The Financial Meltdown: A Crisis of Faith?

So here we are, trapped in what appears to be a financial crisis of a global scale. Most of us are incapable of comprehending the causes, effects and scope of this crisis and we feel paralyzed by fear and incomprehension. We look to the government for help—but the government can only do so much. In the end, the crisis is our problem—the problem of everyone affected by it. It is up to us to deal with it—at least that's what I believe.

So let's try to get a handle on what the problem is. In my opinion, the first step towards addressing any problem is getting a clear understanding of what it is. Expert opinion tends to be so specialized that it can be more confusing and irrelevant than useful or helpful. What you need is a clear, holistic perspective on the problem in order to be able to address and solve it.

What are the facts? Firstly, most of us don't really understand what's going on other than our day-to-day experience of what's happening around us—apparent panic on the faces of the talking heads on TV, most of whom don't seem to understand what's going on themselves, let alone try to make any of us understand; job layoffs in the thousands and rising unemployment; the loss of a steady paycheck, and so on. But those are the facts as they relate to our individual experience of the problem—for those directly affected by the crisis, at least. In order to get a useful understanding of a problem of this apparent magnitude, you have to go back to the basics—you have to go beyond the soundbites and the inane, empty political rhetoric, most of which is more deceptive than helpful, to get a comprehensive, holistic appreciation of what it's all about.

Basically, what we're talking about is the failure of our entire commercial system—a system of trade that hinges on the exchange of goods and services. Historically, this "system" began as the barter system—the literal exchange of one commodity for another at the "marketplace." Ironically, the way things are headed, we might well be on the road to returning to the barter system, which might not be so bad, but that's another story.

What does the barter system hinge upon? Basically, in the ancient world, much as in modern society, different individuals or groups each had different occupations, each geared towards survival. Some people farmed the land while others hunted or maintained livestock. As time went on, people realized that by exchanging goods at a marketplace, they could collectively improve each others' quality of life. Thus, farmers could exchange grain, fruits and vegetables for meat and dairy products, thereby improving the quality of their diet and lifestyle, while hunters and ranchers could exchange meat and dairy products for grain, fruits and vegetables, thereby diversifying their diet and achieving a better quality of life.

As time went on, the marketplace continued to evolve. A wider range of products and services began to appear in the market, produced by specialized tradesmen and entrepreneurs, in the expectation of meeting a market demand. What fueled this evolutionary process was, fundamentally, a belief in the marketplace—which reduces to the belief that through the system of trade, i.e. the exchange of goods and services, one could achieve a better quality of life or standard of living. This is a fundamentally materialistic worldview, but one that is at the basis of the evolution of the marketplace.

As history progressed, the marketplace continued to evolve until it attained the mind-boggling level of technological complexity and specialization where it stands today. As it increased in complexity, so it became subject to various economic forces associated with demand and supply—market trends, technological advancement, styles, fashions, advertising, etc.

But in spite of its almost incomprehensible level of complexity, the marketplace is fundamentally still about the exchange of goods and services—and it is fueled by the collective desire to improve one's quality of life by trading in the marketplace. It's not just about survival—if it was, then we would still all be hunters, gatherers and farmers. It is about the desire to achieve a higher standard of living through the trade of specialized goods and services.

So, in a sense, the success of the marketplace depends on our collective materialism, in our belief that the quality of our lives can be improved by buying and selling commodities. When we experience a disillusionment in the ability of material commodities to improve the quality of our lives, other than by providing us momentary gratification, that is when the marketplace begins to falter and fail.

So what's the solution? To become more materialistic and ignore the widespread fraud and corruption that has destabilized the marketplace by undermining its credibility on a massive scale? Should we continue to engage in the collective belief (or delusion) that the quality of our lives can, in fact, be improved by acquiring trendy new commodities? Maybe it's only for the best that the marketplace does fail, and we awaken to the reality that materialism is a delusion and that there are more important things in life, like faith and friendships! Of course, the problem with that approach is that thousands of lives will be destroyed as people lose their jobs and are reduced to poverty.

Maybe the only real solution is for someone or something to restore our confidence in the viability of the marketplace, so that greedy, materialistic entrepreneurs can once again feel the need to invest in it and give people jobs. And poor people can once again begin to earn money and spend it in the ongoing delusion that shiny new commodities can actually improve the quality of their lives, other than superficially!

