“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – Isaac Asimov
One of the first things I remember from initial black and white television programming was cowboys shooting guns. The Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid. And I remember clowns, although that has nothing to do with this blog. For some reason we were battered by happy clowns on Saturday. Perhaps the programmers could see how bleak the future would be, and were sincerely hoping the memory of happy clowns would add some Cheer to my life, but they were wrong. Clowns have control, anger, and mother issues. I could tell as a child that fake happy clowns were just a symptom of deeper societal problems.
Mostly from my extensive experience in grade school and with the neighborhood kids. So, I had a handle on how messed up we were as a society. Kids are mean, vicious, uncultured barbarians. In grade school, non-compliance leads to non-acceptance which leads to the only solution, FORCE. (Kids inevitably grow into mean, vicious, uncultured barbarous adults. Isn’t this fun?)
So I learned at a ridiculously young age that when you run into bullies in life there’s only one real solution. Because they’re bullies they lack the intelligence for reason, so the only practical thing to do is to Shoot Them. In the fifties the goal was to wound them, just a little. Punch a hole through an arm or leg, you know, just to get their attention, and to show them how horrible violence can be. And we all learned that getting shot with a large caliber bullet, or being stabbed, or wounded in the shoulder with an arrow, ISN’T PAINFUL. By the next scene you wear a band-aid and the wound is not a problem. And you are brave and wonderful and have a high pain tolerance, so everyone loves you except the bad guys. Life is simple and linear this way.
But over time we have advanced as a species, and in in today’s world it’s best to just shoot people who annoy you dead, to avoid legal problems. Right? Shoot them lots of times. See the bad person who doesn’t agree? BAD PERSON. BANG.
In the sixties we were dedicated to world peace, universal love, and recreational drugs.
In 2024 we are dedicated to recreational drugs, what gender beer is, and violence as a way to solve issues. Our species is delusional. And, at least from the 50’s until 6/17/2024, has stalled out as far as finding resolutions to our problems. We all seem to matter to ourselves, but to no one else. What a mess.
Of course the other way to get my way, is combine large groups of sincere people, and block traffic, while busily pointing out that some very bad people like to solve social issues by slaughtering each other. (Not me, or course.) Waving flags and blocking traffic is one way to change the world I guess. But I have never changed my mind because I saw a barely legible sign encouraging me to see the other side, EVER. But maybe other people change their minds when they see those signs, and then change back when the opposition waves signs that suggesting they revert to the original position. Or something like that. Maybe there really are large groups of people who switch sides as soon as they see a protest sign explaining how wrong they are.
Dizzy. I feel dizzy. Perhaps this is some sort of alternate anti logic universe?
For the entire history of the human race violence has been the solution. (Men, right? Mostly men. We should lock all the men up for a few hundred years. Women seem less likely to put a bullet in you as a resolution to a problem. But there’s always exceptions.) For the entire history of the human race we have been struggling to attain some sort of world equanimity.
Life in the BitterSweet. Love or Death. Good and Bad. Yes and No. My way, or your way.
Lately I prefer the death and violence of the natural world. Which is almost always about eating to live. Unlike freeway killings. And constant greed. And being better than others. And control.
We were naive in the 60’s. We are naive in 2024. I’m failing to see any particular resolutions to our penchant for violence and death as problem solvers. I guess we will just keep shooting each other. There’s eight billion of us, someone will survive.
Today I will celebrate life in the BitterSweet as well as I can. And try to stay as balanced as possible in an impermanent universe.
Hold this precious day gently.
Bryan Wagner