And, there, in one fell swoop went my promise to myself to write once a day, but my promise has evolved into a resolution. Which, in my head, means that I will try my damnedest to write each weekday but if I don't I will not feel that Catholic guilt but will just carry forward with the plan. That being said, I have an excellent excuse.
Oh, haha, excuses and whining. Well, anyways, I came down with a short, intense case of the flu. Not yet being on health insurance (but, thanks Obama for making sure I can stay under moms for a little while longer) I was sorta pissed that I would have zero access to anti-virals. But, after 2 intense days of fevers, chills, sore throat, body aches that made me cry from pain, etc. etc. it subsided to mild versions of the sore throat, body aches, lack of energy, etc. etc. Speaking of Obama, I spent the weekend getting intimately acquainted with my bedroom - for the first time since I've moved here unfortunately - and finally got around to listening to Dreams from my Father. A great listen, and something to mull over though I am disappointed that my President bears less resemblance to his younger self than I would like.
One of my critiques of my generation and of myself is the lack of politics. Instead we all feel girdled with the enormous pressure of political correctness and status quo. Instead of coming together around shared politics and beliefs, we come together around... what? It's like hipster culture - okay, yes, I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn - but I can point out people and laugh about how they are a charactature of the a hipster. But, do hipsters have any unified beliefs or values? What is the commonality except for posturing? It seems odd how we construct these identities based on a sense of irony that often comes off as immature, music tastes that are somehow above others and a style of dress that's not really that original, but nothing of substance. Now, our parents generation - the hippie generation - maybe they didn't seem much better but in addition to the free love, free drug attitude, they protesting the war, they rebelled against the 50s white picket craziness. Our generation, if we assume the hipster culture is a culture not only is not protesting but they are also definitely not rebelling. It just wouldn't be in their best interest to rebel against their sponsors.
Anyways, to bring this full circle, the young Obama was political. He was critical of the structural racism that the country was built on and his white family's complicity in it. He was a thoughtful brother, ya know? He was angry and tried to organize people for change. Now, it seems like all that anger has been beaten out of him instead of being channeled into productive decisions. By choosing to be bi-partisan ("why all the democrats acting like fuckin republicans?") he essentially chooses to not do anything. When we take the smart, middle ground instead of being radical, the results are always limited. So, it's a shame that unlike the rightful critique of my generation as not political enough, he was but has turned into a people pleaser.
Though as a final thought: I still love me some Obama and really he can do nothing wrong in my eyes. No matter what, he will always be 100000003484534339834 billion times better than Bush.
No comments:
Post a Comment