Poor Americans - The Problem of Consolidated Wealth

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would say that it was the fault of big money.  I've been trying to watch the same documentary courtesy of Netflix for over two weeks.  My Bluray player won't read the disc.  Windows won't read the disc.  Ubuntu only would read 30 minutes of the disc before deciding there wasn't any information left on it.  By the way, the DVD doesn't have any scratches.  It doesn't have any flaws as far as I can tell.  So why won't it play?

The One Percent is a telling documentary about wealth disparity in the U.S. and the connection between Washington D.C. and richest people in America.  I have to wonder why I had such difficulty watching this film that was supposed to be circulated by a corporate agency created for the express purpose of film circulation.  I feel thwarted. 

Despite this, I know what the conclusion is.  It is dangerous for so much wealth to be consolidated in the hands of so few.  Not only can we talk about the consolidation of financial wealth, but social wealth as well.  Even in the case where a child is deprived of their monetary inheritance, they still have their name.  A name can give you many things.  Connections are inherited.  Social circles are built on names.  It is impossible to deny that social capital has as much importance as financial. 

The recommendations of close friends get jobs.  Relationships facilitate class movement, wealth generation, and general improvement of a person's situation.  The bigger your social network, the better chances you have of getting things you want. The more influential your connections, the more options you have.  It is therefore impossible to disenfranchise an heir of the top one percent, unless they themselves have singlehandedly squandered their wealth and connections (which would take a great deal of effort). And who, in their right mind would do such a thing? No one.  Certainly not me.

Industry and Government - A Match Made in Hell

I am increasingly convinced that the government is not just the government.  It is a corporate government.  There is a marriage that has been happening for some time and I am not convinced that anyone has stood up and objected to it going forward.  Perhaps it is something to do with the recent degradation of corporate contributions to campaigns, or the general spinelessness that occurs when a person gets into office that makes them lean towards their sponsor's needs rather than their constituents.  I don't know. All I know is that as I watch it unfold, I feel the distinct need to do something about it and an overwhelming churning in my gut that has nothing to do with what I last ate.

Watching Food INC. makes me want to be a vegetarian who only purchases locally grown produce from farmer markets. Well, okay, maybe I would buy a carton of eggs or cheese or meat from a local farmer.  The truth is, I need meat, so I probably won't go veggie any time soon. 

How can I go to the super market? How can I purchase mass produced food? These huge companies have manipulated government regulatory organizations in order to make more money in food production than to do things that are healthy, earth friendly, and human friendly.  Apparently people can be sued for criticizing companies, publishing pictures of industrial food processes, and they sue even if the companies won't win just to make a point.

If you're someone like the founder of Stonyfield, then you don't beat them - you join them in an effort to change the system from inside.  But what about trying to beat the system? What about trying to protest? What happens when the avenues of organizing protest are closed off because of corporate censorship due to control over information?

I don't know about you but I want a cowboy in the office. I don't want a Texan, I mean I want a politician like the original cowboy president - the one, the only Teddy Roosevelt.  What a man he was! Taking on robber barons! Taking down the beef trust! Now that is some spine!  Where are the politicians like that? Who don't care about corporate interests but care first and foremost about the people they represent!  If you have one of those, you're one of the lucky few.  Still, that doesn't mean you should be silent. Tell them.  Beseech them to make this a healthier better country on behalf of all Americans. Tell them when they are doing a good job and remind them who they are meant to represent - the people.

Artists aren't Crazy! The Artist as Change Agent

Crazy or artist? Cake or death? It kind of seems like the same thing.  Condemnation or liberation.

After I watched Beautiful Losers, I felt like I had been affirmed.  Here were these artists doing crazy things by anyone's standards.  They were doing things outside of the mundane, things that just couldn't fit into average daily life.  Squatting in a NYC storefront, deciding to make it into an art gallery by hanging art in it and having parties regularly, tagging walls all over the place, videoing things that didn't follow typical storylines... To the average person, these things seem crazy.  To me they were "Of course." 

Let me first say that for the purposes of this discussion, we will say "artist" is any creative fringe person in society which includes filmmakers, writers, painters, musicians, animators, actors, and potentially comedians. Let us say "crazy" will be "mentally ill."

Artists aren't crazy.  They're different.  Yes, we could say that within any demographic there is a certain element of people who are mentally ill.  Fine.  But artists aren't any more mentally ill than anyone else.  They just happen to be different.  And let's be honest.  Different is scary. 

Society isn't based on difference (and don't talk to me about pluralism or cosmopolitanism, because that is superficial - we're talking about something much deeper).  Society is based on conformity.  It counts on people choosing to marry, to have babies at a certain time, to buy houses or rent apartments.  It isn't just conformity to a certain skin tone or religion, but in all actions.  There are rules that society requires we follow in order to maintain social order.  It counts on people following the network of laws and social rules.  Society wants things to conform, sometimes so much so there is a willingness to purge difference. Just look at all of the white power and tea-bagging groups out there.  They don't like different, they like the same. There is a strong need to homogenize.  Society is built on all these things.  It is a balancing act.  Society finds an equilibrium and keeps it.  Artists function as a change agent.  They push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable, cause the equilibrium to shift, and necessarily, that is uncomfortable for most people. 