So perhaps what is at the core of the current widespread economic failure is a general sense of disillusionment in the viability of material gratification itself—maybe what people are feeling is a deep spiritual hunger that no market commodity can gratify. Maybe that's a good thing in the long run—a trend that will save our souls rather than save the market! Maybe what we're seeing is a movement away from crass materialism and towards faith and spirituality! If so, then it is a good thing for humanity, even if it is devastating to the market!

Horizon Cybermedia is committed to treading the delicate balance between materialism and spirituality. We believe that the human soul needs nourishment that no market commodity can satisfy. However, at the same time, we depend on the marketplace for our own commodities to be viable! Such is the dilemma that confronts us—but we remain committed to quality and high standards even in the face of economic pressures.

Meanwhile, we invite you to check out our website at ExplorationTheSeries.com and our ongoing film series, Exploration with Uday Gunjikar. Stay tuned for the next episode in the series coming soon and currently in the editing room—a tour of the Wine Country of Sonoma County, CA.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

State of Fear: A Review

Not long ago, on November 4, 2008, the celebrated writer Michael Crichton, author of such novels as Jurassic Park and Timeline, passed away unexpectedly in what can only be described as uncanny circumstances. His sudden, "unanticipated" demise of cancer at the age of 66 curiously echoes the fate of one of the main characters in his penultimate novel, State of Fear—the millionaire philanthropist, George Morton. An ardent supporter of environmental causes, Morton succumbs to a mysterious car accident near the beginning of the novel. (SPOILER ALERT!) It turns out, however, that Morton has only faked his death, which is more than can be said of the unfortunate fate of the author who created him. (END SPOILER)

The novel depicts Morton succumbing to a bout of apparent insanity just prior to his “death”—plagued by mysterious, inarticulate fears concerning the environmental organization he funds through his charitable donations. In a somewhat romanticized turn of the fictional events of the novel, the environmental organization, the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF) happens to be affiliated with an environmental terrorist organization (ELF or the Environmental Liberation Front) whose object is to create manufactured environmental catastrophes on a global scale using esoteric, cutting-edge “environmental technology,” in an attempt to promote its environmental agenda and achieve its fund-raising goals.

While this admittedly far-fetched page-turner plot is guaranteed to offend the sensibilities of passionate environmentalist liberals everywhere, some of the themes this novel addresses are worth discussing seriously because they are so profoundly relevant to the condition of our present-day society. The truth is that the novel, State of Fear, is guaranteed to be offensive to liberal sensibilities because it goes out of its way to critique and parody the liberal position. Some of the characters in the novel, such as the television actor Ted Bradley, an arrogant boor motivated by a romanticized idealism that is completely misinformed and out of touch with the grim realities of the issues he deals with in his well-intentioned, if self-absorbed, attempts at environmental spokesmanship, are outright caricatures and ruthless parodies of Hollywood liberal elites. In fact, Crichton's completely unsympathetic and laughable rendition of this character and the horrifying fate he meets with in the end—(SPOILER ALERT!) being devoured by cannibals on a tropical island (END SPOILER)—lends credence to the possibility that the author's demise might well have occurred under suspicious circumstances.

One of the themes, among many, that the novel addresses is the dangers associated with well-intentioned ignorance. To make his point, the author describes the history of Yellowstone National Park. After making a well-researched case that seriously calls into question the scientific basis of the phenomenon of global warming, the author describes how misguided, though well-meaning, conservationist efforts and interventionist policies by park managers in the maintenance of the natural preserve over the years have had a catastrophic effect on the park's ecosystem. In the words of Kenner, a scientist and one of the novel's main characters:

“So what you have,” Kenner said, “is a history of ignorant, incompetent, and disastrously intrusive intervention, followed by attempts to repair the intervention, followed by attempts to repair the damage caused by the repairs, as dramatic as any oil spill or toxic dump. Except in this case there is no evil corporation or fossil fuel economy to blame. This disaster was caused by environmentalists charged with protecting the wilderness, who made one dreadful mistake after another—and along the way, proved how little they understood the environment they intended to protect.”

