The Feel Good Fix. An Observation On Wants And Needs.

I was pacing around the other day, as I often do (in the nude of course, since I'm all like totally ripped and stuff), and suddenly began to think it odd that, everything I seem to care about, everything that motivates me in life has nothing to do with my survival, or at least my practical needs. "It's all bullshit!" I thought, which I could say about almost anything. My desires and frustrations all based on nothing more then the way I feel when I do something, or the way it feels when I don't do something. How ridiculous is that?

Have you ever thought about the fact that out of the entire animal kingdom, we are the only species to have developed in such a way that we are driven and able to pursue our wants, instead of just our needs. In fact I'd go one step further and say that in general we are no longer concerned about our basic survival, and instead only chase after our emotional wants, in a desperate attempt to feel good; And that is the entire motivation for anything we do in modern society. Our goals, aspirations, behavior and thoughts, all governed by our intangible, irrational, cloudy feelings.

Our emotions (which, just for clarification, are in your brain, not your heart) likely developed during our more primitive stages as a survival mechanism. Fear, most probably being the origin of it all. Those who were fearful of predators could run away, and live to reproduce (all night long). Those who did not, well, they become stem cell research, or end up in the pasta sauce jar label as "meat flavor". Over time, emotional traits that helped us better survive our environment were selected for, and eventually would lead to other emotions (like anger, depression, and angry depression) all based on the original idea of fear, and vicariously, self preservation.

Over the last few centuries, human evolution and societal development has accelerated at a dramatic pace. Where once our basic survival (like the rest of the animal kingdom) was priority one in our minds, we are now in the fortunate state (some would say) where food is easily available (for most), and is rarely a concern. There are some that still live off the land, and grow and harvest their own food, but most of us take this for granted and are used to the notion of driving in our automatic carriages to a centrally located food housing building known colloquially as a market, supermarket or grocery store.

How do we view food now? How often do you think of food in terms of survival? I doubt it's much, if at all. Except, of course, each morning when you worry about where the herd of buffalo has migrated to in order to keep your family fed, or shout to the heavens that "Soilent Green is people!"

Like almost everything else, food has changed from a need to a want. I would wager that when you do think about food, you think about how delicious something will taste, and how it will make you feel when you eat it. The entire "purpose" of food tasting good to our taste buds (and really, our brains) is so that we have a drive to eat, and sustain ourselves. Now the feeling of eating something that tastes good has outweighed the original reason to eat, and becomes a pursuit of pleasure. Not a need. A want. An emotional want.

Likewise shelter. Another necessity to keep us pathetic beings protected, and out of the cold, heat, and pretty much everything else the other animals seem to have no problem with. Most of us never bother thinking of which tree(s) we should stay under, or which caves we can hide in for the night, as we have central heating, A/C, and comfy couches with LCD TVs. Houses are a commodity. You want one that reflects esoteric ideas like your "personality", or your "philosophy for living". Rarely do I hear people being pleased that they have four walls and a roof (unless those four walls and a roof reflect an artistic interpretation of the emptiness in modern society . . . maaaaannnnn). How does the house make you feel? Hmmm? How does it look? That's what's subjectively important to us emotionally-based humans. (Feel free to scoff here).

Food and shelter, two of the most important needs are taken care of for us these days, and also taken for granted, like any good interdependent man-made system. The air we breathe is, for now, free, so we can cross that one off the list. In today's society we've been lucky enough to do away with the basic survival mentally that was all our great great ancestors ever knew, and yet we still possess these irrational emotions that just kinda float around and react to random people and situations as if we were still in the wild.

Goals for the every man of today deal with self image, and personal pleasure, neither of which, at least by my estimates, are needs.

The same goes with our never ending quest for love and romance. What the hell is romance anyway? I'm sure you can follow the path by now. Love is the name we apply to the feeling of attraction and mutual attraction. Evolving biologically as a mechanism of incentive for people to stay together to raise their offspring (since our human babies are born week, helpless, and defenseless, unlike most other mammals). This trait was selected for over time, and the reward feeling intensified to the point that the feeling itself takes precedence over the biological function it is directly connected to. Why? It feels good! Love and sex feel good to us and so we put them above the basic needs they were developed to ensure, in this case reproduction (all night long).

In essence, we love the feeling of reproducing without reproducing so much that we directly inhibit our ability to reproduce, ironically, in order to gain more personal pleasure from the feel good sensation of faux-reproduction without actual reproduction. Take that 'natural process of biological evolution'! ZING!

Now here we are, living in a reality where every desire is controlled by our needy and insecure emotional psyche, where our basic survival needs are no longer a worry, where we've put "feel good" wants in place of our previous needs, which in turn makes the new "feel good" wants into pseudo-needs. Everything leads us to the goal of emotional satisfaction, and emotions become harder and harder to satisfy as they grow more complex over time.

