Saturday, October 31, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

As I watch the horror movie fest today, I thank the Cristian Church. If not for All Saints Day, Nov. 1st, we would not have Halloween as we know it. Well without the capitalist marketing machine's perversion of it anyway. Money seems to trump all in the end it seems.

Friday, October 23, 2009

The Stuck In Time Machine

When I was still in High School I saw what I was sure was the direction civilization was going. Equality, humanity, and generosity seemed to be the obvious path. Being one of those that always jumped at the chance to be in the future early, I got married at 17, and had 3 children by 25. I became enamored with learning how to manipulate the physical universe at will while I grew as an accomplished soul.

At 45 a divorce threw me back into the mix. Imagine my surprise to find that the world had not only failed too keep up with my journey in many areas, it had actually stagnated or regressed in most, especially woman's rights.

Sure, some things were different than in my mother's and grandmother's day, but those things seem to hide the truth. Much of the liberation of women was a mask that society used to obscure the flaws in status quo. The trickle-down theory of Reagonomics applied to social justice in a hideous way.

It has left me virtually alone because men don't seem to believe misogyny exists or is wrong, and women of semi-enlightenment see me as the enemy because of my genitalia. I seem to exist in a no-win environment as the Time Machine sputters and fails.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

It May Be A Dog Eat Dog World, But I like Baklava,

The competitive nature of people gives rise to many excuses for cut-throat behavior. The notion that there can be only one winner seems hideous to me. Sure, some must lose in a competition. But does that mean that the loser must forfeit the right to exist and the right to try again. If Humans are the top of the food chain why must we act as if we are not?

What has happened to Good Sportsmanship? Being a Good Winner or a Good Loser? I suppose some will tout the fact that we are, indeed, animals. But we are the top dog! I prefer to think that by the virtue of our unique state of existence in the universe we can, and must, act in a more generous (yes some good deeds are done, but they make up a relatively small percentage of the totality of human activity) and less self-centered way.

I am not saying games/competitions are not good. I'm saying we could all do without the feeding frenzy afterward.

Are we worse than all other species? Only Humans kill to make a statement or oppress someone or something.

example here

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I stopped to Smell the Roses, But Blindly Drinking the Kool-Aid? I Don't Think So!

The information environment in the world today is choc-full of good and bad, true and untrue, humble and arrogant. Some of the would-be prophets in the Academy continue to speak in absolutist terms that really show that, no matter how smart or educated or well connected they are, they can't, or refuse to, speak words that do not put themselves ahead of all others. Even when they know they are only one drop of rain falling into an infinite sea.

The use of such rhetoric serves to alienate rather than foster. While it is true to say that some statements may make sense in one construct, it is dishonest to believe that there is only ONE way to view something (your way) and that it is fact rather than a matter of opinion. It is even more dishonest to state things as though they can be proven when, in fact, they can't. Facts not opinion are proof of something. And conclusions based on facts may still be wrong or incomplete. Only those that consider themselves omniscient and omnipotent make their opinions count as fact.

Saying that something does not evolve because it does not jive with a narrow, cherry picked, dismissive of all other permutations, meaning, is a crime against knowledge.

If one says the earth is not round and you can prove it, that statement is just wrong. To say the earth is not round because it has mountains, valleys, oceans, and flat lands, is an incredibly dishonest trick of logic.

So drink the Kool-Aid if you want to. As for me, I'll wait to see who dies before sipping. What grieves me most when people act like a god, is so many people say "I don't know if what they say is true but I will take it as fact because they are such a great speaker".

Drink up sheep!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The End of the Line

Some people talked of the math 40 years ago. The fact that the geometrical progression that is the mainstay of the global economy and global population would someday reach tangent. We seem to be there. One does not need to be a rocket scientist, or even a Nobel economist, to see that things are not good and no one knows what to do to next.


The so called experts are stumped. Many of the so called enlightened focus on things that, while of meaning if we survive, skirt or ignore our current heading. What good is being a brilliant Harvard lawyer, or a wealthy VC, or a Media scholar, or etc., etc., if civilization tanks?

I know some refuse to believe the math yet use the same numbers to pad their conscience. Faith in God maybe, faith in ones own infallibility nope! And never, never in the words of those that would throw you under the bus so they can ride.

As the rise in the stock market is touted as a sign that business as usual is our salvation, The World sinks farther and farther into a muck that is consuming us. No amount of wishful thinking, or clever economics, or brilliant lawyering can negate the basic math involved. 1+1=2. Gometric progressions eventually reach tangent.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Run Silent,Run Deep

I know, I know! As a crazy person my train of thought rides on invisible tracks. The final stop on this particular trip is the joy of silent movies. On TCM on Sunday nights there are, for your perusal and education, silent movies. As a movie FANatic, it is exciting for me to see the ubiquitous information culture we live with preserve and resurrect these gems from the beginning of filmdom.

Letterman, Polanski, Sanford, Edwards, Kate...SHEESH! I need a good silent film to set my world riight!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Communist Capitalsts or Capitalist Communists?

China now has a class of billionaires! The global economy is non-political in its use of people to produce wealth. Greed is good is the mantra whether you're totalitarian or not. The dictatorship of the proletariat is no longer the focus of China. Money is.

check it out here