Another One Bites the Dust

"We hope Qhadafhi will be killed or captured soon so that you don't have to fear him anymore." -- Hillary Clinton

When talking about the "new" style of totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt said, "...terror is no longer used as a means to frighten and exterminate opponents, but as an instrument to rule masses of people who are perfectly obedient."

What we see happening in Libya now is the end of the old style of totalitarianism, where one man rises through the ranks to rule with an iron fist and an example of the new kind of global totalitarianism, where powerful Western nations police the "third world" and make political choices for the weaker nations, while keeping their own people subjugated through terror. The neo-Cons most blatantly did this with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. They did it with orange threat levels read over the radio daily, along with the weather and UV index. We saw it when our troops found the once dangerous Saddam Hussein (we helped it become dangerous) buried up to his neck in a ditch in back of his family home. And in his televised hanging. And today we saw it recorded on a cell phone, as the bloody body of the leader of Libya for over 40 years, Muammar Gaddafi, was beaten and possibly shot in the head. The UN is investigating.

Okay, Gaddafi was a bad guy, one of the worst. He oppressed masses of his own people. He may have used chemical weapons on them (I'm still researching). Like Hussein, he was a glorified gangster who killed people routinely. He was also almost certainly very nasty to women and fathered this douchebag (hey, what's he doing talking to Hillary Clinton, huh?).

He financed all of this by selling oil to Saudi Arabia, not really know for their strong history of civil rights. Of course Saudi Arabia sells oil to, uh, well if I'm not mistaken, US the United States of America. So, I guess that means oil taken from Libya (sold by an oppressive regime run by a sociopath, then sold to the Saudi gang, then sold to us) ends up in our cars. That means we've been involved, however peripherally, in Gaddafi's oppression.

Certainly, our government and industries have been involved in the Middle East for decades. For better or worse. We pay the consequences of that involvement. One interesting fact is knowing where Gaddafi's guns and bombs and tear gas came from. In this case, the answer is: Europe. Private companies in Italy, France and the UK sold lots of weapons to Gaddafi over the years. Ah, the never-ending intricacies of the Military Industrial Complex.

To paraphrase Charlie Chaplin, death to dictators and all those who make themselves strong at the expense of others.

New York City

[note: I wrote this a few months back in my notebook. I was no doubt responding to some of the pressures that we now see taking center stage in downtown Manhattan.]

New York City has lied to us all.

Early on a Monday morning, as I walk to work, I feel her creaking and groaning beneath my feet, the machinery slowly clicking into gear. When you are on the streets, you feel the rumble under your feet, the buzz in the air. New York City is happening. All day, every day, wave after wave of people going about their routines. From the Guatemalan immigrant who is on his way to work for two dollars an hour in the back of a deli to the self-possessed Wall Street type with his pin stripes and fuck-you grin, NY has it's own morning feel.

However pleasant or unpleasant, grey or sun-filled the day might be. And whether I am filled with purpose or ambling confusedly in search of caffeine, the beginning of each city day fills me with the same dread and wonder -- as if anything could happen, from the dangerous to the banal.

In my country-bred mind, I think of NYC as "a failed experiment." Maybe I'm just jealous of all the people with more money and connections, the beautiful shiny-faced couples, the VIPs. Or maybe it's just that I see the goings on from a different perspective than those raised here. But to my mind, it's an endlessly exploitative loop that illustrates exactly how liberal, Western capitalism has failed to protect its laborers. To my ears, it sounds like the death bell of American democracy. Oh sure, all the appearances are in place: gung-ho cops and firemen who will bravely lay down their lives for their fellow Americans, patriotic Union members with "Never Forget" sewn into their uniforms. The language too gets it just right. Bloomberg talks endlessly about how immigrants make us strong, about how inclusive NYC is, and the ability of anyone to make it here, the American Dream, yada-yada.

But to me, it feels empty. The appearances manufactured. The rhetoric recycled from "what worked before" and cheesy movies. The face of New York has changed much in 100 years, but the underlying structure is the same: the rich few (aka the 1%) exploit the poor many (the 99%). How they do this is so intrinsic to New York culture as to be invisible to those outside. While it may be said that Los Angeles is the city of empty appearances, NYC, the city of Madison Avenue and television, has its own smoke and mirrors in place. Its own mythology.

One of the things I would like to explore on this blog is this mythology of New York City (and by extension, America) and how it is being challenged by economic recession and angry masses of people without jobs. It seems the once fresh and attractive face of NY (as portrayed in movies and television) has a few wrinkles now, the makeup needs a touching up -- and, are those bags under her eyes?

I believe the experience of working hard and "making it" in NYC offers very little for most of us. Except for the experience of working and belonging to this city, and, more beneficially, to each other. That in itself is the reward offered. The ability to say to outsiders, "I'm a New Yorker. I'm tough and resilient. I can make it there! Even after the 9/11 attacks, I'm still here." There is some spiritual camaraderie in that, I suppose. What gives New York its power, its essence, is not the culture industry or the fashion industry or the endless production of money and beauty for others to consume -- rather, it is the human experience that has imprinted itself on this city. All of us living, working and dying in the City have given it its soul.

Not what is made here. (What real thing is made here?) Not the ephemeral "culture" we export throughout the world. That seems meaningless to me, it withers and dies and more grows up to replace it. It serves for a while to be bought and sold -- and then forgotten. In this culture that reproduces and devalues its own cultural products, what is left for the human soul?

The only meaningful answer, I feel, is to be found in the struggle itself. The fight for the human soul rages on, whether political or personal -- or both. While we may have been devalued, made into interchangeable parts by the crushing force of the market, the struggle for humanity remains the only truly worthwhile struggle left to us.

The trick will be to reclaim public spaces for us -- all of us. To reclaim NY for New Yorkers. It will take a sea change in the way we think about ourselves and our city. It will take a peaceful revolution.

A Rockefeller Square where, instead of Atlas, we see the immigrants who truly hold this city on their shoulders. If they shrug, all of this edifice will come tumbling down. And even Mayor Bloomberg and all his cops and cronies, will not be able to put it together again.

The March is On!!!

Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the world.” Today he would have pointed to our electric media and said, “I will stand on your eyes, your ears, your nerves, and your brain, and the world will move in any tempo or pattern I choose.” We have leased these “places to stand” to private corporations.

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964

I support the protesters in Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. Why? Because they are right? Yes, but more importantly because they are there. Because they have demanded the right to take a stand for what they believe in. The words they use are important.

"Money for Jobs"

"We are the 99%"

"No More Wall $treet Greed", etc.

But the actions are far more important. The right to assemble is being demanded. The right to free speech is being used, actively, with strength and compassion. Old Hippies and angry, Guy Fawkes mask wearing kids are joining in the streets of NYC to protest the fact that while 1% of us worry about profit margins, the other 99% are scared of not being able to feed our families, of living in a world where the near future could very well look like "RoboCop." A world where a few corporations run the world, a lucky few have jobs, and the government exists to facilitate smooth functioning of business models. A place where cops beat people with sticks, spray them with pepper spray and arrest grandmothers. Think I'm exaggerating? Well, I got two words for you. Open your fucking eyes! And then maybe take a look at yesterday's NY Times.

McLuhan spoke about "private corporations" taking over our "places to stand." In a city as corrupt of New York, where we are ruled, I mean, governed, by one of the Oldboys himself, where the name Bloomberg is itself synonymous with Trading and the Trading Floor technology (see the "Bloomberg Keyboard") where the mayor is someone who made his money serving Wall Street and now maintains his power by sucking up to Wall Street -- in this city, the home of Wall Street, is the escalating police violence really a surprise? The private corporations have taken the city over to the point where the only public space safe for the protesters, Zuccotti Park, is not owned by the city at all, but by the relatively small, Canadian company Brookfield Office Properties. Can you imagine these people camping overnight in Washington Square or Central Park? I can't. Bloomberg would have had them out of there so fast, it would have made our heads spin.

