Occasionally I start a blog entry but don't get back to for a while. I find myself roadblocked by the unfinished thing until I can regain the momentum I had to start it in the first place. In the meantime I have these thoughts I'd like to share with my dear readers that simply pile up like so much hair in the shower drain.
Now that I've gotten "Sorry, Got This Box" out of my system I want to run a few things past you. Firstly, Hey! Nice to see you! Secondly, How are your invisible cloaks coming along?
We watched an excellent movie last night. We are trying to watch films from countries included in our trip plans so last night's found us with two flicks. "Tropically Malady" from Thailand was almost unwatchable and forced us to do something we almost never do, turn it off. It came highly recommended though so check it out if you want to watch a couple hours of rambling psudo-delirious tropical gay romance. The camel's back snapped in two when they started furiously licking each other's hands while wearing simpering grins. Ugh. Color me homophobic if you will, but I assure you I would have turned it off if it was any combination of sexes licking and simpering.
The second flick of the evening was much better, "Once Were Warriors" from New Zealand deals with the modern travails of the Maori people who as the title suggests, once were warriors but are now minorities in their own country, victims of colonization. I won't get too much into the movie itself but it also deals with more universal issues of alcoholism, domestic violence and enablers. It got me thinking primarily of colonization though. It got me thinking about how stupid George Bush actually is. Wait, what?? What does GW have to do with "Once Were Warriors"? What W doesn't understand are previously colonized people's deep felt feelings of anger and shame. And that the proper way deal with that is not to bomb them back to the stone age, further entrenching said feelings of anger and shame.
It is amazing to me how much the Maori, the Native Americans and yes, the Iraqis all have in common. And of course, add you own favorite subjugated people here. Islam generally takes care of the rampant alcoholism that tends to tear apart other native communities, but what it lacks in substance abuse it makes up for in hatred for its (perceived or otherwise) oppressors. I actually have a theory that alcoholism turns violence inwards, towards your own community and family since it triggers an immediate and reactionary violence, not the meditative violence that has manifested in radical Islam.
Of course the degree to which we are actually the oppressors in Islamic states can be argued. Many Islamists would argue that our mere presence, coupled with centuries of aggressive behavior (the crusades, btw remember when W actually used that word to describe our 'war on terror' has there ever been a bigger idiot?) constitutes oppression. Whatever the case we have meddled in their affairs for no other reasons than religion and oil, neither one being a good excuse to mess people about.
Maybe Bush has me thinking about Neanderthals lately. Wondering what happened to them. As homo-sapiens became the dominant hominid in Europe, they had to figure out what to do with the pesky and slow Neanderthal. They were hairy and stinky and prone to throwing stuff at the Homos (people, please we are having a serious discussion). Eventually Neandys dissapeared. As far as I know, there are two schools of thought on what happened. And it seems to break down simply into a positive explanation: H.Sapiens interbred with them until they became part of us, and a negative explanation: H.Sapiens killed them all. The interbreeding theory is a very free love, glass half full way of thinking. I would like to think that is what went down. Unfortunately, given the behavior of modern humans, it might have been the later theory. I wonder if there was an early homo-sapien version of GW, going on and on about the "War on Stuff Being Thrown at Us" who went on the lead the annihilation of the Neanderthal. I hope not. I hope we've changed more than that in the past 50 thousand years.
Anyway, read more about the Neanderthals here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal