Life on the Fault-line
As my vehicle came around the curve, a massive eighteen wheel truck in the lane next to me nearly forced me off the road, its sheer size along with a sudden gust of wind, caused my van to fishtail on the icy pathway. To my right was the outer ledge of the Smoky Mountain. There was no guard rail, just a precipitous drop that was hundreds of feet straight down. As the rear of the van spun outward towards the fringe of the cliff, my heart and stomach seemed to be pulled up towards my throat by the combination of acceleration and panic. If I went over the ledge, there would be no way to survive the fall, no angels at hand to slow my descent. There was only gravity, a fact of nature as indifferent to my circumstance as the wind that helped push my car to the edge of the precipice. I screamed “Oh God....help me”! Not so much as a prayer, but, as a reflex. Suddenly, I saw a light, it began to move towards me, and within the light there was a calming voice that said, “Fear not, I have come to save you”! I knew in that moment that what the voice said was true. The fear that had clenched my throat, threatening to suffocate me, gave way to calm, and time slowed to a crawl. I asked, “Is that you Jesus”? And the voice responded “No”! If not Jesus, then who, what…Buddha, Jehovah?” I asked. As I continued to plummet earthward, an image began to form in my mind, it was of an old man with a white beard, he spoke in an almost boyish voice, saying, “I'm not God, at least not the eternal God that lives in Heaven.”
I said, "Which god are you then"?
He responded in a flat, nasal tone, "Its Ben Bernanke...you know....the chairman of The Federal Reserve”!
My mind rushed to make sense of what the man was saying, and in that instant before impact I went limp and gave in to the soothing visage before me. With the earth rushing upward to meet me, I had no other choice but to obey.
Listening to the many pundits talking about the fiscal cliff is really a case of the blind leading the blind. The media have endless facts at their fingertips, all of which tell a story, which story you ask? Whatever story they wish to tell.
Facts are just facts, what they actually mean, well, that’s a much harder thing to decipher. Statisticians understand this perfectly well, but, statistics and their meaning are boring, so the media usually need to jazz things up in order to get the kind of ratings that will attract the big advertising dollars. This begs the question, "If the people who are putting on the latest dog and pony show for our viewing pleasure don’t understand how things actually work, and if the various media outlets are the well upon which our citizenry draws its intellectual sustenance, then how likely is it that we’ll be able to solve our problems?" Not very likely, would be the obvious answer.
I said, "Which god are you then"?
He responded in a flat, nasal tone, "Its Ben Bernanke...you know....the chairman of The Federal Reserve”!
My mind rushed to make sense of what the man was saying, and in that instant before impact I went limp and gave in to the soothing visage before me. With the earth rushing upward to meet me, I had no other choice but to obey.
Listening to the many pundits talking about the fiscal cliff is really a case of the blind leading the blind. The media have endless facts at their fingertips, all of which tell a story, which story you ask? Whatever story they wish to tell.
Facts are just facts, what they actually mean, well, that’s a much harder thing to decipher. Statisticians understand this perfectly well, but, statistics and their meaning are boring, so the media usually need to jazz things up in order to get the kind of ratings that will attract the big advertising dollars. This begs the question, "If the people who are putting on the latest dog and pony show for our viewing pleasure don’t understand how things actually work, and if the various media outlets are the well upon which our citizenry draws its intellectual sustenance, then how likely is it that we’ll be able to solve our problems?" Not very likely, would be the obvious answer.
Television, and the media in general, are all about demographics—meaning attracting an audience based on niche markets for big ticket items like; relatively expensive cars, wines, jewelry, clothes, etc. Not too expensive mind you. True elitism is too narrow, demographically speaking. You want a broad, yet reasonably affluent clientele. But if it’s too affluent, too elitist, then the audience will be small, just the right amount of elitism is the ticket. You also want an audience that is still impressionable enough to buy into the lifestyle of the cool and famous. One that is hawking the latest wondrous products designed strictly for your pleasure while encouraging mass consumption. "Spend, spend, spend" is the mantra on the nation's collective lips. Keynesian economics being the preferred dogma of the day, and we all know that every dog, like every Keynesian, must have its day!
