THE
work, not the worker; the art, not the artist. I was once chastised
why the dafuq I entertain myself with work by people whose personal
views supposedly run counter with mine? Immediate examples that come
to mind: Clint
Eastwood, a devout conservative GOP; and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern
rockers that spout the same rightist views; and my so-called trailer
park homeys with so-called “redneck” demeanor.
My
response: “Mr Eastwood is an actor and filmmaker, and I like his
work; appreciation of work is always subjective. The Skynyrds' music
are a lot more enjoyable than most leftist blues rockers, but that's
just my opinion. My redneck homeys are people, we don't debate
confederate army stuff, we just laugh together and we treat ourselves
as friends, with or without apps—they are around when I need them,
and vice versa.” There are many “idols” whose work are
immensely adored timelessly and glorified in august halls yet their
personal lives (or some chapters of their life's journey) don't seem
to conjure positive vibes... Ernest Hemingway was a known alcoholic
and hothead; and does anybody know that Mohandas K. Gandhi kept a
harem of young village ladies; or when JFK exuded leadership
strength, he was also swimming in shady sexual dalliances; or genius
mathematician John Nash was a schizophrenic etc etc.
Who
cares about shit, as long as they don't break laws—that's fine with
me. A Tea Party damsel or a Dem zealot are as “good” as a
Christian or Buddhist to me. Political views, right or left, don't
make people evil. Alcoholism and bad-tempers and “womanizing” are
personal demons that people struggle with; it's their shit... Some
are “sick” when the camera isn't rolling but we all have
“madnesses.” We all wrestle with private Armageddons—clinical,
genetic, acquired or “experimented.” No matter how weird or
“sick” some individuals may seem to some people—we just look at
them on the basis of what they do beyond, they are not gods. We all
work around our nagging imperfections, squeezing mightily out of our
darknesses... Some may think I am a cool guy because of what I ramble
and rant here: I am not, actually. I am a narcissistic jerk with a
passion and intensity that match a wayward buffalo. At least, I do
some cool shit—like cook awesome soups and give real hot foot
massage.
WHY
is it—it seems so hard to connect the past to the present, these
days? It is because the world—and life and living—has changed so
much and so fast. In his book “Future Shock,” published in 1970,
Alvin Toffler defined a future where there is too much change in too
short a period of time, that humanity's psychological state may not
be able to cope up... Actually, we can—if we try to at least, go
back to the past. Yet it has become so difficult or painstaking to
explain these to the young whose truths gained ground at a time when
information/computer
technology flourished and moved the universe in quicksilver overload.
But those who lived the past have concrete basis of comparison; those
who worked around typewriters and one phone for 2,000 people and
widespread public transports etc etc. These were the tools that moved
families, communities and societies...
I
have 5,000 friends on Facebook (I don't Tweet) but a mere chunk of
that ocean of “humans” actually know me or have met me in person.
I try to meet some--by offering good stuff like food/cooking, free
shows etc that were traditionally offered in friendship long time
ago—but it is never easy as it was. There are a number of people
here that I consistently “chat” with but I don't even know their
real name, why is that? We don't even necessarily see real faces or
photos in the current time.
Back
in the days, as writers and artists, we knew each other--even if we
carry pseudonyms in our bylines (we reveal our identities to editors
and friends). When we say "friends," that means a real name
("The name is Bond, James Bond"). Before, when you say
"meeting," we don't repeat the invite many times, only once
will do—and people show up. These days we post the invite 100 times
a month amidst all the traffic of infos that flood the laptop screen
or Smartphone viewer... So instead of remembering, we forget. We
forget because there are so many to remember, or filter.
Yes,
there are many infos here that we could probably find good use for,
but the problem is—which are the ones that are credible, “true”
facts or just sent by some wacko blogger or a nerd 14-year old trying
to amuse himself in the confines of his warm shell? We may even
photoshop a photo and it will look like it was the real deal. It's
dangerous, it's distant, it's suspicious. That is why I insist that
the only way to do this is--maximize the outside world, go back to
the past, and let the internet galaxy just be a complement, a
one-click, short attention distraction, entertainment. As what Mr
Toffler inferred or suggested (same with Orwell, Atwood, Vonnegut etc
and movies like The Matrix, Transformers etc), if we don't control
the machine, the machine will control us. The machine "controls"
us these days by continually feeding us a crisscrossing onslaught of
fancy and awesome stuff and things online. One second, gone. Next
distraction coming up... The kick: Business rules the internet;
hence, “controls” us. How do we cushion the punch? Go out.
SAD.
When people say or infer, what is the point of looking at (or
analyzing) political platforms of political candidates when these
don't work anyway or these are lies anyhow. Where do we go from here?
So what we do is justify the bickerings and negativity in the
internet in regards all these prospective leaders? Are we saying
these because we actually don't care whoever wins because it's all
sham and bullshit anyway? This defeatism and resignation is more than
apathy and insensitivity. It means we don't mind who sits there as
long as we have roof over our heads and the other one doesn't? Is
this what we call relevant activism? Who is winning here? That is
scary? The one winning is the One Percent who actually/maybe
implanted that in our psyche--so they can continue to frolic while we
are looking the other way.
In
the 90s, back home in the Philippines, I sat with a respected team of
political/economic thinkers to help (the late) Sen. Roco's first
presidential campaign. The country wasn't as bad as the last years of
the Marcos regime that time. There were good stuff--we just have to
carry on “rebuilding” and believing. I believed my candidate was
the best among those who ran. Yet Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who was
later on disgraced out of power, lopsidedly won. In time, after I
left the country, I realized why we lost. Elections aren't about the
best person--it is about winning. It is about slogans and one-liner
blurbs and speeches that instigate applause. Yet that was only the
surface of leader/people nation-building. Next and the most important
is how the people work to make sure that what we were promised are
delivered. A leader meanwhile had to work around powerful variables
while seated--especially how to work around a usually divided
Congress and the influence of the corporate One Percent. It's either
they give in or they don't. That is a historical fact.
But
if our stand say, “What dafuq? They are all assholes anyway! Let me
just enjoy my basketball game and tinapa,” we aren't going
anywhere. Deadend. Sadly, that is also the thinking in America.
People gravitate to Trump because of utter disgust and resignation.
So they are willing to “install” a leader on the virtue of a
“battlecry” without really looking at what he's gonna do when
he's finally in the Oval Office. Is this just social media or this is
actually happening? If so, the more that I want to go old-school and
feel the pulse of the people out there. Those whose houses are blown
away by typhoons and subsist on whatever that they can scrounge and
yes no internet privilege. Sometimes I think we have become so
comfortable that our only response to misery out there is induced
numbness. We don't care because we are alright. There is no Great
Depression and there is no Martial Law-level grief. We got cellphones
and wi-fi and cable TV and food on the table. So let's continue
making fun of all these leaders online while the One Percent watch
happy as hell.
No comments:
Post a Comment