The system that controls us all

What if after all that suffering, all that listening to socially woke punk rock of the Eighties (like the Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records), things suddenly became clear? Now they made sense. Now everything made sense. And all the pain and suffering that preceded came to fruition as understanding. It's possible. Here one brave person has a realization about the thing everyone else is missing. That is, what is controlling the illusion?

Everything wrong in South Korea

Trump's trying to build a prison (SOAD)

Native Americans BLAST Trump's Alligator Alcatraz ICE prison threatening reservation land

(System of a Down) "Prison Song"

Giant sea monsters found in Kentucky

Two massive sea creatures found in the world’s largest cave, located in Kentucky

Mammoth Cave tour, Kentucky, Deep South

Hidden beneath [landlocked] Kentucky's rolling hills lies Mammoth Cave, the world's largest known cave system.

Recently, scientists made a jaw-dropping discovery that has rocked the scientific community -- fossils of two massive prehistoric sea creatures (ancient sharks).

• Two new species of ancient sharks identified through research at Mammoth Cave Nat'l Park (USNPS)
• List of longest caves, with Mammoth Cave as No. 1

These ancient marine predators, named Troglocladodus trimblei and Glikmanius careforum, reveal that parts of Kentucky were once covered by a vast ocean.

Let's explore this amazing find that's rewriting natural history books. More

• Rachel Adams, Animalko via MSN.com, June 7, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Pyramids never tombs (Graham Hancock)

Khafre Pyramid SAR Scan Project: Tracing the source of the news of underground structures

• VIDEO: Evaluation and DOUBTS about these findings

Khafre Pyramid SAR Scan Project: Tracing the source of the news

(Funny Olde World) Premiered March 22, 2025: Everyone is scrambling to find information and verification for the claims about newly discovered structures located under the Middle Pyramid in Giza. I found the source, the person who had permission from the Italian Team to post the initial press release PDF document from last week's conference: ‪@trevorgrassi.‬ We had a quick chat to clarify what the story is so far, what is about to happen next, the potential implications, and what if any of this data can be verified.

• New video from the Italian Team: Conferenza: #Giza - Le piramidi e la...

"It was never a tomb!" Graham Hancock explores ancient pyramid's real purpose

(Valuetainment) Oct. 19, 2024: Graham Hancock discusses his experiences climbing the Great Pyramid, the significance of the Sphinx of Giza, and how local Egyptians view these [alien] monuments. He also shares new discoveries inside the Great Pyramid using advanced scanning technology.

• Archeologists Unearth Rare, Elaborately Decorated Egyptian Tomb
• Discovery Of 78,000-Year-Old Artifacts In East Africa Changes Our Understanding Of The Stone Age
• 15 Historical Myths You Probably Believe—But Are Totally Wrong
• There’s a ‘vast underground city’ below Egypt’s Giza pyramids, scientists’ wild theory claims — but experts debunk it as ‘fake news’
• Elongated Skulls Of Peru Complete Analysis, DNA Results And Surprising Blood Types | Watch
• Archaeologists make incredible 2,400-year-old discovery on top of pyramid ruins
• New Discoveries Emerge from the Old Castle at Chichén Itzá
• The Valley of the Whales: A Fossilized Ocean in the Desert
• Tesla has $1.4 billion that seems to have gone astray, potentially raising questions about the company’s controls
• 16 Little-Known Roman Ruins You Need to See
• Tesla owners dump cars amid mounting hate — but not all is lost
• Jane Doe found on California cliff identified by DNA nearly 60 years later
• 57,000 Year Old Neanderthal Engravings Discovered! | Watch
• 15 Archaeological Adventures For Explorers Who Love Lost Cities And Ancient Ruins
• GrahamHancock.com, Valuetainment, Oct. 19, 2025; Funny Olde World, March 22, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Beneath the Pyramids: The Giza Scan

• VIDEO: Evaluation and doubts about these findings

Beneath the Pyramids | The Giza Scan Controversy Examined and the Tomb of the Birds | Megalithomania

(MegalithomaniaUK) March 23, 2025: Let's examine the new scan data, looking at what is really underneath Khafre's Pyramid on the Giza Plateau and an exploration of Giza's secret cave and tunnel system underworld, which is linked to these new discoveries, with Andrew Collins and Hugh Newman. Collins' original article: megalithomania.co.uk/andr...

