As for the declining state of education in America, it’s easy enough to understand. There’s too much else in the environment of any and every youth for them to be much interested in the boring and difficult process of learning. To diagram the problem: The original villains in this piece were – and still are to some extent – television, popular music and movies. These are much more exciting and sensation-producing than anything a parent or teacher or minister has to say (drone on about) to the youngster.
The battle between parents and children over homework time and entertainment time ensued for a generation and a half, and eventuated in most children relenting to their parents’ strictures for study time, but with the compromise that the TV and/or music would be playing simultimely. So it was kind of a Mexican Standoff, but the knowledge and literacy levels saw a steady decline nationally
Then came the personal computer, with its expanded universe of stimulation and interaction, from chat rooms to texting to porn sites to fun websites to Facebook and now Twitter. And downloaded music, easily available and constantly necessary to hear and text/chat/tweet about. Now homework had become not just a dull chore but an evil intrusion into their lives, interrupting the funcitement they were cybernetically surrounded with.
On top of this, and building over the past 15 years into an irresistible force in its own right, are video games – so devilishly vicarious and jaw-droppingly addictive that, for millions of (mostly) males, it has become the diversion of choice. The real misfortune of this development is that, unlike most of the above distractions, many of the full-time video-game players are the more intelligent of the youth generation, youngsters who will now never come close to their potential in school, athletics or even a social life.
Further compounding this decline in education is the fact that something close to half of the children don’t quite understand the need for all the tedious schooling in the first place, since they’re convinced that they’re going to be singing stars or actresses or professional athletes or reality-show stars. Or, in some areas, drug dealers or pimps, like the guys they see in their neighborhoods wearing gold chains and driving expensive cars.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ah, Consumerism, Thy Name is America!
The evil triumvirate of soulless corporations (intent only on large, short-term profits), television advertising divisions (intent only on large, short-term profits), and enabling politicians (intent only on large short-term campaign contributions) have led America into the morass of more ass – with 67% of the adults in the country overweight, and a growing percentage (almost 30%) of children as well.
At some point these vultures and vipers – known generally as “highly successful people” – realized that America was a huge flock of sheep with disposable incomes, easily fleeced by these highly successful people. With Madison Avenue acting as the fulcrum of the massive manipulation, Americans became inundated with irresistible images and appealing slogans for tobacco and alcohol and colas and candies and strippleted foods (like crappy white bread that “builds strong bodies 12 ways”) and cosmetics and hair products and new-new-new everything – what you absolutely must have to be a with-it individual or family.
At some point these vultures and vipers – known generally as “highly successful people” – realized that America was a huge flock of sheep with disposable incomes, easily fleeced by these highly successful people. With Madison Avenue acting as the fulcrum of the massive manipulation, Americans became inundated with irresistible images and appealing slogans for tobacco and alcohol and colas and candies and strippleted foods (like crappy white bread that “builds strong bodies 12 ways”) and cosmetics and hair products and new-new-new everything – what you absolutely must have to be a with-it individual or family.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Reality Gone Astray
Down the list on any indictment of American culture, but definitely on the list, would be its elevation of lowgrade scumballs to celebrity status. Through the avenues of music, sports, movies and television, the American pop-culture machine creates hundreds of new celebs a year, while most of the previous ones don’t seem to go away. All of this provides fodder for the tabloid media – whether it be print, TV or Net -- which burgeons ever-larger and louder.
With the advent of “reality shows,” and those misbegotten dating programs, an ever-growing number of these folks are not even talented, ie, don’t sing or act or anything. At least, before, the obnoxious brat making huge sums of money, and going hog-wild with drugs and power trips and maelstroms of maladjusted excess, could warble a little, or emote on camera, or throw/hit/catch/dunk a ball. Now it’s just, in a growing number of cases –- like Jon and Kate and Heidi and Spencer -- professional assholes being famous for being professional assholes. (Ohmaga! I’ve learned some of their names.)
I’ve only seen the promos for “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,” but they seem to be on the right track, i.e., ridiculing the ridiculous personages of American celebrityhood. But the drawback is that some of these “stars” will have their 15 minutes of fame extended beyond what is already terribly tedious. I think they need to have the island filled with man-eating lions and crocodiles, and full-size pythons and, what the heck, a few hungry polar bears. Then I’d watch, as would many others -- as a herd that needs it... finally gets thinned.
The biggest ongoing scandal that you never hear anyone complain about (with the exception of Bill Maher last week) is that in 38 states judges have to campaign for office. Which means sucking up to the business interests and being beholden to the various special interests for contributions.
The most glaring recent example of why this is bad for justice is the case in West Virginia where an appeals court judge received $3 million from a mining company then didn’t recuse himself from judging the case which sought to overturn a $50-million settlement against the company.
The judge sided with the mining company, but it ended up in the Supreme Court, which narrowly ruled the lower-court judge to be in the wrong. But it’s worth noting that the “conservatives” on the Supreme Court, led by Chief Suckmeister John Roberts, sided with the interests of the mining company. This is their standard practice, seemingly always voting for the wealthocrat class in any and every dispute with less-powerful entities or individuals.
