The Old Man Speaks (Finally a new post)

A teacher of mine once raised the question of whether Rome really conquered Greece since Greece's ideas changed Rome so radically and may have been responsible for changing Romans from being pieces of a greater whole, to individuals concerned more with their personal advancement than the well being of their people as a whole.

This is not a simple question.

To quote a lyric from Sting "Men go crazy in congregations. They only get better one by one"

Is individualism necessarily selfish and nationalism necessarily selfless? I say no. Individuals stand up against oppression. And sometimes Nationalists will too. Nationalism also leads to an "Us vs Them" mentality. And the definition of "them" is surprisingly fluid. But even those who at first glance seem to be individuals acting in concert are just nationalists of a different stripe. They move as one in common purpose.

The fact that they are united behind an idea rather than a flag, that often demands alliegence beyond all reason, is certainly a point in their favor.

What seems to be missing from the current state of affairs is Reason. Reason holds beliefs to a standard that requires proof. I respect religious belief. I think it's a source of strength for alot of people when all else fails and it sometimes provides an avenue for making a leap of faith when that's the only path left that offers any hope at all.

But faith has a real fatal flaw built in. It demands that people believe in things absent any proof. Once a person has been accepted as speaking for/on behalf of God, people who believe in God are often predisposed to treat that person's words/ideas as beyond reproach. (See:The Pope)And there is nothing a politician likes better than a large group of people who will show up en masse to vote for ideas and policies that make no damn sense, based on nothing but the belief that the person selling them is a "Good Christian".

The ways this has corrupted Christianity in particular are beyond counting. The one that springs first to mind though is the prevalance of televangelists proclaiming in a loud voice that if you just believe, God will reward you with MONEY!

Seriously? From the same God who brought us classics like "The pursuit of money is the root of all evil"?

I mean, even as blind faith goes this is really REALLY bad. And the people who claim to be Christians while frothing at the mouth over those "damn politicians wanting to raise my taxes to pay for deadbeats who don't want to carry their own weight". Did they miss that whole "Give unto Caeser that which is Caeser's" thing? It was about money being an earthly concern and how "my father's kingdom is not of this world". But the modern carny folk of today's televangelists know their audience. People want money, promise it to them and they'll follow you anywhere.

Even if what you're preaching is counter to EVERYTHING they claim to believe.

But why do they want followers anyway? Remember what I said about people showing up to vote? The guy who can deliver people to the polls has power. Power those followers give him.

Remember I was talking before about Rome conquering Greece (or vice versa)? Alot of people look back on those ancient empires and think of how primitive they were. No cars, no computers, no technology at all as we know it.

But there was this guy named Ptolomey who was Alexander the Great's right hand man. And he did something truly remarkable, even by our modern standards.

He created a God.

See, after Alexander died and the inevitable fight was brewing about who would gain control of his empire, Ptolomey decided that he would focus his energies on holding onto Alexandria and making it clear that he was the rightful heir to Alexander.

One part of that process was creating stability between the three different groups inhabiting the city at that time. The Hebrews, the Egyptians and the Greeks. They had three different belief systems.

His solution? Serapis. A god that combined elements of all three belief systems. One god that all three groups could worship together.

He created a God to create Order.

Think about that.

No. I'm not trying to debunk anybody's Divine being. I've got one of my own. He's cool for the most part. Except when he goes MIA and I'm like "Dude WTF?".

I'm just sayin..."All that glitters... ain't God". Faith is a good thing but find it within. Seek your answers. Look for truth. Call out to God for it. Use every means at your disposal to reveal the nature of this here universe and take every chance you get to help every person you encounter who needs it. Not by shoving your own personal truth down their throat but by helping'em find their own. I grant you, its a complicated path sometimes. It lacks the comfort of battles fought alongside comfortable friends and obvious enemies.

It's a different kind of life. It'll be lonely at first but maybe not forever.

Or so I keep telling myself.

