| IM DROWNING.
Its hard to go through things about any war. A war against terror. A war against people. Its all the same to the government which I buy into. We claim to be fighting against fear, against terrorism, against oppression, but are we just on the outside looking in? Am I in any place, really, to justify going into another country and fighting something that I can honestly say my country itself is suspect of? Emmanuel Kant argued that in order to be morally justifiable, actions had to be universalizable -- susceptible to becoming universal laws applicable to any individuals. If it is right for A to steal from B, then it will have to be right for B to steal from A, or C from D. Kant's theory assumes a moral universe of equal beings, all of whom would be subject to the same rights and prohibitions. In making moral choices, Kant contended, human beings treat one another as "ends in themselves." But as much as Kant's theory seems true in our heart of hearts, is impossible in this age. How can we apply universal equality when it doesn't even exist in our own nation? Why is it that the United States is one of the last countries to have yet signed CEDAW, the convention on women's rights? How can we say that we are intervening on the behalf of freedom when we as a nation are reluctant to grant unwavering freedom to over fifty percent of our population? The United States continually bullies the world, but they realize that there are repercussions to their actions. The reason they don’t sign the treaty is because they fear they will be prosecuted under their auspices. The United States continues to apply a campaign of fear to the rest of the world.
So when I went through my media to look for imago, I avoided the dead baby, the weeping widow, and the oblivious soldier. I looked for even more basic images. Images that conveyed fear. Images the conveyed otherfication. All the images we as a class work on come out of this horrible seed of fear. The powers that be place this seed in our minds and then it moves. It takes root slowly, first allowing us to see the option of war against "evil-doers". Then we begin to rationalize it. Then support it. Eventually, we persecute those who don’t follow our belief system because they are traitors and un-American. Why? Because they don’t fear what they are told to. Are these people, these alternative thinkers, whether they be in academia, the art studio, or even the farm and church, out to hurt America? No. They are not. They do not fear us. It is us that fear them. All my imago convey some sense of fear and silence. It is my belief, though, that the fear is truly within us.
The fear to question our government, as well as ourselves, is what forces us to remain in the status quo. I have one imago that has three dostoyevsky-esque men pointing out the window at something we cannot see. It could be Godzilla. Or Space Invaders. Or could it maybe be terrorists? The logos is that these men are pointing to the truth, gaping in wide-eyed grief. They cannot stare the truth in the eye, because then they are staring their own ignorance, their own culpability in the eye.
President Bush, after the attacks of 9/11, addressed congress, declaring, "Freedom is at war with fear." I find it hard to believe, personally. Freedom is at war with fear? Its almost laughable! To think that after a massive unwarranted attack on our home soil we were declaring war on fear. Fear is what leads us to declare war! If we went to war against fear, there would be no Afghanistan; there would be no Iraq. If we declared war on fear we should be internalizing our conflict, addressing our issues with nations that view us in a bad light. We would stop oppressing nations through the IMF and the World Bank, the WTO, the G8 and other tools of economic sabotage. We would stop ignoring oppressed people in the Sudan and Palestine and, conversely, we would stop playing a hand in the oppressment of other peoples in places like Haiti and China. We would work to end AIDS through education, not ignorance.
This consciousness of fear makes me upset. I was watching American History X a few weeks ago and the Neo-Nazi Danny says that blacks are more likely to commit crimes as evidenced by one in three black males being in some phase of the correctional system. This statistic is not a lie, it isn’t doctored. But at the same time, how can we as Americans buy into this? The only reason this statistic remains is because we perpetuate it. We do nothing about this rupture in culture because we think its too out of hand, but its too out of hand because we fail to see the rupture in culture. But do we? Or is it really that we choose not to see it? Is it that perhaps, in the deepest, darkest recesses or the American psyche, we CHOOSE to ignore it. The American way lives on. Oppression and denial. In Iraq, soldiers are fighting to defend America, to defend freedom. But are they? Or are they truly pawns mobilized to defend the status quo? The idea that we should just close our eyes and tell ourselves everything is ok? The quote by George Orwell from 1984 as used in Fahrenheit 9/11 puts it best, "In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its won subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia (Let's say Afghanistan) or East Asia (Iraq) but to keep the very structure of society intact."
I DID THAT FOR LIBERATION ARTS CLASS.
