Factotum

I'm no preacher, but I can tell you this -- the lives that people lead are driving them crazy, and their insanity comes out in the way they drive.

-- Charles Bukowski (1975)

backwards society

We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.

-- Michael Ellner (1997) & Chris Hedges (2010)

Political correctness effects

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.

-- Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What's Left of It  (2005)

self-righteous left

I never thought I’d live to see the day when the right wing would become the cool ones giving the middle finger to the establishment, and the left wing becoming the sniveling self-righteous twatty ones going around shaming everyone.  

-- John Lydon

Temples of Syrinx

We’ve taken care of everything:
the words you read, the songs you sing,
the pictures that give pleasure to your eye.

One for all and all for one.
Work together, common sons.
Never need to wonder how or why.

-- Neil Peart (Rush) 1976

Working Class Hero

As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you no time, instead of it all
'Til the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

They hurt you at home, and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool
'Til you're so f*cking crazy you can't follow their rules

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function, you're so full of fear

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still f*cking peasants as far as I can see

There's room at the top, they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be

-- John Lennon (1970)

abortion politics

During my time in Congress, I regularly introduced legislation forbidding organizations that perform abortions from receiving federal funding. The US Government should not force taxpayers to subsidize an activity they believe is murder....

The federal government has no constitutional authority to permit, fund, or even outlaw abortion. Therefore, efforts to make abortion a federal crime are just as unconstitutional as efforts to prohibit states from outlawing abortion. A Congress that truly cared about the Constitution would end all federal funding for abortion and pass legislation restricting federal jurisdiction over abortion, thus returning the issue to the states....

One factor hindering the anti-abortion movement's ability to change people’s minds is that too many abortion opponents also support a militaristic foreign policy. These pro-lifers undercut their moral credibility as advocates for unborn American lives when they display a callous indifference to the lives of Iraqi, Iranian, and Afghan children....

[A]ll those who wish to create a society of liberty, peace, and prosperity should join me in advocating for a consistent ethic of life and liberty that respects the rights of all persons, born and unborn.

-- Dr. Ron Paul (from his website) Aug. 2, 2015

Minstrel in the Gallery

The minstrel in the gallery looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes -- observed the spaces between the old mens' cackle.
He brewed a song of love and hatred -- oblique suggestions -- and he waited.

Then he called the band down to the stage, and he looked at all the friends he'd made.
The minstrel in the gallery looked down on the rabbit-run.
And threw away his looking glass -- saw his face in everyone.

-- Ian Anderson / Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) 1975

tomorrow is already here

Originally the set-up [was] to serve society. Now the roles have been reversed -- they want society to serve the institutions. 
-- Tim Gane / Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) 1996

spirits in the material world

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world

--Sting (1981)

living in the material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
Can't say what I'm doing here, but I hope to see much clearer
after living in the material world

I got born into the material world
Getting worn out in the material world
Use my body like a car, taking me both near and far
Met my friends all in the material world

Met them all there in the material world
John and Paul here in the material world
Though we started out quite poor, we got 'Richie' on a tour
Got caught up in the material world

From the Spiritual Sky, such sweet memories have I
To the Spiritual Sky, how I pray
Yes I pray that I won't get lost or go astray

As I'm fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified, only swelling like a tide
That could drown me in the material world

While I'm living in the material world
Not much giving in the material world
Got a lot of work to do, try to get a message through
And get back out of this material world

I'm living in the material world
Living in the material world
I hope to get out of this place by the [Lord's] grace
My salvation from the material world

--George Harrison (1973)

palo alto

In a city of the future, it is difficult to concentrate
Meet the boss, meet the wife
Everybody's happy, everyone is made for life.

In a city of the future, it is difficult to find a space
I'm too busy to see you; you're too busy to wait

But I'm okay, how are you?
Thanks for asking, thanks for asking
I'm okay, how are you? I hope you're okay too.

Every one of those days when the sky is California blue
With a beautiful bombshell, I throw myself into my work
I'm too lazy, I've been kidding myself for so long

But I’m okay, how are you?
Thanks for asking, thanks for asking
I’m okay, how are you? I hope you’re okay too.

-- Thom Yorke (Radiohead) 1998

Amerimacka

The land of the free, built on slavery
Our consciousness in captivity
The promised land is the liar's den
Culture of greed has got to end
-- Garza / Hilton (Thievery Corp.) 2005

childhood lost

"As you can see, everything has just vanished. It's just like the whole thing has been completely erased from the face of the earth. I feel great anger. I feel massive sadness. It's like a complete loss of childhood...."
-- Morrissey, Top of the Pops interview (1983)

bread and circuses

It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public bliss the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the Empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. From long ago, when we sold our vote to no man, the People have long since abdicated our duties and cast off our cares; we who once bestowed military command, high civil office, legions and all else, now meddle no more and long eagerly for just two things -- bread and circuses."
-- Juvenal, Satire X (2nd century AD)

government fiction

"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."

-- Frédéric Bastiat, Essays on Political Economy (1873)

communication technology beneficial?

"What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?"
-- Roger Waters (1988)

fight club

"You are not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet."

"The things you own end up owning you.... It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.... Only after disaster can we be resurrected."

-- Tyler Durden (Chuck Palahniuk / Jim Uhls / David Fincher)

when giants fall

Businesses will find it hard to survive, let alone thrive, amid increasing violence and conflict, shortages and logistical interruptions, and a breakdown of markets and financial mechanisms. Individuals will be forced to rethink livelihoods, lifestyles, living arrangements, and locales. Political structures will be in flux. Around the globe, gangsters, maniacs, and mobs will compete with established regimes for the reins of power. Nuclear attacks, domestic terrorism, and other threats that once seemed so remote to most Americans will become an all-too-frequent reality. So, too, will breakdowns, epidemics, and other fallout stemming from economic deterioration, growing social unrest and criminality, and a forced shift toward greater self-sufficiency.
-- Michael J. Panzner, When Giants Fall (2009)