What Hall of Records is hidden under the Sphinx? - How did ETs build the great Giza pyramids?

• The Land of Chem Video: • Episode 153: "HUGE CITY" AND "1KM DEE...
• Join on Patreon: megalithomania
• Megalithomania t-shirts and merch: teespring.com/stores/megalitho...
• Explore the world with Megalithomania Tours: megalithomania.co.uk/tours...
• Subscribe: megalithomaniauk. megalithomania.co.uk Copyright Megalithomania MMXXIV All Rights Reserved
• Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Did the Buddha teach 'We are all One'?

Of course, there are ways in which we ARE all one, all the same, all connected, and that is almost certainly what most people mean most of the time when saying, "We are all one." To say we are separate is obvious. You're over there, I'm over here, and we are in no way connected whatsoever -- except that we're breathing the same air, exchanging the same ions, sharing the same environment, eating the same sustenance, digesting it in the same way, culturally validating one another by contrast and comparison, using nearly identical bodies in roughly the same ways, appearing as twins or clones of one another to anyone standing at a sufficient distance, and so on and so forth.

Is it useful to tell Jews harming Palestinians, "We are all One"? Yes, for if they knew the similarities, they would not harm themselves (by trying to harm the other). Is it useful to tell scientists look at a single blob under a microscope, "It is all one"? No because under a microscope one is looking for distinctions and differences to compartmentalize and categorize. Can we see similarities? Yes. Can we see differences? Yes. What are we looking at? Could the Buddha? Yes. What was he looking at?

So except for all of those ways in which we are all one, and too many more to mention, we are not all one. We're in the same boat, searching for the same things, going about it in similar ways, thinking each other's thoughts, having each other's ideas, feeling each other's feelings (like suffering, joy, empathy), mirroring one another, and so on. So the question is, Is there any value in seeing ourselves as separate? (There certainly is value in seeing ourselves as One, as part of the same whole, as interconnected and interdependent).

Of course, it's useful to see the distinctions and rather than relying on this Hindu saying "We are all One," it's useful to see the Path the Buddha taught to awakening here and now in this very life. Waking up to what? Waking up to the true nature of reality. It is not what we expect, and it may just take a shock like this to push us out of our comfort zone to investigate and penetrate for ourselves what is ultimately true.

• There are two truths, the conventional (the way we speak using everyday terms) and the ultimate (the technical details which often up-end the conventional ways of viewing things).

The Buddha never taught: We are all One

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Dec. 20, 2024: Did the historical Buddha (Siddhartha "Shakyamuni" Gautama) teach that "We are all One"?

This video explores the misattributed idea of universal Oneness (a more Hindu idea of nonduality or advaita) in Buddhism. Drawing from the Buddha’s Teachings, the Dhamma, let's discuss why the concept of Oneness is considered an extreme view and how it contradicts the path to awakening.

With references to key suttas (discourses), we reveal why seeing all things as separate — not One — is essential for clear knowledge and bringing about the end of suffering.

Discover the true wisdom behind the Buddha’s Teachings and why they go beyond simplistic notions of Oneness.

#Buddhism #BuddhaTeachings #Oneness #Awakening #Nonduality #Individuality #Dhamma #truth