The Great Conversation

I read a book a couple years ago. The Right Mistake by Walter Mosley. I finally bought a copy in the last few days. To some, Mosley is seen as a mystery writer. I know about those books but I've never given em much of a look. The books I read by Mosley tend to be hard to classify. He's written books about issues of the day, at least one book about writing, some science fiction and books that fall somewhere between mystery, thriller, social commentary and character study. The Right Mistake is one of the latter.

It's about a character named Socrates Fortlow. An Ex Con who's spent more of his life in jail than out. And it's possible that all that time away was necessary to make him the man we find here. While many parents hope their son or daughter will be a mozart who's brilliance shows itself early and fully formed, it just might be the case that some lives don't find their direction and purpose til the eleventh hour and might very well be the better for it. Such would seem to be the case with Socrates.

This isnt the first book Mosley has written about Socrates Fortlow. It's definitely the one that had the most impact on me though. I won't detail the whole story for you. I'll just say that even after a lifetime in prison Socrates still has one wildly dangerous act left in him. He starts a conversation. And we're not talking about a purely symbolic danger here either. At least not from the point of view of the local police. No they get quite worried about his words and the people he chooses to say them to.

Which brings me to my primary point. Words. They can be dressed up noise that strut and fret their time on the stage and are soon forgotten. Or they can be massive and meaningful and change those that hear them forever.

Speaking just for myself, I know that when an idea comes to me fully formed from the distant back room in my subconscious or from source outside my head, I am changed. I confront old situations in new ways because the world is new in at least some small way. Possibilities present themselves that I had never recognized before.

So the world is new for me but so many people live their entire lives in that same old one. Because the world has become a machine that large numbers of us only exist to serve. You hear people talking about how the economy is doing. When that mysterious thing we call the economy is only a massive number of people making things that other people will buy and buying things that other people make. And this is vital. It must continue.

Or so we are told.

This is just one of many big ideas that needs to be part of a serious conversation about where this world goes from here. The future is happening every day and there has to be something better down the road that just buying stuff and selling stuff and struggling every day to mantain your place in this imaginary social contruct that we call the economy. Maybe once upon a time it was the best system available. Maybe it was the best we could do but no system should outlive its usefulness and this one most certainly has. The cracks are showing. The ink is fading from our monopoly money. The rules aren't real. This was all just a fiction meant to move people forward until our real purpose on this earth could be revealed. We've had enemies real and imagined, spontaneously occuring or when needed built to order.

It's been said that "If God did not exist, Man would have had to create him" or something like that. The same can be said for enemies. Great empires need great enemies. When they fail to arise on their own, we'll give em a nudge.

We, not just as a country or continent...but as a world have the chance to start the dangerous conversation that can bring about that new world. The one we only glimpse during times of crisis and watch receed from view as the world returns to "normal".

The hardest part for anyone who accomplishes great things is all that they have to leave behind.There's a better world waiting to be realized. We just have to stop settling for the comfort of the one we've got.

Wayseer Manifesto: The Translation

Someone showed me a thing just now called WayseerManifesto.

There's a video on the website that is composed of scenes from movies and tv shows all designed to evoke a sense of people rebelling against oppression and striving to reach some conveniently ill defined goal.

Yeah. You caught that tone in my voice, didn't you? There's a reason for that.

It reminds me of the ad that the main character reads at the beginning of Ishmael. "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Please apply in person" The guy reads this and is annoyed. He figures the person who posted the ad is either a "new agey" type who foolishly believes that something as all encompassing as "saving the world" is possible or is a cynical bastard taking advantage of people who do. Either way, he's pissed.

Now, in Ishmael, it turns out that the ad poster actually has some serious knowledge to impart.

That being said, what makes me so quick to dismiss this Wayseer thing?

Well, I listened to it. The jist? Generic pablum pushing the idea that rules of any kind are inherantly wrong (Wait. Is that a rule?) And that an inability to articulate one's reason for believing something should in no way detract from the validity of that belief.

