Here is a random picture of my backyard. I like how the shadows came out though. 

Late at night

So unfortunately, it is very late so I will keep this brief. Colin Powell's recent endorsement of Barack Obama really meant a lot to me, not because of his political endorsement itself, but because of how he said it. He mentioned the anger and hate preached by the McCain campaign, the anger fostered by both sides in this presidential debate, and the further extremism we have seen on the right in the United States. 

I honestly do believe that this country is more polarized now than it has been since the Civil War. The Vietnam Era here in the U.S. was obviously filled with strife and anger, but it was vented, the outrage was expressed through protests, shootings, and other such things. Instead now we see a similar situation to the lead up to the Civil War where a series of compromises are cobbled together to suppress the anger without really addressing the fundamental differences in society. Because these divisions keep deepening, we are in danger of creating a situation where a single spark could ignite a civil war, an ethnic cleansing, and extreme violence. I don't know who is to blame for getting us here, divisive political campaigns have certainly played a role, it benefits the winner, but it truly polarizes the nation and prevents true understanding.

There is no single divisive issue as there was in the Civil War, but there are echoes of the same sort of extremism on both sides. People are defending a way of life, whether it be small town values, which are apparently better than the values I hold as an individual, or liberalism, so-called "secular humanism." I personally feel that inflammatory evangelical christian preachers have a lot to do with our current crisis, but I doubt that is fair or completely accurate. I think we have all contributed. People have fundamentally failed to see themselves in others, instead they have defined others against themselves in an effort to establish themselves as better, more right. 

I don't necessarily know what to do about this either, politicians really hold few answers. Even Barack Obama, who I truly believe will be an amazing president in this time of crisis, cannot possibly fix things. He can perhaps put salve on the wounds that have been opened up, but there can be no healing until each side acknowledges its wrong doings and decides to contribute to a better tomorrow. 

That said, I am looking forward to this election being finished, either way, I am sick of the political showboating. 

DC roadtrip

So, I’m on my way to DC with two friends, it is currently 930 at night, and we just got on the road. It’ll be a long night, but whatever, as a young college graduate I have the energy for that, where others would not. In addition, we are arguing about music, which is not unusual for this crowd. I will report on people watching as I do it in DC. I brought my camera, so it should be an interesting weekend.

 

On a side note, I want to talk for a second about stories. I think that stories can be the most compelling things people experience. Obviously others agree with me as well, given the success of the movie industry and publishing.

At the same time, I think it’s important to realize that stories lose their meaning when they are told too many times. I used to think that this was because they simply lost detail, or lost something in the telling, but I don’t know that that is really true. It might be that they simply lose some of their meaning in a true form. When everyone thinks they know the meaning, they are less inclined to examine the story for true relevance. Take for instance the bible. It’s full of depth and meaning, but everyone already thinks they know what it means, when in reality they totally have it wrong. I think it is hard for a story to keep its meaning through so many retellings, and reinterpretations. It also doesn’t help that people are constantly told what the bible means, and not left to interpret it for themselves, but that’s another story.

It’s a shame that stories lose their meaning, but I think it’s the driving force behind human creativity as well. People are really always telling the same stories, but their ability to find new ways to tell them is quite extraordinary. A tweak here, a different character there, and you have a completely new experience unfolding in front of you.

Storytelling has evolved pretty dramatically over the years, but I think people often fail to make the connection between modern story-tellers and those in the past. Movies and books are our modern forms of stories, instead of just one man retelling events, or a group of actors re enacting an event, we now have an entire ensemble of actors, directors, writers, and special effects gurus working to create something worth showing to thousands of people.

Storytelling has also become quite a profitable industry, people literally make millions, and create fame for themselves, by acting in stories, or directing them. That’s impressive, but the monetization of storytelling does remove some of its meaning, I think. 

The Rise of Satire

Each generation of Americans has embraced a unique comedic style, which often reflects the values and culture. In the 50’s we had the straighlaced Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, The seventies had George Carlin, with his complete willingness to cross the line. All of these comedians and performers have pushed the limits, yet they have done so in a way unique to their era and political climate.

So what does Post-millennial comedy say about my generation? Currently I think it says that we’ve had enough. Where other generations have had George Carlin and Richard Pryor, we have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Where other generations have had slapstick, and witticisms, we have intensely satirical television shows that mock the government and our leaders in no uncertain terms. It is admirable that in the United States we have the right to engage in such dissident activities, but the popularity of this style of comedy is telling as well.

So why is satire such a popular style these days? I personally think it’s because when you can’t cry anymore, you have to just laugh. Laughter is a complete release, of worries, of tensions, of everything. It’s therapeutic and cathartic. It is nice, as an American, to step back from the big picture and just laugh at you’re political leaders. It’s nice that someone is pointing out how stupid they often sound, but it frustrates me that no one gets outraged. It’s as if we’ve come to accept it, or feel that we are powerless to change it.

Maybe it’s a hangover from the 60s and 70s. Our parents where so convinced that they could make the world a better place, but I’m not convinced that they did, and truthfully I’m a bit disappointed that they’ve made such a mess for me and my peers to try to clean up.

