Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Follow That Dream!
Ted Bundy dropped out of law school so he could drive around Florida murdering, women. Nothing else mattered to him besides pursuing his passions; murder, rape, and necrophilia. Ted Bundy is an example of what can happen when you have the courage to follow your dreams.
Veterans Day
In the grand tradition of veterans day, the news media is discussing a topic that generally doesn't interest them the other 364 days of the year, veterans. Plenty of outlets had pieces ready to go about the dire suicide statistics among veterans, and they have people shouting "we need to do more!" Ok, do more what? What CNBC, CNN, and Fox forget to tell you when they were explaining why war is such a good idea is that it is an experience that destroys people mentally, and the sad truth is many of these people can never be put back together.
These are people who are afraid to sleep because their nightmares will take them back to horrifying and violent experiences unimaginable to the rest of us. Thousands of these shattered souls are returning here, and there is absolutely no way to cope effectively with it. When society screams, "We need to do more!" what they are really saying is someone somewhere needs to just somehow make this go away and since its literally impossible to do this what can we do as a society to help alleviate the desperate situation many returning veterans find themselves in?
Well, many veterans are finding themselves stuck in low-wage work because of the dismal job situation what can we do about that? Oh, nothing because society also decided some people don't deserve a living wage. What else is there?
Well, Chicago decided to close its mental health facilities so you can forget about spreading some of the burdens around from the already over cumbered VA. Well, would you look at that it appears there is no solution within this context so we should probably stop letting rich people send our family members to war. That's exactly what it is. The stats are there Congress is filled with millionaires presidents aren't exactly working class people either. IF you want to know what the military experience is like for their kids, look up Hunter Biden, son of good ole Joe. He got booted out of the Navy for being a coke head but what were the consequences for him? Oh, he was just put on the board of a huge national gas company.
These are people who are afraid to sleep because their nightmares will take them back to horrifying and violent experiences unimaginable to the rest of us. Thousands of these shattered souls are returning here, and there is absolutely no way to cope effectively with it. When society screams, "We need to do more!" what they are really saying is someone somewhere needs to just somehow make this go away and since its literally impossible to do this what can we do as a society to help alleviate the desperate situation many returning veterans find themselves in?
Well, many veterans are finding themselves stuck in low-wage work because of the dismal job situation what can we do about that? Oh, nothing because society also decided some people don't deserve a living wage. What else is there?
Well, Chicago decided to close its mental health facilities so you can forget about spreading some of the burdens around from the already over cumbered VA. Well, would you look at that it appears there is no solution within this context so we should probably stop letting rich people send our family members to war. That's exactly what it is. The stats are there Congress is filled with millionaires presidents aren't exactly working class people either. IF you want to know what the military experience is like for their kids, look up Hunter Biden, son of good ole Joe. He got booted out of the Navy for being a coke head but what were the consequences for him? Oh, he was just put on the board of a huge national gas company.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Star Wars: The Bullshit Strikes Back
The movement to boycott the new Star Wars is a marketing stunt. I am so confident of this I didn't even bother gathering any evidence to support this claim. Think of this though what has been getting people to talk about movies lately?
Contrived controversy of course!
Mad Max Fury Road was a fantastic display of the kind of buzz a movie can generate when people center it around arguments about gender norms and identity. That is probably why the director reportedly brought in some sort of feminist intellectual as a consultant. It added another layer to the contrived controversy. Holywood knows no one gives a shit about professional critics anymore.
Everyone is interested in their own opinion and talking about it on the internet. A question like is "Fury Road" feminist or not is a way for people to develop an opinion on something they haven't even seen.
Did Star Wars need the marketing boost? No, probably not but this is a relatively cheap and easy stunt to pull off so why not?
Monday, June 22, 2015
The Ol' Stars and Stripes!
In the wake of what I think is now just the second or third most recent open air shooting in South Carolina there is a growing movement to remove the Confederate flag wherever it still may fly particularly in government buildings.
The logic being that the flag is a symbol of a particularly embarrassing time in this nation's past when we had what was known as chattel slavery as a principle economic driver. This, of course, was built on the racist ideology of blacks being inferior and put here to be used simply as tools.
Ok, fair enough. The Confederacy was an attempt to keep that deplorable tradition alive, but if the idea here is to destroy racist symbols that drive people to violence why exactly isn't anyone talking about doing away with the American flag as well?
America as a nation existed quite a while before the idea of the Confederacy was even conceived. In fact had there not been an America there would not have been a Confederacy. Of course, America was a nation built by slavery and extermination of the natives so right there you already meet the criteria for doing away with this symbol.
Some would argue:"Yeah but the U.S. got rid of slavery you silly goose LOL!"
Well, no the new industrial economic model simply works by way of a different kind of slavery wage slavery. Now here is the part where it will be argued this is not the same because you have a "choice" and conditions aren't as bad (apparently as long as people don't actually see flogging they're happy) blah blah.
AS far as choice goes you must work for a wage or you die and as far a the conditions go wage slavery is now a worldwide system and just like older models of slavery some slaves get better deals than others.
