Time to be drunken

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/americas-drinking-binge/

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An article speaks about the binge drinking Americans; the prevalence on a massive alcohol inebriation wave sloshing through these United States surprises me not, in as much as it mirrors my own floundering. There are, of course, many types of intoxication and in this pernicious time and place the question has become one of naming your poison.

With fear seeping into the pores of our overabundant flesh, noxious fluids seem to have become the order of the day; whether a single glass of bourbon, a double shot of contempt or a six pack of bigotry. The liquid courage provides a coping mechanism for the dealing with dread marketed so deftly by the peddlers of apprehension; numbing our search for lasting solutions with the solace of short term incomprehension. From the whine of economic insecurities of an unstable and shrinking labor market, to the drone of international conflict and scrabbling for resources; the search for something to drown out the din has become ever more desperate.

Short of climbing on the wagon of fortitude, I see no other method of detox; switching spirits simply changes the nature of the buzz. Without a hand up of charity and understanding, the prospects of sobriety seem dim; but that may just be due to my own crapulence.

Cheers.

What love is this

There is a propensity of late to speak of love in terms of vengeance; as if our concern for the wellbeing of others is best demonstrated by the pain inflicted upon them. The idea of "tough love" displaying unbridled compassion by demeaning and debasing an individual for aberrant behaviors certainly has an appeal for many; as it allows us to vent animosity towards those variations of conduct which frighten and repel under the guise of charity.

What we find repugnant we frame in terms of immortality; thus giving our prejudice the mantel of divine wisdom. If we can not find the energy and responsibility to treat those we oppose with respect and empathy; resorting to degradation and dismissal is not a sign of love, it is merely the convenient contempt that prevents our own self evaluation and analysis.

True love creates an obligation, a duty to others that must not be overshadowed by egotistical selfishness and cowardice. If we can't take it upon our shoulders, best not to use the name.

Post hate

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/06/ny-post-no-to-same-sex-marriage.html

"George Orwell, on how to avoid thinking when you speak:

You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. they will construct your sentences for you -- even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent -- and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connection between politics and the debasement of language becomes clear...

It does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this, is that it is easy."

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Thus, using shopworn phrases serves the dual purpose of both obscuring the truth, and befuddling the speaker. The idea that marriage can only be preserved by not allowing people to use it, that exploiting one's neighbor best embodies the feeling of love, that expressing bigotry remains a matter of individual conscience; these exercises in holding contradictory views simultaneously serve well in producing the form of controlled insanity necessary to propagate hateful fanaticism.

As Orwell would indicate, I think, this kind of mental excrement flows trippingly from the orifices of the purposely thoughtless; not surprising then, to see it spew from wherever cognitive skills are disdained.

writing wrong

[quote="SarahElizabeth"]How is it that the so-called Religious Right always seem to be wrong?

You name the issue, they always seem to be wrong.

I suppose it is Old Testament stuff. Fire and brimstrone. An eye for an eye. And so forth.[/quote]

Actually, this observation, (although perhaps a tad sweeping), touches upon a problem that I find characteristic of fundamentalist thinking; the need for certainty outweighing the need for describing the complexities of social human behavior. Most of us, I think, understand the limitations in our ability to fully encompass reality in our internal conceptualizations; we realize that trade-offs must be made between how we see the world, and how it objectively exists.

Basically, our consciousness helps us survive through what I understand as modeling; that is, by creating a reproduction of reality within our minds, we can predict probable outcomes of various behaviors in new environments. Thus, when novel situations arise, I can guide my choices by the results of various scenarios already experienced within my internal framework of reality. Nowhere near a perfect system, but a useful and viable process, none the less.

However, this construct must serve the needs of the user, first and foremost. The level of certainty needs control, lest the apprehension of the unknown overwhelm and incapacitate the individual. Ambiguities may produce a level of unease unacceptable in daily living; in such instances, something must be sacrificed if cognitive dissonance is to be kept at a workable level.

I think most of us have experienced the realization that our understanding lacks the kind of clarity we suppose we possess; the distasteful shock of ignorance seems rarely pleasing to my palate. However, for some, this recognition borders on intolerable, and threatens the very foundation of mental stability.

What I sense in the most reactionary fundamentalist belief systems, (and in all honesty, some of my less irresponsible convictions) are the willingness to abandon external evidence that contradicts dearly held assumptions; rather than risk the disintegration of the cognitive construct, the senses are to be ignored.

Unfortunately, this propensity for denial, when taken to extremes, can create fanatics of a most virulent nature. Dehumanization, destruction and extermination can follow; sweeping aside all aspirations of charity in the wave of righteousness. Dead people tell no tales, and offer much less opposition to our assertions; even the "best" of nations and peoples have deeds that they would like hidden.

I'd like to believe that I hold the sword of truth, but I'd best temper that blade with the realization that my sight is too feeble to use it for more that defense.

Purging the evil

"We are doing a poor job of fighting the terrorists at home if we continue to allow Muslim immigrants, especially from Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, into America. We won't win this war if we permit the uncontrolled construction of mosques, as well as Islamic schools, some of which already have sown the seeds from which future terrorists will be cultivated. We won't win this war if we continue to permit the large-scale conversion to Islam of prison inmates, many of whom become radicalized and upon release enlist in al-Qaida's army. We must purge the evil from among us, or else. " -Cal Thomas

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When war rages within ourselves , and will not be acknowledged; we require an external enemy to engage. The conflict between our simplistic worldview, and the complex reality that overwhelms our understanding creates a fear that torments; a fear that requires mitigation lest it destroy our will to live. The temptation to trade truth for certainity may engulf the best intentions, and, in a desperate bid to master the dread of unpredictability, lead to creation of straw demons; respositories of rage and revulsion.

