Thursday, August 26, 2010
Homogenized but not pasteurized
I feel a twinge of guilt whenever I go into a fast food chain or even a chain of restaurants now. It has nothing to do with eating processed or healthful foods. It has everything to do with homogenization of culture. In an ironic twist, the very signs and brands that I felt comfortable with in my early life now cause me discomfort when thinking about the world - when thinking on a global scale. Clearly, this is something I should explore further. Any suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
True or false?
I'm trying to get through some of my Netflix queue during what's left until fall semester starts. It seems to be going in the wrong direction though, because for every one thing I watch, I add two more. Today, I watched among other things, Breathless and an episode of Fawlty Towers. Sure, the latter is funny. But these two works also touch a nerve with me.
The protagonists are just, well, to put it bluntly they're total assholes. Pompous, arrogant jerks. It's just difficult for me to stomach the behavior of such people, even in a work of fiction. At least when I interact with strangers in passing that seem to be the source material for such caricatures, I can write it off as someone having a bad day. Rather than the synergistic result, not even a simple sum, of an awful childhood compounded by poor education. No. I definitely prefer to believe that all people have the potential to be good (starting as tabula rasa). But it's so hard! Fiction like that then serves as a reminder, not an escape.
The protagonists are just, well, to put it bluntly they're total assholes. Pompous, arrogant jerks. It's just difficult for me to stomach the behavior of such people, even in a work of fiction. At least when I interact with strangers in passing that seem to be the source material for such caricatures, I can write it off as someone having a bad day. Rather than the synergistic result, not even a simple sum, of an awful childhood compounded by poor education. No. I definitely prefer to believe that all people have the potential to be good (starting as tabula rasa). But it's so hard! Fiction like that then serves as a reminder, not an escape.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Big G and U
People bitch and moan about the government constantly, without ever realizing that the government is really a reflection of the current state of culture. How could it not be?
1. Government has as much flexibility in power as people demonstrate complacency.
If given an inch, yes, government will take a foot. But that's true of any rational agent. Government is not a nebulous entity, but run by actual people, flesh and blood. If offered powered, it will be taken. Naturally, this is why coup d'etats actually work. If kings were gods, then none would be deposed.
2. People don't understand the current state of affairs nearly as well as they think they do.
Unfortunately, this applies to politicians, in the U.S, say, Congressmen, as much as it does to ordinary citizens. But let's face it, do the average citizen really understand how a cap and trade system for carbon emissions functions like a Pigouvian tax on a negative externality? No? Then why do so many people sit on their asses railing against one like they do? Can the average citizen provide a definition of socialism and distinguish it from communism and capitalism? That minimum wage laws are a form of socialism, but the stock market is capitalistic? So why do people whine about pigs making their fortunes on the stock market while ignoring the minimum wage, while in the same minute declaring this or that administration to be socialists that are taking our country to a nose dive? Are you fucking kidding me?
3. Equality is contagious.
If you are among those people that believes that your neighbor can do anything they want as long as the law has the ability to differentiate them from you, then I both pity and despise you. What is marriage? It's both a commitment made public as well as a potential financial windfall (although this does occasionally go the other way, screwy tax laws). So what's wrong with two people in love proclaiming such a commitment and being rewarded appropriately by the government? Don't give me the argument that marriage has been a cornerstone of civilization, because that's just a load of bullshit. If you want to make that argument, then I counter that marriage ceased to be a cornerstone of civilization ever since Henry VIII defied the Catholic Church and decided that divorce was a-okay. If you support divorce, then you by default must abandon the historical view of marriage, because it's now tried and true that marriage is, like all other institutions, SUBJECT TO CHANGE. If people continue to embrace diversity and equality, it will catch on. Faster in some areas than in others, but it will become the status quo instead of a "liberal" novelty.
I'll come back to this topic, I'm sure, another night after another six-pack. But for now, to be continued.
1. Government has as much flexibility in power as people demonstrate complacency.
If given an inch, yes, government will take a foot. But that's true of any rational agent. Government is not a nebulous entity, but run by actual people, flesh and blood. If offered powered, it will be taken. Naturally, this is why coup d'etats actually work. If kings were gods, then none would be deposed.
2. People don't understand the current state of affairs nearly as well as they think they do.
Unfortunately, this applies to politicians, in the U.S, say, Congressmen, as much as it does to ordinary citizens. But let's face it, do the average citizen really understand how a cap and trade system for carbon emissions functions like a Pigouvian tax on a negative externality? No? Then why do so many people sit on their asses railing against one like they do? Can the average citizen provide a definition of socialism and distinguish it from communism and capitalism? That minimum wage laws are a form of socialism, but the stock market is capitalistic? So why do people whine about pigs making their fortunes on the stock market while ignoring the minimum wage, while in the same minute declaring this or that administration to be socialists that are taking our country to a nose dive? Are you fucking kidding me?
3. Equality is contagious.
If you are among those people that believes that your neighbor can do anything they want as long as the law has the ability to differentiate them from you, then I both pity and despise you. What is marriage? It's both a commitment made public as well as a potential financial windfall (although this does occasionally go the other way, screwy tax laws). So what's wrong with two people in love proclaiming such a commitment and being rewarded appropriately by the government? Don't give me the argument that marriage has been a cornerstone of civilization, because that's just a load of bullshit. If you want to make that argument, then I counter that marriage ceased to be a cornerstone of civilization ever since Henry VIII defied the Catholic Church and decided that divorce was a-okay. If you support divorce, then you by default must abandon the historical view of marriage, because it's now tried and true that marriage is, like all other institutions, SUBJECT TO CHANGE. If people continue to embrace diversity and equality, it will catch on. Faster in some areas than in others, but it will become the status quo instead of a "liberal" novelty.
I'll come back to this topic, I'm sure, another night after another six-pack. But for now, to be continued.
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