COMMENTS

• (@russellmason5095) Thank you so much for producing this video. It helped me to reconsider some points of ignorance about Oneness and Gautama Buddha's original teaching. Good luck on your path! Thank you for your efforts to bring an end to suffering.
• (@IamMae72) This channel explains things in such a precise and clear way.
• (@annieyip2176) (edited) Not easy to understand Dependent Origination [Dependent Co-Arising] correctly but I applaud your attempt to discern Oneness from interconnectedness
• (@SwissWalker) thank you
• (@WisdomLife9) What a great and useful video! Thanks. I will follow your channel for more interesting videos, stories!
• (@avinashjagdeo) This perspective is so much centered on the physical, which is a very narrow band of existence that some are passing through. If we are experiencing eating, then that is to know eating and to know being eaten. There is no evidence that all things at all levels have to eat or that we will always have to operate that particular way. There appears to be constant transformation which can include merging and diverging of consciousness. The word 'oneness' is just a concession of a finite mind to talk about a something that is beyond conceptualization. It could just as easily be called the 'all' or the 'totality' or 'infinite being'.
• (@priyadarshanachandrasena2062) 🙏🙏🙏🌼🌼🌼
• (@collinsharrelson6887) (edited) I do have a feeling we’re all one in the sense that we share in our conscious awareness with all other conscious beings. I mean just think about it. We’re all experiencing a base level conscious awareness so in an intrinsic way we are related. Furthermore, we all suffer the same fate (i.e., Old Age, Sickness, and Death), which means we all share in the same suffering and are all deserving of one another’s compassion because of that fact.
• (@noself-onlykarma) (edited) When you realize the Absolute Truth the Buddha was pointing to, you see why he used the word "Middle Way" vs. "Advaita" (non-duality). Too many people conceptualize, analyze, and interpret the Buddha's teachings intellectually. The teaching of Anatta/Anatman [the impersonal nature of all things] is meant to dissolve any types of identification since there's no inherent independent entity/identity (self). The entirety of everything depends on the entirety itself, so everything is interdependent. However, if you "identify" the entirety as "one" then you've fallen into relative conceptualization. How can you have "one" when there's no "two"? That's why we use the word "is-ness" or "thus-ness" to describe the reality. The Absolute Reality is already Here and Now. We just have to realize it through directly seeing that all that can be claimed is the witness itself (only awareness functioning). [There is n]othing to claim as subject therefore, no object. Then you see there's nothing we can [identify with or] be identified with. Even Buddha-Nature is a conceptual description, just a word to the many who only think in a linear way and see everything as existing independently. The reason we can't find our "mind" is because it is not a "thing," not even a subject. It's wrong to say it exists; it is wrong to say it doesn't exist. Neither both nor "one" is correct since they're all conceptual. Start with moral/ethical discipline and compassion for all sentient beings. Then discipline your mind to be focused (still/concentrated) so you can rest the thinking-mind. Then the wisdom (absolute reality) that has always been radiating is (infinite) Here and (eternal) Now.
• (@tanned06) Perhaps contrary to the early teachings preserved in the Pali canon suttas and Chinese Āgamas, the later development of Buddhist philosophy in Mahayana and Vajrayana [being so heavily influenced by Vedantic Hinduism] does recognize an ontological/metaphysical conception of allness/oneness as in realization of the pure consciousness/awareness or the hidden away Tathagathagarbha or the potent Buddha Nature/dhatu or the cleansed Alayaviñāna that's said to form the source of ultimate and peaceful ground of all [being and/or] 'beings.'
• (@thekaizer666) (edited) thank you for this. thanks for confirming all of these which i had contemplated, even before discovering Theravada. thank you. PS: In Mahayana/ Vajrayana, one of the central concepts is that of "we are all one," such that a wave is part of the ocean. And it just felt so very...full of friction. Like many, I started off with Mahayana/Vajrayana but steadily got disillusioned with so many of their doctrines. :(
• (@kib3571) When view is no view, only then you can see what everything is happening. 😅
• (@duanpienaar9755) We are one consciousness not one karmic body. The Buddha taught that the consciousness that realizes Buddha Nature is one.
• (@ElmerTan-ut4qn) The Buddha told us that people's relationship in the world is only for a very short period of time. A person dies. Each has its own path. And the majority of people are dragged away by their karmas. Even if they ever meet again, they would not be able to recognize each other. Once reborn in the Six Realms, the soul [??] will take on a new form. For example, we are now human, but the next life we may be in the lower three realms as animals, ghosts, or suffering beings in hell[s]. Those who cultivate kindness and compassion, they will have a beautiful appearance in their next life as a human. Those who are full of ignorance, they will have the appearance of an animal that is worse than human. Those who are full of greed, hatred, and delusion, their appearance will be like a ghost, which is worse than the animals. The Six Realms is the cycle of vengeance and revenge. Nobody can help you. [Many can help, not that they will. The Buddha helped countless beings.] Each has to bear its own karma [but not alone but rather in the company of others]. This is the true reality of life in the Six Realms of reincarnation [rebirth]. Why is one reborn again and again in the Six Realms? It is because we love this world too much and create a strong clinging. If we have no clinging for this world, we won't be reborn again into this world. If one chooses Western Pure Land for one's next life, then we have to chant Amitabha Buddha, that is, if one really wants to migrate there. No one can bring you to the Land of Ultimate Bliss except Amitabha Buddha himself [but remember nobody can help you, oh, except Amitabha Buddha and your family and friends and strangers who are kind, and bodhisattvas, and people and devas from long ago past connections with you in the Six Realms, but other than those, no one can help you because you are all alone and by yourself]. 🙏🙏🙏 Amitabha Buddha
• (@saddha1) Excellent analysis!
• (@Lifeisbrutal.) If there is interconnectedness, there is no oneness in a literal sense More

