Luditas y Tecnócratas

The world today is a machine of chaos. The virus is running rampant, killing 2700 in one day. Social media sows discord and division in our populace and politics. Things aren't the way they were before, you'd hardly even recognize it anymore. We, as an organism are so attached to our technology that most of us couldn't live without it, or even imagine a world without it. Would it be like the Utopia or New Atlantis or Sir Tomas More and Francis Bacon? Maybe. Maybe not. Would I even be writing this if I knew that nobody would read it? Without the support of the internet to share my ideas, would they still be worth writing about only for myself, or just family and friends?  

Everyday is a new construct in which technology is used to maximum effect. We leave our smartphones in our pocket all day long at work and even go on them when at home at night. Our computers, televisions, and video game consoles are bastions of the shiftless biomass, the state of nature in America right now, especially under quarantine. Social media is used to no end and will probably continue to be ad infinitum. 

But not all of it is bad. Tech can be used for the good of society but more often than not, when tech is left unregulated, it becomes a tool of the super rich, powerful, technocrats. They use their mathematical scientific abilities to create apps, or websites, or algorithms that potentially can last forever until eventually replaced by another one. 

You are not a gadget. It isn't normal for a human being or animal [for man is but an animal with sense of virtue of what is good] to walk around with a computer in their pocket, forever connected to a fantasy mini universe [the internet] at all times of morning, day, or night. But we let these things happen because we're moving with the spirit of the times. If everyone has the new iPhone, then it means it's time to upgrade my old iPhone and get the newer one. Is that what you should do?

The luddites that exist in society today are borderline living on the fringe types. They might live in the woods, on a farm, or Wisconsin, or Alaska, or a wood elf type of forest area with big houses enshrouded in darkness. Isolation and loneliness isn't as much of a problem for the luddites, for they always have the natural world, the natural order of things that makes them happy. On the other side of the equation, in comparison, the technocrats have their money, power, and grand influence over the emerging world to make them happy. Who am I to deny any of them happiness? 

The way of the old world is dying and/or already dead. Language learning isn't a focus in America. Music learning isn't a focus. We no longer read books or get our kids to be interested in them. Math test scores are very low. Science scores are very low. Kids from other countries come here to learn and learn more than our kids do, taking their knowledge back to their own countries and doing good things in their worlds. We focus on getting our kids through college and getting them to work, a very fine venture but if they don't actually learn anything, are we really doing a good job?

The old world is nature, animals, music, books, art. The new world is television, video games, movies, social media, and constant overuse of technology. There are good and bad variables regarding the characteristics of the old world versus the new world, but it can't be denied that the way of the world is shifting into a deified technological statehood, being and time of the digital age. 

The cyberpunk aesthetic of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is already here. Fundamentally, most Americans [most humans with smartphones and computers] are cyborgs. We're attached to our phones, computers, and tv's like they're an extension of our body, an extension of ourselves. Who needs to play Cyberpunk 2077 when we're living through it everyday of our lives. This is why it is important to always take time to reject technology, set it down for a set period, and come back to it at a later period. If you're interested in what a true gritty cyberpunk world looks like, read William Gibson's Neuromancer. In the Trump era, it goes without saying that we are living in the realm of science fiction and far right political ideology that is so fringe that it reminds us of Nazi Germany. The past is reminiscent of the future. When we stare into the abyss, it looks back at us. 

Will the future remember things like Plutarch, Homer, Mozart, and Charlie Bird Parker? Or will they focus more on what happened during the 2016 to 2020 elections? The world lives another day but tomorrow never knows.    

August Update

Hello, everybody. I thought I'd write down a what's up post. I haven't been writing for some time now and perhaps just writing anything can get my back into the groove of things. So what's up?

I've been still doing my retail gig at the market. They took away our hazard pay after only 2 months but supposedly our union is trying to get it reinstated. I still can't believe that they took it away when COVID has only got worse. Keep in mind that the company is a million-dollar organization. How's that for a big fuck you to your employees? Jokes aside, I really do hope they reinstate the hazard pay. It's only an additional $2 an hour but every little bit helps. They also need to stop kicking their workers in the balls. 

Nevermind the fact that our chances of catching COVID are still super high there. Nobody cleans anything, not that I blame them. The customers are at a super high risk of catching COVID there too because nobody cleans anything. They could probably get it from touching the payment pinpad. The customers leave their masks and gloves in the carts for other customers to be surprised by when they grab the carts. Sometimes my community disgusts me. In a way, it's brought out the real me. You see, about 90% of the customers treat me like human garbage there, while maybe only about 10% treats me like a human being. I have to treat them accordingly if you get my drift.