Zuccotti Park has become the Tiananman Square for a movement that is all about American greed, but, also, all about the core American values of Free Speech, Free Assembly and Free Press (the last one pointed out by its absence). The Owners are in control of the Press. A few private corporations have swallowed up an appalling majority of American news outlets. I don't have the figures in front of me, but I will add them when I have the time. I am going to write in the coming days about how the Mass Media is handling this event, now that it has become too big to contain and cover up.

Breaking Bad (and Getting Worse)

For those of us who masochistically enjoy following the ongoing train wreck that is the lives of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, season 4 has been particularly compelling. Both characters are developing along the lines established in the first three seasons. Which is to say, they are both becoming very, very bad. Yet, despite the show's moral compass heading decidedly south, both men's decisions are shown as a necessary response to their environment. Yes, Jesse murdered someone at the end of season 3. It's hard to argue, however, that, at that moment, he had any choice. Walt was about to be killed and Jesse was forced to decide where his loyalty lies. For Jesse, Walt still represents, in spite of far he has fallen, a link to a world of middle-class normalcy, a way back up the social ladder towards respectability. He is also the only father figure Jesse has.

Both men are faced with choices about whether to maintain their dangerous course into criminality, or to jump ship and confess to the police. Before the murder, Jesse begs Walter to give up cooking meth and go to the police for protection. It seems an admission of the fact that neither of these guys is really cut out to be a criminal. Walter's ego and Jesse's naivete have pushed them this far, but they are both out of their element. Walter's stone face during this scene says it all. He won't quit, even though he has millions of dollars, his life and his family are in danger, and he is being forced into a life of violent crime. He can't quit, because of his ego, his pride, his machismo -- basically because Walter White has to win, has to be the alpha dog.

In terms of the other characters, the other desperate men and women in this world, we come to understand them a little better too. Even Gustavo, who has been the most opaque character thus far, gets his own episode. Unlike the earlier drug pushers of the cartel, Gus receives a back story. This episode helps to present him as a human being, with painful reasons for what he does. Yes, he is very dangerous, and will do practically anything to succeed, but he has feelings and his own code that he lives by -- just as Walter and Jesse do.

As we head towards the climax of the series, I feel more and more that Walter will get his much deserved comeuppance, yet I still can't help feeling sorry for the guy. He did start cooking drugs in order to set his family up for life. He did this when under the death sentence of lung cancer. In one touching (yet dark) scene, a fellow cancer patient comes to Walter for sympathy. He talks all the self-help wisdom of "accept your fate, let go, don't try to control your destiny." Walter's response, however hubristic, has a certain power. Basically, he says, "Fuck the universe. Until I am told it's over, I'm in charge." It's easier to understand his fatalistic outlook when one keeps in mind his illness and the financial struggles that he has been through.

The writers of Breaking Bad are careful to show us how these character became so desperate in the first place, just how they were driven to such violent extremes. And that is why it's the best show on television.

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[Spoiler Alert]

Season 4 Finale

The perverted sense of humor of Vince Gilligan and his crew are once again at play in the season finale in the form of the title "Face Off." Gus finally gets his, in spite of his sociopathic brilliance. Yes, it could have been Walt and/or Jesse getting their comeuppance, but it seems that Walt was a few steps ahead of the drug kingpin himself. It's a flawless ending to a brilliant season, and sets us up perfectly for the final season, as it will surely pit Walt versus his young prodige.

Gus's Achilles heal is revealed quickly at the beginning of the episode, and I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before. His hatred for the elderly Salamanca is the only thing that causes him to go outside of his safety zone. His trip to the old capo's nursing home puts him at the mercy of Walter, and, this time, our hero doesn't screw it up. The triple murder is a bit of criminal master-mindedness that ties up the more than one loose end for Walt. The man who threatened his family is dead, as is the last remaining member of the Mexican drug cartel.

We even get a shot of Walter gloating as he looks at Gustavo's abandoned car, with a close up of its Pollos Hermanos air freshener. That and the final scene, as Walter utters to Skylar, that he has "won" prove that his ego is intact after all of the lies and murders, the threats to his children, and general horribleness of the last four seasons. The major conflicts remain the same: Walt versus Skylar and her sense of (need for) middle-class respectability, and, of course, Walter versus Jesse, his only true partner and friend, who will have to decide if he really needs Walter.

