random verse

Wonderful days they all have been
not a one I wouldn't gladly live again
if your life is any different than that
take a moment and try to look back
why was it anything less than perfection?
answer will invariably be your perception
there wasn't a day when the sun didn't rise
nor a one that didn't hold at least one surprise
what better gig is there than this life on earth?
we should all be grateful our mothers gave birth
for what would we all be floating in the void ocean?
surely it couldn't be as fun as all this crazy emotion

Urbanization Part II (Conformity)

"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior." -Thoreau
“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin to slit throats.”-HL Mencken
So the year is 2007 and half the worlds population has gone behind the concrete curtain. "So it goes". I've noticed that within' these cities status is somehow derived from how much one consumes. People kill, lie, deceive, cheat and do all manner of horrific things in the pursuit of whatever they feel will secure them some modicum of happiness. I'm a little fuzzy on why exactly owning a lot of things and spending lots of money makes you anything but decadent profligate, but it seems to be the name of the game. The crazy part of it is that such an overwhelming majority of the city buys into this that you get conformity on a staggering level. Because everyone is on the money-go-round it's sort of like a universal language. Thus can a city like San Francisco speak many languages but still function like a well built clock. From the outside it resembles a beehive or anthill more than anything else. Thousands upon thousands of creatures scurrying about doing a thousand different things, all amazingly without any overt orders. Of course, conformity always has consent as its prime mover. All those who really can't take it or refuse to buy in move out or are incarcerated in even more packed miniature cities called prisons. All manner of desperate deviants have evolved from the casually consenting majority, but they are fighting an uphill battle that simply can't be won. What's their plan? Convince, coerce, convert, cajole and coax the entire hive to their way of thought thereby accomplishing a total change in how the thing works? It seems to me something like fighting the war to end all wars. . No small wonder then that the warm embrace of conformity is a comfort to billions living in the cities across the landmasses of Earth's crust. You can't deny that they are part of something big, certainly the biggest thing we humans have done in memory at least. I hate to start and end with a quote, but the following one says it better than I know how- "In our own time we have seen domination spread over the social landscape to a point where it is beyond all human control. Compared to this stupendous mobilization of materials, of wealth, of human intellect, of human labor for the single goal of domination, all other recent human achievements pale to almost trivial significance. Our art, science, medicine, literature, music and "charitable" acts seem like mere droppings from a table on which gory feasts on the spoils of conquest have engaged the attention of a system whose appetite for rule is utterly unrestrained." -Bookchin

Haters gotta hate

When one looks at international relations today it is something like observing a Shaolin Monk of Bruce Lee's stature coming down from the mountain monastery to interact with the global 'villagers'. Granted, a few others know martial arts, such as Russia, China, England etc. This doesn't however change the fact that we are by far the baddest dude in the dojo. We hear countries like North Korea and Iran talkin' some pretty serious trash, one would almost think they wanted to fight. Fact of the matter is though that no one wants to fight us. Occasionally one sees our raw might demonstrated in a massively epic ass whopping, followed by an occupation that can be likened to a debilitated karate move that leaves the recipient prostrate; capable of flailing and injuring themselves, but rendered relatively harmless against the attacker (say uncle!). Now I'm no 'might makes right' sort of thinker here, and the ends never justify the means, but we gotta accept the fact, for better or worse, we are at the pinnacle of world military power. All our nearest competitors just trade like mad with us, try to steal the secrets of our weapons and dream of the day they can actually hold their own in the field against our invincible legions. This is how the hand has been dealt, we might as well concede that we have been dealt a Royal Flush. The thing about having a hand like that is, you know everyone else if bluffing. Since we are essentially the Martial Arts masters of planet Earth, we have a great responsibility. Methinks we must behave like the head Abbot at the Shaolin Temple- with prudence, compassion and authority. Now there is always going to be some haters, it is just how human emotions seemed to be wired, and we're going to have to deal with this. The Iranians have their antagonism down to an art, hell, they make mosaics of tile in English denouncing us. But you'll notice it says 'down with USA' not 'we're going to take down USA'... they may be boisterous, but they aren't delusional. They know they can't actually hang with Bruce Lee in a Shaolin Showdown.