I'm seeing a gathering around a campfire. People trading stories of their beliefs. And because this belief system rejects any analysis or second guessing of its ideas or logical inconsistencies, everyone is right. No matter what they say. I hear this is how Scientology got started. (I didn't actually hear that but I can see it, yknow?)

I feel vaguely ridiculous for even dignifying this latest load of crap with an entry. But the fact that it got me writing again means there's at least one thing to recommend it.

This WSM thing, it offers what most things like this offer; universal unquestioning acceptance. Which for a whole shit ton of people in the world is in real short supply. There's something vital missing from the equation though.

People should not be universally unquestioningly accepted. There are damn good reasons to not accept people as they are. Society has rules, many of which are made for the general well being of all. If someone wants to take issue with certain specific rules, that's all well and good. But rules as a concept? Add to that this thing about "knowing things you can't articulate"?

Does anyone else see a problem with presenting an inability to articulate ones ideas as an argument for the rightness of said ideas? It seems like the Right wingers are ahead of the curve on this one. They've been inarticulate for years! Clearly its working out for them, right?

To the untrained eye WSM might seem cut from the same cloth as the Zeitgeist Movement and Ishmael. There's room for debate there but the intro video I saw (which should be as perfect a pitch for their movement as they can make it, since some people like myself won't dig any deeper if you don't grab me with it) set off every warning bell imaginable for something cynically crafted and just plain not good. Could there be more to WSM than it appears? Maybe.

but like the saying goes "When someone shows you who they are, believe them".

Harlan Ellison Speaks

"Don't be afraid. That simple; don't let them scare you. There's nothing that can do to you... a writer always writes. That's what he's for. And if they won't let you write one kind of thing, if they chop you off at the pockets in the market place, then go to another market place. And if they close off all the bazaars then by God go and work with your hands till you can write, because talent is always there. But the first time you say, "Oh, Christ, they'll kill me!" then you're done. Because the chief commodity a writer has to sell is his courage. And if he has none, he is more than a coward. He is a sellout and a fink and a heretic, because writing is a holy chore."

-Harlan Ellison

MLK DAY 2009

What follows is a couple years old but reading it over I thought I should have it here too.

Every year I somehow someway end up hearing the "I have a dream" speech. Usually on NPR.It never gets old.

It makes you think about where we've been and where we are. He saw enough to imagine all the good that was possible and to warn of all the pitfalls along the way.

And even with all that warning, we still managed to hit most of them.
As far as we've come. We still fall so far short.

As a society we tend to look at the past from two points of view. We exalt the achievements of the past while at the same time being mystified by how far behind us they were to be faced with those problems in the first place.

He saw the path. He saw that in the struggle to achieve social and legal equality there would be the temptation to demonize all whites as "the enemy" and went out of his way to point out the white men and women that were standing with them that day. Because they recognized that we are not separate. The cause of freedom binds us all to one another.
And he warned of using violence in pursuit of that freedom.

Which reminded me of a buddhist belief that talks about how for your pursuits in this life to be pure they must come from "right thought, right speech, right action, right meditation, etc". The idea behind it being that it's not enough to want the right thing. You have to pursue it in the right way for the right reasons. When you use the wrong path to acquire that right thing then the whole thing has a fatal flaw built into it that will ultimately cause it to fall apart.

Lots of missteps we've all taken on this path. Some well intentioned and badly executed. Some badly intentioned and well executed. I get it. It's hard enough just to do the right thing, much less doing the right thing the right way.

It's like the old saying goes "If it were easy everyone would do it"

It's not easy. It's hard. Decades and Centuries hard.

Some want to build a better world. Some just want to get along. Make it through every next day. Worry about themselves. Keeping their vision narrow. Thinking that what they see is all there is.

There is a quote I heard somewhere that goes "The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." (James Cabell)

I say they're both wrong. There is a world yet to be that is better than any of us has ever seen. One where people lead by example. You know, that old "do unto others" thing?