Thus, the outside influences of evil loom eternally, shadowing our lives and darkening our minds and hearts. One adversary falls, and another rises up to cast the pall of menace; this dimness obscures the truth of inner dissonance and leads to an continual crusade against those who reflect the evil that eminates from ourselves.

We must first purge the evil within before we can hope to deal with the evil without.

SB1070

I, for one, am not surprised to see a materialistic motivation behind the current legislation. Pandering to public paranoia for private profit seems to be a far more likely explanation for SB1070 than any longing for the love of law and order. For many years here in Arizona, the exploitation of workers for less than minimum wage was a popular and accepted practice; despite the hardships caused by unregulated border crossings and unprotected employment.

Now that the economy has declined, the more expedient form of exploitation has become scapegoating; many social ills are charged to a group little able to defend themselves, thus neatly diverting anger from the financial disaster created by political/business manipulation of the Arizona economy.


As was pointed out by a local columnist in the Arizona Republic, the same sort of hoopla surrounded the passing of the Legal Arizona Workers Act (AZHB 2779), the "E-verify" act. It was purported to end the incentive of hiring workers without current legal standing in the US by imposing stiff penalties upon any employer who was in violation of its regulations. Its failure is evidenced by the new law, which I fear will do little to fix economic problems, but will prove invaluable to the aspirations of many a reactionary politician.

Hiding hate and ignorance beneath the halo of judicial reverence and good citizenship seems to work well for many here in Arizona; I wish I could say that such attitudes were confined within our borders.

dithering about differences

"In the discreet white-collar realm, men and women are interchangeable, doing the same, mind-based work. Physicality is suppressed; voices are lowered and gestures curtailed in sanitized office space. Men must neuter themselves, while ambitious women postpone procreation. Androgyny is bewitching in art, but in real life it can lead to stagnation and boredom, which no pill can cure.

"Meanwhile, family life has put middle-class men in a bind; they are simply cogs in a domestic machine commanded by women. Contemporary moms have become virtuoso super-managers of a complex operation focused on the care and transport of children. But it’s not so easy to snap over from Apollonian control to Dionysian delirium.

Nor are husbands offering much stimulation in the male display department: visually, American men remain perpetual boys, as shown by the bulky T-shirts, loose shorts and sneakers they wear from preschool through midlife. The sexes, which used to occupy intriguingly separate worlds, are suffering from over-familiarity, a curse of the mundane. There’s no mystery left." - Camille Paglia,

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"In the discreet white-collar realm, men and women are interchangeable, doing the same, mind-based work. Physicality is suppressed; voices are lowered and gestures curtailed in sanitized office space. Men must neuter themselves, while ambitious women postpone procreation. Androgyny is bewitching in art, but in real life it can lead to stagnation and boredom, which no pill can cure."

People are certainly comparable, but the characterization that they are simply interchangeable parts in the machine of industry is shallow and simplistic at best, and ignorantly delusional at worst. Each individual brings a differing and diverse interpretation to their allotted tasks, even in the most menial office drudgery; and the ability to recognize and appreciate these variations lies behind the progression of the employment environment.

Far more injurious to the spirit than some sort of demonically imposed androgyny is the dehumanizing pall of materialism; the slavish pursuit of wealth that debilitates both the unique moral and personal expressions of a company's wage earners. The devitalization of empathy accompanying the mad scrabble for assets and the nullification of feelings that might inhibit ravenous acquisition seem far more likely to enfeeble individual displays of passion.

"Meanwhile, family life has put middle-class men in a bind; they are simply cogs in a domestic machine commanded by women. Contemporary moms have become virtuoso super-managers of a complex operation focused on the care and transport of children. But it’s not so easy to snap over from Apollonian control to Dionysian delirium."

If middle-class men find themselves in a "bind", it is one of their own creation; they are far more hobbled by the chains of consumptive conformity than by the demands of the family. Rather than blame women as the emasculating task masters of domestic machinery, it is more realistic to see them as architects of the supportive structures of kin and kind that allow men the opportunity to embrace their full potential. Raising children is more than just the care and transport of potential products; at best, it is the fulfillment of human potential and the realization of mature adulthood.

Family provides benefits for all its members; provided the short-sighted nature of individual egotism can be overcome, and the value of loving relationships is appreciated. Far from "Dionysian delirium", a more balanced sharing of parental responsibilities to include female decision-making insures the children have training in creating and sustaining the symbiotic spousal relationships necessary to a healthy household. In this environment, trust and intimacy may flourish.


"Nor are husbands offering much stimulation in the male display department: visually, American men remain perpetual boys, as shown by the bulky T-shirts, loose shorts and sneakers they wear from preschool through midlife. The sexes, which used to occupy intriguingly separate worlds, are suffering from over-familiarity, a curse of the mundane. There’s no mystery left."

Ascribing the lack of female arousal to the casual attire sported by the men in their leisure hours may have an appeal to the shallow minded person in search of a scapegoat,
but physical attraction based on primarily on wardrobe speaks more to a vacuous mindset of consumerism than any lack of sexual intrigue. Mundane trappings are overshadowed by the extraordinary attraction of the individual; store-bought facades are no substitute for the erotic enticements of an exceptional mind and spirit.

Whenever we limit ourselves to the purchased personalities hawked by the vendors of banality; the destruction of sensuality looms. Putting on the guise of another demolishes the voluptuous nature of distinct humanity, and relegates it to hollow, hideous imitation of itself.

The true source of desire derives its mystery from the unique nature of autonomous expression, and the ability to express it freely in an atmosphere of of acceptance and appreciation. Stagnant gender roles drape unflatteringly about the body modern; only by discarding these ill-fitting garments of convention can the display of true passion emerge.