My Politics

Retirement sucks. I think I'm gonna come out of retirement after like 4 days and write in my stupid blog thing again.

Writing a 7000 page small-text novel is REALLY DIFFICULT. No one really ever tells you that, you know? I can write really really fast after 7 years of training in this dopey blog ... but writing like a real-ass book is really hard. The characters have to be made to feel alive and really full of life ... it's not about how fast you can write a 7000 page small-text book it's more about knowing how to construct a novel.

I changed my blog address so now all of the stats are re-set at ZERO. It feels like I'm starting from scratch ... it's kind of a fresh feeling. I think my default persona is going to start from scratch too. The "D" character I believe kind of evolved into what I'd describe as Buckminster Fuller meets Morton Downey Jr. or say Carl Sagan meets Wally George or maybe Neil DeGrasse Tyson meets Earl Weaver.

Basically, I think the "D" character wanted to be a popularizer of a science-based worldview yet with the dynamic audacity of a deeply aggressive and argumentative person. I wanted "D" to come across as a really really smart guy who swears and is mean. I thought it was an interesting persona.

(side note: I think I actually caught Carl Sagan swearing once in Cosmos. Because he speaks in such a broken-up pace ... there's an episode of Cosmos where he says the word "Constellation" and he pronounces it CUNT (loooooong pause) Stalation. The pause is too long and like he basically just walks up to the camera and says CUNT.)

I want to ditch the anger persona part of it. I still want to promote a rational world view but now I wanna be thoughtful and more better, you know?

If you were by some crazy chance a reader of Writings on Subjects 1.0 (which I doubt I had any repeat readers to be honest), you'll like Writings on Subjects 2.0 too. It's still got no-ads, and it's still just the babblings of a dope ... but if you for some reason liked its first incarnation .... you'll like this one too I bet.

Anyways, Politics is on everyone's plate these days so let us review and summarize my favorite song about the subject of politics which is My Politics by the 80s/90s/2000s rock-and-roll group Nomeansno. I first heard this song probably like 15 or 20 years ago but unlike other political songs which are locked in the time frame of the era they existed .... this song transcends eras and gives us a base-emotion view of the field of Politics.

It will serve as a quick guide to Politics and also give me a chance to inter-weave some of my own opinions about Politics as we go.

My Politics


Don't ask me what to do 
I get sick just thinking about you
 
And when I look at all we've done
I want to walk away just hang my head and pray
That you will, look at me, what do you see?
Am I the king of the hill, standing over his kill?
 
Well baby
The taste of blood is sweet and I'll lay this carcass at your feet
but only if you'll keep me company
 
This is it, my politics, this is it
I've learned to hate, it's much to late 
This is it, my politics
 
I stand before you, a simple man
A sly dog
A politician
This is it, my politics 
This is it

I've seen more than I can stand
But in my acts and deeds I'm a political man
I'll give you, I'll give you all my worn out tools
Another brutal shot of my rhythm and blues
 
I need to
To draw you close, to take your hand
And in your shining face I see the promised land
 
Well baby
Maybe you can share with me the depths of our complicity
In these crimes of humanity
 
This is it, my politics this is it
I love to hate, that's fucking great 
This is it, my politics

(DISCO INTERLUDE: BOW NOW WUGGA DOOP DEE DEEE DOO!)

-(HEAVY PART!) -
Out on the edge between the living and the dead
I try to throw you off with a shake of my head
I try to drag you down and bury you alive
But when I fall asleep that's when you open your eyes
You gotta You Gotta You Gotta look me in the eyes
You laugh, you cry, you look me in the eye with your hang-dog face
That's when I put you in your place
Can you tell me... how will you survive?
You have to be the biggest fool alive
I lay awake all night but all that I can see are the vicious clever lies of my mythology
I'm beating my head up against the wall 
and on each single separate brick there is a picture of you all
This is it, the end, I'll tell you what I'll do
I'm going to pick you with a stick and look inside of you
But when you wander in the dark there is nothing to see
I'm on a desperate search for reality

-(END OF HEAVY PART!)-
 
(~Reggae Stylings~)
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed
I'd like to give you a kick, you little son of a bitch
Just let me Let me get my hands around your throat
And I will choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke
What is the bitter explanation for the violence of my indignation?
Well, it's as plain as the nose on my face
I am a member of the human race 
(~End of Reggae Stylings~) 

This is it, my politics this is it
I love to hate, that's fucking great
 
This is it, my politics
I stand before you, a simple man
A sly dog
A politician
This is it, my politics
 
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate

Musically, I like this song because it's a heavy-enough ballad but unlike other heavy rock groups I can clearly understand word-for-word what the singer is saying. The pacing is really good too. Like it goes rock-ballad, weird disco interlude, HEAVY PART, brief reggae stylings, then rock-ballad again. I like the pacing and the fact that it can be heavy yet still have discernible lyrics.

