Cantankerous Chicanery

Today we don’t really let our kids be themselves. Despite my resignations about them as detailed in one of my earlier posts, I do have a soft spot for the youngsters at times. After all, I did used to be one of them. But I see a gradual and eerie slow erosion of their independence.

We have arrived at the point in our culture in which we are not only deifying them, bu curiously and simultaneously cutting their legs out from under them. In our rush to protect them and provide for them (a noble intention, no doubt), we’ve stripped them of all individualism and self-sufficiency.

I, for one, can attest to this firsthand, as I was brought up in a bubble. I hold no illusions of teen angst where my life was so begotten with woe I had to gobble up every bit of merchandise Hot Topic had to offer, but I now, as a young adult, recall with amusement and some semblance of frustration how my caregivers kept me in a bubble at times. This has left me struggling when having to make decisions in my life and trying to assert my own sense of being.

Back in times past, kids were allowed to *gasp*……be themselves. Seat-belts and childproof anything wee unheard of, and tint tykes were allowed to wander the neighborhood by themselves. All of you out there were likely part of this generation, and you turned out fine, right? Living with a codependent or patriarchal/matriarchal parent can obviously leave lasting psychological problems.

Parents, just give your kids some breathing room. Just because you let them out of the house doesn’t mean the big bad wolf will come along and snatch them up. In fact, the myth of the pedophile sexual predator stranger lurking in the shadows is a bit of a myth. True, they’re out there, but kids are more likely to be molested by a close relative or friend of the family than some random person off the street. The true predator is at your family functions, not prowling the streets. Remember that.

What we’re seeing now is a generation that was raised on the computer, texting away on their cell phones or lost in their iPods, still relying on mommy and daddy well into college, fearful and anxious about the future as they ascend into maturity. Is this a mind frame we really want running the country in the future?

I’m not saying dump your 2-year-old out on the corner at noon and yelling out the car window, “Good luck!” As a mom or dad, be there for our kid, guide them, nurture them, love them. That’s your duty. Yet part of that is the hard lesson of letting go of them when the time is right and letting them be themselves. Human beings, by definition, are individual entities, uniquely alone and singular in their essence.

Kids understand a lot more than we give them credit for. If you let them do their own thing, they’ll suprise you in what they can produce. Let them draw, appreciate their creative fantasy worlds they construct, above all, just leave ‘em alone. The urge to protect them can get strong, of course, but you can’t fight the world. Part of life is dealing with conflict; it’s an ugly but definite area we all come up against. You can’t hold them back forever. If you quit helicoptering over them, they’ll learn to be assertive and do something with their life. That’s what you wanted for them after all, isn’t it?

And so here we come to the final blog post. Let us leave behind the bitterness, the complaints about the more negative aspects of Christmas, and humanity in general, and let us remember the true spirit of this holiday. Christmas is ultimately not about cheap gifts or expensive purchases or even snow or Santa Claus. This will be the redeeming finale in this saga about X-mas.

I think Christmas is a time of solemn contemplation of all that is beautiful and worthy in this world. It’s no coincidence it’s held in the winter: a shot of energetic mirth to counteract the frigid tundra that often descends over the landscape. Yet the snow and the freezing temperatures produce a sense of serene calm. The coldness outside causes to gather inside. You see the cycle?

Christmas is a also a time to honor the tiny pockets of purity left in today’s culture. That’s often why children are most associated with celebrating Christmas. We begin a life time of chasing after idealism, fantasizing about this mythical Santa Claus that doesn’t truly exist (sorry, probably shoulda put spoiler alerts for the younger audience members out there) but inspires us that someone out there not only cares wholeheartedly but will provide for us.

This holiday is also rich in symbols. Cookies, milk, mistletoe, trees, ornaments, snowmen. You’ll notice a lot of earth and glittery imagery pop up there. We seem to hearken back to our pagan roots as we briefly leave the urban landscape behind and reconnect with nature, if only for a few seconds. We see Christmas as a luminescent expression of the brightest elements in the human condition, thus we are attracted to the more aesthetically appealing goods and decorations around us.

