Open Thread - 04-19-24 - The Abyss Smiles Back
I don't watch TV and haven't for years, except for when we travel and stay in hotels/motels. My motto is "if we paid for it let's use it". I immediately go for the old programs that I grew up watching, usually old westerns. But you can't escape the commercials. Also while running through the litany of channels in the search for the old programs I often come across the ludicrous propaganda platforms that are supposed to be news, whether local, national or international. I can't stand the lies so I move on quickly and leave the talking heads in chatter mode.
They are a grim reminder of the plastic society that we live in, if I may borrow a phrase from decades ago. The long sojourn from the noise heightens the awareness when one revisits it. It's like a slap in the face of reality. I imagine it as the abyss smiling back at me. A knowing, patient, come hither smile.
This plastic, fake society is nothing new, we've all grown up in it, but this recent version of it is way over the top. Like the TV commercials and so called news I mentioned above the more modern version is insidious in its effort to fence in one's mind. And it's not just TV, it's everywhere including and especially on the internet. You have to turn off everything to escape it, which admittedly is hard to do.
The rah rah rah, go team go, attitude pervades everything. It's all presented to the consumer as team sports. Wars and major catastrophes are boiled down to scores, lives are diminished into numbers on a screen.
Countries that are at odds with one another bicker back and forth like like professional wrestlers, Iran and Israel for just one example. It all feels so scripted. It all feels so fake. Our reality is formed in a mold of conformity and complacent compliance.
Maybe we really do live in a software program. It does seem like we're being corralled into a reality that is not of our own. To what extent?
I no longer have to wonder how the Romans felt as they witnessed the slow decay of their society while being distracted by games of bloodlust, much like our modern mass media Colosseum of mind control.
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
I'm sitting in a hotel in Galveston, Texas watching the Gulf waves splash the shore. The seagulls fly past the window and the magpies screech in the parking lot. It's cloudy and looks like it might rain. I hope not, we've got a two hour ride home ahead of us.
The propaganda and plastic programming is like a flood.
I'll be off line for a couple of hours this morning, I'll catch up when I get home.
It does all seem scripted.
Congressional moves seem choreographed, as well as Trump's trials. And, yet, they scaremonger us into submission with all these theatrics, jeopardizing the future of life on this planet. So we have to take it all seriously, even as we know it is theatre of some insane sort.
There seems to be...
maybe 20 or 30%, if even that, that are aware, IMHO. That's a problem. It's actually amazing how well the scripting works. I think much of it is due to the tickling of the lizard brain, the scaremongering as you aptly put it.
Many people just aren't aware...
at all. They eat and drink what TPTB tell them to. They watch all the channels they are fed, they read, maybe, the newspapers. Some of them are too old or whatever and don't bother with the internet at all (Hi Mom!). They think they are getting radical news from NPR and maybe the BBC. Both entities can do good work, but it ain't radical or even slightly off the main stream. It's crazy.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
"It's crazy"...
is exactly right! That apathy and ambivalence is the TPTB's most potent weapon in their war for control. The internet is changing that, albeit slowly, that's why they are working so hard to censor what can be said. They want the internet to be like TV, a propaganda arm for their agenda and a medium that advertises and sells products.
this machine thrills fascists
this machine thrills fascists
Yep...
it's quite the machine they've built. It's built to roll over anything or anybody in its way.
Thanks for checking in during your daring
-
explorations in Galveston. Remember it being low at the gulf level.
Ran a few loads out of Greens Bayou, found the local joints mostly
redneck and mejicanos. Kinda poor working class back in the 80's.
Hope it hasn't turned into another dizzy land with high end taco bells.
In this plastic society, old town ways are not recyclable.
Cheers!
I had 2 1/2 hours to kill...
before check in time, so I perused the local music shops looking for a lap steel guitar. I found an old Gibson, too expensive though. Then I checked out the pawn shops, that turned out to be a mistake, got some looks like they were sizing me up. Ended up wondering around the local Academy Sports store.
All in all, I had quite the tour of Galveston. I don't think it's changed much from your recollections.
