A Beautiful Transition of Power

As I read through the papers, watch the news, and read articles online FDR’s quote, or a quote that has oft been attributed to him, is beginning to hold more and more weight as each day passes–“He may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

It seems every day a new story emerges about yet another country in the Middle East being overrun by anti-government protestors, anti-protestor protestors, and anti-protestor-protestor protesters. First it was Tunisia, then Egypt, and after that there have been rumblings in Yemen, Jordan, Iran, Algeria and currently Bahrain (forgive me if I have forgotten any).

This is BEAUTIFUL.

That’s right–I’m not going to paint the bleak picture for you that the news does, but perhaps that’s because I’m not on somebody’s payroll, but the way I see it, what’s happening is one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life.

People are protesting because they want rights, they want internet, they want media, they want democracy, and above all, they want to be treated as human beings.

The right wing pundits may have you confused, “But I heard that the uber-extremist Muslim group is going to seize power and go crazy on us?” But fear not, for the fear mongering is result of merely ignorance and xenophobia.

The truth of the matter is this–for the first time in my brief history on this planet the Middle East isn’t going to be run by those “son’s of bitches” that we call our own, and that scares the shit out of not only republicans, but the topography of the US government.

When one takes a quick glance at the Middle East and Northern Africa (for ease I shall lump them together as the Middle East though it should be noted that, while in close proximity to one another, they are sepereate regions,) and the historically two dominant powers that have resided there, Egypt and Israel, what is the common denominator? They have been puppets of the United States. And for the first time since that has been established, one of our “friends” has been ousted (Mubarak) and another is in jeopardy of facing a hostile political climate (Israel).

Not only are our power sources in jeopardy in the Middle East, but our belt of oil Sheikdoms faces an uncertain future, certainly something that causes unrest with our political leaders and friends in high places.

But I’ll be damned if this isn’t absolutely fantastic.

We have the possibility of seeing a complete power shift in one of the most controversial and contested regions of the world. And not just any older power change, but a change that will allow a region to take back what land is theirs, what culture is theirs, what religion is theirs and what rights are everyone’s.

For the first time the Middle East won’t be the United States’ self serving string of corruption and sand. It will be a string of beautiful countries with an array of peoples from different backgrounds expressing themselves, their religions, their arts and their cultures.

The mainstream media may have you believing otherwise–that this is a boon for the American peoples, or perhaps that terrorism is about to run rampant under the Muslim Brotherhood, or maybe even that something like this is going to cause our oil prices to soar. But how trivial does that all seem when you realize that people are rioting on the street and dying just so that they and their peers can be afforded the treatment of that which all human beings deserve.

The US tried to spread “democracy” during the Cold War, but it resulted in the Autocracies that are being disassembled this very day. The sad part is, is that the US is trying to keep those Autocracies in place when Democracy is finally trying to spread to a region that we’d rather not have it spread to.

The transition won’t be easy, but I don’t think anyone ever thought it would be in the first place, that’s why they are doing something we haven’t done in this country for a long time–fighting and dying for their freedoms.

America the Free

“America the free.” Hell, if there’s one thing America isn’t, it’s free. I’d prefer “America the war machine,” or, “America the dumb,” maybe even, “America the overly-content,” but not America the free, anything but that. Because if it’s one thing this country doesn’t need more of, it’s lies, and that’s exactly what that damned slogan is, a bold faced lie.

But that’s ok, because what America runs on is stupid people, and stupid people will take that slogan for truth and ride off on their bald eagle with it telling you to kiss their ass.

The problem with America has become this obsession with freedom. We are a nation founded on freedoms. We are a nation that protects freedoms. We are a nation, that if need be, would fight and die for our freedoms. But we are now a nation that has redefined the word “freedom.” America has morphed it into a buzzword that will convince any God-fearing, America-loving citizen to do whatever the hell they are asked by Uncle Sam.

We are in the midst of a “war on terror” and people tell me our soldiers are in the Iraq and Afghanistan to “defend our freedoms.” Really? When were our freedoms ever under attack in the first place? Two large buildings in New York were dropped in an act of terrorism, but last I checked those who were behind the plot weren’t telling us to surrender our freedoms and go under the rule of Al Qaeda, correct me if I’m wrong. They may have mad threats against our country, or talked some smack about how the American system blows,  but I can’t tell you I was ever worried about my freedoms being stripped away from me…wait a second…

My freedoms WERE, and ARE  continually being stripped away from me; the funny thing is that it isn’t by Al Qaeda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, Aliens, Fidel Castro OR Hugo Chavez, holy shit, my own perverted Uncle is doing it to me? Never has “WTF” been more appropriate.