I used to be a hardened cynic who saw Christmas as a sham and a lie people would tell themselves, and I must confess at times I still tread back to this line of thinking. Really, with all we’ve witnessed in just this decade (and let’s not even mention past transgressions), who could blame me? Yet as I grow older and become aware of the vast and complex scale of the universe, I see a twinge of hope in the world, and embrace Christmas’ ideals with a cautious bliss. We may have lost sight of some of its themes but I think it’s still in there.

It’s a representation of the best in people; their kindness, their perseverance, our desire to help each other and provide one another company in this all-too-often unfortunately harsh, cold world. Christmas is a celebration of all that is pure and good in the world, and let’s not forget that. The gits are only a symbol of our generosity to those we care about; not an end in and of themselves.

So I ask you to get off this computer. Leave this site and go talk to someone you really feel a connection with. Go hang out with your local relatives and tolerate them despite their shortcomings. Don’t forget the people that are there for you. Remember to drink up, exchange presents, and above all, be merry. Happy Christmas to all out there.

Have we entirely forgotten the notion of Christmas? The supposed ideals of concern for humanity and goodwill are shams, being pushed to the side in names of greed and consumeris. Leave it to the mouth-breathing masses to see nothing but purchases, coupons, and sales as the calling card of this holiday.

We live in a consumeristic society in which material purchases can have become our lanuage. Far from actually expressing our esteem in a person in words or gestures, we now judge one another’s value in terms of how expensive or great a gift is. What once was simply a symbolic representation that we are keeping a person in mind has become the end goal in itself.

That video above, people, is the raw and ugly truth of humanity as we become absorbed in bland capitalist culture. As someone who works in retail for the season, I see how absorbed and transformed people have become hrough their purchases. It measures who they are. When they can’t get what they want or the store is out or heaven forbid it’s more expensive than they thought, the smile fades and the their true ugly internal self comes out.

Driving around and getting shopping done is making us miserable. It’s an aggervation to see urban congestion in its full glory and the stores have become a veritable warzone. The clerks look about as thrilled as POWs and the customers are experiencing both momentary poverty after seeing their wallets wiped out buying for every third removed cousin under the sun. Consequently, this makes the entire populace miserable. Doesn’t this go against the whole cheerful attitude of Christmas?

We love to tell ourselves lies about the more lofty and grand intentions of mankind, while sweepin our more base instincts under the rug. Can we just be honest now and admit we’re all scrounging change to buy tacky toys for nephews we really don’t care for in the first place? Where have the original intentions of this holiday headed? Do we have to put a price on everything? And can’t we see a return to simple living after seeing the ultimate effects of this sory rat race?

Along with the absurd birthers movement, one of the more ridiculous fringe political ideologies to arise in recent times has been the attempted politicalization of Christmas. What is seemingly on the surface such an innocent celebration of family and community has come under attack from extremist fundamentalist Christians.

Before you get the wrong idea, I’m not taking away anything from those who have faith. I’m perfectly fine with such an expression of religion. What does bother to me to an extent is when others attempt to shove it in the general public’s faith.

Fanning the flames of this alarmist and jingoistic reaction is Bill O’Reily. The puppet over at FOX News who’s more misguided than an amnesiac working as a tour guide has whipped people into a frenzy over a perceived “War on Christmas”, as if Jews and atheists are out there, demolishing department store doorbusters and kicking over any Santas in people’s front yards. I hate to break it to everyone out there, but that simply isn’t the case.

We get Charlie Brown specials on TV, trees being sold in every venue imaginable, and consumer goods going out like hotcakes. Christmas ain’t goin’ anywhere. If anything, celebrations like Kwanza and Hanukkah are pushed to the side. Not to sound like some uptight P.C. liberal, but that is the truth.

As someone currently working in the public sector, I alternate between wishing people “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Christmas”. I don’t wish to offend anyone but I’ve had it up to here with the wishy-washy euphimisms academic multicltarlists wish us to use. There are other holidays going on but I doubt just because I say “Merry Christmas” that they think I’m planning to set fire to a mosque in the name of God anytime soon. Just enjoy your holiday whatever it may be and be done with it.

I enjoy Christmas to a degree (more about that later) but its roots aren’t even in Christian doctrine. Like a good majority of American endeavours, its had its roots elsewhere. This doesn’t stop uninformed right-wingers who guzzle down Mountain Dew, watch NASCAR, and wave cheap flags from claiming it as their own. Christians are like the cultural version of eBaums World: they call it their own later on.