(Sidenote on Maher: Ambrose has said an irritating number of times, “Are you sure Bill Maher isn’t you and Jane Fonda’s love child?” He knew about my one-nighter with Ms. Fonda back in the day, that not being a very exclusive club at the time. Not that I agree with Maher on everything, but I do appreciate his brass balls.)
Short Jabs
With some exceptions, a cool black guy is cooler than a cool white guy, Asian guy, or Latino. And a smart Asian guy (and I include Indians) is smarter than those from the other groups. But a rich white guy is almost always richer than the rich black, Asian or Latino. If that’s racist, then sue me. I think it’s just data assessment.
Americans have, with the active assistance of the media and politicians, wrapped themselves in a cocoon within another cocoon regarding, among other thing, the plight of the Third World, and progressive governments elsewhere.
From an early age, I knew I wasn’t a Republican because I wasn’t a cold-blooded reptile of a person. (Funny/true how Republican, reptile and reprehensible all start the same.)
Nipples. What’s with that? When and where and by whom was it decided that the female nipple (but not the man’s) is a dirty, dirty thing, and a criminal act to expose?
But now I’m just blathering, so I will desist from further comments for now.
With the advent of “reality shows,” and those misbegotten dating programs, an ever-growing number of these folks are not even talented, ie, don’t sing or act or anything. At least, before, the obnoxious brat making huge sums of money, and going hog-wild with drugs and power trips and maelstroms of maladjusted excess, could warble a little, or emote on camera, or throw/hit/catch/dunk a ball. Now it’s just, in a growing number of cases –- like Jon and Kate and Heidi and Spencer -- professional assholes being famous for being professional assholes. (Ohmaga! I’ve learned some of their names.)
I’ve only seen the promos for “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,” but they seem to be on the right track, i.e., ridiculing the ridiculous personages of American celebrityhood. But the drawback is that some of these “stars” will have their 15 minutes of fame extended beyond what is already terribly tedious. I think they need to have the island filled with man-eating lions and crocodiles, and full-size pythons and, what the heck, a few hungry polar bears. Then I’d watch, as would many others -- as a herd that needs it... finally gets thinned.
The biggest ongoing scandal that you never hear anyone complain about (with the exception of Bill Maher last week) is that in 38 states judges have to campaign for office. Which means sucking up to the business interests and being beholden to the various special interests for contributions.
The most glaring recent example of why this is bad for justice is the case in West Virginia where an appeals court judge received $3 million from a mining company then didn’t recuse himself from judging the case which sought to overturn a $50-million settlement against the company.
The judge sided with the mining company, but it ended up in the Supreme Court, which narrowly ruled the lower-court judge to be in the wrong. But it’s worth noting that the “conservatives” on the Supreme Court, led by Chief Suckmeister John Roberts, sided with the interests of the mining company. This is their standard practice, seemingly always voting for the wealthocrat class in any and every dispute with less-powerful entities or individuals.
(Sidenote on Maher: Ambrose has said an irritating number of times, “Are you sure Bill Maher isn’t you and Jane Fonda’s love child?” He knew about my one-nighter with Ms. Fonda back in the day, that not being a very exclusive club at the time. Not that I agree with Maher on everything, but I do appreciate his brass balls.)
Short Jabs
With some exceptions, a cool black guy is cooler than a cool white guy, Asian guy, or Latino. And a smart Asian guy (and I include Indians) is smarter than those from the other groups. But a rich white guy is almost always richer than the rich black, Asian or Latino. If that’s racist, then sue me. I think it’s just data assessment.
Americans have, with the active assistance of the media and politicians, wrapped themselves in a cocoon within another cocoon regarding, among other thing, the plight of the Third World, and progressive governments elsewhere.
From an early age, I knew I wasn’t a Republican because I wasn’t a cold-blooded reptile of a person. (Funny/true how Republican, reptile and reprehensible all start the same.)
Nipples. What’s with that? When and where and by whom was it decided that the female nipple (but not the man’s) is a dirty, dirty thing, and a criminal act to expose?
But now I’m just blathering, so I will desist from further comments for now.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Party Politics
The Democrats and Republicans both operate under a false presumption – codified error agendas that are directly the opposite of each other. For Republicans it’s “Government is the problem; free-market capitalism is the solution.” For Dems, it’s “Free-market capitalism is the problem; government is the solution." It’s no wonder that bipartisanship is DOA.
But which one do I think is worse? The answer is the Republicans, by far. They represent the worst elements of America: the military-industrial complex, the financial centers, the racists, the polluters, the fundamentalists, the gun nuts. Sure, some Democrats have weaseled in on parts of this territory, but it’s clearly the occupied terrain of the GOP.
But which one do I think is worse? The answer is the Republicans, by far. They represent the worst elements of America: the military-industrial complex, the financial centers, the racists, the polluters, the fundamentalists, the gun nuts. Sure, some Democrats have weaseled in on parts of this territory, but it’s clearly the occupied terrain of the GOP.
Numero Uno
There has been a lot of public comment recently about America’s slippage in the various rankings – barometers of supremacy in which the U.S. once occupied the position of undisputed Number One
From per capita income to home ownership to literacy rates, America led the world, but now we are well down the ladder on most of those. Even in computer science and availability/speed of broadband Internet, the latest analyses show the U.S to be lagging behind most of Asia and half of Europe.
But there are still some areas that have America as Numero Uno. Some of these are gun ownership, murder, suicide, drug addiction, infant mortality, mercury pollution, prison population, STDs, cancer, heart disease, meat consumption, sugar consumption, TV viewing hours, military budget, WMD production and money spent on government officials to maintain the status quo.
From per capita income to home ownership to literacy rates, America led the world, but now we are well down the ladder on most of those. Even in computer science and availability/speed of broadband Internet, the latest analyses show the U.S to be lagging behind most of Asia and half of Europe.
But there are still some areas that have America as Numero Uno. Some of these are gun ownership, murder, suicide, drug addiction, infant mortality, mercury pollution, prison population, STDs, cancer, heart disease, meat consumption, sugar consumption, TV viewing hours, military budget, WMD production and money spent on government officials to maintain the status quo.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Mass Media as Epidemic
I could have written this several weeks ago, but I held off, just in case I was wrong.
From the first inklings of news regarding the swine flu, which soon rose to a screeching hysteria in the apparatus that specializes in same, I knew one thing: The swine flu would go the way of previous medical worscarios, which is to say nowhere. But to understand why the overarching madness, one has to understand a few things about American "culture." (This word should always be in quotation marks when preceded by the word American.)
Among the many ways one can attempt to categorize the country, one way is to see it as a composite of several major power centers, with dozens of minor power centers elbowing among themselves to affect the major ones. Three of the large power conglomerates are government, the tv/cable newsmedia and the medical-industrial complex (which is spearheaded by the pharmaceutical companies).
The nature of these and the other beasts are to draw money, prestige and leverage to themselves, i.e., power. Such a situation as a potential pandemic plays right into the wheelhouse of all three. The more scared people can be made to feel about a deathly plague at their doorsteps, the more people will look to the government for direction, the media for constant updates, and big pharma for life-saving medicines.
When the dust clears and the threat is seen to have passed (as did the bird flu, SARS and the others), the government will be seen as having acted aggressively to protect the populace, and related agencies will have been given more employees and funding. The mass media will have received higher ratings, which translates to higher revenues. The pharmaceutical companies will have gotten huge contracts to manufacture vaccines. Whether these are used or not, big pharma is paid -- in this instance $1.5 billion so far.
And don't expect the Center for Disease Control to throw cold water on the threatuation. Aside from the fact that they're closely allied with the money-machine medical-industrial complex, whenever these hyped-up disease scares come along, they get to be media stars for several weeks, with interviews and press releases.
So no, America, just be about your business, and realize that in 2008 36,000 people died of the "regular" flu in your country, none of whom warranted a headline. Hyperventilated reports of, Oh My God!, dozens dead from the swine flu are not really much of a news story except for the sad fact that pumping it up as a big news story feeds the various beasts of prey who bestride the nation.
From the first inklings of news regarding the swine flu, which soon rose to a screeching hysteria in the apparatus that specializes in same, I knew one thing: The swine flu would go the way of previous medical worscarios, which is to say nowhere. But to understand why the overarching madness, one has to understand a few things about American "culture." (This word should always be in quotation marks when preceded by the word American.)
Among the many ways one can attempt to categorize the country, one way is to see it as a composite of several major power centers, with dozens of minor power centers elbowing among themselves to affect the major ones. Three of the large power conglomerates are government, the tv/cable newsmedia and the medical-industrial complex (which is spearheaded by the pharmaceutical companies).
The nature of these and the other beasts are to draw money, prestige and leverage to themselves, i.e., power. Such a situation as a potential pandemic plays right into the wheelhouse of all three. The more scared people can be made to feel about a deathly plague at their doorsteps, the more people will look to the government for direction, the media for constant updates, and big pharma for life-saving medicines.
When the dust clears and the threat is seen to have passed (as did the bird flu, SARS and the others), the government will be seen as having acted aggressively to protect the populace, and related agencies will have been given more employees and funding. The mass media will have received higher ratings, which translates to higher revenues. The pharmaceutical companies will have gotten huge contracts to manufacture vaccines. Whether these are used or not, big pharma is paid -- in this instance $1.5 billion so far.
And don't expect the Center for Disease Control to throw cold water on the threatuation. Aside from the fact that they're closely allied with the money-machine medical-industrial complex, whenever these hyped-up disease scares come along, they get to be media stars for several weeks, with interviews and press releases.
So no, America, just be about your business, and realize that in 2008 36,000 people died of the "regular" flu in your country, none of whom warranted a headline. Hyperventilated reports of, Oh My God!, dozens dead from the swine flu are not really much of a news story except for the sad fact that pumping it up as a big news story feeds the various beasts of prey who bestride the nation.