Good morning JtC. (et. ux.) You must have, at some point,
grinned into said abyss, or it would not grin back atcha. Of course, that beats frowning and scowling and such, especially if said grin is sufficiently sardonic.
I know not why, but today my mind wandered into a pocket of history when in many locales in the USofA there were political machines operating according to a certain model. Low level vote gatherers would distribute a modicum of largess such as xmas turkeys and such to the hoi polloi in implicit exchange for their loyalty to the machine, especially at the polls. It was not at all unheard of for actual cash bribes to be involved. The machine would, of course, provide recompense to these vote gatherers. It would also provide various assistances, privileges and largesse to businesses and other organizations which supported it, which would, in turn, see to it that the machines' bosses would receive assorted benefits and highly discounted goods and services. This was deemed evil, corrupt, unamerican and all that, especially the bribing of the hoi polloi for votes.
Today, those businesses and organizations simply buy the top politicians outright, without any bribes or even token largesse to the hoi polloi and it is much better. Why spend lots of small sums trying to buy the voters' loyalty to the politician somehow beholden to the company when the company can simply buy the politicians outright. Instead of buying the behavior of thousands of hoi polloi, one need only buy a handful of politicians, purchasing them in pairs, one blue and one red, for each relevant seat or position.
The death of the earlier model has always been extolled as a great and democratic thing based on high moral principles, but it seems, upon closer inspection, to be simply a streamlining of the business practices.
Have yourself a wonderful weekend and good luck finding something on the idiot box.
be well and have yourself(ves) a good one
edit - fixed a typo
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good afternoon mi hermano...
said abyss is a tricky bastard. One must be wily to avoid being sucked into it. I know that from experience.
Your second paragraph explains perfectly how things operated in the various "neighborhoods" of Chicago.
Your third paragraph explains perfectly how things operate in Chicago today.
I use Chicago as an example because over the years I've had many oldtimers explain it to me much as you describe. And Chicago has always been known as a shining beacon of corruption.
I stuck to the old faithfuls on the idiot box, old westerns. Gotta' get something out of that money spent.
Beautifully put.
Cut out the middlemen. Any MBA will tell ya' that the way it should be done.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Thanks ufs...
I want my proprietary software deprecated and open sourced to cut them all out.
How long will it take to build the Baltimore bridge?
.
Maybe we should hire them to build a….
Or maybe not because then the American bridge builder won’t get to gauge us with cost overruns.
Didn’t China have something to do with building the bay bridge
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Yep, The construction of the bridge decks and the materials
they were made out of were Chinese, they were then assembled into the bridge on site.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You're not factoring in..
the kickbacks, everyone's got to get their funny money before construction can begin. That's what makes Murica exceptional.
Try that stuff in China and you'll end up not alive.
Hmmmmm.
1: Exist:
2: Go to 1:
3: If not 1:
4: End:
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The cycle of life...
algorithm.
Hello world. Goodbye world.
heh, i wanna read a joke now,
Gimme something to laugh and smile about. The German version of our "Euro News" TV channel is running non-stop at my bed and pictures of Ukraine, Middle East etc. all over my head, non stop.
I miss my son. Even singing doesn't do the trick to give us some good times.
I look back at my life and feel like shit for all the idiot things I put myself and my son through.
My son as a youngster always wanted to be an American. He became one, I think a goody one. I always was scared of the Americans. Til I got to know them. I was so surprised how friendly and funny they were- These days I am scared of the Germans, I never knew I didn't know my German people. Now as I had time to get to know them, I am more than glad that I lived in the US for 35 years. Thanks folks.
ok, now I have to get to know the Russians. I remember a time here I let Putin sleep under my bed. He kicked me in my butt and I pooped something smelly on him. So we decided to stop it and try again at a later day. I remember my father saying, if the Russian isn't drunk, he is a soul of a human. He said that after being a prisoner in a russian war camp.
hmm, where is my joke when I need one? All the jokes are hiding these days. yeah, the jokes know that it is painful these days to laugh about a joke.
Sigh, ok now I am going to watch images of Ukraine for the 20th time. Hopefully I fall asleep.
Sweet dreams to all of you. Good Night.
Mimi...
please, turn the channel.
