Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Up at 4:00, to the gym at 5, racquetball and Insanity until 6:45, then home to an hour's worth of emails, bills, etc., then Varinsky and Wendel, but since there was nothing to do at Wendel, I went home, wrote for two hours, then watched a doc I've been waiting to see for months, now on HBO:
Well, it's very good. Along with Glenn Greenwald's book "No Place to Hide," it exposes the degree to which our civil liberties are merely words on a page. It might be time to consider reading Franz Kafka's The Castle and The Trial. They seem appropriate these days. There is something to be said for losing oneself in the endless distractions of the present, the TV shows, engaging books, entertaining movies and daily rituals that keep us far removed from the profound and core tenants of our society. There's a theme I see growing inside me, the battle between the truth and the illusion of the truth, and the power illusions carry over human beings. Perhaps I should add some Joseph Campbell into my Kafka mix. I've always been drawn to the congenial, properly groomed monster, the Hannibal characters roaming around with such style and grace, the monsters who can't possibly be who they are, because their image is so contrary to the havoc they leave in their wake. Howard Zinn might also be necessary. What is America? What does it stand for? The truth. Freedom. Liberty. Moral authority. That's what we're told. That's what we're sold. We're the good guys. Always. But in Citizenfour, it's so very clear who the good guy is. That's what makes this documentary so stunning. And chilling. I know what the illusion is, but what is the truth of America? Is our core really that rotten? I have never been one to take that position, but I sure hate hypocrisy and abuse of power. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which some would argue there's no such thing as abuse of power. The only rule, perhaps, is to use whatever power you have. So much to think about these days, along with so many distractions to keep us from thinking about anything.
Up at 4:00, to the gym at 5, racquetball and Insanity until 6:45, then home to an hour's worth of emails, bills, etc., then Varinsky and Wendel, but since there was nothing to do at Wendel, I went home, wrote for two hours, then watched a doc I've been waiting to see for months, now on HBO:
Well, it's very good. Along with Glenn Greenwald's book "No Place to Hide," it exposes the degree to which our civil liberties are merely words on a page. It might be time to consider reading Franz Kafka's The Castle and The Trial. They seem appropriate these days. There is something to be said for losing oneself in the endless distractions of the present, the TV shows, engaging books, entertaining movies and daily rituals that keep us far removed from the profound and core tenants of our society. There's a theme I see growing inside me, the battle between the truth and the illusion of the truth, and the power illusions carry over human beings. Perhaps I should add some Joseph Campbell into my Kafka mix. I've always been drawn to the congenial, properly groomed monster, the Hannibal characters roaming around with such style and grace, the monsters who can't possibly be who they are, because their image is so contrary to the havoc they leave in their wake. Howard Zinn might also be necessary. What is America? What does it stand for? The truth. Freedom. Liberty. Moral authority. That's what we're told. That's what we're sold. We're the good guys. Always. But in Citizenfour, it's so very clear who the good guy is. That's what makes this documentary so stunning. And chilling. I know what the illusion is, but what is the truth of America? Is our core really that rotten? I have never been one to take that position, but I sure hate hypocrisy and abuse of power. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which some would argue there's no such thing as abuse of power. The only rule, perhaps, is to use whatever power you have. So much to think about these days, along with so many distractions to keep us from thinking about anything.
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