Is anybody besides me getting tired of hearing what "the American people" want?
Seriously.
From the right, from the left, from the ostensible middle... all we hear about is what "the American people" want, and how whoever it is who is utilizing that much overworked phrase is doing whatever it is they're doing for the sole benefit of such.
As an actual "American people", I feel it's time to respond.
Dear Politicians,
Stop pretending that we are a giant homogenous group that actually wants a particular this or that. We're not. For the most part, we wish to be left alone to go about our lives.
Quit acting like narcissistic parents, telling your children that everything you do is for them, even though it might not seem like it at the time. We've heard this story so many times that we know exactly where it is headed. So don't even bother explaining how a snowshoe is actually the same thing as a snowmobile. Oddly enough, we know the difference.
Matter of fact (and I know this is really, really hard) quit treating us like your children entirely. We're not. And don't want to be. And never did.
We don't want to be protected by you, nor coddled. We're grown ups. Many of our ancestors came across the frontier, living in sod houses and fighting Indians. Some of our ancestors were the Indians, fighting the settlers. Some of our ancestors came here chained together in the dank holds of slave ships. And so on.
The point is, most of us come from a long line of bad asses. Okay?
Furthermore... we don't really like you very much. Never did. Sorry if that tears you all up inside.
And we know that most of you don't really give a rat's ass about us... until you want our money or our vote. We also know that our money and our vote doesn't mean nearly as much as the money and votes from any of your corporate sponsors.
So cut the crap.
Let's get real.
We know most of you want power and money. And we're actually pretty okay with that. We know those are powerful drugs, and we're willing to enable your indulgence in your addiction.
All we expect in return is basic government services from a basic government.
For this we are willing to pay basic taxes. (We are smart enough, btw, to figure out that rich people can afford to pay more than poor people... I know America is slipping behind in education, but most of us did get through second grade.)
We also know that calling bullshit organic fertilizer doesn't change its basic qualities. So please quit shoveling it at us, no matter what you're calling it.
Fact is, other than those few basics, you probably can't get any of us to agree on anything.
So just do your job. You wanted it, you got it.
Enjoy.
And good luck.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Because You Asked
Ahh, where to start.
First, after years of being a relatively user friendly place, MySpace inexplicably morphs into a nightmarish headache of neon gibberish. And thus, many who used it for actual social interaction through blogs, messaging, and so on are left in the lurch. Coincidentally? Oh God, do we really need another conspiracy theory? But, alas, Rupert Murdoch actually owns the place, and one wonders if for some reason he wished to halt all intelligent interaction on it. Whether or not that was his intention, that is the result. A small thing, except that it successfully interrupts the dialog of millions of people who use the site around the world for purposes other than selling grommets. Political discourse included.
At the same time (mas o menos) the notorious (and indeed, at least in the U.S., nefarious) Julian Assange begins to release a virtual cornucopia of leaked U.S. State Department cables. Provided to him by an active member of the U.S. military. None of them important enough to be classified "top secret", or even whatever the next grade lower of secrecy is called. But embarrassing, and perhaps even game changing, in nature. Because they begin to paint a picture of an empire in decline, doing the best it can to continue to pull strings and influence events in spite of the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that its days of global dominance are numbered.
Did I ever mention that my favorite literary character was Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind? Because Ol' Rhett knew full well that the Confederacy was doomed from in front, in spite of all the bravado exhibited by its supporters, and acted accordingly.
Anyway, in typical blustery blundering Neo-Con American fashion, the Guv'ment reacted in such a way as to make an actual martyr out of Julian Assange. Smooth move. So now every malcontent teenager with a computer is throwing digital fireworks at places like PayPal and MasterCard. There is an entire anarchistic rebellion brewing that has much more to do with the U.S. reaction to the leaked cables (hang him, lock him up, flay him, and so on) than the cables themselves.
Even though the mainstream media in the United States continues to focus on other important things (Dancing With The Stars, Sarah Palin plugging a caribou, yabadayabada), around the world, this is getting some major coverage. Our media is tending to turn it into some kind of cartoon melodrama, with Assange cast as the villain. Globally, however, the actual content of the leaks (which have really just begun to come out... there are roughly 249,000 cables left to be released) is being examined, and it is causing a good deal of uproar.
The best place I've found to get good coverage, btw, is the Guardian in England.
It truly is a press freedom issue. What's amazing is watching an administration that lauded the importance of transparency in government do everything possible to fog up the window of transparency when the curtains are opened.
