When I read the blogs from the left coast, I am never surprised that the doomsday suicide cults usually live in California. There is a concerted effort to get together and talk each other into a desperate stupor of demoralization and defeatism. America is never right, the rich are always thieves, and somewhere someone is always plotting to undermine their rights to sex, drugs or bad movies.
I think they are doing it to themselves but I try to avoid going there to check. The weird thing is that the people who have these blogs are richer than most of us.
In all my years, I've never seen anyone held down who worked for the wealth. I've seen artists and faux artists (say producers) do everything to keep a competitor's product off the street through lame critique, and I've seen software vendors dissing other vendors for not being socially progressive then shorting their stock. Still, America remains the destination mall of third world entrepeneurs. It is still the easiest place in the world to start a business or to launch a career.
There is a politics of depression. Some of these wealthy coasters are very good at it but I don't see them slowing down their consumption of energy or trading in their Lamborghinis for Hondas. I realize the cost of living is going up fast and I can't retire, but they are paying off higher mortgages and living in one of the most expensive areas in America in smaller houses. Somehow, I don't get depressed about that.
It seems the best way to make the unthinkable thinkable is to demoralize a nation, and Hairy Anna, Taplin and their friends are getting very good at it. Me, I'd rather read a textbook to learn a skill and make a dime than to get depressed and drop a dime. Things are still good in America and maybe if we just turn off the tube and work on our chops, they always will be. Today is Friday and that's a good day. Monday comes around soon enough.
Sunday will never be the same. Monday always is.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
An Essene
A quote from one Alex Bowles expressing a point of view that says it well:
Until we get our values right, the ideology doesn't matter, but my experience is that we pick our ideology in accordance with what we value, and then it is easy to tell the light from the dark, the Essene from the Sadducee and Pharisee. I value truth and as Gandhi said, the only way to know truth is through non-violence. As long as we lust for dominion, we violate truth.
Without truth, only darkness has dominion.
For me, the change we need isn’t about swings from left to right. It’s about moving from the darkness below to the light above. My hope is that we start to worry less about ideology, which has provided cover for all sorts of nefarious agendas, and, instead, start worrying about corruption as such. Until we start naming it directly - and punishing it accordingly - we’ll continue to sink.
Until we get our values right, the ideology doesn't matter, but my experience is that we pick our ideology in accordance with what we value, and then it is easy to tell the light from the dark, the Essene from the Sadducee and Pharisee. I value truth and as Gandhi said, the only way to know truth is through non-violence. As long as we lust for dominion, we violate truth.
Without truth, only darkness has dominion.
Anoushka Shankar
Here is a video for you that is simply breath taking, or breath giving. The artist is Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar, demonstrating a mastery of sitar that few can claim and even fewer women have demonstrated. This is stunning and will give your day a wonderful respite from the rage and demonizing out there. Turn off the TV, avoid the political blogs, delete those emails your friends and family are sending you full of vitriol, and enjoy the serenity of her playing and marvelous spirit.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Feeding the Fire: Part 3
Since there are some things being said that are false on their face:
1. I am a Democrat. I've been a registered Democrat since 1972. I'm not supporting Obama because I don't trust him and my encounters with his supporters prove to me they are neither credible nor honorable. The thuggery is too evident to ignore and means do matter.
2. Sarah Palin is a fine woman. That seems to bother people who can't find anything else to disparage her for. I suspect the Hollywood crowd would like it much better if she didn't have a husband and a good family. Their therapists can't make money off normal people.
3. I notice that when the left gets angry, they go immediately to the topic of sex. I realize they are mammals, but they are also a bit addicted to that subject in their rants, their critiques and their politics. Sex is good but so is housekeeping. It tidies up the spirit. Angry sex is the mean street of power. Don't go there.
4. No matter who is elected, raising taxes is a bad idea right now. Only a fool fights in a burning house. I've never said anything about Obama's comments on "spreading the wealth around". I don't think it necessary and I'd like to get some of that too. I don't mind doing it the way I always have: work. The economy can't be 'fixed' particularly with more stimulus packages. We have to restore manufacturing and adjust costs. Anyone who tells you the situation is more complicated than a checkbook is part of the problem. It's like weight loss; eat less, do more. The rest just works.
5. The politics of rage depend on getting everyone riled up through frustration. The more calm one tries to be, the more they "get in your face" as Obama told them to do. Leave their signs alone. Ignore their insults. There will be plenty of time for bonfires after the election and lots of leftover tinder. Obama will win if the polls are right. Then we'll see what he's made of. May having be as good as wanting.
6. If Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio hadn't covered Bobby Zimmerman's songs, he'd be teaching English in a junior college in upstate New Jersey. For my tastes, he is like Hank Williams: I like his songs when other people do them. He had a heckuva good band years ago. They went out on a high note and haven't done anything since. Some people know when to get off stage.
Now is a good time to meditate on shunyata. It calms the spirit and reveals the true nature of reality. Peace.
1. I am a Democrat. I've been a registered Democrat since 1972. I'm not supporting Obama because I don't trust him and my encounters with his supporters prove to me they are neither credible nor honorable. The thuggery is too evident to ignore and means do matter.
2. Sarah Palin is a fine woman. That seems to bother people who can't find anything else to disparage her for. I suspect the Hollywood crowd would like it much better if she didn't have a husband and a good family. Their therapists can't make money off normal people.
3. I notice that when the left gets angry, they go immediately to the topic of sex. I realize they are mammals, but they are also a bit addicted to that subject in their rants, their critiques and their politics. Sex is good but so is housekeeping. It tidies up the spirit. Angry sex is the mean street of power. Don't go there.
4. No matter who is elected, raising taxes is a bad idea right now. Only a fool fights in a burning house. I've never said anything about Obama's comments on "spreading the wealth around". I don't think it necessary and I'd like to get some of that too. I don't mind doing it the way I always have: work. The economy can't be 'fixed' particularly with more stimulus packages. We have to restore manufacturing and adjust costs. Anyone who tells you the situation is more complicated than a checkbook is part of the problem. It's like weight loss; eat less, do more. The rest just works.
5. The politics of rage depend on getting everyone riled up through frustration. The more calm one tries to be, the more they "get in your face" as Obama told them to do. Leave their signs alone. Ignore their insults. There will be plenty of time for bonfires after the election and lots of leftover tinder. Obama will win if the polls are right. Then we'll see what he's made of. May having be as good as wanting.
6. If Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio hadn't covered Bobby Zimmerman's songs, he'd be teaching English in a junior college in upstate New Jersey. For my tastes, he is like Hank Williams: I like his songs when other people do them. He had a heckuva good band years ago. They went out on a high note and haven't done anything since. Some people know when to get off stage.
Now is a good time to meditate on shunyata. It calms the spirit and reveals the true nature of reality. Peace.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Feeding the Fire: Part 2
As I thought it might, the first part of this riled the Taplin bloggers. I was told that as a troll, I could only comment on cultural issues or leave.
I said no deal.
I'm disappointed. There are some there who's names I know from the music business and respected, but like John Lennon said, it's not always good to meet your heros.
In my past, these were the good guys, but like the dragon in Dragonslayer, with age comes only pain and that makes them spiteful. In all my years on the web and before, I've never encountered a group quite like that. The rage turns any claim they make for their candidate into a shrill scream for justification to hurt their enemies.
Driven by the news media, shows like The View and the speeches of the candidates, the rage is building. I don't know if it can be stopped. The left wing has traditionally been the peace party in this country. Now it is something unrecognizable, a twisted characature of itself spitting back obscenties and intimidating anyone who dares dissent.
I thought Bush was bad. He was just dumb. These are the intellectuals, the elite, the people America lavished its best in education and opportunity on howling at the moon like wolves in blood lust. They are even quoting Dave Winer as a supporter. Dave is familiar with the flame wars and what the RSS zealots did to him should be enough to make him understand a rage machine. I wonder if he approves.
The right is little better. All you have to do is read the blogs, follow the links and you see what this is about. McCain's campaign was pretty docile during the primaries. With the negative campaign and the left in their faces, they've surrendered to the madness too. Now we are in the eye for an eye part of the campaign and nothing good will come of this.
