Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Mel Gibson, asshat extraordinaire...I want my social revolution NOW
By now everyone has heard, read or written about Mel Gibson, so I figured I would at least give mention in my own blog. Let me just say this, I've been drunk, staggeringly, drooling, near dead drunk and never have I said anything that wasn't floating around inside my head somewhere. Thoughts do not spontaneously materialize, ESPECIALLY when you're inebriated. You get loose lips, toss aside your inhibitions, start speaking at the speed of thought, all of this sans any interference from your censorship chip, but you don't come out with completely random thoughts you don't believe in. The man's got problems with Jews and I think it's pretty obvious at this point, but feck him and his triviality! I'm sure we've all had enough of the Mel Gibson mini-soap opera by now. With any luck he'll be shunned and fade into obscurity with his millions and his born-again "exuberace".
What's really on my mind is the social construct and how badly I would like to see change. I got my copy of V for Vendetta today and my mind is on breaking down the apathy that modern society seems to ooze from hundreds of millions of open sores. We have our power, our money, our relative security and apparent stability, but we no longer seem to have a dream.
And isn't that ultimately the problem? Doesn't every great person and every great people need a dream? It should be a big and grandiose thing, something to inspire and provide a point of focus toward which a people feel compelled to move. Hence the reason I am so fond of the protaganist in V and his singular sense of purpose. I won't ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, but suffice it to say that I think it is well worth watching.
But what of the dreamers? What of the constantly maligned, marginalized and malcontented idealists that find themselves perpetually shaking their heads. In a world where Mel Gibson's drunken meltdown is the only thing that can knock the troubling rocket trading going on in Lebanon and Israel from the news for more than a few minutes, it is difficult to be an idealist. It is tiring to hold out for a desired end when so few people seem to have any interest in it.
I'm not talking about tearing it all to shreds or bringing the whole circus down; that's too much, pushing things too far, taking too large a step back on the enormous risk that we might take two gigantic steps forward. What I am talking about is bottom up reformation. Like all revolutions, this one would start with the people, but this one could be bloodless and free of violence.
People have been talking about this since the dawn of intellectual thought, asking for it since the first social revolutions eons ago, and putting it off since a few brave Americans first realized that declaring themselves the founders of a new nation was the necessary course of their respective existences. What we need is a return to the hunt for the original dream, a return to what is truly important. We need to find our way back to the path of idealism once again, because where we are is absolutely not on that path.
Think about it. The distractions, the laziness, the lack of imagination, vision, motivation...I think most people would agree that these things are very much pervading components of modern America's collective psyche. People are not involved in their governmental processes. A majority see little point in remaining vigilant or interested. They have been lulled to sleep and seem to prefer slumber over the responsibility of being awake and aware.
None of this is new, none of this is even unexpected. The real question is, what can we do about it? Our answer is a simple one; we need only open our eyes and raise them toward the light of hope. Thomas Paine once wrote that, "The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."
We need only reason our way out of this valley. If we are to break the cycle of revolt, rebuild, rise, peak and fall, we have to first recognize that we are indeed in the pattern and subsequently make conscious decisions to steer ourselves back on course. In order to do that, we need only believe that it is possible. Today, in this America, I do not think we have enough believers, so the real question is, how long and how much will it take?
Honestly, I don't know. I don't think anyone does, but I hope we figure it out soon. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. FDR had a dream. Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and a million others whose names we will never know had a dream. They all ultimately lived and died for their collective visions and hoped futures. Their dreams carried them, compelled them and propelled them forward. We each need to find that spark of a dream and live our lives accordingly.
It sounds so simple and maybe it is. Hell, it might seem simple because these are not even original ideas and that most of the difficult work has already been done through the labor and bloodshed of others. We need only maintain, nurture and refine their dream, even as we walk forward in pursuit of our own. That is our sole duty and I believe we are failing in it. People have been crying, screaming and begging for a collective wakeup call. Maybe it's time to speak calmly, rationally and steadily instead. Tonight I have many more questions than answers, so for now, go watch the movie. I highly recommmend it. :)
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it does seem like apathy plagues the collective conscience of this nation, doesn't it... we've come a long way from the era of the founding fathers. most of us lack the motivation to so much as cast an informed vote. it is indeed a depressing state of affairs.
sometimes, though, i wonder... were events like the american revolution just a product of the right setting? sure, there were impassioned ideologues in philadelphia and boston, but what of the rest of the country? perhaps the masses were just vulnerable to the pleas of the cause's demagogues because they were less than content with their respective lots - perhaps they were willing to conform not out of a determined sense of principle, but out of a primal sense of self-peservation. it's hard to say for sure whether we're actually devolving, or whether we as a species are just generally uninspired. lol.
I would put my money on generally uninspired...it's a function of collective, primal selection I suppose. The masses, pack, herd, etc usually follow the will and/or wisdom of select elders. Primates exhibit this sort of behavior, as to many other social animals.
That's not to say it isn't discouraging, given our advanced potential, but then it wouldn't inspire us to see the few transcend if the many weren't ultimately coming up short. Kind of sad, when you stop and think about it.