tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604091241068134322.post2757657003569592249..comments2024-03-09T12:21:15.051-08:00Comments on BENNETT MEDIA: MCD - Mutual Culture DestructionP and Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09005196267067819080noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604091241068134322.post-48522534329791557772017-11-11T18:33:10.094-08:002017-11-11T18:33:10.094-08:00That is indeed one of the motives: all the 're...That is indeed one of the motives: all the 'real' problems seems too big, too intangible for us peasants. The greatest changes I can make are in my own life & what I interact with. In other words, I can grasp the mutation of a fast food chain more than I can socioeconomic strife & sleazy male celebrities. In even other-other woods, it's more fun musing on the death of my childhood than that other stuff. A lot of that may have to do with my age: it's not a lack of drive, it's just drive in a different direction. If that's playing into their hands, then I guess America truly is great again (?)P and Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09005196267067819080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604091241068134322.post-75508079332182740392017-11-11T13:22:52.038-08:002017-11-11T13:22:52.038-08:00I can't help but wonder if musing philosophica...I can't help but wonder if musing philosophically like this about our culture is playing directly into the hands of those responsible for its deterioration. as Noam Chomsky would put it, the rich and powerful have the power to shape the realities of the lower classes, and in a capitalist society there's always an upper class, by definition - an oligarchy. and it seems to me that they have succeeded at convincing people that the problems plaguing our society are rooted in abstract, philosophical things. after all, the reason why McD's and everything else has turned to such shit is precisely for that reason: shit is easier to make cheaply than whatever McD's used to be.<br /><br />the generation that gave us McD's was raised in an America with a greater sense of integrity and personal responsibility, even if bigotry and discrimination ran amuck. the generation they produced - Gen X - is probably the greediest, most selfish, and most self-entitled generation of the past hundred-odd years. they were raised by regulated capitalism, so they lived comfortably; so comfortably, in fact, that they got to dream about what their lives would be like if they were rich and powerful - millennials dream about what their lives would be like with a living wage, a permanent roof over their head, and no crippling debt - and because of the economic and educational systems they inherited, they were able to pursue those dreams. and when they got rich and powerful they fucked the rest of us. and they want us to think it's millennials' fault - i.e. it's the consumer's fault - because that is, ideally, how a capitalist system is supposed to function. but it doesn't. <br /><br />they ruined McD's, and everything else, because when you want even MORE wealth and MORE power, what do you do? you make your society even dumber, even more complacent, and even more desperate, thirsty, hungry. <br /><br />my point is (without assuming your motives for writing this): I don't think the causes of these issues, nor their solutions, are anything less than tangible, political, economic. <br /><br />Jacob Spickelmirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00537797954927985972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8604091241068134322.post-49663098064706065452017-11-09T17:55:10.004-08:002017-11-09T17:55:10.004-08:00I had no urge to see "mother!" I've ...I had no urge to see "mother!" I've seen so few films from this year. I highly recommend "Super Dark Times" and "Menashe" to you. They portray the genuine human condition and that's all I'm starting to care about right now -- because the world does not encourage it anymore. Ever seen "Wall-E"? Never would I imagine a Pixar film accurately depicting the future. <br /><br />"Super Dark Times" paints a gloomy and eerie atmosphere. It takes place in the mid-nineties, that pre-columbine era. Sometimes, I think that in a way, Y2K really was the cultural death knell for the world. All my favorite movies are in the 90's, like Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise". And if you watch that film now, you will see that modern times preach the antithesis of that film's message. <br /><br />Thank you for this post and I would say more in this comment, but I'm in a rush. More later, friend. Peytonnoreply@blogger.com