Metaphysic Storm

Like any exploration to a new place, one doesn’t know what to expect. I didn’t read much about Seattle and didn’t talk to many people about city. I speculated that the city is heavily influenced by Asia, has miserable weather, is the capitol of The Junkies of America viva la spaced out needle, the leftist of the west coast in hyper-politically correct terms and is the birthplace to the latest addition to American art, Emorock. One shouldn’t give too much credence to the stereotypes one picks up along the way, but there are usually valid reasons they come into existence. One day I want to meet the mean human and its name better be Pat.

Living in the heart of the bible belt, NOLA, with it’s geographical saturation of churches and public religious festivals has worn on my tolerance a little. And the ignorance that has infested that part of the U.S., because of our governments shitty public education, severely depletes the opportunity for stimulating conversation. It blows my mind that so many Neworlinians don’t even know that Mardi Gras is about Christianity and not boobs, beads or beer. I’m not sure how accurate the studies are but there are assertions that the more educated a person is, the less likely they are to have religion. It makes sense to me, that the more a person trains themselves in critical thinking, the more difficult it is for them to suspend disbelief, the requisite of faith. That, with the stereo type of liberals being hating atheists, led me to speculate that Seattle, “the most educated place in America”, might be the least religious city in the Nation. A place where people are just people sounded like heaven on earth.

Lets just say that I was shocked during my drive from Portland to Seattle when I heard the numerous Jesus channels on the radio, very similar to the broadcast nightmare that is Texas. I was soothed by my first stop in the Emerald city at the Bauhaus coffee shop surrounded by the “Church of Liberalism” and our most sacred sacrament, Bush bashing fliers. “Have I found my next home?”, I thought. I even felt as though the hipsters here were slightly more original than the conformed rebellion found in so many urban hubs. Are these people, unique like everyone else in a more pure way? Whatever. I like the city. It’s got serious flavor, mountains, water, volcano views and several public radio stations. I’m sold, free of charge. When I park my minivan mobile home permanently there is a good possibility it will be in this city.

The second day I was in Seattle, I woke up to the sound of godz bells. I got out of my van and walked to the church to study the flock. To my surprise it was a Buddhist congregation. They were celebrating their 100th anniversary and had adolescent “Buddhists” seated around the front alter. The Sensei started going on about nonsense, stating that Buddha came up with the concept of evolution and the big bang; that scientists are proving the truth of Buddhism. Then she requested the flock to confirm their belief in the four pillars of truth by reciting some gobbily goop and clasp hands in prayer. “Difficult is it to receive a human form, now we are living it. Difficult is it to hear the Dharma of the Buddha, now we hear it. If we do not cross over to the Truth in the present life, in what life shall we cross over?” The remaining romanticism I had of the far east religion vaporized in the realization that this Church, at it’s core, was just as ridiculous as the Catholic church I was born into.

Wanting to experience the mostly non-supernatural beings of Seattle a little more, I found a great free venue in the hub of liberalism. The Democrats were showing the vice presidential debates live on a big screen, with beer and pizza! Holly shit, me likes new low brow elitist experience. During the debate there were a few shallow mob attacks of the heckofa character pretty lady, but for the most part, one could tell that the audiences response to the “debate” was based on fact and educated criticism. It reminded me of an article written by the “liberal elitist” Sam Harris

The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin’s lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country. “They think they’re better than you!” is the refrain that (highly competent and cynical) Republican strategists have set loose among the crowd, and the crowd has grown drunk on it once again. “Sarah Palin is an ordinary person!” Yes, all too ordinary…

“Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child’s brain?”

“Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I’m an avid hunter.”

“But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind.”

“That’s just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink.”

The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth…

I’ve agreed with most of the things I’ve read from Sam. He’s promotes the obliteration of religion but also has the balls to say

We should not call ourselves “atheists.” We should not call ourselves “secularists.” We should not call ourselves “humanists,” or “secular humanists,” or “naturalists,” or “skeptics,” or “anti-theists,” or “rationalists,” or “freethinkers,” or “brights.” We should not call ourselves anything. We should go under the radar—for the rest of our lives. And while there, we should be decent, responsible people who destroy bad ideas wherever we find them.

I say balls because it is the choir of non believers who go by the “identities” he just bashed who buy his books so he can pay for his PH.D. Another edgy thing he’s said to the mostly silent invisible choir is that it’s logical to put religious irrationality on a scale. If Christianity is crazy then the Later Day Saints are a level of craziness slightly higher because it is Christianity plus John Smith.  Oh how the complexity of the anti-religion POV intrigues me. Quantifying crazy is really fucking crazy. I love it!

That got me thinking which religion I dislike the most. Does that make me sound like I’m looking for something to hate? Oh no, my mom was right about me: I’m a hater. I wouldn’t despise religion if it wasn’t indoctrinated in children, influenced how people vote, dictated their base for ethics and stayed inside their church walls. Unfortunately this is not the case. Most official US holidays aside and without the gazillion crucifixes planted on the road side and with out the god billboards stating that I need God to be a good person, the greatest dislike of religion I felt was found in the Jews. It’s because of their little silly hats. When I see one I can’t help but think that it symbolizes how that person believes he is fundementally different than me and it makes him superior on an eternal absolute level.