I GOT AN A.
and now the senate approved ANWR drilling. Hmm. Happy or no. its just these goddamned binaries. republican democrat. girl boy. gay straight. happy sad.
WHERE IN FUCKS SAKE IS THIS GODDAMNED THIRD SPACE. IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, THERE IS PROBABLY ONLY TWO PERCENT OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION THAT CAN CLAIM TO BE GAY OR STRAIGHT. GOD. IT ISNT THAT HARD.
all my friends i smoke with have seemed to progress. i havent smoked since november. troubling? slightly.
i saw million dollar baby. it was a movie. has anyone heard the idea that hollywood uses the derivates of only seven basic plots? i went to a masters workshop with danny hoch and he was talking about how theatre has stagnated. we work in what works. even indie films. you dont make art for your own personal pleasure. because it doesnt pay the bills. which leads me into a whole nother fucking dillema because the only people that can innovate are those who have the money, and therefore innovation doesnt represent the people!
PEOPLE!
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
ART NO LONGER REFLECTS THE MASSES
and on that note our play is booked in university church. lets come congratulate ourselves on our yuppiness.
i really need to liberate myself. somehow. somewhere. something. i dont know.
throw a life ring over if you got the time. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| hi guys.
im feeling a long entry. here we go.
so yr two and a half at USC. going a lot better thn year one. i have darrel and milan, my two best friends, living with me again and some guy named john from queens whose a pretty cool guy too. his gfriend lily is nice though i have reason to suspect she doesn shave her armpits. we were watching a movie, i think it was chicago, and her arm was up and from where i was it sure looked that way. our next door neighbors are kinda weird, partyholic freshmen. it like this phenomenea, where kids who work really hard to get into USC cut loose first semester to catch up, most reel it back in before its too late, others, like my quasi friends from last year, dont.
work is going great, having worked there this past summer im the most experienced employee and have some more responsibility on my shoulders. im pretty cool with all the returning employees. vanessa, my coworker, is a great girl and i think shes gonna become a good friend. were trying to work out a night out for tomorrow, maybe spider club or ivar. we both seem to enjoy spending money on ralph lauren and other pointless things like overpriced food.
tied in with work im helping out with UPSA, the unruh political student association, in trying to build a consortium for socal university political orgs. its a bit ambitious but hey. also, peace and conflict scholars. were trying to do springbreak in brazil this year, im sooooooooo excited. esp cuz of my portuguese.
CLASSES (ranked most fav to least)
1. The Politics of Peace (Poli Sci) this is a class on human rights. since august weve bene working, manily on UN structure and conventions, as well as the media's role in the coverage of atrocities. today we watched a movie on the genocide in Rwanda. the professor is on the forefront of human rights studies and one of the champions of cultural relativism, something i strongly identify with. my favorite class.
2. Portuguese 2. loving it. its a very small class (6). The professor is from Rio, so we are learning the language with a carrioca accent. i like all the people in there, one of the guys im working with is in it too. but hes going to Salvador da Bahia this spring. lucky. ill probably go next spring if i can. but im loving portuguese.
3. Origins of Humanity (Anthro.) Since im majoring in anthro, i have to take these stupid lower division courses. this one is mostly evolution so far and a survey of all he primates. the prof is a primatologist who studied with goodall, so i think we spend a little extra time on monkeys than we are supposed to. fist test this monday. i like it cuz vanessa (see above) and another firend Tom are in the class with me.
4. Culture trough film (anthro) This class was going to be the fun class. first day, though, the professor is sick, misses the rest of the semester, new prof who ive been told to avoid. its a tough class. nuff said
**************************
i got an internship, at the brazilian consulate in beverly hills. im liking it so far, not much to say about it.
well other than that...
dena is at uc san diego, playing soccer, and starting. i kinda wish my lil sis was here with me but oh well. she seems so much mature after a month. my dad is a bit threatned by it i think.
my brother and i are a lot closer now. hes in high school, starting in varsity football, and yeah. we went to utah together last weekend, and it was a cool bonding expereicne. i think im gonna do more stuff with him now.
have a nice weekend! | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| SUFJAN STEVENS
its like ass kickingly excelelnt. please ask me more. ill tell you. and then ill go fucking crazy. i need a xannie... | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | pretty girls make graves | | Time: | 09:46 am | | Current Mood: | forlorn |
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| before being friends with anyone, you should first be friends with yourself.
i love that the words friend and fiend are so closely related.
i love that i am going to die in phoenix due to heat exhaustion.
i love that i am dozing in the middle of work.
i love that i chat on instant messenger in front of my boss.
but most of all, i love anthrax. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | decemberists | | Time: | 09:52 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) chipper |
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| 
i would kill to have a beet suit i could wear to class. i guess ill have to settle for clothes. fuck.
my favorite quote of all time, you ask? "You say sewer, I say waterslide."
april marches on...class is almost here... highlife and absolut........ | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| 
he owns you.
also, i think a better party would involve vodka in green glass bottles and a bonfire at Zuma beach. sounds better? get back to me. I NEEED a semester kickoff party. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | A.C. Newman or !!!, you decide. | | Time: | 11:59 am | | Current Mood: | Desk-ey |
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| 
PEEEEEEAAAAAACCCCCHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS
guess whose hiring. hugo boss beverly hills. for $100 a week. yes? no.
NYC was crowded and smelt like piss.
i got my permit for parking on monday, so me and the tank will not be in the parking center or scavenging for leftover spots on orchard or ellendale. those are some of the worst and best experiences. ha, like the one time, on the last blunt monday of last year, i saw a spot as i passed it, and being completly out of it, went against traffic on jefferson. i think the guy in the backseat peed his pants.
i was talking to jen and its like 5 weeks to school! again! bleh! im here all summer so i guess its kinda been a shift in living arrangements and nothing more.
in other related news im sure matt can attest to, the anthropology advisor has quit to pursue her dream of becoming a pastry chef! HA. matt had a secret coke induced crush on her, we all know. the scent of melted plastic and chemically produced narcotics IS intoxicating.
so the party crew, i have found out, is not returning to century as im assuming they found a spot at city park. so no more communism, pirate, cowboy, and other themed parties. what will i do? whose going to sake bomb myagis? im so empty:(
there's a place your mother goes when everybody else is soundly sleeping
through the lights of beacon street
and if you listen you can hear her weeping, she's weeping, cause the gentlemen are calling and the snow is softly falling on her petticoats. and she's standing in the harbour and she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat. see how they approach
with dirty hands and trousers torn they grapple 'til she's safe within their keeping
a gag is placed between her lips to keep her sorry tongue from any speaking, or screaming
and they row her out to packets where the sailor's sorry racket calls for maidenhead
and she's scarce above the gunwales when her clothes fall to a bundle and she's laid in bed on the upper deck
and so she goes from ship to ship, her ankles clasped, her arms so rudely pinioned
'til at last she's satisfied the lost of the marina's teeming minions, and their opinions
and they tell her not to say a thing to cousin, kindred, kith or kin or she'll end up dead
and they throw her thirty dollars and return her to the habor where she goes to bed, and this is how your fed
so be kind to your mother, though she may seem an awful bother, and the next time she tries to feed you collard greens, remember what she does when you're asleep
- A Cautionary Song, The Decemberists. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | decemberists, bitch. | | Subject: | hi | | Time: | 06:49 pm | | Current Mood: | acquiescant |
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| hi.
i went to the El Rey last night with kim.
we saw the decemberists and the long winters, with the places opening.
the decemberists had awesome songs, though the long winters tended to maintain an overall better show. it was great.
a couple weeks back i got a ticket for running a red light and i got the bill today, $390. ouch.
and while alone thatd be ok (well its never ok, but you know) i need to by some decent sheets for the apt, shit to fill the apt up, and then general mischief.
AND OH YA, NYC. im leaving tomorrow. tell me how much fun im going to have with a limited budget. if you said not much i think i agree. well, except for the free stills concert im going to. i wouldve bought a decemberists CD last night but i decided to not spend too much, so we went to canters instead. the kibbitz room is pretty chill i suppose cause i had a couple cape cods. we then retired to the dining room where kim had pastrami (no thanks) and i had a cheeseburger. seriously, awesome. idve gone up to hollywood like mels, but canters is only like eight blocks from el rey, as el rey is fairfax and wilshire and canters is fairfax and beverly.
so yeah. there was some sexy people in there last night, but i was tired and it felt like my eyes were popping out. so even though we had sexy kids in vintage rolling stones, i moved on. i then hightailed it back into my warm bed. cause i was tired. im tired now. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | COM LAG EEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP | | Subject: | myuck | | Time: | 11:17 pm |
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| im tired.
and in other related cool news
ralph lauren private sale. EVEN on purple label my hiphop friends. let the summer begin.