Curiosity Rover found life on Mars?

.

On the barren, cold expanses of Mars, a discovery has rocked the scientific world. The recent Mars rover unmanned mission has uncovered mud formations that tell tales of wet and dry spells spanning millions of years.

Could this revelation enhance the argument for life having existed on Mars? According to the research paper titled "Sustained wet-dry cycling on early Mars" published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Nature, the answer looks promising.

In situ observations of polygonal ridges. (CREDIT: Nature) In situ observations of polygonal ridges. (CREDIT: Nature) © The Brighter Side of News

The Hexagonal Clues

At the core of this breakthrough is the discovery of distinctive hexagonal patterns. These shapes, as scientists understand them, emerge when regions experience extended periods of wetness followed by prolonged dryness.

While it's been acknowledged that Mars holds remnants of dried rivers, lakes, and even seas -- a testament to its once wet environment -- the finding that Mars underwent wet-dry cycles multiple times potentially revolutionizes our understanding of the planet's past and its suitability for life.

• Related stories: New study sheds light on origins of life on Earth
• New discovery substantially rewrites history of life on Earth, scientists find Origins of Life?
• Scientists create RNA molecule that follows Darwinian evolution
• [Is or was there life on Mars? Of course there was and is, and the U.S. government knows it, and Andrew D. Basiago told us all about it, as did Enterprise Mission Hoagland, and the NASA photos before being smudged, scrubbed, and deleted. The humanoid life is now underground because of the atmosphere, but it is inhabited. And it may also have interdimensional beings, too.]

William Rapin, the lead researcher of the study and a distinguished scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Toulouse, France, commented, “We now have for the first time vestiges of times that could have been conducive to the origin of life.” More: NASA's Curiosity Rover may have found evidence of life on Mars

Were the Sumerians ET star people?

Gilgamesh's tomb found under Euphrates River

US gov't secretly stole the tomb of Gilgamesh?

Ancient Aliens: Did the Anunnaki come from the stars?!

Enki and Enlil made a lot of trouble on this planet by genetically engineering monkeys.

Fierce lions were as pusillanimous kittens to us, for we were heroes and men of renown.

Chimeras DNA manipulation: Sumerian-Lammasu, Neo-Assyrian Empire (72-705 BC)

Sumerian merchants and the establishment of a new civilization on earth (history.com)

Maria Orsic channels Sumerian

(HISTORY) Oct. 3, 2024: Are the Sumerian people of the Middle East (Mesopotamia now Iraq) the descendants of extraterrestrial star beings? See more in this compilation from Ancient Aliens. Watch all new episodes of Ancient Aliens, Fridays at 9/8c, and stay up to date on all favorite shows on The HISTORY Channel website at history.com/schedule.

Who but Zecharia Sitchin could read the cuneiform tablets, records of humanity's slave past?

Sumerian star people?

