Distraction Nation

We live in a day and age where distractions are omni-present. TV, Sports, Social Networking (I have been myself guilty of spending too much time on sites like facebook), fashion trends, an infinite number of electronic gadgets, Lindsay Lohan's latest mishap, Reality TV, Advertising --just to name a few, are all around us. For God's sake, even the newscast is interrupted by advertising or what I like to call "non-news" such as Paris Hilton and consorts. The scary part about this development is, one cannot rely on TV news for information anymore, especially, if one actually wants to be informed and know what is going on in the world. This might be fine for the person, who actively seeks information, since he/she will go out of her way to find it elsewhere, like on the internet or other media. That person I'm not worried about, those who seek shall find.

What about the ones that do not seek? Joe Shmoe, sitting on the couch, relying on someone to bring the news to him, waiting to have it rain down on him from Heaven or the TV set, whichever comes first. He's getting battered with an abundance of useless information and force-fed a gigantic amount of whitenoise that does not have any informational value and no bearing on his life whatsoever.  --That is if he even makes it to the newscast and doesn't first get distracted and sucked in by college basketball, CSI anywhere or some Jersey Housewives Show that may possibly cause you to lose a couple of braincells rather than furthering your knowledge in any kind of way..

I wonder if we've just gotten to the point where we have "untrained" our brains and consequently they have forgotten how to digest complex information, because they haven't been "fed" with anything worthwhile in so long. The information overload, overstimulation, and the vast amount of useless information, have literally paralyzed the sense for what's important in many people today.

Just yesterday I saw a commercial of a car that can update your facebook status and also read your status updates to you. Really? REALLY?

I come to two possible conclusions: We're either not supposed to be informed and think for ourselves, because independent thinking is "dangerous", therefore we're bombarded with all this useless crap to keep us busy.
Or we choose to be ignorant of truth for with knowing what's wrong with the world and society comes responsibility and accountability and nobody likes either of the two.

I cannot offer any solution other than, think about where in this equation you want to stand. Inform yourself. Don't take anything for granted. Don't accept just anything that you're being told. SEEK information actively and use your brain for independent thinking.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 

Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

For quite some time now I have grown frustrated with the economic situation, not only in this country, but all over the civilized world. The picture that is unfolding before us in the news, is quite similar all around, whether you look at the US, Germany, France, England, you're pretty much seeing a common denominator: companies going under, bigger companies getting bailed out by their country's governments, banks being bailed out, foreclosures and short sales left and right... and all the banks around the world, but specifically in the US, crying bloody murder about all the money they're losing. 

Hard to believe that they're doing this in the wake of the regular guy losing house and home, safety and security for their families etc. 

The banks, at least the big players, whose names crop up everywhere, seem to largely come away unscathed. I wonder why that is?

But that is not even the point that I'm trying to make today. The point involves the two charts that I have placed below, deliberately without headings. LOOK  at them closely and COMPARE. I have looked these up after recently watching the "Zeitgeist" movies, which by the way I recommend to anyone who is interested in critical thinking and questioning the status quo. Now that you've looked at the charts, by now you have figured out that a lot of the same names pop up in both. It therefore may come as a surprise to you that the first chart outlines the major campaign sponsors of John McCain in the past election. The second chart, you probably guessed it by now, outlines the campaign sponsors of Barack Obama. 

NOW YOU TELL ME, ARE THERE REALLY TWO PARTIES IN THIS COUNTRY AND SUBSEQUENTLY, ARE WE THE PEOPLE REALLY THE ONES WHO ELECT OUR GOVERMENT?

After looking at this information, I truly have to question who's in power here. 

Feel free to dig deeper into these charts, this is where I got them 1 for obama :http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638&cycle=2008

2 for John McCain:http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?id=N00006424&cycle2=2008&goButt2.x=12&goButt2.y=5&goButt2=Submit

Merrill Lynch	$373,595
Citigroup Inc	$322,051
Morgan Stanley	$273,452
Goldman Sachs	$230,095
JPMorgan Chase & Co	$228,107
US Government	$208,379
AT&T Inc	$201,438
Wachovia Corp	$195,063
UBS AG	$192,493
Credit Suisse Group	$183,353
PricewaterhouseCoopers	$167,900
US Army	$167,820
Bank of America	$166,026
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher	$159,596
Blank Rome LLP	$154,226
Greenberg Traurig LLP	$146,437
US Dept of Defense	$144,105
FedEx Corp	$131,974
Bear Stearns	$117,498
Lehman Brothers	$114,357

University of California	$1,591,395
Goldman Sachs	$994,795
Harvard University	$854,747
Microsoft Corp	$833,617
Google Inc	$803,436
Citigroup Inc	$701,290
JPMorgan Chase & Co	$695,132
Time Warner	$590,084
Sidley Austin LLP	$588,598
Stanford University	$586,557
National Amusements Inc	$551,683
UBS AG	$543,219
Wilmerhale Llp	$542,618
Skadden, Arps et al	$530,839
IBM Corp	$528,822
Columbia University	$528,302
Morgan Stanley	$514,881
General Electric	$499,130
US Government	$494,820
Latham & Watkins	$493,835

Memphis, the City I Love to Hate.