Damn. No wonder we are such a grounded, rational, logical species.

Related Essays:
72 Degrees In The Head, All The Time

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Tags: emotion logic evolution biology social psychology philosophy natural+selection

MySpace: A Place For Barely Acquaintances

MySpace has become, for me, the place where all my hopes go to die. An online trash bin of superficial pointlessness, that, like the all day suckers of cartoons past, keeps me coming back to its monotonous droning hum that sticks in my ear like a handful of snot. So why am I still on it?

Though originally attracted to the site for the same reasons I got all atwitter about chat rooms in the mid 90s, this site, and therefore vicariously "Mysite", has slowly withered and atrophied into the sad and pathetic husk of a man that. . . no wait that's me. MySpace RULZ!! LOL!!

I started years back when the site was not very well known, by putting up a page for my music project (see: avoiding the word band, due to social stigma) after a friend suggested it might be a good idea. I thought "What the hell?" Or more accurately, "What the ass-groping donkey-cock-guzzling shit-wrangler?" Not long after that, I figured I needed a personal profile as well, due to the potential hundreds of emails I was likely missing from gorgeous, intelligent women, who until then, had no way of contacting me, let alone seeing what my favorite movies were! (You see, 'cause that's really important).

My early exploits with the site yielded fairly socially relevant results. I talked to many new people, went out of my way to find friends (mostly female), and even ended up dating a girl I met on the site (who now gets to be a target of my new interest in psycho-analyzation). But I noticed an annoying tendency for a lot of people to friend request me, who had gone to my high school, worked at a job with me in the past, or had frequented a social scene that I constantly made fun of, but still ended up going to anyway (long story). Needless to say, these are people I would not like to give my phone number to, but don't mind accepting a "friend request" from, to be nice, and due to its complete lack of interpersonal connection.

Fast forward to the present day and I can't remember the last time I was contacted by a new person who was interested in becoming an actual friend of mine. But boy, do I get my fair share of spam requests! Usually shit bands (truly terrible) that I end up writing about how awful they are (hint: look for a future blog), or porn bots who "just moved into town," seem to think I'm cute, like my generic profile, then want me to click their webcam or send them an email to a suspect address so I can give my computer cyber herpes. Obviously I'm still good friends with them now (the last holiday letter I got from spam bot "JuicyGurlXOXO69" was really heartfelt and sweet. I hope her family is doing well).

Likewise, I rarely, if ever, feel compelled to search for people based upon common interests, in an attempt to find another friend, or someone to share hobbies, music styles, philosophy, advice etc. I usually don't care much. At least online. Now, meeting someone in person who is interested in philosophy, analyzing everything to death, and making fun of creationists (not to mention the occasional genital humor) would be fine by me.

. . .Which begs the question, why am I on MySpace? What is the point, if I don't find new friends, new friends don't find me, and the "friends" I do have mostly consist of old acquaintances I never talk to, nor have a desire to talk to? It serves no positive purpose for me. The only thing I can think of is self promotion.

Like most people, I seem to use it as a promotion tool. Obviously I have been writing a lot more this year. I am quite enjoying putting all of my random social, philosophical, psychological and humorous observations and stories out into the world, and I do have some eventual bigger goals in mind for them. The only thing I've really used MySpace for recently, is to announce any new blogs I post on my King Of Deprecation site, in the, *pause*, hope (I hate that word) that a few people might be interested enough by a topic or description of one of the blogs to actually go to the site and read something. However, I doubt it's really worth it. Since I rarely (never) interact with them (you know, THEM?) why should they give two shits about me and what I'm promoting? Answer: they don't.

But wait, I'm probably being too negative. On the plus side, I can view a bunch of random people's bulletins! Hopefully they are a bunch of trite surveys about what they are doing right then and there, what their favorite bands are, and who their celebrity crushes are!!! OOOOOoooooOOOooooOOOooo!!!

Yep. They are. And if they aren't, which is rare, it's just advertisements for people to "go to this club! Go to this show! See this band!" If I wanted to be more disgruntled with society I could always watch TMZ, EXTRA, and the E! network, but so far this site gives me my daily quota of irrelevant mind-numbing penguin shit in a can. Thanks MySpace peeps. Oh, sorry. "Peepz".

I also "get" to see a list of friend updates, or in my case, barely acquaintance updates displaying their current mood (which I don't care about) and a quick sentence about what they doing (which I don't care about). I can't really think of many scenarios where I would genuinely be interested in someone's ongoing day to day mood and event statuses, and that includes family, my dead cat, and the unlikely event of a girlfriend. If I do care, take a guess at what I'm going to do to find out. Is it wait online until they log on to display their new update and mood? Well, though that does seem efficient and a giant diaper of joy, I'd just call them using Mr. Graham-Bell's intermittently wonderful invention.

