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"What now?" you ask?                

by Michael Kirwan — June 25, 2007

 

Hey, People---
    I haven’t bitched, ranted or pontificated in a long while and believe me, it hasn’t been because I’ve been simply delighted with the world in the past few years. On the contrary, I’ve been continually incensed, irritated and flabbergasted every single day since my last communiqué of this nature. Here are a few of the current items firmly embedded in my constricted craw.

1)  I know it should seem like an embarrassingly small matter (and yes, I’m aware of the fact that I’ve previously addressed the topic of CGI films) but I can’t shake off the just how genuinely disturbed I’ve been since viewing “Over The Hedge.”  First off,  I’d like to impress upon you how incredibly excited I was to witness the advent and development of a new visual art form in my lifetime. From early video games like “Mario Brothers,” to the amazing refinement of detail on display in “Tomb Raider,” then ten years later something like “Prince of Persia” creating believable new worlds for us to explore. As a side note to any gamers among you, find and play “Psychonauts,” an amazing collection of stunning environments to examine. But I digress. The rise of computer graphics and the endless possibilities of this art form excites me to no end. But for the most part, theatrical releases have repeatedly trotted out style over substance, millions of dollars for technical wizardry to convey the same old hackneyed, trite and insulting plot devices. I’m referring to strictly 100% graphic offerings here, not the augmented “Starship Troopers” or Harry Potter installments which have some (and in cases PLENTY of) merit.

 

Back to “Over The Hedge”....


   The movie introduces the realities of suburban sprawl and deforestation early on but fails to register even the slightest alarm or dismay from the characters. Woodland creatures wake up from hibernation to find their habitat reduced to little more than a couple of acres. Not a single creature flinches at this devastating turn of events. I guess dwindling food sources and mating possibilities aren’t all that important. Did I say “food resources?” After a montage of stomach-churning human eating/waste habits, it’s “accepted” by the animated animals that the over-processed, unnatural, creepy foods that people kill themselves with are a much more preferred nutritional supplement than their normal but depleted biological diet. The audience is encouraged to laugh as a squirrel fills up on sugary power drinks and a turtle concedes that “Doritos” are indeed tastier than bark. So, we are invited to believe that wildlife can flourish in a tiny boxed-in area dining on our polyunsaturated garbage.... as long as they can maintain “friendships.”  And this is the valuable message in a “family classic.” I studied the careful, beautifully rendered pelts on the characters. It was remarkable. But again, this was yet another impressive vehicle unloading a filthy, abhorrent, piss-soaked passenger. The “stars” lending their voices to this shit bag should hand over their paychecks to the Sierra Club.

Whew! I’m glad I got that off my chest. “What now?” you ask?

2) The “war” in Iraq. Too many things wrong with this bomb to even get into here. However, I’ve got a couple of ideas for exiting this disaster that have yet to be discussed by the directors, conservators or potential inheritors of this particular international faux pas.


   a) Withdraw the military completely. The “contractors” that Cheney installed can do as they please. We’ve got 2 million people in our prison system at the moment. Ship half of them to Iraq and the other half to Afghanistan. Give them each $5000 and no passport. They are now citizens of those countries. Anyone else convicted of a felony can join them. This isn’t unprecedented. This was how Australia became a civilized nation. I trust that our wily criminals will carve out new, law-abiding lives for themselves in no time, or die trying. Not only will we have a significant “Christian” presence immediately (because they’re all stupid enough to be believers or they wouldn’t have ended up where they are), but the Burger Kings, Foot Lockers, and gaudy jewelry emporiums will spring up like May flowers to service these brave ex-Americans in their survival campaign. And just think of the churches that’ll rush over to tend the miscreant flocks, breaking the Islamic stranglehold on the region. With all the criminals settled in, it wouldn’t be long before the whores, XXX shops, liquor stores, maybe even CASINOS!!!, dotted the sandy landscape, giving everybody a break from the 130 degree heat. How hilarious would it be to see some American running the “quickie mart” in the Middle East! And let’s not underemphasize how recidivism rates would decline if our convicted brethren became “Pioneers for Freedom.” It’s all good. And all that upkeep of prison money goes right to the Education system! Gotta love it!


   b) Sadly, the architects of this blood-soaked shit pile have too much money, influence and protection to be trusted to do their rightful duty in our new sister nations so they must all be tried in an international court and hanged ala Saddam Hussein. Sweets for the sweets.


   c) We’ve got the communication skills and marketing savvy to dismantle, discredit and defuse all religions worldwide. Let’s get started. Tax them for every dime and square foot of property they own. In less than a decade of mocking and deconstructing every belief system, we can make sure that no one will be suicide-bombing with the promise of heavenly virgins greeting them on the far side of Death’s door. Only smoldering gibbets of pointless flesh amongst the rubble. No more superstitious belief, no more allegiance to the supernatural, no more divided loyalties and, very possibly, no more war. Maybe then people can expect a little more from this life rather than suffering now to bask in the next.