The Truth About America
The truth about America at this point in history -- and this is at the root of our problematic stance and stature in the world today – is that we represent only 4% of the world’s population, but most of us treat the rest of the planet as if they were the 4% and we were the 96%. That’s how inflated our opinion of ourselves has become, and why people in Europe and elsewhere want desperately to deflate us, i.e., puncture our big ego balloon.
A society that fosters those behaviors that are uniformly unproductive of positive virtue -- fashion, sports, voyeurism, passive recreations, drinking/drugs/mood pharmaceuticals, overblown commercialism, etc., will melt away from any previous primacy it may have achieved in hardier days. A society that glorifies such things onto a golden pedestal, and puts power and ego above truth and responsibility will crash within a generation or two of such misplaced veneration.
Remembering Rome -- and there are several other examples of crashed empires -- they had a short period of continued military dominance after decadence had beset their populace, but outwardly-exhibited power cannot be long maintained if the core is rotting from within.
Modern America depends on the sheep, er, the general public, operating in a functional fog, and dependent on “experts” to control and guide them. If it were suddenly possible for everyone’s IQ to be raised 50 points overnight, but this action needed the secret-ballot approval of 5 groups - the politicians, the corporate executives, the mass media executives, the doctors and the lawyers, I think we could expect a unanimous negative vote.
The major compromises in American society have already been made -- the big lines have long since been crossed. There's likely no going back in most cases. Companies which make unhealthy food and market it as healthy; TV networks which allow misleading commercials, some using semi-hypnotic techniques; corporate and interest-group lobbyists who funnel huge amounts of money to politicians in exchange for "access" and friendly legislation; and television, movies, music, magazines and video games which are a feast of casual sex, beauty as paramount and violence as the solution to most problems.
A society that fosters those behaviors that are uniformly unproductive of positive virtue -- fashion, sports, voyeurism, passive recreations, drinking/drugs/mood pharmaceuticals, overblown commercialism, etc., will melt away from any previous primacy it may have achieved in hardier days. A society that glorifies such things onto a golden pedestal, and puts power and ego above truth and responsibility will crash within a generation or two of such misplaced veneration.
Remembering Rome -- and there are several other examples of crashed empires -- they had a short period of continued military dominance after decadence had beset their populace, but outwardly-exhibited power cannot be long maintained if the core is rotting from within.
Modern America depends on the sheep, er, the general public, operating in a functional fog, and dependent on “experts” to control and guide them. If it were suddenly possible for everyone’s IQ to be raised 50 points overnight, but this action needed the secret-ballot approval of 5 groups - the politicians, the corporate executives, the mass media executives, the doctors and the lawyers, I think we could expect a unanimous negative vote.
The major compromises in American society have already been made -- the big lines have long since been crossed. There's likely no going back in most cases. Companies which make unhealthy food and market it as healthy; TV networks which allow misleading commercials, some using semi-hypnotic techniques; corporate and interest-group lobbyists who funnel huge amounts of money to politicians in exchange for "access" and friendly legislation; and television, movies, music, magazines and video games which are a feast of casual sex, beauty as paramount and violence as the solution to most problems.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Confederacy of Dunces
To watch and listen to the hysterical right-wing noise machine regarding the new administration is simultimely perversely unsettling and laugh-out-loud funny. After 8 years of the Bush Misadministration, during which time Hannutty, Limbaugh and Blowhard O'Reilly championed one dunderheaded cause after another in service of their powerstablishment masters, one would think they would now slink away to oblivion.
But no, they're hot on the case -- the case that Obama is destroying America and needs to be stopped. What I fear is that one of their acolytes, the vastjority of whom are well-armed boneheads, will take their pronouncements to their logical conclusion. And then we'll have President Biden, and America will wrap itself once again in tragedy.
But no, they're hot on the case -- the case that Obama is destroying America and needs to be stopped. What I fear is that one of their acolytes, the vastjority of whom are well-armed boneheads, will take their pronouncements to their logical conclusion. And then we'll have President Biden, and America will wrap itself once again in tragedy.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Bad Shepherds
Call this the story of The Bad Shepherds. What can one say about a country’s leaders when they haven’t adequately protected the citizens under their care from corporate predators? From the financial pirates, who, while "earning" tens of millions of dollars making specious transactions, hollowed out the wealth of the U.S. From the bevy of corporations who use our land and water as a toilet, flushing their harmful chemicals (starting with mercury) into our food supply.
From the tobacco companies that have addicted 30% of its citizens -- and millions more in their early graves? From the alcohol industry, which ruins countless lives in its lust for profits? From the many-tentacled food, snack, soft drink and fast food industries, which have "shaped" this country into one in which over 65% are overweight and eating their way into ill health?
From the pharmaceutical companies that are successfully achieving their agenda of pushing pills on all Americans, and targeting millions of children? From the gun merchants, who won’t be satisfied until every 17-year-old in the country is packing? From the television purveyors, a marketing machine for everything unhealthy, be it morally or physically?
