Culture of Fear

We live in a culture of fear. Plain and simple. Maybe we always have, but it seems since the 60s it's been more prevalent then in past generations. Gun control was originally brought up as a conservative issue in response to rioting in "urban areas" I.E. black areas of the country. In 1967 members of the Black Panther party marched on the state legislature in Sacramento to protest The Mulford Act which banned the open display of firearms. The law was signed by then Governor Ronald Reagan who went on to become a major supporter of the NRA. In the 1968 presidential election, an election which was more contentious then 2008 and 2012 the main issues for the voters wasn't the Vietnam War but law and order and the rising social unrest in America. In other words fear of people who where different, who where angry about their circumstance, that was the biggest issue facing the average middle class American voter, not a dumb war that would go on to wreck this country for a generation.And Richard Nixon used that to get elected to two terms as president. And ever since then politicians and the media and certain industries has played on these fears. And lets be honest every single one of us has fallen for it at some point in our lives, whether feeling uneasy walking home at night in a big city and seeing someone who looks different then you walking along the street, feeling a little concerned when a group of middle easterners get on your flight, or seeing someone different walk in your neighborhood . We hear everyday from the politicians and the media and ourselves to buy a gun cause the governments going to come after us, move into a gated community cause black people in south central are going to get you, get a private security system cause who knows maybe your neighbor  is going to rob you, buy this it will protect you, the mexicans are going to steal your job watch out. Over and over again we are told to live in fear and we fall for it. All of us. So we buy into the bullshit and we move into a gated community and buy a gun and install a security system all in the hopes of trying to prevent the unpreventable. This culture of fear is so big we don't notice the real threats facing us.

Trayvon martin was shot because of that culture of fear. Yes there had been break-ins in the twin lakes community and a culture of fear had taken hold to the point where the residents had selected a dirty harry wannabe to be the head of the neighborhood watch. An idiot who probably couldn't pass the police psych test who when he saw the ultimate terror in the minds of the local residents decided this guy wasn't going to get away. Until we as a people stop spending 6 billion dollars a year on firearms, billion dollars more on private security systems and 6-9 million of us stop living in gated communities this wont happen.

I understand that people have a right to protect themselves and their loved ones and threats do exist but until we stop letting these fears and threats control our lives we are going to keep on seeing Trayvon Martins .

LA

People gathering , wanting to be seen, trying to advance their own agendas. Not really caring what's being said. It's the empty part of LA the part that the world makes fun of. Kardasians and what's my mantra. The bullshit glamour that doesn't exist but only in the movies. The part that is the darkside of America , the emptiness that's been around forever. People say its getting worse but it's always been here. In the 80s it was the Wall Street yuppie parties, in the 70s it was the coked out people at studio 54 people, in the 20s it was the Gatsby's drunk and hiding, and in the gilded age it was the robber barons with their wealth that made it so that they could buy and sell countries. 

People say its a sign that we've become morally bankrupt as a society. I guess people don't realize that we have maybe always been morally bankrupt as a people.  

Oh that crazy Gatsby and his hippie jazz

Since everyone's talking about the Great  Gatsby at the moment I might as well put in my two cents . Last summer during a weird time in my life I went out of my way to read as many of the books we where all supposed to read in High School but didn't. I admit that between the end of 9th grade till I was 19 except for plays I didn't finish any of the books I was assigned in English class. I just got plain bored and instead opted to watch a movie instead( if you all knew how many times I watched Goodfellas...). So I decided to play catch up. 

I read Robinson Crusoe which annoyed me, Heart of Darkness which if you can get passed the first 6 pages and listen to the Thin Red Line soundtrack while reading it is brilliant, I learned about the stupidity of Nam with Dispatches and I fell in love with Love in the Time of Cholera.  Then came Gatsby.

I had seen the trailer for the movie and had been intrigued( I like spectacle, call me cheap). I figured I should read it before seeing the film. A couple people told me to look into it and my lovely cousin suggested it. As she put it it was a good summer book.  She loaned me her copy and the reading began. 

Now over the years I had heard a lot of things about it. That the movie with Mia Farrow sucked balls, that they originally wanted Nicholson and that they wanted  Robert Towne to write it but he said no Iam going to write a film about water and corruption in 30s LA. I had heard greatest novel ever by some unknown group of people. I had heard from my dear mother that it was kind of blah. I had heard so many things but never read it. I figured time to form my own damn opinion. 

