So how was the first month for you?

Well, here we are, the first month of the new year has passed. Technically, it's not the new year anymore, it's been demoted to just "this year" now. And I'm sure that all your resolutions, hopes and yearnings are shaping up just fine. Or not.

So, what have we got to show for ourselves thus far: increased tensions between the factions of the Syrian conflict and no signs of easing (still a lot of grunting going on around the oil hole, but this or that innocent bystander its being offed just so the other guys know we're serious); the stream of migrants and asylum seekers hasn't slowed, but we've got a new scapegoat, Greece, so we're good for distraction for some time to come (give a country an forced, impossible and unalterable economic program to fulfill then compain that they're not spending money on the right things apparently doesn't count); the circus called the primary election run-up in Fantasyland is getting downer an dirtier (and less amusing for those of us who will only feel the effects of the insanity); financial markets are reeling the world over (but that capitalism thing is still being touted as a sure bet); the climate's getting worse (even if most folks still don't know the difference between climate and weather, and yes, they'll vote in the same yokels next time around to take care of the problem); the snackless, clueless American rebels in Oregon have managed to get someone killed (but as always, he was too little a pawn to become a martyr); and we've got a new epidemic spreading against which we have absolutely no defense; and, if I had to pick the most-heard phrase for the month, it would either be "I'm afraid ..." or "You know what scares me ...". Looks to me like we're probably a bit worse off than when we all took a break for the end-of-the-year holidays.

As the observant reader of the last few posts will have noted, we've got a lot going on in our minds, but hardly any of it has anything to do with thinking, in the generally accepted understanding of the term. We've got our bones and rattles out, we're doing our haka thing, and we're churning out propaganda at an all-time high, but notne of it appears to be helping. Of course, none of it can help because none of it has anything to do with what actually needs to be done, which is to get a clear idea of what needs to be done, then do it. No, that would mean getting off the couch or taking your offspring along on some activist endeavor instead of showcasing them for your friends at the next little-league event or taking a stand in public and not only in the livingroom, and it would mean that you'd actually have to think about what you are doing and why, and have an understanding of time that goes beyond next weekend.

Yes, as painful as it is for me to say it and as painful as it is for you to have to read it: maybe, just maybe, it's time for all of us to use more of our brains and less of our brawn to address some of the things that have to be done.

Reflections of an optimistic cynic

This isn't the first time I've been torn between what I experience and what I want to be true. We all go through phases like this I'm sure. But, it's getting increasingly difficult to keep my spirits up these days. There's simply too much inanity and too much insanity to have to contend with. And while I want to believe that somewhere, perhaps behind the scenes, certainly unbeknownst to me, there are people succeeding in making their world a better place, it also feels like they're getting harder and harder to find.

What's even worse, and as a life-long student of language most distressing, is how we've allowed our language to be commandeered by newspeakers, marketeers, and propagandists. We are subjected, day in and day out, to an unending harrangue of false truths (we're-the-good-guys-they're-the-bad-guys), conscious bias and prejudice (if-you've-seen-one-Muslim-you've-seen-a-terrorist), over-the-top hyperbole (I-could-shoot-people-and-not-lose-votes), unmitigated aggression (#black-lives-matter), calls to violence (carpet-bomb-the-Middle-East), and bald-faced "justifications" of corruption, greed and oppression (Citizens United). Along with those 5,000 ads we're subjected to every day, we have this ceaseless stream of reality distortions against which can hardly defend ourselves.

One the one hand, I can understand why nothing happens. People are cowards by choice or through resignation, people are afraid for we're repeatedly shown what will happen if you step out of line, too many people have just enough that they can be made to fear those who have less. We can always find scapegoats and if we can't find them ourselves, there are more than enough interest groups to give you comprehensive list to chose from.

And we fall for it every time.

One of my favorite cultural philosophers Jean Geber wrote, "Every reform is a mere attempt at resuscitation." He was right. You can only resuscitate someone (or something) that's dead. And most of what we hold dear is dead: our money system, our banking system, our economic systems, our political systems, our education systems, our social systems ... dead or dying before our eyes. They're being hijacked, kidnapped and murdered before our very eyes. A stacked deck, a rigged game, a grand illusion, a con; deception, deviance, distortion, dishonesty, all in the name of the good, the better, the just, the humane, the compassionate, the fair, and what's right.

Sure, I would like to think that things will improve, but they can't under the current conditions. I would like to think that humanity will come together and realize that they have much more in common than what separates us, but they won't as long as we can be so easily set against one another as we are. I would like to think that change could come without all the pain and suffering that most great changes in history have brought with them, but it's getting more and more difficult to hope otherwise.

Maybe it's time to just let it all collapse. Maybe we are headed into a new dark age. Maybe we simply haven't got the smarts or the will or the desire or the wherewithal to save ourselves from all the suffering. If we don't, then we don't deserve to not suffer. If we do, then maybe we should start doing something to embrace the change that will come.

