A little more serious this week. But we still have the Hodgepodge at the end of this article...on a lighter note.
Man has a tendency to fear the unknown. In reaction to that fear, Man has created many mechanisms to protect himself. One of the modern mechanisms is without a doubt cocooning. With television, the Web, including social media, eBay, on-line shopping, food ordering services, who needs to go out? In the comfort of our living room, we are almost immune (or we pretend we are) against mugging, diseases, rudeness and unpleasantness of other people, accidents, etc.
Furthermore, Man is unable to live with the fact that he can't explain why something happened. And the fact that Man cannot fathom something that occurred will sometimes motivate him to push beyond his limits. In the end, he may even surpass his own expectations. Inspired to conquer the unknown, he may conquer his fears as well.
However, on the darker side, when he is a little lazier (as many of us are), Man may be tempted to invent, imagine or improvise an explanation. That's where it gets messy. That's where it also gets interesting. Our Modern Circus, as we know it now, loves to conceive and produce stories to reassure itself. If the answer is unknown, we'll figure out some plausible explanation, then we'll pretend it's real. We'll repeat it so many times that we'll believe it and then, we'll sell it to the people. And they will buy it too (until they find out the truth...but how long 'til they find out?).
Replace "we" by the media and you get what we see every day on the news. The media will find some wacky, wacko, pseudo-expert to make us swallow the explanation that suits any problem. "Ma! If they said it on the TV, I reckon it must be true!" (to read with your best southern accent).
Someone gets killed in your neighbourhood. Of course it's a tragedy. The media implies that you could be next. "Ma! I reckon we need to find tha killa, ma" (again with your best southern accent).
But if they find only a body...but they are no leads. "We need to find a culprit". No evidence against anyone? Media publishes polls on TV saying that the "man on the street" thinks that the first guy that the police interrogated looks suspicious. He lives alone, doesn't talk much, a little shy and anti-social, doesn't seem too intelligent, doesn't care about his general appearance. In other words, he would have no chance to be selected on American Idol (probably the only thing he would be guilty of). If they had to bet money on it, they would bet against him.
Silently, people think that its not such a bad idea. Police wouldn't mind saying they solved it. A scapegoat would be so convenient. Until we catch a culpable party, people live in fear, in the unknown. Like a magician, the "scapegoat" will transform the unknown into a (pseudo) known. Everyone will finally sleep at night. But we would have to cross our fingers the real killer doesn't start killing again...
This is dangerous stuff. When it comes to condemn a person, it's not a "democracy" in a sense that it should not be determined by a poll. Leave polls to TMZ (where you can vote on whether Kim Kardashian should go through with her divorce...). If a person is innocent until proven guilty, I guess it all has to be based on evidence. It's sort of scientific. There's a method to it. It surely has nothing to do with what the "man on the street" thinks.
Please watch the next video. It's a little long, so please forward it to 6:30:
That was the street reaction to the verdict in the Conrad Murray trial was found guilty on one count of involuntary manslaughter of pop star Michael Jackson. A jury found Murray guilty. I'm pretty sure justice was served.
But in the video, at 6:30, you actually hear a crowd cheering out loud. Folks, this is not American Idol or The X Factor. This is not about cheering for your favorite singer, nor is it about cheering for your favorite sports team. Let's keep this in perspective.
I guess the crowd was composed of Michael Jackson fans. But the verdict won't bring him back. The verdict will have absolutely no direct effect on the fans lives either. What is there to cheer about? A man going to prison. Is that what it all comes down to? Is that what we've become as people? I'm satisfied that Conrad Murray will go to jail for what he's done. Nevertheless, the crowd going wild doesn't seem appropriate in my book. It seemed like they were convinced before the trial, before seeing the evidence. Could they influence the jury before the verdict? This ain't right.
Are we too much accustomed to contests like Dancing with the stars and do we feel we have to react that way to any event? Is it the anonymous factor...the Twitter factor? It's easy to take an anonymous stand, without assuming the responsibility of the choice. Some people are referring to it as an historic moment. Really?
Worst part is that it seems to be a new trend (see the video).
If you didn't know the video was about the reaction to Osama Bin Laden's death confirmation, when you hear the "USA! USA! USA!" chant, you could swear that it was a soundbite taken during the Olympics. A sigh of relief would certainly be in order. But cheers, chants and celebrations? Chauvinism. We are not playing video games here where soldiers that die are fictional. After the thousands of American soldiers that died during that war, out of respect for them, I don't see how we can be in a celebrating mood. The troops are still at war. And even if an evil man was killed, Evil (including terrorism) didn't die with him. People in other countries cheer when something bad happens to USA? Ok. But do we have to lower ourselves to their level?