The sad fact is that our shepherds, our so-called leaders who have been entrusted with the public welfare, have been well-paid to not intervene forcefully in these fleecings. Almost without exception these individuals (and you can include the top persons in the regulatory agencies), live a lot higher on the hog after their tenure than they did when they entered public service. This is made true by the so-called "revolving door," by which the majority of government regulators later get jobs in the industries they were supposedly overseeing. Or, in the case of congressmen, get jobs lobbying for the worst offenders of the public welfare.
From the tobacco companies that have addicted 30% of its citizens -- and millions more in their early graves? From the alcohol industry, which ruins countless lives in its lust for profits? From the many-tentacled food, snack, soft drink and fast food industries, which have "shaped" this country into one in which over 65% are overweight and eating their way into ill health?
From the pharmaceutical companies that are successfully achieving their agenda of pushing pills on all Americans, and targeting millions of children? From the gun merchants, who won’t be satisfied until every 17-year-old in the country is packing? From the television purveyors, a marketing machine for everything unhealthy, be it morally or physically?
The sad fact is that our shepherds, our so-called leaders who have been entrusted with the public welfare, have been well-paid to not intervene forcefully in these fleecings. Almost without exception these individuals (and you can include the top persons in the regulatory agencies), live a lot higher on the hog after their tenure than they did when they entered public service. This is made true by the so-called "revolving door," by which the majority of government regulators later get jobs in the industries they were supposedly overseeing. Or, in the case of congressmen, get jobs lobbying for the worst offenders of the public welfare.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Misc. Rants
How many of you know about the congressional "redistricting" that is constantly going on? Not many, I suspect, as it's considered a boring subject by most people. Both parties are guilty of it, but it's perpetrated by whatever party is ruling the roost.
What they do is get maps made showing numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans in each neighborhood, draw lines around those zones, then mix and match to get the desired results, even if it means district shapes are left horribly cockeyed. There are districts that have corridors only a few blocks wide and stretching for miles. (Is this what the framers of the constitution had in mind? Probably not.) If there's an opposition party stronghold, they jigsaw and truncate it in such a way as to weaken it's chances of voting that way again.
Greasy, shady stuff, but considered a legitimate exercise by the rascals whom we are oblivious enough to call our leaders.
We as a world have successfully passed into our third great epoch. The first was governed by the creed Safe Makes Right, during that long pre-dawn of human history when the best man was the alive man, the one who survived to hunt and eat and procreate another day.
Then, around thirty-thousand years ago, when people started forming into bigger groups, it became Might Makes Right, when they who controlled the biggest warriors with the biggest sticks, or most tanks, or accumulated nuclear throw weight, ruled over the others.
But in the last few decades a new dawn (or perhaps it's a sunset) has initiated, one in which Money Makes Right. Those individuals and corporations who have the most financial resources have the clout to make much, much more, and easily stifle competition and attempts at restriction from smaller entities, including governments, who in effect become their pawns.
Here's a question for you: If someone wanted to start a company that would kill over half-a-million people a year, most of them Americans, and give health problems to several million others, could they start this manufactory? Or, if already doing this, stay in business? (For the answer, refer to the previous piece.)
What they do is get maps made showing numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans in each neighborhood, draw lines around those zones, then mix and match to get the desired results, even if it means district shapes are left horribly cockeyed. There are districts that have corridors only a few blocks wide and stretching for miles. (Is this what the framers of the constitution had in mind? Probably not.) If there's an opposition party stronghold, they jigsaw and truncate it in such a way as to weaken it's chances of voting that way again.
Greasy, shady stuff, but considered a legitimate exercise by the rascals whom we are oblivious enough to call our leaders.
We as a world have successfully passed into our third great epoch. The first was governed by the creed Safe Makes Right, during that long pre-dawn of human history when the best man was the alive man, the one who survived to hunt and eat and procreate another day.
Then, around thirty-thousand years ago, when people started forming into bigger groups, it became Might Makes Right, when they who controlled the biggest warriors with the biggest sticks, or most tanks, or accumulated nuclear throw weight, ruled over the others.
But in the last few decades a new dawn (or perhaps it's a sunset) has initiated, one in which Money Makes Right. Those individuals and corporations who have the most financial resources have the clout to make much, much more, and easily stifle competition and attempts at restriction from smaller entities, including governments, who in effect become their pawns.
Here's a question for you: If someone wanted to start a company that would kill over half-a-million people a year, most of them Americans, and give health problems to several million others, could they start this manufactory? Or, if already doing this, stay in business? (For the answer, refer to the previous piece.)
The Tree of Good and Evil
I write a lot of things about America, mostly of a disparaging nature, as I believe that this country has a serious set of negative trends -- commercialism, rampant irresponsibility, lack of business honesty, corrupted politicians, overly violent TV and movies, erosion of personal integrity, declining ability to communicate effectively, food pollution, etc. -- which only seem to be worsening.
