself an immoral issue. The history of religious monism and religious persecution is foremost a christian invention. Jews have been the main target for their spite. Murdering them in droves for centuries over the death of Jesus. Faith in a story related centuries after the event. That faith has physically tragic consequences. The grand irony is the the push for spiritual purity at the expense of people’s livelihood. What does expelling people in those harsh times do to those people? What does incriminating saintly converts mean to authentic conversion? What does public denunciations manifest in social collapse? Whatever the well-intentioned ideals, the inquisition brought about a short-term horror and an eventual calamity. 

Brain Fart

By: Jonathan Seidel

Hyperreal pain: Sarno, chronic and phantom pain

Sarno has become famous for his books on TMS (typical mind-body syndrome). Finding a psychosomatic connection between the pain and mind. Neurologically the brain accustoms to struggle over erred dynamics. Structure is intact but the red light is flashing in the brain. Yet much of somatic issues are neurologically derived. The body is only healed by the psychosomatic symbiotic affiliation.

Sarno’s work differs from phantom pain. Phantom pain is pain felt in amputated areas. Areas were no feeling should be associated. The leg is cut off no feeling from down there. Persistent feeling is more of a neurological curse. The brain has yet to fully accept the lack of a leg. The disconnect between the mind and body permeates suffering. Lingering pain from the original dislocation. A strictly neurological condition. Evidently, the leg is gone therefore the patient cannot feel pain there. Yet he is in pain. There is no structural discolouring from the leg. Absent a leg the brain is constructing a problem that does not exist. Suffering over neurosis. Relinking the brain with the body will absolve the issue. Connecting with vessels that indicate the apparent lingering of a leg. Able to discern the lack of a leg, the brain will shut off its alarm. The alarm can only be turned off if the brain is aware the problem is solved. There is no doubt it is psychosomatic since the brain is quarrelling over a non-issue. An erroneous deduction by the brain. One that shuts the person even if they themselves are conscious of their amputation. The complexity of the brain does not ascribe to the same conclusion thus scarring the patient.

Unlike phantom pain, Sarno’s work focuses on pain that is not obviously phantom pain. Yet is phantom pain. The patient has his legs intact but is in pain. All medical tests come back negative. Doctoral conclusion marks no structural damage in the body. If there is no structural damage then the warning signs are false. Certainty can only be manifested if the leg is amputated. If the leg is amputated and he continues to feel pain then it is neurological. Since such an action is permanent and unresolved it is obviously opposed. Given if he has phantom pain than he will still be in pain and if he is not in pain than there was structural damage that though he may not be in pain he has lost a leg that could’ve been treated. It is a dangerous double-edged sword. Thus bearing on the side of possible damage more tests are executed. The leg is present so the possibility is marginal in the face of actual damage. It cannot be entirely ruled out. Still, with the leg intact the stigma against psychosomatic plausibility is readily rejected. Making up pain is one thing without a leg but with one is truly difficult to accept. Neurologically creating a self disease is scary and demoralising in its finality and inescapable aptitude. 

People believe to be in control of their minds and bodies. Even if my body goes haywire at least my mind is still intact. Creating a smokescreen injury belittles the person’s ability to control their own mind. Their mind is rogue and they insane. Something so easily cultivated but so difficult to rid. Readily aware of the pain and capabilities. Wishing to be real and not a construction of the psychosis. The brain is not the master of the self. It is subjugated to the self’s whims. Yet this idealistic notion is more myth than fact. The reality is that the brain is so unknown. Why does it act in such a manner, is due to its well intentioned cause. It is trying to protect the body. False alarms are attempts to rectify the wrong. Yet it is destroying the self’s mind. It is deconstructing the self at the same time. The self cannot simply overpower the mind. The mind becomes an external subject in its own individualistic self interest. Caged by the mind and rebuffed for trying to regain control. A certain level of humility is necessary to entertain the possibility of the illusionary. An illusion purported by the mind crippling the body destroying the self. An emergency reaction that needs to be softened with a comforting ease. Accept the mind’s rogue actions and redirect it. 

Reaching this level of composure goes against all medical ideology. A level of extreme embarrassment. A feeling of intense insanity. The brain acting on its own is the fault of the self. The self must always be the centre of attention. The stoic inside shuts out the name sayers and the jokers. Hell what others think. It is a normative condition. One built on a reality in the human mind. A fearsome victim strangled by his own brain. A cursed moment but one that indulges the genuine pursuit of neurological network. Realising the truth that others part ways with. Unwilling to capture the veracity of the brain’s foreign objectification. The victim is a test subject to the real devil. The brain is its own animal, one the self is curiously overplaying its hand. Those privileged to never know the truth. Those never stepping outside the bounds of their comfort zone protected by walls of fire will never see the truth. Lucky them. Yet unlucky for they live in a simulated lie. One that provides them soma to legitimise their ignorant beliefs. A victim vicariously indulging in a new art. Recognising the limits of human anatomy even human ontology. A humbling moment even if teased for the displaced idiocy of the onlooker. 

