The Wayward Generation: A Portrait of America's Youth

What does it say about the current state of affairs when the younger generations are aptly named "The IPhone Generation"? The moniker suggests a hip, trend setting youth that defines what sort of direction we're going, both on a technical and cultural plane. However, as the world becomes more connected with each and every invention that allows us to communicate from the comfort of our homes, the world becomes that much smaller. We lose the ability to 'touch' and feel one another on a physical basis and become so detached from the desire to go out in the world and make connections on a 'person to person' scale. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, make it so effortless to immerse oneself  in the day in and day out happenings of complete strangers. What used to be private has now become public, with such sites become hubs of social commentary and pop culture mavericks. We are a society bombarded with screens and ads that dog us at every step, telling us what to like and reminding us of our exposure just through a simple click of a mouse.

The internet has become the new area to showcase one's talents, for better or worse, and a stage for the ego to elevate itself above its peers. It is almost impossible to be on facebook, twitter, or instagram and not find countless images of friends and acquaintances misadventures that are updated at a seconds notice. I find myself going from amused to overwhelmed, to finally disgusted and mortified at the sight of what some people find to be necessary to share. Is it really necessary to post pictures of your pregnant stomach every few days just to remind your friends and family that 'you're really a mature woman, ready for the responsibility of "adulthood"? It is imperative that young girls no younger than 13 have such shallow impressions of themselves that they have to uphold 'racy' pictures of themselves to their facebook wall just for the reassurance that they are indeed 'attractive' and worthy of the men they aspire to be with. We are a people that are slowly finding it increasingly difficult to maintain concentration at even the most serious of moments. I find myself ranked and riled at the sight of a young person sneaking a look at their phone during a college lecture or writing a status that degrades the persona of a friend or classmate.

Perhaps I am indeed a fighter of the future that pines for a return to a time when people wanted to be out and about and learn for themselves rather than aspire to have every answer at the press of a button. When I hear individuals stumble at even the most obvious of questions that should be taught at a grade school level, it frightens me to think where we are and where we are headed.

Hollywood: The Sodom of the Art World

"Yeah well, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." 

For those of you who don't know the source of the above quote it comes from none other than Dr. Ian Malcolm played wonderfully by the always quirky Jeff Goldblum in The Lost World. It is this statement that is used to hauntingly remind the powers that brought dinosaurs into re-existence that their attempts at playing god should've thought ahead before dooming themselves to their own imminent undoing. It is this common sci-fi theme that is commonly used as a warning to 'think before you act', and ironically be used to describe Hollywood today, particularly within the realm of remakes and reboots. 

With so much money in circulation within Hollywood and the corporations of America it is easy to look past the greed and the wealth that we suspend disbelief just long enough to stand in line for the latest blockbuster or long awaited sequel. These days we are bombarded with ads for movie tie-in products some which deserve more scolding than others such as: Man of Steel's Gillette razor commercials and McDonalds for pretty much every Disney movie that hits the circuit. Are we as a society so dumb that we really need the product affiliations to make us feel that much closer to fame and fortune. I can tell you that on the rare occasion that I feel the need to shave do I instantly think "I really want to look like Henry Cavill from Superman today!"

Either Hollywood has grossly misjudged the effect their film has on the general public or they know us to be the mindless sheep that we are who will bite at anything that looks remotely shiny or tasty. Sadly I have to say the latter is most likely the reality of it all. In reference to the quote above do we come to the phenomenon of remaking classic films or television shows to reroute generations who were a. not around to appreciate the originals when they initially came out or b. don't appreciate the originals because they're minds are so tailored to the sensory overload type of film making that substitutes as a filler for real creativity. Did we really need a Spiderman reboot less than a few years after the original trilogy ended? Was it really necessary for Hollywood to dive into every comic book series no matter how shitty they were in the hopes of garnering a smooth paycheck for the already rich executives who could give a fuck about the art of filmmaking? A lot of people will argue with me and say 'oh but Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale are so good in Iron Man and Batman'. First of all, they're not that good in those roles, they're acceptable because the characters that they're playing are such unrealistic, fun ideas that serve as symbols of the golden age of comic books rather than as fictitious beings with deep personalities that deserve shakespearian interpretations. It's hard to see them as anything more than fun comic book characters because that's what they were intended for, granted hats off to Frank Miller for his gritty interpretation of Batman, but that was when it was something new and original. Anybody could've played Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark, they're one dimensional characters that over the years have been tweaked so much that we forget the source material that they originated from. If Hollywood wants to be taken seriously then it needs to support the people that make films possible (i.e. the writers) and worry less about being hacks and pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into shitty live action retellings of men in tights. One critic recently noted that the budget of Christopher Nolan's Man of Steel could've been better utilized in the field of cancer research or some other noble cause rather than to line the pockets of executives who don't need it. 

Movie making has gone from a legitimate art form with real potential to tell a story through creative techniques and innovation, to a perverted, twisted spawn of big business and computer generated shit that continues to 'captivate' audiences everywhere. Method acting has been replaced with warehouse produced set pieces and storytelling exchanged for cheesy plot devices glossed over with shiny special effects that are no longer 'special'. You really lose the magic of filmmaking and the joy of creation when everything is so effortlessly manufactured behind a computer screen. When Blade Runner and Star Wars came out, they were noted for their unorthodox methods in bringing fantastical set pieces to life with neat special effects that came out of models and camera tricks that made them possible. Blade Runner today still has an amazing feel to it when watched today, just in its ability to maintain that film noir vibe while painting a not so distant dismal future. Films today don't put that same thought and care into their final products and prefer to promote 'star power' over 'storytelling' in the hopes of making a quick buck off of promotional advertising and hyper violence. I agree that graphic violence can be a good plot device in telling a story but when it's so ubiquitous that it desensitizes the going public it loses it's intended effect. Films like the "Saw" series are famous for such things but at the same time have successfully desensitized an entire generation to violence in a way that makes them numb to non empathetic to the harsh grim reality around them. These are the same group of teenagers who go to see such blood fests and could give a rat's ass about the violence in third world countries because they're so immune to it. Therefore such facts make it hard for me to stomach some dipshit who claims that 'The Dark Knight' is "the best movie ever" and call movies like "Chinatown" or "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" boring. Are we such a blatantly stupid and ADD society that we constantly need the stimulation of sex and violence to wrap our heads around an idea, that we forego even attempting to grasp a higher mode of thought? I'm afraid that this is a result of the harsh 'dumbing of society' that many have predicted. 

So again Hollywood just because you can doesn't mean you should. If you really care about promoting yourselves as a center of innovation and ideas, than stop appealing to the idiot base who can't focus without an explosion or tit flash to grab their attention. American society is dumb enough that you don't need to go to such efforts to make a quick buck, remember many of us believe in the garden of eden and voted for Bush twice.

Common Sense 2013: Dead Notion or a Lost Ideal ?

Like many people with a higher sense of being, I like to consider myself a connoisseur of all things fashionable and classy. Sometimes that means caving into the latest fad and throwing a lot of money on an otherwise unnecessary item of clothing or entertainment system. Other times it means having a wide variety of music at my immediate disposal during the occasional times when I have company. I'll tell you right now that the second one is a more difficult trend to stick to. Why is music so bad these days? I wish I could tell you that it had to do with reality television, teenage pregnancy, or consumerism that collides with our daily lives day in and day out. I even wish I could tell you it had to do with lead in the water supply, but unfortunately for those of you who come to my blog for an ounce of 'grandfatherly' wisdom, I cannot provide you with such in this regard. What I can provide you with is an opinion with a 'matter-of-fact' undertone that disparages the hardworking members of the music industry, while putting down the majority of the population of this fine and well developed country.