#AncientAliens #ZechariaSitchen #extraterrestrials #TwelfthPlanet #CreatorGods #Nibiru #SlaveSpecies #Tablets #GoldMining

Worlds below: Longyou Cave mystery

The Longyou Caves: An Unsolved Enigma (The Ancient Connection)

The most mysterious cave in the world

(Motech) July 30, 2024: Longyou Caves Mystery: For thousands of years, the Longyou Caves remained lost to time and history. No one even knew such a cave system existed. But all that changed one day when a curious local from Shiyan Beicun Village decided to put a popular legend to the test. Everyone said the ponds were bottomless, as deep as oceans. So he drained one and found massive manmade caverns no one knew anything about. #longyu #cave #mystery

• Archaeologists find 3,800-year-old ruins that unveil a forgotten water cult
• 'Prehistoric' relative of sharks struggle to make a comeback near Florida
• Mississippi man finds 10,000-year-old saber-toothed tiger fossil
• Discover the 10 oldest human fossils ever found
• Rare white southern right whale calf spotted off the coast of Argentina
• 'Mysterious' mountain creature spotted again after 26 year absence
• Five thousand years of history buried in Spanish undergrowth

ABOUT: Welcome to Motech. This channel shares everything about technology, space, and artificial intelligence. It helps explore cool advancements in science and innovation. Consider subscribing to get a sneak peek of the future world. Featured places: See more information in Google Maps on the Longyou Caves tourist attraction: Details.

System of a down: US state of emergency

"HIGH ALERT! This is a state of emergency in the US" | Morris Invest

(Morris Invest) July 22, 2024: We are witnessing a tipping point moment for the United States of America. Pres. Biden [aka Genocide Joe] is stepping down from the next presidential race, the other candidate was almost assassinated, and there a massive collapse of America's infrastructure will be used to control all of us. The [Clinton-affiliated] CrowdStrike failure is just the beginning.

Thanks to Alaska Energy Metals for sponsoring today's video. Read more about their latest nickel projects here: https://alaskaenergymetals.com. Morris owns shares in Alaska Energy Metals, purchased on the open market. 📞 Ready to buy a first fully done for you rental property? Book a free call: https://morrisinvest.com ❓Ask Morris a 30-second question at https://morrisinvest.com/clayton 📺

Watch next: How to Create a Personalized Path to Financial Freedom: https://bit.ly/392kAsB 🏠 What's Your Freedom Number? Download a free PDF to help determine how many rental properties are needed to achieve financial freedom: https://morrisinvest.com/freedom 💵 Ready to get finances in order? Download the FREE 90-Day Financial Empowerment Bootcamp: https://morrisinvest.com/bootcamp 🎓 Want to learn more about creating an individualized plan to wealth with a proven system? Join Financial Freedom Academy: https://financialfreedomacademy.com 👨🏻‍💻 Sign Up for Morris' Webinar: https://morrisinvest.com/webinar

DISCLAIMER: Morris Clayton is not a financial adviser. He only expresses his opinion based on his experience. Other's experience may be different. These videos are for educational and inspirational purposes only. Investing of any kind involves risk. While it is possible to minimize risk, all investments are solely the responsibility of those involved in them. It is imperative that everyone conduct his/her own research. There is no guarantee of gains or losses on investments [but of course losses are much more likely, so be able to lose any money invested].

• Morris Clayton, Morris Invest (YouTube); Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

SOAD: a billion views later, I finally get it

Whatcha eating there, Serj? - Suicide. - Is it vegan?

MOM (🤡Big Merla): Chop sui(cide) is a song about a lovely vegan Chinese food, mixed vegetables in a wok with a little soy sauce and lots of steaming white rice, right?

WQ: Are you f'n crazy? Of course that's what it's about, but I think now, at least in California and the groovier places like Tennessee and Oregon, we go with brown rice.

Chop suey recipe (Keeping the Peas)

MOM: C'mon, I know the song must be about suicide somewhere. He [Serj Tankian] says it right in the song!

WQ: I think he's complaining about people trying to use teriyaki sauce in a stir-fry with tofu sticks.

MOM: Ha, ha, help me. I want to understand. I have my own new mom version of the song that's more suitable for young ears. I find myself singing a lot of System [of a Down] songs as I clean up kid toys.