Then, at the same time, you have Barack Obama negotiating with the Republican leadership (uhhh... hello! say the Dems in Congress.... we still exist!) and coming up with a tax bill that not only increases expenditures, but continues the Bush tax cuts at the same time. Another trillion in the hole. Ka-ching! It makes both parties look like the phony ass political storefronts for the Great Corporatocracy they are.
You have student riots in Great Britain, over tuition hikes. They scare the bejeezus outta Prince Charlie and his lovely bride on their way to the thea-tuh by rocking their limo. 40 of said students get their skulls cracked.
There are riots in Haiti over a phony election nobody buys into. And cholera spreading daily.
Meanwhile, there are allegations against Shell Oil, Pfizer, stories of collusion, coercion, subterfuge and political underhandedness.... coming in a slow drip like a leaky faucet in the middle of the night.
WikiLeaks has managed to overturn a stone of secrecy in the world of global governance, seen through the eyes of the actually competent U.S. diplomatic corps. And, quite simply, the bugs are scrambling to get out of the daylight.
And then we still have two wars going, with no real end in sight, which means our voluntary military is stretched thin and unable to respond with much gusto to things like, say... North Korea slamming missiles into an island owned by South Korea. Instead, we posture a bit and say gee fellas, could you stop it please?
Meanwhile, here in the Good Ol' U.S. of A. (a place which I truly do love, in case you didn't know) unemployment remains way higher than even the figures show, and the figures ain't pretty. And we have a leader who seems all too willing to compromise with anybody, any time. On anything. In spite of the fact that he has written two best selling books, he needs to bring out Bill Clinton to explain why this new tax bill (which, yes, cuts taxes and raises spending) is such a brilliant idea. Because, of course, otherwise our fragile li'l ol' economy will tank. Obama uses The Economy like Bush used Terrorists. Be afraid. Very afraid. Trust us. We know what we're doing. And you, of course, are too friggin' stoo-pid to be burdened with anything resembling honest assessment, or God forbid actual input.
Ever since the Great Bloodless Coup of 2000, the actual will of the people has been deemed irrelevant at best.
People all over the world are getting fed up the the American Empire. Now personally, I think you have to be very careful in wishing for its demise, because what's likely to replace it is probably going to be worse. But all vassal states (and many, many countries are historically essentially vassal states to the United States) come to loathe the empire that controls them. Even though that empire may have been basically beneficial to them in the long run.
Empires fall. Always. Not a single one has survived. We are no different. We will survive as a country, but not as an empire. Quite simply, the clock is running out.
The dialog among our leaders should be geared toward what kind of country we want to be after the inevitable fall of the empire. But, of course, almost everybody in government has a vested interest in the empire itself, and wishes to prop it up as long as possible.
The only question seems to be whether it will be dismantled in some semblance of order or come crashing down like the twin towers. And after that, what kind of country will we be?
One thing is for certain. Most of us will survive the decline and demise of the American Empire. The Roman Empire is long gone. But Italy is still there, as are the many other countries that made up the Roman Empire.
Sooo... do we want to be an open society, with freedom of expression? Or do we wish to be a closed society, where people are repressed and afraid to say what they really think?
If we all speak our minds, they can't shut us all up. But if we don't...
First, after years of being a relatively user friendly place, MySpace inexplicably morphs into a nightmarish headache of neon gibberish. And thus, many who used it for actual social interaction through blogs, messaging, and so on are left in the lurch. Coincidentally? Oh God, do we really need another conspiracy theory? But, alas, Rupert Murdoch actually owns the place, and one wonders if for some reason he wished to halt all intelligent interaction on it. Whether or not that was his intention, that is the result. A small thing, except that it successfully interrupts the dialog of millions of people who use the site around the world for purposes other than selling grommets. Political discourse included.
At the same time (mas o menos) the notorious (and indeed, at least in the U.S., nefarious) Julian Assange begins to release a virtual cornucopia of leaked U.S. State Department cables. Provided to him by an active member of the U.S. military. None of them important enough to be classified "top secret", or even whatever the next grade lower of secrecy is called. But embarrassing, and perhaps even game changing, in nature. Because they begin to paint a picture of an empire in decline, doing the best it can to continue to pull strings and influence events in spite of the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that its days of global dominance are numbered.
Did I ever mention that my favorite literary character was Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind? Because Ol' Rhett knew full well that the Confederacy was doomed from in front, in spite of all the bravado exhibited by its supporters, and acted accordingly.
Anyway, in typical blustery blundering Neo-Con American fashion, the Guv'ment reacted in such a way as to make an actual martyr out of Julian Assange. Smooth move. So now every malcontent teenager with a computer is throwing digital fireworks at places like PayPal and MasterCard. There is an entire anarchistic rebellion brewing that has much more to do with the U.S. reaction to the leaked cables (hang him, lock him up, flay him, and so on) than the cables themselves.
