Anonymous (139)

Excrement by any other name.....
That is the best, most succinct way I know to describe this book.
I realize that most people will want specifics, so I will provide details from throughout the book to prove that I have actually read it all.
This is, without doubt, the most completely deranged, incoherent, mean spirited, anti-everything, lousy excuse for a book that I have ever read! That's saying something considering the many, many books I have read over the last forty years!
The entire show more book appears to be an emotional, “stream of consciousness” tirade about all that this individual thinks is wrong with all of Western Civilization. Apparently no effort was expended to edit for content. There are paragraphs that have nothing to do with the stated subject of the chapter or section. There are seemingly endless inaccuracies, both factual and historical that are simply inexcusable. There is no logical sequence of topics.
It is no wonder the author published under “Anonymous”. As usual with people with this type of world view, they have no courage of their convictions. They can't defend their viewpoint because it is truly indefensible. They depend on us giving them a pass out of a misguided sense of “tolerance”. They demand that we “respect” their viewpoint, while refusing to give us any “respect” in return!
At first, I was appalled and even offended by the gross disregard for the truth, but then I discovered that the book can be highly entertaining because I found myself laughing almost hysterically at times at the authors complete divorcement from reality.
If you want to be surprised by the ludicrous hilarity of the book, you will want to stop reading this review now. If you don't suffer fools gladly, you will definitely NOT want to read this book!
I am going to address things, mostly, in the order they are found in the book, therefore the following appears completely random.
The quotes I am using are in Italics. The portion of the quote I'm emphasizing is in bold
The author has the temerity to begin the book with this statement:
“All of my life, people have commented on my ability to see things holistically: to look at the big picture; to put the puzzle together; to see how things interrelate.”
All through the book you will see “PEOC”. It stands for (Person of European-Originated Culture). The author hates our culture to the extent that the statement “There is no “right” in PEOC culture.” is actually made.
I quickly became sick and and tired of the authors endless use of “indigenous people” this, that and the other thing. Apparently, the author believes that these “indigenous people” were somehow perfect, they had no diseases, no crime, no problems! Never any proof offered, just these wild assertions!
Possibly my favorite bit of madness is the one about gravity although the shape-shifting is right up there. You'll have to read it yourself. The following are all verbatim quotes:
“All of our natural laws are cultural beliefs, not reality.”
Apparently, there are “indigenous” people that can throw a rock up in the air and it won't come back down???
“Gravity and other natural laws are culture-specific phenomena, just like human nature; they are not universal laws. They apply only to those who do not see reality. Indigenous peoples of the world know this. They do and see things outside of our natural laws all the time. Shape shifting is a classic example. This is practiced by indigenous peoples I know of on two continents (and no doubt by many other cultures around the world). It is scientifically impossible according to the immutable laws of physics, and therefore cannot be done; and yet, people do it. Yet science holds that it does not happen because it is scientifically impossible. So people in our culture believe it does not happen – even though it does happen. PEOCs don’t believe what is not a part of our culture, and shape shifting is not a part of our culture. If someone in our culture does hear about shape shifting, they assume it’s just a myth, or that the people relating the story are too stupid to know what they saw, or someone fooled them, or they had a hallucination…”
“...if a PEOC sees a figurine which is half human and half animal, they may assume it is a god because, as far as PEOCs are concerned, shape shifting is impossible. But cultures around the world practice shape shifting, so the basis of their reasoning is faulty.”
I don't think this author has a clue about reality! Check this out:
“If I see a bird and say, 'I am one entity, and that bird is a separate entity,' then I am correct, and this culture can understand that. But if I see a bird and say, 'I am the same entity as that bird,' I am also correct, and this culture cannot understand. It is scientifically impossible, but it is reality.”
More wild assertion, never any facts.
“Scientists believe plants (and “lower” animals) cannot feel emotions, because, according to science, it is our brains which give us emotions: Plants do not have our brains; therefore, they cannot feel emotions. This is how poorly they understand the plants after cutting off their branches and tearing off their leaves. Their reasoning is faulty on multiple levels, but you can see that it is based on the same man-as-top-of-the-evolutionary-chain that controls all scientific thinking. More importantly, their fact is wrong, because plants can feel emotions. Not that it would matter to scientists if they suddenly realized that plants can feel physical pain and emotions. They have granted certain animals the ability to feel physical pain, and a select few the ability to feel emotions, but it doesn’t stop them from torturing these animals in scientific experiments. The truth: Torturing an animal – or a plant – would not be okay, even if it did lead to truth or knowledge – which it never does and obviously never can – but their tunnel vision prevents them from seeing the obvious.”
“...plants and animals also have spirits and are not below humans.”