The Patriot Act, the TSA, random subway searches, wire taps, all the shit they were hiding before Assange went ballistic on their asses, 90% of the heroin supply, CIA-paid heroin dealers that are brothers of foreign presidents, rich mineral supplies, torture and oil. This is what freedom has become; this is what America chooses to defend.

But chill out, we found WMDs, Osama, Sadaam, so it’s totally worth it!

In a Kafka-esque perversion, the same word that became the cornerstone of a once-true, -honest, and -budding nation has subsequently become a shield that allows a corrupt government to cast lies, misconceptions and distractions over its blind, numb and “freedom-protecting” populace.

So next time you hear your fellow American comrades brothers and sisters uttering the word freedom, make sure you know which one they are talking about before you indulge them.

 

 

Am I a Sellout?

Am I a whore for blogging? I just feel…dirty.

I feel like I’m selling out. I hate new media. I really do despise it. We’re taught it’s the future: audio slideshows are the way to go, blogs are the in thing to do, Twitter is chic and Facebook is hip, but frankly I just don’t give a shit.

I like newspapers, books,  and a cup of coffee. I like the feel of dried ink on a nice off-white page with a little number in the corner. I like flipping through books that have bent pages from me dog-earing them, and little stains from when I was drinking or eating something while reading.

But now if you spill on your book it’ll set you back a few hundred because your Kindle can’t be fixed by simply smearing the coffee down the side of the page; plus you look pretentious with it anyways, might as well pick up a fucking book since that’s how the author penned it in the first place.

The fact that we are moving towards a technologically based society has both pros and cons, and while many of the pros are overwhelmingly positive, there are two drawbacks that I can’t seem to overcome when picking my side on the war of technology versus the old-school. One, the art of literature is being disassembled; and two, societal relationships are becoming mind-numbingly stupid.

Perhaps objectively the art of literature isn’t being disassembled, people still write, and people still read. Rather, I think the intricacies, and the beauty of literature is being disassembled, pardon my confusion. Each and every person probably has a different list of authors that they cherish and adore, they may range from Steinbeck to Kafka to that inept writerwoman who wrote Twilight, but that is besides the point. I want you to think about your favorite author or three, and then I want you to think about what it was like for them when they wrote your favorite book, story, poem, prose or song. Let me share with you mine:

A bearded man enters the smoke-filled room to a smell entirely all too familiar to him–booze, cigarettes, coffee and ink. He walks heavily to his favorite corner of the room and plops down into his chair, “gimmie a coffee and an ashtray please,” he says to the fair-skinned waitress. As she makes her rounds he strikes a match, lights his cigarette and watches a plume of smoke rise into the blanket of smoke that hangs overhead. He sits for a few moments watching the crowd and then opens his bag and begins to shovel through the loose sheets. The waitresses returns with a small, square, silver ashtray and a cup of reheated black coffee. The man thanks the waitress, takes a sip of the shit they call coffee and begins writing.

That’s how I envision my favorite author penning a story, be it right or wrong, that’s just how I see it. Now when I envision this in my head the last thing I can see myself doing is reading that text on an electronic screen. It just feels, cheap. You might say things are different now-a-days, authors write on computers, they type their stories–sure they do, but do you think that they type their stories to be read on screens? I know if I were ever an author I’d be damned if I saw my book being read online. I want my story to have the new book smell, I want to feel the crisp pages in my hands, I want to SHOW my work, not link to my work.

That is a very subjective point, I’ll give you that, but at the same time I think I’d fancy if everyone felt that way. I’d like to see more books floating around, I might feel like I were surrounded by real people once more, not people that are plugged in to another world all the time.

Another way in which I see the art of literature being destroyed is the simple fact that people can’t seem to sit and read anything of any length anymore. In a society of increasing ADD, people are saturated by headlines, tweets and status updates, and if that continues then the demand will effect the supply and sure enough will begin to see more pint-sized stories coming out. Am I in the minority that I want to read an engaging story that develops over time? Fuck me if I am, because I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it when conversations I have with people center around 40 topics per minute, rather than one topic per 40 minutes.

Literature seems to be in the midst of a crisis, one that I don’t know if it can come out of. Sure there will always be books, news, novels, poems and prose–but time will only tell if those all become laced with LOLs and exist for a mere 50 pages. Dear Lord I hope not.

My second point of contention with new media is its effect on society. We are getting dumber…a lot dumber.

