“In a year one can learn a lot, age a lot. I’m definitely affected. I’m waiting for the next onion layer.”
There’s a great album title by the Incredible String Band, “The 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion.”
“I like that.”
That’s probably as old as you are.
“I’ve been writing about my early early adulthood. Going back to some painful times. Hmm. 5,000 layers of the onion.”
There’s always trepanation.
“That reminds me. You know, the zombies in the movie Land of the Dead are good metaphors for now. It seems as though everybody’s asleep. They’re not changing their lifestyles to reduce energy and waste. They just want to turn the switch, and everything keeps working. As long as we don’t see what’s in the next room, it’s OK. And in the next room is the Third World.”
We’re the First World. Where’s the Second?
“According to Wikipedia, the Second World was a phrase used to describe the communist states within the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. But now capitalism’s won, and the whole world’s becoming the Third World. That’s what globalization is. A race to the bottom. I’m so sorry, honey. I can’t help but think about these depressing things.”
Well, we have to know what’s going on. Because we’re going to be living in it. We have to survive. I’m starting to understand this is the Zen goal of living happy in an unhappy world. You and I are trying to live as bright a life as we can in these very dark times.
“You’re absolutely right. So anyways, that’s what I like about the Romero movies. They’re very metaphoric.”
Very metaphoric. He had Dawn of the Dead take place in a shopping mall, and you can’t get much cooler than that.
“In my early childhood we were poor, and my girlfriend and I wondered what that would be like if we could have anything we wanted in a shopping mall. Our goal was to become good consumers. It’s crazy, isn’t it? But that’s what that’s like when you never have new clothes, your parents don’t have a new car, your mom says she’s broke. That’s what these aspiring developing countries want. New things.”
I have yet to have a new vehicle. Unless you count a bicycle. Used cars, used motorcycle, used pickup. Maybe I’ll buy me a new SUV.
“Over my dead body! Ah, well. I’ve been thinking about us settling down. We’ll have to make money through writing, or I’ll have to get a job.”
Or we can rob banks that are next to subway stations, so we can use public transport for getaway.
“It was interesting watching the zombie movie’s mechanisms of commerce. That’s how we are, in this world. We’re mercenary.”
Yes, people are. They don’t seem to realize that money doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a symbol that everybody has to agree on.
“You know the Federal Reserve? That’s a private bank. I wonder what kinda bad stuff goes on there. They can just *print* money.”
I think the news would be to find places there’s NOT corruption around the world.
The whole problem here is that mankind has never been very nice to mankind, or the planet. And you have a lot of nice people doing a lot of nice things, but nice people are always outnumbered by bad people.
“I think the concept of “niceness” was manufactured.”
Offworld?
“No, by the bad people. Well, rulers have always fostered a state religion for their legitimacy. And, there’s also something called the Middle Class Ethic. And people raised with the Middle Class Ethic initially give the benefit of the doubt to authority, that government is benign, that presidents aren’t questionable.”
Where actually it’s cancerous.
“That’s how I used to be. I used to have the Middle Class Ethic. And the authorities would pat me on the head, tell me I was gonna get far. Nice little Democrat. We see you’re buying into our framework.“