The section on Christianity is so bad that I am not going to even bother to say anything except that it is an extremely inaccurate tirade. It is historically inaccurate. The entire concept of Christianity in obviously NOT understood at all by the author. I am a Christian and I have known a lot of Christians from a lot of denomination and I have never met any that were like this author asserts that ALL Christians are like. As you will find through this whole book, the author makes wild, sweeping generalizations, focuses only on the negative aspects of everything and twists and distorts everything to force it to line up with their delusional view of the world!
In other parts of the book outside of the section deriding Christianity you will find things like the
following:
“It’s funny that Christians claim more moral authority from a 2000-year-old text whose meaning has changed repeatedly and which has, at times, been deliberately revised to serve someone’s purposes (such as King James) than they would grant to a religion in which each person has to directly make a connection with the Creator. Personally, I’d be more inclined to credit the first-hand knowledge; our culture wants it in writing.”
Obviously, the author never bothered to actually meet any Christians to get an account of “first-hand
knowledge”.
Look at this interesting display of ignorance:
“PEOCs never were a culture which lived the highest ideals anymore than Christianity was ever anything but a tool of dominance and destruction.”
True Christianity has always been a personal relationship with God. It has never been about being “a tool of dominance and destruction” as asserted by this author.
Here is a very amusing statement.
“...being able to write it down does not necessarily lead to being able to keep it all straight.”
Ya think? Nobody demonstrates this better than this author!
History is derided, as everything else is.
“Anyone who argues that it’s important to study artifacts in an effort to understand history is either deluded, or foolish, or both. There is no effort in our culture to truly understand history. It is a false field, like every other field of study in this culture...”
I did not know this, before reading this book!
“...working 20 hours of overtime each week so they can afford payments for the “sexy car” (apparently some people have sex with cars)... ”
As usual, crazy statements with no proof, but of course if you blame it all on George W. Bush and his supporters you can say anything no matter how deranged!
“In fact, if PEOCs would just stay out of everyone’s business and stop helping, the whole world would be a lot better off. We sure helped the Iraqis out of food and water; we helped them get rid of that pesky, clean desert, by polluting it with tons of our radioactive waste, and we helped increase their rate of birth defects and other illnesses. Even Kuwait (the country Iraq invaded, which led to the first U.S. war against Iraq) did not want our help. (For those who voted for George W. Bush because they are against abortion: Why was it okay for the U.S. to go into Iraq and bomb pregnant women, thereby causing deaths of fetuses? And why was it okay for the U.S. to use weapons made with spent plutonium, thereby causing deaths – and deformities – of fetuses? Is this one of those times when something which you claim is morally reprehensible is actually sometimes okay, when it’s your side that’s committing the act?)”
Spirituality is not the same as drug induced hallucinations and the worship of demons and the “spirits” of animals! But, of course, this author has not a clue what reality is!
“The traditional American Natives’ cultures had means to see truth. Surely not everyone took the ultimate spiritual path of the shaman, but the cultures were spiritual, as were the people. They were close to the reality of the world.”
Dodo birds in North America!!! That pretty much says it all, but please read this illuminating passage!
“Native Americans knew our roads and railroads were harming the wildlife and destroying their homes; they made a point of telling the colonizers repeatedly, so the colonizers knew, too; but the colonizers didn’t care. While the colonizers were killing off the dodo birds, I’m sure they noticed that dodos were becoming more and more rare, harder and harder to find. I’m sure they realized that soon the dodos would all be gone – but that didn’t stop them from killing them.”
The next quote concerns the wall we built between the USA & Mexico!!!
When did this happen???? Oh, wait, it didn't! Never mind, reality never slows down this author!
“Just think of the windfall for the contractors who have built that wall (at taxpayer expense). I’ll bet some contractors made heavy contributions to political campaigns in order to get in on the building of that wall. And the contracts, indeed, went to those contributors, because that’s how our great democracy works.”
There are several passages bashing the military but I thought this was interesting the way the author thinks that only the people that will join the military are people that have no better options. Tell that to my brother and all the others I know that have proudly served their country! They have sacrificed much and in many cases, “all” so that everyone, including this author, can have the freedom to deride everything they fought and even died for!
“Now look at our military. Many of the people in it are poor or disadvantaged, people who could see no other escape from the dreary lives they were destined to live in the land of the American dream than to join the military and hopefully get a better job than otherwise upon discharge.”
Personally, I think this explains a lot!
“anyone who has ever undergone electro shock therapy knows that it has permanent, detrimental effects. These detrimental effects don’t just disappear because it’s fish who are being tortured instead of people.”
Another sweeping statement. Apparently, we somehow deliberately set out to destroy everything!
“...this culture looks like a huge, relentless, devouring monster that destroys everything it encounters and then congratulates itself on its virtue and superiority. There is nothing benign in our culture; our destruction isn’t accidental:”
It is quite apparent that the author has never been on a farm. There is no way any animal could die and lay there for a month before anyone noticed! Farmers are NOT "immensely cruel to animals” for a whole variety of reasons that I don't have time to go into here.
“...Factory farms came into being as a solution to produce more meat more cheaply – and basically to make their owners richer. They are immensely cruel to animals; create unsafe, diseased meat (how do you like eating an animal that’s been sick its whole life?);...”
“Our modern cities also have their share of dead animals. In nature, these bodies could go back to the Earth; in city places, they often become a stain on the pavement. If it’s a dead dog or cat, someone will probably collect it after a few days to put into pet food (because that’s what goes into the “nutritionally balanced” and “scientifically formulated” products you feed your pets: road kill that’s been lying around for 2 weeks; factory farm animals that died and laid in animal feces for a month before anyone noticed; pets who have been put to sleep, together with their collars and the chemicals used to kill them – real healthy) .”
Finally, a statement that is true: “I don't have the answer.”
“What is the answer? I don’t have the answer, but I know that, if we have a future, it lies in the past of indigenous peoples; it doesn’t lie in PEOC culture.”
I can only surmise that the solution to all that is wrong in this world is to abolish all technology and
live in mud huts, wearing no clothes and eating bugs and fruits and seeds. Oops, I think I got a little PEOC there. The bugs have feelings and spirits so obviously we should not eat them. The mud huts are most likely a no-no too because Mother Earth might be offended or hurt in some way by our rudely scraping up mud to arrogantly reform it to our purpose!
Even our names are a terrible thing according this author as follows:
“Look at the difference in names in different cultures. In ours, people choose a name for their child because it sounds pretty or because it sounds good with the child’s last name. I know the name Matthew comes from the Bible, but the word matthew doesn’t mean anything and says nothing about the person. So our first names and our last names are just a way to identify us apart from everyone else, and, perhaps, to keep track of our descendents. In Native American cultures, their very names mean something, so someone has a name such as Woman-Who-Runs-with-the-Deer or Man-Who-Speaks-to-the-Wind, instead of Susan or Bob.”
This is so ignorant that it almost does not deserve comment except to reiterate the fact that the author endlessly make statements that are blatantly false. It took me only seconds to locate the meaning of the name Matthew as follows: Matthew, as a boy's name, is pronounced MATH-yoo. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Matthew is "gift of God".
Apparently, the author is hypocritically exhibiting “PEOC” disregard for Jewish culture!
Aside from the amusement I derived, and I'm sure the author does not intend it to be amusing, this book has no redeeming value! I want those precious hours of my life back that I wasted on this drivel!!! This author needs to quit writing until they have been on a Thorazine drip!
My recommendation is to not bother wasting your time reading this awful offal! show less