Ok so what about the racist element? Sure we're all wage slaves now but at least we are all a level playing field right? Simply not true thanks to more subtle but still not so subtle institutionalized racism there is a growing income gap between white and black families. Blacks tend to face far more severe punishments for minor infractions as well. For instance selling, loose cigarets might get you strangled to death on the street.
Some have said the Confederate flag moves extremists to violence. That might be true, but again what about the American flag? Historically America has inspired people to be very violent. The waving stars and stripes has been carried to battlefields all across the globe. The Confederate flag was a banner in one war the American flag clearly has more blood on its cloth. I mean fuck if you want to talk about something dangerous extremist rally around have you seen the fucking military??
In conclusion, if you find comfort in meaningless gestures and debates by all means get rid of the Confederate flag and see what changes. If you want to have a serious conversation about the pain and suffering these symbols cause well then you might want to consider throwing away the old stars and stripes as well.
The logic being that the flag is a symbol of a particularly embarrassing time in this nation's past when we had what was known as chattel slavery as a principle economic driver. This, of course, was built on the racist ideology of blacks being inferior and put here to be used simply as tools.
Ok, fair enough. The Confederacy was an attempt to keep that deplorable tradition alive, but if the idea here is to destroy racist symbols that drive people to violence why exactly isn't anyone talking about doing away with the American flag as well?
America as a nation existed quite a while before the idea of the Confederacy was even conceived. In fact had there not been an America there would not have been a Confederacy. Of course, America was a nation built by slavery and extermination of the natives so right there you already meet the criteria for doing away with this symbol.
Some would argue:"Yeah but the U.S. got rid of slavery you silly goose LOL!"
Well, no the new industrial economic model simply works by way of a different kind of slavery wage slavery. Now here is the part where it will be argued this is not the same because you have a "choice" and conditions aren't as bad (apparently as long as people don't actually see flogging they're happy) blah blah.
AS far as choice goes you must work for a wage or you die and as far a the conditions go wage slavery is now a worldwide system and just like older models of slavery some slaves get better deals than others.
Ok so what about the racist element? Sure we're all wage slaves now but at least we are all a level playing field right? Simply not true thanks to more subtle but still not so subtle institutionalized racism there is a growing income gap between white and black families. Blacks tend to face far more severe punishments for minor infractions as well. For instance selling, loose cigarets might get you strangled to death on the street.
Some have said the Confederate flag moves extremists to violence. That might be true, but again what about the American flag? Historically America has inspired people to be very violent. The waving stars and stripes has been carried to battlefields all across the globe. The Confederate flag was a banner in one war the American flag clearly has more blood on its cloth. I mean fuck if you want to talk about something dangerous extremist rally around have you seen the fucking military??
In conclusion, if you find comfort in meaningless gestures and debates by all means get rid of the Confederate flag and see what changes. If you want to have a serious conversation about the pain and suffering these symbols cause well then you might want to consider throwing away the old stars and stripes as well.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Investment Opportunities
I've noticed women will disproportionately reciprocate even the most token gesture of generosity. To give an example. My girlfriend has a friend visiting her she sees maybe twice a year. We decided to drink a bit, and this friend said she wanted to drink light and would rather have beer than the tequila we were drinking.
I offered to go to the store for her, and she gave me money for a six pack. Well, I paid for the six pack myself and gave her back her money. Long story short my girlfriend was so happy about it she decided to buy me dinner and that meal will probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 dollars. Not a bad investment.
I offered to go to the store for her, and she gave me money for a six pack. Well, I paid for the six pack myself and gave her back her money. Long story short my girlfriend was so happy about it she decided to buy me dinner and that meal will probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 dollars. Not a bad investment.
Casual Racism For a Better Tomorrow
I've noticed millennials, particularly ones that live in the city like to pretend racism just doesn't exist no matter how apparent it may be. For instance, they don't much care for gentrification on paper but that never stops them in practice. If you were to ask the college kids or what are known as young urban professional moving into Wicker Park or Logan Square if they're gentrifying the area they would probably stay no we are making it better!
Of course making it better just happened to involve driving out all the low-income people of color. In no way though is that related to racism, classism, or any other ism these hip post-racial folk would never dream of being a part of!
Another odd thing about this is they are even sensitive to white on white racism i.e. they don't much care for terms like pollock, mick, dago, etc. They also get upset over sweeping generalizations about nationalities. For the life of me.I can't understand why!
So I've decided to be casually racist more often in my day to day life. I'll say things like; "Nah I don't wanna eat there with all those loud eyetalians." Or "Isn't that place where the damn Romanians hang out?" Furthermore, I will take every opportunity possible to insult more nationalities based on old stereotypes. I will call the British incestuous organ eating ghouls. I will point out how strange it is the Scandinavians like to have pagan orgies in the woods.
Overly sensitive white people will get offended by this, and I'm ok with that. If someone gets genuinely offended by this sort of thing, I don't feel much in the way of sympathy just irritation. I forgot what the point to all this was...fuck being PC perhaps?