On that day, I had a sigh of relief, I prayed for all the troops that died and for all the ones that are still out there. I keep my cheers for my beloved New England Patriots, during football games...where cheers belong.
In sports, you get penalties or yellow cards for unsportsmanlike misconduct or unnecessary roughness. We should be able to give those in real life, for every day behaviour. Today, I would give a penalty for inappropriate behaviour to all of the above-mentioned people.
Remember this wonderful quote by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts."
THE HODGEPODGE
This week’s lucky number: The clue...sept (in French).
Clever song lyrics: "Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came." - Song: Eleanor Rigby - Artist: The Beatles.
Cheesy song lyrics: "Mmm bop, ba duba dop, ba du bop, ba duba dop, ba du bop, ba duba dop, Ba du." - Song: MMMBop - Artist: Hanson. (Ah! Goddammit! I'm stuck with that stupid song in my head now!!! Grrr...).
Bad rock group names for Herman Cain: 1-Raising Cain; 2-Herman & the Victims; 3-Grope'n'fondle.
Bad idea for a movie: A young millionaire woman, named Kim, marries her boyfriend, makes money with the marriage itself, then files for divorce after 90 days...then tries to make money with the divorce too (wait a minute...I heard about that before somewhere...).
Good idea for a movie sequel: A girl, named Kim, bumps her head, then realizes she has no talent whatsoever, decides to abandon everything she's got and becomes a nun in Tibet. She brings her talentless friend, named Paris, with her.
Suggestion of a bad musical combination comparable to Metallica and Lou Reed: Willie Nelson and Motörhead.
Appropriate song for the Penn State University scandal soundtrack: "Say it ain't so, Joe" (Re: Joe Paterno)
Love letters, comments, opinions and complaints: reflectionsonamoderncircus@gmail.com
Showing posts with label fear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fear. Show all posts
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Making the news on 9/11
First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to...
All of the friends and families of the direct victims of the 9/11 attacks;
All of the friends and families of the indirect victims of the 9/11 attacks, namely all of the people suffering, or that died, from cancers, lung diseases and other disorders that developed as a consequence of being part of a rescue team at Ground Zero;
All of the people that survived the attacks but are still suffering from psychological damages as a result of the traumatizing experience;
To all of the Muslims that that immigrated to Canada, United-States or European countries, to leave their respective countries, for a better life, and that were subjected to racism as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks (most of them were already rightful citizens of their new countries);
And
To all of the Muslims, living in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, that died or that are still suffering from the consequences of wars that took place in response to the 9/11 attacks, although they never agreed with, nor they condoned, the 9/11 attacks.
May whatever or whoever you believe in bring you peace of mind and love in your heart. As a gesture of respect and sympathy, the background picture of this blog (a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge) will be replace by a new one for our next article, on Sunday September 18, 2011.
However, even on such a sad day, the Modern Circus doesn’t take a break. No rest for the wicked. More than ever, we feel we have a duty to put the magnifying glass on the Modern Circus’ craziness that may reach a whole new level on the 10th anniversary 9/11.
A conversation overheard at a secret media meeting…
TV Executive Producer #1: The 10th anniversary of 9/11 will give us good ratings for a while. But people don’t like to be sad for too long. Fear!!! That’s what we need.
TV Executive Producer #2: Fear sells. But it seems we have no luck with fear lately.
Dusty Sunshine, Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster): Forget about it (with a Jersey…”Joysey” accent). I was just in New York City, for the Irene hurricane. I was expecting the worst, you know, a gold mine for us weathermen. I was excited and anxious for Irene to arrive. I had the feeling that it would be my moment. But all the action happened in Vermont. Irene barely showed up in New York…reminding me of my Prom date. All in all, I had to stand in a puddle of water and mud pretending it was a catastrophe. People were waiting for Dusty Sunshine to save the day. All they got was a lousy wet willy. That said, the weather for tonight: partly cloudy with lows in the upper 60’s…
TV Executive Producer #1: Ok. That’s enough, Wet Willy. Shut it.
TV Executive Producer #2: What now?
TV Executive Producer #1: Well no hurricane in sight. No contagious disease. Remember when people feared to open their mail because of anthrax? Or President Bush's color-coded terror alerts…now that was ingenious! People would watch the news just to see what was going to be the color of the day.