For one, the music industry attempts to promote its musicians as 'new and unique' with a fan base to match. From talents such as Lil Wayne to Mylie Cyrus (to cover the color spectrum), the powers that be in the music industry like to tout their top acts as being pioneers of trendy social events and as 'good people' who hold similar values to their fan base. If 'values' include drug abuse, being arrested for domestic abuse, and acting like idiots, then sure I guess those are some moral virtues that the general population should look up to. I find it hard to feel bad for the majority of society particularly because we're the same society that likes to frown on other countries for being 'primitive' and 'immoral', and yet shells out millions of dollars to Nicki Minaj and the majority of the 'hip-hop' artists who view us as nothing more than open wallets. I wish the majority of American's were intelligent human beings, as much as I hate the 80's (mostly for it's contribution to music) I feel like the joke is on us, at least in retrospect. I say this because there are so many parents who grew up during this period that seem to think that modern music is great and will sing along to shit like "Party in the USA" or any crappy pop tune that their dipshit children will throw in on their way to the mall. There's nothing worse than a parent who thinks he/she can fit in with their children, especially when they attempt to mimic a 13-year olds fashion taste or lingo. It's enough to make you wish for a strain of plague to wipe out a good percent of the populace just so those with half a brain can get some sort of a say in the direction society is headed.

We live in a society where we are told that things are bad for us and yet decide to do them anyway, either out of not caring at all or simply because some egghead will figure out the solution to the problem sometime soon. The go-to example for this sort of mentality would be Climate Change, which for some reason is considered a myth by many, specifically in the parts of the country where it was legal to own slaves and marry your cousin. It's scary to think that many adults who like to think they care about future generations continue to flaunt common sense and assert that Global Warming is a "cycle" or worse, a fabrication by the liberal media to trick people into voting Democrat. This isn't one of those '3 out of 5 doctors agree'  situations where you can afford to forego being proactive, it's the entire scientific community that unanimously agrees on this conclusion, which as of late has evolved from "we're screwing ourselves" to "we're fucked are you happy assholes?" For those of you who believe in some higher form of intelligence that watches over you while you sleep and cheat on your wives, please pray in my stead that no human being ever gets off this planet. Because if it does you can be sure that it'll repopulate somehow and trash whatever other planet it can breathe on.

Homicide and Other Haberdashery

I'm not quite sure what it is about professional football that drives its players to commit murder and in a heartbeat throw away millions of dollars and any fame that they may have earned. News today of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez arrest raised eyebrows in the sports world as the 23 year old tight end was brought in on counts of first degree murder and five firearm charges. According to prosecutors Mr. Hernandez killed 27 year old semi pro football player Odin Lloyd and covered up evidence in the hopes of evading arrest. This news comes a little over a week after Lloyd's body was discovered on the early hours of June 17th. The murder itself is said to have arose over a dispute that took place a few nights earlier that erupted being the two men. Mr. Hernandez was subsequently released a few hours after his arrest earlier today.

What is all the more disturbing in a case such as this is the premeditated nature of the murder itself. Lloyd had texted a friend in the early hours of Monday the 17th, stating that he had been picked up by Hernandez and some of his compatriots. A few short hours later Mr. Lloyd was found dead by two gunshot wounds. If Hernandez is indeed guilty his financial woes will be the least of his problems unless sometime in the near future he decides to plead guilty to the six charges brought against him today. I hate to say it but it's almost comical that people in such states of financial comfort still decide to commit such crimes and risk everything in the process. Plus I have to admit that the above picture is pretty funny itself, like what on earth was going on that Hernandez had to be arrested with his arms inside his t shirt? Did the prosecutors catch him coming of the shower or in the midst of a bow-flex routine? Petty humor aside, it would appear that the 23 year old is in for a large helping of shit in the months to come. Let's just hope the jury doesn't mind the notion of a 6' 1'' guy with tattoos covering his arms giving a tearful account of events leading up until he iced his bud during the inevitably televised court room drama that is sure to unfold. I tell ya, I never get tired of seeing these idiots who thought they were bright enough to conceal evidence from investigators and yet were dumb enough to commit murder in the first place. Mind boggling, let's hope that justice is served and we don't have another O.J. on our hands.