LOL. yacht club anyone?
and has anyone noticed the alarming similarities between catcher in the rye (book) and igby goes down (movie)? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | hcgsh | | Time: | 01:28 pm |
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| IVE DONE ABSOFUCKINGLUTLY NO WORK TODAY AT WORK
so. i really have done no work today. like none. as in nothing.
ive listened to the com lag EP like 15 times in a row, and i drank lots of water.
and now its time to fade into nothingess. ALSO, neocons ripped down the shepard fairey posters! ah!
| | comments: Leave a comment |
| i will, lay me down.
so im tired of driving to work. usc is a drive. a haunting drive. and god forbid i find free parking. PSX is my sworn enemy. but in other news i got parking at the apt...big ups to orchard and ellendale. we are where the party IS AT.
i was reading bret easton ellis...you know, learn about my parent's indulgent 80's lifestyle... my mom shopped at Fred Segal back THEN. whoa. and La Scala. and kids, that was when Spago was cool. AND they ate at mortons. ive eaten there lots. best place to drink when ur underage!!
so ya, they used to call USC, Jew S C. what the fuck. i hate how the north of sunset wont associate with south of sunset. its annoying. big ups to my jewish friends. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| two things...
1. i missed 8 1/2 at the egyptian.
2. i smoked my last clove today. im done smoking cigs, for the summer at least.
and a little wax poetic, gayass cristiani from brazil gave me a B+ in CTCS192. i mean i kicked ass in that class. WTF is the b about? she loved my paper on ingmar bergman, so wheres the holdup? if it werent for my parents idve sooooooooo done screenwriting. i think i need to write another screenplay. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | so i was backpacking in the grand canyon, and i realized my right foot is like an 11 1/2 and my left is 11. well i was wearing 11s. so after hiking downhill for two days, my right big toe was numb. this is about a week ago, now. so its still numb. and the toe looks bruised. i hope nothing else happens, like toenails falling and shit. EWW. i really dont want to have to not wear sandals. i mean shoes are great, but its la. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | ahem. | | Time: | 12:28 pm |
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| so. today is the day. what day, you ask? its wednesday, silly. all i can say is that i am bored out of my mind. im at work at the illustrious institute setting up programs. i hate computers (except the amish deathbox...chelsea, you know) so im relaxing at the moment.
i was gonna get sushi for lunch but my sunglasses i purchased yesterday at huntington beach kinda squashed those dreams. they are cool and all, but the dior ones are better. damn BH and their limited selection.
hmm. i miss everyone. jen. whom i sposed to alter my mental state with now? i mean ive got people here, but they rarely throw down. im not fucking santa claus. so i miss my eastcoasters. like alicia. i guess we can hang out when i go to NYC, but its not like having her as a neighbor. i miss my roomates, even. speaking of which, moveout was a bitch. me and darrel pretty much packed all our shit AND the living room, bathroom, and kitchen. so were like, were the shit. NO, were not. it took us so fucking long that when we got on the freway, we were stuck. FOR HOURS. and then darrel had to go buy board shorts for home and he also needed to exchange this ugly shirt at banana republic. so we did that, i got this shirt my sister said makes me look like kanye west. whoever that is.
friday at 1 am is the urban mobster thing. we go postering through la, all anti bush stuff. there are three posters, one is done by robbie conal (he rocks) and another by the art director for obey, which is awesome. im excited...but then i work friday, i have this all day thing on saturday. no sleep till brooklyn.
then denas graduation is next week, which mean shuttling to and from LAX. god FORBID we fly to ontario or even better, orange county? god, im wasting soooooooooooo much gas. i wish she didnt have to go to UC San Diego. i mean i was really looking forward to her coming to USC with me. shes my girl. i mean, we are pretty close. i got my little dance royalty thing, she got hers, we were both presidents, we both did a lot of the smae shit...so i wanted to continue it here. so that kinda bumms me out.
hmm. i think im done. no wait. rocky votolato is playing at the glass house (i think) in june, as are the shins. thatll be cool. and ive never seen a bright eyes show where connor isnt drunk. hmm. coachella was awesome.
ok. peace and grease. chelsea call me. | | comments: Leave a comment |
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blkmambadthsqd's journal
