The end of the Wild West

It is official: The West is no longer Wild, or gay...

Yesterday the Supreme Court in California banned the practice of Gay Marriage, raising more than one eyebrow (which really makes it more of a look of surprise than a disapproving one-eye-brow-lift). The irony is that California is where the gay rights movement really kicked off, where gay people really felt comfortable and confident enough to gather in large numbers and fight for their rights... Not to mention the ironic destruction of the concept of the West of America (specifically California) being "Wild, Liberal and Free". Although truth be told the Wild West was named so because of the lawlessness and general disdain for order that tippified the excitement of discovery at the time... A brave new world battling against the stereotypes of an old one...

So maybe this is not the end of the Wild West at all, merely a new era of lawlessness. The only difference being that the law is now going to broken in the sincerest of forms... love.

Look who's not talking now...

Conversation n.

The spoken exchange of thoughts, opinions, and feelings; talk.

This troubles me somewhat.... the idea that a conversation is all about the spoken exchange of "blah blah blah." It is not the idea that troubles actually, but the lack of traditional conversation we encouter on a day-to-day basis. Now don't get me wrong, one cannot go through the day without speaking to people (that is, unless that person is: a) mute b) undertaking a vow of silence c) a monk [see b)] or d) David Beckham) But it is the type of conversation that we partake in, as well as those individuals that we converse with. This change in socialization has been borne out of the boom of "online networking," which is the brainchild of every man, woman and child that cannot string together an audible, coherent or meaningful sentence in real time.

It turns out that socializing is nothing more than a battlefield between the speechmakers and the letter writers, and the ball is rapidly flying into the court of the latter, for as popular as "Skype" and "youtube" are they are not scoring any killer blows in the networking stakes.

The reason in my opinion is that now that spelling has officially been thrown off the edge of a very high building, and is reaching terminal velocity we are no longer being judged when it comes to the written word.

Whereas, if you sound like a dick... well, there's no fakin' it. Innit....

A Spot of Chicken Hunting

Well... well... well...

I do love a good scandal. Especially one that is so well covered by the media, I mean it is almost as if... the media broke the scandal and are now circling like vultures at the feast of the 5000 (surely there must have been some leftovers...). Which isn't exactly correct, seeing as in most mass media driven events it is pretty much like going chicken hunting: chickens hardly run about in the wild anymore so you tend to have to bring your own... All of the old cliches: "fish in a barrel" etc. would also apply...

I am talking about Peter Andre and Katie Price's split of course.... nothing to do with government expense claims at all...

In both cases methinks that the chickens are coming home to roost.... and they're packin heat!

The wonderful thing is that 98% of the world couldn't give a shit, as they would rather spend their days foraging for food, digging for drinkable water or fighting against a system that doesn't care... they could definitely murder a chicken or two....

Tough at the Top

I really pity politicians.

Their lives are under constant inspection, their affairs constantly being rustled through like a skip filled with unwanted crap that might turn out to be media gold... In many ways politicians have attained "celebrity" status, meaning that the mainstream media have deemed their "worthwhile" existance worthy of intrusion and publication.

Funnily enough I pity "celebrities" too, as these individuals are constantly trying to find ways to justify their inclusion in the intrusion.... their status as a "person-that-a-schmuck-has-deemed-people-must-read/hear-about-everyday." This has led to the ridiculous notion of paparazzi chasing, with the hunter becoming the hunted, the prey becoming the mullet on a moped as the talentless fame-aholics prostitute and flagelate themselves in the pursuit of acknowledgement of their mere existence on this planet.

But at the same time I have no sympathy for either camps: politicians or celebrities, as these portions of society are really above the rules. They may not be above criticism, but can criticism really be considered an adequate price for:

(a) trying to adopt babies from around the world, without having any real assessment on feasibility or suitabilty of the potential parent(s) in question

(b) claiming back expenses for every personal acquisition/ escapade over the course of your life., and not possessing a background in basic arithmetic, claiming fictional amounts.

The problem is that if you are a member of the public you have someone above you that will smack you in the face if you step out of the predermined lines, and gladly say no to your outlandish and selfish requests. Be it a boss, parent, teacher, policeman, lawyer, gang leader, priest... there is someone to discipline you.

Oh, it is tough to be in the public eye, in the public pocket, but not in reach of the public's killer left hook... On second thoughts, I really hate politicians.

The Shape of Things

I think that to be interested in the shape of objects as opposed to their detail is both a blessing and a curse. It is through the basic "look and feel" approach that we truly see beauty for what it is: gut feeling. I don't think that if you stare at a painting or sculpture for hours that you will discover some kind of hidden feeling that your sub conscious has under lock and key. Either your eyes/brain perceives beauty, or it doesn't. To stare will merely allow you to grow used to the image before you, and this familiarity will breed comfort.

Go with the gut, enjoy the taste. It is our need to delve deeper that will bring us closer to a perceived "ugly truth." The devil is in the detail, they say.

But does that mean that we should take life at face value?

Maybe I am confusing beauty with prettyness.... The shallowest of all descriptions.

I guess the key is that beauty is in both the immediate, and the delayed and detailed....

The Golden Path

Should I really care that someone has not called me by my given name? Is it sexist that I take offense when I am called by a girl's name? If someone was to call me by a common name in Finland that has a funny meaning in English and I was to get offended, am I just being culturally insensitive?

If I am "insulted" by someone, should I really give a damn? If someone calls me a monkey and I am a black man (not that it matters whether I am or am not), is this deemed as being racist? And if so, why? Surely that is just further propogating this age-old racist sterotypical propoganda?

It is all bullshit. The only things that allow insults to take root are pride and power games. Socially, it is seen as some kind of a challenge. But a challenge with what prize? Why do we always look for reasons to hate, to dislike, to seperate?

I guess the reasons that we do are the same reasons that I am bothering to type this out - we love to bitch, and we are all narcisistic monkeys...

The only true Golden Path is through the frontal lobe - lobotomies all round... because ignorance truly is bliss...