In another critical sequence in the novel, Crichton describes an encounter between Peter Evans, the lawyer protagonist of the novel, and Professor Norman Hoffman, a crackpot scientist with some radical ideas. His thesis is that the world of human ideas, subject to trends and fashions, obeys an ecology of its own, not unlike the ecology of the natural world. He suggests that some ideas can continue to be accepted by society at large long after they have been scientifically disproved, and claims that the concept of a “balance of nature” is one such idea. Hoffman then describes his research at USC into global media trends, claiming that after Fall, 1989, there was a major shift in the way the media covered the news. Citing statistics on the use of vocabulary by media sources, Hoffman suggests that the trend in the media appears to have been “a heightened emphasis on fear, worry, danger, uncertainty, panic.” Hoffman points out that November 9, 1989 marked the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Empire—the end of the Cold War. He suggests that a “sovereign state” seeks to exercise social control over its citizenry through fear and intimidation. The fall of Communism created, what he calls, a “vacuum of fear.” In order to fill this vacuum, the threat of environmental catastrophes appears to have come to the surface. Hoffman continues:

“Of course, now we have radical fundamentalism and post-9/11 terrorism to make us afraid, and those are certainly real reasons for fear, but that is not my point. My point is, there is always a cause for fear. The cause may change over time, but the fear is always with us. Before terrorism we feared the toxic environment. Before that we had the Communist menace. The point is, although the specific cause of our fear may change, we are never without the fear itself. Fear pervades our society in all its aspects. Perpetually.”

Hoffman then cites President Eisenhower's famous speech warning of the dangers of the excesses of the military-industrial complex. However, he claims that:

“. . . the military-industrial complex is no longer the primary driver of society. In reality, for the last fifteen years we have been under the control of an entirely new complex, far more powerful and far more pervasive. I call it the politico-legal-media complex. The PLM. And it is dedicated to promoting fear in the populace—under the guise of promoting safety.”

He adds:

“. . . the PLM is powerful and stable, precisely because it unites so many institutions of society. Politicans need fears to control the population. Lawyers need dangers to litigate, and make money. The media need scare stories to capture an audience. Together, these three estates are so compelling that they can go about their business even if the scare is totally groundless. If it has no basis in fact at all.”

Hoffman then suggests:

“I'm telling you, this is the way modern society works—by the constant creation of fear. And there is no countervailing force. There is no system of checks and balances, no restraint on the perpetual promotion of fear after fear after fear . . .”

Hoffman then continues his rant against social evils, which appears to become increasingly eccentric. And while Crichton subtly undermines these ideas by having them voiced by an apparently paranoid character, I cannot help but acknowledge their appeal and the power they have to address some of the common experiences of modern life. It's hard to say how much validity they have, but these ideas are, at least, worth considering.

These and other original ideas are some of the reasons that I find this controversial novel to be an engaging read. It is a pity that Crichton was denied the opportunity to follow it up with many more. May he rest in peace!

Horizon Cybermedia, meanwhile, hopes to continue the innovative tradition of Michael Crichton's novels, by producing media content that calls into question the things that most of us take for granted. Currently in production is a series of short films about the Wine Country of Sonoma, CA, continuing the Exploration series of films. Stay tuned for these films to be released soon at our website http://www.explorationtheseries.com.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

The Death of Privacy: The Ongoing Fulfillment of an Orwellian Nightmare

George Orwell is one of my favorite authors. His seminal works include 1984, the iconic novel depicting an insider's view of a totalitarian dystopia in which the individual's very thoughts are policed and controlled by an oppressive regime and Animal Farm, a satirical animal fable modeled on the French Revolution, illustrating the trend from revolution to democracy to terror and totalitarianism. Other important works include Homage to Catalonia, recounting Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War and essays like Politics and the English Language, which examines the use (or, rather, abuse) of “political language” to mislead and confuse the public.

While Orwell's writings address a number of important issues, one of the most striking and significant issues he deals with, particularly in 1984, is the loss of privacy and individuality in the totalitarian society. He recounts, in 1984, a culture that is profoundly resonant with the current state of our society, and one has to wonder how far we have to go before the full extent of the Orwellian nightmare becomes a reality—a technocratic dystopia in which the individual's very thoughts are managed by the state and individuality, as a concept, ceases to exist.

