tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13302805225512237812024-02-19T08:43:16.950-08:00America The StrangeLiving in this world of fast-food restaurants, PR men, and commodified rebellion can make your spirit weak. Come take my hand and I will make you strong of soul. More information is here: http://bit.ly/aV7OHuThat Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-39400709894677756812011-02-25T04:32:00.000-08:002011-02-25T04:32:08.011-08:00Why this blog just isn't sufficient.Hello, few readers of mine. I'd like to have a heart-to-heart with you.<br />
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I've been tracking this scent in the air of society for about four years now. It smells foreign, unknown, synthetic, man made, maybe plastic. I caught wiffs of it when people would talk about their classes when they had nothing else better to talk about, or insisting that the future was going to be better than the present and then not make the present all it could have been. At first I thought it was people being brainwashed by society into being overly consumptive and not being nearly as reflective as they needed to be. The fast life vs the slow life. Learning how to have fun not with products but with people. Creating experiences instead of consuming them. Stop treating yourself like an object or a sack of flesh. That's what this blog was for. America, the Strange. It was such a strange land that it didn't even cohere to its own standards, yet it was the one we called home. The blog had a solid approach to this challenge, perhaps one I neglected too much: develop the individual as a healthy, whole person who's fully aware of the implications of their actions and use egalitarianism as the meter stick to judge politics and economics. I still like that approach. But I have a new one now. I really didn't want this new approach at first. It made the world a lot scarier of a place. But then when I got used to it, the world made sense. It makes me more suspicious of people, but now instead of wondering what crazy spell mankind is under I now see the ways that people bewitch each other.<br />
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I'm talking about political economy: the study of businesses, money, rule and power. The first guy to ever put the two words together was Karl Marx, the same man who said "If you teach a man to fish you ruin a wonderful business opportunity". But this isn't a blog about what Marx thinks, this is a blog about what I think, so I'll return back to the subject of me, because this is the internet and egotism makes the fiber optic cables blip all around the world. So political economy is the study of economic and political power; studying what politicians and corporations need to stay relevant enough to influence the democratic process and therefore get what they want. It's essentially a study of the networks of power on all levels; internationally, nationally, on a city level, and even on the thought level, how corporations have these massive networks of suppliers and manufacturers all powered by advertising and the frailty of the human mind. It's called "following the money", because there's no way that the world makes sense without considering the money. If I didn't pay attention to the fact that the news was a business who before anything else must make a profit, then I would be devastated by what I see on TV. But now I know the media is just trying to rile me up to raise ad money.<br />
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Let me explain. Here's the pattern businesses follow: you start up with some money, buy raw materials, hire workers, pay the workers to transform the raw materials into a product, which you sell to a consumer for the costs plus a profit. This is what I call the capitalist mode of production. Now, after you've taken a slice of the profit to feed yourself with, you then can reinvest the profit back into the business to buy more raw materials for more workers to turn into more products for more money. As long as there is demand it returns money in ever greater quantities and through a couple of underhanded tricks you can even ensure there's always demand. It also can adopt services in society and turn them into businesses. We didn't use to have a society where people had to be paid to take care of kids; we made sure mothers spent time with their kids and then built figured out the rest of what we wanted to do with our time. The ground underneath our feet keeps shifting with ever increasing profit and even this tiny reason presents a reason why we should think critically about capitalism; because does living in such a society make you uneasy? Is that were you would like to live? Where every generation of parents struggle to relate to their kids amidst new ways of relating to each other?<br />
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But getting back down to Earth, all of the wasteful consumer culture I've been writing about...that's just the tail end of the capitalist mode of production and doesn't count in the motivations of either the worker or the business owner, or capitalist if you prefer. (He's the guy who brings the start up money, or the capital). And it's not that this should surprise me. Oh, look at that. People manipulate each other for personal gain.<br />