Man, I didn't realize this was my favorite band of all time until they Retired last year or the year before. I've seen them live probably like a dozen times in my life ... and when they retired, I was like .... oh shit, Nomeansno's like done now. Wow.

Let's stay on topic though. I want to de-construct this song because I think it is pertinent to today's current society. The reason I believe this song is pertinent is that political elections fall into the Human realm, okay? We don't have self-driving elections ... we don't have robotic replacements for politicians yet like we have for virtually every other job out there ... Politics is a Job done by Humans.

.... and Human Beings are deeply deeply deeply flawed creatures.

Maybe in the year 3336 when Renex Greenbaum runs against Xerex Obama III we'll have a very orderly election process where the best Man, Woman, Robot, Cyborg, Android, Hybrid wins .... but as of 2017 this is not the case. When Human A runs against Human B it very quickly turns into a spiteful, angry, attack-ad laden, crazy-go-nuts festival of banality.



Alright let's look at the lyrics of the song more in-depth now,

"Don't ask me what to do  
I get sick just thinking about you"

We place these politicians on high pedestals and invest our hopes and dreams into them. The downtrodden, the humble, the sick, the blind, the lame .... they all place their hopes and dreams into their politician of choice. We know we don't have the answers to our problems but maybe some larger than life character has these solutions ....  but do these larger-than-life personas who run for high office have the answers we seek? Probably not ... and in their own hearts and minds these characters probably don't even really like you and don't want you to ask them what to do because they probably get sick just thinking about the weird poor people who voted for them.

"And when I look at all we've done
I want to walk away just hang my head and pray
That you will, look at me, what do you see?
Am I the king of the hill, standing over his kill?"

....great Mr or Mrs Politician ... you won your little election thingie. Good for you. You defeated your opponent. You're the Winner! Yay! You fought a long and hard battle of attrition where you attacked, beat down, and virtually destroyed your opponent and now you're tired. You're tired. The popularity contest took a lot out of you, didn't it? No time to rest though .... you didn't lose ... you won. You might wonder, after that brutal election when you lift your head back up and look at the people you are now the leader of .... do they like you? Are you the powerful king of the hill who slaughtered the evil opponent and is now the toast of the town ... or are you wondering if maybe a great portion of the people have a less favorable view of you after that long war-like campaign?

"Well baby,
The taste of blood is sweet and I'll lay this carcass at your feet
but only if you'll keep me company"

Throw your opponent's bleeding carcass to the feet of your fanbase. They like you. If I destroy my opponent ... will you people like me? Will you all really like me? Like Sally Field winning an Oscar type of "Like Me"? Please like me. Please.

"This is it, my politics, this is it
I've learned to hate, it's much too late 
This is it, my politics"

That's Human politics. It's no different for anyone. You destroyed your opponent and won. You tasted blood, you tasted victory ... and you liked it ... you really really liked it. Now you've learned to hate and it's much too late to ever go back. Hate always wins these things and not only do you now have a taste for it ... but you also have a knack for it.

"I stand before you, a simple man
A sly dog
A politician
This is it, my politics 
This is it"

It's simple enough this process. There's no big secret to a big popularity contest. There's nothing really amazingly intricate or fascinating about the whole political process. That's it, it's politics. No big deal.

"I've seen more than I can stand
But in my acts and deeds I'm a political man
I'll give you, I'll give you all my worn out tools
Another brutal shot of my rhythm and blues"

The act must go on. Give 'em what they want. All those worn-out bits and beat-up shticks. Dust off a catch phrase you haven't used in a while ... give 'em a good shot of that rhythm and blues, baby.

"I need to
To draw you close, to take your hand
And in your shining face I see the promised land
 
Well baby
Maybe you can share with me the depths of our complicity
In these crimes of humanity"

You've now created this political character, this foolish simple being of a persona who promises great promises  ... and now you have a fan base ... who seem to really like you. Draw them close, take their hands .... they trust you .... just don't like bring them to Guyana and make them drink poisonous Kool-Aid like Jim Jones did, ok? Because that was like beyond fucked up, you know? They'd do it though, I mean Mr or Mrs Politician won their trust and they really trust you ... they'd probably even drink Jim Jones Kool Aid for you if you asked them nicely.