Are either of the candidates worth this? In my opinion, absolutely not.
I said no deal.
I'm disappointed. There are some there who's names I know from the music business and respected, but like John Lennon said, it's not always good to meet your heros.
Oh, I know this creature of yours... Vermithrax Pejorative. Look at these scales, these ridges. When a dragon gets this old, it knows nothing but pain, constant pain. It grows decrepit... crippled... pitiful. Spiteful!
In my past, these were the good guys, but like the dragon in Dragonslayer, with age comes only pain and that makes them spiteful. In all my years on the web and before, I've never encountered a group quite like that. The rage turns any claim they make for their candidate into a shrill scream for justification to hurt their enemies.
Driven by the news media, shows like The View and the speeches of the candidates, the rage is building. I don't know if it can be stopped. The left wing has traditionally been the peace party in this country. Now it is something unrecognizable, a twisted characature of itself spitting back obscenties and intimidating anyone who dares dissent.
I thought Bush was bad. He was just dumb. These are the intellectuals, the elite, the people America lavished its best in education and opportunity on howling at the moon like wolves in blood lust. They are even quoting Dave Winer as a supporter. Dave is familiar with the flame wars and what the RSS zealots did to him should be enough to make him understand a rage machine. I wonder if he approves.
The right is little better. All you have to do is read the blogs, follow the links and you see what this is about. McCain's campaign was pretty docile during the primaries. With the negative campaign and the left in their faces, they've surrendered to the madness too. Now we are in the eye for an eye part of the campaign and nothing good will come of this.
Are either of the candidates worth this? In my opinion, absolutely not.
My love for nonviolence is superior to every other thing mundane or supramundane. It is equaled only by my love for Truth, which is to me synonymous with nonviolence through which and which alone I can see and reach Truth.
....Without ahimsa it is not possible to seek and find Truth... Ahimsa is the means; Truth is the end. Means to be means must always be within our reach, and so ahimsa is our supreme duty. If we take care of the means, we are bound to reach the end sooner or latter. When once we have grasped this point, final victory is beyond question.
Ahimsa is not the goal. Truth is the goal. But we have no means of realizing truth in human relationships except through the practice of ahimsa. - M.K. Gandhi
Monday, October 20, 2008
Feed the Fire
I've had a jolly good time debating the ObamaBots at Jon Taplin's blog. These are the true believers who have made his campaign a raging success. It is noticeable throughout the primaries and now just how much his supporters depend on rage and feed on it. It is a destructive technique for culture in general.
The trick is to frame the opponent in a bad light. Jon and his friends are practiced at this but not terribly skilled. It seems to be a reflex move when they are confused by a reply or contradicted. This is something they share with Obama who is thin skinned when his intellectual superiority is questioned.
The framing of his organization as intellectually superior and all others as inferior ('dumb', 'moron', 'scoundrel') has been their most consistent approach throughout the primaries and beyond. This results in the 'self/other' antipathy that feeds the rage machine. They are doing this deliberately because they are doing it consistently. Means matter when considering a candidate and the means used by the Obama campaign indicate his term in office should he win will be a divisive one with little achieved except to drive divisions deeper into the American psyche.
Don't respond with rage or hurt. It just empties your life into their hell instead of feeding your own fire.
The trick is to frame the opponent in a bad light. Jon and his friends are practiced at this but not terribly skilled. It seems to be a reflex move when they are confused by a reply or contradicted. This is something they share with Obama who is thin skinned when his intellectual superiority is questioned.
The framing of his organization as intellectually superior and all others as inferior ('dumb', 'moron', 'scoundrel') has been their most consistent approach throughout the primaries and beyond. This results in the 'self/other' antipathy that feeds the rage machine. They are doing this deliberately because they are doing it consistently. Means matter when considering a candidate and the means used by the Obama campaign indicate his term in office should he win will be a divisive one with little achieved except to drive divisions deeper into the American psyche.
Don't respond with rage or hurt. It just empties your life into their hell instead of feeding your own fire.
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