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Regardless, if you'd like to stick with me I still talk about the good life and how to be anti-consumer, but now I also write about how to be anti-capital.<br />
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I'll be at themoneyedworld.tumblr.com<br />
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See ya there!That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-57619628271397967332010-11-15T08:47:00.000-08:002010-11-15T08:47:23.726-08:00The Difference Between Orwell and Huxley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVk4F-OGyUY9VH3C_y7RjjZk-Db8hqdTpyd8cXHOVIPbvDC_4hoywaEZ1FuhR1Rs99tUtSPBBTqFJnGeol3AtARQ-jUAGEGCBrp4NPqJ9BNEJt0a7EX6_Dq3lP2OfTVX-BZ9glqQOWcEA/s1600/orwell+vs++huxley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVk4F-OGyUY9VH3C_y7RjjZk-Db8hqdTpyd8cXHOVIPbvDC_4hoywaEZ1FuhR1Rs99tUtSPBBTqFJnGeol3AtARQ-jUAGEGCBrp4NPqJ9BNEJt0a7EX6_Dq3lP2OfTVX-BZ9glqQOWcEA/s320/orwell+vs++huxley.jpg" width="40" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Hopefully this'll bide you over before I drop a mindbomb on you pretty soon. And by the fucking way, why the hell aren't you telling your friends about this blog? What could be more important than talking about than finding out the meaning of life when our world has failed us?</div>That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-33327508907863865952010-11-02T13:12:00.001-07:002010-11-09T16:00:56.280-08:00Honey Dear, Maybe We Shouldn't Trust the Politicians<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">For starters, happy Election Day. Now let's see just what the hell that means.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">About three weeks ago, Senator Joe Sestak visited my college. Chris Matthews was hosting Hardball there. We were all in a crowd behind a movable steel fence watching Chris Matthews interview Sestak. Sestak was wearing his jacket from the Marines and is answering Matthews' questions. Well actually, he doesn't actually answer any of Matthews' questions as much as he continues to drop these soundbite codewords into the conversation. Green jobs. Corporate power. All of these are designed to maximize impact on specific audiences, just like that Marines jacket is supposed to make veterans feel he's "one of them". And all this time he's talking, he's wearing the most plastic smile I have ever seen. And he's talking for some 8 minutes straight. Go ahead and try to smile and talk simultaneously for 8 minutes in front of a mirror. That smile is guaranteed to look strained.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">After he gets off the air, he shakes everyone's hand in the crowd without ever looking anybody in the eye or even give anyone a firm handshake. It's like we all just took turns holding his hand for a fraction of a second. A few minutes later he walks past the steel fence into the crowd. People are surrounding him for photo ops with the Senator, and I'm there too.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"Senator Sestak, pleased to meet you." I say. I have the full attention of a United States Senator. He puts the smile mask on and shakes my hand. His face is a peach colored smear from all of the make up he's globbed on. It's ridden with deep wrinkles as his skin of his face stretches and contorts to smile he's wearing and has been wearing for years on end. He honestly looks like the troll face.<i> </i>"I hope you can deliver on everything you say, because young people have finely tuned bullshit detectors and they don't like being lied to," I say.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"Well I can't promise anything. I can send the troops in but I can't tell you they're gonna win. But I'm going to fight for you." He shakes my hand again and says "Thank you! Vote for me November 2nd!" The smile again. It meant Go Away. I was being told by my Senator to go away. He takes a couple steps away from me and other people started to surround him now. A laborer from another town who he met on the campaign trail asks Joe Sestak if he remembers him. He doesn't but pretends like he does.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"But that's just another soundbite!" I shout. "You're just a walking cliche machine! The lights are on but there's nobody home!" He's looking at me now, shocked. "Oh, and by the way. You look like a clown with all that make-up on". And then I strutted away from the most epic moment I've had in my life.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What do I take away from this? Politicians are not your friends. When they make speeches they don't make it off the top of their heads. They don't kick it. Every word in a speech is crafted for maximum impact, and they never tell you anything you don't need to know</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Now to some this may seem old and you may say "But that's what politicians do! It's their job to lie to you! That's why we hire them! To do a such a manipulative job!" But if that's the case then why do we pretend that these people care about you? Somehow, somewhere there is the expectation that these people don't lie to you. Politics is very personal to us. People relate to politicians. Bill Clinton is a "down to Earth guy". So for some reason it shocks us to find out that our politicians are actually skeezy slimeballs. Hell, it's prestigious in this country to be a skeezy slimeball! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Call me naive, but was there ever a point in time where politicians didn't have such massive disrespect for the people that they represent? Is this what democracy should look like? Some history-knowers should get their butts in here.</div>That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-35554383964732809172010-10-26T17:11:00.000-07:002010-10-26T17:15:10.956-07:00Why the Agency Argument is Flawed<div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I've been busy with classes but the results have been worth it. Check it out. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7417496282141656" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The agency argument is one of the most popular opinions in American politics. It’s smeared on nearly every conversation regarding why people act the way they do; from crime to employment to being duped by credit card agencies. And once I begin to tell you how it goes, I’m sure you can fill in the rest. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7417496282141656" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"> </span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.7417496282141656" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The Agency argument goes something like this; people’s lives are their own personal responsibility. Any misfortune they fall under is a result of poor management of their lives and they should have done things differently. In discussions about the mortgage crisis, this argument takes the form of “Why did those people agree to purchase houses they couldn’t afford?”. In discussions about being laid off, the argument takes the form of “They weren’t working hard enough. If they were working hard enough they wouldn’t be in their situation. God, they need to get their shit together.” And when people fall into credit card debt, it rears its ugly head again. “Maybe if they weren’t impulsively shopping they wouldn’t be stuck paying off their debts at 28% interest”. </span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.7417496282141656" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Usually when people use this claim they don’t even look into the story before coming to their conclusion. Debt, for instance. Most people who fall into debt aren’t greedy people. Most people, assuming a steady income, made a large purchase like a car or a refrigerator and then lost their job in a down economy and couldn’t find employment. They then used credit cards to fund schemes that would hope to bring in enough money to get them out of debt, like a cheap computer and internet service to help with the job hunt, which of course only puts them into more debt. And that's not even considering student loans. How are you going to tell someone that they shouldn't have gone to college if they couldn't have afforded it?</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But don’t tell that to the guy swinging the Agency argument like a barbarian swinging a warhammer in a china store (Remember, it's the twelve sided die). He’ll probably call you Un-American. The great thing about the agency argument is that it doesn’t require an understanding of the players and the situation for you to criticize them. Any person in plight anywhere? Their fault! Now let’s come up with a reason why. This argument halts debate on real issues because victims now have to prove that they aren’t someone “looking for a handout” before any action can take place. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">But it’s flawed. You wanna know why? Because it has no limits. Where does it end? Where does an appeal to “personal responsibility” end? From Bill O’Reilly to Rush Limbaugh, I have yet to hear a single claim that beyond a certain point citizens alone are not responsible for what happens to them. There is no acknowledgment of anything that exists outside the individual. It's crazy, and anyone who believes it is crazy. So next time you hear the Agency argument used to unjustly stall debate, call it out for what it is: a rash, uninformed criticism designed to prevent change and blame victims.</span></span></div>That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-84874558378015663192010-10-04T09:01:00.000-07:002010-10-04T09:01:18.894-07:00Public SpacesSomeone asked me what we can do about living in such a backwards world. It's with pride that I present such a delicious opportunity to turn the tide in the face of overwhelming opposition.<br />
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Let's get real. Lines suck. When you find yourself standing in line, it's typical behavior to wait and mind your own business. We're all standing there being silent. Why? We're just waiting there anyway. It's not like we can really start to tackle those essays we've got to do, or be productive in any measure. Usually, I tell myself not to talk to people in line because they might be busy inside their own heads and I should respect that. But is that really the case? Could it be that they're just as bored as me? Could it be that they they're tired of thinking and rethinking the same to-do list over and over? Not only do I think it's a possibility, I think it's likely. <br />