Neurological responses are a defence mechanisms. They are not out to haunt the self. They do not seek to berate the self with horror shows. Taunting in disbelief. It is an intuitive metric underlying potential danger. The mind detached from the body’s matrix signals a red flag. The brain cannot censor the body part and thus panics with pain. Illusive and yet imaginary. The brain is overestimating yet doing so to preserve the self. It is a guardian angel even if it feels torturous. The self must speak to the brain to realign the body and mind. So to speak the self in its conscious form must redirect the brain to reconcile with the body. The body part is intact and healed. There is no need to be afraid. There is no need to defend. There is no enemy. The walls have not been breached. False alarm lets heal. Meditating on this conundrum is necessary to medicate the holistic alignment. The mind is preoccupied with defence that it does not look to see if it is a hoax. It does not send messengers to unveil the disguise. It readies for battle sending pain signals to wall off any further threat. An army at the self disposal. Fighting internal battles to perpetuity. The mind must be calmed and guided to the wrongful target. 

Pain is real even if based in false imaging. The mind captures these messages as disastrous but the body simply seeks a paradigm shift. Looking for growth and understanding. The self is not always linked with the body. Concerned with empirical necessities, losing touch with the physical layer. Focusing on certain muscles or forgetting about certain muscles is symmetrical to the dedication. It is not about working out and building muscle but speaking to the body. In a sense, the body has its own ears facilitating its worth. The body is affected by the mind’s sanity. Smiling will elevate the body while stress submerges the body. Physiology is affected by emotions clouding the neural links. The pathways are connected causing health or harm depending on the self’s reaction to events. There is a lesson through the struggle. It simply requires patience and devotion. Willing to accept the potential oddity. The painful idea of an imagined injury plaguing the body. Only to find out the brain screwed up. The brain caused the most notorious debacle. Such sinful behaviour without recourse. So well intentioned but so badly beaten. Yet a lesson learned. The body is more complex than initially conceived. More muscles lie beyond the mind’s simplistic education. Such nuance must be exposed at times at the greatest of obstacles. 

There is no denying the suffering. It is a genuine challenge to overcome. The trickery is in the eye of the beholder. The perception of the brain’s game is simply a mischaracterisation of its purpose. A big error that is costly on the self’s own personality and desire to live. A cruel consequence that belittles reality. Yet it is a misfortune of the west’s preoccupation with individuality. Each sector is concentrated upon. Each area directed to its own specialised profession. Believing isolation to be the most proficient of skills. The ability to restructure limbs is divested to various surgeons. Every medical professional is an expert in their field. Working together they can save their patients. Yet there is a certain arrogance and deflection of human anatomy. The body is not a series of islands but an interconnected web. The holistic manual of the east enforces a liquifying element which links limb to limb. There is no outlier but a single gem that needs refining. Professionalism operates on the mainframe. The mind is included. It may act irregularly to other anatomical parts but it plays a role in the singularity of being. Heart not beating dead, brain not flowing dead, lungs not pumping dead. Major organs work together to funnel the functionality of being. It takes all organs in tandem link an orchestra to live. 

TMS exposes the preconceived philosophical notations of human control but it also retroactively analyses the measure of the brain in other areas. The mind is central in broken bones and diseases. The mind is the organised meeting of all data. The body does not regenerate. Take the liver as an example. Luckily for humans, drink drink drink away. It is no wonder that alcohol is God’s greatest gift to man. Accelerated drinking can damage the liver yet regenerate itself. It is not the regelation of sci-fi movies nor is it perfect. Yet such a blessing. The process occurs due to the liver’s characteristics but the mind’s access to noting the liver’s movement and its regenerative process ensure after a considerable sober expenditure, a beer at the local tavern will be a treat. Neural messaging enables the liver to do its job efficiently. The brain is the keeper of knowledge mediating conflict and confusion between the self and the body. A kind of Mosaic middleman. It is the resource to blueprints and guides. A problem arises in sector seven, the body signals the brain and the brain grabs its loudspeaker and alarms the self. Then turns back to the body and supplies an instruction manual to the body. Follow the steps, the self has already sought help and now it’s your job to recover. 

