Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Rock n' Roll meets Shock n' Awe
Oh boy......just looking at the photos of these five people evokes wanting to get 50 feet of rope and walking into the woods...!
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/20 at 09:38 AMWhatever happened to “I can see those fighter planes”? Bono must be stopped.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 06/20 at 09:50 AMhello again everyone. not been around. climbed into a black depression last week from which i am only beginning to extricate myself now, barely.
anyway, regarding the bliar photo, like i said last week, some things just make you think that there isnt enough vomit in the world.
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 09:52 AMHi joe, Zen, michael, and our Blogger-in-Chief, Mickey. Great comments. Looks like you guys are starting to catch up with me in the pessimism department. The rule is: No matter how bad you think it is, in reality it is much worse.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 11:28 AMHello Expendables. Cheer up, it’s all downhill from here.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 11:52 AMit certainly is all downhill. just writing an article now. should be available to read sometime tomorrow. it will certainly feature one thing for which it is all downhill…
june 2007 - ‘Spring in the Arctic is arriving “weeks earlier” than a decade ago, a team of Danish researchers have reported’
april 2007 - ‘Arctic ice is melting faster than computer models of climate calculate, according to a group of US researchers’
december 2006 - The Arctic may be close to a tipping point that sees all-year-round ice disappear very rapidly in the next few decades, US scientists have warned.
sep 2005 - The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year, according to new data released by US scientists.
2000 - US researchers say they have found evidence of rapid warming in parts of the Arctic over the last 30 years. At the end of the 20th Century, they say, Arctic temperatures were the warmest for four centuries.
1999 - The study says that the sea ice season in western Hudson Bay has been reduced by about three weeks over the last 20 years. The scientists say the shorter season could be caused by a long-term warming trend.
Can’t say we weren’t warned. may as well say your goodbyes now…
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 12:04 PMi should point out that forthcoming article is not actually about polar bears per se
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 12:07 PMHi Mickey. Great T shirt there.
Actually there is something very liberating about realizing how bad things really are...kinda like dying from a million cuts, but at least not having to endure the disappointment of thinking that each slice of the blade will be the last, but then comes another one.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 12:08 PMMichael, I just can’t bring myself to write another article. I honestly can’t come up with a single reason why it’s worthwhile. Z Net, Counterpunch, etc. run the same type of articles day in and day out. They’re mostly read by folks who already have a “progressive” viewpoint. The result? A minute minority feel superior in their knowledge but things continue to get worse.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 12:17 PMMichael from Scotland #3...I hope you’re feeling a bit better…
RMJ...#4...My optimism...I know there is potential for humans to transcend all this crap...not simultaneously...and the only thoughts and feelings experienced are beyond tradition and reconnecting sanely with ourselves and other[s] things. My therapy this morning is going to the river and seeing the raptors, the large Heron, the fish jumping, the numerous trees.
Mickey...#9...perhaps you can write an article about the saturation of news telling everyone how sick everything is...yet little is offering ideas about a future void of predators, politicians and war/peace profiteering
Someone from a Peace Activist group sent an email about a discussion group...the peace group wants to facilitate this discussion...what a contradiction!
Leaders, facilitators, patriarchs, supervisors, bosses, heros...let’s hold hands and walk side by side...? [I promise I won’t smoke a cigar]
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/20 at 12:33 PMYou are right, Mickey...and remember when we all thought that the Internet would change everything and bring a better world to all. I can’t count the e-mails that I receive that say vote for the dems, vote for the repubs, say your prayers, stop driving, stop breathing, floss, blame your mother, blame your father, take the blue pills, cure your dysfunction, read more, read less, have more sex, have less sex, vote, take your vitamins, drink green tea, use a push mower, meditate, think happy thoughts, just visualize world peace, Oprah says..., Dr. Phil says…
Has the Internet turned into “a vast wasteland” too.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 12:37 PMmy personal life is fucked at the moment (maybe thats just me keeping in tune with the world)
imagine, your aunt is terminally ill, you get turned down from about 4 jobs because even though (and they all said something similar) ‘you were brilliant in the interview, in fact, you gave us lots of good ideas and we are going to use them but we can’t give you the job because there was someone with 4/5/6 years experience’
you are going to have to leave the place you are living and dont have cash for a new one
you meet a nice girl but just before you met her she had arranged to go abroad so its not going to happen
all that happening in the same week.
i went into a pretty black dog depression. been there before and its not a lot of fun. in fact, that problem has incapacitated me in the past and that is why i know how to drag myself out of it faster than i used to (tho as ever, the first step is wanting to and yo udont always want to)
now i am feeling a bit better i am writing again. even if writing more articles is just howling at the moon, in sympathy with the dog, i am going to do it. for maybe only one reason, after this planet and the human has been decimated by this generation and the few preceding - that is the generations who didnt mind about holes in the ozone as long as they could flavour their sweat - i want whoever/whatever is left to know, not that i didnt do it, because i dont think any of us can claim that, but that once i found out about it i did all i could even if we are pissing against the wind. and i am genuinely sorry if it isnt enough.
and i also write to clarify my thoughts on some things to make sure i am doing all i can.
or maybe thats just the catholic guilt that they forced into me in school. i dunno.
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 12:42 PMthats what happens when you try to get more ‘socially responsible’ jobs.
it seems like the world is trying to force you into being another whore at the big corporate gangbang and get a job in fucking telesales or a call centre (McJobs for graduates) or just a mcjob in general
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 12:45 PMjoe...I have been using the same therapy...no herons here, but sunlight glistening on a rose, cloud formations, rabbits munching on the grass…
Also, I consider my time here as therapy. Imangine what it would be like to have to hold all of these thoughts inside.michael...I understand, at least I think I do. It sometimes seems that the personal events in a persons life make the big difference. Those things can be the most painful. Recently, I have thought a lot about Malachi Ritscher. I did not know him or his work. Maybe many of you are more familiar with him than I am. He was one of the few to immolate himself. In reading his obituary, though it said that he did it because of his anti-war stance, I was impressed because it also said that he was estranged from his only son, at his son’s request. Also in a web article, “... The metaphor for his life was winning the lottery, but losing the ticket. In the end, the loneliness was overwhelming...” michael, you are not alone.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 01:10 PMI wish I had something useful to say but all I have is a Bill Clinton re-tread: I feel your pain, my fellow Expendables. The difference being, of course, is that I’m being 100% sincere. I often contemplate ending this blog and signing off the internet almost entirely but it is days like today that make me realize I need this connection with people like all of you.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 01:13 PMGood evening my pessimist brothers and sisters. I trust everyone is feeling miserable, powerless, useless and afflicted? Good.
I read a work of fiction a year ago that I strongly, strongly recommend in the breaking the pessimism department: Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading. If any Expendables get through it I’m curious to know how they interpret the ending.
Now. On the subject of writing new material / how the internet is not delivering on its promises:
(1) The internet is bad and encourages bad behavior and habits.
(2) All internet “activism” is destined to be futile unless it accounts for less than, say, 5% of one’s total involvement in “the struggle” (or whatever).
(3) Since when do the 24-hour news cycle [a product] and the up-to-the-minute nature of the internet determine how we ought to write and/or communicate?
(4) Mickey: you have a large catalogue of good and important writing that is no less valid now than it was when you typed it out. There is no shame in re-posting.
(5)"What the #### is the internet?”
--Jay, from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
(You can’t go wrong with a film that has George Carlin and Will Ferrell...)Posted by Keir on from the hague 06/20 at 01:16 PMMickey #15...You can’t end this blog. There are not enough therapists on the planet to take care of us if you do.
Keir #16..."Good evening my pessimist brothers and sisters. I trust everyone is feeling miserable, powerless, useless and afflicted? Good.” That is the statement of the day here.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 01:29 PMIf you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention/// Happy people are obnoxious/// Stop smiling/// The End already happened/// Today is as good as it gets/// Tomorrow might be worse/// We all lost the Big lottery/// The struggle ended, now there is only oblivion///The worse things get, the more you can appreciate what might have been.......
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/20 at 01:36 PMpessimistic or not…
hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha…
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 01:40 PM#### it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jSMTcx69-QPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 01:52 PMHello all…
Keir, I read Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading a while back and as proof that my brain doesn’t work as well as it used to I can’t remember the details of the ending to go into any analysis...though I do remember enjoying it quite a bit.
michael...my thoughts are with you. I have no advice except to push on through until things start to get a little better. I have found that if you wait long enough they eventually do.
As to hopelessness and all it entails…
at some point in the relatively short term all of this will be over. until then I’ve been trying to remember these things…
be with people you care about, help them find pieces of happiness...try not to get distracted by past memories you can’t live over again or future worries you can’t predict...change what you can about the world around you and try to arrive at some acceptence with regards to the rest.
crazy thing is, it’s been working for me lately. I can almost say I feel peaceful.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 06/20 at 02:08 PMRemember, there’s more wonderful news...bush and putin, apparently are meeting at the elder criminal’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine, on July 1.
Bring your cotton candy and mouth harps to share in the celebration as the local activists ask for 200 more years of the Poverty to Genocide theater. Can’t get enough genocide.
