Mclaren MP4-8 - Donington Park, 1993. The Most Epic Race Start Ever. 18 years without Ayrton Senna.
Slightly typical for a Rolling Stone piece on a band of this magnitude, but good nonetheless.
Feed the good wolf
An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life… He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil — he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other is good—-he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.” They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied: “The one you feed”.
Ah, The French.
The Bridge:
A man on his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, ‘because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.’
The biker pulled over and said, ‘Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.’
God replied, ‘Your request is materialistic; think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.’
The biker thought about it for a long time.
Finally, he said, God, I wish that I, and all men, could understand women; I want to know how they feel inside, what they’re thinking when they give you the silent treatment, why they cry, what they means when they say nothing’s wrong, why she snaps and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.
God replied: ‘Did you want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?”
This is, of course, entirely predictable. When there were Kings, there were courtiers. Now we have lobbyists who are in close proximity to the money and the power. Politicians are cleverer than we give them credit for. They spend so much time talking about the “rich” and the measures necessary for preventing an aristocracy that no one notices that they, and those they partner in crony capitalism with, ARE the new aristocracy.
If you don’t like that, then shrink the money and shrink the power. Otherwise, smile and live with it.
PK
A Passing Thought on Dead Terrorists and American Reaction
Is it Usama or Osama? The fact that even now, none of the news outlets can decide is what really bugs me most. Kidding aside, what appears to be dividing the people I know is the actions of American citizens following the news of Bin Laden’s death. So let us discuss it (and by ‘us’ I mean ‘me’)
At this juncture, martyrdom was really Osama’s only remaining career move. However, his death hasn’t ignited the ‘Arab street,’ so he failed in this regard. That’s largely because Bin Laden “is so yesterday.” In that way, his anti–climatic death is fitting. Still, while it may have been a ‘kill or capture’ mission, OBL wasn’t going to be taken alive for due process in the states. There was never going to be a dignified prosecution.
Meanwhile, the practical implications of Osama’s death are severely limited. In the wake of the US response to September 11th, AQ was forced to transition from an operationally focused group to a propaganda focused one, meant to inspire decentralized jihad (because that is all it really could do). Similarly, the insurgents we face today are not funded or backed by AQ or the Taliban, but sovereign governments instead. They can fight what is known as the ‘near war’ in neighboring, destabilized countries, but they can’t be linked to a terrorist attack in the states (do you think Iran wants to take us on in conventional war?) The ability of loosely defined terrorist organizations to launch a coordinated strike on our soil in response to this development, though not impossible, is GREATLY diminished.
So what thoughtful people are genuinely perturbed by is the current imagery; what it makes us think of ourselves and what it says to the world about who we are.
As a friend pointed out, a little triumphalism is understandable if it is a spontaneous act and doesn’t last too long, but for some, particularly the very young, it seems like they were acting like the munchkins after the Wicked Witch of the West had been killed. Is that who we are?
Tom Brokaw has written ad nauseam about ‘The Greatest Generation’ and it seems likely that the people who lived through the great depression and World War II had a firmer grasp on humility, even as our economic and geopolitical situation improved. But there were plenty of dimwits around then too (some of them even became Presidents.)
No, it is more a function of the technology and distribution methods available to us. Factors like US hegemony, the rapid acceleration and penetration of television, digital (and increasingly) social media mean that widespread, instant reactions to any ‘seismic’ event are inherently more possible than they ever were before.
A few thousand people doing something here and there (ground zero/white house jubilation, occasional war protests and the like) and a press all too happy to regurgitate it don’t paint a full picture, but it does result in a much bigger picture for everyone to see. We have become great at magnifying the absurd slivers of our culture and beaming it out for all to see. Widely broadcasted spectacles like The OJ trial, Michael Jackson’s death/funeral etc. have become our specialty and legacy.
In the end, the American empire may well be remembered for hype; the circus empire. Yesterday was simply what the face of American revenge looks like at the dawn of the 21st century. A nasty bit of business to be sure, but not the whole story.
There are plenty who recognize that this moment shouldn’t have been one solely of garish celebration, but an opportunity for reflection and remembrance. A chance to display the better angels of our nature. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for good TV or a smarmy tweet.
PK