Breaking a bone is extraordinarily painful.  The mind cursing the self for putting the body in more pain. Stop putting pressure it needs to heal. In this instance, the mind is the body’s protector. The self is ambitious and brazen, he must be reminded of his mortality. After yelling at the stupid self for being a negligent fool, it turns back to the body to prepare for healing. A slow but effective process. Since the self is quite dubious, a doctor is visited for a cast. Placing a protective bandage thick as can be to not accidentally disrupt the healing process. Just as a surgeon needs patience so too the body needs undisturbed peace to heal. It does not need invasive stubbornness throwing off its meticulous healing. The healing process is prolonged in an effort to be perfect. A broken bone needs to be realigned. The doctor does not do this manually. Unlike a dislocated shoulder that is simply out of place and can be popped back in, a break is a clean slice. The natural method seeks to remodel the old. A natural progression overseen by the manager. The mind ensures the precise accuracy of the body’s service. No mistakes on autopilot. The self fails to realise the inner workings of his body. His body works faster than any public project. Healing a bone faster than repainting the sidewalk. It is a matter of priority, motivation and duty.

Some cases of healing cannot be overcome. The brain is unable to cultivate the antidote. There is nothing in the database that enables such miraculous endeavours. An infarction is terminally incurable. Since there is definite damage, the pain rages. The mind recognises the problem and searches endlessly to solve this issue. Pressing the body to fix the impossible. There is something wrong and on principle the mind will not let it relent. A overtly principled brain that seemingly cannot let things go. Medication is the given measure to deal with an unyielding mind. Medicine treats, it doesn’t cure. Medicine sidelines the pain. It soothes its presence by dousing the mind with sleep power. A paralysis that chains the painful disaster. Hindering the effects further. Medication is a toxin to the painful chemistry. It overrides the receptors numbing them. Catching them and enslaving them. The whole point of medicine is to awaken positive energy as well as motivate movement under illness. The illness will strip personality and execution. Medicine is like caffeine. It provides that kick to feel good and get things done. A pill to reject the pain and move on with life even if the time to heal is elongated. Stimulating the brain to act irrationally. To go against its normative function of defence punishment. Serenity finds the clouded judgement. The more pills the stronger the pull into fantasy. Numbness turns into nothingness. Pain is the reality while medication is the imaginary.

Diseases are intra-somatic skirmishes. Cells attacking one another instead of working together. The body turns on itself and the self is left helpless. Where is the mind? How does the body turn on itself to begin with? Messages are warped. DNA mutates and becomes unstable. The mind is enveloped in a series of misidentified foreign entities. The mind is unable to order and alter the mutated assailants. In a sense the DNA tells the body differently than the instruction manual handed down by the mind. Normative DNA is a worker who does as he is told. When temperatures shift and the body adapts the brain funnels instructions for the DNA to keep its composure and habituate to the new norm. Mutated DNA is enemy cells. Normative DNA gone haywire. Hit a psychosis and not seeing correctly. Vision is falsified to see their cell friends as dangerous. Their mutation steals their basis and transforms them into a lifeless monster destroying everything in their path. They are no longer helpers but destroyers. The mind gathers the healthy cells to fight back but it isn’t always enough nor simple. Thus chemo is provided. A poisonous scheme to kill the bad. There is an incredible danger and heavy collateral damage but it preserves the self by semi-self destructing. 

Similar to chemo, vaccines are also measures of poisonous treatment to regulate the body to overcome the adversary. The mind’s messages cannot penetrate the mutated DNA. It cannot prevail over the deadbeat enemy. A gas is injected into the body to eradicate the evil. A treatment to kill off the spiking mutations. Not dead but reduced significantly. Sufficiently, for the healthy cells to capitalise and overtake the evil cells. The healthy cells send victory messages back to the brain to congratulate the self and seek indulgent amusement. A sigh of relief and readiness to get on with life. Unlike broken bones, diseases are adversarial. The body turns on itself. It isn’t a mismatched body part but an internal rebellion. The vaccine acts as an external agent just as the disease externally entered the subject’s network. The vaccine is the equivalent husk to the disease’s contagion. Surprising its will with its powerful aura. Decaying the mutated cells melting their weaponry. Fellow healthy cells are taken along for the ride but overall the vaccine accomplishes the goal for the self. Yet given the poisoned aspect it can have adverse affects. There are side effects and even long term harm. It is not a perfect system but one that seeks to rectify the heteronomous exposure.

Autoimmune diseases strike the hardest core. There is little cure nor treatment for ALS or MS. Distraught diseases that cripple the body. Agonising pain and devilish misery. The brain is unable to protect the body. Speaking to the body cannot alter the mutated chemistry. A confused immune system attacks the mind and body. A rogue agent on a hunt. Similar to the monstrous mutated DNA. Here the immune system is blinded glasses tainted. Seeng friends as foes. There is a disconnect between the mind and the immune system. The cause is unknown but the mind is not in control. Jean Grey has become Phoenix and Xavier cannot penetrate her mind. He cannot comfort her frenzy. The defences raised and calculating the worst enemy. Spotting lining up a shot and firing at will. Archers arrows ready to let loose. The immune system reaction isolates the mind. The mind has lost central command and the immune system creates its own kingdom. Divesting from the dangerous monarch, it begins its own reign and crusade to topple the evil king, the brain. The neural pathways are perceived poison and eliminated. Without any defences, the self is at fatalistic risk. It is only a matter of time before the immune system completes its conquest. The most powerful army without a fail safe. A truly grim reality.