So why are artists called crazy? For starters, they are labeled "crazy" because they must be delegitimized.  They must be relegated to the realm of crazy because in our society crazy has no power.  Literally calling an artist crazy makes them less powerful, less threatening.  It also necessarily informs people this group is a wild card.  "Crazy" people are unknowns.  It is not clear what they will do or how they will act.  Thirdly, artists do things we do not understand.  By calling them "crazy" we are attaching some reason to their actions as opposed to investigating the rationale behind them. We are no longer required to be curious as to reasoning for an artist's choices because they are "crazy."  Finally, an artist will often call themselves crazy because it allows them to fill the social role of the "jester." In this role, the artist is able to speak truth to power quite openly without fear of reprisal because their perceived weakness.  Still, because their critique is often so open, bald, and biting, power will tend to take their words under advisement, which is more than many can claim.

As an artist, creative in many media, I find I am often on the border of what is socially acceptable, particularly in my life choices.  I tend to take risks where others would stay home.  I may say things or question common conventions that others find uncomfortable.  I married outside of my social class, which is something many still today find discomfiting.  I have dabbled in any number of things which would make the average American WASP cringe, raise brows, or drop jaws.  This is all "of course" for me.  I mean, I want a job to allow me to write, because I see writing as my real vocation.  My calling is writing.  And that's weird.  It's crazy.  But my words will be taken under advisement, and that's good enough for me.

Empress Hotel - Free Showing at the Piedmont

Last night we went to the Piedmont Theatre to see a free showing of Empress Hotel sponsored by the non-profit EveryOne Home. The theater was packed with people attending in anywhere from jeans and t-shirts to full on business wear, all being sufficiently helped by a flock volunteers.  Free popcorn and soda was given to everyone attending by some cheerful guys behind the concession counter.

Once inside the theater we were greeted immediately by an usher who quickly found us two seats together.  Before the movie started, they gave out prizes and thanked a number of their funders as well as the venue. 

As expected, the documentary was low budget, but it brought to light something that is both profoundly depressing and hopeful simultaneously.  I was fully prepared to be either really sad or really angry, instead, I left feeling better about the world because people who run the Empress Hotel exist. Yes, the stories of the residents who live in the low income hotel were sad.  You wonder about how their parents could have done the things they did, or the downward spirals that led them to become homeless or addicted to crack or heroin.  Yet, some of them were able to find the Empress and take advantage of the services available to them.  Health services, activities, free food markets, and a general sense of support and community were being fostered in the heart of the Tenderloin.  It was something that was incredibly uplifting.  At least there are places like this that exist. At least there are people in the world doing good things like this, helping each other, and making the world a better place.

Thank you EveryOne Home for putting on a great movie that showcases the good work going on in the Bay Area to end homelessness.  It's so important that people are aware of the complexities of the problem (from mental illness to just a series of myopic choices leaving people jobless to serious drug addiction) and that there is hope.  There is always hope.

Rally the troops! - A Green Offensive

Once upon a time I cared too much.  It made me sad.  So I shut myself off from the world.  Then I learned you could make yourself angry instead of sad, so I tried that.  It still made me feel badly about the state of the world.  So I shut myself off from it once again.  The end.

That would be the short journey of my life in activism.  When you feel things so deeply, it is difficult.  It's difficult to contain the passion (in the true sense of the word) you experience.  That's how I feel when I watch documentaries like "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

It is difficult for a person to have faith in people when so many of them are driven by basal needs like money, power, and sex - so much so other things cease to matter.  All of these things involve the need to possess... to own... to have... to continually feed an addiction.  Don't get me wrong, I like things too.  But isn't there a way to have things that make you feel good in more than one way? Can't you derive pleasure from a thing because of what it does not just for you but for the world? For your neighbor? The electric car is an example of all these things.  It is something completely self contained.  It cuts off dependency from foreign oil. The thing was killed by a combination of big interests, but I won't spoil the documentary for you.

Watching the documentary it broke my heart... somewhat like my crying cat does when she wants new water or more food.  That might sound callous, but I really love my cat and in her defense, she can sound incredibly pitiful.  Okay, but seriously, it did break my heart and make me angry all at once.  It is the actions of government agencies and corporate entities that make me lose hope in our future.  Pollution is profitable.  Consumption is profitable.  In the short term.  But I wish people had a little bit longer range of vision.  Pollution really isn't all its cracked up to be.  I generally like having lesion free lungs having watched two grandparents suffer increasingly from emphysema. I get irritated enough with my low grade allergies, thank GOD I don't have asthma like so many young people in LA. 

So what is a girl supposed to do? Whatever she can.  Reuse, reduce, recycle and hopefully calm down.  If I can't rely on the government to help me, I guess I'll just have to do it myself. :-)