Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Ramblings Of An Idle Mind.

As Gaddafi slaughters his citizens by any means he can, and his insanity is chronicled for historical importance, I think despite all Ireland has been through this past few years, we can count ourselves fortunate to live in a country where the dispatch of an warplane roars us into silence. Once the pariah of western society and recently its friend, 'Mad Dog' stands defiant, vowing to fight to martyrdom. By my definition of that, the Colonel ain't going there!
It's hard to see anything but a bloody end for the man who has ruled Libya with an iron fist for 41 years. The West have now deemed him public enemy number 1 again, and the call for western style democracy shouts loud from the land of the free. Be careful what you wish for. The mainstream prefer to cover the 'meltdown' of Charlie Sheen than cover the fight by Wisconsin workers to protect their right to rebel about austerity. Which kinda makes you wonder...

Drifting swiftly out of that, one might ask why an Irish blogger should care about either. And within the answer lies a dose of absurdity. I genuinely feel the killing of people is wrong but then most people of the planet would say that. Wouldn't they? Unless of course you profit in some way by it, or your just a nasty piece of work like Stalin or Ted Bundy. So in the world I live in, 2011, having to watch innocents being killed and madmen ruling countries sort of baffles me. I mean, we went to the moon. Didn't we?

Can we blame the West for changing its mind again about Gaddafi? I mean they did let the Lockerbie Bomber go home to die on home territory on 'humanitarian grounds.'
Isn't he still alive and living in a villa somewhere? Soaking up some African rays. Let's hope Gaddafi isn't bombing those miracle workers, a few among us might want to have a word. There's oceans of humanitarian work to be done on that particular continent.
So why should the West care so much?
'Oil,' as Jed used to say on The Beverly Hillbillies. Good times...

And why Wisconsin and workers? Is it an issue with jealousy?
Perhaps, but then again, I do enjoy a good gathering. You know, roaring on a team in a stadium, lying in the sun at an outdoor concert, down the pub watching Robbie Keane lift the European Championship trophy after beating Germany 6-0 in the final. Places where people come for the one thing. Where they are united. Where they sing 'No more,' by Bushy Phillips and the Crazies. The good days in life. Fair dues to them I say. Don't let the fact that the Networks ain't covering it act as a deterrent. People grow wiser by the day.

I wonder if Charlie Sheen is just being Charlie Sheen and just tired of the bravado that has surrounded him for years now. It seems like the right way to go if you want to kill a career. With his bank balance maybe he just wants some Charlie time...literally.
Maybe he's doing a Joachim Phoenix or pitching MTV for a hit reality TV series. Charlie's Angel.
Whatever the reason, the eyes of the world are on it. There's something about the celebrity meltdown that throws Western culture into a frenzy. Yet people have meltdowns everyday and we generally dodge the issue. Culture's a difficult thing to understand sometimes...

I sometimes wonder why peoples in far off places, people with nothing, often wearing little but smiles... smile. Real smiles. Not fake. Not disguised.
Why is that smile not as apparent in Western Society, a place where we can have most of what we want, anytime we want it. Oh right, yes, that was the Tiger. She don't roar no more, not like those warplanes anyway. When shall we smile again...

Which takes me back to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? Simple enough reason.
That 70's Show was set there. I got plenty of smiles during days spent watching endless re-runs of that. Even back then, the blue collar American worker had a mistrust of their government, a theme that at times was evident as the series ran...and ran...and ran.

I guess entertainment has it's uses sometimes. A world going full circle, but at the same time going no-where at all in double quick Stephen Hawking time. The absurdity of it all...

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