This is good for business at the local mall. It isn't very good for the nation’s long-term financial prognosis, however. So, don’t be surprised if the country as a whole begins to look like a somewhat higher than average income earning, thirty-two-year-old, driving a new car and drinking a better class of wines than what can be found at your local supermarket or convenience store. Advertisers will naturally steer clear of all those rusty geezers who have enough life experience to know when they’re being sold the latest piece of crap, marketed as the thing to have lest the apocalypse should commence. On the other hand, "Baby Boomers" have resisted adulthood at every turn, so being a geezer is, for them, merely a state of mind. Unfortunately, with a hefty geezer infestation waiting in the chutes, the apocalypse may be closer than anyone knows.
Therein is the problem of deciphering the meaning of the “Fiscal cliff,” at least as it's articulated by the mainstream media. They aren't really interested in the “Fiscal cliff,” they’re interested in the “Fiscal cliff” as a marketing slogan.
So, listen up America, this isn't really all that hard! You can’t spend money that you don’t have, not without running up massive debts. At some point, one of two things happens, either you start making more money so you can cover what you owe, or you stop spending so much. Once you owe so much that you can’t pay it back, your only option will be to find a nice cozy place under an overpass, find a suitable cardboard box, make a "will work for food" sign, and join that growing herd of street corner entrepreneurs. That is the American predicament; it’s also the predicament of a good portion of the rest of the world.
But, if you don’t want to listen, you can always find someone who will tell you what you want to hear. Someone on those hundred and fifty channels that are pumped into your home on basic cable has a version of the world that will fit your mental and emotional needs. The rest you can tune out. And, if that doesn't work, there’s always the internet, where ghosts, televangelists, UFO’s, Bigfoot, Republicans, Democrats and the Illuminati battle for supremacy, enabling Americans to choose their own personalized version of a scapegoat in a effort to maintain their moral equilibrium.
That’s how President Obama got reelected, in spite of posting atrocious numbers in almost every area. It’s also why Congress as a whole has something like a 9% approval rating, but, the same 85% of Congressmen and woman continue to get reelected. Apparently everyone else and "Their" Congressperson is the real problem, not me, of course…."Damn those sons-o-bitches"!
It is a wondrous age in which we live. Never has such a rich selection of excuses been available to all mankind. The egalitarian nature of our collective culture has given to average folk what once was purely the possession of the elites. And, as the nation burns, we can all be secure (at least emotionally) in our innocence. So, latch onto a crystal, offer up a prayer to the Ghost of Christmas Past and all will be well with the world, at least the version that exists solely in the nation's collective consciousness.
This is good for business at the local mall. It isn't very good for the nation’s long-term financial prognosis, however. So, don’t be surprised if the country as a whole begins to look like a somewhat higher than average income earning, thirty-two-year-old, driving a new car and drinking a better class of wines than what can be found at your local supermarket or convenience store. Advertisers will naturally steer clear of all those rusty geezers who have enough life experience to know when they’re being sold the latest piece of crap, marketed as the thing to have lest the apocalypse should commence. On the other hand, "Baby Boomers" have resisted adulthood at every turn, so being a geezer is, for them, merely a state of mind. Unfortunately, with a hefty geezer infestation waiting in the chutes, the apocalypse may be closer than anyone knows.
Therein is the problem of deciphering the meaning of the “Fiscal cliff,” at least as it's articulated by the mainstream media. They aren't really interested in the “Fiscal cliff,” they’re interested in the “Fiscal cliff” as a marketing slogan.
So, listen up America, this isn't really all that hard! You can’t spend money that you don’t have, not without running up massive debts. At some point, one of two things happens, either you start making more money so you can cover what you owe, or you stop spending so much. Once you owe so much that you can’t pay it back, your only option will be to find a nice cozy place under an overpass, find a suitable cardboard box, make a "will work for food" sign, and join that growing herd of street corner entrepreneurs. That is the American predicament; it’s also the predicament of a good portion of the rest of the world.
