Thank you, inspiring commenters, for your political and cultural opinions. You have explicitly proven that there are in fact other people on the planet besides myself, and that these other people are worth paying attention to. Therefore! I am dragging myself out of my apathy/atrophy, and endeavoring to give a shit about world events again. Despite the fact that we're all fucking doomed. Doomed!
(And...not to take anything away from the world events, which I'll get to in a minute, by posting helpful links along with my insightful and profane commentary, but...we're doomed, right? It sort of all adds up to we're fucked, doesn't it? And by "we" I don't mean "the Democrats" [versus the Republicans] or the "the good, smart people" [versus the violent sociopaths], I mean "humans." Versus OURSELVES. Look at war, and environmental degradation -- those two pervasive trends alone forecast the inevitable DEATH OF THE SPECIES -- and that's before you heap on the racism and the sexual violence and the bad fashion and all the other indicators of the DECLINE OF HUMANITY...
[Is this an age-related thing, do you think? Have I reached a point in my life where I am 100 percent undoubtably not a kid anymore, positively and certifiably not getting any younger, and so now I'm freaking out about my own eventual death? Because it's sooooo like me to assume that it's not just me that will inevitably decay, but the whole world along with me. It's like, I'd rather think that history will barely outlive me, that we'll all be gone in two generations anyway, that I won't miss too much when I go, that I'll have managed to squeak in just as the door was shutting, that I got my shot at life on this planet in the final minutes of its possibility. Grandiose, right? Copernican, even. Very Erlbaumian.
WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT MYSELF AGAIN WHEN I AM TRYING TO TALK ABOUT THE NEWS?]
See, this is the problem, this overwhelming sense of futility. People are getting blown up around the world, and I can't even put up a link to Yahoo News about it. Because what the hell is a link going to do? Prove that I read the news? So does everyone I know! And I do not have any particularly novel or helpful analysis of the international situation. I can not tell you what we should do or not do in Iraq, and why. I think we should probably bail the hell out, but I do not know, because it is not my job to know, under the division of labor made necessary by the complex, capitalistic society in which we live; however, I am professionally authorized to make fun of people, cast prurient speculation on the internal monologues of others, and devise elaborate similes and metaphors involving scatalogical or gynecological terms most usually of interest to twelve-year-olds. And I'm going back to the shelter to make some goddamn beads soon, all right? Isn't any of that politically useful?)
Anyway, some stuff I read this morning:
Good news:
New chick chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany -- she says she's going to stay out of Iraq but still try to court the US. Chirac kisses her hand -- he never did that to Schroder! -- but will she wear a headscarf if she goes to the Middle East?
Wacky Iraqi news:
We might have on purpose accidentally bombed the Al Jazeera network! Really? Deliberately? I saw Control Room; I was hoping maybe it could have been a mistake.
"Oh, shit, dude, it was Al Qaeda we were supposed to blow up!"
"Al Qaeda, Al Jazeera...whatever, dude -- if it's an 'Al,' we're against it."
Wacko Jacko news:
"The Jews do it on purpose...they're like leeches..."
The local news:
Fuggin' cold out.
That's all I got.
Awww man, this is kinda embarrassing to admit, but the Michael Jackson thing makes me real fuckin' sad!
But more importantly, I'm very glad you read up and write up and speak out, dude. I know it isn't easy and can feel futile, but your admitting to feelings of futility help my feelings of futility seem less...just less.
Posted by: Sarah Fisch | Nov 23, 2005 at 04:03 PM
Jackety-Jacko was raised as a Jehovah, peoplefolks, just another one of the countless faiths on This Island Earth that are not quite prone to giving the Jews what we might call a "fair shake."
Posted by: Bill "Bill Scurry" Scurry | Nov 23, 2005 at 04:49 PM
Thanks alot Mr. Jackson. More ferkahteh crazy calls at work. More "What are you going to do about this" outrage from equally crazy people who have nothing better to do than call us.
Stupid motherfucker.
There, that's my opinion.
Posted by: Jennifer Glick | Nov 24, 2005 at 12:18 PM
You wouldn't happen to be a Scorpio, would you? I am, and as much as I care about the world around me, I always manage to make it "about me" without even blinking an eye. And I really don't mean to!
RE: Wacko Jacko. Guess what happens to pedophiles under Islamic law?!? Bahrain will one day have a li'l fun with that guy.
Posted by: Miscellany Annie | Nov 29, 2005 at 11:36 PM