TV Executive Producer #2: How about when people were buying gas masks in fear of a biological warfare and weapons of mass destruction? We got, on tape, a man that bought gas masks for himself and his dog. The scene was priceless.
TV Executive Producer #1: Those were the good ol’ days! Fear…where have you gone?
TV Executive Producer #2: Gotta find something tragic.
TV Executive Producer #3: Got some breaking news for you guys. A drunken moose!!
TVExecutive Producer #1: From Sweden? Old news. The moose got drunk from eating fermented apples, reached out for more fruits, slipped and got stuck in a tree. It was released from the tree, sobered up and went back into the wild. Boring. Next!
TV Executive Producer #3: Wrong! Turns out the moose had a drinking problem and was rushed to Dr. Drew’s rehab clinic in Pasadena, California. As it was entering the premises, a car smashed the front entrance of the clinic, fatally injuring the moose. Who was driving the car? Lindsay Lohan. She was drunk too. Poetic justice, I guess. Funny thing, she was chasing that woman who claimed Lohan terrorized her in a car chase, back in 2007.
TV Executive Producer #2: Alleluia!! We are saved!! Juicy…
TV Executive Producer #1: If it bleeds, it leads!! I want a picture of the moose with his mother when it was a young moose. I also want also a Swedish expert on meese, that speaks English, but with an accent…it sounds more credible. Moose is the first story. 9/11 is the third. We gotta find something better for the second spot…
TV Executive Producer #2: So who’s on second?
Dusty Sunshine, Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster): No! No! Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third…
*Abbott and Costello rolling in their graves*
New Character(s) brought to this Blog: Dusty Sunshine, The Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster) and TV Executive Producer #1, #2 and #3 (As members of The Drama Queen Media).
This week’s lucky number: Right in between 6 and 8 (yes…again!).
Personal message: To the guy listening to music with his headphones, that also happens to sing out loud, and completely out of tune: “Buddy, remember we don’t hear the music…only you”.
Quote of the week: “You laugh because you think I’m different, I laugh because I just farted” – Last word freak…who actually got the last word, by default.
To do: Breathe in, breathe out (just not besides the Last word freak!!!).
Bad idea for a movie: Predator vs. Alien.
Great idea for a reality show: Barbed wire steel cage tag-team no-holds-barred match: Predator, Alien, Terminator, Jason (Friday The 13), Michael (Holloween), Freddy Kruger and Bill O’Reilly (as himself…fits perfectly in the group) vs. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and The Kardashians.
All of the friends and families of the direct victims of the 9/11 attacks;
All of the friends and families of the indirect victims of the 9/11 attacks, namely all of the people suffering, or that died, from cancers, lung diseases and other disorders that developed as a consequence of being part of a rescue team at Ground Zero;
All of the people that survived the attacks but are still suffering from psychological damages as a result of the traumatizing experience;
To all of the Muslims that that immigrated to Canada, United-States or European countries, to leave their respective countries, for a better life, and that were subjected to racism as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks (most of them were already rightful citizens of their new countries);
And
To all of the Muslims, living in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, that died or that are still suffering from the consequences of wars that took place in response to the 9/11 attacks, although they never agreed with, nor they condoned, the 9/11 attacks.
May whatever or whoever you believe in bring you peace of mind and love in your heart. As a gesture of respect and sympathy, the background picture of this blog (a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge) will be replace by a new one for our next article, on Sunday September 18, 2011.
However, even on such a sad day, the Modern Circus doesn’t take a break. No rest for the wicked. More than ever, we feel we have a duty to put the magnifying glass on the Modern Circus’ craziness that may reach a whole new level on the 10th anniversary 9/11.
A conversation overheard at a secret media meeting…
TV Executive Producer #1: The 10th anniversary of 9/11 will give us good ratings for a while. But people don’t like to be sad for too long. Fear!!! That’s what we need.
TV Executive Producer #2: Fear sells. But it seems we have no luck with fear lately.
Dusty Sunshine, Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster): Forget about it (with a Jersey…”Joysey” accent). I was just in New York City, for the Irene hurricane. I was expecting the worst, you know, a gold mine for us weathermen. I was excited and anxious for Irene to arrive. I had the feeling that it would be my moment. But all the action happened in Vermont. Irene barely showed up in New York…reminding me of my Prom date. All in all, I had to stand in a puddle of water and mud pretending it was a catastrophe. People were waiting for Dusty Sunshine to save the day. All they got was a lousy wet willy. That said, the weather for tonight: partly cloudy with lows in the upper 60’s…
TV Executive Producer #1: Ok. That’s enough, Wet Willy. Shut it.
