And now, for something completely different:
American Psychosis by Chris Hedges
I couldn't have described the decline any better than the drunken, smoking, pompous, atheist Mr. hedges did in the above linked article.
Bad Religion also does a decent job of describing the collapse collectively over the course of their record catalog using sonic mosaics that rapid-fire in 2-4 minute bursts (with amazing prescience, mind you). However, I still go to see them play and I witness punk on punk violence like some of the 'punks' are just jocks/wolves in sheep clothing who never even paid attention to the lessons embedded in the lyrics. Domination/Submission.
Please, please be objective and look through the facade of the glitz and glamour. Peer into the shit storm brewing...and then do nothing about it...like me, the lazy middle-class intellectual that I be...a hopeless cynic seeking hope...
"lascivious, it's all that I can think of as I drag my feet,
searching like a diogenes,
dangerous, the adjectives of the decade
and of your alluring intricacies,
I can see your green-screen mentality
and I can feel the sting of it's consequence,
and I know I shouldn't
but it's too much to ignore, an emotion I deplore,
every time I look at you,
I just want do it,
I can clench my fist right through it
but I just want to get off
rectilinear, this direction we've been heading
never realizing we are on a runaway machine,
angular, the momentum that does turn us one
step further on our ladder,
one more turn toward the east,
I realize your green-screen mentality
and I know it is shared by many more,
I know it's quite impossible
but I am damned to find a way to revolve the other way,
every time I scrutinize I just say "screw it",
we're on a ride down a blind conduit
and I just want to get off."
Audio: Bad Religion - Get Off
Anyhow, my writing offers a calming catharsis, a soothing respite from the tangled bramble in my brain. My personal life is a daunting gauntlet of emotional stormy intelligence gathered by trial and error. I nearly careen over cliffs of consequence and lie low in valleys of artificial amusement, clinging to the deeply embedded Judeo-Christian idea of finality and paradise at the end of...the end of something.
I got mixed up confusion
Man, it’s a-killin’ me
Well, there’s too many people
And they’re all too hard to please
Well, my hat’s in my hand
Babe, I’m walkin’ down the line
An’ I’m lookin’ for a woman
Whose head’s mixed up like mine
Well, my head’s full of questions
My temp’rature’s risin’ fast
Well, I’m lookin’ for some answers
But I don’t know who to ask
But I’m walkin’ and wonderin’
And my poor feet don’t ever stop
Seein’ my reflection
I’m hung over, hung down, hung up! - Bobby D
When an empire collapses something must come, be born, out of it.
We Americans have Roman amusements, decadent ranting, a national consciousness born in war, conquering heartland, freedom spilled from the blood of the conquered and those carried along with the winds of 'success' to be the labor and technical experts in the advance of civilization (as seen through our Western eyes).
We Westerners also have imbued within our psyche the apocalyptic collapse of the Roman Empire. The idea of an apocalypse engenders a creative myopia in our national consciousness, a disjointed view of the reality of competition to an end that only benefits a few and strangles the hopes and aspirations of millions, starves the life out of children, then points to the sky and says, "it's him" (thanks for the last bit or lyrical mashup, Mr. Dylan).
Where are we going, really?
Whatever comes, I think it will be tainted by those with mean minds shouting slogans, hard heads rationalizing US global dominance (or else), and heavy hands wielding loveless, locked, and loaded guns to smear the brains of their imagined enemies. The me first crush groove country cavalry. Yahooooo...I need a Toby Keith (or Lee Greenwood) excerpt right about now...
These are the internal forces I truly fear. It's going to suck when brown shirts are in fashion. Soon come.
And now the final word in today's quote cafe, you know, for a bit of philosophy disguised as eighties levity:
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ferris Bueller
Peace and freedom for all the world, not just the fortunate few...
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