Christmas began as a pagan recognition of winter solstice, the season when it would get cold and vegetation would die off, signifying the switching of the seasons. Through a convoluted series of folklore exchange, involving pieces of Germany, it made its way over here in the form we all love and begrudingly tolerate because we have to see the in-laws  love now so dearly.

If religion is such an important aspect of Yuletide cheer, why is Santa Claus the mascot, and not ol’ Yahweh? I don’t recall anyone kneeling at the altar of the elves. Could we put aside our theological zealotry for one day and just chillax? I find it ironic that the spirit of X-Mas is about giving and tolerance for all mankind (another soundbite from the Bible itself) and yet al some people do is wage wordy war based on their own beliefs.

In fact, Christians were initially opposed to it, seeing as it involved worldly gift-giving and didn’t include the element of slobbering love and appreciation for Jesus every single second of the day like the church seems to approve of. Only when there was a mythical threat from the heathen left did judgemental Republicans claim it was a festival they were so endowed to.

This will be the first part in a trilogy examining my thoughts about Christmas and its different aspects. Keep an eye out when tomorrow I examine what I feel is the increasing commercialization of Christmas and the unfortunate attitude of consumerism it breeds. You’ll be surprised, though, given that I’m a hardened misanthrope, what I truly feel about the holidays. Until then, ciao and remember to keep “stmas” in Christmas!

What’s up, all? I’ve got a few things goin’ on in the world of wrestling that I’d like to talk about. Instead of doing a usual long post focusing on one of these subjects (because I know everyone out there love reading those walls of text), I thought I’d just split it up into a few sections. Enjoy!

• R.I.P. Umaga

So Eddie Fatu, better known to fans as Umaga, passed away a little over a week ago. When I was browsing through the dirtsheets as I usually do every morning, it absolutely shocked me. Here was a guy that was on my television screen about a year or so ago. Now he’s passed away.

I’m not going to be one of those guys who claims he always loved Umaga 100%. I thought he was a decent wrestler, for what he was. Really, I shouldn’t have liked him. He was performing in the 2000s with an 80s gimmick of a savage monster. But he did well in his role. He was agile for a big man and he conveyed the character real well. I think his time in 3 Minute Warning was underrated as well.

What really hits me is, above all, he is a human being. He had a wife and a family that will ow sorely miss him. My heart goes out to them in their time of suffering. As well, he had a promising career ahead of him. He was only 36 when he died, and that’s way too young for anyone. He was just competing on the Hulkamania tour as well.

Not to jump to conclusion like the rest of the journalists out there, but let’s go over facts: as I said, he was only in his 30s (which in wrestling years is around 60). He was let go by WWE for not only failing a drug test but refusing to go to rehab. While the implications here are drug-related, the autopsy hasn’t been released yet, but not’s jump to conclusions.

As saddened as I was, to be quite honest I’ve also grown somewhat numb to hearing about my favorite performers die by now. By now I’ve read of so many reports of them dying it makes you wonder just what the hell is going on in the business. I know they’ve made some effort to clean it up but this should be a serious wake-up call to both the promoters and the performers. Wrestlers need to unionize, head bookers need to stop encouraging (overtly OR subtly) their guys to take steroids so they can look like perfectionist bodybuilders, and the wrestlers need to quit almost killing themselves and getting pilled up to party and deal with the pain.

So long, Youmanga. Give them a Samoan spike when you’re up there.

• TNA vs. WWE head-to-head

A while back on here I commented on how TNA might be able to rise up as a possible contender to Vince McMahon’s throne. Well, consider me a seer, because it looks like they’re going to take a stab at it. And even as a loyal fan of both, I think they might be biting off a bit more than they can chew.

Quite frankly, all the pessimism towards TNA on all the message boards is a bit disheartening. It seems the WWE fanboys have been completely brainwashed and aren’t willing to accept another promotion’s brand of entertainment. I’m looking at this with curious optimism, but even I have to concede TNA might not be getting all that they’re bargaining for.

The move to announce it on UFC was both a good and bad move. Good because it reaches out to the 18-34 demographic, who is wrestling’s prime target. Also, a lot of current MMA fans are former WWE fans, and so by working out a partnership through Spike, they’ve already got an edge on WWE, whom Dana White has made public he is no fan of.

