“ …in every one of us..there’s a civil war going on….every time you set out to be good, there’s something pulling on you…every time you set out to love, something keeps pulling on you trying to get you to hate. Every time you set out to be kind and say nice things…something is pulling on you to be jealous and envious and spread evil gossip…..we end up crying out with St. Augustine “Lord make me pure but not yet.” (MLK - Unfulfilled Dreams)
I'm a white guy from a white family in a white neighborhood. I guess I was fortunate in that my parents and some of my older siblings were literate about race. I got smacked twice for bad language when I was a kid: once for calling my brother a cocksucker, and once for telling Mom that Anthony and I had gone nigger-knocking (In my defense, I did not, at age seven, know what either of those words meant). While I have used the first term a time or two since then, my education was such that I have not used the second since. I'm not pretending to empathize with the African-American experience; but I do try to be conscious of my thoughts and knee-jerk reactions, and I make an honest effort to root out the prejudices I find in myself.
So why the bullshit introspection/disclaimer? I reckon if a white guy is going to start a blog post with a quote from MLK, he'd best be honest about the ground on which he stands. This post isn't about race, though. I don't have the perspective or the chops to start that discussion. I was listening to NPR today, and they were playing excerpts from some of Dr. King's last sermons and speeches. The quote above is taken from a larger context in which Dr. King stated that, "life is a continual story of shattered dreams." He referenced Gandhi's ultimate heartbreak over a divided India, and he of course masterfully framed the concept in the arena of the Civil Rights movement. What struck me, though, was the blatant and almost illicit personal narrative occurring in Dr. King's voice and delivery. The NPR narrator speculated that King could have been drawing from his own purported personal struggles with adultery, but I don't know that the specific sin matters. I think he was saying that ain't nobody all one way, and that nobody is free of the capacity for destruction and debasement, self or otherwise. It's not a clear cut struggle, either. Some days it feels like all the things you do right are made false by the miserable and compulsive joy of entertaining wrong. Lust, rage, meanness...If somewhere in my brain it's considered, then it's as surely me as any good I may ultimately do. I'm not religious. I am, in fact, allergic to religion. As a non-religious white guy from a white family in a white neighborhood, though, I would, almost, follow whatever abstraction this black preacher told me to if it illuminated a way through this struggle. Too bad the fuckers had to kill him.
Much Peace.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Saturday Interlude
Max and Will (my twin two-year-olds) are lingering over their english muffins, eggs and juice while I make plans for the day. It is not so unbearably moist today, so we will likely pack a lunch and go survey what damage last night's storms did to one of the nearby state parks. The boys will be fascinated by the rarity of a full and fast-flowing Platte, and I will be glad to head outside and absorb light not produced by a computer monitor. Obviously, I am getting off the damn compter now.
Much Peace
Much Peace
Friday, June 27, 2008
Who's Going to Shoe His Holy Little Feet?
I suppose I should begin with a correction from yesterday's post, wherein I questioned his Grand High Holiness' credibility, in small part due to reports that he flaunted red Prada loafers as part of a Papal ensemble. A Vatican newspaper set the record straight, assuring us that the Lord High Brownshirt "does not wear Prada, but Christ."
Jesus forgive me, and all of us, who would for one minute believe that this model of simple living would ever succumb to the lure of worldly goods. Excepting, of course, his red fur-lined hat, his gold-embroidered robes and gold plated cups, and the long red velvet cape trimmed with ermine he wore to a recent event. As I recall, the poor carpenter from Galilee (who generations of Popes and other less exalted Christians have failed miserably to emulate) didn't go in much for ermine. I think Nero did, though, and probably Caligula. Given (then) Cardinal Benedict's attempts to cover up his corporation's widespread kiddy-diddling (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection), Caligula is the more accurate comparison.
Jesus forgive me, and all of us, who would for one minute believe that this model of simple living would ever succumb to the lure of worldly goods. Excepting, of course, his red fur-lined hat, his gold-embroidered robes and gold plated cups, and the long red velvet cape trimmed with ermine he wore to a recent event. As I recall, the poor carpenter from Galilee (who generations of Popes and other less exalted Christians have failed miserably to emulate) didn't go in much for ermine. I think Nero did, though, and probably Caligula. Given (then) Cardinal Benedict's attempts to cover up his corporation's widespread kiddy-diddling (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection), Caligula is the more accurate comparison.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Pit Bulls and SUVs
Pit Bull Terriers and Hummers send the same message to me: “My owner has a small penis and a tiny brain.” The two beasts may seem unrelated, but their genesis and proliferation are children of the same junkie whore mother.
Another pit bull attack in Omaha and another kid loses a portion of her anatomy. This time it was a 15-month-old baby with her scalp ripped off. The owner, a stereotypically unwashed, undereducated woman with obvious life issues, told television reporters she was sorry for what happened to the kids. 20/20 remorse. It would be nice if these short-sighted troglodytes considered the possible ramifications of keeping their killer “pets” in an urban area with children. Are there not enough documented cases of kids getting their faces or genitals bitten off by noble Staffordshires to pierce the fog of terminal adolescence that surrounds the owners of these dogs? Seriously, how self-absorbed does a person have to be to put his own misanthropic desire for a big mean dog ahead of the safety and well-being of his community?
