The Template For Quality

Everybody Up!

For those of you that have yet to notice...I've edited the name of this compilation. I've also changed the header/introduction. "Thought provoking guilt, societal discontentment and a discourse on culture. A question of moderns and a detachment from the materialistic mindset..." If you're wondering what this means, and what it has to do with the contents of this Blog...sit back a moment and think about it. If you're not wondering, too bad...I'm giving an explanation for it. And for once, I'm disenfranchising from my own saying of "Reasons are excuses, and excuses will not be tolerated." So if you try to use that on me, I'll simply tell you to shove it. As I was saying:

If you're guilty, you'll know it. There is a line from a NOFX song that goes "The guilty don't feel guilty, they learn not to." I disagree. I, myself, am guilty of all sorts of things. Criminal acts, moral wrongs, failures, the list goes on. I know this, and I accept it. I don't spend time regretting things that I can't change...it's a waste of time and a painful experience. This, however, does not mean that I don't think about it. I spent hours upon hours revising my actions everyday, wondering what would have happened if I'd simply said one word differently, or ignored this comment. This also applies to guilt. When I realise that I was or am in the wrong, I'll take my time evaluating my decisions and looking at the consequences. I am an advocate of thinking before speaking or acting, and I'm generally good about it, but who said anything about thinking afterwards? Nobody, and that's why I do it. It makes for a better person, or at least a better understanding of the situation. Empathy comes in handy.

Societal discontentment...not a hard notion. Our Super-Ego (Freud's term for the Society that we abide by)is screwed over...and over the course of this Blog I have, and will continue to comment on(actually, it's more like rip to shreds) the North American Society.

A discourse on Culture. I would like to think that I'm a part of a variety of cultures and sub-cultures. For example, I can speak on behalf of myself as a punk, as a hip-hop head, and as a multi-national person. And I'll continue to do so in this Blog.

A question of moderns. This is where things get interesting. Many of the modern ideas and inventions are bastardisations of past realisations and products. For example, many of Freud's ideas were his own, they came from his realisations...however, the Greek philosophers and idealists were speaking of the same ideas thousands of years before he wrote them down in his texts. Also, many new movies are derived from old stories or texts. Take the movie "10 Things I Hate About You", it's simply a modernized version of Shakespeares' "Taming Of The Shrew". This is simply showing that there is a reason to question the moderns. Many times, a new product comes out and people flock to it...but it's a twist on an older product. As I've said before...it's very difficult to be original.

A detachment from the materialistic mindset. This can be taken in many ways, but one perspective that I like to focus on is the one most don't consider. A lot of people think that their posessions define them. That your clothing tells people who you are, your car shows what kind of a person you are, your home is indicative of the lifestyle you live. People try to analyze eachother via such widely-accepted methods of scrutiny, and I simply throw it back in their face and tell them that they don't know me. If you took one look at me, in my baggy and torn jeans and brown zip-up with the hood tossed up, would you be able to tell that I'm an IB student? Would you know that my favourite subject in school is Psychology, or that I'm fluent in French? No. Chances are that you'd dismiss me as being another teenage egotist who does give a damn what goes on around me.
Your materialistic status means nothing in the long run, it won't make you a better person...but it'll make you look cool! There's an amazingly brilliant commercial that I once saw. I originally remembered it because of how hilarious it was, but it does a great job to prove my point. It starts with a man who's dressed sharply, a grin on his face, and his family around me. The dialogue goes something like this: "Hi! My name is Dave. I live in a beautiful community, in a big house with an even bigger backyard, I have three cars, a great family, and I'm also a full-time member of the local recreation club. How do I do it? I'm in debt up to my eyeballs." It simply goes to show that so many people live far beyond their means...to look good. Nowadays, image is everything. If you own a Cadillac, you're successful, and someone to know. You may live in the ghetto, Ipswitch (part of the Indian River 'hood) for all I know, but you own that Escalade, and that's what counts!
We are one with our posessions. They are the signs of our experience and the road map of our souls. We haul them behind us to explain where we've been, to anchor our selves, to barricade in. Ego's budget knows no bounds. When I paint the side of someone's store, they get all upset and swear to have justice. Funny, I don't recall doing them any wrongs. I didn't paint them...I simply painted their property. Yet another piece of matter. Did it cause them any pain? Not that I know of. Did it do anything at all to cause them harm or ruin their store? Last time I checked, the answer was still no. People have too much attachment to their property. Does it do anything to make them a better person? Chances are it has the opposite effect. It only serves to make people greedy. I'm not here to advocate a minimalistic lifestyle, goodness knows I have a tumultuous amount of crap in my room, but I'm not as worried about it as much as some people. I don't feel the need to have designer labels, if I acquire them, so be it...but I'll settle for some Old Navy scrubs for all I care. Aesthetic is not something I worry about too much in my daily life. The only time it comes in handy is when the paint cans come out. That's where all my imagination and attention to detail comes out, in my expression. My aesthetic is expressed in the irresponsibility of my actions.

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks StockCap!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified

I AM THE TERRORIST.