Neurotransmitters act as the brain’s chemical interaction with others. The brain links electric signalling to the synapses. Forging information to be followed. The lighting speed precision ensures the fluidity of bodily function. Without proper communication between the synapses dangerous motor problems may emerge. The brain tells your hand to be raised. Not if that is blocked or pressed too hard. Blindness is caused by lack of electrical signals passed from the brain to the light receptors. If the electrical link is not ironclad the light-sensitive cells disappear. Lupus is recently found to have pro-inflammatory cells instead of regulated inflammation. The pathways are transmitted incorrectly.  Diabetes is the cause of the immune system accidentally ridding the beta cells creating insulin secreting the pancreas’ function. The signal is breached and no insulin is provided leading to toxic levels of sugar in the blood. Type II diabetes ignores the signal. The receptors are out and the blood continues to carry the insulin leading to dangerously high blood sugar levels. MS in the same way, the immune system betrays its kind into some cyber-psychosis. The sheath bridge collapses from a self-described Arnold affair. With no way to transmit messages motor function declines. Brain damage is from an overstock of signals killing brain cells. 

A link between the immune system and the brain correspond to the organic function of the body. Both check up on one another in a cute democratic checks and balances motif. Seemingly the brain works in tandem with the immune system. There is no hierarchical structure, yet the complexity of the brain may soon come lecture humanity on its priority and control. Autoimmune diseases refer to misidentified cells as foreign legions of which an origin is unknown. The immune system is seduced into a psychotic episode believing its allies to be its enemies. Relying on sight rather than soul. The virus that damages the clear normative, the neurotransmitters, may be the heart of this devious plot. Mind control becomes a literal possibility internally. An external viral infection causes a misconceived appropriation and thus a killing spree. The brain though the charter of commands is still democratically surrounded by a police force. The immune system is the body’s defence operation and will even attack the command centre if it cheats. With autoimmune it goes rouge. While the immune response lends false signals to extrapolate psychiatric disorders, the opposite is still far from accepted. 

If the latter path is charted it only furthers the mythological prose of brain centricity in the nuclear decline of the body. It is the brain that is virally infected by external stimuli. Whether it be an insect or stress. The brain hypnotises the immune system for it to go rouge. The command centre has been compromised and thus the police force encircling its streets attack in defence. Yet the immune response is overcooked. Overtly militarised with heavy artillery en route. A psychotic breakdown curtesy of the mind control efforts. The brain hijacked acts erratically raising alarm bells from its immunised partner. Signals do not meet their target and protection is flaunted into the front lines. The brain is no longer immunologically privileged. It is a part of the body and may even be the sleeper agent. A cute irony between 

science and western rationalism. Yet the holistic model may open a new formidable assassin. A neurological breach that must be reset. Multiple breakdowns in cancer do not simply cease working but are latched apart by the failed transmission. The inability for the brain to reassess the signalling issues is a failure of networking connections. A psychosis has clouded the fluid transfer. The immune system has relapsed and turning on itself with little recourse to stop the wretched army. 

Yet it is also possible that the all-loving deity forgot to place a fail safe on the immune system. When the overhauling police force is loose on a tirade there is no stopping it. Autoimmune diseases are this massacre. Indeed there may be a fail safe that has yet to be discovered. Until then the crusade is inevitably fatal. In this vein, TMS is autoimmune in its own right. Similarly cancer spreads from immune ignorance. Instead of soldiers punishing civilians, it permits terrorists to enter the cockpit. The immune system is rogue in both cases. Sending false signals to the brain or allow falsities to reach the brain. In short, chronic pain is an immunological problem before it is a cognitive issue. If the brain is not seducing the immune system, instead on its own volition acting irregularly, the discrepancies permeate not from neurological issues but immunological imperfections. The neurological seduction may simply be a sci-fi relic manifested in classic cinema but the opposite is true as well. A skynet type situation, an AI gone wild with no way for humanity to stop its increasing control.  Diseases and chronic illness can be joined at the hip from a psychosis in the brain or in the immune system. There is little to be depressed about. In a sense, the immunological siege of the brain is itself a self destructive scheme. Chronic pain acts similarly in the psychotic behaviour rekindling in the mind’s deduced passion.      

The mind plays a pivotal role in the congregating and aggregating of information. Sending messages and informing the body of necessary adaptions. Yet in the face of somatic rebellion, the brain is negligible. It does its best countering the enemy. Raising an army with an inspiring sermon but the blockage of neural pathways only induces the psychosis. The mind is enslaved to the body’s devastation. Yet in a sense it is the false messaging or lack thereof that introduces the problematic cells. The mind is not innocent of the calamity befalling the self. Its own demise is a part of the neurological canon. Though currently overlooked may play a larger devilish role than previously considered. The brain’s false alarm bells and accidental messaging may be the creation of the destructive forces ripping the body from the inside out. A theory but plausible hypothesis in the psychotic epicentre of complex irritation. 