Back to Seattle

I stayed in a hotel in South Seattle and was shocked by the number of women sporting Islamic garb. There was a knock on the door in the morning, I opened it and there was Muslim asking me if I needed her to take my soiled towels. The maid was nice enough but I felt rather embarrassed standing there in my underwear while she was wearing cloths that’s intended to kept the evil thoughts of finding her attractive out of my mind. I have to now concede that I dislike the Muslims more than the Jews, simply because of the volume of religious clothing they were. Quantified. Didn’t god intend for us to go around naked anyway? WTF!

So here’s the irony of the liberal capitol of the Nation: Seattle has one of the fastest growing Muslim communities in the country because of the tolerance non religious people are stereotyped to have. I think that it’s not that non religious liberal elites are any more accepting of religion in general, I just think for the most part we don’t see Islam much differently than Christianity. Well that, and the impression many Muslims have of the predominantly intolerant judgmental Christian communities who support for the war on evil”. Christians may not be flying planes into buildings but they sure can push that voting button in unison.

To round off my Seattle experience I went to the cinema to see Bill Meyers Docudrama “Religious”. I found a few parts to be extremely humorous but for the most part don’t give that much credit to the comedy based on anti religious sentiment. I mean people who believe things with certainty, without valid reason or any legitimate evidence are jokes in themselves. It’s like Jerry Seinfeld on Acid in a mosque. I agree with Bill that we adult human beings need to grow up, put Santa and Satan in the fiction section where they belong or die before we kill all the life on earth. He interviewed a Catholic priest in Rome who I think was the funniest guy on the screen. I’ve heard that there are a growing number of priests who know that the whole Jesus game is bullshit but stay priests because they like the retirement package. Bill asked him how he thinks we can talk sense into the faith heads. And like many men who spend a good time thinking he replied with wisdom, “Don’t. It’s impossible” and then he made some really funny noises. Unfortunately I tend to agree. I’ve been bashing my head against the anti walling wall trying to talk sense into loved ones, and the only thing it’s done is caused tension between us. Like the old saying goes, “you can’t chose your family”…

The science is here and has smashed nearly all the reason for believing in god. If a religious person doesn’t care about reason, nothing a person can say or do will change their desire to believe in something because it feels good. It would be nice if the democracies of the world would deem the brainwashing of children through intimidation a crime, but I don’t see that happening. So I think the only answer is to fight back with children. The world is facing some massive problems and most of them stem from xenophobia, irrationality and overpopulation. All we can do is fight to keep god out of government, out of the public schools and be a bigger part of the problem by breeding like rabbits.

I don’t like the fat ass elephant’s or the jackass’s POV. The U.S. Godless and Independents, also known as Humans, reject group identities, focus on the issues and realize the uselessness of stereotypes outside of comedy. But Palin has pushed my distaste of the GOP to a new level, scaring the bejesus out of me with her Bushyish stance on war.

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task (aka plan) that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words when he said -(ahhh mmmm)- first, he suggested never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words. (although I have read the Bible out loud) But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side. That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, “There is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

Obamba - You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Palin - I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

My first thought when Palin capitalized on Obama’s slip-up was what the Liberal counter version of Bible toting, gun carrying, redneck Conservatives would be. I came up with, Disco ball worshiping, Dildo toting, city slicking Liberals. My beliefs fall much more in line with Liberalism via the “truth by consensus” of Wikipedia, rather than the description of Rightwingers from Conservapedia. Although, I don’t like disco, dildos or murdering babies.

I believe that the ideology of Conservationism is inherently oppressive. “Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour tradition, where tradition refers to various religious, cultural, or nationally defined beliefs and customs.” Culture is dynamic, constantly changing in a sea of memes. Liberalism on the other hand is defined by “a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal.” That with the Human rights of health care, basic education, minimal shelter and sustenance to support the principle of equality, sounds to me like the only humane option for a civilized society.

And I’m well aware that not all “right wingers” fit the redneck stereotype.

Stereotypes are silly. Where on earth do they come from? Instead of stereotypes, I prefer raw data and the means they produce. For example, the median income for a family in Newport Beach is $147,697. Many Christian churches there worship with rock-n-roll. And Jesus undoubtedly is the unofficial king of Orange County. That’s my fair and balanced POV. For an unbalanced OmnipresentPOV from the absolute truth generator, please visit his blog.

[simulposted on the Tome]

I’ve been traveling within the bourgeois capitol of the United Highways of America, KKKalifornia for two weeks. It is very beautiful here, when one can find that rare spot where private property doesn’t completely choke off the vista and that moment coincides with a low smog point.