In other news, is anyone other than me really fed up with the filth that Yahoo.com allows to hit the web? I realize that the majority of people that read online news tend to have the attention span of a ten year old, but seriously Yahoo, if you want to be considered as a legitimate news source than stop allowing every story about social networking trends and celebrity wardrobe faux pas's to be printed. Granted what does this say about me as a member of rapidly dwindling news going audience, but I'd like to be able to read a concise article that is at the very least grammatically correct with my morning bowl of Captain Crunch. In music news it would appear that Kanye West's new album 'Yeezus' is quite the hit among those who like to think that Kanye isn't an insufferable ass but rather a 'musical genius' with his incorporation of electronic "melodies". Is that what it takes these days to be considered a versatile musician? "Let's record a few songs in a different musical genre and make tired statements about social issues that don't effect the artists themselves. Yep that'll win some grammy's and get some kids to research American slavery." I'd also like to note that the Grammy's haven't meant shit in many a year, especially when it hands out awards for literally every insignificant musical 'achievement'. Gosh, even the paper plate award that I got in middle school serves as a better indicator of talent than a Grammy.

That's the problem with American society, it likes to pretend it sets high standards for its citizens and then proceeds to diminish every single achievement it has to offer. The United States has a sub par education system, winning the award for having the most high school graduates unprepared for first year undergraduate classes. Sure you can belittle China and Japan for having weird fetishes and questionable ethics when it comes to devouring household pets over some fried rice, but you can't say they don't encourage a strong work ethic and a vigorous education program. While you middle age mothers sit there and read the latest Oprah book club novel and pretend to give a shit what your kids are doing, there are children overseas working 10x as hard as your pot smoking dipshit of a son, who understand the value of the dollar. For the amount of energy we spend asserting to the rest of the world that we're civilized we seem to be spending an unequal amount of time legislating against the social problems that result in gun violence and climate change, which the south brilliantly refers to as 'hogwash'. So in closing I'd like to thank the rest of the world for giving us shit all the time for being idiots because as a famous character once said, "stupid is as stupid does".

The Spy Who Came in On the Redeye: Putin Rears His Head Over Extradition

Today was a busy news day with breaking news stating that Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, announced that he had no intention of turning over the fugitive Edward Snowden to the United States. Putin issued a formal statement during a press conference in which he made the firm claim that, "We can extradite foreign nationals only to those countries with which we have relevant international agreements on the extradition of criminals." This press release in particular was in direct response to Secretary of State John Kerry's claim that Russia should lead by example and turn over Mr. Snowden to face charges of espionage and treason. Mr. Putin's response today served as a reminder of the international hostility that many countries hold towards the US, despite efforts to maintain friendly relations between Russian and the States. Washington responded in turn by asserting that the US had no desire to create tension between the two nations but hoped rather that Russia would continue to provide information about Mr. Snowden's whereabouts. This news comes a few short weeks after initial reports out of China that Edward Snowden; an IT contractor for the NSA had revealed sensitive material about the capabilities of US intelligence and had violated various laws that prohibit the leaking of details surrounding mass surveillance programs. As with most instances of disgruntled employees leaking information to the press, this recent development appears to be no different in its ability to incite national debate over surveillance techniques, which as of late is a much talked about issue that has no foreseeable end in sight. 

The question remains however: Was Russia too bold in it's chastising of the US for making such demands? Or was it a reasonable denial that illustrates the growing resentment towards the US manner of asking for help only when it affects us? It would appear after combing through many of the political blogs on the web, that Putin issued a powerful statement that served to highlight Washington's failure to quell an issue that only exacerbated its controversial stance on government spying and invasion surveillance techniques. Looking at this from an international point of few, I can't blame Putin for not wanting to 'play nice' with the US, due in part to the fact that the US likes to play the victim when it comes to issues of national security. And it's even more difficult considering that the US is now in full panic mode now that it knows that its NSA has been caught with its pants down and nowhere to hide. Say what you want about the Media when it comes to sensationalizing reality, but when it has information about the US looking stupid it really knows how to turn on the heat. However, I am in agreement that being an employee of any intelligence agency comes with a laundry list of responsibility and to reveal any sort of sensitive information is treason. Period. Do I mean to say that Snowden deserves to disappear into a black bag and never seen again for what he did? No. I think that the issue at hand shouldn't be national security, it should be that the US needs to formally address why it feels the need to set up various programs that invade the privacy of its citizens. I believe that any nation has the right to monitor its populace to a point but there's a fine line between abusing power and using power in a just and right manner. In the wake of the drone program, wire tapping, snatching up of records from the internet such as Google and Facebook by PRISM, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened on a grand scale. 