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I mean, hell, sometimes the lines are short and it doesn't make sense to start up a conversation. But I spent 15 minutes yesterday on my feet in line next to the same two people for 15 minutes, silent as the grave. Tell me how the hell that makes sense. The day before that I rode the subway for 30 minutes sitting next to the same guy. Hell, if you live in a city you'll almost never see the same person twice so if you're afraid you'll put your foot in your mouth it's not like your reputation everywhere will be tarnished. <br />
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Ultimately, what we're talking about is public spaces. There are places in society where you just go up to people and start talking to them. Bars and coffee shops are examples, even though they're privately owned. Where interaction happens, ideas and organizations form. The renaissance was actually fueled by the coffee shops, where intellectual giants bounced ideas off each other until they came up with the philosophies we live by today. And put the other way, cults and dictatorships discourage interactions between citizens for fear that they might cooperate and work together to overthrow the leader. So don't be afraid to talk to strangers. The worst possible thing that could happen is you offend them and never see them again. Fortune favors the bold.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-2603650886071278562010-10-03T13:07:00.001-07:002010-10-03T13:07:07.745-07:00<a href="http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2017"><br />
<img src="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20101001.gif"></a>That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-23189574864435101732010-09-28T14:03:00.001-07:002010-09-28T14:03:15.113-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20100926.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20100926.gif" width="54" /></a></div>That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-63193670993318228502010-09-27T08:17:00.000-07:002010-09-27T08:17:34.549-07:00Eff "Efficiency"A word that I think everyone is familiar with is efficiency. Now I don't know about you but I don't have the best associations with that word. It means getting more done in less time which should be a good thing, right?. Get the dumb crap out of the way so that you have more time to spend on the things that matter, right? But it always seems like whoever wants to talk to me about efficiency wants to eat up all of my time. They don't see efficiency the way I see it. They see me getting more things done in less time, and then take that free time, and then make me work harder. <br />
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A word I associate with efficiency is insecurity. The story goes something like this: you need to work as hard as you can, pinch every penny and milk every minute because if you don't someone else will and you'll be thrown aside. It's a little mind game employers, teachers and other authority figures play with you. The only way to stay in the game and reap the "rewards" of the system is to constantly figure out ways to deliver what they want faster and faster. And you have to play the game, or else someone else will take your spot. It could be your friend. It doesn't matter. You better start running or better get packing. <br />
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Since we can't be productive all the time we then have to justify our natural non-work needs like sleep and food. We call these "breaks" because work is what's supposed to be the norm and things like destressing and clearing your head are considered deviations from work. While no work is done on breaks, breaks are believed to make you more efficient. It's hard to quantify how efficient a break can make you so there's always pressure to keep breaks as small as possible to maximize work. This creates a very nonsensical situation because then we'll rush to bed to relax for the sole purpose of being ready to tackle all that work you have to do that you're probably freaking out. And somehow in all of this, efficiency means doing more in less time. Where's that extra time? Where's your reward for all of your hard work? <br />
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Am I the only one who thinks this idea is a load of crap? Work hours on average have doubled since the 1970's, and are only continuing to rise. If we took all of those time saving hours and gave them back to ourselves instead of reinvesting them into our work, the average person would only have to work 850 hours a year or just over 20 hours a week! We can work 20 hours a week and still have the same standard of living! What the hell is going on here!That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-71193406717378001812010-09-26T00:20:00.000-07:002010-09-26T00:20:40.222-07:00Run to Bed! You Won't Relax if You Don't Run!(This is an old post off my old blog. Still good, still worthwhile. Enjoy!)<br />
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It is 3:59 on Sunday June 14th. <br />
