SNARL & PONDER

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I'm propped up in the science building, trying to will the door nearby to close itself another inch so that the freezy gusts would subside and my legs might feel the happiness of warmth again. But they're not getting a fighting chance and I've already gotten up twice. Might just have to bear it for the next little bit. I'm looking for any excuse to pack my books up and march home to play drums anyways. Finals week is just the dregs. Nervous energy abounds around campus and there's nothing inspiring about that at all. The library is jampacked with folks who'd normally never be there, as if some ghostly vibe of Academic Excellent would miraculously whisp out from the rows of books around or from the Asian students sitting neaby and pass over them like the ghost of christmas past, blessing them with concentration, a can of smarts, or passing grades. I say good luck with that Jack, with all the noise you're making, you're likely to get kungfued by an aspiring biochemical engineer sitting to the left of you. Who hates you and your girlfriend right now. I'd rather camp out here in the science building, where everyone KNOWS they're getting good grades. The whole ordeal is akin to the gym in the student center the week before spring break, where every slightly pudged, weightedly overslighted sorority gal is laying on a mat doing side to side abs or whatever else Cosmo told them to do in hopes to magically make the cush disappear. Sorry darling, good luck with that swimsuit bod and getting lovehandled in Panama. 

But that's all nonsense.

I'd dare to reckon that not once will I ever hears the likes of a sermon being taught on the Tenth Commandment. How can a lesson be taught to us about Thou Shalt Not Coveting our Neighbor's Goods when our entire Western society is built upon that principle? It's called capitalism. Which isn't a bad thing at all, don't get me wrong. I'm stuck here writing this paper about the ethics behind our healthcare debacle and its pretty fascinating in the least. Before Obama passed the this healthcare bill in March, the United States was the last wealthy, industrialized nation to offer a universal healthcare system to its citizens. Bill Clinton tried to in 1993 but it fell flat on its face on the floor of the Senate, for very good reasons. Too many people thought it would cut into our private sector and disincentivize our healthcare professional. Capitalism promotes competition, which keeps quality up and pushed individuals to become better, harder, faster, stronger in the name of profit and monetary gain. But healthcare is in a mess now because its stuck in the middle between a free market and public funding. Our current system is a incredibly tangled mess between for profits care agencies and public healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Truth be told, ethically speaking we do need a universal healthcare system to take care of our citizens but not one similar to the likes of the rest of the world. In Britain and Canada, doctors are told what they make by the government. There is no reason for them to see any more patients than they have to. Here in the United States, doctors have the potential to make as much money as they want. All it depends upon is how hard they work. That's the beauty of free markets. It encourages competition. But what's beautiful about the market system and democracy its pure heresy and absolutely incompatible in thinking about the soul and our spirituality. You can't manage, manipulate or control spiritual energy. All that's a matter of letting go, relinquishing the self and becoming a part of the flow of life much broader than your own perspective. But waiting on life is hardly a passive approach. I'm not going to not study for exams for goodness sakes. That's getting the old college try, at least for fifteen minutes each day.

But this notion of control, comparing and contrasting dominates our perspective, quite literally in the form of advertising. All commercial advertising is concerned with is convincing us we need things we don't really need, which has most of us hopelessly confused as to what's truly important in this world. I'm shamelessly very much in the thick of it, looking at this guy's Windows computer nearby with utter disdain and inferiority to this here Macbook Pro thats cranking out words at machine gun rate. But I've been blessed to witness the pace of life on how most of the world operates. The level of need in this country as moved to such levels of illusion and sophistication that what are ultimate luxuries elsewhere are absolute necessities here. Here's where my Mum would come in and rage "Yeah but we've EARNED it. We are the greatest country in the world for a REASON." There is no convincing her and Rush otherwise because they're deeply settled in their ways, but that still doesn't detract from the truth at hand.

Our consumerist worldview and its effect on our mental state is going to be the battle of our generation. Research is already starting to show that everything from environmental degradation to the impossibility of bipartisanship in Washington to the significant increase in mental illnesses are a result of our hyperconnected society and the assault of four thousand advertisements on our brain every single day. In the same way the nature world can be polluted by heaps of toxins and garbage, our minds can fall prey to the toxic influence of too much information and its divisiveness.

Back to books but first of course, gruesome tunes. This band Warpaint is still blowing my mind and makes for pretty stupendous, darkly romantic yet completely ambivalent sounding music. These gals sound completely serene in their state of disarray, which is much further along than most folks get about dealing with their problems. If Tame Impala is the hazy day at the beach, Warpaint is the acid trip wandering around the forrest with a flashlight and seeing a BOBCAT! and LOVING IT! Lastly, listen to this song though by the mysterious beirdos Moon Duo. The guitar tone actually conjures up the teasing woodland spirits of Mystery and Surprise. Don't believe me? Find our for yourself.
Faster, onward Econ! Awwwwwway!

Moon Duo-Motorcycle I Love You