Saturday, January 29, 2005
A delay but more than that
I must confess that the last time I tried to update this very blog, my web browser, Mozilla's Firefox (probably some form of copyright violation from Craig Thomas' late 1980's suspense novel and subsequent 1982 Clint Eastwood film), locked up and shut down. I lost probably an hour's worth of good regurgitation of my trip to HK/China. I haven't had the strength to try to fight this nasty demon since then. However...
I watched "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" tonight. Always wanted to. Finally did. And I have to say that it reaffirms my faith that the Academy is indeed off its rocker. It received 11 nominations, including the equivalent of best picture and only won one. Unbelievable. If you've never seen it... GO SEE IT NOW. It has a lot to say about American politics. In any politics. Men are bought and sold. Influences are peddled and the "you"s and the "me"s of the world are none the wiser.
It's been plaguing me for some time. Why am I beginning to really despise my country? Seeing my second Capra film in a month ("It's a Wonderful Life" was the first, at Christmas, thanks to Aaron in China -- though not my first Capra) gave me more insight to my own thoughts. I am beginning to despise my country because the people in charge are purchased zealots.
Zealots are dangerous. They always have a bone to pick with someone who has their own voice and are necessarily weaker than them. They always think they are right. They always try to stop someone else they think shouldn't be doing what they are doing.
At that point it turns into fascism. And that is even more dangerous because that breeds insecurity, faithlessness and a return to those things that made the Gestapo "great."
Our country -- and here I speak directly of a certain representative democracy sitting between Mexico and Canada, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans -- has lost touch with what our manifest destiny should have been.
Monroe was wrong. Truman was wrong. Only one group of our nations thinkers were right. The men who framed the Constitution. They set forth the Bill of Rights as an addendum to a truly timeless piece of literature. Ten rights guaranteed to every American citizen. The zealots are eroding those rights in the face of an imaginary enemy.
Terror is the imaginary enemy. You may think it isn't imaginary but it is. Zealots use catalysts to force us to turn into fearful sheep who follow what they want us to believe.
The REAL enemy is what it always has been -- people afraid that they may lose their power and can't get it back.
Evidence:
Credit reports. How can numbers represent what kind of credit risk you are? Algorithms. Credit scores. All someone has to do is be able to report to TRW, Equifax or the other services and your life is wrecked. A corporate stooge may hit the wrong keys on his computer and your credit score is permanently damaged. Why do you trust people like that?
"People like that?" you might be asking. Who are they? part-time college students and housewives making $5.15 an hour to type in whatever someone tells them to about you. Accurate... I don't think so.
Media. Is it independent? Not at all. The framers of the Constitution allowed for an independent media and hoped that it would provide some of the necessary checks and balances needed to make a fledgling nation function properly. And rest assured, America is still a fledgling nation. When we hit 500 years, no longer will we be a fledgling nation.
Who owns your media? Shareholders. Who are the shareholders? Old men who are afraid of losing their money so they support more old men just like them to try to keep control of everything. Except Michael Powell. What happened there? An ultra-fascist in arguably the most important post in the entire country. Murdoch wants all the LA TV stations? Okay great, just make sure he buys me a Maserati and gives me first notice when the stock split happens. Sumner Redstone wants all the new digital satellite channels? Who's Sumner Redstone? Oh yeah. Viacom. Okay sure no problem. Make sure he drops a big honorarium on Powell University, courtesy of MY DAD! Yeah well, whatever. Political ass-kissing at its best.
I can't even see straight to keep going I'm so pissed off at these people who have warped democracy into this leech-like lamprey sucking at the underbelly of America. You people, should any of YOU PEOPLE in the United States be listening to me, you need to keep an eye out for what's going on around you. The MPAA acting like they own everything involved in motion pictures when they won't give lawful royalties to producers and writers whose work made all the money for them in the first place. (How about first rights owned by the studio and then all others revert back to the producers and writers after release and an agreed-upon time? Would that be too much to ask? And to spend less than $100 million per film, on average? How about a little fiscal responsibility on your part? As a side note, if you owned your own inhouse special effects houses, costs would go down for your pictures. But then business isn't your strong point either, I guess. Shrug. Morons.)
Enough. I may not get to sleep tonight. I was originally planning on making this a meditation about sorrow and sadness but it turned into a looking to face of stupidity and anger and apparently since I'm talking about it, I'm just as guilty as the fat old rich white guys who made it into an art form. Where is the Founding Fathers' vision in all of this? Lost in the enormous amount of money the skillful can graft off while the rest of us sort of sit there scratching our collective heads thinking, "How'd they manage to do that?"