Of course making it better just happened to involve driving out all the low-income people of color. In no way though is that related to racism, classism, or any other ism these hip post-racial folk would never dream of being a part of!
Another odd thing about this is they are even sensitive to white on white racism i.e. they don't much care for terms like pollock, mick, dago, etc. They also get upset over sweeping generalizations about nationalities. For the life of me.I can't understand why!
So I've decided to be casually racist more often in my day to day life. I'll say things like; "Nah I don't wanna eat there with all those loud eyetalians." Or "Isn't that place where the damn Romanians hang out?" Furthermore, I will take every opportunity possible to insult more nationalities based on old stereotypes. I will call the British incestuous organ eating ghouls. I will point out how strange it is the Scandinavians like to have pagan orgies in the woods.
Overly sensitive white people will get offended by this, and I'm ok with that. If someone gets genuinely offended by this sort of thing, I don't feel much in the way of sympathy just irritation. I forgot what the point to all this was...fuck being PC perhaps?
Monday, May 25, 2015
The Art of War: The National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago
Many people have taken to Instagram and in righteous indignation chastised a country for treating what should be a somber holiday and turning into an extravaganza of drunken gluttony. Their apparent goal is to remind the rest of us this holiday exists to honor the countless American military servicemen and women who died for something greater than themselves.
Ok, fair enough. Selfless acts and people do deserve some recognition, but what many fail to realize is this day is a celebration of war the very thing that killed the people we're supposed to be mourning.
We cannot ask the dead about their experience in war. We cannot ask them if in their last moments they thought what they were supposedly fighting for was still worthwhile. This holiday exacerbates the symptoms of the disease of nationalism. It is a sickness that has claimed untold millions of lives.
The dead cannot speak, but those who survived war can still teach us quite a bit, and the way many veterans communicate the dark wisdom gained in war are communicating is through art.
The National Veterans Art Museum in portage park is a gallery made up of works created by war vets. The art was mostly produced in art therapy sessions. Art therapy is a way for veterans to articulate the internal torment the experience of war leaves with the people it destroys.
Pain awoke something in them, and they were able to find a new sense of purpose showing us the truth about war. Their art is inspired by their scars; it is an expression of their pain.
The fractured lives and shattered minds that made this art lift the veil of our denial. Viewers are forced to confront reality, and it is far different than the sanitized ego stroking romantic illusions of battle put forward in our culture.
The iconography of Death is heavily utilized in most of the pieces. War after all, is humanity's most death oriented endeavor. The hollowed eyes of skulls are painful reminders of extinguished human life.
There are a number of mediums on display, and there is not one that doesn't invoke a discomfort from the truth it forces on the eyes. Eyes that often have often never seen the human cost of war.
Each display tells of that cost; it is part of the artists story, it is a product of their struggle. Most importantly though it reminds us why it is important that we do not let this national holiday serve as a campaign to celebrate war.
We can really honor those who have fallen by learning from their deaths the ugly truth about war. War can only destroy. That is what it does.
If we want to claim we care about veterans and those currently serving than the best thing we could do for them is not buy a yellow ribbon, hang a flag, or watch Saving Private Ryan. The best we could do is make sure no more lives are wasted on war.
http://www.nvam.org/#
Ok, fair enough. Selfless acts and people do deserve some recognition, but what many fail to realize is this day is a celebration of war the very thing that killed the people we're supposed to be mourning.
We cannot ask the dead about their experience in war. We cannot ask them if in their last moments they thought what they were supposedly fighting for was still worthwhile. This holiday exacerbates the symptoms of the disease of nationalism. It is a sickness that has claimed untold millions of lives.
The dead cannot speak, but those who survived war can still teach us quite a bit, and the way many veterans communicate the dark wisdom gained in war are communicating is through art.
The National Veterans Art Museum in portage park is a gallery made up of works created by war vets. The art was mostly produced in art therapy sessions. Art therapy is a way for veterans to articulate the internal torment the experience of war leaves with the people it destroys.
Pain awoke something in them, and they were able to find a new sense of purpose showing us the truth about war. Their art is inspired by their scars; it is an expression of their pain.
The fractured lives and shattered minds that made this art lift the veil of our denial. Viewers are forced to confront reality, and it is far different than the sanitized ego stroking romantic illusions of battle put forward in our culture.
The iconography of Death is heavily utilized in most of the pieces. War after all, is humanity's most death oriented endeavor. The hollowed eyes of skulls are painful reminders of extinguished human life.
There are a number of mediums on display, and there is not one that doesn't invoke a discomfort from the truth it forces on the eyes. Eyes that often have often never seen the human cost of war.
Each display tells of that cost; it is part of the artists story, it is a product of their struggle. Most importantly though it reminds us why it is important that we do not let this national holiday serve as a campaign to celebrate war.
We can really honor those who have fallen by learning from their deaths the ugly truth about war. War can only destroy. That is what it does.
If we want to claim we care about veterans and those currently serving than the best thing we could do for them is not buy a yellow ribbon, hang a flag, or watch Saving Private Ryan. The best we could do is make sure no more lives are wasted on war.
http://www.nvam.org/#
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