The Bush administration, with it's paranoid reign of terror, has, perhaps, done more to fulfill Orwell's nightmare than any other administration in recent history—unauthorized surveillance of citizens, the incarceration of innocent people based on suspicion alone, the “endless war” against arbitrary enemies—the Orwellian slogan:

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength

seems to be more resonant than ever. However, all that is in the past—the GOP was pretty much wiped out in the recent elections and a new administration is in power. We live in a two-party system, unlike Soviet Russia or Communist China, . . . right? So the question now is, what is the Obama administration doing to remedy the damage that the Bush administration has done? What is the Obama administration doing for the cause of civil liberties? Well, to give credit where credit is due, they have already done a great deal, like officially decreeing the closure of Guantanamo Bay and pledging to return US troops from Iraq—two important steps in reverting the trend towards an Orwellian dystopia.

But what about privacy rights—one of the major constituents of Orwell's nightmare. After all, in the recent past, Obama voted in favor of a federal surveillance law, which raised some eyebrows. One wonders where the Obama administration stands on the issue of government surveillance of its citizenry—I certainly hope for some sort of indication that they stand in favor of civil liberties and against the unwarranted, arbitrary incarceration of innocent civilians based upon suspicion alone. The last thing we need, at this stage, is the reemergence of Orwellian impulses in our society—paranoid witch hunts, warrentless wiretapping and surveillance, endless war, government thought control. If those are the trends that undermined and, ultimately, ruined the Bush legacy, then they cannot do any better for Obama's turn in office.

Horizon Cybermedia remains committed to individualism and independent, artistic self-expression. We continue to produce unique media content to reflect the complexities of the individual soul. Check out our website at http://www.explorationtheseries.com for a new film about the Wine Country coming soon.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

Indoctrinated Zombies: The Real Threat posed by Islamic Radicalism

On September 11, 2001, in New York City, and, more recently, on November 26-29, 2008, in Mumbai, India, the world bore witness to the sort of havoc and carnage that a small group of dedicated religious fundamentalists were able to wreak on civilized society—even with limited resources at their disposal. The reality, however, is that these people were not merely highly committed extremist fanatics driven to their cause to the exclusion of all else. There were, rather, zombies, indoctrinated to the point of mindlessness, with no free will of their own and no appreciation of the value of human life.

Karl Marx claimed that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Though I am no Marxist, I agree, to a degree, with this assessment of religion—it can definitely be a powerful narcotic, robbing individuals of their free will and capacity to think and reason for themselves. And in certain forms, namely, ultra-orthodox, ultra-conservative extremism, such as the brand of Islam embraced by the Taliban in Afghanistan, can be such a powerful influence on an individual's attitudes as to render one completely submissive to the suggestions of theocrats—even to the point of committing indiscriminate murder and suicide, as evidenced by recent, ongoing acts of terror and violence worldwide.

The real threat posed by such behavior extends far beyond the innocent lives destroyed or psyches traumatized by such actions. It extends to a society's very response to terrorism. The real danger is that, consciously or unconsciously, civilized society gradually begins to adopt, in reaction, the very mindset of the attackers, assuming the very cultural traits of the perpetrators of violent terrorism.

Consider the Taliban, for example—the sponsors of the Al Quaeda terrorist organization, the perpetrators of 9/11. If there ever was an organization or entity more committed to bigotry, misogyny, ultra-orthodoxy and dogma, I have yet to hear of it. The real threat posed by this society and the terrorist acts it sponsors is not so much the direct threat as the reactionary one—that their inhuman actions provoke in civilized society and in well-intentioned civilians the same sort of bigotry, chauvinism, misogyny, religious orthodoxy, literal-minded fanaticism, extremism and paranoia that characterizes the Taliban.

The long shot is that gradually, before our very eyes, all humanity seeps out of our society, leaving us as a culture of mindless, indoctrinated zombies, not unlike the Taliban themselves. The loss of human values rooted in Christianity is the biggest danger posed by any form of extremism or fanaticism.

In my mind, Jesus Christ is the ultimate humanist. He always argues for inclusion and compassion, often standing at odds with the orthodox religious establishment of his day. Christ places value on human relationships rather than on religious dogma, maintaining that the "Kingdom of Heaven" is to be found in everyday human interactions rooted in love, compassion and humanity, not so much in religious orthodoxy or mysticism or cults. Everywhere in his life and works, Christ argues for the value of humanity and humaneness and is especially critical of people who use religion as a justification for inhumanity.