A touch of magic

We love to think that we live in a rational world, one governed by reason, rules and good old common sense. Sometimes we do. Most of the time we don't. Over the millennia of human existence, there are some things that have changed very little.

I was reminded of this recently by a very banal, and, for me, uninteresting event which got more attention than I thought it deserved on my Facebook page. Apparently, a good number of people were very upset by the fact that a Cincinnati Bengals linebacker took a cheap and dangerous shot at a Steelers receiver. I watched the video, of course, the hit was unnecessary and excessive, and many fans were calling for punishment for the alleged offender. [Disclaimer: The reactions showed up on my timeline because I'm originally from Steeler country, so many of friends are still there or still root for the old home team. I'll admit: I don't, I don't care, and at this point in my life, even though I played it myself in my youth (practically a necessity for acceptance), I think American football is way past its prime and should be retired, but that's another story.] And, what I have to say has little to do with this particular sport -- it is truly just the catalyst -- but rather with who we are as human beings.

For all our crying out for freedom and individuality, we're still social creatures: we want to belong, somewhere, to some kind of group, either well-constituted, like a family, or even more amorphous like sports-clubs' fans. It's easiest to see in the US where sports have become an actual fetish. Sporting events are always clothed in drama, in excitement, from marching bands (everybody in lockstep) with lots of brass (battle horns) and drums (oh yeah, lots of drums), the teams' colors, painted faces (warpaint?), slogans, hymns, and symbols (the Steelers' "Terrible Towel" springs immediately to mind). There's lot of yelling, screaming, cheering, booing, singing, and wailing. It's for good reason that the word "fan" is merely a shortened form of the word "fanatic".

The marketing of these events, gladitorial in nature, in which winning is not nearly enough ... you have to defeat, stomp, crush, slaughter, obliterate, or annihilate your opponent. "Prepare for war" was one of the viral memes for the very game that became the focus of attention. And if all's fair in (love and) war, why would there be any concern for someone pushing the rules? Politically, it's acceptable, for example, as politics are often run very much like sporting events: we rally to the colors, sing the songs and hymns, blow the horns, beat the drums and set off to do the same to our enemies; it's funny how sports are considered harmless, even though they aren't, and the wars are known to be harmful, but they're treated as if they aren't.

In either case, there's a touch of magic about being in the stadium and going with the flow and the crowd, but when something bad happens, are we then individually no longer responsible. We fired our team on, we distort and disfigure ourselves to belong to the group, but then? From ancient cultures through the great empires and down to the present day, some things just haven't changed very much. We get caught up in the feeling of the moment, the rush of excitement, and we lose sight of the fact that what was once a haven for us isolated souls has become a hell for those who are not us.

Yes, it can happen anywhere.

Making stories true whether they are or not

Conspiracy theorists of a certain kind like to deny that we were ever on the moon. They denigrate that narrative by saying it's a myth. The most common use of the word "myth" is probably this one. When we want to stress the fictionality or untruth of a story, a tale, a narrative of any kind, we call it "just a myth".

There are stories that are documentably false, stories that have such a slight and small grain of truth in them that to even hint that they are real or true or accurate should be reason enough to doubt the intellectual integrity of the person making the claim. But, there are any number of such stories circulating and they are believed and cherished and held in high esteem nevertheless. The prime examples of which are those which somehow describe (some would go so far as to say define) our culture or nation or any similar larger-than-just-me group. It doesn't matter which particular culture or nation you take, they're all pretty much the same in this regard.

These stories are full of heroes and heroines, larger than life persons and deeds, catastrophic and cataclysmic events that threaten annihilation, superhuman feats of daring, unfathomable cleverness and wit ... the good guys always win, order is established (or restored), and if we would only keep these stories before us, we could live happily ever after. So, how is that in some cases we can slam others for propagating myths, but in certain other cases, we're willing to lay our lives down for a story we can verify is simply not true. That's one of the things that so fascinates me about human beings.

Some countries, like the Nordic ones for example, have actual old myths and sagas to call upon. Other, newer nations, like England, France, the USA have more recent histories, but their tales don't pale in comparison to the older ones. After all, they're just stories, they're just myths, so why do we get so flustered and hot under the collar when others, particularly someone from a different culture, calls them into question?

To many moderns -- or postmoderns, or whatever it is we think we are these days -- think that classical myths are simply childlike attempts to explain things the people couldn't understand. In a sense this is true, even today. Given our rather deficient understanding of history and the path humankind has traversed, given our overzealous belief in technology and our alleged advancements, we can't begin to appreciate them. If we can recognize, however, that what myths that we believe in do is give us some kind of common understanding of ourselves and who we are, then we can dig in a bit deeper and realize that perhaps the ideals they are trying to portray may be worth further consideration.

We obviously need new stories that bring us together, and we should be aware that it is easy to be blinded by one's own sense of greatness, or wanting to feel like more, or wanting some sense in one's life. What we need is to become aware of what these stories would mean if we could make them true. We need to be more conscious of their significance and the threats they bear. There are definitely two sides to the myth coin.