"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

These are words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 22:21 about the relationship between God and earthly authority. The common interpretation is "pay your taxes". My interpretation is "divest yourself of that which renders you servile to men". Or as stated in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Why I bring this up is because of this news story where Netflix has recently decided to crackdown on password sharing as well as possibly adding commercials. I find it hilarious because I have a DVD player but no Netflix account. That means no commercials, no accounts or passwords, no monthly payments, no movies pulled arbitrarily. There is no indentured servitude.

Coming soon to Netflix

This is only a small part of my "rebellion" against technological modernization. I try to avoid subscription services when at all possible. It was part of the reason I chose to change my diet and lose weight rather than go on Accutane. It's why I refuse to get a smartphone or a new car. It's part of the reason I refuse all drug use. It's why I've become obsessed with gardening and growing my own food. It's all tied in together.

Freedom from technological modernity

You can serve tech corporations or you can serve yourself and, by extension, God. Being free from technological slavery is a wonderful feeling.

An alternative to drug prohibition

It's no secret that drug prohibition isn't exactly popular. Recently, though, an alternative has popped up. I came across a news article about a referendum in Switzerland. The referendum took place on February 13th and 57 percent of voters chose to place a near-total ban on tobacco advertising within Switzerland. Predictably the tobacco companies were not happy. But I think this is a fair compromise with the civil libertarians.

As an American I think it would behoove the Prohibition Party to include a similar proposal to their 2024 platform, only expand it to all drugs: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs. Currently only the United States and New Zealand allow marketing and advertising of pharmaceutical products directly to patients rather than health professionals. It's a process called direct-to-consumer advertising and it would not surprise me if it was at least partly responsible for the opioid crisis.

Alcohol advertising is rampant and lawless. This is a fake commercial from the animated TV show South Park but it is not much different from real world alcohol ads. Several countries such as Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Kenya, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka have varying bans on alcohol advertising in media and I feel that the U.S. should join them.

Photo of the week: The Failing of Society

    Stepping away from the Romanovs for this week to get back at what this blog was originally about: prohibition of drug use. While on my usual late night perusing of the internet I came across the following photo from Facebook:

    To me this photo and caption represent the failings of society. The very idea that a smorgasbord of drugs is the normal state of being is repugnant to me and the reason is twofold. One, every drug has side effects that are then 'treated' with other drugs causing more side effects with the overarching side effect being a windfall profit for pharma companies. Two, it's the lazy way out. Many conditions are treatable without pharma use. The two happiest days of my life are when my dad went cold turkey with alcohol and when my (former) dermatologist finally agreed to end my acne meds.

    As I passed the age of 25 and approached 30 I grew tired of fighting regular outbreaks of acne so I changed my diet, cut off processed foods, and lost weight. And my acne began to clear. So much that, after years of relentless shilling for Accutane, my dermatologist let my prescriptions lapse. (Not to mention the reduced grocery and medical bills.)

    And I've never been happier and never felt more free. I think it would do the world a great amount of justice to rein in the drug dealers known as pharma companies.