Memphis, I've lived here for just over two years, and still I can't come to terms with it. The Music City, the City of Barbeque and Southern hospitality... for insiders maybe or visitors, not for someone that wasn't born and raised here, but unfortunately for one reason or another got stuck with living here. I'm what you would call an outsider here, not only am I not from here (being the south), I'm from Europe. In Memphis terms, I might as well be a green or purple alien with telescope eyes and antennas sticking out of my head. I speak other languages, which is already mildly suspicious and threatening to the average redneck. It's not that people are openly hostile or unfriendly to me, it's more like a cautiousness kinda like someone would be with a raccoon that's out in plain daylight and you're not sure if he has rabies or not. In a way open hostility would be better, I'd prefer that, because at least it would be honest. I can live with that.

But being an outsider here can come in many different shapes or forms, such as not being republican, not being baptist, having gay friends... So if you're not churchy or conservative, first thing you'll notice is, it isn't easy to make friends, as a matter of fact, it's damn near impossible. The cause of that is everyone on the inside is in one of these groups. Now, I've always considered myself moderately religious, grew up in a Roman Catholic household.  Turns out despite 13 years of religious education in German Schools (it's mandatory there), plenty of church going in my youth, I'm not churchy enough for Southern taste, and then I'm also not the right kind of religion, which previously hadn't occurred to me. I've spent considerable time of my life in Germany, Florida and Boston, yet, I had never had my being catholic be frowned upon, but whaddaya know: It's possible in the South. I was floored when I figured out that I was a minority here.

Now don't get me wrong, whatever makes people happy, I really think everyone should live their lives as they see fit, but please, please do not force Jesus on me, especially, when I've already got him, the fact that you're excessive about it, isn't at all my problem. I'd like to define my own level of involvement, just as I let you define yours, forcing it on me doesn't make me anymore "christian", au contraire -it makes me pissed off at both you AND your religion, and yes, that really is YOUR religion.

Anyways, but it's not just that. It's the vast amount of mismanagement and greed (not at all christian if you ask me) that has brought this city to its knees and that makes this place so upsetting to look at every day. You only have to walk around downtown to see it. The sheer amount of empty, abandoned buildings, storefronts and even landmarks (yes, I'm talking about you, Pyramid) is painful proof of the corruption and bloodsucking that has wiped the life right out of this one time great city that in the past was worth being called the city of music. Now, Memphis mostly sings the Blues and not in a good way either. Elvis would turn in his grave if he knew that the roads he once drove along in his pink Cadillac are now not only crime-ridden but also abandoned, lined by fallen-down buildings and boarded up windows. And we're not talking little shacks either, we're talking, former Grand Hotels, large office buildings, embellished with columns and stucco, sitting there waiting for their slow demise, abandoned. THERE IS NO downtown anymore, because this city and its inhabitants do not even have the self respect to care enough and to maintain the place they live in.

What a ginormous waste. And the buildings they do/did restore, guess what, yes, they're either empty or so ridiculously expensive to rent or buy (condos etc) that most Memphians wouldn't be able to afford them anyways. Not to mention the stigma that by now is attached to "living downtown", that sinful place, where Beale Street and all the drinking and loud music is (the very reason why some of Memphis Tourism is still alive in some parts of town, and don't even talk to me about Elvis, those who know him are a dying generation and not around for longer, that one thing that Memphis had going for itself is slowly but surely on its way out too, and then what, I scream, then what??)

Memphis has officially missed the train. Compared to the now"glorified" suburbs, haven for the "little man", the redneck, the mud-loving, wild-beast hunting, gun-loving slob, the only thing that is worthy of his family is the suburb. And with that, downtown has officially died, because instead of filling all these storefronts, condos and apartments, if necessary at lower rents to establish another downtown , the greed-filled city of Memphis, is smelling the opportunity to make money. They would rather have an empty downtown and cash in on whatever government money they can lay their hands on, because "boohoo we can't get our space rented, poor us", than to breathe some life into that place. I wouldn't be surprised to see a tumbleweed rolling down the street someday. It's a vicious cycle, with the empty buildings you attract homeless people and with them you attract drugs and crime and in the end who wants to live alongside homelessness and drugs and crime. It's a trainwreck...and it makes me so mad I can't see straight. When you see the pictures from the 40's and 50's, the place was hopping, what happened?

(This won't be the last post about this city that I love to hate unfortunately, I can't help but write about my frustration for I might burst if I don't talk about it...)

Mind-ing my business

Definition: What I mean by mind-ing my business, is that I'm aware of my surroundings; I go through the world with my ears and eyes wide open, senses intact. I like to stay on top of things and I don't mind interpreting what I hear and see in my own way. Sometimes I'm painfully aware of things others wouldn't notice or care about.
It can be as simple as hearing a bird above the hustle and bustle of the city, or just noticing the light fall through some tree branches. I guess you could call it paying attention, being alert. Does that make me special? Not at all. It just helps explain what I will be doing with this blog. I will write about things I see, hear, and think about. Situations I find myself in. I
Writing the blog will help me put my thoughts in order about things I care about,  need to make sense of or just want to share with no one in particular. I often get stuck on my thoughts and have a hard time letting things go, particularly when they mean something to me.  Writing them down may help.