Craig's Blog

# re: Far out with Bill Maher

these days, bill seems to be focusing on the emotion of outrage rather than the reasons for outrage. sort of like when dylan found god, but in reverse (huh?) ;-) yep, sometimes it's the process that has more value than the content. not the same thing as "form over function".

see also "abdication of personal responsibility", "the padded cell society", "the narrowing of the bell curve", etc. the grey flannel suit phenomena became insitutionalized, invisible, and pervasive. more freedoms these days ? sure. but then if you exercise that "right" you are compartmentalized away from the mainstream, ignored, and finally eliminated. like bill.

how is this differnece from ealrier times ? it's not, really, except that we've gotten so efficient at it that it truly has become different not only in degree, but in kind. and so these new "values" are indoctrinated in our young, while the web allows self-siloing and isolation away from society at large, with no remaining hope of serendipitous exchange of ideas.

which is what scares about the home schooling movement.

anyway, "freedom" is just an easy way for the government to identify the malcontents. what do you think of _that_, eh ?

# re: Far out with Bill Maher

Haven't heard that phrase "grey flannel suit" in awhile. Good one, I think I use it for a few weeks. Do you mind? ;-)

Well the way I look at it, if we didn't have the web we wouldn't have all of these voices, siloed or not. You can do an end around big media with the web. Big media has lately been a issue with the conservative talk shows, saying that big media like CNN, the networks and the movie industry has an agenda. Too conspiracy sounding for me to take seriously. Anyway there is loss of discord when you're wading in the ocean of the web. Without any feedback or proper debate nothing really happens other than you become an outsider, walking the streets with a sign saying the "the end is near".

History repeats itself -- How many political movements have started out proclaiming a more free society yet devolve into police states? I often wonder if Thoreau had written Civil Disobedience or Thomas Paine had written Common Sense today, would they be jailed as terrorists? Books burned by the religious right?

# re: Far out with Bill Maher

too much "end around"-ing results in systems without corrective influences. as you say when you end that paragraph, what happens at the extreme, when _everyone_ becomes a voice in the wilderness ? does that paradoxically form a new norm, where all are independent, and thus healthy ? or would the individual person-states be so disconnected and idiosyncratic as to hamper any sort of useful communication ? not sure. but i doubt that would happen anyway. i suspect that the great majority would remain in the narrowing mainstream, with the remainder in the (widening) fringes which will by definition remain fractured.

as chance would have it, i was watching the 1998 movie "brave new world" last night. it's spooky how close huxley's vision is to what we have today. what was _really_ scary - maybe - was that i no longer saw his "civilization" as some sort of evil dystopia. hey, it works, why complain. those who want to exit, do. but then look at us today, where we often have discomforts and longings that we can't even identify, much less act upon, because we are so ensconced in our cultural 'lusions. is this failed conditioning, or a statement about the "natural" human state.

to answer your final question: in this context, they would simply be ignored. but what would constitute a thoreau or paine relative to today's society ?

and "police state" can include controls other than overt threat of violence. when has there _not_ been a police state, by that measure ?

# re: Far out with Bill Maher

Well the extreme case of many voices would be something akin to anarchy in the proper sense, no central authorities with individuals becoming their own "goverments". Some big thinkers have said this will be the future form of society. I beg to differ, I think humans are social animals, it's hard wired into us to work in groups, whether for good or bad.

Brave New World was a warning and also served as an allegory for individual freedoms and how they help define what it means to be a human. Much like that Sprinkler City (http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/001/531wlvng.asp) article a few weeks back, people are essentially sheep and want to be led, they love their lusions, it's comforting, much like soma. So yes it's both natural human state and conditioned into us from the start. Yet I believe we can all rise above it. Perhaps the few of us who can and are able to are the true humans? The rest of us are still stuck on animal hindbrain thinking patterns?

Today's Paine's and Thoreau's would be individuals who seriously question the system, not just an armchair activist like these tree huggers who protest the WTO meetings. I think the 1960's era had more Thoreau types than at any time in the 20th century. There are those out there who do question the system today but like you said they are on the fringe and will probably stay there because the soma is soooo good right now why stop the IV drip? The majority are the youth who decide to buck the system, what do they have to lose, they've never had soma before and aren't hooked on it yet. With the greying of the US it will be interesting to see how much the youth will be repressed in their expressions. I heard a stat the other day that by 2020, 80% of the working force will be over 50. Seemed awful high. Will a period of repression by the elderly (err elders) have long term consequences for the US? Do I care since I'll be taking my long dirt nap by then?

Yes, a majority of "free" goverments use plenty of intimidation to control it's population. That's one of the main purposes for taxes besides funding infrastructure. The IRS wields a big stick and can make or break people if somebody high up doesn't like you. If you have a population hooked on soma you can lead them however you want -- e.i. don't watch Bill Maher, he's as bad as the terrorists. That's powerful and dangerous when you can send a popular voice off into the fringe.

# re: Far out with Bill Maher

this dvorak article on the erosion of blogs <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1382914,00.asp> has been getting a lot of play recently. it's relevant to this thread in that it speaks of the establishment of pseudo blogs and the audience-dominance of blogs by professional writers. there has also been a lot of feedback on this going the other way, that blogging is alive and well.

you're skating across too many broad issues to adequately respond to here. it needs a few beers, say a night in a pub by a fire (with buxom serving wenches, of course). so i'll leave you with this thought:

Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?

Well, maybe he went to get a sideways haircut
Maybe he went to get a striped shirt
Maybe he went to get some plastic shoes
Maybe he went to get some funny sunglasses

Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?

Well, maybe he went to get an Air Force parka
Maybe he went to get a Vespa scooter
Maybe he went to get a British flag
Maybe he went to go Mod Ska dancing

Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?

Well, maybe he went to get a mohawk
And maybe he went to get some gnarly thrash boots
Maybe he went to go ride his skateboard
Maybe he went to see the Circle Jerks

Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?
Where, where the Hell is Bill?

...


--- <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22where+the+hell+is+bill%22>