But a fully objective look at the U.S. reveals that it is, for the world, the living, breathing tree of good and evil. We assisted Europe in getting back on its feet after WWII, and conducted a comparatively benevolent form of occupation in Germany and Japan. (But, OK, we firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
We've aided many Third World Countries to save lives during droughts and other emergencies, donated tons of grain, built bridges and schools, etc., but then we hooked them on bad food and cigarettes. Our State Department, CIA and military have a horribly mixed record of supporting both freedom and tyranny, depending on what we perceive to be in our "best national interest."
People around the world who are coming in contact with Americans may be meeting missionaries or educators or happy, well-heeled vacationers, or someone looking to exploit the local populace with a high-pollution factory.
Or even within our own borders, a person can choose to live a life of pure asceticism, devoted entirely to spiritual growth, and find places and people to support that lifestyle. Or they can conduct themselves in quite the opposite manner and live in abject degeneracy, suffused with alcohol and drug abuse, and find plenty of easy access to that sort of life as well.
Born of the seed of freedom: the tree of good and evil. Pick your fruit and take a bite.
But a fully objective look at the U.S. reveals that it is, for the world, the living, breathing tree of good and evil. We assisted Europe in getting back on its feet after WWII, and conducted a comparatively benevolent form of occupation in Germany and Japan. (But, OK, we firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
We've aided many Third World Countries to save lives during droughts and other emergencies, donated tons of grain, built bridges and schools, etc., but then we hooked them on bad food and cigarettes. Our State Department, CIA and military have a horribly mixed record of supporting both freedom and tyranny, depending on what we perceive to be in our "best national interest."
People around the world who are coming in contact with Americans may be meeting missionaries or educators or happy, well-heeled vacationers, or someone looking to exploit the local populace with a high-pollution factory.
Or even within our own borders, a person can choose to live a life of pure asceticism, devoted entirely to spiritual growth, and find places and people to support that lifestyle. Or they can conduct themselves in quite the opposite manner and live in abject degeneracy, suffused with alcohol and drug abuse, and find plenty of easy access to that sort of life as well.
Born of the seed of freedom: the tree of good and evil. Pick your fruit and take a bite.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Tube Boobs
I was raised in a time when civility and virtue were still considered to be prime attributes, although the WWII generation would complain of us that we were crass and vulgar compared to them. But what’s going on now with the “culture,” by which I mostly mean TV, movies and music, is that civility and virtue -- be it humility, honesty, intellectuality or any of the others -- have been mostly thrown out the window. In fact a character on a television show these days, whether it’s a comedy, drama or reality show, is now hooted and booted for displaying virtue, and is liable to be derided as a “wuss,” a sucker or a loser.
You know how every week there’s a DVD or two that comes out that you just have to see? And how there’s 20-25 hours of stuff on TV that’s just part of your schedule to watch? Well, what are you going to do in the future when there are 10-12 DVDs per week and 45-50 hours of TV that you don’t feel you can live without? (If you think many people are zombie-brained now...)
Speaking of such things, a study showed that the average college student watches over 30 hours of television per week. This was inclusive of the buckled-down students, so that means that many of these kids are wired in to 35-40 or even more hours per week. And this doesn’t include time spent on video games, online chatting, text messaging and downloading/listening to music. And "hooking up." And, what’s that other thing they sometimes do? Oh, yeah, attending class and studying.
A national survey revealed that only 22% of high school students spend more than one hour a day on homework. 55% (perhaps the more honest among them) said they studied less than 3 hours per week. Of that group, 65% reported that they made mostly A’s and B’s, which says more about the dumbing down of standards than the abilities of the kids.(Further note: Almost all of these homework hours are accomplished with some combination of TV, music-player and text-messaging in operation, thus diminishing the concentration level.)
The real corruption of television and movies, more so than the overdone sexuality and violence, is that misbehavior is constantly being shown with little or no repercussion, often with little notice being given to it at all. In other words, the abnormal is treated as normal, even as being "fun stuff." For the generations between 5 and 35, brought up more by mass media than parents, these depictions are a strong teaching tool, instructing them as to the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
One of the insidious things about television is that, since it’s written by New York and L.A. people under general instructions to create edgy, exciting characters, the resultant populations of TV show dramas and comedies, are hardly like real people, even metropolitan-based people. Since this involves a kind of symbiotic reflection with the mass of TV viewers, i.e., they model themselves somewhat on what they see portrayed on the tube, than this mass media – and to a lesser extent movies – is creating a warping in the population’s sense of itself, actually affecting people’s behavior in a mostly negative way..
You know how every week there’s a DVD or two that comes out that you just have to see? And how there’s 20-25 hours of stuff on TV that’s just part of your schedule to watch? Well, what are you going to do in the future when there are 10-12 DVDs per week and 45-50 hours of TV that you don’t feel you can live without? (If you think many people are zombie-brained now...)