If you believe that a way of life is the correct one, then live that way. Show people by your example. Let them judge for themselves. Trust the truth to bear itself out. Don't try to force people to behave as you do. Don't threaten them with God's wrath. Don't try to scare them into submission. Be a shining example of your own philosophy. Map out a path and accept any who wish to travel it with you. Welcome questions and debate. Grapple with truth. Seek answers and be willing to change when there is reason to.

Because as the great Shakes' was known to say..."There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophies"


(take a minute and take a listen)


http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=99557465&m=99557459

Magic Masquerading as Parlor Tricks

Not that long ago I saw a very impressive episode of Nova and it left me reflecting on how little time is spent on tv of that sort and how much is spent just keeping us amused and living vicariously through the exciting lives of pretend people.

I was fairly pissed.

The thing is, I didn't have a full and proper understanding of what was really bothering me. Until now.

Its that from where I sit, it appears that science in only relevant to the public when it enables some new way for them to be entertained. There are extraordinary things being created every day but they fly right under the radar.

What bothers me is...this isn't the best of all possible worlds. We have better methods of making...everything! Methods that aren't implemented because if they were it would destroy the economy as we know.

"...the economy that's fake anyway!" -Bill Hicks

See...the economy is such a simple concept. People buying things is what creates the demand that causes companies to hire people to make them but to keep all those employees working, people have to keep buying and buying and buying.

I once saw a guy being intervied by Charlie Rose.It was one of top guys at Walmart. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here)"We've got all the customers we need...we just need them to buy more".

Don't mind tellin ya...I was floored by this. There was something so base about the way he spoke. It wasn't a man I was watching anymore. He was a jackal tearing flesh from bone and giggling with glee. Like the bill collectors who call and try to scare people with threats and pressure them to pay by any means neccesary. "Can't you borrow it from someone?" Truly there is a special place in hell for those people.

But what's worse is...as things stand, that's all this world of ours is designed for. People buying stuff so people can't make stuff so people can buy stuff.

Just don't make the stuff too good. Because that will fuck up the whole equation. Stuff that's really well made lasts thus reducing the number of them that will need to be made in a given period of time. Fewer products being made means fewer jobs, which means fewer people making enough money to buy products...see where this is going?

Economic collapse? In a way I suppose. And in the short term, life would suck for all kinds of people. No question. And we can't dismiss that short term view. People live their lives in the day to day. People lose their homes and go hungry in the short term.

But this money thing...there's no sustaining this anymore. Not in the long term. That has to be obvious by now.

Largely because so many jobs are being made obsolete by technology. People keep being born and born and born while the jobs left for humans keeps shrinking. What could possibly turn that trend around? Should we even try to?

I still remember this line from Star Trek VI...about how french peasants who found their jobs threatened by technology threw their wooden shoes called "sabo" into the machinery...giving birth to the term "sabotage".

We could do that or we could embrace the challenge of a world without money. One where we create the best possible world. One that is designed to last, built from the best designs and materials. Where we stretch ourselves to reach that thing just out of our grasp.

We should do this for one another. The world we live in now works for some. We could build a world that works for all. We have the technology. We can rebuild it.

(Did you know they have found a texture that can be applied to any surface that reduces the growth of bacteria by something like 86%? Not a material that costs millions to produce. Just a texture. How is this not news? Why is this not applied to every surface we come into contact with? Oh wait...it's the economy again, right? All those antibacterial soaps and cleansers and whatnot suddenly take a sharp drop in sales. It's Preston Tucker and Nikola Tesla all over again. The better way gets shafted for the more profitable way. How are we not done with this yet?)

Some words for the Wisconsin 14

Moveon.org sent out an email the other day asking people to express their support for the Wisconsin 14 by writing a message that Moveon.org would forward to them.
This is mine.

As hard as this has been on all of you, and I'm sure it has been very hard indeed, the sacrifice of a few for even a month will save countless union workers from losing their vital rights to stand together and for one another for years to come. This isn't just one small vote, this is a decision that can define the course of our history as a nation for generations.