"Western Protection"

By: Jonathan Seidel

“It belongs in a museum”: Indiana Jones thievery and cultural respect (Baudrillard, 10)

The Indiana Jones franchise is one the most beloved trilogies (the fourth was a far cry from the originals). Yet there is a startling issue: Indy’s desire to trek to jungles and ancient ruins to find relics. These relics are to be confiscated and placed in a museum. Instead of hiding away they are to be on display. 

Indiana Jones is portrayed as the hero who attempts to do right by the ancients. For their heritage to not fall into the wrong hands. Even in the first film, traversing the cave for the crystal is to keep it away from greedy nazis. In the opening scene, the nazis have bought off the natives and gain an ally whether out of fear or greed. No matter the case, Indy’s goals are divergent from the native tribes. They desire a different future for their heritage. Indy opposes the sale intersecting the transaction. His solution is forceful kidnapping. Placing the sacred treasure in a museum is the safekeeping of this item. He knows best. The tribe’s vision of their own quest is of no consequence. Museum’s rule, ruins drool. The boobytrapped do not enter motto are ignored for the hunt. Goodhearted in the end but the invasive attitude is quite arrogant and self serving.

Some have critiqued Raiders as a movie with a protagonist that plays no part. Had Indy never existed, the outcome would be the same. The nazis would find the ark and then die. Defenders have pointed to examples of Indy’s aid to the nazis to find the ark and sending it off to a museum afterwards. If the former are correct then the nazis would’ve found it died and no witnesses would remain to find the arc. In the latter, Indy’s involvement directly leads to relocation of the arc. If Indy backed off the nazis would never have found the ark and died. Indy’s presence is either negligible or parcel for the wrong reasons. Either way Indy’s role is iconographic. His presence in the movies plays a double-edged sword. The protagonist is himself a grave robber on the side of justice. Faced off against the nazis, how could he ever be seen as a villain. It’s Harrison Ford’s cheeky smile and fabulous charm. To some degree he is a hero preserving  items. A twisted but endearing steal to save persona. Hell, rather a professor with a death wish than a bunch of nazis.

Presenting the nazis as the main antagonist automatically makes the protagonist a hero. The protagonist could be a serial killer and he would be liked more. It all about relativistic magnitude. Weighing which side is worse. Placing nazis on one side defeats almost any adversary. It is an unfair comparison. Had they been Americans or Brits maybe there may be some sympathy with more nuance. Yet the obvious metric is the good-evil binary. Indy is good and nazis bad. What is lost is that Indy’s work is only good insofar as it is better than the nazis. Star Wars, ironically another Harrison ford twist but at the same time not all ironic. Raiders was Lucas’ brainchild, the movie was published by Lucasfilm. Famously directed by Spielberg but co-written by Lucas. The same creation is prevalent in the former series (especially before the release of the prequels which provide excessive nuance). The empire is completely evil but are the Jedi completely good. Obi Wan’s mind tricks are okay on enemy soldiers and then moments later slices a hand off. Lying to Luke something that the devil incarnate Vader doesn’t do and destroying two death stars with petty villains aboard. Yet when placed against incarnate evil, they do not seem bad, actually pretty good.

Lucas’ two world class trilogies possess the binary good-evil conundrum. While it can be argued that he deviously placed these antics under the veil for those willing to recognise nuance, viewership did not feel the same. This speculation can be found especially in Vader’s terminology of the empire’s use. For god sake the rebels are rebelling against a strong system, one that finds peace and prosperity similar to the Roman Empire. This was demonstrated more and more in the prequels uncasing the Jedi flaws and failures. This was in the late 90s while the Indy movies were straight in the 80s. Indy’s problematic traits and morally grey soviets is brought out as well in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which came to theatres in the late 2000s. While nazis don’t really have a soft spot in anyone’s universe even if it is archeology. The simplistic absolutism creeps into the viewer’s conscious. Both Indy and nazis are looking for the same treasure for the same purpose. Both wish to utilise it but one is nazis and for weaponising the other to frame in a museum. Ambiguity is lacking for the protagonist as he against nazis or Vader. The protagonist cannot lose nor can the viewer see past the worst of the worst.