Who remembers the Armenian genocide, Maus?

WQ: You can catch the band live in San Francisco this summer. They're playing on August 11, 2024. You know, for a song that came out in 2009, it has the distinction of racking up 1.3+ billion views. And that's just the official video on YouTube. Add all the streaming services, the lyric videos, knock offs, and excerpts, and that's pretty darn good for Armenian alt-metal. The Turks never had a chance to take the other side of the argument.

MOM: Which argument?

WQ: The "genocide."

MOM: Oh, I think Israel is totally guilty.

What is he saying? Why doesn't he slow down?

WQ: True but this is a previous genocide the Ottoman Empire Turks are accused of, which was said to be laughed off as a genocide no one cares about by Hitler when he wanted to genocide all the Jews in Europe or at least the few in Germany because he said they were ruining his Reich's economy. And his previous best friend had been Jewish. Nobody talks too much about that.

MOM: How sad.

Maybe Baby likes Drowning Pool. Let the bodies hit the floor

WQ: People say he wasn't even mad at Jews themselves, just scapegoating them and sending them to work camps because they had in his view unfairly hoarded too much of the wealth in Germany. But Jews swear he hated them and wanted to exterminate them all because of his hate and nothing else, which is odd because a lot of Ashkenazi Jews in Germany looked exactly like Christian Germans, so exactly that a lot of Nazis couldn't tell the difference except for some cultural markers like gesticulation (moving hands and arms) gestures when talking or speaking Yiddish (which is gibberish German making fun of Christianity).

MOM: But aren't Jews the ultimate victims who say everyone hates them.

Vegan chop suey stir-fry (Keeping the Peas)

WQ: We have heard them say that. It seems like only Rich Forer and Prof. Norm Finkelstein, both of whom are Jewish, call them out for this victim mentality that aids their campaign to label everyone who disagrees "antisemites" and everyone who opposes their genocide in Palestine "Jew haters."

MOM: Is that what this song is about, genocide, first the Armenians then the Jews?

WQ: It seems to be about suicide.

MOM: Not chop suey?

WQ: Same thing.

System of a Down - "Chop Suey!" (official HD)

(System Of A Down) Uploaded Oct. 2, 2009, with 1,374,887,863 views as of June 17, 2024. #ChopSuey #SystemOfADown #Remastered. Official HD music video for "Chop Suey!” by System of a Down Listen to System of a Down: SystemOfADown.lnk.to/listenYD

• Jewish Voice for Peace (jvp.org)
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Not In Our Name (ifnotnowmovement.org)
• Big Merla; System of a Down; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

System of a Down singer writes book

Book Soup & KPFK Present: Serj Tankian signing Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)

Serj Tankian gets personal about his band System of a Down

(Q with Tom Power) May 14, 2024: System of a Down’s Serj Tankian grew up hearing stories about his family members who died during the Armenian genocide [or what the young Ottoman Turks call a “misunderstanding”], many years before he was born.

In his new memoir Down With the System, he shares his family’s story and looks back on his career through the lens of his Armenian heritage. Tankian joins Tom Power to talk about the origins of his activism, how System of a Down (SOAD) got on the radio (KROQ FM), and whether or not you’ll ever hear any NEW music from the band.

BAT (Bad Acid Trip) performs "Beef Moo" to prove they have chops

• It is notable that we never knew we needed Armenian nu-metal, but it may not just be Serj's genius behind the mic or guitarist Daron coming up with all sorts of great song ideas because there's another very similar band, with frantic starts and stops and screaming. They never made it big. They're called Bad Acid Trip. If it were just about having an Armenian member or raging about genocide and racism in and around Glendale and Little Armenia in Los Angeles (which has a massive Armenian population to rival Armenia and an enclave next to Hollywood that includes Cher and the Kardashians), that was needed, BAT should be as big as batsh*t is to growing strong garden plants. Guano is great fertilizer. Where are all the SOAD copycat bands like Korn engendered? BAT is signed to Tankian's label Serjical Strike Records.