Urbanization part I

One thing that I don't feel is given enough discussion these days is the phenomenon of urbanization. Living in cities is far from something new, we have evidence of it going on for thousands of years, but its present scale is utterly unprecedented. At the beginning of the 20th century 13% of the world lived in cities, now it is estimated to be 50% and is perpetually growing. This shift towards a city based human population might very well be the most fundamental change in human history. It affects just about every aspect of life that can be imagined and is consequently something I think a lot about. One of the primary reasons I enjoy writing is that it makes you define and explore your thoughts in a way that you probably wouldn't otherwise. As I start out on this first instalment of what will no doubt be a relatively long exploration of this revolutionary transition in mankind's behavioral pattern, I'm a decidedly rural person. I grew up in the woods and now live in pastureland bordering the sea. Cities generally seem to me like savage attempts to make lives short soulless struggles in which the individual is obliterated by the sheer volume of almost identical lifeforms writhing all about them. Concrete, cars, cacophony and confusion replaces the world we once knew. Anyone who has ever flown must admit that it is a pretty insane situation when viewed in its entirety. Every single resource that can be moved by man is poured into these insatiable hives, and all that comes out is an ever larger population and mountains of unnecessary crap to fuel the consumer capitalism behemoth. For all the noise and drama that cities contain, they seem to mine eyes nothing but intensive people farms. Why mass manufacturing humans in small spaces came into fashion is a well documented story. Here is the short version: Industrialization requires a large urbanized working class in close proximity to the factories. So at least the origin of this trend is clearly discernible, but what about its result? The cities in California where I live have extremely little industry, and yet millions of people live in them anyway. I'm of the opinion that far more of this worlds problems than is readily admitted originates from these new fangled population packed people containers. Such is my perspective at the beginning of my investigation, we shall see if it is the same when I reach the conclusion.

Thin Line Between Entertainment and War

Panem et circenses (bread and circuses)- The war gives us the former, the entertainment the latter. You might think one would need more than that to rule a nation of 300 million, but you'd be wrong. At one point it was very clear when a war was on. It was an all out, no holds barred, struggle for supremacy in which a draw was impossible. The rival armies would even have the decency to pick a good spot for the slaughter, meet up, and then just go for it; winner takes all. Entertainment too was a far more straightforward affair. You would go to a theater, watch a show, the curtain would fall and then it was over. You would get up, chat a bit about what you saw, perhaps think on it, then you go home to bed. Well, sadly these two once clearly defined and immensely popular activities have fallen from superb simplicity and into an abyss of ambiguity. America hasn't declared war since 1941, yet we have military forces in over a 100 countries. We don't even have a Secretary of War anymore, just one of Defence. What our government calls 'Wars' are really just aimless campaigns, the purpose of which seems to be perpetually changed for the public. I've no doubt that the powers that be would prefer a real war, but since no one wants to have a war with us, they must content themselves with just occupying regions for economic ends. They seem almost insincere when compared with other wars throughout history. To a historian like me it seems as though we are trying to perform Shakespeare with bad actors and a rewritten script. Which brings me to my second point on this pointless rant- Entertainment. This once brilliant outlet for mans imagination has also suffered greatly, and been diminished into a all day fiasco. Instead of the once a week to the theater, orchestra, poetry reading etc. we now have a media web surrounding and permeating our whole lives. Maybe movies haven't been getting worse, perhaps we just can't enjoy them because it's all we see, one repetitive day after the next. TV even goes so far to make entertainment out of reality, aptly called Reality TV. This officially shows that entertainment has taken over the entire culture, because it can all now fit neatly inside their programing scheme. The same could be said for war. You watch any news coverage of the so called 'war' in Iraq and it's just another show, or perhaps even a sporting event. Although our overseas conflicts have gotten farcical to the point of absurdity, the domestic war is very much real. If you are capable of tearing your eyes away from the media you see soaring prison populations, ethnic tensions, the police in all its various forms, and economic factors are all contributing to make life inside America anything but peaceful. The rich live in walled communities with outrageous security because they are so terrified, need I say anymore? This would all seem unusual if this was just one wild nation dancing to a tune no one else hears, but by God, the rest are starting to do the American Shuffle too! This thin line between entertainment and war is quickly becoming the foundation for every government on the entire planet. Democracy is a hollow word when it is seen as just another entertaining thing they show on TV and talk about on the internet. So is freedom for that matter. How free is anyone who will panic without enemies or get bored for a lack of colorful screens to stare at? Luckily I'm a student of history, and thus am never forced to face these strange occurrences without the ages to offer me gems that both comfort and disturb. Two thousand years ago Juvenal said this, it could have been written yesterday and still be valid:
"... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man,
the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time
handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now
restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things:
bread and circuses "

Which way is home?