How deep are those depths of complicity in regards to crimes against humanity? Was Jim Jones more at fault for giving his followers poison kool aid? Were his followers at fault for blindly trusting an insane person to the point where they moved to Guyana to live on some broke ass commune? Or do both parties ... leader and followers ... share complicity in those grievous crimes against humanity?

"This is it, my politics this is it
I love to hate, that's fucking great
This is it, my politics


(DISCO INTERLUDE: BOW NOW WUGGA DOOP DEE DEEE DOO!)"

Yep, it's fucking great.

"-(HEAVY PART!) -
Out on the edge between the living and the dead
I try to throw you off with a shake of my head
I try to drag you down and bury you alive
But when I fall asleep that's when you open your eyes
You laugh, you cry, you look me in the eye with your hang-dog face
That's when I put you in your place
Can you tell me... how will you survive?
You have to be the biggest fool alive
I lay awake all night but all that I can see are the vicious clever lies of my mythology
I'm beating my head up against the wall 
and on each single separate brick there is a picture of you all
This is it, the end, I'll tell you what I'll do
I'm going to pick you with a stick and look inside of you
But when you wander in the dark there is nothing to see
I'm on a desperate search for reality
-(END OF HEAVY PART!)-"

Oooooh it's the Heavy Part, time to lash out at the world. Lash out at the world who's against you. Come on baby let's get PARANOID for a change! Whadda we have to lose? Let's get all PARANOID and maybe a little CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIA couldn't hurt either. Come on, let's lash out and keep lashing. Slash, Slash, Whooossh, Crash, Slash. Lash out! Lash out at the church and the state, the rich and the great, and everything in between .... and when you're done lashing out ... take a breath and look in the mirror, re-read what you wrote, re-watch your show ... and wonder to yourself ... Who am I lashing out at? Is the whole wide world really against me? Because when you re-read what you wrote and re-see what you said .... all you're gonna read or all you're gonna see is your own voice or your own words. You are lashing out at You.

(~Reggae Stylings~)
"To tell the truth, you can all get screwed
I'd like to give you a kick, you little son of a bitch
Just let me Let me get my hands around your throat
And I will choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke and choke
 
What is the bitter explanation for the violence of my indignation?
Well, it's as plain as the nose on my face
I am a member of the human race"
(~End of Reggae Stylings)

Welcome to the jungle baby, it's fucked up out here. It's a dog eat dog world out here, baby. Rat eat rat, even. A jungle? The jungles of lions and tigers and monkeys are TAME compared to the humanized world. Lies are WAY MORE BETTER than Truths in this world, honey. Welcome to the jungle, baby? More like Welcome to the Human Race, there baby. Ya, you won the Human Race Contest .... but who the fuck knows what the prize is.

"This is it, my politics this is it
I love to hate, that's fucking great
 
This is it, my politics
I stand before you, a simple mask
A sly dog
A politician
This is it, my politics
 
[it's] Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate"

Oh wait, hahahaha, that's what the prize is that you've won. It is Hate and it's fucking Great. The prize for the big Human Race Contest was a big ol' bag of hot n' frosty Hate.

Congratulations! Congratulations! Tell him what they've won Rod Roddy .....

Well, you and a guest will be taking an all expense paid trip to HATE, you and a guest will be staying at the lovely Hate Estates in the Beautiful Peaceful Hate Valley! But that's not all you've won!

You also get to be the Leader of Your Fucking Country!

 

Yeeeeeeeeee Haw!

Conclusion

Politics lies in the realm of Humans ... and Humans are kinda fucked up. To expect a flawless leader is insane ... I predict the first flawless leader will be an Android built circa 3312.

To hold these Human Popularity Contests and be surprised that a flawed Human won is crazy, you gotta expect that these thingies are gonna end with some pretty whacky results sometimes.

Sometimes the one with the cheapest heat and the most acute demagoguery wins .... but it's not a flawless victory .... moreso than victory and spoils .... the demagogue usually walks away with a big heapin' helpin' of Hate as his/her parting treasure.

Look politicians and other wielders of influence .... do whatever you want, ok? The average person doesn't even pay much attention or cares about politics. I mean usually almost half if not more of the country doesn't even vote in these things. Do whatever you want you wielders of influence you ... just don't fly your guys off to Guyana and make them drink poisonous Kool Aid or some shit. Ok?