Socially responsible jobs...is that like single handedly filtering the water from all the rivers on this planet or praying to some god to deliver an FDR impersonator, perhaps named Kucinich.
I had a socially responsible job one time...the director was stealing everything he could carry with the help of other staff members.
Mickey...you can feel pain...bill clinton was simply doing what he wished he could always to...impersonate the bum shaking hands with Nixon on the home page.
The lady in the post office today told me she is married to an ex-politician. I said we all make mistakes. She said she didn’t make a mistake...yet she wouldn’t tell me who this politician-husband-father-ruler of his surrogate mother is.
I just checked my emails...activists reminding me of the war that’s been ongoing for 500 years...Thanks Doug and fellow VET...please give me something to sink my teeth into...I’ve abandoned ship a long time ago.
You allegiance to the political system doesn’t move me, your treason to all life on this planet is inexcusable...I know you don’t have answers either...those who have suggestions that are not familiar are viewed with fear...lets all obey authorities fore without our fear we would be naked and lonelier that we are…
it’s not that we don’t have people to talk to...we want relatedness as something that is real, organic, feel it, but don’t live it. The authorities will tell you what to feel and what to think.
Breathe, know yourself, take a break, get pissed of again…
Posted by joe of maine on from 06/20 at 02:33 PMMZ: Jay and Silent Bob pried a laugh out of me this grey day.
Joe: That’s not the Bush Compound at Kennebunkport, it’s Poppy’s Nazi Money Summer Camp!
You know the movement’s gone to hell when the Quakers start with the marketing campaign: AFSC sent me a ready-to-hang posterboard ("Friends for Peace") with their request for cash. Someone should tie one to a body bag and heave it through their HQ window in Philly.
Michael, I’ve experienced crushing depressions for more than two decades, often followed by an excuse for motivation and some form of recovery. Sometimes I would pull it back together so fast I’d amaze myself. Well, no more. After about the 67th go-round, the bearings get loose. We’re not machines, you know.
“Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal
Rise in anger, fall back, and repeat…
It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit
It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing”
- Rush, “Far Cry”So now I’m quoting three rich Canadian guys. Sue me.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 06/20 at 03:08 PMthis is weird. i was trying to find soe lyrics i really liked when i was much younger to post here and all the sites are saying that the lyrics have been removed at the request of the artist. the artist in question used to be quite radical but changed his tune a lot (no pun intended)
hmmm
going to keep loking
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 03:09 PMzenprole, simultyping… even for someone who is 30 soonish i have been on this ahem ‘merry’-go-round for a while now…
just going to transcribe those lyrics, one or two words may be wrong…
In the morning, when i’m woken
By the sound of my alarm
Stretching out my arm,
I want to screw it up in my palmAnd i’ve taken this route to work
A thousand times or more
And when you’ve seen it all before
you tend to get a little bored
They’ve got the keys to all my doors
They’ve got the keys to all my doors
They hold my where and when
They hold my where and when
So i guess I’ll always be
So i guess I’ll always be
Hopelessly devoted to them
Hopelessly devoted to themIn the office when i’m working
There’s a funeral atmosphere
I know I lost someone dear
But i didn’t see him disappearAnd i’m lying in my bed
Cos its keeping me awake
And you know theres no escape
They’ve bound me up in their tapeThey’ve got the keys to all my doors
They’ve got the keys to all my doors
They hold my where and when
They hold my where and when
So i guess I’ll always be
So i guess I’ll always be
Hopelessly devoted to them
Hopelessly devoted to themHopelessly devoted to them
Hopelessly devoted to themPosted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 03:28 PMSorry to find so much negativity and pessimism here; I guess it’s inevitable that such periods befall all who care deeply. I’m reminded of one of my favorite anarchist blogs called make/shift. The author there has a rather positive, uplifting tone (well, as positive and uplifting as may be possible for an anarchist living in an authoritarian world that is rapidly deteriorating), and yet it was not always so. He started out his blog as “the Coastal Dissident” and after a few months changed the name to “make/shift”. He explained:
"First impressions unfortunately mean everything.
This is a realization I am coming to after having managed a blog for a few months. I have gone through every misunderstood and misconceived notion of what anarchism and anti-authoritative philosophy convey and I have noticed only one real similarity among the variety of encounters… people base everything on looks and labels. Opponents of this site and many of the ideas here only bother to look at the surface of a global human rights movement like anarchism and of course all they are confronted with are images and sounds of oppressed people refusing to take this sort of treatment on their backs. Take for example the recent riots in France over the elections or the Oaxaca revolution in Southern Mexico. All are stories of mild violence perpetrated against capital and bureaucracy, however, the conservative proponents of this world cannot or will not accept the distinct difference in types of violence. That against the individual is inexcusable, murderers are put away for life, whereas that against property or capital, is comparatively meaningless.