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The words that everyone would use to describe my situation would be the expression "I can't sleep". And it's true, I can't sleep. But I never viewed sleep as an act of will. Look at that phrase. "I can't sleep." Like sleep is a just another verb. "I can't jump." "I can't swim". Sleeping's not an act of mental might. You can crawl into bed, but you can't force yourself into sleep. That's ridiculous. Sleep comes to you. Sleep is anything but in our control. Of course, I'm not talking about sleeping drugs or chemicals or warm milk. Whatever. I'm talking about using your mind alone. <br />
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What if sleep were a normal force of nature, and when you couldn't sleep you were out of line with nature? Let's rephrase that. What if sleep showed itself only to people who had the right mindset, and all the people who couldn't sleep are either using sleep for some unhealthy application or have the wrong mindset? Here I am, twisting and reshaping myself in bed trying to get the most optimal body shape that would best result in bringing sleep to me. The most optimal sleep set up that would most enhance the likelyhood of getting to sleep. Flipped the pillow over to get to the cold side? Check. Window open? Check. Sleeping on my right side with my right hand behind the head pillow? Check. I was trying to bring sleep to me and I was trying too hard. And here's my thoughts as I'm twisting, turning and forcing my way into sleep. <br />
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<i>Damnit, it's 3! Alright quick, how does sleep work? How do I usually fall asleep? You have to sit still. You have to sit still,be comfortable and don't move. Then sleep starts to come and it starts to bridge your thoughts together, and when your thoughts start to bridge together you eventually just slip out and you don't even know it. <b>Okay then, let's start bridging thoughts together. Okay, uh...let's take this random thought you've had about cake and put it together with Snakes on a Plane. Uh, Cakes on a Plane. And the soundtrack can be the sounds of the engine and of the cake mixer. Matter of fact, I'm going to even listen to them right now while I imagine a scene from Cakes on a Plane. Are we there yet? Can I stop now and just drift along already?*</b><br />
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Clearly the wrong way to do this. Sleep is a natural process.<br />
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And it's this anxiety that I have that drives it all, this fear. <b>Go to sleep. Bad things will happen to you if you don't.</b> My anxiety isn't that rational, it isn't so outspoken and clear like that but I tried my best. My internal, fearful push to sleep doesn't use words. It speaks in the language of flight or fight responses. Sleep is a juicy, delicious fruit to be savored. Relaxing can be a wonderful, centering, and enlightening experience that puts the madness of life into perspective. We'll gain no real recuperation by only thinking of relaxation as a breaks between shifts whose sole function is to keep efficiency high during the work shifts. I have wanted to go to sleep so I can perform well tomorrow. Sometimes, our survival depends on us being at the top of our game and we need sleep to do that, but <b>you can't fake the funk</b>. It's infuriating, I know, but you aren't relaxing unless you're true to yourself and you inherent desire to relax. Not for your boss or your work, just for your own satisfaction. <br />
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And hey, it's not like I know anything about sleeping. It's now 4:30 in the morning and I'm still no sleep guru with years of good sleep or have a line of books that have been featured on Oprah. You'd have to be crazy to take me seriously. <br />
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*That's usually what happens when I fall asleep. This type of mindset falls on me and it's a place where music, words, images and movement are all linked and you can describe a gesture with a sound, or denote the meaning of a word with a landscape. And when that happens I usually drift off. I can't give a good example now because I'm, y'know, awake.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-25745825864216822582010-09-20T08:34:00.000-07:002010-09-20T08:34:51.819-07:00When Marijuana Get Legalized, You're Gonna See Some Serious ShitI think it's safe to say that alcohol just isn't as cool as marijuana. Alcohol is normalized and accepted into society. It's sold in mass produced bottles, there's only a few major brands per type of alcohol (as far as a college kid like myself is concerned). It's not like the average guy is brewing his own tequila. And I don't think most people develop good relationships with their local liquor store. Let's contrast this with weed. Weed isn't accepted into society, at least not officially. Because of its "underground" and illegal properties it's a bit of an adventure to go out and buy some. People do in fact grow their own weed that they're really proud of. There are thousands of different kinds of weed, and then there's the thousands more kinds that aren't actually new kinds but are other kinds that are just renamed. Weed is a bit magical. Which was why<br />