It took decades for unions to win the hard fought protections that all of us, union and non union alike now take for granted but it can be lost in a moment. The people haven't left the streets. And with every passing day the protestors and you exceptional 14 maintain your resolve and draw more and more people to your cause. Scott Walker says this is his moment. He's wrong. Its ours. All of ours. People like him like to win without a fight. They'll tell you you can't win in the hopes that you won't try.

But we win everyday. Everytime he says "yes you will" and we say "no we won't". We won't give up, we won't quit, we won't stop, not ever. We'll stand together and for one another til every assault has been exhausted and every enemy of fairness and decency has been vanquished. That's what we do.

Hang in there. As hard as this is you all have a chance that few ever do. To make a difference and to ensure a better life for generations to come.

What matters

There's a favorite quote of mine that goes (paraphrasing)

"A culture is what it does with it's attention"

In measuring what our culture is, we should look at what we do with our attention. We spend a whole lot of it staring into one screen or another. From what we've seen recently, that's not all bad; what with Facebook and Twitter being so instrumental in the recent revolution in Egypt and others now underway in Libya and brewing in Africa as well. Not to mention the protests in Wisconsin and other midwest states in support of collective bargaining rights.

In alot of ways, technology has been an empowering tool to those in need.

On the other hand, spend a day watching the morning news shows. Watch Dr Phil and Oprah. Not saying make a habit of it but just notice what gets covered. Usually there's at least one "human interest" piece. Don't ask me where that particular euphemism came from. Then there's hollywood gossip, a scandal or two, and then a studio full of women ages 18 to 80 losing their mind because Oprah gave them some stuff. Oh granted, its really cool stuff. Ipods and Ipads and even cars.

Yep...crying and hugging and wailing for STUFF. Yeah we haven't lost our way as a culture at all. Nah...we're doin' just fine.

But watch all of this drek for just a day and make a list of everything you saw that you actually needed to know. Stuff that you're better off knowing than you were without it.

What's truly ridiculous is, all these same shows do stories about why the kids aren't learning.It's like OJ saying he was commited to finding Nicole's killer. The media puts itself out in front of the issue so they can steer it away from themselves.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not talking about the "Liberal Media" here. I'm talking about the Capitalist Media. The media that paints itself as commited to informing the public when all they really want to do is ply their wares. Selling stuff rather that teaching stuff.

Remember that old saying about the news business..."If it bleeds it leads"?

Those were the days.

I know. I know. Bleeding is bad. People dying, that's bad. But at least its actually news. Car accidents, robberies, criminal activity...there's a public interest involved there. People need to know those things are going on.

They actually have a segment on the Today show now where a realtor is promoting properties that I presume she'll get a commission on if they sell. No doubt the Today show is paid some kind of "consideration" in the deal as well. We're talking essentially an infomercial here. And while I'm on this...are you familiar with product placement? It's been around in some form for a long time but now its everywhere. An advertiser pays the network and its products are intergrated into a tv show. The characters use a certain brand of cell phone (Brenda on "The Closer" uses a TMobile phone, you can tell by its characteristic ring)or a computer, or to drive a certain make of car, that sort of thing. That was one thing. Now actual dialogue is being written to refer specifically to the product in question. Commercials are being written into the actual story itself now.

So what is our culture doing with its attention? Buying stuff and selling stuff. That's it. That's all. We don't need no stinkin learning. We've got stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.

I know I know...those broad sweeping statements get some people's ire up. "Dude! That's not all there is. There's good tv out there."

You mean like PBS? Yeah you're right. PBS is great. And its such a high priority in our exalted culture that its actually possible Congress might strip it of all funding. Let me say that again.The network that shows more educational programming than the other big four networks put together is having its funding targeted by Congress.

This is the country we're living in. This is what we're doing with our attention. This has got to change. I know I know...Declarations are easy. Change is hard. So here's what I'm sayin.I'm going to use this page to point out the stuff that I think matters.

Pay attention.

Path to a Better World

The idea of a better world, one that casts off the flawed methods and ideas of the past in favor of more sustainable and efficient alternatives, is appealing to most people to one degree or another. For a certain segment of the populace though it can become almost an obsession.

