I Had to Share This

I read this recently and it just made me smile and lifted my spirits.

There was once a good man and powerful orator by the name of Eugene Debs.  Now, Eugene was a strong headed man that fought for the common man against profiteering companies and worthless governments.  There are a couple of sayings that you may have heard in your life but never knew that it was Debs that said them.  First of all, this quote:

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.

That was a wonderful line, but his most famous quote is this one:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

...but I read something tonight that blew me away.  Mind you, the people he fought for were the people of this country, and the corrupt government that he fought against was the government of Woodrow Wilson, who branded him a traitor to America.  In 1918 Debs was giving a speech to against the draft in WWI to which he urged people to resist it.  This got him in trouble in which they found him guilty of sedition.  During his trial he spoke for nearly two hours, and then a few days later at his sentencing, he spoke again.  This speech is one of the most amazing things you will ever get a chance to read (This is also the same speech that the quote above came from.)  Debs had a power of words that was inspiring, poetic, and both angry and moving at the same time.  Here is the small section that got to me tonight:

Your honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the form of our present government; that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in the change of both but by perfectly peaceable and orderly means....
I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and factories; I am thinking of the women who, for a paltry wage, are compelled to work out their lives; of the little children who, in this system, are robbed of their childhood, and in their early, tender years, are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon, and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the machines while they themselves are being starved body and soul....
Your honor, I ask no mercy, I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never more fully comprehended than now the great struggle between the powers of greed on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of freedom. I can see the dawn of a better day of humanity. The people are awakening. In due course of time they will come into their own.
When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the Southern Cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches the Southern Cross begins to bend, and the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of Time upon the dial of the universe; and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the look-out knows that the midnight is passing – that relief and rest are close at hand.
Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

 When I read this was a filled with a renewed hope.  Yes, this was almost 100 years ago now and a lot of what he was hopeful for has yet come to pass, but still it is refreshing to see.  One of the most sad things was that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime disenfranchisement.  I did not even know that they could legally give someone that sentence?!

Debs appealed to the Supreme Court, but that appeal failed.  He was branded as anti-American and really never recovered.  Afterward there were multiple attempts to grant Debs clemency, but President Wilson denied them all, stating:

While the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines sniping, attacking, and denouncing them....This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration.

Wilson felt that Debs was basically a terrorist for not agreeing with his views and wanting people to stand up for what he felt was wrong in this world.  Debs was eventually released from prison when his sentence was commuted by President Harding in 1921.  Three years later he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Karl Wiik, stating that "Debs started to work actively for peace during World War I, mainly because he considered the war to be in the interest of capitalism," but he did not receive the award.

He died two years later...

I just wanted to share some of the life of Eugene Victor Debs with you.  Let the people take heart and hope everywhere, for the cross is bending, midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

One of the reasons that this speech hit me was that it reminded me greatly of another writing that touches me deeply and that is the "Great Wave" speech of Hunter S. Thompson from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."   Hunter used the same poetic style, but to describe the opposite of Debs, the loss of hope and meaning.  These are polar opposites, but they were both inspired by the loss of freedom and human rights in the United States bought on by corrupt Republican administrations.  Hunter just did not see that light that Debs saw.  Hunter only saw the "high water mark." that it left behind as hope was enveloped by darkness and greed.  Hunter was not a socialist or labor rights leader as Debs was, nor did they share much of the same political opinions, but in the end they wanted the same thing for all people.  That thing is what a lot of politicians, especially on the right, never seem to care much about anymore and that is basic human dignity.

Dignity for all people is the basis of human rights and freedoms, but in today's society it seems that dignity only goes to large companies and those people that can afford it.  That is exactly what Debs and people like him fought so hard to prevent from happening, but maybe Hunter was correct.  Maybe the time is past.  Does dignity still belong in today's America?

I still think so.  I also believe that it is still worth fighting for, but most people seem to have fallen into apathy and forgotten about the fact that they have a right in this country to be an artist, a writer, a painter, a musician, a mechanic, an inventor, an astronaut, a fireman, an uncorrupted policeman, or whatever they want to be.

Justin "Hellspawn" Bieber

So I have been trying to be nice about this all, but I have reached a point where I can stand it no longer.  Here it goes:

WHY THE FUCK DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER???

I am reminded that we are at a threshold of human evolution, we have almost all of the world's knowledge at our fingertips, but we are far too interested in what that little white christian boy has to way.  Have you ever listened to this no-talent ass clown and been able to hold back the full-body dry heave that your body instinctively pushes up?  I mean, you might want to sit there and think "Oh man, lay off the kid.  He is just a kid man, let it go."

No.  I will not let it go. 

I used to be so passionate about music but I have grown more and more apathetic as the years go on because of crap like this.  Not only this, but even rock music sucks a big one lately.  I happened to turn on the radio recently, which was my first mistake, to find a band that used to be considered metal, and I think they still are, but I guess metal just means heavy aggro-rock with retarded lyrics like "Everyone come clap your hands" and shit that you used to only find on the worst hip-hop songs.  Rock and roll, rock music, used to be home to the most hardcore and fringe people writing some of the most edge-of-your-seat lyrics that were made to talk to the youth of America and make you want to become a true idealist, but now it is just more garbage.  Music today is basically just some producer shitting on a microphone and sending out to ClearChannel so that they can pump the airwaves with it twice an hour. 

To quote the ever brilliant Bill Hicks when we was talking about pop music 20 years ago, these musicians are just "demons set loose on the earth to lower the standards for all mankind and making us pay a higher psychic price in the long run."  I knew Bill was smart, but it is amazing how topical some of his work is still today.  Sometimes I think he was a prophet.

There are so few bands out there and play something new and interesting with meaning and depth.  It used to be that you could go to the indie scene and find creativity and truth, but the hegemony of the music system has bought and sold most of those artists as well.  Now most of it is junk too.  It is a huge snowball that is rolling around and around, sucking up anything that pops up.  As soon as a new fresh face comes around it is bought and sold ten times over.  I do not blame them, we all wish that we could get paid to play music for a living, but what ever happened to rebellion and anger in music?  The issue is that because the man buys everything up and puts it to market, now people have to be safe and afraid or else someone won't want to buy their record.  Fuck me!  If I was a big-time musician I would say what I felt needed to be said and if you are offended by it, then you are not that one that my record was intended for and I probably don't want to listening to my music anyway.  You are wasting it.  Give that record to someone that still has a soul and stick with your Jim Neighbors vinyls. 

Moving forward on this topic, I see tons of articles about people complaining about the new single and video from Lady Gaga.  Now, before I start on her, I will admit that not all of her tunes are bad.  At least she can actually play a damn instrument, but she is just another attention whore that is doing and saying things so that those cameras never leave her face.  The issue that I am having is that her new song and video for "Alejandro" is not that controversial.  People are making a mountain out of a molehill here.  The video is not that blasphemous or sexually suggestive.  Some people label her as the new Madonna, but she has little to no substance other than preaching for gay rights, which I am all for, but that is about it.  The sad part is that people have gotten so apathetic with music that they think the slightest suggestion is controversy when it shouldn't be and while the true musicians that should be making headlines get no attention.  Hell, other than small-time punk bands and some indie rockers, very few people with any clout fought against the wars in the middle east.  The beauty of the 60s was that in the great turmoil, some of the most amazing and influential music grew and flourished.  This time we have a very unpopular war and had the worst president in office and everyone with any influence were too afraid to really speak.  There were a few exceptions to this, but again, they did not receive the attention that they should have...(NIN, A Perfect Circle, Green Day).

We are in a lull marketing and the capitalist dollar have truly taken hold.  Everyone is afraid of losing their jobs.  Even people in powerful positions are becoming Chomsky's "wage slaves."  There are still many mediums of free speech in this country, but through right-wing fear tactics and corporate greed we are left far too scared to use them.  Music and stand-up comedy are two of the perfect mediums for speaking out against the problems of the world but even they have become scared or losing album sales and sponsors.  We need a new Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, or Bill Hicks.  We need someone that is not afraid to stand up and piss everyone off.  There are still a couple of them out there, but few and far between.  Howard Stern finally gave up his fight years ago and was relegated to satellite radio.  It is a sad state of affairs and these little twerps like Justin Bieber are just riding of the crest of the depressing and hideous wave.  Someday, will we be able to look west and see Hunter S. Thompson's high water mark of awfulness and remember that we were there when the wave broke and rolled back into the pit that it came from? 

I doubt it.  Not as long as retards run this country and they are more afraid of losing votes then doing the job that they were voting in to do.  People are far too willing to try to cater so that they can still have a voice instead of standing up and using that voice with reason and clarity to educate the world on what they truly feel should be done. 

We should be ashamed of ourselves.  I know that I am.

By the way...if you love good writing and hate everything that Justin Bieber stands for like I do, check out this site:
http://themountaingoatswillcureyourbieberfever.com/

Rehashing Old Memories...

**I have to give a bit of a warning about this post.  It goes over a few different places and rambles some, but I took some ideas, some old posts, and some new material and mashed them into this monstrosity that you are about to read.  Thank you for bearing with me and comments are always welcome.**

So we have all heard the analogy that is, "The Tapestry of Life".  Have you ever stopped to wonder how absolutely amazing that metaphor really is?!  I mean, everything in life, everything we eat, breathe, do, and interact with makes up this tapestry.  Each thing, moment, person, and event is a thread woven through to create you and me.

Now that is easy, but we can expand on this even more...

If we say that the above is true, then the beautiful part is that with the absence of any single, little, minuscule thread, the entire creation would cease to be.  The essence of everything that we are is destroyed.  By denying  life we choose to be apart from it.  From denying memory, we choose to kill a piece of ourselves.  That goes for all memory, not just the good or the bad times. 
People find it easy to remember the good times and the painful times.  Both are extremes but in the end they are all the same thing.  The great moments are just terrible moments in disguise and vise versa. 

Pain is only weakness escaping from the body.
Pain is the most direct way to know you are alive...(No middleman required)
So is pleasure.  Whenever we...well...snatch life out of the jaws of a little death, if you know what I am talking about, we do just that.  We live.  Not only are we living at that time, but we are accomplishing what our bodies were built to do.  We are beings that were made to procreate and survive.  At that moment, we are truly human.

Remember all those times, from the most amazing to the most painful.  The only fool is the one who does not learn and grow from his mistakes.  Well, I guess I am not really going anywhere else with this.  Memory is important.  Without it, the blanket of who we are is immolated. 

This is why dianetics (and henceforth Scientology) is not a good thing.  This is a belief system that willfully and conscienceless destroys those things that make you the beautiful, wonderful, interesting human that you are.  It is an injustice to all good things in this world.

Our memories our what allow us to remember history and learn from it.  We need to grow and attempt to learn from the beauty of love and the horror or war.

The modern genius Tom Waits once wrote,

"I will tell you all my secrets, but I will lie about my past."

Our personal past is an amazing thing.  The thoughts, memories, dreams, and accomplishments are the little things that we have which no one can ever take away from us.  In effect, the only person who can control those things is yourself.  You have every right to block out whatever memories or regrets you may have.  It is not the way I'd recommend, but it is one way to live.

I believe in openness.  I believe in telling people about all of my sins or acts that are less than reputable because hopefully someone else can learn from my mistakes and errors.  This is why I have been a decent councilor for people.  I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, as we all have, and I do not wish to lie about those things.  I see no purpose if lying, forgetting or hiding those facts.  If we do forget, then all those mistakes were in vain.  Use those things, those acts or sins and learn from them.  Use everything bad you have ever done to evolve and create a better person from them. 

I understand certain things that people like to hide though.  I know how sometimes you may not want certain things as public info because of our chastising, non-forgiving society and the way it looks at certain things.

It is fucked up for us to take the past and hold it against someone, especially when that person goes above and beyond to correct their actions.  I am speaking right now with a certain person in mind.  Anyone remember Tookie Williams?  He was the man who started the gang wars in L.A. and all that.  Many people died because of what he created, but he learned from it.  He spent 25 years in prison, educating himself, denouncing the gang lifestyle, and writing books to educate others on the horrors of the gangs and other options.  He spent many years doing good for the world in an attempt to make ammends for the wrong he released onto the world.  Then we, as a group, had the option to not kill him, but to let him spend the rest of his life in prison where he could never harm the public again and attempt to do more good, but instead we chose the way of bloodlust and hate.  We did not forgive, even though he could never injure society again and he in fact did a ton of good in return, we still were not happy until we killed someone.  Mind you, I am not trying to defend his actions, but put them into perspective. 

When we commit someone to the death penalty, we have decided to play the role of executioner.  Acts such as that only tend to perpetuate a cycle of hatred and violence.  I do not fault the people who wanted him dead.  I only feel sad for the fact the people still cannot live happily until someone dies.  It is a pathetic excuse for what we call "the most advanced species on the planet". 

If this is the most evolved, then I want off this fucking rock...

These are things that I remember.  These are things that make me who I am.  As much as I wish that we could live in a world where education and honesty was paramount, we don't, but everyday we should be attempting to use history and memory as a tool to future enlightenment.   People will always have selective hearing, choose what to know and how to interpret that knowledge, but as long as we take time and effort to evolve and better ourselves, then each day we will be one step closer to truth.  Each day we will be more human and less of a talking monkey. 

We think of ourselves as the top, but if there are higher beings out there, then we are nothing more than talking monkeys to them.  The late, great Carl Sagan once wrote about Earth as nothing more than a "Pale, Blue Dot" in space.  He was not putting us down, he was attempting to teach people that there is more in the universe than our squabbles over land and oil.  Maybe it is time for us as people to stand up, accept our dark sides and grow into what we could be.  Memory is the key to all of that.  I will end this post with Carl Sagan's words.  Anyone that knows me has probably heard me talk about this speech on multiple occasions.  I like to remember it because it is still poignant after all of these years.  Remember, he is give this speech in the context of the famous picture of Earth from millions of miles away.

Carl Sagan:
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.