Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 13:47:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Lewis Vella <lewisvella-AT-yahoo.com> Subject: THE EXISTENTIAL TIMES - v.1, #10 Special McNugget Issue THE EXISTENTIAL TIMES 'A Philosophical(?)View from Scratch' Volume 1, #10 __________________________________________________ MUSIC TO WASH AWAY THOSE PHONEY-MEAT McNUGGETS Kit Watkins offers a long, soothing interlude, just right for this week's TIMES: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/376 __________________________________________________ AND NOW FOR THE REAL McNUGGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To fall through and through something that doesn't truly exist in itself, but which, just the same, takes you deeper and deeper into the vortex of whatever it may be, say, for example, the conceptual idea of a golden nugget -- this is what, in the last analysis, will carry one pass the established order, to a place whose meaning rests in a symbiotic relationship between the self and its immediate surroundings. It is the womb of gestation which continuously expands something into more than what was, engulfing itself rapidly in a complexity beyond its own grasp, but which no sooner shall become the gateway to an inimitable rapture, a forgotten presence whose state we must attempt to preserve, regardless of how inexplicable the occasion may be. For when we experience the pristine innocence of being, we capture independently the last bit of sanctity left in our lives which is not at all subject to the auction block, something that has made its way to us, quite mysteriously, on its own accord, unscathed, and therefore unaffected by the laws of supply and demand: that troublesome science which, in our late capitalism, controls more and more of our mind-state, that is, by guiding the "modernization of poverty, where the growth-rate of frustration largely exceeds that of production" -- to borrow Ivan Illich's terminology. Poverty as such is due to the fact that in our modern, technocratic, industrial age, rampant capitalism manufactures an endless scarcity, whereby it creates more needs than it fulfills. This is by no means an accidental paradox of the production process, but rather a highly calculated, ruthless manipulation of reason, used to sustain the required inequalities and hierarchies which a growth-oriented economy is dependent on. In its historical advancement, however, some of its more subtle, hidden intricacies -- for example, the dominating qualities of its functionist structuring -- inevitably, make their way to the forefront of the everyday life-world, be it felt as an effect of the increasingly bureaucratical conditions found in the private and public sectors that serve the institutionalized apparatus of the commodity economy, or whether it is felt more directly in the growing disparate relations found amongst ourselves in both the community and the family. In dealing with these distresses, however, it is important not to add to discomfort by pointing a finger at any of our neighbors, but rather, I would say, open our minds to the bigger picture. For our present circumstance is not the exclusive cause of any personally-responsible malfunction, but the end result of a capitalistic social production which bases itself upon a division of labor regulated by the market place, and, as such, out of control of the individual. It is precisely this type of conditioning that keeps the working man wanting more and more tangible things, while he becomes less and less in touch with what he likely needs most, that is, peace of mind, love of neighbor (or, at least, that potential to love), and, of course, a personal connection with his higher source, his transcendent being, if you may. Indeed, at this point in time, contrary to what some may think, a 'repositioning' of the self is probably what this highly jeopardized world needs most. Certainly, it is true that one man alone cannot bring about a noticeable change of course, but, nonetheless, any independent effort, through mere cause and effect, shall always stir the collective will, one way or another. So why, then, scoff at someone who takes a labor stance one day, an ecological one the next? The everyday crisis is neither this or that, but the way things are (or should I say are not) coming together. After all, it is quite natural to digress. Case in point: the original McNugget question (see indices at bottom). A straight forward enquiry which, so far, drew just under 100 messages from some 25 different respondents on 3 separate lists, all of which, I think, only one has actually answered the question, and inadvertently at that. Now why the difficulty in answering a simple question? In the uncontrollable surfeit of privilege, do I detect a slice sense of forsakeness and maybe even guilt in our global conscience? Perhaps, then, there is more to gain in this 'repositioning' thing than meets the eye, more to it than you say 'to-may-toe' and I say 'to-mat-toe', that is, if our dialectical struggles are not to be taken as ends in themselves, but rather as evolutionary means of enhancement not only for the individual but for all humanity. Or as one person put it previously: The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. (The Marx quote is from Andre Gorz's introduction to 'Ecology as Politics'. A brief excerpt from it, touching on the inequality of civilization, is provided at the following link -- quite worth the read, I'd say): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/381 So what, then, you may wonder, happens when there is a lack of free development in society? Why, to answer this, all you have to do is to take a closer look at any one of its interdependent, intertwining service sectors, and you'll more than likely begin to notice how each separate sphere begins faltering as a cause of the larger system -- what is commonly referred to as the infrastructure. Take health services, for instance. Can anyone, nowadays, be foolish enough to trust his or her body to the so-titled 'licensed practioner' who has worked his way up from the various service sector enterprises in question, be it from McDonald's through Med School? From my experience, this hapless soul who may indeed have worked his way diligently, and in earnest, through the system, is still, regrettably, in my humble opinion, less a doctor with an intuitive feel for the human condition, than he is a textbook pill-pusher more interested in getting you out of his office -- perhaps even with that same patent smile he earned at McD's years ago -- and to move on and serve his next patient/customer (these once 2 very separate and distinct terms are now used almost interchangeably, all because of the dominance of commercialization). The end result, I find, is a medical professional whose a far cry from, say, the old-world physician type, who, with his gifted insight, we are told, could tell what was wrong with a patient just by sensing, that is, by getting a 'feel' of the person's spiritual aura which surrounded his or her body. But I mustn't drift off like this as I really should be looking for work. It is my duty, you know, as an unemployed citizen of the capitalistic welfare state, to be actively seeking employment, that is, if I wish to remain eligible for assistance. Yet, where in this hopeless mess should a guy like me start to look. Everywhere I go its the same cancer. In the prevailing economic system which caters to the blind mass, nowhere, for certain, can a man contribute himself authentically. Instead, whatever natural talent he possesses is stripped fundamentally of itself, in order that his mind and body may be reshaped schematically to fit the corporate program. Only then -- if he's fortunate enough to have held on to just a smidgen of his essence -- can he return home to his now even greater void. Nowhere can he escape these powers that be. Not even in the public washroom is he free to rest privately for a moment. As crazy as all this may sound, it is not meant to be a joke. There is much more at stake here than I think most people are willing to admit, and, even if, to get the point across, I must speak from personal experience, should it liberate anyone in the slightest way, myself included, then, I think, in the long run it is all well worth it. So, then, I'll tell you a true story that happened to me just last week. It starts in a downtown-T.O. nightclub, where I happened to notice an advertisement on the wall. How could I miss it? The well-endowed damsel with the superimposed text was placed at eye-level right above the urinal. The message read: Various types wanted for XXX video/dvd and live internet shows. No experience necessary. Great income! Female-owned company. Have fun working with beautiful models. Now, you see, to fill my mandatory job-search quota for the week, I just had to give them a call. Moreover, I thought, in these frugal times why let the family nuggets go to waste. So I managed to schedule an appointment for the next day. It was in a small commercial-residential house uptown. When I arrived, there were 4 other males -- half my age and barely legal -- waiting in line. (Ever wonder where your teenage kids go? I mean, after that affordable meal at McD's -- they're probably heading to some rave or after-hours club where, lo and behold, they'll be exposed to the same type of wall ads found in the adult bars. This is the grand ol' capitalism discriminating against nobody while it kindly urges each and everyone of us to the furthest limits of a repressive freedom. But I seem to be getting ahead of myself here.) Anyway, as we sat there on the couches, a silent television played at sampling of the company's previously-made porn, while a ghettoblaster, placed on the floor next to the TV, aired some trance -- or whatever that hipster music is called now. As for the porn, it was, without a doubt, pure ambiance, the Muzak of the industry, with all the toys and dildos, but virtually no story-content and hardly any dialogue at all. This stuff was so formulaic it could almost make some of that envelope-pushing porn, from the '70's era, pass for art. And how on earth did all this depravity, this endless sea of desire, come about in the first place? My guess is that it came part and parcel with an artificially-induced supply-and-demand curve. But I don't think those curves were the type the kid next to me came to see. He was almost passing out on the couch now. He must have been up all night at some rave. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and just got up and left. The wisest of us all, maybe. Well, when finally this women called me into her office, I learned that the operation was actually a subsidiary of an American-owned conglomerate, a Canadian talent agency that went a step further by converting its premises into a porn-production house, thereby allowing its investors, again who were primarily American, to take advantage of the low Canadian dollar, not to mention the established Canadian film-production industry, with its 'virgin' pool of talent. Now, this was no fly-by-night operation, but your seemingly well-respected organization producing their fair share of everyday, mainstream commercials (like those McNugget ads), that was cashing in on a ready-made foreign facility which could cheaply produce a generic type of porn, and whose end-product could be easily shipped back to the States where it would be distributed internationally. As it goes on unannouced through the regular channels, the entire operation, being legal, continues without a flicker of contention from the local Canadians, who -- being traditionally more conservative, maybe even prudish, compared to their American counterparts -- remain practically oblivious of it. As for myself? Well, I left Ms. Casting Director, who didn't even leave a card , a resume, and an old headshot of me taken some 10 years ago. Then she gave me the same line she gave to the rest: We'll call you if we need you. Right. And as I got up to leave I asked myself: Yeah, but will I show up? Probably so, I thought. But the real question should have been: Will I be able to get it up? I mean, how erotic can porn-ambiance production be, when most of the time your rotting away there in the sidelines, waiting for the okay? Sounds as torturous as celibacy, if not worse. Just think of sitting on a set for hours, where real imagination and spontaneity is put on hold, and a erect member attached to a torso, dead from the neck up, takes its place. There is not a single drop of masculinity that doesn't seem to be wasted here, say, for example, on the next women's face. But, hey, 'it's all good', right? Isn't that the popular saying. But where could that have come from? Some Hollywood sit-com perhaps. Or maybe it was from the mouth of Chris Rock, the former minimum-waged McD employee turned multi-millionaire comedian and actor. Now here's a guy whose performances I've never seen or heard, and of whom, I can say quite honestly, I have no intention to. I think there's only so much of that regular stand-up stich one can take in a lifetime, and after you've had your share, you're probably better off on your own, even if it means a future that may hold no more in store than a loaf of bread and some spam . . . check that . . . a loaf of bread, a to-may-toe, some salt, and maybe, if you're lucky, a dash of olive oil -- than to be force-fed another jolly-schloppy, fun-filled happy meal. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest joke is on the Chris Rock success story itself -- though I've heard no more of him than what I've already mentioned, I can just about imagine it already -- that same old rehashed tale of another noveau-riche guy, whose craft would take nothing short of a miracle to separate it from the rest, that is, if he really did wish to make it a genuine art and not just another formulated by-product of the lifeless service-obsessed world it came from. Ever wonder why America's most popular porn star, Ron Jeremy, whose claim to fame is having done some 4,000 women on screen, is also a top-drawing comic who could sell out any Yuk Yuk's, from coast to coast? Could it be because America is so deprived of authenticity it no longer knows what's funny anymore, and so is compelled to laugh at whatever and whenever it is told? Could the American audience be so well trained and behaved that it now laughs on cue, as promptly and surely as its porn stars get off on cue? Could this decadence be really a last, desperate call for a semblance of anything more real -- as fleeting as it may be -- than the next Coca Cola combo, served by that oh so wholesome, respectable McD kid? (How one can figure serving malnutritious food for personal gain to be respectable, even after it makes some people puke, I beg to know.) Now if you're thinking that this is a half-baked academic response from someone in their ivory tower, think again -- my highest education came and still comes from circumventing the University, while most those around me have or still enter it. No, you'll be more on, I think, if you consider this to be just straight-up, man-to-man talk -- and when I say 'man-to-man' I mean that to include women, too, the way the half-baked English language meant it to be from the very beginning, before the feminists and post-modernists got their hands on it, and sabotaged it for more ill-got purposes than good. So how's that to relieve the tension, ladies? Sure, I might not come off as sweet as those fragrant roses you place in the vase, but even if I could, with all the thorns by my side, you're probably better off leaving me outside in the yard, to wither away with the rest of the bunch, while you go on doing whatever it is you do behind those blinds. Yet, isn't that the way it always was? No, I can't say much has really changed between us. So, please, please, don't take me too seriously, because, believe it or not, if you still haven't noticed I'm really not one to take part in active discussions -- academic or otherwise. Remember, besides autodidacts, there are ARTodidacts, and all kinds in life. So why worry about sophistication? Come to think of it, why even worry about the kids? Do you honestly think they worry about you, or, moreover, need you? Surely you don't think you're threats to join your ways or else is going to change anybody's mind, including mine, do you? And yet you still have the gall to say you would like "to take an active role in the teaching of ordinary folk to understand what we've so painstakingly thought out." But have you ever considered that maybe there is really nothing you can offer them to make them want to 'understand'. I mean have you ever stop to think that perhaps the very core of your position was rotten form the very start, and it is now on the verge of catastrophe. And indeed such a catastrophe may be just what we need today, that is, to bring down the many more repressive walls in the world, and begin anew without the biases and ostentatious behavior one is bound to find at the dinner table. And why not YOU learn the etiquette of the outsider, rather than your wishful thinking of having him learn yours?. You know, maybe, just maybe, we might be all a little better off getting just a tad closer to earth, like sitting down on the ground, the next time we think about eating communally. Now I know you know some will say all this is irrational, but, to me, many times it seems more like it is them condemning irrationality who are really being irrational. Then, again, what do I know? I'm just this loner whose light of day may or may not shine on your side of the fence. So why must we go on banging our heads against the solid brick, thinking about survival in these trouble times, and worrying about the end, when death is no more than our definitive birthright to life? Without it there would be no existence whatsoever. Still, I can see why some may think they would be better off dead, for from the standpoint of any type of growth-oriented economy -- whether capitalistic or socialistic -- if we were all to follow former U.S. President Kennedy's advice, and believe wholeheartedly in his philosophy of "think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," then, by the simple math alone, it would be for many a hell of a lot more sensible just to blow their brains out and, thus, do their country a favor. And so on that enlightened note I shall now leave . . . you . . . all . . . . . . in . . . the . . . . . . midst . . . . . . of . . . --------- A McNUGGET CRISIS ---------- "HOW MUCH WORK MUST YOU DO TO EARN 6 McNUGGETS? Get The Exclusive Inside Story Right Now In THE EXISTENTIAL TIMES: INDEX-1: DAILY McNUGGET WISDOMFORUM CORRESPONDENCE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/378 INDEX-2: DAILY McNUGGGET HABERMAS-ML CORRESPONDENCE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/379 INDEX-3: DAILY McNUGGET EXISTLIST CORRESPONDENCE: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/380 ____________________________________________________ Copyright: 2002 Lewis Vella THE EXISTENTIAL TIMES is registered trademark of the author/publisher, Lewis Vella, a member on the various ML's sited below. MAILING LISTS carrying THE TIMES are listed at the following link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheExistentialTimes/message/383 COMMENTS pertaining to THE EXISTENTIAL TIMES' contents should be forwarded appropriately to any one of the ML's listed at the link above. 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