For those people there are two things that you can count on them being aware of. The Ishmael books by Daniel Quinn and the Zeitgeist series of films.

The Ishmael books examine the evolution of Western Civilization and confront certain missteps we've taken along the way. You might call them design flaws. Things that, once realized should be corrected.

The Zeitgeist films cover a variety of topics but the main thrust seems to deal with the Monetary system and explaining how it is fundamentally unsustainable.

Generally speaking, I agree with alot of the ideas present in both of these. The obvious flaw in both is that while they make a compelling case for the need to bring about change, they fall short of mapping out a clear path from where we are to where we need to be. Quinn even comments on this in his Non Fiction book "Beyond Civilization", saying that it was a response to readers having commented on the lack of a clear path to a more sustainable way of life.


In the Zeitgeist films there is a reference made to "The Venus Project" which is a separate organization that works in cooperation with the producers of the Zeitgeist films. The Venus Project has a design for a sustainable city. The films dedicate a portion of time to detailing how the city would function in broad strokes, which sound very sensible and doable. They describe the approach as a resource based economy.

The ideas are very interesting. It's fires the imagination to think of the kind of world that could exist if they were undertaken like the space race was a generation ago.

I could be wrong but I'm just not feeling the urgency to take this from an idea to a working functioning model. And there has to be follow through. Because books and films like these that suggest a need for change speak to that segment of the populace that is hungry for it.

Mention is made in the latter 2 of the Zeitgeist films that this culture of money can't be replaced until it finally crashes and burns. That seems like an excuse for not taking on the very hard work of setting aside these old ways and carving out new ones. I'm reminded of a quote from John Kerry (I believe) where he said "How do you ask someone to be the last soldier to die for a mistake". If you believe this way of life is so wrong, how do you ask people to waste one more moment of their lives in support of it? The progress that can be made at the beginning might be small but it will most definitely get us further than waiting five years or ten and starting then.

What is essential is that those true believers are able to see regular measurable progress. There is energy here that is looking for a direction. If it doesn't find it here, it will find it in something comfortable and mundane and profoundly unremarkable.

(To be continued)

Ideas as Action

As I write this, the protests in Egypt are entering their sixteenth day. For someone who writes, those protestors represent the struggle between thought and action. More and more our lives are lived online. We type to one another. And a well written tweet passes for accomplishment.

These people are doing the very hard work of taking back their government.

It's the kind of thing that makes you a little ashamed. All the upheaval our own country suffered through in the last decade. Maybe if it had lasted for 30 years we'd have found our collective spines and done something. I remember hearing it said, if just one percent of the populace had stood up, roughly 3 million people...just one percent and something would have changed.

I know I know...we've got a new president now and we can put all that ugliness behind us. But it's not behind us. While we take comfort in the gradual recovery they say the economy is undergoing, the next guy is out there biding his time looking to move the ball of oppression just a little further down the field.

And we sit on the sidelines posting blogs and tweets and call that taking action.

Everywhere I look I hear someone talking about making it easier to for people to get involved. Products people can buy where a portion of the proceeds are donated to this charity or that. Ribbons people wear. Donation by text message.

It sounds good right? Easier equals better, right?

Except the more that people come to expect doing the right thing to be easy, the more prone to give up they are when it's not. The fact that people think we need to keep making it easier shows how lazy people are already.

The Egyptian people put the rest of us to shame. They didn't need someone to make it easier for them. Day in, day out for coming up on three weeks now, with no end in sight. Hell, it might even be escalating if the reports I've been hearing are true. Granted the real test will be what comes of all this, but you've gotta start somewhere and they've already exceeded anyone's expectations.

But here I sit writing a blog about people sitting on the sidelines writing blogs. I know you were thinkin' it. The point is though, I know it's not enough. I'm not kidding myself that I'm doing something remarkable here. It's just the start of something.

For a very long time I've known, the world we're living in isn't the best of all possible worlds... but it could be.

That premise is what I'm building on here.