Even though the mainstream media in the United States continues to focus on other important things (Dancing With The Stars, Sarah Palin plugging a caribou, yabadayabada), around the world, this is getting some major coverage. Our media is tending to turn it into some kind of cartoon melodrama, with Assange cast as the villain. Globally, however, the actual content of the leaks (which have really just begun to come out... there are roughly 249,000 cables left to be released) is being examined, and it is causing a good deal of uproar.
The best place I've found to get good coverage, btw, is the Guardian in England.
It truly is a press freedom issue. What's amazing is watching an administration that lauded the importance of transparency in government do everything possible to fog up the window of transparency when the curtains are opened.
Then, at the same time, you have Barack Obama negotiating with the Republican leadership (uhhh... hello! say the Dems in Congress.... we still exist!) and coming up with a tax bill that not only increases expenditures, but continues the Bush tax cuts at the same time. Another trillion in the hole. Ka-ching! It makes both parties look like the phony ass political storefronts for the Great Corporatocracy they are.
You have student riots in Great Britain, over tuition hikes. They scare the bejeezus outta Prince Charlie and his lovely bride on their way to the thea-tuh by rocking their limo. 40 of said students get their skulls cracked.
There are riots in Haiti over a phony election nobody buys into. And cholera spreading daily.
Meanwhile, there are allegations against Shell Oil, Pfizer, stories of collusion, coercion, subterfuge and political underhandedness.... coming in a slow drip like a leaky faucet in the middle of the night.
WikiLeaks has managed to overturn a stone of secrecy in the world of global governance, seen through the eyes of the actually competent U.S. diplomatic corps. And, quite simply, the bugs are scrambling to get out of the daylight.
And then we still have two wars going, with no real end in sight, which means our voluntary military is stretched thin and unable to respond with much gusto to things like, say... North Korea slamming missiles into an island owned by South Korea. Instead, we posture a bit and say gee fellas, could you stop it please?
Meanwhile, here in the Good Ol' U.S. of A. (a place which I truly do love, in case you didn't know) unemployment remains way higher than even the figures show, and the figures ain't pretty. And we have a leader who seems all too willing to compromise with anybody, any time. On anything. In spite of the fact that he has written two best selling books, he needs to bring out Bill Clinton to explain why this new tax bill (which, yes, cuts taxes and raises spending) is such a brilliant idea. Because, of course, otherwise our fragile li'l ol' economy will tank. Obama uses The Economy like Bush used Terrorists. Be afraid. Very afraid. Trust us. We know what we're doing. And you, of course, are too friggin' stoo-pid to be burdened with anything resembling honest assessment, or God forbid actual input.
Ever since the Great Bloodless Coup of 2000, the actual will of the people has been deemed irrelevant at best.
People all over the world are getting fed up the the American Empire. Now personally, I think you have to be very careful in wishing for its demise, because what's likely to replace it is probably going to be worse. But all vassal states (and many, many countries are historically essentially vassal states to the United States) come to loathe the empire that controls them. Even though that empire may have been basically beneficial to them in the long run.
Empires fall. Always. Not a single one has survived. We are no different. We will survive as a country, but not as an empire. Quite simply, the clock is running out.
The dialog among our leaders should be geared toward what kind of country we want to be after the inevitable fall of the empire. But, of course, almost everybody in government has a vested interest in the empire itself, and wishes to prop it up as long as possible.
The only question seems to be whether it will be dismantled in some semblance of order or come crashing down like the twin towers. And after that, what kind of country will we be?
One thing is for certain. Most of us will survive the decline and demise of the American Empire. The Roman Empire is long gone. But Italy is still there, as are the many other countries that made up the Roman Empire.
Sooo... do we want to be an open society, with freedom of expression? Or do we wish to be a closed society, where people are repressed and afraid to say what they really think?
If we all speak our minds, they can't shut us all up. But if we don't...
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Fixing A Hole
I've been following this whole WikiLeaks thing with no small amount of interest. Okay... I've been pretty obsessed with it. Because sometimes events just feel huge.
What's most interesting (so far) is not so much what's in the cables is how people have responded.
The U.S. government, who seems to have no problem prodding us at airports, delving into our e-mails and so on, is aghast that they should be held to the same microscopic examination themselves. There is some kind of karmic justice there... you touch our private parts, photograph us naked and eavesdrop on our private conversations, and we do the same to you.
The shame of it all is that it has gotten to that "us versus them" mentality. If anything has been exposed, it is the sham of American democracy.
