Rants & Commentary

Bernard “Hap” Kliban (1935–1990 CE)

With all apologies to the lobotomized. We know nothing! Nothing! About anything. And we prefer to keep it that way. But, let me clarify that. It’s not we, it is they. They prefer to lapse into the warm self-induced coma of nescience. Unaware, unattuned and unafraid. You can’t fear something you don’t know. But that refutes the notion that I believe that it’s the unknown that’s the most frightening. To you and me, sure, but not the masses. Apparently.

When it comes to over-the-top feigned public suffering, nobody beats the North Koreans. Who admittedly do so at gunpoint. Well, at last, I admit they do . . . but the point shouldn’t go missed. So magnetic and warm and inviting is the gravitational pull of social media that anything that is “Awwwww” inspiring or “You poor thing” generating is prime for social media exploitation. Self-aggrandizement and self-reference.

My advice to graduates. First, wake up. Who can blame you for being bored Shi’ite-less? You’ve spent four years of your life being indoctrinated and trained and habituated and conditioned to what? Conditioned for failure. And for what? Exactly. Look, you’ve heard the gloomy job prognostications and when it hits you how you’ve wasted your time and money, well . . . you’ll see. And how about these speakers? Seriously.

America has always talked a great game when it comes to the military. Uncomfortable fact: 12% of US homeless adults are veterans with 50% having serious mental illness. Oh, there he goes again, ruining Memorial Day weekend barbecue and beach fun and frolic with the facts! Knowing, learning, reading and understanding puts folks into the unenviable position of knowing what’s true and what’s fiction. Our veterans, whom we proudly and publicly proclaim we love, need our immediate help. Platitudes and symbolic gestures are nice, it’s a start, but that’s not what is required.

The etymology.

What does not destroy us maims us. What the hell was Nietzsche thinking?This idea that somehow catastrophe forges our strength and steels our mettle is beyond absurd. It’s poppycock and bunkum. It’s yet again another mindless reference often cited and repeated by the mindless. What does not destroy me, what comes short of destroying me, oftentimes is incalculably devastating. It’s like those lunatics who rephrase and repeat and reiterate carpe diem! Or that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.

Notice anything odd? Look at how this lone cop is standing, backed turned, to these hoards of gang members involved in shootouts and – get this! – threatening cops. No RoboCop gear, MRAPs, Kevlar, shields, drones, dogs, tear gas . . . nuttin’! Amazing, isn’t it? And if they are corralled and subdued via arrest, the participants are not referred to as thugs and, better yet, the altercation is referred to as a “mêlée.” How quaint. I prefer kerfuffle.

Here’s what he said on SNL. “Child molesters are very tenacious people,” he began. “They love molesting childs. It’s crazy. It’s like their favorite thing. When you consider the risk of being a child molester — there is no worse life available to a human than being a caught child molester. And yet they still do it! Which you could only really surmise, that it must be really good.”