Soaring

I felt this incredible sensation when I came home from my vacation in August, like our society is on a great precipice. We could go crashing down, or take off, and soar. There are so many people out there, creating amazing art, and doing wonderful things. So many more people are seeing through the lies, through the bullsh*t than ever before.

There is a lot of talk about the generations, and it seems as if we have been preparing for the boomers to retire for a long time now. Only a few of them are retiring, right now, since it was their idiotic economic policies that drove the stock market up, then left it in the ditch. They also seem content on dismantling the social safety net that their parents toiled for, but only for part of their generation, and those that came afterwards.

This generation, my generation, once dubbed Generation Y, and now lumped in with millenials, grew up after all the generational fervor that the boomers went though. We noticed how they spit on their parents' traditions, and how their parents blamed them for everything wrong in their world, then sent them off to war.

We heard about how the greatest minds of their generation were destroyed by madness, only to be held down, ourselves, by the minds that were left over. We endured the same criticisms about our music that they endured about theirs, yet we didn't turn around and spurn the Rolling Stones or Motown. In fact, many of us own more vinyl now than they maybe ever did.

The boomers taught us, provided for us, gave us everything they never had, and when we grew up, we actually were grateful. Sad, however, that so few of them are noticing. The people my age seem to be respectful of their elders, and excited to hear all of the stories. I may roll my eyes when a man in his 60's speaks wistfully of the old Haight-Ashbury days, but that is only because I've heard it all before. The 20-somethings listening to him are indeed interested, and really do want to know more.

The Class of 2000 have families now, and I see them when I go for walks. They are outside, at the playground, with their kids. They are walking through the grocery store, picking out vegetables for dinner. But I also see them in other places, struggling in low-paying jobs, and using drugs to escape their turmoil. They are shying away from jobs with large organizations, because they don't want to give up their freedoms, and don't like the idea of stifling their creativity.

They may take a low-level job for the health insurance, but they will only do the minimum, because their heart isn't in it. Meanwhile, the person that wants that job is stuck in another job, for that same health insurance. Give them health insurance that isn't related to a job - ensure their guaranteed health care, no matter what they do - and the qualified but uninterested will quit, making way for the questionably qualified, but eager people, who are actually interested in doing that job. Then watch as the newly freed people fill up those abandoned storefronts. Imagine a downtown district that gets cleaned every day, creative shops, bustling eateries, and friendly neighbors.

We are on a great precipice this year. We can either go down the deep end, spurring anger, and riots, or we can stop this fighting, stop resisting reality, talk to our neighbors, jump off this cliff, and soar.

Brave New World

Huxley vs. Orwell

I Hate Zombies

I really can't stand them. Actually, zombies do not exist, what I cannot stand is the cultural obsession around them. There are all these stupid quizes and retarded hypotheticals about how they would survive a zombie attack that could. never. happen. Now people in the UK have wasted the world's time determining that humans could not survive an attack by this completely fictional entity.

Why aren't we spending time determining if the world could survive an attack of werewolves? What if we were infested with witches and warlocks that had a desire to do the world harm? How about a massive infestation of Big Foots? Sure, people are having fun, but this genre ceased being fun when people started putting zombies in every other movie, video game, and social conversation. Now that people are investing the world's conciousness in a stupid made up monster, it is just retarded.

Also, note that this post is a replacement for snarky comments on friends Facebook statuses. I have enough respect for the friends I have that find this interesting not to rain on their parade, but, as you can see, I hate the obsession with zombies.

Good News, Governor Sanford

You're NOT the biggest news of the week. Who would have thought?

So, get this, the governor of a mid-size state goes missing. The Lt. Governor wasn't notified, his wife is clueless, and aides claim he went off hiking in the Appalachians. About six days later, he shows up at the airport, blabbering about a love affair with a woman in Argentina. Amanda writes a great post about the meanings of passion and conservatism and BOOM

Michael Jackson effing dies

Can anyone say Gary Conditt?

Recent Memory

Due to all the time spent in waiting rooms yesterday, I saw a bunch of magazines. One was the issue of Newsweek with the article about the decline of the Christianity in politics.* It had a tagline with a comment saying that there is less religion in politics now than in any other time in "recent memory", which made me wonder just how short our memories really are. Seriously, less religion in politics since when? Unless "recent" translates to 5 years, and "now" translates to two months, or the day Obama decided to not have evangelicals visit the White House for the National Day of Ignoring the Constitution Prayer.

It seems as if our cultural memory has been limited to less than a few years. We live in the constant present, thinking that anything that happens could mean the collapse of society. In other words, there is a significant lack of historical literacy in our culture. This is different from cognizance of perpetuation of historical trends, but the definitions are always easier to say than to apply. Regardless, "recent memory" of religion in politics should go beyond one presidential administration, and an assessment of the status quo should too.

*I guess I was too annoyed by the tagline and the knowledge that any amount of religion in politics is a bad thing to actually read the article. Not to mention the fact that the doctor came in too soon.

O_O

Let's play with women by lying to them and then pretend it doesn't matter! We'll call this a game, in fact, The Game. Let's exploit the fact that sexism harms women in a number of understood ways. We can call that the "special psychology" of women, and use it to get them to do things that they don't want to do! Hahahahaha - yeah, dude, dehumanizing rocks!

To Our Favorite Drug Addict

I'm so sorry I called you ugly so I sent you an apology note.

50 Most Fascinating People of 2008

One of which is none other than my incredibly bratty cousin, the youngest duaghter of a brother of my dad's that had kids. If you know my last name, you'll see her on the list. She's grown up now and was always pretty cool, but she was two years younger than me, a year older than my little sister, and the three of us had something like a sibling relationship when we would play together at The Farm.

She is a Campaign Director with the Traveling Press

Stop the Presses!

The tagline under the top stroy on Yahoo right now is as follows

Tiger Woods' caddy makes an unflattering comment about golfer Phil Mickelson.

Source

That isn't news, that is gossip, and regardless of what the comment was (really, he could have issued a death threat or even something horribly misogynistic), who really cares? What a bunch of crap.

Heat the $#^ing Pool!

I don't quite know why, I will attempt to explain, but if it doesn't make sense at the end of this post, just realize that I don't really know why I love America's Next Top Model. I can't keep my eyes away, I see it on MTV, VH1, or whatever channel it was on before those two, and I have to watch. But at the same time, I hate it, it pisses me off, and I don't understand what their problem is.

It isn't about watching "skinny bitches" in awkward situations, because I tend to sympathize with all of the contestants. What I get infuriated about is the seemingly arbitrary judging and the dangerous working conditions. At least two contestants have been hospitalized for dehydration, and one was essentially kicked off the show for being too ill to work. She was compared to the other contestant that either wasn't as sick or wasn't facing as daunting a task as this one was. The working conditions are such that if the contestants really had a choice, they would turn down the job offer.

The best example of this in my mind is the pool photo shoot in Barcelona. The contestant Caridee, who is obviously much thinner than the other contestants, experiences hypothermia. The other contestants assume that she is "overreacting", because the water was cold. Caridee was told "you have a problem with cold" and to make sure she "doesn't waste the client's money" by letting them know this up front. Obviously, "the client" is too poor to provide a safe working condition. Frankly, I think ANTM does many shoots outside of the United States in order to skirt labor laws, and it pisses me off. Models are already held to extreme physical standards, to expect them to work while sick, in water so cold it causes hypothermia, is abuse. If that is how the modeling industry "is", then the industry has a serious problem.