What if?

What if there were no letters. If there were no letters, there would be no alphabet. If there was no alphabet, there would be no words. If there were no words, there would be no sentences. If there were no sentences, there would be -from our present perspective- no intelligent form of communication.

Or would our communication be intelligent? Without words we could use sounds and motions to classify things. This may require even more intellect than when using words. Separating sounds and motions, and we think we have it hard. How do we even think?

But what if there was no way to classify things at all? Without a form of classifying things, there would be no communication. Without communication, there would be no sound.

Well there would be sound but only to the extent of a dish dropping.

Would there even be such things as dishes? Without communication how would we even know what a dish is? Or how to make one? How would we even know that it is needed to hold our food?

How would we even know what food is? How would we even know that we need to eat? How would we know if we don't eat we will die?

How would we know that food can prevent death? How would we know what death is? I wouldn't even be able to call it death because we wouldn't be able to communicate or even have words.

If one were to die, how would we know how to make another? With out another the existing ones would die off. If the existing ones die off, eventually there will be no more people. If there are no more people, then there will be nothing. Or at least not to our knowledge because we won't even have knowledge. We won't even exist to have knowledge.

But... how was there anything in the first place? How did we learn to make another? How did we discover death? How did we learn that we need to eat to stray from death? How did we produce dishes? How did the sound of things, such as dishes, dropping expand into different sounds? How did the sounds in turn, develop into communication? How did we come up with communication? How did we classify this? How did we develop words to classify? How did we connect our communication and classifications together to create words, language, an alphabet... letters? What are letters?

Language is so vital to our lives. We most likely would not exist without it. You may take this as just a ramble or non-sense but is it really? Think about how it all links together. Think about each chain effect. Think for yourself. Just remember, how are you able to read this and think about it?

Mom, Who's Johnny and Why Is He At Our Door?

Horror fiction, it can be traced all the way back to the 18th century. This genre has been apart of our world for a very long time. Topics such as murder/death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic have been a guilty pleasure of humanity. From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to James Wan's The Conjuring, the horror themes seem to thrill or scar their viewers. Have you ever wondered why this is? Why is it that, as humans, we enjoy watching murders, exorcisms, and hauntings?

Horror has been derived from folklore and religious traditions throughout history. It can be traced back to 'The Castle of Otranto' and subtitled 'A Gothic story' by the English author Horace Walpole in 1764. This led to a gothic horror genre that contained both horror and romance. Horror has existed in books, movies, music, and daily life ever since.

So... why horror? Why do some of us, even those who are mentally sane, enjoy these horrifying stories? Why did Paranormal Activity 3 gather a big $54 million in the box office? (The most ever for a horror film). Studies show that people view horror for the thrill, not because they're afraid. In other speculations, it has been said that audiences endure the horror simply for the euphoric sense of relief they feel at the end. However, authors Eduardo Andrade (University of California, Berkeley) and Joel B. Cohen (University of Florida) argue that humans experience positive and negative emotions simultaneously. The feelings of thrill, relief, and fear would be occurring throughout the whole encounter with this form of story, not just at the end. Opinions vary and studies change. We may never truly know exactly why Chuckie is our Friday night flick, we are all different. Some view horror to criticize a book or a film, some do it because they lead ordinary lives, and some figure they can get a cheap thrill that won't be detrimental... but is that true?

Think about a world without horror. Halloween would be filled with kids dressing up as dumb, corny, super heros with all treat and no trick. Books would be filled with sappy love stories. Boys wouldn't have an excuse to put their arms around scared girls at the movies on their first date. There would be no thrills and chills in orchestras. Would there be as many fears and phobias? How about crime? Does horror inspire murderers? Maybe The Texas Chainsaw Massacre invokes a crazy inside us all. Without this genre, the freaks of nature would not have an order. Maybe the world would keep turning just fine.

It is interesting that such themes appeal to the mentally stable, or anyone for that matter. We can experience fear, thrill, excitement, and even joy while encountering evil or death. Horror sends us on a roller coaster of feelings, and after it all we're still together. There's a reason society has kept this type of literature around for hundreds of years. Our minds love it for different reasons. Mike Meyers going on a killing spree may be crazy but then again so is traveling through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest to find your dad.