What's up?

[TAIG]

WARNING.....nothing too intellectually stimulating here, but then given the level of intellectual discourse found just about anywhere these days, I don't think it takes much to qualify. I'm really just trying to shake the dust and "powder" out of my skull. With any luck my posts might become more intelligible as the months progress...and hopefuully I'll be able to write a 100 word compisition on what I did on my summer vacation (hmmm 100 words aint much when you consider my summer vacation started back in 1987

Matthias...I've been doing a little tossing and turning over this thread (not a lot - I am fairly unbalanced in most areas but fortunately OCD has passed me by or is simply overpowered by my many other clinical acronyms and acrimony or is that macaroni? I'll have to confer with the Sham-wow guy on the rhyming scheme - I just adored the way puut together his phrase for the cheese grater thingy - how did it go? zucchini-fettuccini-martini-bikini and then a over the shoulder blind basket into the kitchen sink. But - shocker!!!! - I digress!)

I have been making an effort to abstain from most mind altering substances (and activities so far in this New Year) and it has left a void in that squishy thing between my ears. Nature, abhorring a vacuum (or so "they" say) has been hard at work keeping that empty part filled with trivia and sustained feelings of guilt and irresponsibility that have been stored elsewhere deep in the basement of the old noggin'.

My hypothesis is this: If I can continue move said emotional baggage, outdated and obsolete obsessions along with the many candidates for "causes" to support my causeless rebellion, and unmerited/unfounded feelings of guilt -into the empty space referred to above, I may be able to cleanse soul and spirit through some intellectual high-colonic and free myself to pursue the many self-improvement projects on "my list" and the lists of those neighbors of mine that all seem to have very large, flat foreheads and prefer to occupy large pods in their basements rather than their own bedrooms (odd don't you think?) Among those self-improvement projects (and some may heave a heavy sigh of relief at this notion) may be an attempt to improve my communication skills with an eye towards a more Hemmingway-esque (are we allowed to "esque" Hemingway? It does seem much more clumsy than adding "esque" to Kafka) sort of verbal intercourse - the short journalistic sentences and to the point - "just the facts" writing for which he was so admired.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should openly admit that the previous drivel was created with the express intent of triggering another grand mal seizure just for the entertainment of the kids in the room before we all sit down for the annual post-holiday family round-up in Ma’s new double-wide (purchased used from FEMA for a song; and just chock full of pharmaceuticals apparently stored for safe-keeping by the previous occupants-an odd collection of such to be sure but I’m no doctor) and evening of midget wrestling and dwarf bowling on pay-per-view. .

...and now onward and ever upward (in this case figuratively speaking and referring to the rapidly evolving hi-brow intellectual I have always aspired to be…

Firstly, it concerns me greatly that you might have taken my comment regarding the Miley Cirus avatar as directed specifically toward you and suggestive of some less than honorable intent on your part. I assure I intended nothing of the sort. However, even the remote possibility that such an innocent association might cause discomfort is indicative of the point I was struggling to make. I can’t help thinking that your decision to change said avatar was a reaction however remote to the possibility that I may have had a point. This does not - repeat- the change does not cast aspersions on your character- quite the contrary indeed. Your move to change it might be attributed to your desire to dissociate yourself from the slightest suggestion of impropriety. [Then again…you may simply have grown tired of it – as it is my experience that growing tired of Jr. High School girls in any capacity is an easy thing to do even when one is in Jr. High School!]

Second, I stand by my conviction that the exploitation of our children with the slightest hint of sexuality beyond stealing a kiss or nursing a young teen crush is indeed among the most cynical and amoral manipulation of the weak-willed consumer young and old alike and worse the innocent pre-teen population all of whom have come to rely dangerously on the media to make so many decisions for them – to tell them what is “ok”, what taboos have been broken, and what was once hidden by the filth of flesh peddlers, drug pushers and extortionists no longer “wrong”. Their power and influence cannot be underestimated – it is already ignored. Bombarded at every turn by photos and advertising copy from the mainstream media, women (and men are not exempt. I truly emphasize with the dilemma faced by women; I know that when I see a man or men being seduced, and “suckered” by advertisements that terrify, mislead and feed the insecurities and weaknesses men have it infuriates me and insults me beyond words. It scares me. And men are a relatively new target. Women have been bombarded I presume since the first woman’s “personal care” product was invented. It’s not that women are particularly easy targets for any reason it’s more that they have been wired and by now perhaps genetically predisposed to put so much trust in “the industry” they are willing to risk their short and long-term health, they are willing to risk irreversible botched surgeries and bargain basement alternatives to Botox a deadly poison and paralytic agent. Experimental use of thalidomide a scourge long since banned is being resurrected in this free-for-all.

I am angry at the manipulators, the manipulated and at myself for becoming an unwitting, no, a simply duped shopping mall zombie. Those riding in the lead limo’s that ferry the captains of the military-industrial complex Eisenhower had feared so much sit in smug satisfaction while we scamper about obeying their orders and thus reaffirming their solid belief that they know what is best for us. indeed preceded his warning by nearly 100 years have desensitized us to the horrors and futility of war and civil unrest in order to forward their agendas, increase profits and finance their own escape from the hell they have foisted upon (ironically) “the great unwashed”.

Is it all that bad? Am I over-reacting? Have I somehow become a prude so soon after turning 50? I don’t think so. I don’t really think that the age of sexual activity has dropped dramatically at all - not at all – not since the introduction of reliable birth-control, the tools to combat STD’ s and the right of woman ( a girl) to make decisions concerning her life and her body without the presence of overbearing Dr’s that resemble their own fathers (or worse undercover cops!) and purposely distorted information think that the ever diminishing age of understanding and ability to take responsibility for oneself in Babylon is the problem here. I know – and I think most of you do - even if they have conveniently forgotten their own embarrassing purchases of rubbers or taking a bus over to the local Planned Parenthood office because you were too young to drive. Anyone that can construct an intelligent question deserves an intelligent answer.

Yeah…I have strayed pretty far of course here. All part of the intellectual high colonic I guess.

PS Terry or Milo: WHY does my "Disable BBCode" check box appear checked by default? It is an enormous pain in the ass. If you two don't think you are up to the task of running this site- well it's not a sin to admit it. In fact hubris (as W proved to us all) :mrgreen:
The real question I suppose is why in the world did I feel compelled to light a fire under Mathias for that Molly Cyrus avatar. The answer is easy; the motivation I suppose is far too complex to for me to try to explain. It’s not Molly – in fact she is one of the “good girls” and I don’t think we’ll be seeing any panty-less crotch shots of her arriving drunk (and underage) climbing out of a low sports car in the face of the paparazzi. I think her shtick is “girl next door” and her indiscretions will be well insulated. There is still space for a drug-free Judy Garland type out there. There are men out there who want to be “All-American Guys” and work hard and raise “All American Families” in “All American Homes”.
So – Mathias if you misunderstood me I can’t blame you. It is an easy thing to do. I’m not always as clear as I like to be and the logical connections I see aren’t always simple and frankly they don’t deserve the time and effort it takes to construct a sound philosophical argument (not “fight” argument/debate/discourse in search of truth via the dialectic of intelligent intercourse – hee he I said that twice…I wonder if intellectual intercourse can result in pregnant pauses? Ha hahahahahaha hee heee…okay…I’m slipping quickly into my alter-ego, my once subordinate but now dominant personality “Taig” a rather unpleasant manifestation responsible for several local chapters of “Fight Club” here in the Mid-Atlantic states ;)

[curiousgeorge]

I'm still looking for the "Disable the Jackal" checkbox .