Of course, that sham has been apparent to many for decades. Frank Zappa famously said years ago that he thought democracy was such a great idea we should try it here in America. What we have instead is a system in which huge corporations (apparently including the government of China) control both major political parties, all three branches of government, and the media.
The American Empire seems to be in a bit of a wobbly condition. And nobody in a position of power, being that they all work for the same master, wants to rock the boat. Because they're on it, and it's already taking on water. And thus, you have an American media that so far has been embarrassingly mute on what's going on, trying to either shrug off the importance of what's happening or demonize the messenger.
Which is exactly what government leaders from both political parties are doing as well.
And by demonizing the messenger, they've turned him into a folk hero.
Except, of course, for Ron Paul, who hasn't attempted to demonize anyone. He has publicly stated that we should examine the policies that have led us into this dark morass of perceived necessity for secrecy and subterfuge to begin with. But Republicans won't pay any attention to Ron Paul because they view him as the crazy old uncle who shows up at family functions, Democrats won't pay any attention to him because he's a Republican, and nobody else will pay any attention to him because he's from Texas. And so he remains one of the few voices of reason in Washington, D.C., whose utterances seem to reverberate through empty halls.
I'm no political expert. But underlying all this is a fundamental fact that people in the music business have known for a long time. In the digital age, there is no way to keep people from downloading your shit. The rules are simply not enforceable. Sure, you can shut down Napster. But a dozen other file sharing sites will pop up who will do the same thing, only more effectively.
So I can sympathize with these folks whose careers are endangered. Political careers, media careers and so on. I've seen numerous careers decimated and in some cases destroyed by file sharing.
What has emerged is a music industry that is much smaller and continues to re-invent itself to stay in sync with the world we live in.
Of course, few will argue that the mainstream music coming out of this modern music business is better than the old mainstream music. But there is a lot more room around the edges of it for stuff that is honest and real.
So maybe we could just have a shrunken government rife with corruption and subterfuge and corporate interests, and around it an encampment of actual democracy.
Which is why I'm backing Justin Bieber for president.
What's most interesting (so far) is not so much what's in the cables is how people have responded.
The U.S. government, who seems to have no problem prodding us at airports, delving into our e-mails and so on, is aghast that they should be held to the same microscopic examination themselves. There is some kind of karmic justice there... you touch our private parts, photograph us naked and eavesdrop on our private conversations, and we do the same to you.
The shame of it all is that it has gotten to that "us versus them" mentality. If anything has been exposed, it is the sham of American democracy.
Of course, that sham has been apparent to many for decades. Frank Zappa famously said years ago that he thought democracy was such a great idea we should try it here in America. What we have instead is a system in which huge corporations (apparently including the government of China) control both major political parties, all three branches of government, and the media.
The American Empire seems to be in a bit of a wobbly condition. And nobody in a position of power, being that they all work for the same master, wants to rock the boat. Because they're on it, and it's already taking on water. And thus, you have an American media that so far has been embarrassingly mute on what's going on, trying to either shrug off the importance of what's happening or demonize the messenger.
Which is exactly what government leaders from both political parties are doing as well.
And by demonizing the messenger, they've turned him into a folk hero.
Except, of course, for Ron Paul, who hasn't attempted to demonize anyone. He has publicly stated that we should examine the policies that have led us into this dark morass of perceived necessity for secrecy and subterfuge to begin with. But Republicans won't pay any attention to Ron Paul because they view him as the crazy old uncle who shows up at family functions, Democrats won't pay any attention to him because he's a Republican, and nobody else will pay any attention to him because he's from Texas. And so he remains one of the few voices of reason in Washington, D.C., whose utterances seem to reverberate through empty halls.
I'm no political expert. But underlying all this is a fundamental fact that people in the music business have known for a long time. In the digital age, there is no way to keep people from downloading your shit. The rules are simply not enforceable. Sure, you can shut down Napster. But a dozen other file sharing sites will pop up who will do the same thing, only more effectively.
So I can sympathize with these folks whose careers are endangered. Political careers, media careers and so on. I've seen numerous careers decimated and in some cases destroyed by file sharing.
What has emerged is a music industry that is much smaller and continues to re-invent itself to stay in sync with the world we live in.
Of course, few will argue that the mainstream music coming out of this modern music business is better than the old mainstream music. But there is a lot more room around the edges of it for stuff that is honest and real.
So maybe we could just have a shrunken government rife with corruption and subterfuge and corporate interests, and around it an encampment of actual democracy.
Which is why I'm backing Justin Bieber for president.
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