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Mass Tourism Needs to Die

September 16, 2024

Society

capitalism, ignorance, social masses, social media, society

Greece has many beautiful places, and though I’m Greek and I spent the first 20 or so years of my life there, I of course haven’t visited its every corner. I recently spent a few days on Crete, and let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience. Mass tourism needs to die, yesterday!

You might have recently seen how Spanish citizens in Malaga and other places have protested mass tourism. If you live in any remotely touristy location – let alone a place like Rome, Paris, or Venice – you surely know first-hand how damaging mass tourism can be.

I was so affected by my own experiences – which I’ll talk about more in a while – that I decided to write this post. I was always against mass tourism, but now I am absolutely adamant: Mass tourism must die!

mass tourism needs to die. image of tourists in Louvre
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The Creative Lifestyle: Building Good Habits

September 2, 2024

Writing

creativity, society, writing

On a practical level, a lifestyle is a way of life, a set of habits and actions that guide one’s routine. Obviously, there are many methodological and even moral consequences. For example, a vegetarian lifestyle influences one’s choices of, say, food shopping, as well as their way of thinking about animals. Similarly, a creative lifestyle affects a person’s way of dealing – as well as thinking about – creative expressions.

Ultimately, a creative lifestyle is about building good habits: supporting a way of life that makes it easier to experience, find connections, and express them artistically.

I got inspiration for this post after I realized I’ve drawn more than 500 (at the time I write this text) Punning Walrus episodes in less than a year – starting basically from zero drawing skills. That means, on average, more than one per day. Some days I drew five or six, some days I didn’t draw any. This, too, is important as we’ll see.

Indeed, a creative lifestyle isn’t about being creative “no matter what”. Rather, it’s about including creativity as an integral part of your identity, resulting in creativity becoming not something you do but something you are.

creative lifestyle. image of a man running
As every runner will tell you, once you get into the mindset of running – once it becomes a lifestyle – you don’t see it as something you do; you see it as something you are. A creative lifestyle is no different.
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My (Somewhat) Revised Approach to Religion

August 26, 2024

Philosophy, Society

ignorance, knowledge, philosophy, society

Just to make this immediately clear: I am an atheist. I have revised nothing in terms of what I think regarding the existence of a supreme being. And because I consider the current evidence overwhelmingly against the existence of such a being, I do not accept theists’ rational explanations behind it, either. However, I have lately revised my approach to religion in terms of theists’ irrational acceptance.

Much more importantly, in my somewhat revised approach to religion I now place significant weight on such acceptance being a conscious choice.

I will explain all this in more detail in this post – I believe there is merit in establishing such contact lines for the benefit of society – but here’s the general gist: I don’t believe in a supreme being, and – with existing evidence – there’s nothing anyone can do to convince me. More still, if they believe from a rational perspective (“God made humans because how else, intelligent design, blah blah”), I’m entirely unimpressed.

However, if they say “I fully understand science is on the right track, a God doesn’t make sense, but I choose to believe anyway”, then they at least have my sympathy (even empathy, in this flawed life), and we can communicate.

revised approach to religion. image of an unimpressed cat
“There’s only one God, me…”
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