Bad dreams
Submitted by lmcshane on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 08:12.
Last night, I woke up as I do on many nights to a bad dream. A dear friend was trapped in a windowless cell, but he would not see the tunnel afforded him under the bunk of his bed. I tried to show it to him, but I had to confess that looking down the narrow tunnel afforded me no comfort. I woke up with chest pains. Fear for myself and fear for my friend. Do we stay in our cells, because of our fear of the unknown? We choose the hell we know over the unknown? Phillip Morris' column today reminds me of my bad dream.
When can we all wake up?
Plain Dealer Columnist
Thursday, April 03, 2008
I remember the first time I witnessed a killing. I was 6. The poor guy had his neck snapped in two. But he was a stubborn brawler. He refused to go down without a loud and bitter ruckus.
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I don't really get the message
It sounds like Phillip Morris grew up in a very brutal world, as it seems did Strickland. It is impossible to separate oneself from your past, no matter how you try - it is in our DNA, character and dreams. That will probably be Stricklands greatest weakness, from the New Economy perspective, as he attempts to preserve too much of the Ohio of his roots, family, friends and associates of old... turkeys and butchers. But similar past experiences may be a strength for Morris, who doesn't control tax dollars but public opinions. Too often the PD has a middle-aged, suburban, christian-conservative, white, middle-class perspective on the world and especially NEO, even from journalists who do not fit most of that profile. It seems Morris' past would tend to make one aware how truly fucked up people may be, in Ohio... and what we must deal with to solve the problems of Ohio is 1,000,000s of seriously fucked up people - demented... lead poisoned... cancer-ridden... industrial victims... diabetics... uneducated... we are nearly a welfare state with little compassion for the weak and suffering... perhaps Morris has a foundation for compassion.
Now, now
The librarian in me has to go into language control mode. Otherwise, I would be spouting expletives all day :) I think Morris is struggling, just as we are all struggling with the ugliness in our own behaviors.
The depths of understanding humans
By buddy Snag and I have been talking about the specific core problems in our neighborhoods - my part of East Clevelend and his part of E. 105 - and it always gets down to people. I've got Snag up to speed on the impacts of lead poisoning on human behavior and Snag is getting me up to speed on the resulting street issues like gangs and violence. We sit in Snag's house in the middle of the night, looking out the window onto 105, and Snag will tell me what's up with each person and car going by. Whenever there is a shooting or violent crime connected to the area, I ask Snag to explain why it happened. We have very different pasts, know different things and people different ways, and that makes all the differences. Together, being real, we can get to a higher level of universal understanding
Regarding use of language, I've come to the conclusion America is such a corrupt, stupid, revolting society, with such disgusting perversion in our media, government and public space, for profit, that nothing here is sacred, including any aspect of use of the English language. In fact, our society is at a point where only shock works, and to some fuck is shocking... on 105, it or some variation is every 5th word. So, do we exclude the real street culture of 105 from realneo?
Disrupt IT
shocking language - not really...
What would the James Howard Kunstler, author of Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle say? Listen to James Howard Kunstler on TED Talks.
Here's his first sentence: "Suburbia represents entropy made visible. From a purely economic, sustainability point of view, I call it the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world."
"This doesn't make it better..."
For Gen-X, by 1988 nothing was shocking
Song of the day, from Jane's A...
camera got them images
camera got them all
nothing's shocking...
showed me everybody
naked and disfigured
nothing's shocking...
and then he came
now sister's
not a virgin anymore
her sex is violent...
the t.v.'s got them images
t.v.'s got them all
it's not shocking!
every half an hour
someone's captured and
the cop moves them along...
it's just like the show before
the news is
just another show
with sex and violence...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent...
sex is violent!
i am the killer of people
you look like a meatball
i'll throw away your toothpick
and ask for your giveness
because of this thing!
because of this thing!
because of this thing!
that's in me
is it not in you?
is it not your problem?
a baby to a mother..
you talk too much
to your scapegoat
that's what i say
he tells you everyone is stupid
that's what he thinks!
snapshots
make a girl look cheap
like a tongue extended
a baby's to a mother
sex is violent!
sex is violent!
sex is violent!
sex is violent!
Disrupt IT
Banality of evil
I agree with everything you say Norm and I am terrified by our society:
America is such a corrupt, stupid, revolting society, with such disgusting perversion in our media, government and public space, for profit, that nothing here is sacred, including any aspect of use of the English language.
Yesterday, a neighbor and I faced that evil in a blind, deaf and dumb system of bank employees, realty employees, city administration employees, insurance industry employees...a foreclosed home is worth more as a total loss. So, a foreclosed home is not worth securing with an alarm system and not worth turning the water off to prevent damage. No one cares if someone kicks open the back door, rips out the copper, and leaves the water gushing like Niagara falls. There are lives at stake here.
Could life get any more ridiculous? Homeland Security just knocked on my door.