Bioshock

Bioshock does what its name states.  It shocks us with a twisted, warped version of life - bio - through a science-fiction, steampunk lens.  It takes things we value you, like infanthood and parenthood, and warps it by giving us a woman singing a lullaby to a handgun in a stroller.  It gives us what-if scenarios, like what would happen if objectivism was to be made into the government of a city, or what would the US look like if racism hadn't been abolished.  You watch yourself descend into moral depravity to stop the moral depravity of another man.  What's the difference? 

Spoilers, y'all.  

No, seriously.  I'm gonna spoil the whole damn thing.  Stop reading and go play.  

If you aren't gonna play, then don't bother reading either.  Instead, go play anyways.  

I read an interesting article that was pointing out the similarities between Bioshock 1 and rapture with Bioshock: Infinite and Columbia - which, of course, makes sense, since the whole multiverse theory sets up for the two to be intertwined.  What the article noted was that the main character in Bioshock 1 is a clone of Andrew Ryan, and in Infinite, you are literally the same person as Comstock. 

I find it interesting that this theory pervades the Bioshock franchise (full disclosure - I never played Bioshock II).  One of the distinct things about 1 and Infinite, though, is the extreme violence going on.  You are forced, in order to stop the depraved acts of a psychopath, to perform depraved acts of psychopathy, against a character who is literally yourself.  Talk about subjectivism.  In Bioshock 1, it's easier to discern the line between good and evil - save the little sisters, and you fall, marginally, on the high moral ground.  But in Infinite...ah.  There is no such distinction.  

It's a fun game.  The mechanics are pretty awesome.  But the story is where it is at.  There's nothing quite like listening to a choral version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" while your daughter drowns you.  It's heartbreaking. 

Cynicism

There are times when groupthink literally makes me sick to my stomach.  When I listen to honest, good intending people speak, and I feel my stomach turn in revulsion.  Facebook posts that are all hashtags.  Boy bands.  Christianese - especially christianese.  There is nothing inherently wrong with these things; I just don't like them.  But when I'm around them...I feel the need to detox.  And I detox with brutal metal.  I guess I feel like it gets the disgusting feeling of the inconsequential off of me.  I get sick of conversation that coats me like shrink wrap.

When I go to church, I go there for the theology.  But I still feel the need to wash the christian off of me with Dying Fetus or Cryptopsy.  Like bleeding a festering wound.

"There’s no guilt in mental illness because depression is a kind of cancer that attacks the mind. You don’t shame cancer, you treat cancer."

Pretty cool.  dat link

A prisoner's prayer.

A prisoner's prayer:

"I pray where I am, sitting by the window, looking out through the curtain at the empty garden.  I don't even close my eyes.  Out there or inside my head, it's an equal darkness.  or light.

My God.  Who Art in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within.

I wish you would tell me Your Name, the real one I mean.  But You will do as well as anything.

I wish I knew what You were up to.  But whatever it is, help me to get through it, please.  Though maybe it's not Your doing; I don't believe for an instant that what's going on out there is what You meant.

I have enough daily bread, so I won't waste time on that.  It isn't the main problem.  The problem is getting it down without choking on it.

Now we come to forgiveness.  Don't worry about forgiving me right now.  There are more importance things.  For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe.  Don't le them suffer too much.  If they have to die, let it be fast.  You might even provide a Heaven for them.  We need You for that.  hell we can make for ourselves.

I suppose I should say I forgive whoever did this, and whatever they're doing now.  I'll try, but it isn't easy.

Temptation comes next.  At the Center, temptation was anything much more than eating and sleeping.  Knowing was a temptation.  What you don't know won't tempt you, Aunt Lydia used to say.

Maybe I don't really want to know what's going on.  Maybe I'd rather not know.  Maybe I couldn't bear to know.  The Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge.

I think about the chandelier too much, though it's gone now.  But you could use a hook, in the closet.  I've considered the possibilities.  All you'd have to do, after attaching yourself, would be to lean your weight forward and not fight.

Deliver us from evil.

Then there's Kingdom, power, and glory.  It takes a lot to believe in those right now.  But I'll try anyways.  In Hope, as they say on the gravestones.

You must feel pretty ripped off.  I guess it's not the first time.

If I were You, I'd be fed up.  I'd be really sick of it.  I guess that's the difference between us.

I feel very unreal, talking to You like this.  I feel as if I'm talking to a wall.  I wish You'd answer.  I feel so alone.

All alone by the telephone.  Except I can't use the telephone.  And if I could, who could I call?

Oh God.  It's no joke.  Oh God oh God.  How can I keep on living?"

- The Handmaid's Tale