I think this site was more fun and exciting when I was younger, and really, so was anything where being social and the internet were combined. The novelty of "chatting" lost its luster years ago, and most of the kids on there seem more interested in decorating their page within an inch of its life, and taking quizes, as opposed to trying to create some worthwhile social connections.

I can tell you freely, that logging on is thoroughly depressing. As much as I love being reminded of friends I don't have, relationships I don't have, and things I'm not doing, there are a few, very seldom moments (meaning always) where, once signed in to the great soul sucking site, I just sit and stare blankly at the screen, my inbox pilling up to the brim with emptiness and resignation, my self image doing the same. Every time I sign in to MySpace lately I ask myself out loud why I just did so. Apparently I am a glutton for pain.

Almost any "friend" that updates anything on that site, is a reminder of people I used to hang out with in a previous life, which for me, is like crack cocaine for the chronic "dweller of the past". Some connections are from many years ago, some from a bit more recently. All carrying on with their existence (as people seem to do), in a way that does not involve me. This serves the purpose of keeping me in a "remember when" mode, sometimes nostalgically, many times regrettably, feeling ever more strongly how time progresses, changes your perspectives, changes your situations, and erodes that which is no longer useful or beneficial, in this case friends. Although this is mostly for the best, I still can't help being placed into a gummy, melted emotional state by seeing the frequent information and updates by handfuls of people I used to interact with, even when the majority of those people I'm happy to stay away from. It's still the principal of the thing.

Worse still, is seeing mood updates, new photos, and general information on anyone who I've ever been romantically connected to or interested in during my life. There is no faster way to destroy any decent mood I may have had going, by simply seeing a new photo of an ex girlfriend or ex something-or-other with someone else, being generally content and happy. Dear God that kills me. Luckily I can turn off updates from those select few, otherwise I'd be downing the special Kool-Aid by now.

By the way, did you notice a conflict yet? Remember all that jazz earlier about me not caring about friends online, and then suddenly lamenting my lack of genuine and meaningful social interaction? You don't? Seriously? 'Cause I just said it. Well, I changed a few of the words but I assure you they are fairly interchangeable (see a thesaurus). Yes, thus is the dichotomy of it all. Craving that valuable and profound social interaction, while simultaneously not caring about any of it.

Several of my real life friends have put up messages about deleting their MySpace profiles, no doubt for similar reasons. It's crap with a fresh parsley garnish. Maybe I might have to go the way of those pissed off trailblazers, and do away with the source of my online strife, depression and mental turmoil.

But then, what kind of self-hating emotional masochist would I be?

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Tags: myspace online friends social networking sarcasm

Adventures in Guerilla Psychotherapy

I've developed a new interest in human beings lately. More honestly, I've developed a more involved interest in other people's life issues. Relationship problems and confusion about direction in life are two of my favorites. Though I've always seemed to have a bit of the "teacher" mentality, and a propensity to want to help others by sharing my observations, it's only been in the last year that my fascination and journey into psychology and philosophy have really consumed me, and as a result, instantly pique my interest about anything dealing with emotional human drama. The real fascination for me is the puzzle at hand, and the intriguing prospect of solving a complex problem.

Just a few weeks ago, I was working in the Dove during some sort of R&B/Soul cover band show. Once I'm done taking tickets and the show begins, I can relax and simply keep an eye on the door, and make sure no belligerent sauced-out patron throws their fist/spouce through the glass.

During my epic bought of sitting and waiting, a woman entered the lobby on her cell phone, obviously trying to get reception. She was approaching middle age, though still very youthful looking, dark skin, glasses, and a frustrated look on her face. One could tell (therefore so could I) that she was in a flustered, yet slightly depressed emotional state due to her body language and her inability to get hold of a certain person on her phone, someone who seemed to mean something to her, likely a family member or significant other. It only took one sentence for me to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Do you think I'm an attractive women?" she asked, her elbows resting on the counter still trying in vain to get hold of that elusive person.

This is a rather strange, and also very telling way of starting a dialog with a complete stranger. Realizing right away that we are about to delve into some nice emotionally-based relationship puzzles, I quickly snap out of my complacency, and exuberantly jump into psyche mode.

What is she really saying here, and what does she want? Do you think, by chance, she was trying to hit on me? We'll you'd be wrong.

Some of you reading may have already put together an entire story of what this woman's situation is, as I did the same. But I figured I would get there by asking questions instead of simply pronouncing my assessment off of one sentence.

I paused for a moment, analyzing my best course of action and then replied:

"I do. Why, did someone say otherwise?"