<a href="http://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2010/09/20/the-medical-marijauna-hype-its-not-as-easy-as-thc/">this</a> article interested me. <br />
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Very simply, the author's talking about what's going to happen to the state of getting high if weed gets legalized. Weed is going to be put under the same economic logic as any business. So prepare for weed pills labeled with precise dose counts of THC. They'll put a number on how much of a head high you'll get. They're going to take all of the magical properties of weed and make them a matter of science. You'll probably even smoke weed that's been genetically modified and patented, so that when you come across a seed you'll be slapped with a lawsuit if you try to plant it for yourself. Not to say that we shouldn't legalize weed. But as we bring marijuana into the light it's important to ask what type of world we're going to bring it in to.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-32587905424421447342010-09-19T13:05:00.000-07:002010-09-19T13:05:07.830-07:00We just shit all over the pastYeah, you heard me right. We do. When we think about people from the past it’s almost normal to shit-talk them. Why? Because they’re not as smart as us. Modern man, complete with iPods, computers, refrigerators and cars is better and smarter than those centuries of people behind them. Why are we smarter than them? Because they didn’t think of inventing the shit we invented. Hurr durr, you guys must be dumbasses. Any jackass could have invented the internet. Come on, where’s your head at? It’s also not common that people research their ancestors and learn their story. “Who the fuck cares?” goes the common story. Well, are you not like your parents? And are they not like their parents? Chances are, you and your great grandparents would have gotten along at some level. Maybe you would have been friends if you were born in their time. <br />
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We don’t give people in our past equal consideration. When presented with the options of going out to party and getting drunk versus dusting off an old book you found in the attic written by your great-great grandfather and reading it on a Friday night, most people would probably go out party. And that book could have been just bulletpoints! It could have been an easy to read, funny and awesome story of your great-great-grandfather’s life condensed down into its most meaningful moments. But no. We’d rather go out party. And a lot of times, people party with people they don’t even like! That is to say that a lot of times people spend their nights not even having fun! But no. We’d rather hang out with our friends. Here. In the present. <br />
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Part of me thinks that this complaint against society isn’t really valid. My counter to this complaint is a voice in my head that sarcastically snarls “Wait, wait. So you don’t like how people are treating people in the past unfairly? People who aren’t even here anymore? Don’t you think we got enough inequality going on here in the present?” It’s a valid point. And it’s probably not even true for everyone. I bet some families around here really are proud of their heritage and know their family trees inside and out, even do crazy stuff like trace their origin back to the Mayflower. But learning about your family’s past would make you feel a hell of a lot more secure. Next time your teacher or whatever comes around and wants to do something that gets you down you could roundhouse kick them in the face and say “Fuck you! My great-great father helped Lincoln run for president! I don’t have to stand for this shit!” <br />
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I wanna find out all the sweet stuff my family did. I bet my family's got some pretty sweet stories.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-21599882155696434332010-09-15T21:14:00.000-07:002010-09-19T07:32:33.722-07:00Hello, World.This post is here to fully explain the purposes of this blog that weren't covered by the header.<br />
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It's a strange world we call home. A world where we doubt we could have a good time with people that wasn't fueled by something external to us; weed, alcohol, cocaine, other drugs, TV, movies, video games. <i>Of course. We couldn't be creative enough to make our own fun. We rely on other people. </i>A world where little children are told by men in suits that if it weren't for their toys they wouldn't make friends and when the children grow older they doubt if they can pick up a girl without alcohol. <i>I mean, it's only natural, no one could ever like you just for who you are. Your choice of things to wear and buy are what makes you appealing to people. </i>It's also a world where people are afraid of opening up their own electronics because they don't have the proper clearance. <i>I mean, it's not like we're experts or anything</i>. It's also a world where people are afraid to be real with each other, because,<i> no, they couldn't be like me and if I started being real I would drive them away</i>. This world sure does have a lot of ways to get you down, doesn't it? Who the hell came up with these ideas? Who thought this was a good way to live? And even if you <i>claim</i> that you're not affected, is this really the place where you want to live? Or raise a family?<br />