HEY ROGER AILES! I'M TALKING TO YOU!
(All public personages mentioned here are indeed public people and are entitled to a little "Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?" every once in a while.)
I watched "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" tonight. Always wanted to. Finally did. And I have to say that it reaffirms my faith that the Academy is indeed off its rocker. It received 11 nominations, including the equivalent of best picture and only won one. Unbelievable. If you've never seen it... GO SEE IT NOW. It has a lot to say about American politics. In any politics. Men are bought and sold. Influences are peddled and the "you"s and the "me"s of the world are none the wiser.
It's been plaguing me for some time. Why am I beginning to really despise my country? Seeing my second Capra film in a month ("It's a Wonderful Life" was the first, at Christmas, thanks to Aaron in China -- though not my first Capra) gave me more insight to my own thoughts. I am beginning to despise my country because the people in charge are purchased zealots.
Zealots are dangerous. They always have a bone to pick with someone who has their own voice and are necessarily weaker than them. They always think they are right. They always try to stop someone else they think shouldn't be doing what they are doing.
At that point it turns into fascism. And that is even more dangerous because that breeds insecurity, faithlessness and a return to those things that made the Gestapo "great."
Our country -- and here I speak directly of a certain representative democracy sitting between Mexico and Canada, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans -- has lost touch with what our manifest destiny should have been.
Monroe was wrong. Truman was wrong. Only one group of our nations thinkers were right. The men who framed the Constitution. They set forth the Bill of Rights as an addendum to a truly timeless piece of literature. Ten rights guaranteed to every American citizen. The zealots are eroding those rights in the face of an imaginary enemy.
Terror is the imaginary enemy. You may think it isn't imaginary but it is. Zealots use catalysts to force us to turn into fearful sheep who follow what they want us to believe.
The REAL enemy is what it always has been -- people afraid that they may lose their power and can't get it back.
Evidence:
Credit reports. How can numbers represent what kind of credit risk you are? Algorithms. Credit scores. All someone has to do is be able to report to TRW, Equifax or the other services and your life is wrecked. A corporate stooge may hit the wrong keys on his computer and your credit score is permanently damaged. Why do you trust people like that?
"People like that?" you might be asking. Who are they? part-time college students and housewives making $5.15 an hour to type in whatever someone tells them to about you. Accurate... I don't think so.
Media. Is it independent? Not at all. The framers of the Constitution allowed for an independent media and hoped that it would provide some of the necessary checks and balances needed to make a fledgling nation function properly. And rest assured, America is still a fledgling nation. When we hit 500 years, no longer will we be a fledgling nation.
Who owns your media? Shareholders. Who are the shareholders? Old men who are afraid of losing their money so they support more old men just like them to try to keep control of everything. Except Michael Powell. What happened there? An ultra-fascist in arguably the most important post in the entire country. Murdoch wants all the LA TV stations? Okay great, just make sure he buys me a Maserati and gives me first notice when the stock split happens. Sumner Redstone wants all the new digital satellite channels? Who's Sumner Redstone? Oh yeah. Viacom. Okay sure no problem. Make sure he drops a big honorarium on Powell University, courtesy of MY DAD! Yeah well, whatever. Political ass-kissing at its best.
I can't even see straight to keep going I'm so pissed off at these people who have warped democracy into this leech-like lamprey sucking at the underbelly of America. You people, should any of YOU PEOPLE in the United States be listening to me, you need to keep an eye out for what's going on around you. The MPAA acting like they own everything involved in motion pictures when they won't give lawful royalties to producers and writers whose work made all the money for them in the first place. (How about first rights owned by the studio and then all others revert back to the producers and writers after release and an agreed-upon time? Would that be too much to ask? And to spend less than $100 million per film, on average? How about a little fiscal responsibility on your part? As a side note, if you owned your own inhouse special effects houses, costs would go down for your pictures. But then business isn't your strong point either, I guess. Shrug. Morons.)
Enough. I may not get to sleep tonight. I was originally planning on making this a meditation about sorrow and sadness but it turned into a looking to face of stupidity and anger and apparently since I'm talking about it, I'm just as guilty as the fat old rich white guys who made it into an art form. Where is the Founding Fathers' vision in all of this? Lost in the enormous amount of money the skillful can graft off while the rest of us sort of sit there scratching our collective heads thinking, "How'd they manage to do that?"
HEY ROGER AILES! I'M TALKING TO YOU!
(All public personages mentioned here are indeed public people and are entitled to a little "Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?" every once in a while.)