She put down her phone for the time being and tried to collect her thoughts.

"Well, not exactly. My husband is a good man, but sometimes I just can't tell anymore."

So at this point we can rule out some sort of physically abusive relationship or a dominating male figure.

"Does he not compliment you?" I ask, already knowing.

"Well, I don't know. I guess not really. "

At this point we are dealing with several intertwined concepts. Self image, value, and desirability, as well the fact that her marriage has grown lifeless and dull.

"He really is a great man though," She continued. "He loves our kids and is always there for them."

". . . And that's wonderful," I jump in. "But the marriage is about more then just the kids. If you are not feeling loved enough, and he is not giving you the affection you need, then that is unfair to you. You are still a person in this relationship."

"I've had many opportunities to cheat on him, but I've always remained faithful." A line that proved again that she was in need of attention, and she needed to feel desirable.

"Well it's a good sign that you have not cheated on him." I switch the conversation back to their relationship dynamic.

"When was the last time you did something, just the two of you?"

"It's been awhile," She lamented. "Every time I say we should do something, he always says 'what about the kids?', or he only wants to do things with the whole family, which as I said, he is a great father, but I just don't think he tries anymore.

"Like tonight," She went on. "I wanted to go to this show, and he just wanted to stay home and watch Matlock."

I chimed in with the obvious. "Matlock is all fine and good, but this concert does not happen often, and therefore that should take priority, especially seeing how this show was something you asked him to do together."

"The Matlock episode was taped too," she sighed.

I raised an eyebrow. "That is pretty ridiculous on his part. He could truly watch that show at anytime, and he chose to watch it during the concert that you wanted him to attend with you."

She agreed wholeheartedly. I could tell she really wanted her husband to be with her that evening.

"Did you tell him how much being at the show meant to you?"

"I said that I wanted him to come with me."

Here is a simple observation about how we communicate, or rather, how we don't communicate, which I've dealt with personally. Being that we see things through our own viewpoint, we will sometimes take for granted that other people will know what we know. You've no doubt heard this before in the overused idea that many women want men to read their minds, and if they don't, then that means the man does not know them or love them. Quick interjection: bullshit.

I explained this common communication error to her, and insisted that she be more open and direct with her husband about her feelings, and interests, even if she thinks he already knows how she feels. Many people are reserved, nervous, or frightened about simply being honest and upfront about how something made them feel, or how something is important to them. It is imperative to remember that other people will never be able to read your mind, so if you want someone to know something, do something, say something, you need to let that person know. Directly.

She nodded in agreement, not saying a word.

I continued counseling her on her marriage in the lobby of the venue, and explained that the key here was less so what she would say, but how she would say it.

"If you go home tonight and say something like, 'the fact that you did not come to the show with me made me angry and upset', then he will immediately put up his defenses, and will not listen to you. What you need to do is to is get him to be emotionally sympathetic to you, which involves you being vulnerable."

She looked at me, contemplating.

"You see, if you approach him with respect, calmly and with emotional vulnerability, you will have a much stronger chance of making him feel for you and listen to you, compared to yelling at him about how you are angry, which will make him put up a wall, and get defensive. You want him to feel for you. You need him to see and hear, in a non-angry way, how much his actions affected the women he loves. If he does indeed love you, the last thing he will want is to hurt you, and to show that will bring him into an emotional state where he sympathizes, and feels responsible for your emotional state.

"Don't use "think" words. You can always be wrong about things you think. Use "feel" words, as anything you feel cannot be disputed."

She smiled at me. "I can see that. That makes a lot of sense."

At this point I mentioned another strategy for keeping the other person's defenses down during an important, and potentially difficult talk. I told her to add positive, reenforcing language into her speech, so it would not feel that the whole thing was negative and overwhelming. I gave her the example of, "when you are using your 'feel' words and being calm and vulnerable, try to give him a compliment as well just to help him be more receptive to your feelings.

"You could say something like, 'it really hurt me tonight when you did not want to spend time with me at that show. [then add reenforcing language] I love being with you, and we always have so much fun together, [back to emotional language] but I feel that you don't spend enough time with just me anymore. [direct honesty] I need you to know that [positive reenforcement] I love you very much, [stating what you think they should already know] but spending time with you tonight was really important to me, [vulnerable and direct] and the fact that you chose to stay home really hurt me."

She nodded again, turned her head and stared off into space contemplating all of the new information.

"This won't be easy," I reaffirmed. "It's hard for most people to be so open and vulnerable about their emotions, especially with someone they've been with for a good while. But as I said before, you are still an individual person with needs and interests, and he needs to know that, and you need to know that too. Only you can show him, with respect and tact, how certain things are important to you. I'm sure you don't mind staying home to do what he wants to do, but once in a while he needs to do some things that you want to do as well."