Audiences are blinded to any mishaps by Indy. It is only in the fourth movie where his elderly incompetence becomes more enshrined. He is no longer battling nazis so be nice to your kid. He turns into a dire conservative hanging onto his stubborn ways. Viewers either millennials with less hawkish intentions or mature principled distaste, misbehaviour is less tolerated. The director shapes the movie to the viewer’s cornea. Audience conclusion’s are predestined by the director. Star Wars as a clear test case paints Vader as evil and only with the prequels does his character seem a little more neutral. With the sequels and new shows such as the Mandalorian, his picture is even more grey. There is a shift from the spectacle of chaotic evil to lawful evil. The semiotic prose unveiled and the empire and or Indy’s adversary more down the middle. Yet the focus of good turns neutral stringently on the protagonist. Most of the damage is to colour the protagonist more than to standardise the enemy. The enemy is evil but the protagonist has his faults and they may be quite terrible. It is then the retroactive viewing that chronicles the hero’s journey. The hero is not only flawed but menacing. Sharper discolouration is mined and exposed.

How can nazis be overtaken? How can Indy ever be seen as problematic? The fiasco flop that was the fourth movie. As terrible as the movie was, Indy’s bad traits retroactively raised inquires into his past actions. Though it can easily be distinguished as a protagonist with growing pains in old age, there is subtle evidence to take a hard look at Indy’s past. The Indiana Jones franchise does not have the same chronology of villains as Star Wars. Nazis are always bad a Roman Empire type is fair. Yet this does not mean that his actions cannot be investigated in the same way Jedi actions were accosted. The latter were more abrasive in demeaning Jedi actions with the extended Disney enterprise. Still, it is even more necessary to scrutinise without feeding every detail. The prequels forced fans to analyse while the spin offs directly demand the analysis. Indiana Jones does not have that clout and thus the viewer must embark on such analysis. Deconstructing the classic 80s action flick style.

The second movie may even be a better version. While the gore is much darker than the other movies. Removing a man’s heart in a ritual sacrifice is darker than nazis. Yet despite the non-nazi antagonist, the villain is black and white. On the surface. He is a psychotic madmen out for world domination. Yet it may be Mola Ram who appears the most Vader like. Ram is the perfect character to mesh with Vader. Both appear super evil. Their dress and desire are supremely evil. He may not be a nazi but he is the archetype of a bad guy. Yet like Vader, what is overlooked is his words. Why is he doing this? What are his motives? Without the prequels for assistance, Vader’s words though twisted and flawed seek to bring peace and prosperity. His goal is not destruction but security. Yet his actions against the protagonist are devilish instead of a hero who lost his way. Good intentions even if wrongful execution. Ram is the same. His execution especially to the local poor citizens not so great thus Indy is the perfect Robin Hood retrieving the stones. His goal of slaughtering British evil. Yet listening to his line of reasoning is liberation. The British have invaded and continue to control. It is time they left by force. His words reduce his insanity to understandable even if extreme.        

To some degree, this is a gem laid out perfectly by Lucas and Spielberg. Stop looking at the film semantically, view it semiotically. It would be heavily ironic if Lucas added these flaws against the extremist tendencies of Spielberg’s nazi bias. Even if this is incidental, it more so portrays a larger political and moral issue prevalent in society. Whether it be plot genius or archaic beliefs it is well worth a deep dive. Indy’s actions are only asymmetric because the devil is opposite him. He is fighting the arch nemesis for the glory of colonialism. His model is salvaging the product they wish to weaponise. It is better to be in a museum than in the hands of evil. If evil is already en route to obtaining it, it is worth the risk to steal it back. Western protection or nazi pockets. In Ram’s case, his devilish actions must be stopped no matter his reasoning. His intentions clear to the attuned. A clear presentation of a neutral figure caught up in a wild mess. Once nazism is stripped, a greyish colour can be revealed. Indy is the hero who even in his mildest immorality is standing up against dangerous foes. His immorality offset by the villain’s ontology. He must emerge victorious. Their appearance and actions scandalous and must be stopped. Good must trump evil. 

Yet, this mindset predates nazis. His goal has little to do with nazi prevention. He doesn’t want them to obtain the piece but he also does not wish to leave the piece buried. The ark is still sent to safe keeping. He is not sending it so more nazis come looking but so it will be displayed in a museum. Museums are places of defence. They will preserve the lost art. Do not fret, this is for the best. Such motivation is a crucible for superiority. He demonstrates the same complex as the nazis albeit with less physical destructive consequences. It is better for the lost art to be in western reservations than in their safe boobytrapped sanctuary. He did not need to drink from the goblet for the grail. Once the nazi officer died from his poor choice, Indy needed to see it through. He needed to obtain the grail and bring it to a museum. It was perfectly safe where it was. A goddamn knight guarded the temple. If not for his interference in the first place, he wouldn’t have needed to enter the frame in the first place. The hunt for the prize was the foremost effort while neutralising the nazis was a secondary aspect. They did not know how to get there, only Indy did. Without him, the grail is safe and sound hoarded by an elderly knight.