The bright side of politics is that just like every other thing .... robots are gonna take these jobs one day. We'll all be doing our super fun stuff by like the year 3333 .... like flying our flying boats and petting our flying cats .... and when we tune in to the year 3333 Election ... we'll finally see a civil, hate-free, election ..... of robots.

And it'll be cool.

Young Humans and the Art of Coping

Coping means (as stated by the Wikipedia) "constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing" or "exceeding the resources of the person."

Coping is how you take all your troubles and worries, and deal with 'em. That's coping.

Every month there's a new story somewhere about some troubled asshole coward loser who can't cope with life and goes and kills people or themselves (or both). We then all collectively wonder how some fucked up maniac could do such a thing, and we wonder how we can prevent it in the future from happening again.

In terms of preventive measures, some point at measures like outlawing guns, some point to censoring violent video games. Those topics are well covered, but the one I think that is most important, in my opinion, to stop this from happening again is to teach kids the art of coping.

Whenever I see a story where some maniac like that loser in Connecticut has lost it and went on a shooting rampage, I have to wonder what could have possibly made this kid go over the edge. These kids aren't living in a famine-ridden third world country with no way out. They are always regular healthy looking rich enough kids, what was possibly so bad about their lives that they had to lose their fragile minds?

Whenever there are reasons provided behind the stories in all cases the reasons are absurd. Sometimes a kid shoots up his school over being unpopular, or because someone called him a name, or some pointless thing. People are going on shooting sprees for the smallest of first world problems.

There's stories about kids killing themselves because their parents took their X-box away, or a story about a kid who killed himself because he lost his Iphone, or a story about a lady killing herself because some Australians made a joke about the queen of England. People are killing themselves over the silliest of issues.

To me, it all seems to boil down to the ability to cope.

How to do Coping

This is all you have to do to cope, when problems arise, this is how you should mentally respond to them:

When someone calls you a mean name: "Who cares?"

When someone makes fun of you: "Who cares?"

When you lose your Iphone: "Who cares? Fuck that I-Phone. Steve Jobs was a shitstain anyway. What does that billionaire need my money for?"

When your parents take away your x-box: "Fuck X-Box. Bill Gates is a shitstain anyway. What does that billionaire need my money for?"

When someone pokes fun at Royals: "Hahaha, good one!"

There, that is how you cope. That's it. When these problems arise, you don't need to start terminating lives (either yourself or others)...you just need to cope a bit, that's all.

I Love Coping

I've been a mellow person my whole life, and the trick is hardcore coping. I actually personally don't care about anything...AND IT'S GREAT!

If you want my secrets to coping, well, I'll give them to you. Because it seems so many young people can't cope with even pointlessly meaningless problems. If you are a young human and you are reading this, please listen to these following three videos...they may save your life. They are mantras to play in your brain when worries take over.

Firstly, when I was six (young age) my parents showed me the movie Meatballs and it was real funny. There's a part in Meatballs where Mr. Bill Murray teaches young campers how to cope with shit:

The Mantra of "It Just Doesn't Matter" stuck in my young brain forever. "It" really doesn't matter at all. Whatever "It" is that is bothering you...Bill is right...it does not even matter. Are you worried about something? Some stupid thing? Well guess what....It Just Doesn't Matter, bro/sis. This is some of the truest shit anyone ever said, and I'm not even exaggerating...it really is. This shit is TRUE.

Nextly, when I became a greasy teenager-style human, I found some coping potential in this song sung by crooner Robert Wright,

Forget Your Life is pretty true too. What is it that you are worried about? It's Nothing. It not only just doesn't matter at all... but it's actually Nothing. Your worries and troubles are Nothing. It's similar to Just Doesn't Matter but thinking your troubles are Nothing is an even stronger dose of mental cognitive coping.

Finally here's the greateast song I ever heard, it is called "I Don't Care,"

Oh man, this song is so true it's not even funny...and there's only like 10 words in the song so it's really easy to turn into a Mantra that can play in your brain endlessly (I might even be playing this song 24 hours a day subconscoiously in the back of my brain for all I know). It's so simple man...but it's SO TRUE.

Lyrics by Joey Ramone:

I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
About this world
I don't care
About that girl
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
About these words
I don't care

Conclusion

So, in closing, please youth...don't lose your shit over pointless fucking things anymore. When life is getting you down just cope a bit. Life is easy, it really is...there's never a point to buy guns and go do that sort of thing. Life is a pretty sweet fruit...when you don't care about shit.