Look for Our Mother and Our Father is probably the most eye opening, honest and critical book I have ever read. The author, Anonymous (I'll get into this a little bit later) leaves not a single part of our "culture" alone. The author rips to shreds every bit of our history and modern life and exposes the bare truth of our society. Not a single topic is safe: religion, history, science, progress, environmentalists, politicians, war, technology. Everything that our society has created is show more bashed to the beginning of it's own demise.

I loved it. Every bit of this book I enjoyed. The reason it took me so long to finish (for me anyway) is simply because I was constantly lost in thought. I'd read what the author said, the points they expressed and have to stop for awhile to process and put their words into perspective to my life.

The author classifies the people of this world into two categories: Indigenous (any type of nation or people that was not hell bent and determined to destroy the Earth and instead were colonized) and PEOC's (Person of European-Originated Culture). I am a PEOC and my family are PEOC's.

I will not jump into the exact nature of the author's words but give you the simple message that I got from reading this work: Our entire planet and way of life was fucked when we began to think "What if" or "I wonder". As soon as those who sought more than what was provided we were doomed to "progress" towards destruction and domination.

I was enthralled with the author's ability to dissimulate the myths that built our "free" society and how in truth this world has been built on one genocidal act or another. It made me think of the life I lead now, and the life that my daughter has before her. I didn't like the pictures of the present or the future I saw. Yet I saw no way of fixing it, at least none that are in my power.

The power to start fresh lies with our Mother (Earth) and our Father (God). Look around you at any news channel or weather network and tell me they haven't already begun.

I have one critical point of this book and that's the author's choice to remain anonymous. They have asked myself and others to read this book and review it; putting us in the limelight to disagree or agree with their points. Yet they hide behind a false identity protecting themselves from the same world they want to change. If you're going to put into words the view of the world as you see it then you better have the cojones to stand up and claim those same words.