I read it in less then a week which due to the short attention span that most people have is probably one of the reasons it's so popular.  And I read it usually on subway rides home or in a park which is one of the best things about New York. I had already made the decision that I was going to leave New York after nine years months earlier and had kept it quiet from most people. So it got me at a very interesting moment.

My thoughts on the book are simply this. Is it the greatest novel ever written? I don't think so. But is it good? Yeah it is. I think the problem with it is that it's overly hyped. It's like that movie that your supposed to like cause everyone says its great then when you sit down and watch it it's a huge let down. Or the really hot person you want to sleep with and it finally happens and your like well that was fun? I think that's the problem the book has.

At heart it's an interesting story. It's really about a guy who doesn't think he's good enough so he changes who he is, try's to hide where he came from and what he was so a girl will accept him. It's about a codependent relationship. Gatsby figures if he changes his speech, gets new clothes, becomes really rich and throws crazy parties the girl who he loves will run  away with him. I think that's why a lot of people dig it. Because how many of us haven't been there at some point in our life.  We aren't happy with ourselves so we figure if I read these books and dress this way and go to these places and hang with these people maybe that person will like me. I know your thinking that's stupid. But when you've been head over heels in love and have trouble loving yourself( yeah i know i sound like a self help book)you do stupid things.  You end up idealizing that person which Gatsby does and which ultimately is his downfall. 

I remember when I finished the book I found that the only characters I liked where Nick, Gatsby and the gangster. The others well, I had dealt with people like Tom and Daisy. Maybe Iam being all working class hero or something. I  blame that on my years waiting on a lot of people like Tom and Daisy( we'll go into my personal neurosis another time). Tom and Daisy are a certain type of person that exist specifically in New York.  

If you've never lived in New York at some point it's hard to grasp.  Tom and Daisy  are the women on sex and the city, they are Gordon Gekko, they are the shit show in front of Tonic on a Friday night, they are that drunk corporate guy hitting on the waitress at Pershing square waiting for the train back to Connecticut to see his family,they  are the ultimate yuppie couple. They are the prom King and Queen and Gatsby is the nerdy kid who wants to go to the really cool party. God maybe that's what New York high society is : a bad high school movie. Ha I feel witty.

 Because Fitzgerald both despised and desperately wanted to be a part of that world , he was both Nick and Gatsby all at once, he was able to capture a world that could of taken place in not just the 20s in New York but could of taken place in  the 70s, 80s or even the last decade when things got decadent and was able to both criticize and at the same time praise the emptiness of these people. Maybe that's the brilliance they talk about with it.

I don't know , all I know is Gatsby should of just been himself, and if Daisy had come running to him then he probably wouldn't of ended up dead.

Sad Day in Seattle

So today the NBA stabbed a whole region in the heart. They did it once and we thought hey man we know how the rules are played we get it. Then the NBA does it again. I don't know what hurts more losing the sonics or having the faint hope we would get a new team. It hurts man it freaking hurts. Yes I became a Knicks fan and I dig the Knicks, I dig the history, but man the sonics they where my youth, my hopes and dreams.
I remember watching like a religious nut the 96 Finals. Hoping and praying that we could beat Jordan. When the Seattle times would do their NBA preseason coverage I would steal the sports section and try to figure out trades and guys we could draft. I was already trying to figure out how to get Yao Ming back in 99. I was angry when they fired George Karl, pissed when they traded the glove, and disappointed when Shawn Kemp left.
If they had brought back the Sonics I sure as hell would of become a fan. I would of still loved the Knicks but my heart would of been with the sonics. I would of made the effort to take my own kids to sonics games and in a huge dream world bought a sonics jacket.
But alas David Stern has broken that. I try not to wish bad things on people because well that's a dick thing to do. All I can do is quote Sinatra and say "Hey Stern you fuck! Your going to get yours and when you do a whole region of the country is going to laugh like the British did when Margret Thatcher got hers. And Howard Shultz the same to you.
As I get older I try not to get cynical cause that is the biggest turn off in the world. But fuck I should of seen this coming. Who knows if Seattle will ever get a team again. All I hope is that if we do , the owners burn Stern in effigy. I sure as hell will.

Me getting artsy

Decided to try something's

Colorado

Oh Colorado not as rocky as I thought