The absence of sound.

I have discovered some things about myself in the last three years since I wrote on this. Firstly, I'm not really a blogger, because I don't have the motivation to keep doing it. I almost did with a media diary, but I lost interest in doing so as well. I suppose this will be a place I can keep random thoughts, but please do not expect frequent updates.

Secondly, I've lost all faith in America. This is a painful decision; it's not one I've taken lightly and it's not one I prefer to make. It's obvious that the real power belongs to those who possess things, the 1% if you will. The more people possess, the greater they are. With more possession, people become more insular and less willing to tolerate anything other than what they approve.

But the problem does not solely lie with the 1%. The problem lies with the average American, who not only accepts this behavior, but encourages it and wishes that they too can become part of the 1%. I've seen so many people who truly believe that if they win the lottery, their lives will improve and everything will be okay. This is false: you, as a person, have been emotionally shaped and hardened into the form you take, and the baggage you carry will simply become more expensive. You will never become one of Them. You will always be poor to Them.

The disposable culture that is modern America has come to a head, and conservatives wish to blame it all on secularism and outside forces. This is also false: the fact that Americans of all income brackets are insular and paranoid of everything is what is making this country tread ever so closely to a fascist society.

There is nothing Americans hate more than other Americans.

More so than terrorists, more so than immigrants, more so than any other country, Americans want to hurt, kill, lynch, and humiliate their countrymen. The patterns are historical in nature. First, it was the Tories and the rebels, then it was the north vs. the south, then it was race vs. race, and now it's everyone vs. everyone else. It's not a problem that is simply the 1% vs. the 99%. It's everyone vs. everyone. It's people who hate the fact that minorities have the same privileges they do. It's people who hate the fact that progressives and liberals have any voice in politics at all. It's the coastal states who belittle the Midwest and the South, and the South who declares the coastlines are ruining America. Guess what? You're all ruining America.

The conservatives wish to take us back to a society that they think existed, but never really did. The 1950s were full of tension and abuse. The 1980s were full of the dismantling of the American manufacturing sector in order to support the obscene, corrupt Wall Street decadence at the expense of the people who were hurting at the bottom.

Are there solutions? Yes, and none of them have to involve violence. We need to start fresh by ejecting everyone from political office who has an R or a D attached to their name. We need to start regulating banks and outlaw lobbying. We need to cut down our military presence and give that money to educating our children the correct way, not to standardized tests and to sterilized versions of history.

One day, we'll get it right, but I hope above all things that it will not be after we all die.

Don't get on your high horse if you don't know how to ride.

I was at an Albertsons getting some food with a friend and, as I am wont to do, chatted about political things. I was talking with her about some of Sarah Palin's weirdness and mentioned the Saturday Night Live sketch with Tina Fey as Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. One of the things I brought up was the "Bush Doctrine" joke in the sketch, where Clinton opposes the Bush Doctrine and Palin mouths, "I don't know what that is!"

A minute or so later, a guy who's also in the line pipes up, "Do you know how many people the Bush Doctrine has killed? 1.2 million. But Saturday Night Live thinks it's funny!" He then invokes Godwin's Law in real life by saying, "I wonder if in [Nazi] Germany if they had a Saturday Night Live if they'd think it was funny?"

Please. First off, the brilliance of satire in a free country is that we can joke about the problems that our country faces without threat of reprisal from our government. We still have that, you know. The Nazis didn't allow that and that's where his silly liberal invocation fails.

Secondly, the joke was about how Sarah Palin had no idea about the Bush Doctrine was, so he was railing against something that he didn't even understand.

Finally, stop your liberal garbage by maintaining how much the Bush Doctrine has killed so many people (which it hasn't, the high numbers are 650,000 and even that's very disputed). It's clear that his pre-emptive self-defense idea was a hideous one. Our job as voters is to make sure that philosophy does not continue, and to inform us of this, we should use every means to learn about the beliefs of our potential leaders, even if that means is through satire.

Think before your knee jerks.

Oh yeah, I have this thing.

Lately, my thoughts have been rather scattered, and not in a good way. I'm doing the whole work-sleep routine, which doesn't really allow much room for clarity. I'm trying to think of a way to break up the monotony, and yesterday I took a bike trip around town to take pictures. (link here) That helped a lot.

So, here are some thoughts to leave you with for the day.

• While I was away, the press and a bunch of people had their love-fest with the mystery that was Sarah Palin. I was pretty astonished, because for the most part she had nothing to say that either didn't sound scripted to all outdoors or ridiculously contradictory. However, that sheen seems to have been tarnished somewhat lately with the myriad revelations of her expenses and corruption. For a while, I felt a bit of despair over the seeming desire for people to embrace the image of something over than the substance. I know what you're asking: "Isn't Obama full of that image over substance?" Not really, because he's intelligent enough to surround himself with people who are well knowledgable in the things that he's not as acquainted with, and is making strategic choices that shows his ability to take on the job. On the other hand, it seems that McCain is surrounding himself with people who are, for the most part, controlling the flow of his decisions, leaving him in the position where he's not clearly stating anything except that he thinks he should kick the idiots out (never mind the fact that he's bringing in the same idiots who helped put us in this very position America is in). I'm hoping the Palin bubble has burst, because there is no substitute for good ideas in the guise of fresh imagery.
• Stop using the false suffix "-gate" for political scandals. It's tacky. It's overplayed. It's been 35 years, so get over it.
• I've been trying to watch more films lately, and I'd appreciate suggestions as to what. If left unchecked, my inclination will go towards bizarre foreign films. Note: do not recommend me Hollywood comedies.
• I have had so many desires for video games of late. Plus, with the autumn releases coming up, it's going to be even more difficult; Mirror's Edge, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and others. Argh. Want more.
  

That's all for the moment.

First post!!!

I've been tinkering with the idea of a blog about miscellany for a while, so here it is. I'm not limiting what I say about anything, just sharing with people who are interested details about my life and thoughts that I randomly have. I'm hoping that people do interact with me, and so this can be a discussion rather than a one-sided affair. Then again, I'm fully aware I'll be talking about some things that no one is really familiar with; in that case, allow this blog the ability to expand your horizons and look into different things.

Thanks, and let's get on with the show!