Am I the only one who thinks that David Iglesias should be Attorney General of the United States and his fired cohorts should get the deputy positions below him? I am? Well.....
 



3) Reality TV.
   It’s been postulated that the reason these programs are so pervasive is that the production costs are minimal.  That may be the case, but why are we as a society so eager to accept one explanation as the definitive answer? We’ve become so easily satisfied with the single sound bite that we don’t even bother to expect that there might be multiple underlying factors at play. The “reality TV” phenomena is the purposeful maneuver by corporately owned media outlets to demean logical thinking, nullify the concept of moral responsibility and reduce the very meaning of life to a rigged game of musical chairs. That’s what 90% of these shows are. A weekly parade of arbitrarily selected losers and eventually a single anointed winner. So we are all getting used to the idea of being judged and delegated to an assigned role in life — that of someone not quite good enough to make it to the season finale. It’s such a common theme in these shows and it’s being absorbed as the way things actually work in America. Pity the pantheon of fallen players, envy the chosen few, but always assume that someone somewhere is sitting in judgment of you, watching for mistakes, ready to pull the plug on your act.


   Why have written stories, with plots and a theme, and professional performers when we can watch average people being made fools of on a whim? Why trust a single writer or director with a vision, someone who might have some wisdom  and clarity to impart when we can observe a bunch of dithering nobodies vie for prizes?  How can the “powers that be” (I’m an unapologetic old hippie) trust some artsy-fartsy type to put the right kinds of ideas into the viewers heads? It’s reached that point. The general population is held in such low regard that we are no longer to be exposed to anything that might be construed as provocative or meaningful. Can’t have that. The consumers needn’t be burdened with thoughts. They might start asking questions. It’s best to simply remind them that they have no power over and over again.

4) More Television Stuff- I watch too much of it...
   Does anyone else think that there’s an excessive amount of “Law & Order” on TV? Not just the three or four of the series bearing that name, but the CSI’s, the Numb3rs, the Judge Judy  clones, as well as the endless “true crime” hour-longs glutting the airwaves. Lock Up. Cops. City Confidential. Snapped. Why is crime and punishment such a staple of American viewing habits? Are all societies so fascinated by their nation’s determination to put people behind bars? Are other populations so inundated by the pursuit of justice? The USA does have more folks incarcerated per capita than any other country on earth. EVER. We do have a “prison industry”. Are we as known for that fact as much as we are known for making movies around the world?
   I’m just raising the question here. I have no concrete corresponding conspiracy to launch into.... YET!
   But there are two things I’d like to bring up in this vein.
a) Why do these beautiful crime scene technicians (and really, when was the last time you saw even a moderately attractive woman scientist in real life?) have such gigantic cascading hairdos when they are forever hovering inches above butterflied cadavers? It seems like they should be fingering brain matter from their locks regularly.
b) I can’t even watch the Miami CSI. I lived there. No one, absolutely no one, takes their job that seriously in Miami. Everyone is corrupt or incompetent and in most cases, both. I’m not slamming Miami. Just stating a fact. I have to guffaw every time I accidentally turn it on and see an expression of actual concern on one of the actors’ faces. Nobody cares about anything there. It may be the climate, it may be the proximity to the Bermuda Triangle, it might be that the buildings on South Beach look like melted birthday cakes. But trust me, no one is doing anything of consequence there. Read Carl Hiassen’s “Skin Deep” and you’ll understand how things work in Miami. Seriously. I’d watch the show if they all did blow, fucked each other into utter embarrassment and botched every case they handled. That’s the CSI: Miami that I’d be delighted by.
c) “To Catch A Predator”
   This puerile show would be better titled “To Catch A Stooge”. Most of these “captured” characters are just everyday Joes and despite the tut-tutting and tsk-tsking that the producers bring to bear, the fact is that all men (and apparently quite a few women given the recent spate of hot blonde teacher/student reports) would like to fuck a teenager. They haven’t yet exhibited the annoying and demanding traits of adulthood and whatever sex you have with them will be interesting because they have little to compare it with. These poor dopes were duped into believing that they’d found a willing and eager partner. And if no one is being forced or coerced, is it really any of the government’s business who’s fucking who? These guys were lead to believe that these fake teenage girls were amenable to their advances. What I find most offensive about this program is that the guys get arrested basically for THINKING about having sex with an (not even in real life) underage person. Thought crimes are a very dangerous path for any country to trod. Unless these guys had actually boned an adolescent girl I can’t see where they’ve perpetrated a crime. It’s that “conspiracy to commit...” that bothers me. It’s hard to accept that Americans have adopted this practice into the judicial system. I anticipated doing something illegal, therefore I’m guilty? If no person or property is damaged I fail to see how an intention can be jail-worthy.
  I also have a problem with this “one size fits all” mentality that’s been rammed down our thoughts for the past few decades (and yes, I do blame Oprah).  18 is a very arbitrary age of consent when you come to think about it. I started having sex with my best friend when I was 13. I always walked around at night to run into horny people. I became a father when I was 16. And I turned out marvelously. I’m just saying that 18 isn’t some kind of magical transformative moment wherein an individual is suddenly imbued with wisdom and coping skills. Oft times you can pick up some of that in a park after midnight, I certainly did. Some people can deal just with sex at an earlier age and each case should be looked at and dealt with fairly. It’s not a mistake for everyone to get frisky at 15, just for girls. Hahahaha!!!! But to have laws that label every sex act as an assault before the age of eighteen is a very sick and twisted view of humanity. It’s troubling. These kid’s hormones are raging for a reason, and cold showers and prayer aren’t always the answer.
   I’ve charted a convoluted path to where I really wanted to go with this. In the end, I see no problem with all of us refraining from indulging with the younger set for legal reasons but I do think it’s monumentally hypocritical for us all to pretend that we’re shocked and disgusted by the very premise. Lock them up if you please (assuming they’ve actually fucked a minor) but don’t act like it hasn’t crossed your mind on occasion. Pul-eeze.
d) This new show, “Army Wives”. Go to any military base you you please in this country and look at the spouses of soldiers. Fat, terribly coifed, sweatpants with matching top in pastel colors, no manners whatsoever, most with that slightly retarded cast to their expression....just the most unappetizing of females you could possibly imagine. Certainly not the well-educated beauties you see in this Lifetime program. It might’ve looked good on paper but this thing is pure fantasy and should be on the Sci-Fi channel. But not during the hours that I watch it.