The infinite possibilities of the world wide web should lead one to believe otherwise, that we are growing, and becoming more intelligent as a society, but I don’t see it. Because we have become so reliant on technology, that’s exactly what we are…reliant. When we aren’t plugged in, we’re useless. How many times have you seen someone you know not talk to somebody because they are texting, or pretending to text because they feel awkward in a situation? I have an idea, why don’t you SPEAK to people you don’t know and get to know others? It’s a plague, it really is. People are texting non-stop in class, why? You pay that much money for a class, you have a great opportunity to learn about something you might otherwise not and you’re trashing it because you choose to text “OmG WhUtS FeR LuNCH At THe DINnING HaLAlZZ?!”

This issue was addressed fantastically in an episode of Californication, a flick on Showtime, when David Duchovny’s character Hank Moody makes an appearance on a local radio station. He said something along the lines of, we are now just pseudo-people making pseudo-communication with other pseudo-people. The saddest part of that? Is that it’s never been truer.

People don’t call people anymore, or write letters, or make conversation with strangers at coffee shops over books kindles, or even look straight ahead when they’re walking. It’s sad.

The fact that employers give a shit if you blog, tweet or whatever just shows our societies infatuation with whatever is new and “innovative” and is furthering the over-saturation of our society with pointless technology. I mean, really, you’re impressed if I can string together 140 words? Really? Because if that’s the case I’m living in the wrong day and age my dude.

It’s an extensive subject to cover, and I know I just brushed the surface, but I feel quite strongly about this whole new media blitz and could go on for pages, but I’ll spare you, this is 2011 right? I’d be surprised if the less than 5 people who read this actually get this far down.

So next time you get the chance grab the Sunday paper or a real life book, make yourself a pot of coffee, keep your computer off, open your blinds and enjoy life as it was meant to be, not life as you’re imagining it.

A Simple Question

Are you happy?

Think about what you do everyday. If you’re a hard-working person you work; if you’re a slacker you slack; if you’re a man or woman of religion, you practice. That’s not to say that you don’t partake in other walks of life. You may, for example, be a hard worker that enjoys socializing in your free time and attending sports games when you can, that doesn’t seem too farfetched. You may even be a person of religion that partakes in sin every now and again, who doesn’t these days, but what you need to ask yourself is this: Am I happy?

Now what constitutes happiness is far beyond my realm of knowledge. To define such an emotion would be, as defining any emotion seems to be, impossible. That coupled with the fact that happiness seems to be a subjective makes it harder than most things to understand, lo I shall try to address such an idea.

If I am sure of only one thing in this little, fascinating thing we call life, it is quite simply, that it ends. I don’t care if you worship a Christian God, a Buddhist Buddha or an acid trip, it remains the same, death is inevitable.

But life isn’t immutable.

I’ve begun to realize that a lot of people aren’t, in fact, people. They are automatons, cruising through life with their power buttons switched to “On” and going about their business as it is to them, business. But do you want to be cruising through life waiting to die; or do you want to bike, skip, fuck, hop, jump, eat and swear yourself through life doing whatever the hell makes you happy? Call me an Epicurean but I’ll take the latter.

People have been saying for a number of years now that we are, and have become, a consumer society; but it’s taken me 21 years to figure out that our favorite thing to sell and consume to and from others, is ourselves. It’s become one big game of “look what I did with my life,” and I just want to say, to hell with that.

People do a lot of shit in their lives–they talk to people, buy stuff, drive nice cars, raise families, smoke weed, drink beer, work at mcdonalds, work at Goldman Sachs–it really doesn’t matter what they do though, what does matter is if it makes them happy.

One of my favorite authors once said, “About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” –Ernest Hemingway.

That’s a hell of a quote. That’s not some inspirational poster quote either, that’s straight heavy, but it’s worth thinking about. Isn’t that how we should live our lives? It may seem counterintuitive for me to tell others how to live, so I’ll refrain from doing that in absolute terms, but I will suggest it.

If you’ve been fake to somebody, or are fake to certain people–you’re failing. If you are pursuing a major in which your parents chose–you’re failing. If you are pursuing or holding a job simply for the money–you’re failing. If you dress in a certain way to impress others–you’re failing. If you are married for the sake of being normal–you’re failing.

This jam we call life is short, and it sure as hell aint a dress rehearsal. As far as I know you get one shot, and one shot only, so don’t fuck it up by going through life unhappy. And if you’re unhappy now, just remember one thing:

Life isn’t immutable.