I encourage everyone to read the NYTimes article about today's press release and I hope that even those of you who disagree with me seek knowledge on the matter at hand, even if it means doing a little bit of research. I will post the link to the video I discussed briefly this morning but for now I really wanted to discuss the latest developments out of Washington. 

As always any questions or comments are welcome and encouraged!

Intros and Inklings

 

For those of you who are still awake (in the states at least), let me begin by saying that this opening post is by no means going to be neither the best nor worst of my writing, nor is it the product of an individual who wishes to provide you with anything other than simple entertainment and opinion. Now given that this is the case and the fact that I am extremely tired at the moment; allow me the courtesy of stating that I am both new to the blogosphere and not used to the format of such an informal medium. With that out of the way I will commence with formal introductions and various (un)interesting facts about my life as of yet.

My name is Mike, I am 22 years old, a recent graduate from a University that I am not going to reveal at this or any other predetermined moment of time. I graduated this past May with a degree in History and a humble but still noticeable amount of deb, which will most certainly be a growing pain that will have to acclimate myself to as I continue along my journey into what will hopefully amount to a career that I will find myself content with. Being a history major allows one the ability of noticing certain developments both new and familiar as one can distinguish through the scope of the past century and those before. While I'm not going to get into the particulars of this assertion I am merely noting the fact that my specialization in history, albeit limited, is going to be the prevailing theme of this blog. Now for those of you who will or might read this blog, I'm more than happy to read any contributions to correct or debate any sort of research or notes that I will be discussing either formally or informally. However, and a big however at that, I am not here to argue or nonsensically bicker over the ins and outs of whatever points both controversial or "politically correct" that I may bring up. In the end what I hope to have happen is allow for an intelligent and intense conversation on topics both contemporary and in the past. Now that the ground rules have been laid, let's get to the really important stuff, which is more or less what I have to say. Which will be initially addressed here and then expanded on in the following post(s). 

At the moment I am almost two-thirds of the way through a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Frank Turek on YouTube, which is aptly titled "Does God Exist?". The debate in question took place a few short years ago at VCU and discusses both religion (mainly Christianity) and the various theories that both 'prove' or 'disprove' the existence of some higher intelligence or force. Hitchens as always provides an intelligent and eloquently iterated assertion that looks to both the scope of history and science to counter Turek's argument that the universe was created out of 'nothing', by some sort of force that had to be there in order for any sort of rhyme or reason to be present in the natural order of things. It is an interesting argument albeit tainted by the religious 'fairy tale' nonsense that is used to support it. Here lies a tired yet all the more infuriating standard of argument that for one reason or another allows for the majority of society to rationalize the irrational. While Turek himself admits that he is a fan of Hitchens work and concedes his agreement to some of his points, he soon devolves from all the hanging of laurels into drunk faith that aspires to have all the answers to ALL of life's questions in the notion that the science only supports creation through evolution to a Point A and no further. Now do I mean to say that Turek should be viewed as a nut and placed along side the religious screwballs that propose that miracles happen everyday and that the Ten Commandments are a universal law? No. But I do mean to say that he is a reminder that there are many otherwise reasonable people that truly believe that on Sunday's they are drinking the blood of a three-thousand year old man. Granted there are many good people who do believe in such ridiculous things, but that is not to say that their moral grounding is based on anything either reasonable or based on anything other than the fear of being punished...

I do plan on continuing with this discussion on the above topic as it provides an endless point of interest to my mode of thought. But before I turn in, I want to encourage everyone reading to please look at this debate, it's on YouTube and you can find it quite effortlessly. I also want to give note to the above photograph that was recently submitted to National Geographic magazine. It piqued my interest due both to it's very gritty realism and subtlety of human nature but also to it's simplicity insofar that it provides a candid look at modern society through the lens of time. Which in my mind is due to the black and white coloring or the photo itself and the fact that it quite literally mirrors the outside world, a world that is both in your face but fenced off through generations as depicted, in my mind at least, by the choice of the subject matter: an older gentleman casually reading a book caught off guard by the photographer, while gripping a cigarette holder in his lips. The image brings to mind the passage of time but the gritty realism of society, which highlights the urban 'man' or the modern dandy, who idly watches but engages in the world around him through observation.