Mazinger Z
I promised I wouldn't gripe about the heat. I'm not. But it was hot enough that I didn't feel like going out and doing a six mile walk in the hills, either. I was content to sit home with the allergy making my nose run like a tickling faucet. You don't want to use the keyboard, here. Yuk.
Stuff has been bugging me as of late. The stuff that I usually make a point of not writing about. You know. Politics, and stuff like that. Mostly, it's the stuff like that that is bugging me. And it's one of those notions that people either don't notice, or if you bring it to their attention, they may even acknowledge it, but it doesn't register with them any more than a minor change in weather.
It's The Inversion.
The islamic/Arab world has fucked with our economy, murdered thousands of innocents, and made no secret of either its hatred for us, or it's desire to put all of Western Civilization under an islamic bootheel.
They came here. They murdered three thousand of us in a sadistic, and gruesome crime. And, to paraphrase the Marquis de Sade, What they did, is only the shadow of what they would have done. We should have nuked the bastards right off the goddamn planet.
We responded by sacrificing American lives to liberate Iraq from Sadam, and Afghanistan from The Taliban.
And America must apologize, and make conciliatory gestures to the Arab/moslem world?
inversion
It comes in smaller things, the inversion. Perhaps it's like gardening. Once you become a gardener, the world turns to roses.
But why should a contestant in a beauty contest be the target of lunatic hatemongering because she believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.
inversion
I do not watch television. But last week I happened to hear a snip of a news cast on one of the major TV networks. Definitely not cable. The report was on Obama's visit to Mexico. The report said nothing. Nothing but hope and change, that is:
Obama is bringing some hope and change to Mexico. The Mexicans want some hope and change, and they feel Obama will bring them some. The Mexicans like Obama, but they did not like Bush. Cue interview of English speaking Mexican: Bush did not bring us any hope and change, but Obama will bring us some hope and change. End clip...
I wish I was exaggerating for dramatic effect here, but once they said, "President Obama is visiting Mexico" they exhausted all the content of the segment. The rest was pure fawning. The news tells you nothing. It's a pebble of fact in an avalanche of bullshit. There is no truth to be found there.
inversion
Remember Dick and Jane from the primary school readers? Dick had a dog named Spot, and Jane had a kitten named Puff. Boys have dogs, and girls have cats. Not anymore. I see dozens of posters, cut-outs, and ready-made school system approved classroom decorations, and they all have boys with kittens, and girls with dogs. They show girls with baseball gloves, and boys playing quietly.
inversion
And suddenly progress is no longer cool. Pardon me for going all old fart on everyone, but when I was in grade school in the late fifties through early sixties we couldn't wait for progress. We were going to outer space. We would build giant bubble cities under the ocean, and soar to work in flying cars. What ideal of progress inspires today?
Green?
And what is the green ideal? That we all pay more and receive less. That the overall quality of everything be reduced while the price increases. Shrink. Cut back. Do without. And the return for this sacrifice? Maybe some abstract satisfaction that each of our individual lives is having less impact on the ecosystem. Sure gets my blood racing.
Compare motivators:
A) Go to outer space.
B) Lessen your carbon footprint.
Which one inspires? Which one is taught?
inversion.
OK, that's enough. End of rant. Is Truth being stood on its head, or run out of town on a rail?
Yeah, it is.
JWM
You know, I wish you were wrong. Your observation about progress is spot-on; I don't think I've quite looked at it that way before.
ReplyDelete*sigh*
Hey:
ReplyDeleteIt was just 63 degrees today, with a slight breeze, and I don't have allergies -- and those things bug me too.So we know it's not a function of the weather.
John,
ReplyDeleteYou remember the 2 mars rovers from a few years ago. They were supposed to last 90 days and then the mars dust would cover their solar panels...bzzzzt.
I believe they are still working over there -- about 5 years and counting. I used to watch the daily video reports from NASA in the office. An office of young engineers. I was the only one excited. On a daily basis. It was the cutting edge of cutting edge. They had to simulate and plan every movement of the rovers using 3d scans of the Martian terrain taken by the rovers, in front of the rovers. Everything to the 14th decimal place. Radio control commands had 2 minute delays from when they hit the joystick on the remote control in HUMAN HANDS on PLANET EARTH to when the rover actually received the signal and moved on PLANET MARS. I don’t care what it costs. Ask Lewis, Clark and Jefferson about costs.
But the strangest thing was how no one else seemed to care in my office.
Inversion.
And the other ones you mentioned.
I got one for you.
ReplyDeleteA state U. here is making its students take Spanish each year.
It's a non-credit course, but required for graduation.
What happened to 'come to the country (legally) and learn English ASAP'?
Inversion.
OTOH
ReplyDeleteOur Ni's first grade teacher is still using worksheets from the late sixties.
In the 'Which Belongs to Who' worksheet, Mom had an apron, pots, pans and pearls, Dad had a hat, hand tools, and a PIPE (yikes!), Sister had a doll, jumprope and dress, and Brother had a ball and glove, trucks and a guy's bike.
The school must not know, because they are otherwise green, multi-culti, and empathetic. Their assemblies are a beating, frankly.
I find myself rooting for those Mars rovers. Spirit, I think, has a frozen wheel it has to drag. Gutsy little guy.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy. I really noticed it when O'Reilly was questioning the gay activist. Look, if you want to knock the girl because she didn't really answer the question or didn't go a good job of answering -- which actually was the case, that's fine. But O'Reilly had the activist openly admit that she should be punished for voicing her honest opinion because it offended him. I was screaming at the television, "You offend me! ..." followed by every ugly homosexual slur I could think of -- and I generally like homosexuals. It was just the deadhead blindness of the guy that set me off.
Weather is nice here, too -- 71, sunny, no wind.