For those of you looking for an eye opening read, or a new perspective on the world as we know it I heartily recommend this book. For those looking for a pulpit to stand behind (pick your poison: science, religion or politics) I tell you now to move past this book, it'll only piss you off. show less

For years I have tried to express to people that we are slaves to our "cultural lense." We are products of our environments and only with the proper knowledge and acceptance may we truly break free and be who the universe intended us to be. This book captures the essence of this message profoundly. For years I have struggled to break free of the chains that modern culture restrains me with. I find it extremely hard to seperate what I want and what culture wants. Most of my friends and family show more don't struggle with this issue at all...they simply exist by the cultural laws that have been in places for centuries. This book causes you to reexamine everything you know. It forces you to look past your cultural lense and concentrate on existing only as you were truly intended to exist. show less

Surely you've heard that worn old adage, "You can't judge a book by it's cover."Well, you can't always judge a book by the title, either. "Look for Our Mother and Our Father," is just one of those books -- one that deserves deeper reading and reflection. This book is about culture and is filled with not-quite random musings by a writer who chooses to be "anonymous." The tone of the book is some kind of cross between academic examination and op-ed apologetics. Of all the ideas in the book show more that have given me pause, one is the most puzzling --why the author would choose to take the pen name "Anonymous." Is it fear, shame, or a misguided false humility? Perhaps it is all three.
I don't always pore over introductions to books, usually preferring to poke around in between pages to sink my teeth into what is almost always a tastier aspect of the text. This time, however, I lingered slowly in the introduction, pondering as I went. As I did, I felt great sadness, and pity for the writer who seems to have so little confidence in the power of their own words and such little pride in their giftedness as a writer that the book must begin with the equivalent of a black-box warning. He (or she) says, "Here is my holistic look at our culture..." and "these essays are not an argument." Holism connotes euphony and peace, yet the tone of the introduction is jarringly negative. And, in the literary sense, essays ARE arguments--at minimum they should demonstrate some cogent thesis statements. The essays in this book generally do. But, the tone of the introduction is not so much instructive as it is defensive--in a somewhat immature and subliminally arrogant way. The author says "either the essays reach you, or they don't." Perhaps that declaration is offered as an astute observation of the obvious. Why does that need to be explicitly stated? Can't the author trust the reader to reach his or her own conclusions? Perhaps trust (or lack thereof) is a subliminal issue that drove creation of the text -- an embittered expose' on the errors and horrors perpetrated in the world by "Persons of European-Originated Culture" (a title designated by the author). This much I have discerned from my reading of the book-- the author is in emotional and spiritual pain. The book is a rambling catharsis which appears to have emerged from deep within the writer's soul, the word processor upon which it was created likened to the psychiatrist's couch. Pain--genuine social pain-- pours forth from each essay (even though, at times it presents more like gratuitous whining).
Perhaps the most painful chapter of all -- from both author and reader sides of the page-- is the chapter on Christianity. It's a typical rehearsal of the secular litany of the many sundry evils perpetrated by Christians against non-Christians over the centuries. That particular essay is wounding to me as a reader, not because I am a Christian, but because someone identfied as a Christian is guilty of such crimes. As a Christian, I have a duty to love, so I do not become offended easily. But I can feel others' pain easily, because of the Christ-inspired capacity to love. And in the grand scheme of things, there is often little I can do the erase another's pain--especially in a case like this. But I can offer two things: an honest explanation and a heart-felt apology.
First, on behalf of all Christians everywhere, past, present and future, living and dead, I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT LIVING UP TO THE CHRIST-ORDAINED IDEAL TO LOVE MY NEIGHBOR AS MYSELF. I APOLOGIZE FOR HURTING YOU, ESPECIALLY IF THAT HURTING MEANS THAT I HAVE HURT YOU IN THE NAME OF GOD, WHOSE NAME IS ALSO "LOVE." I cannot fix the situation or remove the harm that has been done. I can only ask for the grace of forgiveness and offer mine as well.
That was the apology.
Now for the explanation. Human beings are NOT PERFECT! No matter, the race, the color, the creed. There has been only one perfect human being -- The God-Man, Jesus the Christ. (And, for that belief, I cannot apologize.) Christianity is a group of well-meaning bumbling believers who are doing the best they can to get to back to God the Father in Heaven. We blow it-- lots of times. But so do other people. Don't judge the value of Jesus by how well we imitate Him! If everyone of us in this world lived up to what He expects from each of us, we'd have utopia. But we live in a fallen broken world where hurting people hurt other people in return. We're not supposed to do that, but we do. We can't help it. We're human.
Although I deeply regret that improprerly practiced Christianity (by myself or others) has caused my fellow human beings pain,I don't regret the chastisement that comes from outsiders. Honest and fair critique of our shortcomings can be like tonic to our souls. I'm not sorry for having read the book "Look for our Mother and Our Father." It's clearly not what I had expected (I thought it would be more "mainstream spirituality" or more scholarly, and certainly not "anti-Christian"). Had I not read it, I would not have had this opportunity to seriously reflect on my own faith, and to send this proverbial olive branch of peace back to the author of this intensely provocative book. Thank you for providing the book. I have appreciated the opportunity to read it. show less