Beyond Indy’s bad decisions and lacklustre motivation, his entire ideology rests on the supremacy of museums. They are mere spectacles for childish mystery. At best preserving visual knowledge, at worst profiteering off native belongings. A scene in Black Panther makes this point clear when Killmonger questions  the host where they received the weapon from. Chastising them for stealing native resources for personal gain. Even if it is all in good faith, it does not make it right. It only extends the colonial mantel further. No control over the current regime but control over heritage. Grabbing their entire tradition by its balls and laughing in their faces. A neo-colonialist motive. A Foucauldian power struggle. The shift is from the body to the soul. From the control of labour to the control of the treasure. Treasure fit to the cultural linguistic phantom of hermeneutical association. A record of the mythos stripped away forcefully for the sake of “care”.  Child services removing a perfectly sanctioned child from their home due to parental disagreements with the state. Snatching because it is for the best.

From the western mind, sympathy rages in the mind. Look at us preserving their stuff. They hide it in a boobytrapped chamber, we will bring it to a safe location in our land. The boobytraps are ineffective. Our museum is way more powerful. Apparently, a glass case is more heavily fortified than a dark cave with poisonous darts shooting at any misstep. Even if there is a hint of empathetic affection for the natives, it considerably reduced in the face of nazis. If the natives are working with the nazis then so be it. They have aligned themselves with evil and thus savages with savages equals zero sympathy. They must be protected from themselves. Only the west can protect their heritage. They are children with little concern over heritage security. Mommy museum must preserve it thousands of miles away from its original site to ensure nobody tampers with it. Its long hidden safety is no longer true. Westerners know of its existence. The hunt is on. We must stop plunderers, our own flesh and blood. Beating them to the punch. It is better since our goal is not to keep it for personal gain but to display to the world. It is all in your best interest. We are publicising your heritage abroad. People will know of your existence and you will be remembered. Take our word for it.   

Principally, is Indy’s quest honourable? Are museums the better fit? Indy reminds of democratic promises. Good intentions awful execution. It emerges from a place of power and comfort. What can I do to you. Either because I am trying to make up for past wrongdoing to you or to someone else through you. I have the vestiges to secure your most prized possession. Just trust me. I am doing you a favour. It seems like a good gesture but it also comes off pathological. It is demeaning forcing a plea of aid, instead of truly asking what they wish. Believing this unilateral thinking is the better fit. This is a classic trope by wealthy who wish to do right by the poor or politicians by their people. I live in a mansion, how about I insert myself into your life to make it better. Don’t worry, this will help you, you don’t understand. Do not decline this offer, this is of my own patronage. There is no leaving it, this is happening. I need to make this up. Take it, just take it. Do not refuse accept wholeheartedly. Do not make me regret this. Do not upset me for trying to help. This is my atonement here. Not the fondest of smiles received. Feel more controlled into sympathising with an enemy who is simply burdening with a potential aid more than actually assisting.

The question of museums is the better version of the ark locked up somewhere among other treasures. Sitting boxed up away in a large storage facility never seeing the light of day. This is endorsed as a better security option but again steals the very essence of the native’s heritage. Better security is not better for the people. Yet the museum option at least displays them for all woes. Publicising the people’s memory. While the public accepts this as normative, it does not mean that the victims are not disgraced. The educational effort seeks to undermine the harm caused. Especially since many of the items in possession were outwardly stolen in colonial might. Years later it is about preservation but prior it was a glory ride. Championing the vessels of the temple back to Rome. While most are ignorant to the treasure accumulation, the museum is itself a boasting of colonial might. It is publicising the spoils of war. This was the nazi goal of erecting a Jewish museum. To publicise the Jewish demise. Educational but also sadistic. To believe western museums are any different is to believe in the false liberty. Why haven’t these items been returned? Much of Jewish art stolen during the holocaust is in museums with no concern to return to rightful owners. Legal battles waged with the museum defending itself. It is private property not personal profiteering.

There is a certain level of good museums do but the action itself even if unintentional is malicious. It preserves other’s items against their will. Unable to be claimed, for the public. Yet for the western public. To laugh at the zoo animals. To look at the relics of a bygone people but the people are still living. The education is a lie. These natives still exist and deserve their treasures. Treasures stolen from them. The display is educational insofar as it exploits the former owners. Whether it be the most prized treasure or part of their heritage. The state’s ownership seems to be undermining that effort. It is a scorn on the natives. They cannot own their own heritage. It is not theirs anymore. Globalisation means we all share. Except if we’re in a western country than its private. Your treasure though is for all. Colonial advertisement persists. There is much to learn and museums do provide that outlet but forcefully holding these native relics is an attempt to consolidate power. A way of encoding a monopoly on artefacts. It is great to look at artefacts of old but placing them in western museums is clearly a motion of supremacy than in a native museum. Museums would be fine if they presented replicas. If the entire purpose was to present images. A visual learning exercise but they do not. They provide the real thing, a notorious measure of safeguarding and safekeeping. 