WWE has arguably suffered with no competition. Ever since both WCW and ECW went out of business, they’ve been on cruise control, churning out a mediocre program and at times boring matches. This may be the shot in the arm needed to wake up the business. As we’ve seen in the past, Vince cranks it up on all cylinders whenever he feels threatened.

Now, while I appreciate this scrappy young upstart company and their “take-no-prisoners” approach, it’s a bit risky. With bringing Hulk Hogan on board, they risk him getting his head swelled as he often does and running roughshod over the whole company. The analogies to WCW keep popping up here, and that’s not always a good thing, given the end result of that. While Hulk might be good to pop a slight ratings spike from curious nonfans, he really won’t attract any viewers in the long haul. He can barely wrestle and is a bit past his prime. Even he seems unclear what his role is. If they stick him in just a non-action talking capacity, that can wear out its welcome extremely quick.

Also, keep in mind the huge monopoly WWE has over wrestling. To many people, they are sports entertainment. TNA is a product very few outside of hardcore aficionados have heard of. For them to fly right into battle would be like Isis going up in a Battle of the Bands with Nickelback. They may have the edge in quality but to many out there it’s all about name value and popularity, for better or for worse.

Regardless, TNA really has little to lose. If they do edge out WWE in the ratings (which they actually have a very slim chance of doing, given RAW’s terrible track record lately) Monday Night, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If they get a decent rating, it may be the go-ahead for Spike to authorize a live program on that time slot. If they fail miserably against WWE, Vince won’t have anything to worry about and TNA can o back to doing their regular thing.

• Luck of the Irish

You see that pale red-headed dude? He’s WWE Champion. That’s right, when I read that newsbit Monday, I nearly crapped myself.

Maybe it’s a sign that the bookers know they need to freshen up the scene a bit and change things. Even if this only does end up being a Kane or CM Punk reign, it’s a breath of fresh air, something you really can’t complain about.

I won’t be like the rest of the doom-and-gloom smarks and complain about this. “We’re tired of Cena! Do someone new!” and then “Sheamus isn’t ready, he’s barely established!” Christ, what makes you people happy? Why do you even watch wrestling?

This reminds me of the Attitude Era, where it was unpredictable and anything cold happen, and that’s why you watched. Are there more deserving people right now? Of course. You’ve got The Miz, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, and John Morrison twiddling their thumbs right now.

But let’s not take anything away from Sheamus. From what I’ve seen of him so far, he’s big, he has decent ring skills, he has passable mic skills, and he plays a great cocky but powerful heel. Look at it from all the 13-year-old’s perspective; this scary bully has come in, run roughshod over the whole competition, retired a guy, and vanquished their hero John Cena in less than three months. You spend a year feeding guys jobbers and it grows a little old.

That’s how you book a menacing bad guy. Plus, he has that whole “foreign antagonist” deal, but with a modern twist. Shemaus is slightly underdeveloped, however. I thought they could have built him up at least a few months more before squashing Cena. But hey, at least the Chain Gang Soldier doesn’t have the title anymore, am I right?

Before immediately panning this, let’s just see how this pans out. If anything, this reeks of what I notice is an ADD style of booking. I really think the writers have no idea what to do. One minute Cena is fighting DX, the next he’s feuding with Sheamus. Some guys have a few matches and it’s forgotten the next week. We get random guest hosts who stumble through their lines.

Gee, I guess being HHH’s new workout buddy does wonders for one’s career.

The man in the picture above is Ed “The Strangler” Lewis. For those unaware, he was a famous wrestler in the 1900s. That’s right, all you young-ins, there was professional wrasslin’ before Vince’s big-time show came along. He was considered one of the first to evolve wrestling from a rough man’s shootfight contest into the choreographed (for its time) spectacle that we all know of today.

Thinking back to how the NWA and AWA have existed in the past is a curious deal to me. To consider, once there was a governing body that held the actual physical titles themselves in prestige. The National Wrestling Alliance, from which WCW sprang from, was a governing committee that oversaw all the actions of the local promotions. This was because of a slight caveat, which still pops up from time to time in wrestling’s modern landscape; all the top drawers claimed to be “world champions” without ever actually getting an authentic cosmopolitan experience.