TV Executive Producer #2: What now?
TV Executive Producer #1: Well no hurricane in sight. No contagious disease. Remember when people feared to open their mail because of anthrax? Or President Bush's color-coded terror alerts…now that was ingenious! People would watch the news just to see what was going to be the color of the day.
TV Executive Producer #2: How about when people were buying gas masks in fear of a biological warfare and weapons of mass destruction? We got, on tape, a man that bought gas masks for himself and his dog. The scene was priceless.
TV Executive Producer #1: Those were the good ol’ days! Fear…where have you gone?
TV Executive Producer #2: Gotta find something tragic.
TV Executive Producer #3: Got some breaking news for you guys. A drunken moose!!
TVExecutive Producer #1: From Sweden? Old news. The moose got drunk from eating fermented apples, reached out for more fruits, slipped and got stuck in a tree. It was released from the tree, sobered up and went back into the wild. Boring. Next!
TV Executive Producer #3: Wrong! Turns out the moose had a drinking problem and was rushed to Dr. Drew’s rehab clinic in Pasadena, California. As it was entering the premises, a car smashed the front entrance of the clinic, fatally injuring the moose. Who was driving the car? Lindsay Lohan. She was drunk too. Poetic justice, I guess. Funny thing, she was chasing that woman who claimed Lohan terrorized her in a car chase, back in 2007.
TV Executive Producer #2: Alleluia!! We are saved!! Juicy…
TV Executive Producer #1: If it bleeds, it leads!! I want a picture of the moose with his mother when it was a young moose. I also want also a Swedish expert on meese, that speaks English, but with an accent…it sounds more credible. Moose is the first story. 9/11 is the third. We gotta find something better for the second spot…
TV Executive Producer #2: So who’s on second?
Dusty Sunshine, Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster): No! No! Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third…
*Abbott and Costello rolling in their graves*
New Character(s) brought to this Blog: Dusty Sunshine, The Weatherman (sometimes filling in as a sportscaster) and TV Executive Producer #1, #2 and #3 (As members of The Drama Queen Media).
This week’s lucky number: Right in between 6 and 8 (yes…again!).
Personal message: To the guy listening to music with his headphones, that also happens to sing out loud, and completely out of tune: “Buddy, remember we don’t hear the music…only you”.
Quote of the week: “You laugh because you think I’m different, I laugh because I just farted” – Last word freak…who actually got the last word, by default.
To do: Breathe in, breathe out (just not besides the Last word freak!!!).
Bad idea for a movie: Predator vs. Alien.
Great idea for a reality show: Barbed wire steel cage tag-team no-holds-barred match: Predator, Alien, Terminator, Jason (Friday The 13), Michael (Holloween), Freddy Kruger and Bill O’Reilly (as himself…fits perfectly in the group) vs. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and The Kardashians.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The “ends” of the world
As we witness the sad images of violence from the suburbs of London, it’s easy to ask ourselves a few questions: has the whole world gone completely crazy? Is it the end of the world?
Add to that the never ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Côte d’Ivoire, Darfur, etc. Even insignificant events turn sour in an instant…Like the riots in Vancouver after a Stanley Cup loss in the Finals. Or even worse: when they reintroduced the blue colored Smarties in May 2010, as we all remember. One must wonder if the Apocalypse is knocking at the door. We can already see The Nutcases salivating…Unfortunately, The Nutcase will be a recurring character in our silly blog.
Yes. Maybe we are crazy. As a matter of fact, we are quite sure we are. But we don’t think we are worse than the world was at other times in history. The media surely wants us to believe that every day. According to The Drama Queen Media (from now on, we will refer to the media as The Drama Queen Media), the world is on the verge of collapsing. For some crazy unknown reason, it seems we consume more when we are scared. As a result, we live in a culture of fear. No wonder terrorism is on the rise.
But for fun, just imagine how The Drama Queen Media would be covering the Crusades? Or the Spanish Inquisition? Or the French Revolution? Or the Crucifixion of Jesus? How about The Drama Queen Media covering a reality show of Cro-magnon men. All of them groaning and hitting themselves on the head with sticks every time they would disagree. Hilarious! Actually, they would not be able to air that today, you know, to maintain social order. Otherwise, people might think it’s a better (and cheaper) idea to hit their “ex” with a stick instead of hiring an expensive lawyer. I have to admit, it’s very tempting…
Violence is not only part of the history of the world, but it most certainly shaped it. People were killed for not believing in the same God, for believing that the world is round, for having epilepsy, etc. The world, sadly, has a history of violence. It looks like a big wheel that increases from level 1 to 10, turning round and round, clockwise, marking time.