This sort of thinking has got me questioning my part in the presentation of dissident ideas among the blog/internet community. I no longer want to be part of the “anti” and instead I want to give this blog a bit of a make-over. I want the focus of my efforts here to be on not only highlighting the injustices of this world, which I still feel is very important, but to also offer people a vision and explanation of a better world, another world. A world through an anarchists looking glass.
I will post more DIY and community projects as well as blogs featuring expanded anarchist theory to offer people a more complete vision of what is possible."
Anyway, just some ideas I wanted to pass along that I’ve found inspirational, especially as an antidote to a popular kind of fatalistic-pessimism-for-radicals. I like that he wants to “offer people a vision and explanation of a better world, another world. A world through an anarchists looking glass,” and I think he’s done a good job so far. Mickey, if make/shift isn’t already on your blogroll, you should definitely give it a look.
Posted by jason on from greenpoint, brooklyn 06/20 at 04:01 PMThanks, Jason. I’ll have a look. In the meantime, I’m working on my PMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc4neEDAZA0Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 04:11 PMthe vid mickey - that kind of stuff is nauseating…
i like the bill hicks bit…
“i just got that kind of face..people come up to me out of the blue and say
‘whats wrong?’
‘nothing’
‘well it takes more energy to frown than it does to smile’
‘yeah you know it takes more energy to point that out than it does to leave me alone.... yeah so why dont you get out of my face and watch me fucking really start smiling’Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 04:18 PMNot just Bono, this idiot from Bangladesh meets the Decider too (I can safely call him an idiot; I’m a Bangladeshi living permanently in Canada).
Cheers.
Posted by Ehtesham on from Canada 06/20 at 05:00 PMjust watched sicko. standard michael moore film.
just got it to see what he said about about the british health service but it was interesting enough even if he leaves a lot of things unexplored.
spinwatch review by tomorrow eve
Posted by michael on from scotland 06/20 at 06:17 PM‘Oh boy......just looking at the photos of these five people evokes wanting to get 50 feet of rope and walking into the woods...!’
Good one, Joe of Maine - and excellent post, Mickey. You have read my mind on this occasion - again.And hello from a showery Daylesford to Zen Prole, Michael from Scotland, Rosemarie, Keir, JOS, Jason and Ehtesham. Don’t even get me started on Bono ..
Here’s an interesting article from ‘Extra’ on Bono and other celebrities and the coverage of Africa:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3119Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/20 at 09:06 PM‘Michael, I just can’t bring myself to write another article. I honestly can’t come up with a single reason why it’s worthwhile. Z Net, Counterpunch, etc. run the same type of articles day in and day out. They’re mostly read by folks who already have a “progressive” viewpoint. The result? A minute minority feel superior in their knowledge but things continue to get worse.’
Oh no, Mickey! You make a good point, but it still makes me feel depressed (and so good to hear that you are extricating yourself from a black depression, Michael - I feel for you). Keep writing - please!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/20 at 09:11 PMMickey # 15: Don’t you dare end this great blog of yours - please! As Keir in # 16 says: you can always re-post.
Keep that fire burning!!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/20 at 09:19 PMThanks, Helga. I think you will see some “re-posting” over the summer.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/20 at 09:26 PMHi Every Expendable!
Sorry I’ve not been commenting. The most I can manage is catching up on Z’s posts every few days. The littlest Dictator is 14 weeks now and between him and work it’s go baby go.
Funny thing, I downloaded Bowie’s Discography last month and have been playing a lot of his early 70’s stuff. Diamond Dogs is a wicked song but I never absorbed the lyrics till today. Thanks for that.
I’ve been seriously hit by the “It’s not going to get better’s” and yeah the future is fucking bleak. I have to fall back on D Jensen and paraphrase. “It’s when you have lost all hope and you realize you have nothing to lose, that you become truly dangerous”
It’s always darkest before the dawn ya’ll and it can get mightely black. We do have each other and we have tomorrow. We may be fucked but damn life can be so good.
Gratuitous baby pics
Much love to every expendable. This really is a great place to gather. Your the Man MZ!
Posted by Luna_C on from The Delta 06/21 at 12:37 AMI was just wondering about you, Luna. Great to hear from you, my friend. Congrats on the little Expendable. Love the photos.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/21 at 04:36 AMCongrats on the little expendable from me as well, Luna_C.! He looks simply adorable.
And do re-post please, Mickey.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/21 at 08:01 PM
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