Conversational Cleats

dunno marsIchiban,

you could well be right, and perhaps i should repeat "hare krsna 108x" (props on the old school spelling - my pops would be proud! :)

but, i think i'm found. (or at least have a map.)

i think the most inspired actions can be taken from each person having their own set of personally defined and/or generally accepted roles in society: husband, father, wife, mother, son, daughter, boss, employee, student, artist, doctor, b-boy, lawyer, jock, citizen, nerd, rebel, soldier, judge, etc..

each one can only confidently act if they're confident in being acceptably defined as "x" by most people, or willing to confidently assert their identity if questioned. you can almost laugh at the people who question your actions if you strongly relate them to your identity, because: "of course (x) does (y), what are you thinking?"

if one is not confident then it's tougher for them to justify actions and withstand criticism, and then tougher to make confident decisions. the further outside traditional definitions of "normal" one is, the tougher establishing importance and acceptance - as we've seen various individuals and minority groups prove. this cycle continues until the disenfranchised give up and are weak and marginalized (i've been hanging with some depressed immigrants lately who decry our "cold" culture), or fight to justify the value of their differences until respected. i'm working on ideas to encourage and enable the disenfranchised to speed up the process of self-expression, and often that means positioning myself as an outsider with any established group i communicate with - which i usually am.

(incidentally, it's not just the marginalized, i think if members of "the establishment" felt they could act freely and keep their friends then they would help fix the system, and solid parallel logic may help them rebel. but, power is both precious and precarious, and even the stressed, depressed and repressed elite are tough to sell dreams to...)

the guys who analogously epitomize optimal responses just might be:

Colin Farrel - The Colin Farrell Aw Shucks:

"Aw shucks... perhaps I drank too much and had a bit too much fun. Jeez, you think I'd learn! Oh well. Still, I've got to be honest with you, I may do it again, you never know." (paraphrased)

Matthew McConaughey - The McConaughey:

"Hey man, let me tell you, playing bongo's high and naked is a lot of fun. You should try it sometime." (paraphrased)

i believe the secret to life is: be cool, have balls.

that's it.

no matter what happens, good or bad, be cool, have balls, and handle yo' bidness.

(details - http://blackkrishna.blogspot.com/2005/01/secret-to-life-be-cool-have-balls.html)

age brings this confidence in some ways, as identity is automatically defined through time. but, so does unique self-expression, which speeds up the process and can make it easier to personalize. i'm "this" so i get to do "that" is the way society plays out today, and this includes how people will relate to information (i.e. take it seriously).

so, in order to define who i am, i'm going to express myself extree-uniquely. hopefully that uniqueness is appreciable, hopefully it allows me to take more risks, hopefully it leads learning universalizable clues quicker, and hopefully i and others benefit from it. if you care about stuff and have a knowledgeable audience, why not? we all do this anyway, carefully chosing different ways of communicating to different audiences (work/home/church, etc). i try to figure out the science of it, and push the boundaries to establish new truths in new environments.

i'm also a "what's he saying?" guy in a "who's saying it?" world, where the quality of the actual information is less important than who said it, leading to a worship of established power over passionate people. ugh.

i see this fealty to "group-think" as a massive problem, sending the world to hell by crushing the global relevance of the most honest and knowledgeable conscious ambassadors worldwide, many of whom can't crack mainstream media cabals. so, you can't bring up the smartest analysis of "ultimate doom" (Noam Chomsky) you've seen without sounding like a conspiratorial nutcase, and the only guarantee of potential widespread acceptance is to play it real cool in subtly saving the world. (like Oprah).

we've already seen information, or "truth" is out there, it's in a million sources on the internet and elsewhere, and in a million questions that need answers from power. if power isn't answering, i'm perfectly happy with even the wildest educated and informative speculation (like Alex Jones), at least that and more like it may help force the answers we need.

but, when people can comfortably dismiss Michael Moore as "biased" and "dishonest" without having to watch his movies, use 5 minutes of potentially inaccurate info in "Fahrenheit 9/11" to discredit the entire 2 hour indictment, or invent an equivocal 2 hour counter-movie by simply saying "i dunno, there's gotta be another side", then we're in big trouble.

the Left is running scared, nothing is working well enough to change the overall tide right now, so we snipe at each other over tactics when we should realize the various tactics are complementary.

a dread friend said yesterday that he "didn't trust Bono, or Live 8". i guess we should keep an eye on everybody, but it's an insane conclusion when the opportunity to celebrate bringing "world leaders" to the table to at least promise to help Africa is there - and can help galvanize popular opinion. also, having a global audience of 3 billion for a "conscious" event is a priceless achievement in these corporately controlled times. who the hell brings 3 billion people together for a good cause? can we do this again? we complain now radio isn't giving us much shine, and even the streets are divided on the relevance and "realness" of many conscious artists today.

we can always say "well yeah, but..." when we should say "yeah!" more often, and be proud of and build upon our successes. plus, if we're cool with the ones that break through or reach out (e.g. celebrities), then their fans will relate to us, and we can all piggyback off each others successes. i told a conscious hip hop group i know to be careful when they (used to) say "Fuck 50 Cent!", 'cause the 11 million 50 Cent fans who bought his first album may just say "Fuck you!" back...

i mean...

the self-proclaimed hardest-core revolutionaries i meet have the least practical ideas, and look at their competition like... competition. we're supposed to be the good guys and "they" work better together?

crazy.

really, i could use a pair of conversational cleats to ensure firm footing on a very skeptical and cynical playing field, and i'm just trying to find a pair that fit...

peace,
BK