The democratic values that are the basis of the United States constitution as well as that of several other great democracies worldwide are all rooted in the value of human life and the principle that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God. This humanism is necessary for any civilized discourse to occur in society and, indeed, for civilization itself to survive and thrive.

The other option is brigades of mindless zombies, indoctrinated into the religious observance of some arbitrary worldview, wreaking indiscriminate havoc and destruction, much like the alien "Borg Empire" in the film Star Trek: First Contact. The real question we should be asking ourselves is whether we are losing our very souls, our humanity, in the face of all the tragic, traumatizing catastrophe and carnage that we have been forced to witness in recent times.

Horizon Cybermedia is committed to preserving humanist, civilized values in tragic times. Please check out our website at http://www.explorationtheseries.com for continually updating media content, including our flagship film series, Exploration with Uday Gunjikar.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

Being Creative

In a world overrun by war, terrorism, financial insecurity and fraud, one of the biggest casualties, along with innocent lives, tends to be human creativity. In my mind, this is a profound tragedy—almost as great as the loss of innocent life.

Sooner or later, all of us reach the end of the road and confront our own mortality. In my mind, the single greatest validation of one's existence in the face of death is the answer to this question:

When one considers all the self-serving, negative, dishonest, vengeful, exploitative, hateful or destructive actions that all of us commit in the course of a lifetime—to varying degrees, some more so than others—how many of us can lay claim to a single act of true creativity—a single action or accomplishment that is honestly, genuinely, truthfully, selflessly creative or productive, one that is both inspired and inspiring, that uplifts the human soul rather than destroys human lives—however modest or ephemeral that action may be?

I think that what makes the great urban cultural centers of the world remarkable—be it New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles or Mumbai, India—is the fact that their thriving, cosmopolitan arts and cultural scenes and entertainment industries place actual value on human creativity. True, these industries can only too often be inordinately competitive and even outright exploitative, stifling the very creativity that fuels them—but compare that to other parts of the world where the norm often seems to be hatred, murder, religious fundamentalism, ethnic cleansing, violence, genocide, terror, tyranny, enslavement, financial corruption and widespread chaos.

I noted previously that human creativity is one of the major casualties in the face of calamity or catastrophe, but that isn't necessarily always the case. Sometimes the very opposite is true—tragedy and catastrophe can sometimes actually stimulate creativity in an odd, inverse way. Very often, being creative and self-expressive is a powerful way for some people to cope with difficult times. For others, coming face-to-face with one's mortality can force one to reassess one's priorities in life and reconsider what's really important, thereby inspiring creativity and productivity in the face of violence, terror, murder and financial collapse or fraud.

Horizon Cybermedia is committed to furthering the cause of human creativity, whatever the circumstances may be. Check out our ongoing online film series, Exploration with Uday Gunjikar, at our website http://www.explorationtheseries.com and stay tuned for much more new and, hopefully, both inspired and inspiring content to come in the near future.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

Fear and Ignorance

As mankind stands at the threshold of the 21st century, never before in history has it been clearer that our biggest challenge for the future is dealing with the age-old problems of fear and ignorance. Never before in history have we had the sort of communications and information technology that potentially allows humanity permanently to do away with fear and ignorance, spreading enlightenment and understanding to the darkest, most God-forsaken corners of the earth. And never before in history have the forces of fear and ignorance, in the form of fundamentalism, extremism, fanaticism and religious terrorism, posed a more direct threat to the future of humanity.

F.D.R.'s inspired words, uttered in the heart of the Great Depression, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself," have never been more relevant than today. Truly, we are plagued by nothing else than our fears and our ignorance. These regressive forces have been apparent in the past as primitive ritualism, superstition, shamanism, and the tendency to fear the unknown. Most primitive cultures had a “shaman”—a figure of mystery and terror who wielded authority in the society based on their ability to intimidate the rest of the populace and keep them psychologically enslaved, in a state of primitive fear of the unknown characterized by superstition, misogyny and xenophobia. As primitive society matured into urban civilization, the shaman potentially faced extinction as his ability to control society through intimidation was severely compromised by the perpetuation of education and technology.