If they were replicas, would people come? The spectacle is in the real thing. Marvelling at a bygone past. A conquered civilisation with only artefacts to speak for it. A heritage cut short. It is the west’s best interest to preserve this ancient knowledge. A spectacle to learn of history from western thinking. Provide an education based on a specific type of thinking. Western academic studies leading in the field of facts. Westerners with the artefacts have sole custody to test. Egyptian myths have little say in the truth because the west has a strong history with translating properly. The western professional is an outsider who has little relevance to the object or its history. It portrayed as a final product for the public to see. Look at our find and its conclusions. Thankfully monuments remain in place, too heavy to move and accepted as native land. Structures are left to the imagination. Movable items are stashed away. Isn’t it better if it is displayed in glass case for millions to see than a grave robber pawning it off for millions. More security could be placed on site but hey trust our intentions. Though replicas could also be pawned off as the real thing. For visualisation purposes in the educational forum, the imaginary is as real as it gets. It also then permits an honest telling of the story without the real thing. A forgery pawned as the real for educational purposes. Now that is good intentions with good execution. Being bad for good reasons. 

A westerner’s perspective does not acknowledge the turbulent nemesis of enslaving the item. Killmonger’s assertion is met with confusion and defensiveness. There was no ill intent. Watered down colonialism is not easily recognisable. A museum is recreating the past in the present. Preserving the old in the new. It is a gracious attempt to the natives. Yet this is all and well until a native shows up asking for his stuff back. Even if no native demands his stuff back, the idea of displaying these relics exploits the treasured past. The item is far from home encased in a box for public admiration. It is the concern of the west not the natives. They did not ask to be publicised. It is selfish in the interest of the west’s monopolisation. It isn’t democracy its exploitation. Indy’s role while well-intentioned falls prey to colonial desire. Put in a museum is the opposite of where it should be. It should be in its original location. It should be protected by those who sealed it away. To be encased by foreigners is to be stolen but to be encased by natives is to be protected. Same action different objective. Even if the foreigner’s goal is to preserve it, it does not result in the same perception. Protecting someone else’s item without their permission is stealing. The rational faculty must let go of preconceived empathy for respectful distance. The best way to atone for past mistakes is to stop intervening.

Museum issues find a comparable difficulty in zoos. Just as there are bad museums, there are bad zoos. Zoos purport to protect animals. Endangered animals are defended against poachers and hunters. Koalas are salvaged despite their demise from natural selection. The wild is a scary place so zoos are the protecters. Yet at the same time they are horrible places. Used for education more than habitat. Animals outside their habitat are cruelly malnourished. Items do not have the emotional sanctum animals have. An item out of place does not harm the item insofar as it the item cannot be erased to dust by sunlight. There is dangerous exposure. Some items are stored under technological lenses to ensure its perpetuity. An item on life support presumably safe in its ancient hideout but once exposed now at risk of ceasing. Despite the promised hope, the spectacle of the animal outside its habitat overtakes the animal’s need for independence. To be free in the wild similar to an item free in its native underground tunnel. The viewers are entrenched in a trance of up close foreign entities. Objects only seen in movies are life-sized opposite the observer. A menacing spectacle but one with devious overlayed reassurance. Both are just protecters against the evil world, let the west secure for the best.

There are case of museums that are necessary. Groups that do die out are preserved in museums. Fossils are placed together to reimagine dinosaurs. There is a difference between keeping a culture on life support versus keeping a sacred item from the promised people. Dinosaur museums and holocaust museums attempt to kindle the fire that has since begun to exhume. Art and history museums are not problematic insofar as they provide educational visualisation. The problem is the prioritisation of retaining other’s works. Believing to be a superior preserver of the ancestral legacy. There is a clear difference with the goal. The spectacle will persist. Replicas seemingly undermine the overall goal for the former. It is not all bad but there is a level of recognising the origin of theft in many cases. How did the museum come to occupy a specific item. Was it excavated? Was it donated? Or was it stolen? The intent matters to reconcile the nature of the item’s necessary linkage to the culture it belongs to.   

Indy’s quests are captivating. A protagonist with an outlaw attitude. A selfish selfless individual. A soloist capable of taking down nazis. A real Han Salo. Finding secret gems hidden from society does grab the reader into the journey. The hero’s journey envelops the reader in stories of unknown and yearning. Yet it is this quest itself that should be questioned. Is his motive understandable or is it simply symbolic of western well intentioned overstepping. It is important for the west and ol goody professor Jones to rethink his investment. Is his search a personal crusade that affects others negatively? Is it a passion with a negative result? It is all in good faith but that doesn’t mean that it ought to be executed. Beyond the potential good, the Indy series takes cultural items for the western canon instead of leaving it to the natives, a harsh divergence from the life support attention.