And if that didn’t get you angry.....

5) I’ve never quite grasped the reason why military personnel are held in such high regard. Statues, tributes, flag-waving and commendations are heaped on these “brave, wonderful” people all the time but aren’t soldiers just poorly paid mass murderers on foreign soil? If they were paid to kill strangers in the United States they’d be called “hit men”, but because they’re doing the same exact activity in a far off country they are bestowed with a HERO status. It’s still murder, isn’t it? It’s just killing people at the behest of your government. Other people who are in turn trying to kill you for whatever cause they represent. I just fail to see where all of the “honor” springs from. Why in this day and age are were still lionizing murderers?
   I can’t help but wonder if from the beginning of time every soldier on both sides had laid down his arms, turned to the King/Emperor/Pope/General and said, “This isn’t my fight.”, what the history of the world would be like. We hear about glorious battles, and sophisticated weaponry and strategic masterminding but doesn’t it all boil down to taking another human life? Are we supposed to be proud to have caused the death of young men, just because they weren’t born in America? I don’t get it. And the using of “religion” to justify any killing is the height of irony.
   Is this warrior adulation akin to religion, a subconscious vestigial leftover from the birth of civilization?
   People act like it’s so tragic when a soldier is killed in the line of duty but isn’t that what they’re there for? To kill or be killed? Isn’t that essentially what any war is all about?
   Just an aside here. It seems that the notion of the representative armies of nations facing off in armed conflict are pretty much over. For the foreseeable future it looks like armies will be used to clash with really pissed-off civilian combatants. Without uniforms or generals or discernible structure, just regular folks picking up whatever weaponry they can lay claim to and going nuts. It seems that elaborate undercover networks worldwide would be more effective than billion-dollar missile defense programs. It’ll all boil down to who delivers the message to whom, not how well we can march in formation during parades....

6) Wow. Today, June 24th, 2007, the “News Headlines” top story reads as “Gay Pride Focuses on Religion, Marriage”. This is one of the most depressing moments of my life and puts me at a pivotal intersection in the pursuit of my own identity. Obviously, if these are indeed the foci of being gay at this time in history, I must at this point announce that I am no longer one of that number. Take me off the rolls. I’ll have to invent a new category to describe myself as, but apparently I am no longer aligned with the stated objectives of the gay community. Wow. I feel such a sense of dismay and abandonment.                                                                   “Religion”? “Marriage”? That’s not what I signed up for 30 years ago. Not at all. I signed up to be a social outcast, a degenerate, a sexual outlaw, a renegade, an anti-citizen, a blight on the countryside and in general a “boogeyman” for those who championed both religion and marriage. Sucking dick, deconstruction societal norms, being an anathema to “decency”. I didn’t just join for the cock, I joined for the revolutionary contrariness. I fully expected to hold up a billboard to the world announcing, “Your world isn’t real, you can shape it into whatever you please.” And look what has happened.
   The “new” queers didn’t have to deal with the revulsion and oppression. They didn’t have to learn the strategy, tactics and subterfuge just to stay alive. They weren’t put in the position of questioning the basic tenets shoved down our collective throats. Because once a person realizes that “Boy Meets Girl” isn’t forged in stone, all of the other supposed truisms and values are subject to examination. And debunking. They never had to get tricky to justify their place in the world. So, I’m no longer “gay”. I’ll keep you apprized of my new status as it becomes clear to me. 

    Of course I have a boatload of other vexing issues, but I’ll save them for another time. Buy some of my fucking artwork, or better yet, just send me some money.
 

 

THE  END

 

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