In modern times, while shamanism is no longer a reality, the role of the shaman, namely that of the terrifying mystic who wields a position of authority based on the intimidation of the ignorant masses, is invariably assumed by figures of religious fundamentalism and extremism. This tendency is most evident in backward, regressive Islamic states such as Iran and Pakistan—cultures in which figures of religious authority are, very often, supreme, and which thrive on religious bigotry, misogyny, and the suppression of individual rights and freedoms. Regressive cultures such as these invariably feel threatened by their progressive, democratic neighbors, like India, which have historically been major centers of culture and commerce and are now growing technological hubs. As such, these backward, regressive, failing societies whose very existence is threatened by the advance of technology and the perpetuation of enlightenment, tend to respond with cowardly acts of terror and violence, striking out at urban progress in a desperate bid to legitimize their own failing existence.

This trend is only the latest phase in an age-old problem. As long as there have been regressive forces that thrive on fear and ignorance, whether it be in the form of primitive superstition or religious fundamentalism or fanatical extremism, they have invariably, often violently, opposed the progress of education and enlightenment. Never before in human history has there been a greater promise for the total eradication of fear and ignorance from the face of the earth through the widespread proliferation of communications and information technology in the form of the Internet and networked mobile devices. And never before in history has there been a greater threat to modern society posed by terrorism sponsored by fundamentalist and extremist religious groups rooted in regressive, backward societies clinging to obsolete doctrines and dogmas that seek to perpetuate religious authoritarianism, misogyny and xenophobia.

I guess, ultimately, the choice is ours—do we succumb to our irrational fears and negate the promise of modern understanding and technological advancement to work towards a better educated, more progressive society, or do we resist these fears and the forces of terror that seek to destabilize and undo us? Horizon Cybermedia is wholeheartedly committed to the causes of progressiveness and modernism and to opposing the forces of primitivism, fear and ignorance. Check out our website at http://www.explorationtheseries.com for continually updating content dedicated to promoting understanding between cultures and societies and overcoming the destructive forces of fear and ignorance that threaten to divide and enslave us.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.

A Sick Joke?

Is mass murder on the part of deranged psychopaths some perverse attempt at humor? In our mass media culture, where do we draw the line between reality and entertainment? When the 9/11 terror attacks happened, they seemed to be surreal, almost as if they were a movie. It took some time for the shocking reality of the events to sink in. To this day, there are fringe groups who suggest that the terror attacks were staged by the US government to promote a right-wing agenda. In my mind, it appears that the overwhelming shock of these events might have thrown some people off the deep end, desensitizing them to violence to such a degree that they have achieved a state of complete denial. Such a frame of mind borders on the level of psychotic madness, as depicted in the character of the “Joker” in the recent Batman film, The Dark Knight. That, in my mind, is potentially as dangerous as the psychosis of the raving lunatics who commit such sickening acts of terror and violence.

As news events unfold, the response is often sheer incredulity at their seeming absurdity. In an age of YouTube videos that go for cheap laughs by turning violence and mayhem into Chaplinesque slapstick comedy, sometimes, the response to shocking violence and terror is to throw the observer off the deep end, to respond with amused apathy at the horrific plight of innocents. Indeed, sometimes the news appears to be as insanely ridiculous as some cheap slapstick comedy—the trampling to death of enthusiastic customers at a Black Friday stampede appears to be laughable when observed from the safe distance of a YouTube video clip, but it completely negates the very real tragedy of the people involved. To laugh at such an event, however absurd it might seem, is to make light of the tragedy of the loss of life and to experience a sense of apathy at the plight of those who suffer. Sometimes, of course, the absurdity of circumstances is such that the only possible response is laughter, but there has to be a line—otherwise, the upshot is nothing less than psychosis stemming from denial and apathy—the same sort of psychosis that characterizes the perpetrators of terrorist acts, though, perhaps, to a different degree.

Horizon Cybermedia is committed to staying balanced and humane in insane times. In an age in which violence and entertainment are all too often indistinguishable, threatening throw humanity off the deep end and into the madness of The Joker in the Batman films, Horizon Cybermedia is about keeping one's head screwed on straight and promoting an appreciation of art, humanity and an empathy for one's fellowman.

Wishing you the very best,

Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.