She smiled and her eyes lit up, "Wow. I think I could really do that. I think I could go home tonight and say those things to him!"

I smiled back, feeling positive that my insight was applicable to her.

Her face quickly changed to that of confusion and surprise.

"Wait a minute. . ." She said like a dear caught in headlights. "What is going on here? Are you like a psychiatrist or something?. . . going to school for it? . . . what's the deal . . .?"

I laughed lightly and smiled.

"No. I just have an interest in psychology and philosophy."

She laughed a bit herself, no doubt putting the entire conversation into the perspective that she was just given random psychological advice and marriage counseling from a complete stranger sitting at a desk during a concert.

"Thank you so much!" She beamed, as she opened the door and walked back into the venue.

"You're very welcome. I hope everything works out for you." And with that, I put my feet back up on the desk, and waited patiently for my next random human puzzle.



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Tags: love relationships psychology marriage counseling therapy

The One Way Street Conundrum

Greetings Mr. or Mrs. Current Resident,

We at the Department of Motor Vehicles would like to congratulate you on your recent purchase/semi-recent purchase/continued ownership of your automobile/horseless carriage. Your driving experience and safety are our top priorities, and to that effect, we, the DMV, have issued a quick review test for a common driving scenario that we find many motor vehicle operators may not fully understand, or lack proficiency in, due to its extreme rarity, and perplexing difficulty.

Please review the following scenario, as our goal is to make all drivers behave and act similarly in the same situations. Thank you in advance.

Scenario: The One Way Street Conundrum.

One way streets have been confusing drivers since the invention of the street. As there are no set laws, or protocols when dealing with this confounding situation, we feel it is necessary to issue proper driving procedures to all licensed citizens, to clear up any misconceptions of this loose, and abstract situation.

1) You drive up to a west bound, 3 lane, one way street. Do you:

A) Go west (and become the King Of Wishful Thinking).
B) Drive across the road, continuing north bound.
C) Turn east, and go against traffic.

Wonderful! You turned against traffic. So far so good.

2) You now notice that there are cars in all 3 lanes coming towards you. Do you:

A) Quickly make a right turn into the alley.
B) Keep driving towards oncoming traffic and turn right at the next street.
C) Pass the alley, slow down considerably, then come to a stop before the next street as you pause to make you next decision.

To make this type of decision, it is good to come to a complete stop, as driving while thinking can lead to accidents. Take your time please.

3) Now that you have stopped to think, there is a pile-up of cars in the lane ahead of you (don't worry. This is to be expected. Ignore the honking and swearing). Do you:

A) Turn right onto the street immediately.

B) Back up and turn into the alley.

C) Wait for a while, then put on your turn signal and try to turn left across the 3 lanes of oncoming traffic.

Excellent! At this point you may either decide to wait for an opening to make the left turn from the far right lane of the one way street you are in opposition to, or you can still make a slow (we stress gradual) right turn onto the street (as long as you wait a while longer, giving the left turn option its complete opportunity).

Please review the previous scenario before next using a car, truck, wagon or van.

It may help to print this out and place a copy in your glove compartment, making sure to remove all of the gloves ahead time. This information can then be accessed when the odd situation occurs (again remember to come to a complete stop before routing through the glove compartment to access this instructional sheet).

Thank you for your compliance. We will administer more quick reviews when necessary.

Sincerely,

Impersonal Form Letter from the DMV.


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Tags: humor humour driving test dmv

Ted Nugent: Anti-American Hypocrite

Going through Google Reader sunday morning led me to an article that renewed my intermittent shame on being lumped in with certain Americans, simply by being born here. Recently Ted Nugent (of Cat Scratch Fever Fame, and redneck stereotype) issued a statement in a column for the Waco Tribune-Herald:

Observe how the Obama media machine and soulless liberal media jumped on Rush Limbaugh’s comments that he “wanted Obama to fail.”

Anyone with a half a brain knows Rush wants only this: for America to succeed and for anti-American policies to fail. 

Someone with half a brain, sure. Someone with an entire brain sees how blatantly hypocritical that statement is, which I'll get to momentarily. But first off, how the hell do you know what Rush "really" means by his hate-mongering statement? To give it a quick psychological spin for a second, Ted, it is your interpretation of Rush's statements, combined with your own self-projection that give you this insight into what America's half-brained are thinking.

And what a way to add a fast, over-generalized character tarnishing:

"the Obama media machine and soulless liberal media". 

Do you just subscribe to the Rush Limbaugh eMail Talking-Point And Hate-Slander Newsletter? Congrats sir, you never have to form your own opinion again!