I’ve been enjoying the minivan life. As you most likely recall, this is my second tour of duty in the Sunshine State. My first was very bleak, for I was very ill prepared for an extended production from my Quest. And the misanthropy of those days are but a slight hum in the back of my non-army/police mind now. I’ve resolved the paradox of loving my mobile home and hating a society built around the automobile. Nature sure is a funny thing, seeing as though humans gravitate to pleasant climates and the most beautiful areas of earth and in doing so ruin the climate and beauty with cookie cutters homes, megastore parking lots and ten lane highways. I wonder if they’ll be ok if this is as good as it gets.

My production is warming up although I don’t think I’ll be able to do as many house portraits as I hoped. The first two I did received no response from the owners and although that’s not much, it’s caused me to give pause to investing enormous amounts of my time into paintings I’m not going to want in the future. That’s why I’ve already gravitated to landscapes/cityscapes. But the good news comrades, is that I’ve “sold” my first work. I picked up a commission while I was painting my second painting here. The house for the portrait is located in Yorba Linda.

I stood out in the blazing sun coated in White preserver and produced the painting. They’re trying to sell it even though they just bought the property, tore down the house that was there and rebuilt 5 years ago. They think 4,800 square feet is a little much. Although they will miss the view of Disneyland’s fireworks every night from the private view of paradise found from their back patio. Don’t get the wrong idea. These Romanian immigrants are down to earth. They drive modest cars, although they did make me remove their Jetta from my painting, and are only asking 1.5 million for their house. They’re frustrated that they’re Christian adult kids aren’t Christ like. The youngest daughter wore tight pants with “love pink” spread across her ass as she smooched her soon to be live in boyfriend.

When I presented the painting to them I got the usual barter routine. As a rule of thumb I don’t barter unless my need for capitol dictates my actions, such as the situation I’m in now. He asked if I would take less than $300 for a painting that’s already reasonable priced. I told him that I would not, that I would rather keep the painting of his beautiful expensive house than sell out completely. I had my landscape paintings outside of my van curing in the sunlight. I offered him two paintings for $400, a steel of a deal. He said yes and I prepared his house portrait for sale.

I only stretch my paintings from my mobile studio when they’re sold because I can no longer keep them in my minivan afterwards do to damage. When I went into their house to finish the transaction he asked me to look at the back of his house. I could smell the sourness already. When I stepped into his backyard I was taken back by the view. His home is 30 miles from the ocean but it can be seen as a thin white line along with most of LA. I was excited just thinking about painting it when he said, “It’s a nice view but it would be too easy to paint.” He didn’t want one of my “art” paintings. He wants another painting of his house, from the back.

I was not happy. I don’t mind selling out a little and painting portraits of the Capitalists trophies but for a person to unconsciously express such a lack of interest in the art/artist instead of the subject discourages me. I kept my happy face on as the wife tried to get me to be a distributor of her pyramid miracle juice when I realized I promised them 2 for $400. As I sat their sipping her $40 dollar a bottle juice they then tried to convince me to paint their family portrait. At that point I was willing to lose the sale, tell them I wanted $300 cash for the painting or forget it. I was growing tired of them telling me how I am an industrious rule model for their children as they complained their kids were hanging out with pot smoking, lazy heathens.

It turns out they didn’t have enough cash on them. Because I couldn’t take the painting with me I’ll have to trust them and return next Tuesday to finish the deal. I think I’m going to paint the view from their backyard though. If they don’t want it, fuck em’ I’ll be happy to use their private view as a visual spring board. Here’s to metaphorically bighting the hand that feeds.

The message that most Christians cling to is the aggressive ethic of reciprocity and the Judge-not. Beside the ridiculous logical ad infinitum of giving till someone has to break down and take, and the lack of justice Judge-not promotes, the two core tenets of Christianity leads to a life of bird nests without a hen guarding the eggs. I presume that most Christians regard the doing to others and lack of justice to be metaphorical: The domain of god. No one but the masochist would present the other check and desire anarchy.

Where is the line then that justifies retaliation on an oppressor? At first I thought this was a case for fuzzy logic, but logic defies fuzz. What at first seemed to me to be a complex issue really isn’t. Treat others as they treat you: point blank. This works well for those that are in the now but it eeks upon personal identity. That is the reason I have always promoted individuality. We can not be held accountable for the wrongs of our ancestors any more that we can take the credit for the work of dead individual artists.

Only the future inhabitants of earth are tied to our wrongs. It’s extortion and depressingly those geezers that are alive today wouldn’t change what they did 60 years ago.
However, those that cling onto their identity the actions of ancestors can logically be accountable for the wrongs of their predecessors. Call yourself an “American” and be held accountable for the terroristic acts of this Nations founders. By treating others as they treat your self only an act of aggression is legitimately countered with aggression. Hit me brother and I’ll hit you back. The Mercy high ground is interesting territory. Typically mercy can be given when enough attention is paid to empathy; unfortunately for most only the closer someone is to oneself the easier it is to empathize. That’s even more reason to embrace the principle of equality, individuality and justice.

I’m one and you’re one to. We’re one and one. But we can equal two as one if we both try.