Bewußtsein

"Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeosis epoch from all earlier ones."
So here sits a young man trying to put words to the flurry of thoughts, feelings and actions that make up my little trip through the world. Regardless of the 'everlasting uncertainty' I still maintain that the planet is spinning in synchronization with the rest of the matter in the universe, and thus is everything as it should be. The intricate web of people that makes up the society all around me seems to follow similar natural laws, every bit as complicated as astrophysics, but just as flawless. Who are we to pick at the food we are served, complaining about this or that minuscule aspect of existence as if it constituted more than a minor irritation. So much of human suffering comes from expectations that one wonders why anyone has such arrogance, or more importantly, why do we never seem to learn the folly of our ways? I'm beginning to think that all truly free individuals will always have to fight tooth and nail to escape the gravitational pull of other minds. So no matter how much you ever push back at this ingrained ignorance, you will always just get pulled that much harder into the madness you oppose. You could be born into 2,700 BC Sumeria, Japan of the 1580's or Southern California last year; regardless of local, the drive to conform in body and mind is omnipresent in human social structures. Which gets me back to my particular experience. I am more than eager to learn from the rest, probably more enthusiastic than most, but I also want to be able to say my piece, add my ideas. Therein lay the rub. Like most things in my country, education is a commodity. A money making machine thats purpose is purely economic and cares little for the cattle that is herded through those hallowed halls of higher learning. I for one get a feeling of impending doom every time I am told by a fellow student about how they are going to major in such and such then go on to make lots of money. Why do people care so much about status, wealth and appearances?
Nicht das Bewußtsein bestimmt das Leben, sondern das Leben bestimmt das Bewußtsein.
"It is in fact not the consciousness dominating life but the very life dominating consciousness."

My Horoscope

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22)

It's hard for others to get a clear idea about your intentions now, for your feelings may be slightly different from your actions. It's not likely to bother you, though, for your powers of rationalization are strong. Don't use logic to explain yourself, for the rest of the world may not see things the same way that you do.

Assholes abound

I have been accused of being a pessimistic, dramatic, and even downright negative. Say what you will though, all that seems to have been the result of all the history of human development is that more and more assholes dominate all aspects of human life. The Burmese Government has recently had to deal with all the Buddhist monks in that country deciding to protest, in the hope it will make the military Junta that runs things relinquish their grip on power. Well, long story short these officers have decided that killing people for trying to peacefully make themselves heard is the way to go. The really depressing part about this is that no matter where you look the cold calculating hand of the few are ringing as much out of the world as they can before the whole shit house goes up in flames. I think people who degrade themselves by abusing others probably already suffer greatly, if not physically then psychologically and spiritually. It seems like the more they fuck shit up, the more they grow in their desire to do so. Like all the fat cats just keep upping the ante and no one wants to be the first one to fold. Well, once again I'm going to resort to great Greeks to tell it like is:
"Hope is a waking dream" -Aristotle
"No human thing is of serious importance" -Plato

Dreamers

I am now a resident of a very peculiar and unique corner of California. Jules de Gaultier once commented that- "Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality". If such is true, then the Humboldt Bay Area is waging an all out blitz against the ghastly state of human existence. The economy has been pretty much shit ever since the huge logging mills shut down, although a few are still in operation. Arcata is wholly dependent upon the University for keeping it from becoming a hobo-hippie commune. Luckily there is one cash crop up here that has to account for at least half, if not more, of the income for this area. You would think that cultivating an illegal black market crop would in some way lead its growers to get into some sort of full blown confrontation with the Federal Forces that swoop down each harvest season to wreck havoc. That just isn't how things function in America though. As long as the potential for personal economic survival exists it appears that people in developed countries will always prefer arbitrary laws, corrupt international policy and the omnipresent threat of incarceration to that of anything honestly resembling a responsible role in their political systems. The sad fact is that it's impossible to criticize the system that sustains ones whole existence. You might as well start talking shit about the Milky Way, saying that there are thousands of vastly preferable galaxies you would rather live in. The bottom line is that humans don't just pull societies out of thin air, they are the accumulation of centuries of struggle, culture, ideals and geography. Revolutions always fail because they try to make a dramatic break with the past and jump headfirst into a hypothetical future that can always be undermined by cruel reality. Having done some traveling and being somewhat aware of the demographic makeup of the world, I readily admit that Humboldt is nothing but a provincial backwater of the Colossus that is the US Economy. And no matter how much the residents of this land wish to deny it, all the dreaming and hoping does little besides ensuring that no effective action will ever be taken. The fact that the aforementioned cash crop is consumed in large quantities locally makes coherent thought for a large number of residents difficult at best.

#43

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
- H.L. Mencken /Baltimore Sun (July 26, 1920)
A lot of people have been talking about how dumb Bush is for about 8 years now. At the APEC meeting in Australia this week he referred to it as an OPEC meeting and thanked the 'Austrian' PM for hosting. This is but one of countless verbal train wrecks that GW has been father to. The point I'd like to make is that by being an apparent dipshit, that makes him more thoroughly American than any of his predecessors. And since each successive generation of Americans seems to be getting dumber at an exponential rate, the situation is unlikely to improve. If nothing else it proves that the system we have here in the USA isn't actually run by figure heads.

Loco-motion

Fishies swim at the bottom of the sea
lucky for them they don't have to see
all the absurd shit we call great
the money that is used as bait
we swim in a sea of stupidity
propagating only insane vanity
sometimes I really wish
I'd been born a fish

craziness

You hear a lot of hysterics coming out of people about the trials and tribulations of their little lives. Normally I just nod and pretend to be concerned. Well, today I've finally found the graphic that will put all the panicked people in their place, or completely send them over the edge- either way. Here you go

An Inconsistent Truth

Slow days in a fast world
filled with many dreams
nothing is what is seems

somewhat separate and the same
you are the glory and shame
all things are embodied in you
but you are also nothing too

worry not about the things that happen around or to you- this too shall pass
endure the present, remember the past and treasure the future
the world owes you nothing, it was here first