Phantasy Land

I am bored and listless, but don't tell anyone.  The suggestions will roll in like a plague, most of them insulting and patronizing.  I won't understand the "Baby Boomers," and I don't want to.  They are the most provided for generation.  When you look at the "Boomers," you see America who provided for her people, because these people were in control.  They could ensure their own security.  America no longer has that.  Without dredging up the oft heard story about America's financial inequality, "Them that have gets," in the immortal words of one of America's most influential composers.  We don't remember him or any of the special artists who shaped American culture.  Today as soon as you die you drop off the map.  Who is responsible for carrying the torches of American heroes and artists?  The recording industry for one, but contrary to popular belief, television largely has shaped American culture.  Pundits will disagree.  Watch any prime time late night television talk show, and you will see why.  There is no talent.  When there is talent the maturity level is so low the programming  is insulting.  Jimmy Falon is a talented host, but the network uses one percent of it.  His style is like a sheepish child who kowtows to the guests.  Unlike Conan O'Brien who challenges his guests, Jimmy doesn't want to upset the status quo, which has become mindless.  Once successful television was anti-establishment.  It stretched the boundaries of human sensibility and questioned our government.  Today with the repeal of antitrust legislation and the elimination of corporate oversight, America has become on big company with very little talent.  It's about money, and who gets it.  The high ups get it, and like everything in America once meaningful methods and products have been devalued.  Music is the best example.  One the music industry in America surpassed the earnings of Hollywood.  It was a massive, throbbing, viable force who capitalized on anti-establishment sentiments.  Who wants to be governed by Mitch McConnell?  Who wants a slobbering, selfish, old man in control of your country?  If you die in America today, forget it man.  You're dead, and it will be a hundred years before they discover your artistry.  During Black History Month a lot of criticism was floating around about "Black Face."  Many do not know that Sammy Davis Jr. donned blackface during his career as an entertainer.  There was a malicious and derisive force which created a propaganda campaign against African Americans after the civil war.  The American South continued to fight the civil war after it was over.  It would seem those are some racist motherfuckers.  There was a smear campaign against African-Americans, and it used caricatured images to wage it.  They indeed were ugly, insulting, and egregious.  Not everyone in the entertainment industry born of minstrel blood meant harm with their use of these images.  The proof of that statement lies on modern television.  Television is littered with stereotypical images, but no one will realize.  Times have changed in America, but I don't enjoy a drummer on late night TV who looks like a "Broke Back Mountain" rancher.  This must be part of a new concept developed for television by that big corporation.  They are trying to be LGBT friendly from the amount of transgender publicity floating around.  Whether you like it or not, and I know this is mean-spirited, but Bruce Jenner today is nothing more than a burnt out, cross dressing fag.  You can glam it up all you want, paint a rosy picture, and try to get ratings, but they truth is the truth.  He was not interesting as an aging athlete, so he bends God's truths for his own good.  It is a ploy, and I do not enjoy watching grown men dress in drag.  Drag shows for entertainment purposes are another thing all together.  Why?  The answer is because there is talent involved.  Cross dressing is not enough to earn money, and it shouldn't be.  What are these images of which I speak?  Is anyone looking?  Are the Uncle Tom images scattered on television not conspicuous to anyone?  Buckwheat?  "Oh, he is a lovable little kid."  That couldn't be racially insulting playing down his intelligence for a warm sentiment?  Or could it?  I never have seen African-Americans on TV today work so hard for an image.  We have been through it before, and I am old enough to remember.  When Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, STAX records changed.  Their once formative blending of races in their music studio came to an abrupt halt.  The killing of MLK was a blow to America's burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.  STAX responded.  No longer did they continue to produce racially mixed soul music.  Instead they created images often made fun of in what are called "Blaxpolitation" films.  I find nothing satirical, insulting, or racist in these films.  Simply characters emerged who would not bow down to a racist nation.  They became strong, vengeful, and aggressive.  At the same time they became heroes of an oppressed faction in racist America.  I enjoyed the power of the 1970's, and never did I see it, until I watched a Freddie Hubbard performance during this decade.  It was remarkable the power of his band, and they were not rock.  The energy that exuded from this ensemble with their African rhythms and modal harmony was as powerful as a Jimmi Hendrix concert.  George Cables ripped the lid off of his Rhodes.  It was "Black Power," and it was good.  I am not sure we have that today.  There are black writers, comedians, and entertainers creating lots of product in Hollywood.  Some are good are some are not.  Some have talent and some do not.  It seems to me that most of them are establishment.  There is no ground-breaking material being seen or heard on prime time television.  There is murderous violence.  There is that.  Senseless mind-numbing violence.  There is not much material forging a new path for American cultural arts.  It would be difficult to do, because America has achieved her pinnacle.  Jazz landed squarely on the fringe of music.  The Avant Garde has yet to be usurped in terms of sonic power and intent.  America has yet to even recognize Modernism in history.  This milestone of musical achievement, a depiction of the hustle and bustle of city life, has not made a dent in American musical history.  People want to hear what they recognize and are not interested in having their sensibilities challenged.  We have become a tit sucking, addicted, sheltered nation of whiners, instead of those who built America.  We forget them and wipe them off the earth as soon as they are gone.  It is nauseating.  People are concerned with gender identities.  Is this really important?  Is championing your life by your sexual preference a worthy philosophy?  Okay, America has an extremely sexist history, but for the majority of history the human race as recognized heterosexuality as a good thing.  It only was when depraved, evil, zealots corrupted this alignment when thing went awry.  America is spring cleaning, and the trash is coming out.  All of it, and it is a good thing.  Get those puddles of tainted semen out of Hollywood studios, hire some women, and get it going again.  I don't enjoy feeling guilty for being straight.  I never have abused women.  On the contrary back in the day during the 1970's the courtship ritual was a very different thing.  Whether anyone will believe it or not, there are examples of when "No" meant "Yes."  We have lost sight of the very core of human interaction as a component of God's animal kingdom.  We no longer are powerful, confident, and assertive, because America is not smart enough to able to handle that responsibility.  As I look back at my public education I would change some things.  While I appreciate the courses which taught me to think, reason, and solve problems, I would also have appreciated some schooling in gardening, growing your own food, cooking, and repair.  We are a nation with no mainstream and with no idea how to live happily and successfully.  The media keeps us frightened, stupid, and compliant.  Our drinking water and air are laced with Gen. X, a chemical from a Chinese factory, and our streets are flooded with illicit drugs with which to hide our misery and ignorance.  Truly America has stopped empowering her citizens.  We have become a herd of cattle who digests insipidity.  Working on cruise ships for over a decade didn't help me in this department.  We are taught to "Greet and Smile," and that is good.  It is the hospitality industry, and you must be cordial.  Being subservient is something else, and I became that the same way modern television has.  We want out paychecks, and compliance is necessary.  The once Western Frontier which was host to gun play, dominance, and boisterous howling at the moon has been sucked into the internet draining the blood from our veins and the temperaments from our souls.  Anything you want is at your touch, except that it is not real.