As one can see from the clip above, wrestling was far different back then. Of course, it had its fair share of spectacle—wrestling has always been a glitzy circus, like it or not—but there was an air of athleticism and purity back in the golden era. What was unique was though there was a bit of a unifying ideal, each scene, so to speak, had its own feel, its own characters, its own storyline, and its own titleholders.

All that changed when Vince McMahon came along. Using his father’s money and heritage of the-then WWF and a vision of a standard promotion, he proceeded to suck all the territories dry. Buying up their stars and pushing them on his shows, Vince was the first man to truly command a national audience for wrestling. Before, you had the deep South wrasslin’ style and the more workrate-oriented North.

What Vince added was an increased sense of pageantry and cartoonish entertainment. The headlocks and legdrops made way for chairshots and top-rope maneuvers. The simplistic tough-guy characters were being driven aside for the flashy gimmicks of superheroes and foreign menaces. We saw bright spandex and outlandish ring attire instead of the monochromatic, minimalistic tights of days’ past. Goodbye Bruno Sammartino, hello Hulk Hogan.

This is not to get all teary-eyed with nostalgia on my readers. I am twenty one and grew up with the Attitude Era, perhaps the period of time best known for pushing the boundaries of sports entertainment to their absolute extreme. Still, I can’t help but wonder what has become of this bygone dynasty? When my mother and brother tell me about how they saw The Rock n’Roll Express compete at the Superdome, I ponder how it must have felt.

The joys of seeing a new face pop up in a local ring and work his shtick must have been refreshing. A wrestler could try out a new character or tinker with an evolved moveset without having it previously exposed. Now fans are exhausted because we put up with the same exact straight-edge CM Punk promo ad naseum. Randy Orton and Triple H has been done a gazillion times on a public stage. The wrestlers most likely had a slightly easier schedule, too. There was a unique flavor in each state and the action was more oriented around the moves and strategy, instead of silly distractions like run-ins or wacky shenanigans like backstage segments.

Lest I get ahead of myself in romanticizing the past, let’s not forget wrestling has always been a shady business. The promoters back then in the regional days made a used car salesman seem like a Boy Scout leader. they would rob guys out of pay, change the finishes randomly, and sometimes organize mid-match shoots if they didn’t like the visiting guy’s hair. For all the scorn heaped upon him and his sanitized product, Vince has done all he can to clean up wrestling, take some care of his performers, and let’s be honest…..sometimes the in-ring action is more exciting and quite frankly better. Tomato, tomatho. Some find hour-long chinlocks a pure thrill, others like dives off of ladders.

Still, one can’t help but see this as a parable about the dangers of globalization. Many mom-and-pop stores, filled with nearby residents and popularized by a small and caring staff, are being driven out by big-box retailers that take up space, pay their employees a crap salary, and enforce a sterilized sense of legalese conformity over all their workers. What they hawk are inferior and shoddy products at half the price to maximize profits while simultaneously halving quality. If NWA was the local grocery store, WWE is now Wal-Mart. They offer up one-dimensional plots with untalented muscleheads with increasingly ludicrous gimmicks and forced unfunny “comedy”.

Where is the NWA now? Shockingly they’re still around. They limp on, their egos wounded but with a resilient sense of pride. Apparently some guy named Robert Trobhick is the President Executive Producer (could they be throwing their hat in for a USA network deal?). Their World champion is Blue Demon Jr. (doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as John Cena does). They got desperate enough in the 90s to appear in enemy territory, on WWF TV in an interpromotional angle, and lent their namesake to TNA for a while, although the legacy itself hardly means anything anymore. Oh, isn’t that how life goes: to rise in prestige at first, but tarnish in obscurity forever after.

For those of you wondering where I’ve been lately, I’ve been laid up with a cold. The aches and pains of my body, the constant stream of mucus that flows from my nose, the absolute lack of appetite my body refuses…..all of these are not pleasant symptoms to bear.

As I sit here and rest, coughing every few minutes, I find it curious that in this day and age we still haven’t been able to cure the common cold. We’ve eradicated polio, the black plague no longer looms over our collective conciousness, and we’ve even begun to clone certain species. But a tiny little mole of bacteria can shut down our body in one fell swoop?

