Augie's blog: "shame & misery"

The reflection being presented is an analysis on the nature of human control. It is presented in the “prose” form to emphasize on the personal view and aspect of control focusing on the how its wrong for masses of society than good. It also explores how industry and government use control to fuel insecurity and distrust and in the long term we’re more the worse. A Man once talked about the sad sad truth and the dirty low down. He said that somebody had a "jones" for this and a "jones" for that, that this running with the jones boy he sure knows where its at. It sounds kinda simple, buts what’s in a word? What’s in a line? Finally, what do you the individual understand and learn from it? To me "the sad sad truth" is that people always want to be right. Whether they're right or wrong, being right seems to be the way to go. Take for instance this past Saturday my parents had an argument about the Soxs and Cubs. My mom's a cubs fan while my dad and I are fans of the Soxs, he called Cub fans liars and losers and my mom called Sox fans sluts and asses. This led to other less significant issues but with greater hostilities. Either way the argument was pointless and made everyone feel worse about the situation, but the goal to be right was still the goal for the both of them at any cost. One problem with being right is that it morphs everyday concepts into bias threats, Truths become excuses, facts are suspicions, beliefs become agendas and opinions as lack of judgment. One example is the strike that is happening with Mechanics against Northwest Airlines, people are seen honking in favor of their struggle yet those at the top of business government see it as long as the company makes then the worker and the consumer equally are irrelevant. This is seen in similar cases such as Wal Mart and Enron yet the leadership could care less since it makes money that’s all that counts and all that counts is good. Another instance happened just today, Pat Robertson said that we the U.S. should kill Hugo Chavez the President of Venezuela, because he's not in line with our policy. Ironically our government saids "he shouldn't of said that" instead of disagreeing and denouncing him on both sides. Yet like always the right's in his pocket and left will stick to any opinion polls and to hell with the rest. Another is pot, I don't smoke but the state will put anyone in the joint if you grow it to smoke or do anything else with, why you would ask? Simple, pot is a socialist product because you can make anything out of it and its meant for all the key principle of socialism and in this country socialism is a mortal sin. We were taught as kids that the future would be bright and the sky to be the limit. In truth we are downtrodden and our people to be taken for shit. So when they talk about the sad sad truth the dirty low down, it means that change should happen when its not and we should be united. In my opinion people gotta get pist off then change can come. Epilogue The goal of this paper is to give a feeling of relation to the reader on hypocrisy of control. In such I hope you come from reading this enlightened maybe even entertained. If you disagree I’ll understand (to an extent) yet would like for you to honestly question this topic as well as some of your own ideas. We are all thinking creatures and should not (or at least in this course) leave anything to the imagination. When going down the street, take notice of the adds places and people around and say “is that necessary?” or “what’s led to that idea?” its not a command just a suggestion. I wish to thank you for your time and interest in this essay.

In this divided and partisan society, individual and collective behavior can be narrowed down to two simple but cruel realities. The first is something we’ve all hear once in our lives yet can have many definitions as well as degrees (an “in the eye of the beholder” deal) from individual to individual or culture to culture. This is shame, it can bring people to their knees or the liberator for those who no other weapon against tyranny or displacency (real or metaphorical). For others it seems obsolete and futile to keep in place as a deterrent for individual expression and wonder. In either way it still is the foundation of modern manner and statue for civil law. Shame as stated in the Funk & Wagnalls New Comprehensive International Dictionary of the English Language is a painful sense of guilt or degradation caused by consciousness of such, unworthy or modest; a restraining sense of pride; that which brings disgrace; a state of ignominy. One fine example of shame lies within our own bodies; let’s say a person is walking down the street naked, not for any reason just because. Then someone walking on that street notices and let’s them know of their disgust finishing off with “have you no shame” or “you ought to be ashamed of yourself” the question now becomes what is shameful (if anything) and where did shame take place? Could it be that the on looking pedestrian bared malice toward the naked person? Another reason could be that the pedestrian sees public nudity as setting a example for children or others or it could just be he finds nudity wrong. This is an example of self shame since the on look found in him shame in another’s individual stance. Paranoia is another factor, in shame people tend to also feel as though they’re loosing control and have enemies all around them. This leads to many questions like “why me”, “why now”, “what did I do to deserve this” or “what makes you think your so special” many times a person(s) will try to comprehend the going’s on. Sometimes in public he’ll show signs of this uncertainty by looking over his shoulders trying get away when someone’s too close. Paranoia dose not lead to shame but to our next concept that of misery. Also defined in Funk & Wagnalls New Comprehensive International Dictionary of the English Language, misery is an extreme distress, for many it comes with the death of one close or the loss of employment it makes individuals feel unwanted and useless. Paranoia fits in when the constant worries of being brought down can make a person feel failed or unwanted. In its essence shame and misery will bring a person down only if they believe they are not strong enough to beat it. In cultures like in that of Asia the slightest discrepancy such as blowing of the nose in public or fail in one’s work can lead to shame for whole generations or the community with drastic measures like suicide as your only option. Yet for us who live in our world persistence is our best weapon against defeat (the root of all shame and misery) we must see the glass if not half full at least at half knowing that there’s room for advancement and improvement. We as a people must always remember that falling down is never a crime but staying down is.