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Monday, June 09, 2008
Flobots - Handlebars - This Rocks!
A little YouTube fix:
Empowerment, whoaa! where’d that come from? Hat tip to Mark Crispin Miller.
Music video by Flobots performing Handlebars with Dirty UK [Video Director], Phil Tidy [Video Producer] (C) 2008 Universal Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
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But how does “I can split the atom of a molecule” make any sense?
The Flobots No Handlebars video reminds me quite a lot of the troubled beauty, and the joy and terror in Andre Vltchek’s novel Point of No Return:
End of Part I:
Capitalism had outgrown itself. It had stayed in charge for too long. It used to be necessary; it even used to be progressive in its own time. But now it had held power for too long, turned into an uncontrollable global force, undermined all basic democratic institutions even in the rich countries themselves. Its only justification had become an argument that almost all attempts to create a just and more human world always collapsed due to the greed, incompetence and longing for power of rulers who originally promised to bring a better life to their people. And even these attempts were marked by interventions from the rich world; by embargos, military actions and outright terror conducted in the name of freedom and democracy, but which in reality served only one purpose: the preservation of the status quo.
To write about these issues in the mainstream media had become almost unthinkable. One could publish books on the topic but even that meant risking being sidelined and expelled from the comfortable life of the officially recognized and tolerated intellectual elite. The punishment for being part of dissent was relatively harsh: being outside of the system – being a rebel – guaranteed nothing in return and that has been true even since long before the time when powerful publishing houses and bookstores became just business ventures, undergoing mergers and aiming only at commercial success. Market fundamentalism had blocked virtually all independent and progressive thoughts from the mainstream.
I was still trying to keep my balance between two worlds, unable to forward to my readers outright lies offered by the establishment, while too comfortable with my cars and posh apartment; too scared to become a real outcast, to become poor. Unwilling to be an intellectual prostitute, I was not yet ready to become a martyr.
End of Part II:
It was getting late. I knew what I had to do. I ran home and called Singapore Airlines and they quoted me a monstrous amount of money for a last minute business class round-trip to Denpasar, Bali, but I booked it anyway and put some clothes in a small bag along with a camera. I was going to the other side of the world, just for two days because in less than a week I had to be in Latin America – in Todos los Santos. A flight itself would take two days each way and there was no rationality in my action and this was exactly what I liked about it, to hell with rationality, I thought, if this is a final gesture, so be it. If it turns out to be a real beginning of my life with her, then the journey would be priceless. I flagged down a yellow cab and asked the driver to take me to Kennedy Airport. My head was clear. I was still totally free and in control of my life.
As I was crossing the bridge, I looked back at the city. It never made any attempt to hold me back, to stop me, to change my mind. It never judged me. It was just standing there, arrogant, proud, indifferent, cold and in its own way enormously beautiful.
________________________
Literary Saloon reports that in the US “Twice as much fiction was published in 2007 as in 2002 ! (and that doesn’t include the POD publications).”
Point of No Return is a POD novel of high quality that Andre and I published through our press in December 2005.
It is very nice to finally be able to read an intellectual response on a blog. I certainly respect what you have to say; I love this song/video because I feel that it gets to the essence of my intellect. I am a portfolio research analyst so my job is based on capitalism. Some may say that I cause these problems because I contribute to greed. I do not think so. I am dedicated to helping others; outside of my job I am a grade school basketball coach and actively engaged in Agenda 360 - an organization that looks to mix economic prosperity and social responsibility in the city of Cincinnati. I see both sides of the line.
To get to the point, I see this not as a positive or negative on either side, I see it more so as a psychological comment that people are influenced by their environment - the desire to contribute to progress can be jaded by “good” or “evil”. There are ALWAYS two sides to every story. For every good of capitalism, there is a corresponding negative. Nothing is perfect, so instead of trying to place blame on one thing, lets try and come to some sort of middle balance, that is natural law. I’m not saying I know the answer, but I know the answer is complex, and the more we delve into it and be open to answers, as opposed to placing complete blame on one thing or another, the closer we will be to progress. Isn’t that the most rational and logical way of looking at it?