A QUESTION FOR YOU

06/30/2010




A QUESTION FOR YOU

One could easily assume that thing are changing too fast,  that would be false, things are continuing on the same path for years while you have been asleep, dazed or too lazy to understand. You see some people believe it is a continuation of the conspiracy hatched on an Island of the South Georgia coast, that is also not true since no one knew a hundred years ago where the science and the society will be today.


To me, the question has never been simple, I am not a genius, so life has not come easy to me, thinking, pondering, being careful and observing to learn to live in this new and complicated world. Some people know everything, I do not, some have simple solutions I have none. I have been able to convince a university to grant me a Master's degree in psychology, a Bachelor's in business, but I am unconventional in that I do not agree with much what they taught me in schools. Then if you know me I don't agree with much or many and so be it.


I am amazed at the people who call in to talk shows, -I told some one once, that if had a three hour conversation with "Jesus" with all due respect, I am bound to find things we did not agree upon (you can replace the name of your favorite holy person with "Jesus"),-  and say I agree with everything you say. No wonder the clowns with these talk shows are getting rich and laughing their cumulative asses to the bank, how stupid we are.

Like I said, I am not a genius, I have learned more about philosophy and psychology from comics than I did from books and college. Along with Kafka, Plato, Hesse, Nietzsche, Koran, Bible, Faulkner, Steinbeck,  We can name Erma Bombeck, Mark Twain, Charles Shulz,  Berkeley Breathed, Bill Watterson  and of course Gary Larson and Jim Unger as my guiding lights through the life.

You may find it  funny, even absurd that the boy is asking for five grand to clean his room, but so what, J.K. Rowling,  Hilary Clinton, Oprah, Limbaugh, Diablo Cody  and others are paid millions (if you think I am jealous, I am not, I have plenty my self thank you)  so why not a boy get five grand. On the other hand we get things for our kids that our own parents could have never dreamed of, and for just being, from Cabbage Patch kids for hundreds to the newest cell phones and video games are given to kids for just being born in the middle or upper middle class. We even have a whole generation we proudly call slackers, worse these people now have kids of their own. We failed to teach generations of Americans anything of value, but told them to copy the rich and the ultra rich, like the money will fall into their lap from heaven and they can start practicing to make babies whenever they like. Now as we look at the real hard times ahead we find ourselves almost as lost and confused as if someone took away our cell phone.

Here is how Wikipedia defines Irony.

(((Irony (from the Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía, meaning hypocrisy, deception, or feigned ignorance) is a situation, literary technique, or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance that goes strikingly beyond the most simple and evident meaning of words or actions. Verbal and situational irony is often intentionally used as emphasis in an assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, irony used in sarcasm, and some forms of litotes may involve the emphasis of one's meaning by deliberate use of language that states the direct opposite of the truth, or drastically and obviously understates a factual connection.
In fictional dramatic irony, the artist causes a character, acting as a mouthpiece, to speak or act in a way intentionally contrary to the truth. This again is a method that highlights the literal facts by giving the example of a fictional persona who is strikingly ignorant of them.
In certain kinds of situational or historical irony that occur outside works of fiction, a certain factual truth is highlighted by some person's complete ignorance, or belief in the opposite, of it—however, this contrast does not occur by human design. In some religious contexts, such situations have been seen as the deliberate work of divine providence to emphasize facts, and taunt or toy with humans for not being aware of them in situations where they could easily have been enlightened (this is similar to human use of irony). Such ironies are often more evident, or more striking, when viewed retrospectively in the light of later developments that make the truth of past situations obvious to all.
Much irony involves commentary that heightens tension naturally involved in the state and fate of a person (in the present, or the past) who badly needs to gain information concerning an easily known given fact but does not.)))

In the cartoon above we see Calvin assuming the role of "God"  (even though he is control of a few small toys), surely you don't think you would ever do that. But think again, we see the same "God" syndrome in many around us, politicians, bankers, loan sharks, police, preachers, presidents, and people who torture others.

Thus the cartoon below that I originally posted alone without comments.

In 2000, my sister had come to visit, her husband had recently lost money in the dot.com bust, which had followed the dot.com boom. i mentioned to her then, " all money today is imaginary, what you have in the pocket, in the bank on your credit card is all imaginary, it does not really exist, it is the numbers they give you to play with keep you in place and happy", ( not so much unlike the boy above in the first cartoon, we are not willing to underestimate our worth).

I should warn you, I had told my son, he is 12, showing him this cartoon (below) and explaining to him that the bigger your ego, the less likely you are to understand it.

Let's though go back to the second cartoon here, the one of Calvin, are we much unlike the poor Cal, he is given a few toys and he thinks he  is GOD, how many among us are just as guilty of the same thought. We want to be in charge, in control we HAVE stuff, the stuff makes us good, it makes us worthwhile, it makes us omnipotent. It is not just George Bush, or Clinton, or Even Elliot Spitzer or Tiger Woods, it is all of us, the city council man, the police man, the congress man, and the banker, and the loan officer, we all assume the role of god in our own lil kingdoms. Does anyone here not know a story or two about the police brutality, or the local mayor being in bed with the developers? Oh yeah! we are all gods, like it or not.


The irony, and the fact that we all forget, and forgot is this that we are all humans, we are all here for a while, this life is temporary. And that no matter what amount of money and power that we have and usurp, in the end we all die. So this last cartoon, Eddie here, in fact is you, Eddie is me, Eddie is all of us, and THAT IS THE REALITY. NOW MAY YOU PLACE YOURSELF IN EDDIE'S CHAIR AND PONDER AGAIN THE FACTS OF YOUR OWN REALITY. This is called life.

A discussion of the " god" syndrome will continue later.

LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE