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Re: Burns:: Friday Fanaticism
I always suspected that motorcycle riding was basically an anti-capitalist endeavor. Perhaps long highway drones promote critical thought? I dunno. That's my theory. So I'll see your fanatic and raise you one.
JB - as one recovered catholic to another I say right on my bro. For those of you who don't know, parochial school is where you get sent when hell is too good a place for you. Consider the plight of an individual simultaneously the world's youngest athiest and the world's youngest altar boy and you'll cotton on as to why. If I had served out all of the detention I earned at various paroachial schools in my youth I'd still be in time out. You are not alone, amigo.
Anyway, my view on the main topic here is that we live on a small, wet crowded planet orbiting an undistinguised main-sequence star in a galaxy that doesn't even have a very interesting shape. That being the case it has always been hard for me to fathom the sense of self-importance, rightousness and the need to proselytise that humans acquire when they band together, especially in large groups, i.e., religious, governmental, social, although any number greater than two seems to do the trick just fine.
Although this is part of the general human condition, whenever you want a particularly egregious example of any excess you need look no further than right here at home. If you haven't traveled outside the USA you may not be aware that americans are not held in high esteem in a lot of the world. We tend to display a serious streak of chauvinism in our dealings abroad. And don't give me that "we're great because we're great" stuff. What we as americans are great at (beat the bejesus our of the rest of the world actually) is not as much hard work or intellect, but our ability to export and force our belief systems on the rest of the world. While dealing with the cultural onslaught our proteges are distracted long enough that we can grab their natural resources. An ingenious plan actually. All of this under the auspice of goodness and light of course. Of course we don't own this concept, our ancestors were pretty good at it too: crusades, inquisitions, imperalism, slavery.... it goes on and on.
Not, mind you, that I seen anything particularly wrong or immoral with this. I spend a lot of time watching big critters eat little critters around my farm all of the time. I am glad to be a big critter. I just think that one ought to own up to the truth. I don't necessairly consider gluttony a sin. The sin, I think, is lying about it. Especially to yourself.
Alas, we humans are, I'm afraid, not very good social creatures (as anyone who has ever tried to organize an office softball team will readily attest) unless we are whipped into cooperation by some external heirarchy. We are generally way too self-centered to act in a socially responsible manner left to our own devices. Heck the way I see it most of us are way to self-centered to even have manners. At least very good ones.
Nonetheless I dig it all, really. Out there are blue skies, green grass, women, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Flying Burrito Brother CD's, and motorcycles that rip! That is why I ride - to distract me from the rest of it. It's about the best way to get through the day.
I don't know that there is much that you can do for the Pol Pot's, Ronald Reagans's, Osama Bin Laden's, and Pat Robertson's of this world because they are true believers. But a lap around the big track at Willow on an R1 might be just the ticket to tune up your average Al Queda. At least it might scare them enough to crash their airplanes somewhere safer than in the USA.
Outside that, to quote Kerouac, I have nothing to share but my own confusion.
Cheers
I always suspected that motorcycle riding was basically an anti-capitalist endeavor. Perhaps long highway drones promote critical thought? I dunno. That's my theory. So I'll see your fanatic and raise you one.
JB - as one recovered catholic to another I say right on my bro. For those of you who don't know, parochial school is where you get sent when hell is too good a place for you. Consider the plight of an individual simultaneously the world's youngest athiest and the world's youngest altar boy and you'll cotton on as to why. If I had served out all of the detention I earned at various paroachial schools in my youth I'd still be in time out. You are not alone, amigo.
Anyway, my view on the main topic here is that we live on a small, wet crowded planet orbiting an undistinguised main-sequence star in a galaxy that doesn't even have a very interesting shape. That being the case it has always been hard for me to fathom the sense of self-importance, rightousness and the need to proselytise that humans acquire when they band together, especially in large groups, i.e., religious, governmental, social, although any number greater than two seems to do the trick just fine.
Although this is part of the general human condition, whenever you want a particularly egregious example of any excess you need look no further than right here at home. If you haven't traveled outside the USA you may not be aware that americans are not held in high esteem in a lot of the world. We tend to display a serious streak of chauvinism in our dealings abroad. And don't give me that "we're great because we're great" stuff. What we as americans are great at (beat the bejesus our of the rest of the world actually) is not as much hard work or intellect, but our ability to export and force our belief systems on the rest of the world. While dealing with the cultural onslaught our proteges are distracted long enough that we can grab their natural resources. An ingenious plan actually. All of this under the auspice of goodness and light of course. Of course we don't own this concept, our ancestors were pretty good at it too: crusades, inquisitions, imperalism, slavery.... it goes on and on.
Not, mind you, that I seen anything particularly wrong or immoral with this. I spend a lot of time watching big critters eat little critters around my farm all of the time. I am glad to be a big critter. I just think that one ought to own up to the truth. I don't necessairly consider gluttony a sin. The sin, I think, is lying about it. Especially to yourself.
Alas, we humans are, I'm afraid, not very good social creatures (as anyone who has ever tried to organize an office softball team will readily attest) unless we are whipped into cooperation by some external heirarchy. We are generally way too self-centered to act in a socially responsible manner left to our own devices. Heck the way I see it most of us are way to self-centered to even have manners. At least very good ones.
Nonetheless I dig it all, really. Out there are blue skies, green grass, women, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Flying Burrito Brother CD's, and motorcycles that rip! That is why I ride - to distract me from the rest of it. It's about the best way to get through the day.
I don't know that there is much that you can do for the Pol Pot's, Ronald Reagans's, Osama Bin Laden's, and Pat Robertson's of this world because they are true believers. But a lap around the big track at Willow on an R1 might be just the ticket to tune up your average Al Queda. At least it might scare them enough to crash their airplanes somewhere safer than in the USA.
Outside that, to quote Kerouac, I have nothing to share but my own confusion.
Cheers
