La cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point numéro deux


	July 23, 2006

"Le Tango De Roxanne" - Moulin Rouge

Lots of things have happened since I have last written.

I've had to switch over to using the iTunes search function since I've breeched the 1000 song barrier (just barely eligible for the recording industry's special lawsuit program), for one instance. I've been to China and back for another. And the Middle East has exploded into a million shiny little pieces.

Going to developing countries always makes me realize what pussies large, developed, advancely (and terminally) capitalist countries are. But then again, what more could you expect when the slogan of advanced capitalism is (as Murakami put it in his novel Dance, Dance, Dance) "waste?"

We live in an advanced capitalist society, after all. Waste is the name of the game, its greatest virtue. Politicians call it "refinements in domestic consumption." I call it meaningless waste. A difference of opinion. Which doesn't change the way we live. If I don't like it, I can move to Bangladesh or Sudan. I for one am not eager to live in Bangladesh or Sudan... Waste is the fuel of contradiction, and contradiction activates the economy, and an active economy creates more waste.

One event that particularly reconfirmed this fact in my mind was when I watched BBCNews in Tokyo on my way back to the States.

It was just about when things were really starting to go apeshit in the Middle East with Hezbollah doing his party-trick-gone-horribly-wrong and Israel deciding that the best way for it all to go away was to bomb the living hell out of Lebanon. Glad that one of the world's great nuclear powers has such solid, firm, patient, and non-confrontational leadership on its shoulders. In any case, everyone was all crowded around the television with popcorn and drinks as if it were the newest blockbuster. Let's face it: two Middle Eastern countries getting down to the nitty-gritty? It's like high school all over again. You see the enemies hating on each other, you know that it's going to go down, and BAM! when it does go down, you sure as hell know that you want to be there watching.

Anyhow, as with most international conflicts, the press has to find a way to cover it twenty-four hours a day. You know the drill: two large buildings getting bombarded by commercial planes? Let's make sure it stays on air all the time, even if it means bringing psychos who think it's a sign of the apocolypse on the air. It's like a massive campaign for making every man, woman, and child sick of national tragedy. "Terrorist attack? Who gives a shit anymore? I just wanna watch Rugrats!"

And people think that rising apathy comes from video games.

In any case, BBC, coming at the end of their rope, turned to its last hope: 'victim' interviews. You know, where they interview a lot of people who were on the front lines. Well, except that BBC knew that Westerners didn't give a shit about actual Middle Eastern people. I mean people who watch news in English want to be able to relate to the story. And that, for BBC, meant ignoring the real victims of the crisis and interviewing the few hundred European/American people who decided to have the awesome idea of going to the Middle East for holiday (gee, why didn't I think of that)? I mean it must have come as an extreme shock when there was a crisis in the Middle East. It's like it doesn't happen every 5-10 years or so!

I believe the interviews went more or less as such:

Interviewer: So what's it like over there?

Interviewee: Holy shit! I'm, like, so miserable! We were going to go to Israel, and, like, we couldn't, cause, like, the whole Middle East exploded. And like, we can't book a plane out of Syria, cause, like, for some odd reason, everyone wants to get the hell out of here. Like, gosh! And we don't have, like, a hotel, and like, all of our holiday plans are ruined. (sob) Pity me! I'm so, like, unfortunate!

OMG! Did everyone hear that? That poor thing over there doesn't have a hotel or a plane ticket. That must suck so much!

But not half as much as being bombed.


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