(no subject)
At last, my time off has started verging away from mindless timewasting to where I wanted it to go- thoughtful consideration (warning, the first part of this is mildly political, the second philosophical). A combination of things have been influencing it the past couple days. First of all, the election obviously played into it. Candidates themselves aside, I have some issues with the American populace as a whole, regardless of political persuasion. There are two things I consistently hate about the public: one, an apathy for anything that doesn't directly affect their pocketbook or leisure time, and two, an unbridled passion for reducing things to simple, black-and-white statements. Many of my friends, though I love them dearly, are blissfully unaware of the dangerous developments currently happening in Sudan and Russia. For that matter, the sharply growing gap in income and health services in our own country is alarming. It is reprehensible on the part of intelligent people to ignore these things. I'm not advocating dropping everything and running to Africa to do volunteer work or give all your possessions to the poor- though if that's your thing, go for it. But you should have enough knowledge to frame an intelligent argument, and if nothing else, act on your beliefs in your vote.
Here's where my second aggravation comes in. It's my opinion that when you educate yourself enough on the issue, you become intelligent enough to realize that there is more than one side to anything. Every decision and every policy carries some amount of "good" and "evil." Refusing to acknowledge that leads to hatred, bigotry, and hypocrisy, no matter what your particular beliefs. It is for this reason that I hate blind ideologues. Don't spout off about homosexuality until you've known a good friend who was harrassed for it. Don't presume to claim moral superiority on abortion until you've known someone who was adopted instead of killed when their teenage mother got pregnant- and until you've known someone who had to face an abortion herself. Don't claim the Iraq war is clean and justified until you've met someone whose family member died fighting in it- and don't tell me it had no purpose unless you're willing to tell that someone, to their weeping face, that their family member died for no purpose. Don't get arrogant about the death penalty until you've met a victim of a violent crime, and until you've seen an interview with an inmate who is waiting to die and is facing that same terror. Smug superiority and hateful invectives fail to impress me. It is only by admitting that no completely right course exists that you can avoid taking the unabashedly wrong one.
Alright, so that's the political rant for the evening. The philosophical one is just that I'm getting back to considering history and all the various actors in it. Part of that is influenced by the large amount of classical music I've been listening to lately- I went to see another concert at the Kennedy Center last night which was incredible. I don't know, I feel I need to force myself to start writing again, because there are so many things running through my mind. As I've stated before, the running impulse in my life is to make people feel. I guess I'd say my penultimate goal (though things like this are more achieved through inspiration and keeping your mind open) is to become a leader in expressing ideas. Whether that's to become an influential writer, a movie director, or an actor, I'm not sure. But one way or another, I want to leave my mark on society as someone who had something to say on culture, on life.
Judging by how my mind works, I guess it's theoretically possible. I just need to get myself to the stage where that kind of action becomes second-nature. Where I live my philosophy and become its living embodiment. The one hitch is that I've reached that stage in life where I realize that though things are going well, any number of things could reduce me to yet another body in an office. Perhaps not in my outlook- I will never be content performing mindless tasks- but in what I am forced to do. Still, in my experience things generally work out as long as you're willing to trust in "fate" and give it your all. I think perhaps the best vindication for me twenty years down the road would be to have a twenty year-old see the results of my work- a film, a book, a performance- see those results, wonder what I was like at that age, and set out to accomplish similar things him/herself. Fundamentally I want to make people think and feel, but beyond that, inspiring people to do the same would bring me true joy.
Here's where my second aggravation comes in. It's my opinion that when you educate yourself enough on the issue, you become intelligent enough to realize that there is more than one side to anything. Every decision and every policy carries some amount of "good" and "evil." Refusing to acknowledge that leads to hatred, bigotry, and hypocrisy, no matter what your particular beliefs. It is for this reason that I hate blind ideologues. Don't spout off about homosexuality until you've known a good friend who was harrassed for it. Don't presume to claim moral superiority on abortion until you've known someone who was adopted instead of killed when their teenage mother got pregnant- and until you've known someone who had to face an abortion herself. Don't claim the Iraq war is clean and justified until you've met someone whose family member died fighting in it- and don't tell me it had no purpose unless you're willing to tell that someone, to their weeping face, that their family member died for no purpose. Don't get arrogant about the death penalty until you've met a victim of a violent crime, and until you've seen an interview with an inmate who is waiting to die and is facing that same terror. Smug superiority and hateful invectives fail to impress me. It is only by admitting that no completely right course exists that you can avoid taking the unabashedly wrong one.
Alright, so that's the political rant for the evening. The philosophical one is just that I'm getting back to considering history and all the various actors in it. Part of that is influenced by the large amount of classical music I've been listening to lately- I went to see another concert at the Kennedy Center last night which was incredible. I don't know, I feel I need to force myself to start writing again, because there are so many things running through my mind. As I've stated before, the running impulse in my life is to make people feel. I guess I'd say my penultimate goal (though things like this are more achieved through inspiration and keeping your mind open) is to become a leader in expressing ideas. Whether that's to become an influential writer, a movie director, or an actor, I'm not sure. But one way or another, I want to leave my mark on society as someone who had something to say on culture, on life.
Judging by how my mind works, I guess it's theoretically possible. I just need to get myself to the stage where that kind of action becomes second-nature. Where I live my philosophy and become its living embodiment. The one hitch is that I've reached that stage in life where I realize that though things are going well, any number of things could reduce me to yet another body in an office. Perhaps not in my outlook- I will never be content performing mindless tasks- but in what I am forced to do. Still, in my experience things generally work out as long as you're willing to trust in "fate" and give it your all. I think perhaps the best vindication for me twenty years down the road would be to have a twenty year-old see the results of my work- a film, a book, a performance- see those results, wonder what I was like at that age, and set out to accomplish similar things him/herself. Fundamentally I want to make people think and feel, but beyond that, inspiring people to do the same would bring me true joy.