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Re: Aimee Mann's remarks in an interview that "it's hard to be a person"

      Aimee Mann remarked in an interview about her recent album Mental Illness that "it's hard to be a person," and she was speaking in regards to many people having a difficult time. A pastor at the church I was attending actually used the quote in his sermon in regards to the human condition and our need for a savior- the Lord Jesus. I obviously know that it's hard to be a person (and that Jesus saves), but on top of that everything is made harder if other persons won't let persons be themselves as who they are, or accept them as who they genuinely are. I wonder who would be interested in helping to write and ratify like a "Port Riga Statement" (title inspired by a blend of two other things- the Buddyrevelles song "Port Riga" from their first album September, November on Motorcoat Records, and the "Port Huron" statement by Students for a Democratic Society from the 1960's). The band members of the Buddyrevelles are my former/current personal friends/acquaintances, mind you.
    To explore potential ideas for this "Port Riga Statement," let's start by considering the literal city of Riga in the country of Latvia. The city has a wealth of beautiful and ornate architecture the type and kind that one finds in European cities that have older architecture and rich histories. Riga was occupied by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during WWII. The buildings erected by the Soviets in that city are representative of consequences of an obnoxious, secular, and anti-artistic worldview which denigrates the full potential of human beings and the societies in which we live. If humans are merely meant to be "cogs in the machine of an economy," and meant only for work, only for one occupation each, then all that people generally need in order to exist are adequate sleeping quarters and food rations. They would, after all, just be worker drones with no other point. Have a look sometime at the bleak and almost "clinical-looking" architecture introduced into the city by the Soviets. Compare it with the other architecture of the city that celebrates the full potential of humans as artists.
   The main points of this "Port Riga" statement, if I might steer this statement in its beginning phases, is that humans are complex and multi-faceted beings created in the image of God. As bearers of the image of God we might shine forth the light of truth and glorify God in any number of different ways and capacities. We have the God-given capacity for independent thinking and creativity, as well as for learning and for being able to follow instructions.Truth be told, any given person may have the capacity for artistry, self-expression, and may be able to learn more than one job occupation. Many people can be writers and musicians in addition to the work that they do as their main career occupation. From where comes the unwritten rule that people must only do one thing? Secondly, artists, writers, and musicians have the right to pursue those things as a career and as their "work," in fact. Anyone with a modicum of talent may do so.
   The sterile, antiseptic, secular, atheistic basis of psychiatry and psychology is a worldview that denies people of the possibility of being multi-faceted and complex, and even regards people as incapable of independent thought or new thinking. The proponents of that worldview must have to, after declaring that men are soul-less animals and not creations of God. With these types running the industry, it is no wonder many people under their reign have so much "trouble." I have commented elsewhere that I do realize there are believers working in the field of psychiatry and psychology. There is a problem, though, made demonstrable by the fact that modern psychiatry has its roots in behaviorism, a field whose pioneers were comprised of people with that type of vapid atheistic worldview. That is the worldview and approach that this "Port Riga Statement" would be written to counteract, as well as the wrongful mores and norms in thought that taint our culture that originate in the radical leftist ideologies that favor communism and socialism.
   While I agree with Aimee Mann that it is "hard to be a person," I do think that it is made harder when there are mores, conventions, and cultural norms not to our advantage, and that those things hinder people with potential, artistic or otherwise, beyond their first chosen career field, and hinder people who are only merely artists, writers, and musicians.
    I will take suggestions as to what the organization can be called that will help write and ratify the statement (just as Students for a Democratic Society helped write the Port Huron Statement). I recognize the "political manifesto" nature of this effort. I have always been in favor of reforming the system that we already have (not overthrowing obviously) and influencing cultural standards. Therefore, the group will sound something like some kind of people for a democratic society. I can start an official google group once we have a good name chosen.

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