Oh, the curious vagarities of Western civilization. We always have our eye on the giant picture while neglecting the tiniest of details. As I’m sure most of you know, having the flu is no fun. The constant pounding migraines, the physical fatigue that descends over the body like a slow malaise, all of it just amounts to a terrible experience.

I’ve been doped up all week on medicine trying to push through finals and work, and now I rest here an exhausted man. It’s crazy how when the mechanics of your biology chnages you become a diffeent person. I have less energy than I used to; I have to push down food just to not starve for the day.

I’ve been researching what exactly causes the common cold and my scholarly analysis has yielded some interesting results. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t cold weather at all that causes its namesake. Rather, it’s an airborne pathogen that spreads via human contact. The reason it’s more widespread in the winter season is people have a tendency to gather in close proximities indoors (to escape the bitter chill, of course).

Ah, what a parable about human life, isn’t it? Any interaction with others is fraught with complete and utter danger. We’d like to get close to one another but who knows what the other person is carrying? It plays into our fear of strangers; contamination, contagion, the hurt that can come when we reach out to another.

Maybe humans are just a plague unto themselves. Not only will handshakes and swappin’ spits do one harm, but bacteria can persist on areas we commonly touch like doorknobs, phones, and common surfaces. I attend a college campus crawling with young adults, and so the risk of catching a disease is increased for those at crowded public sectors.

This could also serve as a wake-up call in terms of raising hygenic awareness. Far be it for me to seem like some sort of germopobic snob, but I have seen a stunning decline in health maintenance in the last few years. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen people exit restrooms without ever washing their hands. Or how people just freely sneeze into the wind, as if to share their entrails with the rest of us. I appreciate the communal sentiment, but could you please cover your mouth next time as a courtesy, dear sir?

All in all, I think getting a cold is a sober reminder that as men and women, we are mortal. We envison as gods, blazing ahead in our careers, taking charge of our personal lives, and yet a few microscopic strands of malevolent viruses can bring us to our knees (or just laying on our back, because the latter would be an uncomfortable position in ill spirits). It’s a reminder that not all is good out there, that in this universe there is bad and evil and circumstances that will absolutely sink your spirits.

But perhaps there is a silver lining. When one gets a cold, one conceivably will never encounter that specific subset ever again. Getting the flu makes us tougher, prepares us for the dull ravagement of our bones that is yet to come. As Nietzsche once said, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

And so we are almost coming to the end of the 2000s. All I can say as I prepare to throw my hat into the sky (preferably not my chic fedora) is thank God. Without a doubt, living from 2000-2009 could best be described in metaphorical terms as “attempting to make love to a porcupine”.

Many commentators, Rick Bayan and Time among them, have labeled this ad a depressing decade. As someone already predisposed to pessimism, I have to concur. It was unfortunate that this batch of years was the one in which I rose to an ascension of maturity. What we were assaulted with was a movement of dumbing down the culture so bad it made everyone in the 80s look like they were reading Proust and listening to Phillip Glass.

Obviously, the big thing to come out of this decade has been the recession that has been occurring towards the end of it. As a result of banks pinching every last penny they had, politicians and big-time CEOs swindling the entire public, and an economy that looked about as coherent as David Lynch’s dream journal, the average middle-class in the suburbs had to bear the brunt of everyone else’s incompetency and corruption (as usual).

With all the monetary doom and gloom towards the later years, let’s not forget the beginning and middle years, which were no picnic fest themselves. At first rap rock blared across the radio, assaulting us with angsty twentysomethings who felt they could best channel their rage in rhymes that would make MC Hammer do a double take, all over cheesy guitars and hackneyed music. As nu-metal slowly died off, with everyone by then catching on that maybe Fred Durst was a bit of a d-bag, we then got treated to the wonderful musical stylings of emo.

Teenagers became even more self-involved. They took hours getting ready, putting on the right skinny jeans and picking the ugliest graphic shirt to go stand against the wall and puff away on cigarettes. Meanwhile, this country drowns in debt and terrorists oversees are planning to kill us. But hey, Animal Collective;s coming out with a new album on the 20th! Better not too excited, though, lest you appear enthusiastic and thus “uncool”.