Can your son visit you in Germany? If so, what's stopping him? Money?
Good night, mimi, please don't dream about Euro News.
hmm, he isn't so fond of Germany - at least for now /nt
The slow decay is on display...
My approach is to focus on the holler. We put down cardboard and mulched over it with wood chips today. Should hold for this summer anyway.
The bigger WWIII possibilities seem less likely this evening than this morning, and that's a good thing. Hold the ones you love, and let's hope for the best.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
What is a holler? /nt
"Holler" = colloquialism for "little valley".
The expression is very common in the US Appalachian Mountains. It began as a mispronunciation of "hollow", as in "low spot between hills".
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Thank you if we keep it up, I might actually learn something ..
though I doubt it
Hi mimi!
A Holler is sort of like ein Tal, but in Lookout’s Alabama position imagine it without snow in winter, and somewhat less remote.
This description might help …
https://www.themountaineagle.com/articles/what-is-a-holler/
Seeing you here always makes me smile.
Thank you, I am always happy to meet you here
let us keep it up and going.
Here's one explanation
Holler
Some said it is called a ‘hollow” but I disagree. It’s always been called a holler.
The most common answer was that it is a valley between two mountains. I say that it’s too narrow to be a valley.
A holler is a place where you can sit on your front porch in the cool of a spring day and hear a whip-poorwill symphony. Then Old Uncle John would get out his fiddle (not to be confused with a violin) and play until he got tired, his music echoing all over the holler.
A holler is a place where the sun comes up late and sets early. After the sun sets, it’s still a couple of hours before it gets dark.
It’s a place where you can let your young’uns, dog, cat and chickens run loose in the yard.
A holler is a place where the kids can build a dam in the creek and have a good place to cool off and play.
A holler is a good place to live, raise your young’uns, and have fun. It’s a place where the mountains are your playground.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Wow, many thanks for the explanations,
that sounds like a great place to live, where you can calm down all the fearful thoughts one might have in these times, where almost everything seems to be designed to cause the most fear in the innocent good people, which the 'bad people' want to control.
i wanna stay the dummy.
Beautiful
LO. Been there, done that, and it is so true.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
That's the best we can do...
in light of present circumstances under which we have no control. Hunker down where we live, or move to somewhere else more viable, if possible.
We've got small tomatoes on the vine already here. I saw a snake near the house yesterday, it was either a scarlet king snake or a coral snake, it moved and hid too quickly to make a positive ID. There are coral snakes around here, along with copperheads and rattlesnakes, so I'm really hoping it was a king snake.
That CSN song gives good advice.
Thanks for popping in, my Alabama buddy.
galveston
Hi JtC,
We loved Galveston back in the 80's. Camped on the beach a bunch of times.
Kempner Park is very nice, A-1 5 star bird migrant trap in spring fallouts. So is High Island across the ferry on Bolivar Peninsula. Some of the best fallouts in America occur there in spring. You want inclement weather like you have there now. Afternoons can be good or better than early as it takes birds all night and part of day to get across gulf of Mexico from tip of Yucatan.
Biggest average date of fallout used to April 19 or 20. My best ever there was one of those two days. Warblers, butnings, grosbeaks, orioles, tanagers all over the ground exhausted, birds in every bush, sometimes by dozens, it can be mind-blowing. Sometimes they are in the dunes and on the beach.
Also the mudflats at bases of jetties almost always are loaded with birds, usually spoonbills and others. I don't know if the rookery is going at high island yet, but may be. Boardwalk with nesting spoonbills and herons at point blank.
The last Eskimo Curlew photographed in the U.S. was two at Galveston, April 1962.
Have a great trip no matter what you do!
Happy trails!
edit to fix shit...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
My original intent...
to kill the 2 1/2 hour wait for check in at the hotel was to take the ferry over to Bolivar Peninsula to explore it since we haven't ever been there. I didn't have the time so I explored Galveston proper. That's a shame because according to your dates that would have been the perfect time. Oh well, we'll have to plan a trip exclusively for that purpose in the future.
Kempner Park and Crystal Beach will definitely be on the agenda.
Thanks for the advice dysto, and happy trails to you as well!