For the last three months, I got switched to morning shifts. It was a big deal and I wasn't fond of it but I got used to it and enjoyed the free time at night to hang out with friends and family. Well, now I'm back to my usual night shift, which I've been doing for the last couple of years. It's not fun but I'm used to it. And after working mornings for the last couple of months, I actually miss the mornings, the morning coworkers, the better preparation, the extra help. Everything's easier during the morning and daytime when everybody is there. When you have a full staff to run things, you get a lot more done. At night our managers don't give us enough personnel to get everything done. So consequently, not much gets done. 

I've been using my nights to relax and smell the coffee. I'm trying to find a new way to live during COVID. It's very difficult and stressful at times. My job has become a lot more stressful and more of the customers are assholes all the time now. Them not being able to go out and party, on top of not having work, or having their kids at school, it's set them off. They're driving me and my coworkers crazy. This is not a good time for retail or any kind of store operation. If you have to go into a store, treat the workers really well. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were heroes, now the customers are treating them like shit. 

I spend most of my time reading books on my Kindle or on YouTube, where I can listen to my precious music, quite possibly the only thing keeping me going at the moment. My friends are there for me but they can't be there all the time. And I don't want to bother my family too much, I feel like I've been a burden to them. I realize I need to eventually spread my painted bird wings and fly out of the nest. Perhaps when this whole virus thing ends once and for all. 

I've been thinking about moving in somewhere with some roommates. Or with closer friends. Or perhaps joining a hippie commune somewhere? That would be like the ultimate hippie move and I would perhaps even be down to do it, provided my other plans in life don't work out the next few years or so. That would be so wild, born to be wild.

As you can tell, I've just been pretty stressed at the retail gig. But not only that. About a month or so ago, I sprained my right-hand pinkie, and playing the guitar isn't the same. It might be another month for it to completely heal IF it completely heals. If it doesn't heal, playing the guitar will never be the same. In a way, I've been super pissed ever since the day it happened, long story about that but I won't go into the excruciating details. But let's put it this way if you're a guitar player and you get a finger injury, the only thing you really have to say to everybody is, "go fuck yourself, fuck you." That sums it up perfectly.

But there's good news too. I've finished Livy's Early History of Rome and started reading Don Quixote again. Perhaps I'll finally get back to blogging about books again and albums. The whole lifestyle/rant blogging style has sort of run its course somewhat for the time being. Thanks for listening.

Enjoy your evening. 

Children of the grave

Where has all the militancy gone? The youth of today are docile and weak-spirited. Lured by the forbidden fruit of pop music, clubbing, alcohol, marijuana, video games, Netflix, and pornography. That's where they've gone. Instead of being out there on the front lines being [fighting] as people of means, respectability, and importance. 

You know what I think of most young people my age? As Susan Sontag said of her day in the 1960s, they're a bunch of barbarous yahoos. They don't read, they go out in packs, they buy alcohol at the check out line every day, they drive mommy and daddy's nice expensive cars, depending on them even in their late 20's.  

What we really need is a return to militancy. We need to set some guidelines. There are requirements. People need to do real things in the real world and not be so obsessed with the internet. We need more people to spend less time on the internet. They need to be more productive in the real world instead.  Productive in hobbies, work, and relationships.

The internet has become a master tool of the elite [the tech industry] to make the young docile, weak, creatures of a low nature. All the things that are addicting about the internet are not good for people, yet everybody still thinks its the greatest thing ever made. News flash, it's making you, your family, and all your friends stupid. 

There's a caveat of course. We still need online news for example. That 24/7 news cycle would be ruthless without it. But don't use the internet for everything. Millennials have become so stupid because of their reliance upon this newfound, so-called, great tech. Have you ever heard of something called books? 

You've got to read actual books of substance. Classics of the western canon, philosophy, history, fiction, nonfiction, technical manuals, maps, those sorts of things. Just random articles about things you're interested in are cool but you'll never be satisfied with one article about one particular subject, so what you're going to start reading tons of articles all the time in your free time? Leaders read books. Keep that in mind. 

People might think this is tough and I'm cruel for saying most of the entire youth to thirty age gap in this country are all mindless babies but it's damn true. Without militancy, their minds are easy prey by their parents, their bosses, and their sick, twisted Republican-controlled government. 

The youth of today, if you don't change, you're completely fucked. For some of you its already too late. 

All you children of today are children of the grave.

2020 in our sights

Greetings, readers of the interwebz. 