… about as self-absorbed as the cases of arrested development who drive Hummers and other big SUVs during an energy crisis. Just pop some Extenze, for chrissake, or better yet, get over yourself and realize you’re still a selfish, juvenile, strutting little peacock no matter what you drive. Sure, sure: we have the Divinely granted freedom to engage in whatever self-and-socially destructive behavior the Gods of Oligarchy deem profitable (provided it’s nothing so benign as marrying whom you want or smoking weed), and I am not suggesting we ban SUVs. I would, however, like to bitch-slap some perspective and self worth into the bitches hogging the highway and the resources in their rolling self-esteem chambers.
These are just two lurid examples of what is really the fundamental and basic compulsion of our entire culture and economy: the Holy Pursuit of Unnecessary Goods. The more extravagant and nonsensical the purchase, the more negative the fallout elsewhere, the more valuable it will be seen by you and the Joneses.
For example, women want diamonds because, like ravens and crows, they like to line their nests with shiny things. Pathetic men purchase these overpriced shards of coal in the hope of a consistent date less efficient than their own right hands. Both parties in this blatant bit of prostitution ignore the well-publicized fact that folks half a world away are being raped and murdered to supply hooker and john with their trinket of respectability. Again: It’s not a secret that many of us were married with conflict diamonds. It just doesn’t matter to us. Those little things are just so damn pretty; a few dead kids in Africa are a small price to pay to stroke our fancy and our egos.
It’s all of a piece. We define ourselves by what we own, setting a baseline of narcissism and materialism. I don’t believe the Superstitious Right when they preach about Christian values in their $1,000.00 sweetwater suits and 3000-square-foot homes. I don’t believe God’s Pit Bull, the current Catholic Pope, who rails against vague materialism while strutting in his red Pradas and blessing fleets of Ferraris.
I don’t believe the purportedly socially and environmentally conscious left, whether D.C. or Hollywood, who talk a pretty good game, but who zip back and forth in private jets and fuel the most banal brand-minded consumerism. When push comes to shove, neither Barack nor Hillary will actually alter their lifestyles or consumer habits for the greater good, any more than would Bush or a Saudi prince. There really isn't much difference between the illiterate troll who keeps a pit bull, the preening suburbanite getting 10 mpg in his Hummer, and the middle class consumer who pays no attention to where his diamonds, shirts or coffee come from. The underlying attitude is, "we gots to get ours, and screw the consequences."
Much Peace
Another pit bull attack in Omaha and another kid loses a portion of her anatomy. This time it was a 15-month-old baby with her scalp ripped off. The owner, a stereotypically unwashed, undereducated woman with obvious life issues, told television reporters she was sorry for what happened to the kids. 20/20 remorse. It would be nice if these short-sighted troglodytes considered the possible ramifications of keeping their killer “pets” in an urban area with children. Are there not enough documented cases of kids getting their faces or genitals bitten off by noble Staffordshires to pierce the fog of terminal adolescence that surrounds the owners of these dogs? Seriously, how self-absorbed does a person have to be to put his own misanthropic desire for a big mean dog ahead of the safety and well-being of his community?
… about as self-absorbed as the cases of arrested development who drive Hummers and other big SUVs during an energy crisis. Just pop some Extenze, for chrissake, or better yet, get over yourself and realize you’re still a selfish, juvenile, strutting little peacock no matter what you drive. Sure, sure: we have the Divinely granted freedom to engage in whatever self-and-socially destructive behavior the Gods of Oligarchy deem profitable (provided it’s nothing so benign as marrying whom you want or smoking weed), and I am not suggesting we ban SUVs. I would, however, like to bitch-slap some perspective and self worth into the bitches hogging the highway and the resources in their rolling self-esteem chambers.
These are just two lurid examples of what is really the fundamental and basic compulsion of our entire culture and economy: the Holy Pursuit of Unnecessary Goods. The more extravagant and nonsensical the purchase, the more negative the fallout elsewhere, the more valuable it will be seen by you and the Joneses.
For example, women want diamonds because, like ravens and crows, they like to line their nests with shiny things. Pathetic men purchase these overpriced shards of coal in the hope of a consistent date less efficient than their own right hands. Both parties in this blatant bit of prostitution ignore the well-publicized fact that folks half a world away are being raped and murdered to supply hooker and john with their trinket of respectability. Again: It’s not a secret that many of us were married with conflict diamonds. It just doesn’t matter to us. Those little things are just so damn pretty; a few dead kids in Africa are a small price to pay to stroke our fancy and our egos.
It’s all of a piece. We define ourselves by what we own, setting a baseline of narcissism and materialism. I don’t believe the Superstitious Right when they preach about Christian values in their $1,000.00 sweetwater suits and 3000-square-foot homes. I don’t believe God’s Pit Bull, the current Catholic Pope, who rails against vague materialism while strutting in his red Pradas and blessing fleets of Ferraris.
I don’t believe the purportedly socially and environmentally conscious left, whether D.C. or Hollywood, who talk a pretty good game, but who zip back and forth in private jets and fuel the most banal brand-minded consumerism. When push comes to shove, neither Barack nor Hillary will actually alter their lifestyles or consumer habits for the greater good, any more than would Bush or a Saudi prince. There really isn't much difference between the illiterate troll who keeps a pit bull, the preening suburbanite getting 10 mpg in his Hummer, and the middle class consumer who pays no attention to where his diamonds, shirts or coffee come from. The underlying attitude is, "we gots to get ours, and screw the consequences."
Much Peace
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