Hardcore punk and even grunge to some extent had some sense of social awareness. What we’re left now is to gaze at narcissism in its absolutely most naked and raw form. These are people that would make shoegazers gag. The hip-hop as well is still promoting a hardcore, tough image, but with more of an idea on conspicuous consumption.

Whereas N.W.A.  and Tupac railed against the white man, ringtone rap nowadays has no such conception of that whatsoever. All rebellious tendencies have been wiped away to sell the black public an image of poppin’ bottles in nightclubs. They brag not about being from the hod, but now moving into the Hamptons. What was once the voice of the downtrodden and an effort to unite the community has now devolved into empty call-and-response chants, objectification of women, glorifying alcohol and substance abuse, and asserting one’s own sexual prowess. Fantastic. While rappers like Jim Jones and Young Money flash dollar bills at the screen, the rest of us are getting our homes foreclosed because we’ve lost our jobs. Never before has there such a wide chasm between popular entertainment and the reality of everyday life.

The political situation has seen the rise of extremist partisanship. It’s a trend I’ve been noting after Bush getting sworn into office. Now just simply disagreeing on a few minor points is not enough if an elected official isn’t in the same party as you; you have to denounce him as Satan himself and call for his head. There is no more center anymore, and we rely less on facts and reasonng and more on talking points and soundites. Anti-war protestors on college campuses call Bush an incompetent dolt who only cares about oil; small business owners label Obama a socialist who plans to take away our health care and leave us all to die before a government committee.

In case this all isn’t enough to make you want to jump off a cliff, don’t forget about the rise of technology. A lot of young adults can;t remember a time before computers. The amount of close friends the average person has is down; instead we’re all attracted to the bright glow of the monitor, to update our Facebook profiles and watch YouTube videos. What this is is leading to is a diminishment in face-to-face contact.

Am I biting the hand that feeds me? A bit. I’m not proposing we all turn into Tyler Durdens and go live in the woods. But use this thing sparingly. Go outside and talk to some people (maybe even meet some new people…*gasp*).

Coming back to politics, and the increasing irrationality around us, we’ve seen the rise of terrorims. Bloodthristy religious fanatics that want to see us gone and are willing to put their own lives on the line to do this. These are scary times, people. These aren’t just Soviet cyborgs we can mock with caricatures in action movies. Scary, scary stuff.

I grew up with a cynical disposition. I was noted as the sunniest or most uplifting child. While at first others chided me for looking on the more dark and dour aspects of life, time has proven me right. I witnessed 9/11 happen on the TV when I was a child and I personally experienced Hurricane Katrina a few years back. In between then, I’ve seen way too public shootings, even more wrestlers die, and a whole host of political and celebrity sex and financial scandals.

Yet, perhaps I, and all of us, are looking down too much on the 2000s. We got some interesting stuff out of it. Like the improvement of video games. All in all, we’re still standing. The big events that grab the headlines occur, but people still go about their business. In terms of my personal life, the 2000s were a time of personal growth, self-actualization, and partying.

Let’s just hope the next decade is a little better.

So not even Tiger Woods is perfect. The character of Lex Luthor in the animated DVD Superman: Doomsdayhad an interesting quote: “There comes a time when even gods must die.” And so we see that in action. Not even the perennial athlete, with his picture-perfect smile, seemingly squeaky-clean behavior, million-dollar endorsements, and preppy clothes is safe from the fatal flaws and vices of the normal human being.

The public seems to crave and demand this sort of stuff. Perhaps it’s a subconscious sort of catharsis; we feel so intimidated by the success and flawlessness of someone like Tiger Woods we intrude into their privacy to get some affirmation that they, like us, are mere mortals subject to the whims of the public.

Never before in society have there has been such a weird love-hate relationship with those in the public eye. We simultaneously revere and exalt athletes and celebrities for their physical acumen and charm, and yet part of is jealous, envious that we don’t lead the lifestyle that we do. And so we savor every trashy tabloid news item about them that we can.

May I be the first one to step up and ask, “Who gives a crap?” Similar to Bill Clinton’s trysts or Michael Phelp’s herb habit, I’m relatively sure this doesn’t affect about 99.99999% of the population. So he cheated on his wife. Big deal. That’s between him and his family. All unconcerned parties need to get out of this business.