Walt has played the role of Jesse's figurative father throughout the series, teaching him sometimes, even saving his life, but, on the other hand, limiting and denigrating him. Will Jesse find the strength to strike out on his own now that Gus is out of the picture? The very important clue to this upcoming conflict is the morning glory plant. We end on a close up of that plant, sitting square in Walter's backyard. Did he poison Jesse's figurative son just to save his own hide? Or did Gus really need to go? The wild card here is the only other father figure left for Jesse: Mike. Will Mike let Gus's death go without retaliation? It seems that he would, but, still, I can't see him working for Walter. The tangled web that has been woven throughout the show seems certain to catch its major players.

30 Minutes or Less

One thing I thought was original and fun about this buddy flic (or that dreaded word, "bromance") was that we get to explore two different pairs of buddies. The good guys have a relationship that goes back to childhood, but so, it appears, do the bad guys. And, in fact, the relationship between Dwayne and Travis (the villains of this silly but fun story) actually grows through the course of the film. So now we have not only interesting bad guys who are actual human beings but also get to have a friend that's more than a sidekick to, you know, kick around. Travis, the less confidant but ultimately more sane of the two, actually develops enough to stick up for himself and to stop Dwayne from doing something really bad.

What was fun about watching Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) and Chet (Aziz Ansari) together was their strong chemistry as friends. You can believe that these guys actually care about each other. You can also understand why Chet would be fed up with the listless Nick (a much darker, more depressive character than the sunny one played by Eisenberg in Zombieland).

Anyway, the two pairs of buddies get caught up in bad plans and much posturing and all hell breaks loose, only to be very neatly wrapped up with an acute moral sense. The whole tone of the movie captures the vulnerability and testosterone of male adolescence very well, even though the characters are older than that. Like the likable losers of Step-Brothers these four guys have somehow managed to squeak through their thirties without much being demanded of them. However, when the rubber meets the road, they are loyal to their friends. Men around the world who have much more complicated lives will breath a sigh of relief.

Osama is Dead

Osama is dead. But I can't get over the feeling that he won.

The world is a darker place than it was 10 years ago. We have less privacy and less dignity as human beings, even in America, yet as a culture our anxiety has worsened. I'm not a psychologist or a statistician but does anyone doubt it?

We seem closer than ever to an Orwellian future -- a future that doesn't seem all that "futuristic" anymore. Movies and books about near apocalypse states of being (World War Z, Children of Men spring to mind), much of their satiric bite comes from the fact that they refer to stuff as it actually is, right now.

Like the amber waves of our prairies, I watch as waves of fascism rise and fall around the world. In our media, in our systems of authority, in our religion, in our government, in our own bodies.

As perverted as it is, Osama sacrificed his life for what he believed in. This does not make him a hero, because he was evil. However, his does make his narrative attractive to many of dispossesed of the world, Muslim or not.

Theodor Adorno wrote in one of his essays, "The [current] hero no longer makes any sacrifices but now enjoys success. He does not come of age and assume freedom through his deeds for his career is simply the revelation of his conformity." Some of these "heroes," according to Adorno, are the banker and the career politician, "terms of abuse, even in the United States." They are hated for their arrogant assumption of moral and financial superiority. We, as Americans, are hated for those things now. The name "American" has been tainted and is considered inherently oppressive now. Reclaiming the concept of the "good American" will be an uphill battle and we cannot wage it while occupying other nations without legality or common sense. What the world thinks of us is important, even what poor and weak nations think of us is important, because, at the very least, it will impact the security of our children and grandchildren.

The Good America was built on the values of inclusion and tolerance, and, most importantly, respect for the individual and his and her right to make a life for themselves without having the system stacked against them. This is what capitalism and democracy are meant to achieve for humanity; otherwise, why bother?

Our economic system in this country has become predatory. It is fair to say that it is no longer democratic, because it favors a tiny financial elite. This is the "Judas Economy" (one that favors capital over labor) discussed by William Wolman and Anne Colamosca. It's clear to many of us that this has negative effects throughout the globe, and this is the true source of the resenting of Americans by so many. That and the many illegal and ill-considered wars since World War II.