I'm so sick of the scapegoat phrase "liberal media" being used by those who feel that their ideas are being scrutinized for being poor ideas. That's right Ted, blame it on the faceless collective known as The Media (scary music plays). And since when is "reporting the news" distinctly liberal? Does that imply that not reporting the news is thereby the soulful conservative media?

So according to humanist philosopher "Nuge", for America to succeed, these so-called "anti-american" policies need to fail, eh? How about a little more enlightened progressive thinking? What if (and I know this sounds crazy), we try things that may have the potential to benefit the people of the country, regardless of whether those ideas are "American" or not? If it works, and society as a whole is more positive, taken care of, better educated and more productive, why can't we incorporate those ideas into what we are? Isn't progress American? Didn't progress get us to where we are today? (sans the Catholic church of course). Don't we want the best for ourselves? If you answered "yes" to any of these, then it seems your current ideology is outdated and is in need of restructuring to match the more socially progressive country we are slowly becoming. If the answer is "no", then you are anti-American, Mr. Scratch-Feverson.

To leave no doubt where I, your humble Motor City guitarslinger, stands, let me report without ambiguity, that I get down on bended knee daily and pray to God that he does what he can to ensure President Obama fails.

Humble, my ass. But yes, Ted, there is no doubt about your perspectives as you seem to want to create a laughable towering stereotype of yourself, that desperately conforms to any and all conceptions, and even misconceptions, of what a biased christian conservative republican redneck is.

To repeat: I pray for President Obama to fail.

What a douche (and I should probably add "redneck" again, since I rarely get to use the word). Not because his opinion and my opinion of the current president are possibly different. No, no. He is a douche for wanting the leader of the country he lives in to fail. Put it this way: If he did anything about this, as in made actions and plans to ensure that Obama will "fail", he is committing treason. Seriously. Now how American is that? Apparently very.

"I love America! I'm pro-America, and a patriot. . . for America! Now I want to see America suffer and crumble by praying to a supernatural divine authority that the current president, who does not share every one of my currently held views, will destroy this country through policies that are different from ones that were in place in the past, which scares me on the simple fact that they are different, thereby teaching him a lesson about his wrong-ness. . . and more importantly, my right-ness."

"What about all of the people who will be affected by his failure?"

"They need to learn their lesson too! They voted for a guy that I personally don't agree with. That'll show 'em! I need to be right."

Fuck, man. I was never a fan of Bush, like many, many others. I really don't talk about that much since it is such a redundant, trite topic. But even with my dislike of many the policies, ideologies and general personality of the former president, I never wished (since I don't pray) that he would fail. It's a simple trickle-down lesson. What do you think happens to us if the president fails? Good things? Rejoicing? Life lessons learned by all and then back to work as normal?

No. We get raped too. If our president literally fails, or our government literally fails, we, the people, feel the brunt of the storm. Therefore what the "Motor City guitarslinger" is really praying for (in terms of consequences), is that the American people fail, hurt, and shrivel up in as many ways as possible. God bless America! (Except for the president, and anyone who disagrees with you, or does things in a different way then you).

Yes, even though I personally disliked Bush, I still wanted him to do the best job he could. Why? Because it would be beneficial for me! This is important, so I'll repeat it: To wish the president will fail is to wish the American people will fail. In my book, that is truly anti-American. Oh! Burn! The sweet, sweet irony!

Like Rush, I wouldn’t want Obama to fail if his agenda weren’t built on feeding the gluttonous, unaccountable Fedzilla beast, so clearly the enemy of the free market, of real jobs and proven economic growth.

Since that is Obama’s agenda, however, those of us who believe in a limited federal government and the wondrous wealth-and-job-creating free market should hope, pray and work to ensure Obama’s anti-free market policies fall flat on their face.

Again, Theodore, you prove your amazing ability for direct insight into another human mind, this time with clairvoyance and precognition. Do you also read palms?

Hey reader! Were you aware there is only one proven way to achieve economic growth and create "real" jobs? (As opposed to those pesky phantom jobs). That would instantly make any other methods of economic growth or job creation complete bullshit right? Damn, the economy is so easy! Thanks Nuge!

Just for fun, let's pretend that the current model for doing business in America is not perfect. Just pretend. And now let's take it a step further and say that there are aspects of the current model for doing business that are being taken advantage of, and possibly causing harm to a large group of people. Should we still champion that philosophy as a whole? (Well yes, but still, should we?)

Just because aspects of something work, does not mean that everything about it does.

The free market philosophy has both strengths and weakness (like EVILution (yes, that is a joke)), as do other forms of doing business. We don't need to completely abandon one entire structure to implement ideas from another. Not every decision needs to be so black and white. "Either we are a democracy, or we are satanic, pedophiliac, mass-murdering shit-eaters!" Mmmmmmm. Feces.

