American society just gets stranger and stranger. CBS, UPN and NBC all recently refused to run an ad by the The United Church of Christ that promoted the message of tolerance and acceptance of gays and minorities.

The ad shows two white girls and a heterosexual couple being admitted to a church while minorities, a man in a wheelchair and two men holding hands are refused entry. The narrator then says “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we. No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Sounds like a wonderful message for a religion to promote., but CBS, didn’t see it that way, they said in a statement

“Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact that the Executive Branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.”

What?! This spot isn’t advocating opposition to Bush’s proposals — and even if it were, not so long ago it was still OK for American’s to hold different views than the government. This ad just says that their church won’t turn gays away at the door. Apparently a message of tolerance is too controversial for Americans these days.

I think by many rational standards the corporation is the dominant form of life on this planet.

In a sense, humans exist as a means as a way for our DNA to replicate itself. It’s that molecule that started it all and on a biological level it is for that molecule that we exist. Of course, that is only true in the most academic and superficial levels. We are complex beings and there are many things that concern us far more than simply propagating our DNA. We have outgrown our original, biological purpose. While we cannot survive without the thousands of species of bacteria that exist within us, we don’t live for them and think nothing of slaughtering them by the millions when we, say, take a drink of wine or brush our teeth.

The corporation as a legal entity originally existed for a clearly defined purpose and span of time. They have now taken on a life of their own. They outlive their creators, they pursue their own objectives that are often quite contradictory to those of the humans that supposedly comprise them.

Undoubtedly, lampreys think sharks exist solely for their benefit, and we like to think that we spend a third of our wakening hours in service to a corporation so that we can experience some direct benefit. And yet most signs of wealth and success in this world are based on how much money you can funnel back to some other corporation by means of consumption. We are an essential part of the ecosystem, but the corporation is at the top of the food chain.

In fact, if one accepts the idea that we exist to propagate DNA, then corporations own many life forms, including us. The US Patent Office is accepting patents on human gene sequences. Corporations now own the fundamental reason for our existence.

These are the kinds of thoughts that keep me off the management fast track

I talk about this in the last Tangled Webs. And a recent Wired article shows that only 3% of artists think P2P hurts their ability to protect their works.

Yes, I know he has always been a star, but now he has one. Godzilla was honored with his own star on the Hollywood walk of fame. The requisite photo-op showed some guy in a rubber Godzilla suit lowering his star into place. Grown men and women interviewed at the ceremony were quoted as saying things like “Godzilla is my hero.”

OK, now I realize that I don’t live in the same reality as everyone else, but in my reality, this really makes no sense — even for Hollywood.

Who are they actually “honoring” here? The star did not go to the creator of Godzilla or the guy who wore the rubber suit. (Apparently the same guy did it for decades.) or the writers or directors. It went to a fictional character. In fact, it turns out there are actually six other fictional characters so honored.

It seems the concepts of “hero” and “honor” have pretty much vanished.

In fact, I think they really should give a star to Frankenstein’s Monster. Frankenstein’s Monster (Frankenstein, by the way, was the monster’s human creator) was a creation that took on far more importance and fame than its maker and ultimately brought about his downfall. And in much the same way the Frankenstein’s Monster overshadows Frankenstein, they both overshadow Marry Shelly, the actual human being who created them both.

Fantasy has become more honorable than reality.