ABOUT: Q with Canadian Tom Power is a daily conversation with the artists, writers, actors, and musicians who define this cultural moment in time. The conversation is informal, wide-ranging, playful, and allows artists to explore their art and the contexts that have shaped them through their career. Visit cbc.ca/Q for more. Follow and subscribe to podcast: link.chtbl.com/JIWpRCGR.

• 10 bands who wouldn’t be here without System Of A Down (such as BAT and Avenged Sevenfold) | Kerrang!

Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)

Do SOAD fans read? The hardcover is out today (May 14, 2024) by author, poet, lead singer, KPFK radio host Serj Tankian. It has 5 out of 5 stars with just 2 ratings. It is a #1 New Release in Rock Music.

This is an exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band Serj Tankian.

Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System Of A Down, was as “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever existed in modern music history: a band of Armenian-Americans playing a practically unclassifiable clash of wildly aggressive metal riffs, unconventional tempo-twisting rhythms, and Armenian folk melodies, with me alternately growling, screaming, and crooning lyrics that could pivot from avant-garde silliness to raging socio-political rants in the space of a single line.”

After all, as Tankian concedes, “it’s not easy listening.” Even so, there’s no doubt that System’s music had struck a chord with millions of listeners across the world ever since they burst onto the scene in the mid-1990s.

With nearly 40 million albums sold, three albums topping the Billboard charts, and a devoted legion of fans, the band dominated the alt-rock and nu-metal scenes just as the world hurtled into a new millennium, redefining the very idea of what rockstars

• could and couldn’t talk about,
• could and couldn’t do,
• could and couldn’t represent.

With no CD to promote, SOAD still headlines

In Down With the System, he presents readers with a memoir that is far more than just a rock 'n' roll fable. It’s an immigrant's tale, it’s an activist’s awakening, and it’s a spiritual journey from darkness toward light. And all of this comes down to the fact that he himself has had the chance to live an extraordinary life — thanks to a combination of luck, circumstance, struggle, talent, and spiritual awakening.

Born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Lebanon, Tankian grew up hearing bombs drop outside his childhood home during the country’s [Israel-induced] civil war, before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 7.

As a young man, he is immersed in the SoCal community of “Little Armenia,” learning more and more about the brutal genocide faced by his ancestors [under the Ottoman Empire that is now Turkey], while helping his parents adapt to the constraints and contradictions of the American Dream.

Then, during a pivotal drive home from an LSAT class, he decides to turn away from a promising future in business and law to make music instead — a decision that leads him to touring five continents as the lead singer of a hugely popular rock band, hitting Number #1 on the Billboard album charts the morning of 9/11, then having the hit single from the same album BANNED from radio two days later.

In the years that follow, his uniquely singular story continues, as he evades glass bottles hurled at a cancelled show by angry Slayer fans, teams up with fellow KPFK Free Speech Radio host Tom Morello (articulate guitarist for Rage Against the Machine) to push social justice issues on unsuspecting Heshers and metalheads, argues with LAPD officers over the best way to quell rioting fans in Hollywood [we were there and there was no "riot," just a big crowd], and defines new sounds and singing tactics with famous Slayer producer Rick Rubin.

Braiding together Tankian’s thought-provoking insight with heartfelt prose, Down With the System retraces his remarkable and unlikely journey. It explores what it has taught him — about music, about art, about activism, and about himself.

It’s an unforgettable ride that will leave readers breathless — an absolute delight for new and old fans alike. Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts)

• Meet Serj Tankian at Book Soup in West Hollywood on Friday, May 24, 2024, for a book release book signing only ($35.82 for book and line ticket)
• This ticketed signing only event will take place at Book Soup located at 8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood. Tickets include a place in line to get one new hardcover copy of Down with the System signed, which will be handed out at check-in. Please note that Serj Tankian will ONLY sign copies of Down with the System, ne memorabilia, no photos, no talk. Questions? Please email Book Soup at info@booksoup.com
• System of a Down, Waldus Lacroix; Finn McKenty, Punk Rock MBA 2024; Serj Tankian with Q with Tom Power (CBC, May 14, 2024), new book (amazon.com), KPFK.org Book Soup event; Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly