6-7-04

I’ve heard it said that when the moment comes when a person’s soul is judged, that the individual judges himself. This is fine by me just so long as it’s understood that I’m a firm believer in grading on the curve.




Most of the motorcycle dudes I’ve come across are sad-sack losers, unattractive loners who didn’t have a chance in hell of ever having a good job or relationship in the regular world. So they put on this armor, this active defense, this ‘fuck-you-everybody’ uniform and demeanor, and band together with the other ugly losers.

And the thing of it is that many of them have achieved a newfound respect from the world; they walk into a bar now, especially when they’re in a group, and people are deferential toward them. They even get layed on a regular basis, scrawny/dirty or fat/slobby though they may be. Funny world. (Note: I’m not, of course, referring to those bikers who are actually bonified tough guys and deserving of their fear and respect. I would never sully their names or reputations. Especially you, Mungster and Bobby-O, and the rest of you guys down at Grady’s.)




God, in an interview with Wired magazine, was asked what He considers to be His top ten design accomplishments: “I’d have to say light waves, keeping electrons stable, breathable air, fruit trees, fire, chameleons, the human eye, the memory portions of the brain, functional nipples, and cosmic recycling centers, which you call black holes. And I probably should mention sapient-level DNA; very tricky business getting that off the ground. And, what am I thinking?! Gravity! Before I perfected that, things were pretty chaotic. Oh, the stories I could tell you!”




The thing to remember about corporations, if you’re trying to understand the whole gestalt of the free enterprise system and its effect on this country, is that machismo rules in the boardroom. What generates this is the need for the various members, whether it’s the CEO or Chairman or the others in attendance, to be perceived as bold and aggressive decision-makers whose unfettered primary goal for the company is massive profit-taking.

This leads to a general dismissal of most things to do with ethical considerations, whether those considerations are environmental, truth-in-advertising questions, unwarranted pay deals for themselves, legal gray areas, political manipulations, health consequences to the public, or loyalty issues with other companies and individuals. Often the only red flag any of these things raises is, ‘How much will it cost to settle if we get caught,’ or ‘How bad will the PR downside be if this comes out.’

But your bigger companies have plenty of lawyer, politicians and, yes, media types, on their payroll to obviate or mollify any nascent scandals.

The rule of conduct in these high-testosterone settings, where million-and billion-dollar deals get made, seems to be: Don’t err on the side of meekness, lest you be perceived as a man (or woman) of weakness. This pervasive mentality is totally at odds with the teachings of the Christian God (“Turn the other cheek,”“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” “Easier for a camel to pass through he eye of a needle than a rich man the gates of Heaven,” etc.) And leads to America being a very schizoid nation indeed.





The mainstream media is in the unenviable position of being lambasted from both the left and the right. They get it from the right for being too “liberal” and questioning the leadership of business and government; from the left for believing too much in the status quo of the power merchants and not asking the truly hard questions.




God help me but I got a short flash yesterday of what it is that makes some people want to vote Republican, even, ughh, be Republicans. The spell, not unlike the momentary wave of nausea one gets after smelling vomit, had at its core something to do with THINGS UNDER CONTROL, and making the citizenry behave in an orderly fashion so as to allow business and government to run things the way the powerful need them to be run. For America. For a strong America! For God’s America!! For God’s strong, rich, white America!!!

Then I wrenched myself away from the sinking, swirling hole of fear- and greed-based conservatism and breathed anew the air of freedom and individuality, and tapped my toes again to the beat of that different drummer.

But, I must confess, while inside that moment, I did feel another thing, and that was the conviction that the current age’s horribly vulgarized culture, politically correct bullshit and over-done secularism was an evil caused by liberalism, and was something that the Republicans could protect from getting worse, even roll back somewhat. And I’m not entirely antipathetical to that viewpoint.