Speaking of such things, a study showed that the average college student watches over 30 hours of television per week. This was inclusive of the buckled-down students, so that means that many of these kids are wired in to 35-40 or even more hours per week. And this doesn’t include time spent on video games, online chatting, text messaging and downloading/listening to music. And "hooking up." And, what’s that other thing they sometimes do? Oh, yeah, attending class and studying.
A national survey revealed that only 22% of high school students spend more than one hour a day on homework. 55% (perhaps the more honest among them) said they studied less than 3 hours per week. Of that group, 65% reported that they made mostly A’s and B’s, which says more about the dumbing down of standards than the abilities of the kids.(Further note: Almost all of these homework hours are accomplished with some combination of TV, music-player and text-messaging in operation, thus diminishing the concentration level.)
The real corruption of television and movies, more so than the overdone sexuality and violence, is that misbehavior is constantly being shown with little or no repercussion, often with little notice being given to it at all. In other words, the abnormal is treated as normal, even as being "fun stuff." For the generations between 5 and 35, brought up more by mass media than parents, these depictions are a strong teaching tool, instructing them as to the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
One of the insidious things about television is that, since it’s written by New York and L.A. people under general instructions to create edgy, exciting characters, the resultant populations of TV show dramas and comedies, are hardly like real people, even metropolitan-based people. Since this involves a kind of symbiotic reflection with the mass of TV viewers, i.e., they model themselves somewhat on what they see portrayed on the tube, than this mass media – and to a lesser extent movies – is creating a warping in the population’s sense of itself, actually affecting people’s behavior in a mostly negative way..
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
America on the Ropes
I hate to be the one to tell you this but the dear old U.S. of A. is the biggest shop of horrors on this planet. For all the greatness spawned here in the past -- and still some things to this day -- we are also the major producers and purveyors (and exporters) of guns, war products, alcohol, air pollution, water pollution, chemical and biological weapons, raped and empty-calorie food products, sugar-fizz drinks, aspartame-fizz drinks, filthy and violent music and movies, war toys, pharmaceuticals for children, pornography, mind control programs, government surveillance (domestic and foreign), tobacco products and Eddie Murphy films.
But none of that stops people from looking up from reading their Better Homes and Gardens or Maxim magazines and saying things like, “Is this a great country or what?!” (I'm starting to lean towards "or what".) Or putting all those stickers and flags on their cars. Or voting for the politicians who most shamelessly push their patriotic buttons.
To the extent that a country's people is gung ho "My country right or wrong," that nation is susceptible to making grave errors of judgment, especially in its foreign policy and actions abroad. The best example, as in many things, is Nazi Germany, but virtually all national leaders of powerful countries have the grand egos that are requisite to evil adventurism (to have gotten to the top in the first place) and without the restraints of a soberly discerning public, their most rapacious objectives might graduate from temptation to deployment.
There's an old expression, "It's a free country." This was never more than a half-truth but nowadays, between an overabundance of laws and regulations, perpetrated by a many-layered law enforcement structure, a litigious society (squeamish, whiny citizens and voracious lawyers) and the damn PC police, it's more like a quarter truth.
The upper middle class suburban population, which has quite a bit of clout politically, socially and economically, lives in a kind of fool's paradise, a pseudo-reality island of green lawns, sparkling malls, modern office buildings and pro-active schools. This is their world — and a good world it is, one that they deserve to enjoy — but they often (as in almost always) lose sight of the fact that, while they're living on their 30 square miles of well-kept civilization, not all that far from them is a city with 20 square miles of urban crime and grime, with vermin-infested housing, and crumbling schools.
What should they do about it? Well, that's hard to say, as the first step toward action has not even been taken, which is the acknowledgment that this problem — the deprivation, degradation and desperation of millions of fellow human souls — even exists as something of importance.
But none of that stops people from looking up from reading their Better Homes and Gardens or Maxim magazines and saying things like, “Is this a great country or what?!” (I'm starting to lean towards "or what".) Or putting all those stickers and flags on their cars. Or voting for the politicians who most shamelessly push their patriotic buttons.
To the extent that a country's people is gung ho "My country right or wrong," that nation is susceptible to making grave errors of judgment, especially in its foreign policy and actions abroad. The best example, as in many things, is Nazi Germany, but virtually all national leaders of powerful countries have the grand egos that are requisite to evil adventurism (to have gotten to the top in the first place) and without the restraints of a soberly discerning public, their most rapacious objectives might graduate from temptation to deployment.
There's an old expression, "It's a free country." This was never more than a half-truth but nowadays, between an overabundance of laws and regulations, perpetrated by a many-layered law enforcement structure, a litigious society (squeamish, whiny citizens and voracious lawyers) and the damn PC police, it's more like a quarter truth.
The upper middle class suburban population, which has quite a bit of clout politically, socially and economically, lives in a kind of fool's paradise, a pseudo-reality island of green lawns, sparkling malls, modern office buildings and pro-active schools. This is their world — and a good world it is, one that they deserve to enjoy — but they often (as in almost always) lose sight of the fact that, while they're living on their 30 square miles of well-kept civilization, not all that far from them is a city with 20 square miles of urban crime and grime, with vermin-infested housing, and crumbling schools.