For the armchair moralists out there who look down on him, let me ask you: how would you like it if cameras and paparazzi were there to record every single waking moment of your life? If they documented every single error you made and inflamed it for the world to gawk it? Shit wold get pretty stressful, wouldn’t it?

Far from those at the top breathing down our necks, now the roles have reversed in an odd manner….now the average citizen is attempting to break down the boundaries of privacy to lap up every single negative detail of their erstwhile idols. It’s almost like a bizarre anti-Orwellianism.

Back in 08, when Obama got elected, we were on the heels of what we assumed was “change”. That was the buzzword of his campaign; no longer would we see extremist bullheaded warhawks. We would be getting a rational intellectual who would lead us to the promised land of America.

Now in 09 we find that may not be the case. The golden boy is losing some of his shine and is somewhat cracking under pressure. I must admit, I was one of those idealistic liberals who voted for him. I was interested in his positions on certain issues. Shit, you want the neocons to continue running this country into the ground for the next four years?

Now he’s reversing his stance on some issues. An interesting article that recently ran in Time magazine about how one of Obama’s top foreign security aides, Greg Craig, recently resigned after Obama softened on his plea to keep troops out of Afghanistan.

It’s a tricky situation to navigate, that of the of the politician, and so in that regard I don’t envy him one bit. While the hardcore, Birkenstock, wearing, frappuccino-sipping San Francisco college professors might have been enticed by his original promises, the reality is that the vast majority of Americans out there want a balanced methodology.

Obama has had to appease the more moderate base out there, as well as cool of the flames of the negative reaction the likes of Charles Kruthammer and other such Bush apologists have demonstrated. This involves bending on his initial outline and even what some might consider “selling out”. Why haven’t we ended the War in Iraq yet? Why hasn’t Guantanamo Bay been shut down? Where’s the quick and swift health care reform? And for God’s sakes, can we fix the damn economy already?

I understand when Obama came into office, it was not under pleasant or idyllic circumstances. But he knew that going, and that should have actually only strengthened his resolve. Instead, we see a weak-willed Ivy League bookworm seemingly crumbling ineffectually under pressure. One has to wonder, however well-intentioned this bid at health care reform is, if it isn’t a slight of hand to distract us from the fledgling stock market out there.

While we finally saw a politician attempt to stand up to the tyrannical bureaucracy of the HMOs and hospitals, but he really couldn’t have picked a worse time to enact this. He should be fixing the monetary situation here, and that doesn’t mean tossing a few dollars here and there in government programs that we all know will get wasted anyway.

The ugly situation over in the Middle East goes without saying, as well. The rising sociological tide says Obama got elected because Americans were disgusted with Bush and his hardline stance on war. We elected a Democrat hoping he would bring the hammer down on millions of troops getting killed every day. Now, not so much. We’ve seemingly forgotten about our failing military effort. The demonstrations have stopped because people are so simultaneously entranced and enraged with our commander in chief.

Perhaps Obama is simply too honest and endearing to be involved with the dirty cesspool that is politics. While I’m sure he’s far from a saint—I’m sure he has his skeletons in his closet as well—he strikes me as a modern-day version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. A hopeless romantic entrenched in the most corrupt of endeavors, starting off with grand dreams but forced to taint or outright squash them to appease not only the backstabbing careerists in his cabinet, but the average dolt and loud-mouthed pundit out there.

Could it be his youth and inexperience as well? It’s acknowledged the public sector is not a young man’s game. Say what you will about Clinton or even Bush, but they knew how to implement strategies and promote their actions (or close to it, in Bush’s case). While Obama may have been a decent senator, getting his start, should he really be put into the most powerful position in the free world?

Still, I can’t help but feel that I’ve been had by some clever charlatan. I felt, perhaps arrogantly, that I had looked beyond the style and saw some of the substance underneath. I viewed the debates, I paid attention to what he actually said in his speeches. Perhaps the country got swept up in a fervor of anti-Republicanism and just elected him out of a blind whim. Beneath the smile, the glib manner, the charisma and the nice suits, we see there not be so much he has to offer. Only time will tell. I don’t hope he fails like Rush Limbaugh or any of the other conservative tards, but it may be heading that way…..