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This is wastelandamerica.blogspot.com. I'm going to break down society into easy to digest chunks for you and myself with the aim of living a life worth living. We'll chase down these villainous beliefs to their cores and then rip 'em out by the roots. My beliefs are humanitarian, my political leaning is independent, and I believe that we can bring the good world back.<br />
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We'll be in touch.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-19086482341828438602010-09-08T21:31:00.001-07:002010-09-08T21:35:02.339-07:00Desire Makes Us Unhappy...or maybe not. Still deciding where I want to host my blog. In the mean time, here's an old rant of mine that's still fresh. <br /><br />Maybe it’s the philosophy class that’s growing on me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had to read Brave New World in another class. And maybe it’s my own frustrations of living with A.D.D. that are starting to pile on high enough for me to notice that led me to post this today. But I don’t think I can live a life driven by desire anymore. Somewhere, somehow I picked up the idea that happiness is the fulfillment of my desires; that being happy means endlessly trying to get what I want because if I don’t it’ll just eat at me. Let’s take it down to a more practical level: You’ve got a song stuck in your head. It’s been there for the past two days. You have no idea who sings it but it’s addictive and it’s been driving you nuts that you only know a few words of it. You search for the few words you know and you get nothing. You got to Yahoo Answers and ask them, and it seems that with each barrier you come across you want the song more and more. Finally you find it on youtube and with the right program you extract the mp3 from it. The itching is over!…until next week when it’ll happen again. <br /><br />I think this is a cultural idea. This is a cultural belief that we’ve been taught to believe in. Happiness is getting what you want. Let’s break this idea down.<br /><br />Happiness is getting what you want, and not only that, but it’s a global rule for all of society too. For all of us to be happy, we must satisfy our own individual itches. You’ll attend to whatever floats your boat and I’ll attend to whatever floats my boat. You can’t criticize other people’s wants. Their wants, just as twisted as they may be, are in pursuit of happiness just like yours are. To criticize someone else’s wants is to be a hypocrite. There’s some restrictions on the things that society doesn’t want you to want, like drugs, child pornography, and harming another person, but there’s absolutely no society-wide endorsement of a want. Society didn’t teach all children that they should hunger to learn, or desire to be the best person they can be. Not even religion gets a stamp of approval from everyone. What has filled the void instead, what we all can agree on, is wanting. That way, you can do what you do and I’ll do what I’ll do. There’s only individual wants. Satisfying them is your business and you can’t tell me what to want because relativism is the only thing we’ll agree on. <br /><br />I am so pleased to say that this philosophy has problems. <br />1) If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then by definition it will not last. You’ll be happy when you buy a new toy. But then you will grow bored of the toy and the unhappiness will return, and buying another toy will not defeat the unhappiness.<br />2) Honestly, if we’re so chained to our desires are we even capable of holding ourselves back? Or are we just infants grown old? To demonstrate this point, go down to the store and buy yourself a hard candy. Leave it within arm’s reach. See how long you can hold it there. <br />3) And if we are so chained to our desires that we can’t hold ourselves back then there’s no way that another 6 billion people can live the same way without entirely strip mining the planet! We’re only a puny 300 million in the US yet use up a quarter of the world’s resources to fuel our desires. We’re gonna need a helluva lot of Earths if we think the rest of the world can live like we do. <br />4) And finally, what type of backwards-ass world are we living in where if you want to help people, society’s response is “Whatever works for you”?! What type of world are we living in when compassion has become something private? Isn’t helping people good? Don’t you think it should happen more? Then why are we keeping it stached away? <br /><br />That’s my 2 cents on desire.That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1330280522551223781.post-78391886256049710402010-09-08T21:05:00.000-07:002010-09-08T21:16:49.413-07:00We have moved!Yes, we have moved to <a href="http://www.wastelandamerica.tumblr.com">wastelandamerica.tumblr.com</a>. Same scathing hatred of American culture, now with twice your daily intake of Vitamin D! Order now!That Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385324308951983431noreply@blogger.com1