Satire is fundamentally an intellectual style of comedy; we are laughing because we understand what is wrong, but don’t know what else to do. Poking fun is not a way to cause change; it’s an escape from the harsh realities of our predicament. The mortgage crisis (and debt crisis) may not go away, we are overcommitted in areas of the world where we have no control, we aren’t any safer at home that we were before September 11, 2001, but the government has more control and our civil liberties have been eroded.

As Jon Oliver, an actor on the Daily Show put it, you have to forgive us Americans for laughing so hard at Jon Stewart’s jokes, it’s all we currently have. I admire Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart for having the courage to confront anyone, anytime, with satire and mockery, and to embarrass themselves and others. They tell the truth; they present the clearest picture of the state of the nation, whether they mean to or not. Jon Stewart often speaks of the desperation he feels regarding the United States, and American politics. I have to concur, I am desperate for honesty and candor in the media and in politics, and unfortunately, I am not finding any.

In 2006, Stephen Colbert got up in front of the entire White House press corps, the President of the United States, and a huge television audience and mocked the president. He didn’t make anything up, he just told the truth. His jokes fell flat, but that wasn’t the point, it was political commentary at its most forward and I found it incredibly refreshing.

I have nothing but admiration and respect for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert; I consider them two of the greatest political commentators ever to grace television, and I hope that they continue in their quest to mock everyone. They hit hard, they hit home, and they tell the truth, but most importantly, they make me feel like I’m not the only one despaired by the state of the nation, and that at least we can commiserate together. 

Jon Oliver's Essay on "The Daily Show" is available at: http://www.mrjohnoliver.com/

I've got another attempted photo edit for you guys. This is the view from my office in Queens, but I was bored on the train ride home, so I decided to have some fun with it. I tried using layer masks originally, to edit different parts of the picture differently, but it didn't really work out, so I ended up just setting up four different jpegs, and merging them at the end when I was done changing them. My favorite part of the picture is the lower left corner, I used a gray photo filter, and I really like how it sharpens the contrast.

Not Ready for a Black President?

So an article in The New York Times today featured a graphic entitled "Racism and the Race," which featured a survey asking questions about race in the upcoming election. There were a couple obvious statistics that make me very uncomfortable, such as 5% of people would not vote for a black candidate in the upcoming election, and 19% thought that most of the people they know would not vote for a black candidate. 

While both of those statistics disturbed me, I didn't think they were the most telling in the survey. One of the other questions, however, really had me asking if perhaps this was actually the most important, and revealing. 24% of people don' think America is ready for a black president, apparently. That disturbs me, because I really think it means that 24% of whites don't feel that they are ready for a black president, ultimately, which probably means that they won't vote for him in the upcoming election. 

I have never understood racism, like the idea that you could judge someone based solely on the color of their skin. I realize it's a big issue in this country, and it really saddens me. I grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly Asian-American, and when to high school with Asians and Hispanics. Not a ton of black people around, but they were there. I had never really heard anyone make racial jokes until I got to college, and I didn't really understand what discrimination was until I got to college. That's not to say that I was discriminated against in college, I wasn't, I just talked to people, and explored the topic.

I don't think that most white people know what it's like to be discriminated against either, they think that they do but they don't. Here's an example, when a white person gets pulled over on the freeway, their first thought is probably not about the cop searching their car, their first thought may be about a traffic ticket, but they aren't necessarily worried about getting beaten, or about showing the cop that they don't have a gun in their hands. 

On the other hand, this is something that black men, particularly young black men, really need to worry about. Part of it really is the fact that some black men are a real danger, drugs, guns, that sort of thing. Certainly not the majority, however. And yet, they all get treated with extreme caution by police. 

Or how about this example, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for powdered cocaine, which is primarily used by white college students and stock brokers, is 5 years for 500 grams of cocaine. 500 grams is a lot, it's like..... over 500 doses, it's definitely intent to sell. That said, the mandatory Federal sentencing laws for crack cocaine is 5 years for as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine. While crack is more dangerous, there is no way around the fact that this type of law targets minorities and poor people who can't afford powder cocaine. 

Part of the problem with white privilege is that most whites don't understand how easy they have it, or how difficult it is to be a minority. They dismiss very real problems as misunderstandings, or circumstantial, when they aren't. They refuse to recognize how much easier, more pleasant, and advantageous their life as a white person is. 

This is why I am not against affirmative action, blacks, and other minorities, have been absolutely trod on for so long in this country, why not let them have a hiring advantage? Or an advantage getting into schools? They obviously need it, not because they are less qualified or less intelligent, but because racism is so deeply ingrained in white americans, and institutionalized in American society that 24% of white Americans don't think that the country is ready for a black leader. 

So this is my first attempt to mess around with Photoshop. I took this picture outside the Holland Tunnel, waiting in traffic. I probably looked like an idiot, sticking my head out of the window with my little camera. So it was taken on an Olympus SW 720, in standard mode with no adjustments, so I don't know what aperture settings and whatnot that is, but I can replicate it. Please don't use this photo without letting me know (not that anyone will want to anyways)

I mostly used the levels and color adjustment settings on photoshop, but I did do some dodge and burn stuff in the lower left. Unfortunately my photo printer isn't very good, but if you want a print let me know and I can find a way to get one for you.