Posts Tagged ‘Social Commentary’

Know Your Culture

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 14:11 - 2 Comments

How Present Day Culture Would Spin the Sinking of the Titanic

Most of my articles tend to be of a serious nature but that does not mean I am without a sense of humor. There are plenty of sources for those wanting to be amused so I am content to offer a site that serves as a sobering station.

I have an intuitive sense that to inject too much humor and satire into otherwise rightfully serious subject matter (a la Letterman, Leno, Stewart) serves to diminish the urgency and importance of the message by making light of it.

Instead of urging action to help resolve real problems the subject matter is turned into yet another form of pacifying entertainment. If we can laugh at it then it can’t be that bad or serious. It is known that humor disarms tension in, but I sense that a certain amount tension is not necessarily a bad thing.

Our bodies could not function without a minimum amount of tension. It is natural to feel some unease about the current state of affairs and we should be moved to alleviate our tension by taking appropriate action.

Why was Keith Olbermann fired and why aren’t the late night comics fired for their political views. I would say that its because Olbermann has a serious tone and the others a comical one. I believe the serious tone brings the message home and the comical one simply pacifies, amuses and diffuses. The late night comics serve the system by diluting righteous seriousness and Olbermann is too effective and engaging. I would like to hear others take on this matter.

We live in an age of great social fragmentation, widespread delusion and self-absorption. We are divided I believe by design and by unintentional processes. The following piece by NaturalNews.com does a marvelous and amusing job of showing just how fragmented, self-serving and infantilized our culture and its institutions have become. Which caricature fits you the best. I would say that most of my readers are realists.

Levity Before the Next Storm?

So why did the title of this post include “levity before the next storm” The part about levity you are about to understand and the storm part refers to a warning. All of the indices, measures and other trend trackers that I track are saying that we are about to experience another major shock to the economic system as QE 2 runs out, the August 2, USA debt ceiling deadline looms and a Greek default is almost assured. Each of those scenarios has vast repercussions for the global economy.

There are rumors of war with Syria and also many other situations at home and abroad that are about to reach their tipping point over the next two to four months. More details will be forthcoming in the days ahead.

Expect one or all of the following between now and Mid October 2011 a major…

economic shock,
false flag attack as dirty nuke, large scale cyber attack or whatever they can blame on “terrorists”,
followed by another war on whom the false flag is blamed and/or Syria will be invaded on “humanitarian grounds”,
larger waves of social unrest.

And now for some much needed quasi levity

(Original article from NaturalNews) What would all the world’s experts and authorities say today if the Titanic were sinking but nobody was willing to admit it? The U.S. economy, after all, is sinking and taking on an unprecedented volume of water (i.e. debt), yet virtually no one is willing to admit the obvious fact that this ship is sinking. And much like with the Titanic, most “experts” continue to claim the U.S. economy is unsinkable, despite the obvious evidence that we might want to start heading for the life rafts.

So in the spirit of comedy — which is, after all, what we are witnessing in Washington these days — imagine The Titanic hitting an iceberg in 2011, followed by a string of experts all trying to spin the story their own way. Here’s what they might say:

The White House Press Secretary: The iceberg was placed in the Atlantic ocean by Osama Bin Laden.

The chemist: That’s not an iceberg. It’s merely solid-state di-hydrogen oxide.

Al Gore: That iceberg wouldn’t have even been there if the polar caps weren’t melting.

The Congressman: Quick, let’s pass a new law that says ships shall not sink.

President Obama: The Titanic isn’t sinking. It’s merely engaged in “aquatic action.”

Former President Bush: Icebergs are weapons of mass destruction planted in the ocean by terrorists. We must avenge the iceberg terrorists!

The Pentagon: We will equalize the hole in one side of the ship by blowing a matching hole in the other side.

The TSA inspector: You’re not allowed onto a lifeboat until we check your anus for explosives.

The Cancer Doctor: We can’t fix the hole in the ship, but through the miracle of chemotherapy, we can make you suffer so much that you won’t care.

The Wall Street investment banker: Don’t worry, the Fed will bail out all the water we’re taking on. The Titanic is too big to fail.

The teenage girl: Can I still text on my iPhone under water?

Average Joe: Is the ship’s buffet still open?

The FDA: We believe the ship is sinking because of an e.coli infection that spread from the galley.

The CDC: Everybody should get vaccinated before the ship sinks, just in case there’s a shark-flu virus in the water.

The New Ager: There is no hole in the ship unless you believe there is a hole in the ship.

The Academic: I have published a paper that proves this ship is unsinkable. Would anyone like to read it? Please?

The Catholic priest: I think we should save all the children first. Which lifeboat are they on again?

The Journalist: The Titanic has a hole in its side, but official sources tell us it’s only “aquatic action” and there’s no cause for alarm. And we believe them.

The Federal Reserve: We have decided to dump more water onto the ship in the hope of making it float.

The Federal Government: Hey, these deck chairs look pretty nice. Let’s rearrange them!

The Doctor: We need to order a couple dozen CT scans of the ship’s hull and bill them to Medicare before we have any idea of what to do.

The Denialist: Stop talking about negative things. Stay focused on the positive and you won’t need a life vest.

The Realist: This ship is going down, folks. You might want to think about taking action to keep yourself alive.

The Gullible Masses: Don’t worry, this ship is unsinkable.
Even if it did sink, there are plenty of lifeboats.
Even if there aren’t enough lifeboats, we all have life jackets.
Even if we don’t have enough life jackets, the government will come save us.