One would have to be brain-dead to want to return to the economic doldrums of the Carter years and further embrace European-style socialism. But that’s where it appears America is headed with Obama in charge.

Not everything within a given ideology is inherently bad. Not every idea within Islam or Christianity promotes hatred of others (surprisingly). Not every movie by Michael Bay will be god awful (surprisingly). Some aspects of Socialism and yes, even communism, could actually be beneficial, if implimented in the right way.

Look at Denmark. Recent surveys say they are the happiest country in the world. Free health care and free higher education means smarter and healthier people. Is that an evil thing? If something works, despite its sociopolitical label, why should we not use it? Who cares what it's called, as long as the country is all the better for it. Oh, thats right. Teddington and Rushy-poo care.

As for Rush, his ratings have increased. More have tuned in to a wonderful show where the man entertains and informs us. He’ll take on the libs with half his brain tied behind his back, just to make it fair.

Wow, biased much? Now, I personally would have a hard time calling Rush, or his show "wonderful", but that is just my personal opinion, and entirely subjective. Teddy is welcomed to think that. Regardless of personal ideology, Rush is the last person I would put synonymously with human equality. He creates a strong "us and them" mentality for his listeners, which is similar to that of many of the wacky conspiracy theorists. He is a bastion of REgressive, instead of PROgressive social values, which incidentally are the ones that move us (get this) forward.

Ted spews out more of the "us and them" mentality coupled with the black and white dualistic approach by using the word "libs". Obviously short for liberals. Meaning anyone who is liberal about something, including recipes calling for salt and pepper. You and I know that everyone is easily categorized into two columns of good and bad, right and wrong. Now you see that anything that is liberal is pure badness. Oh, and stupid apparently. Don't forget stupid.

Yes, there are things that are considered Liberal that I don't think are great either. But does he not see that there are some conservative philosophies that are negative as well? Probably not, as Mr. "Gonzo" seems be the type of person who likes to subscribe fully to an ideology, even when there are things within it that could be proven negative or incorrect. This makes it easier for him to be identified in quick terminology, instead of being of being one of the ridiculous people who refuse to label themselves with the all-encompassing title of two blanket perspectives. I wonder what that reminds me of?

Remember your history and pray for President Obama to fail. I fear for America if we allow him to succeed.

Okay, you see that? That's the very thing I hate about people in the mind set of Douche Fuck: Texas Ass Cunt. He "fears" for America if he (Obama) succeeds. What does success really mean here? Let's say Obama puts his plan into action and they create no jobs and put the country further into economic anal sludge, oh and everyone is godless and soulless, can't forget that important thing (it's not actually important or relevant, yet Ted still makes that "point"). Would that be a success? I highly doubt it.

A success means, not only were Obama's "half a brain" leftist, other-trash-talking-insults policies implemented, but they actually worked. Helped people. Made jobs, money, health care, education, infrastructure, jelly beans, significantly better. That is success. And this zebra-striped machine-gun-holding jerky enthusiast is fearing for something that works? What a dick. What an arrogant self-righteous human-hating dick.

Many seem to have a very skewed idea of what America stands for and what it is supposed to be. In fact I'm sure we all have a slightly different vision. I personally would love to see a society that comes back to the idea that being intelligent is a good thing; that what is best for the whole and the individual can be balanced; that humans, and all humans, should always be the top priority; that progress should be embraced, if not encouraged and incentivized; and the promotion of new ideas and perspectives are seen as vital to our positive development as individuals and as a society.

Ted Nugent: your advocacy of failure for our president, country and people is fear-based, hateful, regressive and most off all, anti-American. You are a hypocritical treasonous douche bag, but are still completely within your rights to publicly express your dissenting opinion, thanks to your progressively-minded, freethinking, socially-liberal founding forefathers. You're welcome.


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72 Degrees In The Head, All The Time

This is a topic I've been thinking about for quite some time, and just got reminded of it the other day while working at my lowly "paying the bills" job. I tend to get rather frustrated and angry at small things pretty often, and during a typical peak dinner rush at the restaurant, I quickly got pushed into one of my predictable "hate everything and everyone" moments.


This actually does not bother me much (the fact that I'm in that mood. . . I know, strange) as often times I can use that mode to come up with some pretty witty, and vehement things to say, or stories to write down later. What DOES piss me off (besides getting pissed off in the first place) is when someone tries to calm me down, or tell me that I should not feel that way because [insert ridiculous optimistic bullshit reason here].

When someone tries to do that I can't tell you how much that makes me want to rip off their genitals. It literally increases my negative mood by a factor of 10, easily. How dare you try and tell me what things should and should not affect me and how I should or should not respond to them.

