Sloe Times
A journal of my adventures in learning and growing personally and professionallyMonday, December 20, 2004
General: The more things change....
The more things change, the more they stay the same. About a year ago I heard a mix from some Euro DJ and he had used a monologue over some nice beats. After listening to the monologue I got to thinking about how true it is and wondered where he found it because it was "relevant." Ok, so some time passes and I was never really ever able to track it down probably because I wasn't remember the exact phrasing to be able to google it. Fast forward to this evening (morning?) I've got Rhapsody going in the background while I'm working and I decide to load up the current Eminem CD, "Encore", into the playlist and during the track "Yellow Brick Road" he used a sample of the same monologue that I had heard a year ago. Well, now that it was fresh in my mind (and I could rewind and get the phrase exact) I load it up into google and this is what I found:
In my mind, sage words to be sure. However, you have to wonder what it takes to not only listen, but to act or put into action a real effort to change and improve society. I think like all things the biggest road block is overcoming people's perceptions about what is important. I say people because you can talk to an individual and present a logical argument based on reason and common sense that when all things considered could change their mind. People on the other hand are more difficult to sway without some extreme event to galvanize them into motion. Damn sheep. I'd like to think I'm a smart guy but I can see where some of the ideas I've held in the past were not really my own, but more in the "go along to get along" vein. Granted, more often than not, it's easier to keep the peace than it is to stick your head up. The thing I think that makes us individuals is being able to determine what is "important" in a reasonable and realistic manner and not compromise on those things when they might go against the mainstream. A compromised life, is an unfulfilled one.
The year is winding down and it was great and disappointing all at the same time. All this deep thinking isn't really for making new years resolutions but more accurately a new years plan and strategy. In case I don't post again before next year, I wish all of you a happy holiday and I hope that you are able to find a way to make your desires reality.
Sometimes it appears that we're reaching a period when our senses and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be approaching an Age of The Gross. Persuasion through speeches and books is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action.
The young and by this I dont mean by any stretch of the imagination all the young, but Im talking about those who claim to speak for the young at the zenith of physical power and sensitivity, overwhelm themselves with drugs and artificial stimulants. Subtly is lost and fine distinctions based on acute reasoning are carelessly ignored in a headlong jump to a predetermined conclusion.
Life is visceral, rather than intellectual. And the most visceral practitioners of life are those who characterize themselves as intellectuals. Truth to them is revealed rather than logically proved. And the principal infatuations of today revolve around the Social Sciences, those subjects which can accommodate any opinion and about which the most reckless conjecture cannot be discredited.
Education is being redefined at the demand of the uneducated to suit the ideas of the uneducated. The student now goes to college to proclaim, rather than to learn. The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated in a contemporary antagonism known as the generation gap.
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.
-- Vice President Spiro Agnew in Houston, Texas on May 22, 1970
In my mind, sage words to be sure. However, you have to wonder what it takes to not only listen, but to act or put into action a real effort to change and improve society. I think like all things the biggest road block is overcoming people's perceptions about what is important. I say people because you can talk to an individual and present a logical argument based on reason and common sense that when all things considered could change their mind. People on the other hand are more difficult to sway without some extreme event to galvanize them into motion. Damn sheep. I'd like to think I'm a smart guy but I can see where some of the ideas I've held in the past were not really my own, but more in the "go along to get along" vein. Granted, more often than not, it's easier to keep the peace than it is to stick your head up. The thing I think that makes us individuals is being able to determine what is "important" in a reasonable and realistic manner and not compromise on those things when they might go against the mainstream. A compromised life, is an unfulfilled one.
The year is winding down and it was great and disappointing all at the same time. All this deep thinking isn't really for making new years resolutions but more accurately a new years plan and strategy. In case I don't post again before next year, I wish all of you a happy holiday and I hope that you are able to find a way to make your desires reality.
posted by Andres Silva # 12/20/2004 01:42:00 AM 
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