Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Simple Steps Towards Change?
There is little of significance that can be publicly said without the risk of Gitmo or its local equivalent...so that would seem to be a first order of business, speaking without fear. I hesitate to write that in a land where an effective boycott of anything is out of reach.
It will require a ton of backup, and vision beyond fundraising and tenure.After resisting for some time, I’m halfway through Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine.” Milquetoast snootiness put her on my list years ago, but this book is a dramatic departure. In short, neoliberalism comes out of the barrel of a gun, and field testing began in the mid-60’s. As for Klein being the messenger, deciding what that means will take a little while.
Yesterday notes: RMJ, thanks for the Wright link. If the press had said ‘black liberation theology’ it would have saved all the sturm und drang. * Richie, I don’t recall you mentioning Over There. I’m all eyes. * One more police casualty http://tinyurl.com/5c2u5q
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 04/27 at 09:48 AMMICKEY—i read and contrasted the WWhitman summary with your tips for survival/ney--THRIVAL..... I AGREE—common everyman/woman work-a-joes-&-jills .. make the most sense in this TEXT/CRAZED—blog-o-sphere LOL—CUL—what the hell do the young need to talk in code for?—all their jabber is decoded on YOUTUBE—for the universe to muse/peruse—HEY—IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE ?—IAO’H .... Adios ...
Posted by richie on from st james city/e/se-off sanibel and captiva FL 04/27 at 09:51 AMZEN ---------- SHORT STAY—6 months .. enuf for me—by the time i touched down and my stash of “hershey/brown” was expended --- RMN was PREZ OF THIS HERE US OF A ........... YUP.. WE TRADED ONE FIBBER FOR ANOTHER McGEE --- lbj 4 rmn—Give me RMJ AND MICKEY IN 08’ ..........
Posted by richie on from STILL OVER THERE IN MY SOUL .. 04/27 at 09:58 AMHello Expendables...from drizzly Astoria.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/27 at 10:12 AMThe greedy, capitlist business owner, for the most part, reads trade show adds related to his business, he reads publications that reinforce his present thinking about business and human relations.
The shopaholic reads product catalogs and newspaper adds. The golfer, the hunter, the car nut, the escapist, all read that which interests their present awareness.
The radical, the anarchist, atheist, the fed-up read about things they are already aware of.
The person who intuits, senses his environment might not need to read much since he easily understands everything is upside down and inside out...absolutely insane and incongruent with the natural world, not the ‘real world’ as those who reinforce the criminal systems want to believe, for that’s all they understand. Automatons
Activists think they can ‘help’, make a politician come around, learn, become aware of this barbaric social system...waste of time. Yes...the Self who knows must make the change within.
Posted by joe of maine on from 04/27 at 12:16 PMZen, milquetoast snootiness?
Sounds like an 80s album.
Posted by Charles on from Jersey City 04/27 at 12:54 PMmilquetoast snootiness?
Phil Collins, perhaps? Maybe Tears for Fears?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/27 at 06:24 PMCharles #6: Um, yeah. When she blasted the organizers of the World Social Forum, not long after her stint at the London School of Economics, I figured something was up. Call me old-fashioned.
One Hit Wondrous: http://tinyurl.com/2aveol
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 04/27 at 08:02 PMIt is nice to hear Walt Whitman’s voice reverberate. I’ve yet to read him-- but I’ve always felt something powerful coming from people who admire and quote him.
I am fond of Patch Adams, the eccentric doctor who loves Whitman. His book Gesundheit! is a favorite.
I feel like I understand exactly what Zen Prole means.
Y’all have a good day.
Posted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco 04/28 at 06:42 AMHello all. There was a time when a post like this might have resulted in 40-50 comments (or more). Don’t get me wrong, what we get is still high quality...but to what shall we attribute the drop off in conversation here?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/28 at 05:03 PMMickey (#10)-
Maybe you summed it up just right?
I watched I Am Legend the other night and I had a lot of the same observations as you had when you posted about it.
One thing I have to say is that watching NYC crumble away to the return of plant life and the deer or caribou running in herds through the streets brought joy to my heart.
Some day…
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 04/28 at 06:21 PMJOS: I totally relate to your feelings of joy...but I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say I summed it up right.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/28 at 06:30 PMWell...you are right that this subject should instigate a lot of conversation. But in my case I completely agreed with the simple steps you laid out towards change and I also agree that even talking about other types of action (see Endgame), let alone doing them, can endanger one’s freedom. Hence, I don’t have much to add.
Not a good answer...I know. I just haven’t had many new ideas lately...concerning this topic along with many others. It’s frustrating.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 04/28 at 07:13 PMGot it...thanks, JOS. Hey, if you know anyone in NYC who might appreciate my talk on Saturday, please spread the word.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/28 at 07:31 PMwill do…
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 04/28 at 07:33 PMThanks again, JOS. If anyone you know attends, please tell ‘em to let me know, okay?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/28 at 07:37 PMBut if you get what you want(New York crumbling) that would mean that most people on earth would be dead. Is that what we’re after?
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 04/28 at 07:58 PMI’m not sure that’s what we’re talking about, David. It’s the image of seeing the landbase freeing itself from the toxic presence of “progress” that can be joyful to think about.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 04/28 at 08:01 PMDavid...you are right to question my “joy” in that. I have none. I am absolutely horrified by (what I consider to be) the fact that we are heading towards a massive extinction. What we have to remember that it is an extinction entirely driven by our own actions. The only choice we have is to realize this reality and make extreme changes to try and slow it while at the same time decide how we can train ourselves to exist in its aftermath if we happen to be among those who survive it.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 04/28 at 08:29 PM‘What can/should we do?’ Another good question, Mickey - I’ll click on your link after I’ve finished typing this.
Have just spent another day in Melbourne where I saw this film:
http://www.auf-der-anderen-seite.de/indexEN.html
English title: ‘The Edge of Heaven’ - cannot recommend this film by Fatih Akin, a German-Turkish film director, enough - better than his earlier film, ‘Head-On’.
Here is a good review (one correction, though: it is not the red-light district of Hamburg which is pictured in the first (German) scenes of the film, but of Bremen):
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/movietime/stories/2008/2226755.htm
Hello, Zen Prole, richie, Joe of Maine, Charles, Robert B. Livingston, JOS and David from a Daylesford which has been almost as drizzly as Astoria in the last few hours but where the sun is now shining. It is quite cool, though - by Australian standards anyway: 60F.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 04/28 at 10:07 PM
Next entry: Myth #43,060: We lose brain cells as we age
Previous entry: For Whom Sean Bell Tolls
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