But what this really gets me thinking about (after I am no longer filled with pure buttery rage), is the perspective of the person thinking I should not be feeling such and such way. Whether it's anger, stress, or depression, supposedly I'm not supposed to feel that way. Were you aware of that?

If you talk to most people, or (*gulp*) watch TeeVee, you'll notice a common notion: all people are supposed to be happy all the time! Seriously, who doesn't encourage you to look on the bright side of things, or tell you not to feel bad about something, or not to get upset about things? They all do, and I'm fucking sick of it. Allow me to explain. Seriously, allow me to explain, you're pissing me off.

Since the moment I hit puberty (<-- heh heh, puberty), I've been a very emotionally affected person. I'm not sure if I would go all the way to "bipolar", but I regularly hit some pretty low lows, but not so much of the highest highs (which I guess would rule out manic depression). Still, my emotional self has had a strong grip on me, and even more so in the last five-ish years. Depression, and long bouts of it, are quite common for me, with my amazing counter-balance being indifference, or dare I say the rare, and sought after "meh". (That, to me, is wonderful).

I'm sure a few of you may be already saying, "that doesn't sound very good."

Well, sure. On the surface using traditional social values and a short-term generation-X inspired dualistic approach, it does seem that way. Try looking at it in a non-obvious way for a moment please.

It's as if most people think that feeling anything below happy is unnatural and therefore bad. Since when did we get this foolish and deluded notion that we are supposed to be happy all of the time? Well, there are some interesting theories that go back to the turn of the century. No, the other century.

In the early 1900s, life was a bit more challenging than we have it today, and regular people did not have the impression that they needed to be constantly happy. (Don't believe me? Go back in time and ask them). Most people only purchased what they needed, and what was absolutely necessary (like building the eiffel tower, which serves its much needed purpose as a . . . let's get back to the story). However, Freud was just beginning to publish papers on human psyche and emotion, which caught the eye of advertisers, marketing firms and businesses. Suddenly there was a new technique to get people to buy your products, especially those products that were not a necessity: appeal to their emotional desires (which by now you've guessed includes the Jane Fonda Workout on Betamax, and a liberal dose of double penetrations).

By targeting how a product could make their clients feel, they opened up an entire new era in social economics by creating the first generation of consumers. Look how this shiny pocket watch makes you feel better about yourself, due to your inadequate genitals! Look at this new Model T automobile that will make you feel like a free, and successful person, despite your inadequate genitals! This new makeup, clothing, beverage will . . . . blah blah blah feel. . . . blah blah blah genitals. You get the idea (you're inadequate).

Fast forward to today's TeeVee ads, and you'll see the same notions, now on steroids (which I can sell you if you are feeling inadequate). Every commercial shows you how happy the people are now that they are using the product. Always smiling and laughing, it almost does not matter what the product does, as long as you can feel the way those actors are pretending to feel for money. Right?

I swear, people feel that they are literally entitled, nay, they deserve to be happy, as if it were a given. Happiness has permeated our culture and spread through each new generation as an expectation. Now we have a whole mess of young adults who think that every time they feel depressed or upset, something is wrong with them. This results in everyone taking medication, seeking psychotherapy or purchasing a sports car to cure their phantom non-happiness, which we need to continually have, if you have not picked that up yet.

Back to me (finally! I was getting pissed). Dealing with as much depression as I do, I've come to see that it's not a black and white situation. Though the feelings may not be fun to deal with in the interim, they can become a catalyst for positive long term change and growth. In fact, often it is only through the most awful experiences and feelings that I have been able to see something significant about myself that needed to improve or be destroyed by fudge (see the blog 2008: The Worst Year Of My Life).

By avoiding painful experiences, you are potentially avoiding crucial life lessons. . .about. . .life (duh). By being afraid of depression and pain you run the risk of being extremely dull and uninteresting. Yes, I am making the outright claim right here that pain makes people interesting.



This connects perfectly (it does, I said it, and it's my blog) to my recent post entitled "Leave Your Honesty At The Door", where I mentioned people's reactions to saying that I was mediocre. Mediocre is not bad, people. It is like luke warm, it just is. It consists of neither good nor bad, which really is a decent place to be, and in mind mind, is sort of the emotional default position.

Being depressed happens. Being angry is normal. You're never going to feel great all of the time, because that is an unrealistic, and unnatural state to be in constantly. Even if you did, you would never experience the balance that comes from living all aspects of human emotion, which in turn givs each emotion more value. I actually feel that I experience more of life by being so susceptible to strange emotions, and that therefore makes the 'happy' (that's a stretch for me) moment so much more memorable and worthwhile. Plus, if you really were always happy, and something positive happened, where would you go from there? Stupid-happy? Moronically-happy? Super-retard-idiot-happy?

I'm going to go sulk now.


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