Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
"All talk and no walk"
Generational note: 1967 is as good a year as any to measure the fucked-upness of the US and world, but consider 1974. It’s the widely-recognized peak of living standards in the US and it’s been all downhill from there, 33 years of fascist (corporate + government) assault on average people. A point I’d like to get across to single-issue tubthumpers out there (abortion, enviro, race, labor, poverty, etc.) is that the action that produced 1974’s high-water mark were concerted in nature - each social advance leaned on its peers and ensured at least some momentum and solidarity. ‘Single issue’ didn’t emerge as a political distinction until legions of Baby Boomers reached middle age in Reagan time. Way to go , team! ("I only play shortstop, coach, and will bat in the top two or not at all.")
I second Derrick Jensen, and am very close to having nothing left to lose. (captcha sez ‘moment’)
Joe Bageant’s book drops today, and good on him.
http://tinyurl.com/2cypx2Today’s last animation has bass motives.
http://tinyurl.com/2ehr3bPosted by Zen Prole on from Urth 06/19 at 11:45 AMForty years, huh Mickey? With exponential increase of these things and all, anyone care to imagine the look back from 40 years from now?
In other news...The Yes Men strike again!
Posted by Keir on from the hague 06/19 at 03:33 PMHello Expendables.
Thanks Zen and Keir. Forty years from now? Can you say “fade to black”?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/19 at 03:47 PMGood Evening everyone...becoming fully conscious, shedding all socially imposed mental baggage is what any individual can do, at any given time...[I’m not referring to political hipness]
Do we need more evidence about how insane things are?
Will there ever be a collective effort? Why not?
Why haven’t we seen more individual, activists throw him/herself in front of something...to stop it?
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/19 at 05:29 PMHi joe, Mickey, Zen, and Keir
Keir, it is good to see you here. You have been missed.
Jensen seems a little too optimistic to me. Maybe as soon as everyone realizes that they have nothing left to lose, they will become even more complacent....nothing left to fight to protect.
Does Bageant say that we should consume less? He’s right about that, but there is an inverse ratio between how much consumers consume and how much the government/capitalists/war machine would then have to consume in order to keep the profits rolling in. We should consume less, just because it is the right thing to do, but that won’t really change the final outcome. The only way to do that is to also rid the planet of the capitalistic/corporate system. You have to attack the problem at the root. After 9/11, the president did not tell us to go forth and build bomb shelters. He told us to go shopping. Right?
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/19 at 06:01 PMThanks for putting my thoughts/fears into words, Mickey - and thanks for the quotes. And not only the AvAm would most likely not have done anything about the impending threats around 1967, but the AvAustralian would not have done anything either. One often embellishes the 1960’s and even the 1970’s but one might be missing the point here.
Hello from a drier Daylesford to Zen Prole, Keir, Joe and Rosemarie. Where are the other expendables, if I may ask?
Take care in these dark times, all of you,
HelgaCaptcha ‘program’, so get with the program already!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/19 at 08:00 PM‘Maybe as soon as everyone realizes that they have nothing left to lose, they will become even more complacent....nothing left to fight to protect.’
I think I agree with you, Rosemarie (#5)And Mickey, Cool Observer #3: in 40 years, Helga will have “faded to black”, that’s for sure.
Captcha ‘tell’: Go tell ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/19 at 08:03 PMHello RMJ and Helga.
Unrelated to the above: Did you see that New York’a Mayor Bloomberg has left the Republican Party to become an independent. Looks like he’ll spend some of his billions to run for president next year. Aint’ it funny how some many of America’s populists turn out to be billionaires? Remember Perot?
Also, I just thought of a wild scenario: Imagine if Gore shocks everyone and runs in 2008...on the Green Party line?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/19 at 08:20 PMI think whether it is 1967, 2007, 1867, 1777, people understood fish don’t live in trees, and people cannot commit a slow suicide...it’s too agonizing!
As far as BloomBerg and Gore...I hope they advocate thinking beyond hierarchies, politics and monetary systems.
I agree RMJ, if asleep, americans won’t even know if they have something to lose or not. They/I/we won’t even know if we exist until authorities tell us.
“It’s not simply being an optimist...it is what needs to be, what inherently wants to be...if nothing else, advocate it. I can form some words, so it might as well be it...”
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/19 at 08:41 PMJust this afternoon as I was driving on campus, classes were letting out...and the beauty of this sight...18 and 19 year olds driving enormous four door pick-up trucks, gigantic SUVS, blaring rap music as loud as they could before their ears would bleed, their baseball caps tipped at a jaunty angle with an arm thrown around their girl...My God, I said to myself, isn’t this what Life is all about?
I had to grab my crotch and shout “God Bless America!” as I was so moved by this scene.captcha word: federal (no shit)
Posted by The CultureGhost on from Concord, CA 06/19 at 09:14 PMMickey (#3), that’s easy: “fade to black”
RMJ: Jensen as the optimist. That’s great!
CG: across the street from the art institution I’m part of, there’s a store that sells the clothing such kids like to wear. Two large American flags wave out front. There are many such stores here in The Hague and indeed throughout Europe.
Wow, Mickey, what a thought...an Independent Bloomberg vs. a Green Gore. I’m going to say it now: yawn.
Posted by Keir on from the hague 06/20 at 06:11 AMThink about it, Keir. What better way to co-opt the environmentalists than to have Gore run as a Green and move all those voters even further to the mainstream? Meanwhile. Billionaire Bloomberg will talk about being an “outsider” and we’ll all congratulate ourselves on having such a diverse electoral system.
Fade to black...
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 07:13 AMTODAY’S THE DAY - TO ANSWER == “...To what question is my life the Answer?........ Thirty-seven years ago this coming 7/25, I stepped up to the plate and proclaimed my “till death do us part” in the presence of friends, relatives and family. My draft card was re-classified 1-A. I had just made it through the first lottery military conscription. Kent State had shut down my campus a bit less then 3 months prior. Today, 6/20 == our third child - third son - first to marry - will proclaim “I thee wed” in a private ceremony around an altar before 15 witnesses...."Till death do us part”.. Last night, in a 3 way father/sons dialogue, Kidd Theodore (his stage name) stated, “Oh yea, I mean it!” His older brother, == the second son -unmarried father of our only 4 year old grandbebe is the best man. Our only daughter == child 4 is a bridal attendant. Son # 1, Tony Joe, will be there in spirit. TJ died in his mother’s arms at 8 days of age, 10 #’s, born with hypo-plastic left heart, for which there was no life-saving procedure in 1974. My genenetic code in 4 kidlets and 1 legacychild is part of the answer to the original question MZ challenged us to ponder. Try if you will - die if you can’t - Judas Iscariot did - but forgot to repent! As Ollie was known to say to Stan, “This question is far greater then our minds can answer - Come Stanley!” burma shave… smile == Richie ====Enjoy a short clip of the boys “From Way Out West” http://tinyurl.com/33awsu
Posted by Richie on from st cloud / n ft myers 06/20 at 07:24 AMEnjoy the wedding, Richie. Best wishes to you and yours…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 07:27 AMTHANKS MICKEY—YOU’LL BE THERE IN SPIRIT TOO! YOU ARE A CHERISHED PART OF MY “EXTENDED FAMILY”—CYBER/ETERNAL - SEMPER FI- !
Posted by Richie on from st cloud / n ft myers 06/20 at 07:42 AM
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