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I'm glad 2019 is almost over and that 2020 is about to begin. A lot of the chaos stems from political turmoil in America. Mainly, that the President is using the highest office of the land for his own personal political gain. It's infuriating and it's despicable. We have one party in government that is completing undermining American democracy just because the President is 'their' guy. Simply put, it goes without saying that if Obama got caught doing the quid quo pro, he would've been impeached by now. Democrats would've defended him but they wouldn't have defended him to the death like the Republicans are clinging to Trump? Why? Because they have values still whereas the Republicans today lack that. 

The division and spread of hate via politics have become mainstream. People are identified by what 'tribe' they are in. Trump's base versus Americans who think he's undermining American democracy. There is no in-between. We'll have to wait until Congress comes back from their holiday recess to see what will inevitably end up happening regarding the Trump impeachment. Merry impeachment, happy new year, new year, new President? Something along those lines would be nice. 

I got a lot of reading time this year. According to my Goodreads account data, I read 26 books over 11,000 pages. I've spent more and more time each day reading rather than playing computer games or hanging out with friends. Also, I can finally play through Sequenza for guitar by Luciano Berio [though not that well or fast]. That took me about a year to do that. Also, I've finally adjusted to a diet where I eat less food at night and eat less overall, while not starving myself or doing complete fasting. Rather its an overnight fast, fasting when I'm sleeping. I've been playing in a straight-ahead jazz duo for a year straight and I've learned a lot about jamming, jazz, and improvisational music through all those performances and recordings. I've accumulated all my best sound recordings on my Soundcloud and put it out there for the world to hear. I've been working nonstop at the same place for seven years straight. These are great accomplishments. 

When I think of what I was missing out on there are a few things I can think of. In 2020 I want to play more guitar, learn more songs, hang out with more new people and friends, who are more into art/music/literature, as well as write a lot more. I mainly want to write more short stories and develop a short story collection as a novel. I'd also like to finish up on my novella, my memoir, which I started a year ago and sort of finished but didn't edit very well. I want to learn more about technology and science to use that knowledge in my own science fiction stories. Things like that. 

When I think of the world/country/city/general life in general as opposed to my own personal well being/job/friends/family/hobbies/life I would say 2019 had more downs than ups. But I'm an optimistic guy. "It's getting better all the time. Me used to angry young man..." As the Beatles sang life does indeed get better. I get really down on my luck regarding the job and the rising inequality of the middle/lower classes in America but I'm still very hopeful of a better America. Maybe not in 2020, maybe not in five or ten years, but in a future where I'll be older, smarter, and hopefully working an office job. 

I think progressive politics scares a lot of people still because it's associated with the 'dirty' word socialist. However, the way things have gone down in America it only makes sense to start using more socialist policies. In a way, I feel that capitalism has run its course. Of course, it could never be completely abolished. Rather, there would be a future where there are fewer capitalistic systems and more socialist ones. In five-ten years down the line, I could see a guy who has similar policies as say, Andrew Yang, get elected. The old school Republican versus Democrat has just got to go. 

So 2020 is in our sights. Let's all make these last few days of 2019 good. Remember how tough it was this year. For the world in general. And look forward to things getting better.

Kickstart my heart

Howdy, everybody. Here I am back at it with another vlog-style post, life update sort of work. 

Work has been pretty intense. 40+ hours every week, sometimes only one day off. The holidays are here already. That's very scary for a retail worker like myself. I tried to request all the major holidays off. Not that I would actually get them off but I just had to try anyways for giggles. The pay is okay but not great. The work has become very boring. My only solace is that some of my coworkers are cool and some customers are cool. 

As a result of all this retail work experience, I've come to class consciousness. I'm not a full-on Marxist yet but you don't even need Marx and Engels to come to class consciousness. For that, all you need is struggle and contradiction [ironically also a part of Marxism sort of]. All this low-level grunt work forces you into action. You start to think about all the workers in their hierarchy. You see where you fit in and you come to realizations. Some good, some bad. Mostly bad. 

I'm this close to reading Adorno at this point. That's become my running joke lately: Retail work is so bad that it's forcing me to class consciousness. I don't really have as much time for my music, reading, or writing [that's why I haven't written book reviews for a while, forcing me to write these rants of the proletariat]. When you see how highly stratified American society is, and how the common man is treated, it forces you to wake up, to jump out of your small inner shell [my outsider musician shell], and look out into the world, and see for what it actually is. "If the doors of perception were completely cleansed, man would see the world for what it actually is." 

What do you do when you see this? Well, I'm not really sure there's anything I can do. That's just the way it is. It's possible that this entire society [America] is doomed, the government is corrupt to the core, and the environment along with wildlife is damned. Even if that was all true [I suspect it is honestly some days] is that all there is? 

"Is that all there is? If that's all there is, then let's go dancing."