But, if you don’t want to listen, you can always find someone who will tell you what you want to hear. Someone on those hundred and fifty channels that are pumped into your home on basic cable has a version of the world that will fit your mental and emotional needs. The rest you can tune out. And, if that doesn't work, there’s always the internet, where ghosts, televangelists, UFO’s, Bigfoot, Republicans, Democrats and the Illuminati battle for supremacy, enabling Americans to choose their own personalized version of a scapegoat in a effort to maintain their moral equilibrium.
That’s how President Obama got reelected, in spite of posting atrocious numbers in almost every area. It’s also why Congress as a whole has something like a 9% approval rating, but, the same 85% of Congressmen and woman continue to get reelected. Apparently everyone else and "Their" Congressperson is the real problem, not me, of course…."Damn those sons-o-bitches"!
It is a wondrous age in which we live. Never has such a rich selection of excuses been available to all mankind. The egalitarian nature of our collective culture has given to average folk what once was purely the possession of the elites. And, as the nation burns, we can all be secure (at least emotionally) in our innocence. So, latch onto a crystal, offer up a prayer to the Ghost of Christmas Past and all will be well with the world, at least the version that exists solely in the nation's collective consciousness.
Eventually, things will come crashing down like Samson tugging at its foundation. Why? Because the world doesn't really care what you think, any more than it cares that you didn't dress warm enough for your trudge through Antarctica. If you’re stupid enough to wear a tank top and some swim trunks into the arctic wilderness, nature will not adjust the thermostat to accommodate your foolishness. Not unless the polar bears, moose and ocean life are killed in order to give you comfort in your time of infinite mental regress.
Just imagine what the world would be like if God really did suffer fools as they have a want to believe. You’d have people randomly altering weather patterns to reroute hurricanes, slamming into homes and killing folk. After all, if God didn't hate them, they wouldn't be dead, that's good enough for me. And, with the assurance that comes from knowing precious little, we can be happy believing that we've done God’s will.
As silly as that sounds, it’s no sillier than most of our thinking regarding our day-to-day political and economic reality. If we fundamentally misread human nature, our contracts and commitments, we become adult-children, evil in our thinking, demanding our fair share without understanding what the words “Fair" and “Share” actually mean—and without reasonable definitions there is only chaos. Welcome to the jungle!
This is a common practice with all cults. Of course, who’s to say who belongs to a cult and who doesn't? What we really want are politicians acting as mystics, doing magic, conjuring the gods on our behalf, materializing one-hundred-dollar bills out of thin air. The only problem is, that, where those bills will be real enough, they no longer will have any value. There is a limit to even the most powerful magic.
That, my friends, is pretty much where we’re at as a nation. So you might want to sacrifice that chicken, lay down an extra deuce in the collection plate and pray for the best, we’re sure as hell gonna need it--and not even Ben Bernanke can save us now!
Mark Magula
Just imagine what the world would be like if God really did suffer fools as they have a want to believe. You’d have people randomly altering weather patterns to reroute hurricanes, slamming into homes and killing folk. After all, if God didn't hate them, they wouldn't be dead, that's good enough for me. And, with the assurance that comes from knowing precious little, we can be happy believing that we've done God’s will.
As silly as that sounds, it’s no sillier than most of our thinking regarding our day-to-day political and economic reality. If we fundamentally misread human nature, our contracts and commitments, we become adult-children, evil in our thinking, demanding our fair share without understanding what the words “Fair" and “Share” actually mean—and without reasonable definitions there is only chaos. Welcome to the jungle!
This is a common practice with all cults. Of course, who’s to say who belongs to a cult and who doesn't? What we really want are politicians acting as mystics, doing magic, conjuring the gods on our behalf, materializing one-hundred-dollar bills out of thin air. The only problem is, that, where those bills will be real enough, they no longer will have any value. There is a limit to even the most powerful magic.
That, my friends, is pretty much where we’re at as a nation. So you might want to sacrifice that chicken, lay down an extra deuce in the collection plate and pray for the best, we’re sure as hell gonna need it--and not even Ben Bernanke can save us now!
Mark Magula
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