As we rumble along this wild adventure called humanity the road seems ever more uncertain the further we go. Sort of like one of those country roads that starts out paved, then goes to gravel, then dirt, till finally you are just driving on something your not even sure is a road anymore, but is too narrow to turn around on. Such seems to be our predicament. One result of this is that a trend towards assumption seems to be taking deep root the more lost we get. This is a time honored tradition for mankind, but the levels it is reaching in my lifetime are getting to dizzying new heights. To me this indicates a sort of unconscious reaction to the mounting evidence that we are: A) transient compositions of subatomic particles laking any definite form B) behaving more like bacteria than mammals C) have no idea what we are doing or why we are doing it. Reactionary rhetoric is bound to occur when people find themselves confused and/or scared, such is the nature of modern man. The only real problem with this is that instead of just comforting ourselves with our words and shenanigans we have now made a destructive habit of changing our surroundings to conform with them. I'm not big on pointing fingers at people or groups of people, and thus will not blame anyone for this monstrosity. Now this is a really nice planet, and I hate to see it be needlessly destroyed because humans have issues, but it's a big universe so I'm not all that horribly upset. After all, we are all just leasing our carbon and if we as a species choose to just shit on everything around us, then the sooner we will be returning it. Having said that I can't help but want mankind to start enjoying our place without this frivolously fanatic fantasy that we so ironically call progress. When it is all boiled down, most human behavior can be categorized as entertainment. We prefer to think of it as something else, but we are really just doing our damnedest to distract ourselves from the minuteness of our place and that we can't do a damn thing about it but fuck with each other in a last ditch effort to avoid facing the reality that surrounds our little globe on all sides. The poor assume they deserve more and the rich assume they should keep what they have; that's a classic drama that always gets good reviews. Here's a more time specific example- America feels her position of authority is threatened by others, others feel threatened by America's position of authority. Let us get even more personal- I want this to happen and that not to happen in my life; probably the most popular skit of all time. Now don't get me wrong, all this is entertaining as hell, but at some point the curtain must fall on this show. If I'm around I'll give it all a standing ovation, but refrain from requesting an encore. Humans used to just wander around earth enjoying the twin pleasures of our omnivore status all day and our ability to contemplate the cosmic mystery at night. Since then we have tilled a lot of soil, built a lot of cities and fought a lot of wars, but found a better existence we have not. I would just like to see a shift from presumption towards honesty- let's admit we don't know shit.

Inter caecos regnat strabo

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." -Karl Marx
That quote might very well be the most succinct reason why I feel that the study of history is the most important of all academic pursuits. One great historian named Jacob Burckhardt prophesied on the dawn of the 20th century that it would be the age of the 'terrible simplifiers'. His prediction of demagogic rule by leaders of profoundly pedantic persuasions was proven to be absolutely accurate. Many people like to think that we have learned from the horrid lessons of the 20th century, but such doesn't appear to be the case to mine eyes. President Bush is nothing if not a 'terrible simplifier'. Pretty much anyone who claims you can declare war on a noun is nothing but a shameless opportunist of the worst sort. The thing about such people is that their power lay in their ability 'to mobilise the collective subconscious' as Sebastian Haffner put it. His power isn't purely institutional, although that is a large part of it. It would seem that the 40 some odd years of scare propaganda from the cold war has now become systemic; fear is now as American as apple pie. All the war protests in the world won't accomplish anything but giving the government an all to easy opportunity to single out trouble makers and raise the spectre of social chaos that always helps to legitimize any authority. Despite some promising developments the 'terrible simplifiers' seem to be as popular as ever- Ahmadinejad, Bush, Chavez etc. They all play the same game. One that was a tragedy in the age of Hitler, but now just a pathetic farce that shows just how completely hopeless democracy can be when people are primarily concerned with themselves. The Age of the Individual seems to have institutionalized 'terrible simplifiers' into our world, to which i can only quote Erasmus' immortal words- "Amongst the blind, the squinting rule".

Sic transit gloria mundi

it's the destiny of things big and small

first to slowly rise then forever fall

a feature long observed by man

but bigger than he is this plan

these my friends are the rules

want it different? join the fools

build up castles made of sand

will not change the dealt hand

occasionally we are want to yearn

for something more than our turn

this consuming constructed craving

will only lead towards aimless raving

it shouldn't be the way of this occasion

despite our desperate contemplation

if you gaze into the heavenly mirror

you'll see that we've nothing to fear

if you can fathom our deep place

you'll only see immortal grace

the void is our only true home

thus are we first here, then gone