Knowledge is experience

“In the end, nobody hears more out of things, including books, than he knows already. For that to which one lacks from experience, one has no ears.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, 

Prayer of the Disatisfied Sex Worker

(One of my non-rhyming poems, inspired by research I did on prostitution and sex slavery. Estimated 16 million sex slaves alone, not including prostitutes who aren’t ‘slaves.’ But ‘choice’ and ‘slave’ are very slippery, grey, vague terms in the sex worker industry).

“Prayer of the Dissatisfied Sex Worker”

Don’t buy me.

Please don’t let me be bought again,

Not yet another night, not yet another hour.

Their eyes gawk at me;

I am their idol

An idol, indeed, in my heart’s feeling…

      cold, lifeless, stone, with silver overlay

Oh, they love their idolatry, not me.

How shamefully they treat me, their goddess,

Touch of so many, verbs of the mean,

Sure guys, come in…

     I’ll be silent or give you a little laugh,

     A moan or squeak to make you feel satisfied that you made me so,

    Spare me your toxic whispers and sweaty hands,

    You don’t hear my moans and squeaks and cries when I’m alone,

     Not of laughs, but of tears.

To be the one of just one, oh God, but I can’t get a good one,

Go ahead pimps, have you fun,

But please, tonight,

Someone else, somewhere else,

That I may cry a little again…

    Over all the innocence I’ve lost,

     All the things I wish I’d never seen,

     All those words I long to never hear again,

Please for one night, God, let them not come.

A most advantegeous advantage

Here is an excerpt from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s  Notes from Underground, (page 71 of Kaufman’s translation in Existentialism: From Dostoevsky to Sarte) a profound work that served as part of the inspiration for this blog’s title. Take note of the last half- especially the end.

Man is stupid, you know, phenomenally stupid; or rather, he is not all stupid, but he is so ungrateful that you could not find another like him in all creation. I, for instance, would not be in the least surprised if all of a sudden, o propos, of nothing, in the midst of general prosperity a gentleman with an ignoble, or rather with a reactionary and ironical, countenance were to arise and, putting his arms akimbo, say to us all: ‘I say, gentlemen, hadn’t we better kick over the whole show and scatter rationalism to the winds, simply to send these logarithms to the devil, and to enable us to live once more at our own sweet foolish will?’ That again would not matter, but what is annoying is that he would be sure to find followers — such is the nature of man. And all for the most foolish reason, which, one would think, was hardly worth mentioning: that is, that man everywhere and at all times, whoever he may be, has preferred to act as he chose and not in the least as his reason and advantage dictated. And one may choose what is contrary to one’s own interests, and sometimes one positively ought (that is my idea). One’s own free unfettered choice, one’s own caprice, however wild it may be, one’s own fancy worked up at times to a frenzy — is that very ‘most advantageous advantage’ which we have overlooked.

Veteran’s Day

To those who faced the unspeakable terror of fear and death, to those who were brave and endured the hardship, to those who sacrificed for their comrades and country. All respect and honor to you. Cheers.

Missiles come to Syria

Missiles flow into Syria, risk falling into hands of al Qaeda

The world’s silence on massacre will lead to massacre of themselves. If the world, the US, the UN, NATO whoever would have helped in the beginning, there would not be so many angry young men becoming terrorists and getting missiles to defend themselves against the regime’s planes. The Syrian people are our allies, the chance for a free democracy and more peace. The US hung them out to dry die, and we’re surprised when they rise up to defend themselves?

 

Even the birds

“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” – Bob Dylan

 

Henry Miller interview

Henry Miller, an author of the last century.
He says that History is a catalog of disaster. That makes sense.
He says it is the tortured spirit that reflect the spirit of society. That’s hopeful.
But how can this be used to denounce a work ethic? I don’t like how he puts some things. Still, it’s thought-provoking.

New left coming

I talked to a socialist yesterday. He ran a club at a university, sitting at a table full of communist and socialist literature.

Socialism is coming. The next generation of youth are predicted to trample both Reagan conservative ideology and the Clintonian one. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/12/the-rise-of-the-new-new-left.html

We like socialism. But will it work? I asked him if socialism happens within a democracy. He said yes. I asked him if it would work in American government, and he said no. So for socialism to work in the US, the Constitution and whole government should be changed? He didn’t know. Maybe. Right now, they just are trying to unite labor.

There would have to be massive social change and upheaval for socialism to happen in America. Conservatives will say that Dems are socialists – they’re really not. But some are. And more will be if the prediction of the “new left” is correct.

The question is, are socialists also relativists, or moral absolutists. I could say that socialism works well in Europe, but not in America.If they are absolute, they will certainly want this perfect socialist model in America too.

But no. That can’t happen. We need those socialists, this vocal minority to make everyone else realize what kind of government we have, and the ideal government our system should be. They keep things honest. But take over? Demolish our hard-won American capitalist-style democracy? That’s going too far.

 

Need a method to get a method?

Ziony Zevit in Religions of Ancient Israel writes,

In history writing of any kind, the choice of method is fundamental, because to a large degree it determines the outcome of the inquiry. Where you arrive depends not only upon where you think you’re going, but also upon how you decide to get there. (page 8)

 

But how do you decide on method? Or, how do you decide on … how you decide to get there? What method will you use to find the correct method? Where does the inquiry really begin?

When love

When fear and dread are gaining victory, when tears are drowning the smiles of your soul, when hate squeezes the last drop of good out of it all, when hope is lost beyond the horizon, when everything is getting dimmer and dimmer by the second, when love itself is dead and dying more than it ever has seemed – that is when love is most important. Love on.