Last year, many American banks saw an increase in profits, major increases, as it happens. JP Morgan/Chase Bank saw an increase of 40 Billion dollars. Its CEO (his name is Jamie Demon, I mean Dimon, and he wants to punch you in the face) pocketed nearly one percent of that, the rest shared in the typical upside down pyramid style of Corporate America. I think its safe to say that janitors and computer technicians and administrative personnel are not making more than they were a year ago, or even five years ago. Even such well-known beneficiaries of American corporate charity as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs almost doubled his pay to $18.6m for 2010 "in spite of a slump in profits."

At some point we will have to admit that stealing from the working people of America in order to maintain the current system is as flawed as supporting dictators in other countries to maintain the global status quo. It was this sort of thinking that got us involved with people like Osama bin Laden in the first place (back during the cold war, when he was our friend).

And we will have to question our own economic and foreign policy. How can we promote good in the world? What is is to be a good American? It is not blithely assuming power that was not earned, or making the shareholders happy, or increasing profit margins at the expense of human margins. True heroism involves sacrificing one's own comfort in order to accomplish what is right and good for one's family and the world beyond it. Smart Americans know this. Americans like the best of the grunts in Afghanistan right now, the kind of people who do their job and try to do as little harm as possible. Interestingly, these Americans tend to be against the war when they return, if not before. These people put their lives on the line for very little pay (enlisted men start out at less then $20,000 per year). Meanwhile, at home, their families are stuggling to pay both the heat bill and the car payment this month while navigating the obscure rules of their HMO -- in other words, dealing with the same crap as the rest of us, but with the possible death of their spouse looming over their head.

Tonight, I will raise my glass not to America and her past glories, or the death of one evil man, but to these true heroes.

True Grit

Somebody's gonna win an Oscar, people! Maybe the young actress who plays Mattie Ross, maybe the Coen Bros. themselves. Jeff Bridges is not allowed, because he won last year, but he may get a nomination for his performance -- one I enjoyed a heck of a lot. I found the movie in general to be a beautifully produced, well-acted take on the classic story.

I must admit I've never seen the 1974 version. Strange, but somehow it's just one of those movies that slipped under my radar. However, this made for a real treat when I went to see the new Coen Bros. version, as I was only familiar with the story in the barebones sense.

I thought the Coen Bros. managed to capture a world and its language with exceptional brilliance. The story is a simple one but compelling. A daughter's revenge sets in motion a set of events that pit good versus evil, and each of the characters must choose which side of that moral divide they want to be on. While avoiding some of the darker elements that might have been addressed when a girl of 14 wanders into the wilderness with the drunkard Rooster Cogburn and the strange Mr. LeBoeuf (a self-effacing and effective Matt Damon), I found it enjoyable to see how basic human decency, however flawed, can slometimes prevail over evil.

TRON:LEGACY and the Good Father

There are two fathers in Tron: Legacy: the Zen and kindly father as played by an appropriately aged Jeff Bridges and the scarily young and aggressive one played by a digitally altered version of the same actor.

The good father is concerned for the young James Flynn, and can see the ways in which he has failed as a father to prepare him for their predicament. Then there is the over-confident and competitive Clu. A digital Narcissus, born of the elder Flynn’s need for a partner and, perhaps, someone as smart as himself to help him set up the “perfect system”, one which will help to revolutionize an ailing humanity (certainly no argument there). However, Clu turns out to be too good at creating perfection; he cannot understand the value of the new creatures which spawn in the Tron-verse, the Iso Algorithms, or Isos. Their presence upsets Clu, who organizes a genocide against the innocent creatures. Whether or not this is successful is an important part of the plot of the new Tron movie.

The interplay between the two fathers, and the challenges that James faces, along with his sprightly female friend Quorra, make for an interesting movie. The best part for me, however, was, toward the end, when Kevin Flynn realizes that he is both the wise Flynn and the ambitious Clu, and must somehow manage to combine the two sides of his personality without destroying his son in the process.