What should they do about it? Well, that's hard to say, as the first step toward action has not even been taken, which is the acknowledgment that this problem — the deprivation, degradation and desperation of millions of fellow human souls — even exists as something of importance.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Decline of the American Empire
One of America’s dirty little secrets, which soon threatens to become public knowledge and public shame, is how the colleges are passing along huge numbers of poorly-prepared students to the workforce, just as the high schools passed them along to the colleges.
People whose job it is to hire and train the young as they enter the job market have become increasingly appalled, and challenged by, the descending levels of aptitude -- the results of a failed educational system. In fairness though, only a portion of the blame should be on the educators as this is a systemic cultural crisis, with causal factors ranging from entertainment overload to empty diets to the breakdown of family discipline.
It’s gotten so bad that Toyota recently announced that it was placing its new auto plant in Canada, instead of in one of the several U.S. locales which were hungrily vying for it. They were clear about their reason for turning down the lavish American incentives: The workforce in this country has great difficulty with written instructions, and combined with their very low memory retention, this leads to overly long training periods followed by many workplace errors.
Take note, America. History is replete with the rise and fall of great nations who dominated the world, got rich and powerful, then fat and lazy and arrogant and decadent. Then were defeated by the next lean-and-hungry to come along. The sure-fire early-warning sign of a formerly great country's decline is the corruption and disaffection of its youth, which America has in spades.
The vast majority of the top students in U.S. colleges are Asian and Indian. They used to go to work in American companies, but due to the hyper-paranoid immigration policy changes (post 9/11 by the Bushies) and the evolvement of corporate opportunity in their home countries, they have lately been returning to those places and working for (or starting up) enterprises which will eventually dominate the world in all marketable fields.
People whose job it is to hire and train the young as they enter the job market have become increasingly appalled, and challenged by, the descending levels of aptitude -- the results of a failed educational system. In fairness though, only a portion of the blame should be on the educators as this is a systemic cultural crisis, with causal factors ranging from entertainment overload to empty diets to the breakdown of family discipline.
It’s gotten so bad that Toyota recently announced that it was placing its new auto plant in Canada, instead of in one of the several U.S. locales which were hungrily vying for it. They were clear about their reason for turning down the lavish American incentives: The workforce in this country has great difficulty with written instructions, and combined with their very low memory retention, this leads to overly long training periods followed by many workplace errors.
Take note, America. History is replete with the rise and fall of great nations who dominated the world, got rich and powerful, then fat and lazy and arrogant and decadent. Then were defeated by the next lean-and-hungry to come along. The sure-fire early-warning sign of a formerly great country's decline is the corruption and disaffection of its youth, which America has in spades.
The vast majority of the top students in U.S. colleges are Asian and Indian. They used to go to work in American companies, but due to the hyper-paranoid immigration policy changes (post 9/11 by the Bushies) and the evolvement of corporate opportunity in their home countries, they have lately been returning to those places and working for (or starting up) enterprises which will eventually dominate the world in all marketable fields.
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Hello. My name is... not Methuselah Blume. Most of you know me as Dan Cooper, or, more infamously, as D.B. Cooper. That's not my real name either , nor is Sammy Cooper, which is the appellation I go under now. My actual identity will have to remain a secret for the near (and perhaps into the far) future.
After I parachuted from the airplane on that fateful night in 1971, I became lodged in a tree, unable to free myself. Along came a man, a man with a vehicle, who decided to free me -- not just from the tree, but from my checkered terrestrial existence. His vehicle was a flying diskcraft, and he was part of a crew from a much larger ship.
A short while later, I became a member of the crew on board that ship, part of what's called the Service Corps of the local (621 planets) Sector government. I've been part of many adventures during the past 30-some years, something which I'll write about in due time. For some of the story, one could read a book which is being published next year. It's called "The Once and Future Man: The Exaggerated Death of Ambrose Bierce." I've read most of the manuscript, and I can assure you that there's not a boring page in it.
For now, I'd like to get some of my opinions placed in cyberland, especially those regarding this decadent American culture -- it's politics, governance, newsmedia, entertainment industry, health habits, etc.
After I parachuted from the airplane on that fateful night in 1971, I became lodged in a tree, unable to free myself. Along came a man, a man with a vehicle, who decided to free me -- not just from the tree, but from my checkered terrestrial existence. His vehicle was a flying diskcraft, and he was part of a crew from a much larger ship.
A short while later, I became a member of the crew on board that ship, part of what's called the Service Corps of the local (621 planets) Sector government. I've been part of many adventures during the past 30-some years, something which I'll write about in due time. For some of the story, one could read a book which is being published next year. It's called "The Once and Future Man: The Exaggerated Death of Ambrose Bierce." I've read most of the manuscript, and I can assure you that there's not a boring page in it.
For now, I'd like to get some of my opinions placed in cyberland, especially those regarding this decadent American culture -- it's politics, governance, newsmedia, entertainment industry, health habits, etc.
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