Lately, we have only refined our reasons for killing. Nowadays, we read about killing the significant other for leaving (sometimes along with the children), stabbing a soccer referee for missing a call, shooting boss after a layoff, or murdering female students…simply for being women. Are we near level 10? Well, that would be like saying that World Wars I and II were level 5-6? Our humble opinion is that Holocaust has to be a solid 10. On the other hand, The Drama Queen Media would say that every day is a solid 10 on the nightly news.
So if you ever feel the urge to kick a guy’s family jewels for saying “at least you have your health”, or to puncture your bosses’ lungs with a crowbar, or to smash your 1999 Chrysler Cirrus in a government agency entrance, c’mon dude, be original!!! That’s nothing that hasn’t been done already during Medieval times (except maybe for the Chrysler thing).
But if you want to do something that hasn’t been done before (you know, because what we’ve tried yet as not worked): try to change your own small world. If everybody did that, we are optimistic that the world would change faster and more efficiently than whatever we are doing now.
On another note, we surely hope Mother Nature will read our modest blog (In our dreams…Yeah! Right! like she cares!). Mother Nature scares us way more than violence itself. We would like to bet that she is actually doing tests to wipe us off of this rock (See Japan, Haïti, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, etc.). Maybe she’ll come up with a bullet-proof-Ebola-like virus or a mega worldwide Tsunami (if you don’t swim, that might be a good time to learn).
In the meantime, The Nutcases around the world will have something to look for: the end of the world in 2012. I have to specify the year because we just “had” one this year, in May.
2012 is just another scare…or is it?
New Character(s) brought to this Blog: The Drama Queen Media (played any and all media) and The Nutcase(s) (played by your average local moron, screw loose, loser, goofball, dunce, loony, idiot, insane, screwball, round the bend, nut job and/or politician).
This week’s lucky number (we know it’s stupid...but please, just play along!): 7
Personal message: To the guy that keeps honking every time he picks up someone for carpooling very early in the morning: “Get off your fat ass, you lazy douche bag, and knock on the person’s door”.
Quote of the week: “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night” – Anonymous (stoner).
To do: say something kind to someone you really don’t know.
Bad choice of a rock band name: London Riots
Add to that the never ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Côte d’Ivoire, Darfur, etc. Even insignificant events turn sour in an instant…Like the riots in Vancouver after a Stanley Cup loss in the Finals. Or even worse: when they reintroduced the blue colored Smarties in May 2010, as we all remember. One must wonder if the Apocalypse is knocking at the door. We can already see The Nutcases salivating…Unfortunately, The Nutcase will be a recurring character in our silly blog.
Yes. Maybe we are crazy. As a matter of fact, we are quite sure we are. But we don’t think we are worse than the world was at other times in history. The media surely wants us to believe that every day. According to The Drama Queen Media (from now on, we will refer to the media as The Drama Queen Media), the world is on the verge of collapsing. For some crazy unknown reason, it seems we consume more when we are scared. As a result, we live in a culture of fear. No wonder terrorism is on the rise.
But for fun, just imagine how The Drama Queen Media would be covering the Crusades? Or the Spanish Inquisition? Or the French Revolution? Or the Crucifixion of Jesus? How about The Drama Queen Media covering a reality show of Cro-magnon men. All of them groaning and hitting themselves on the head with sticks every time they would disagree. Hilarious! Actually, they would not be able to air that today, you know, to maintain social order. Otherwise, people might think it’s a better (and cheaper) idea to hit their “ex” with a stick instead of hiring an expensive lawyer. I have to admit, it’s very tempting…
Violence is not only part of the history of the world, but it most certainly shaped it. People were killed for not believing in the same God, for believing that the world is round, for having epilepsy, etc. The world, sadly, has a history of violence. It looks like a big wheel that increases from level 1 to 10, turning round and round, clockwise, marking time.
Lately, we have only refined our reasons for killing. Nowadays, we read about killing the significant other for leaving (sometimes along with the children), stabbing a soccer referee for missing a call, shooting boss after a layoff, or murdering female students…simply for being women. Are we near level 10? Well, that would be like saying that World Wars I and II were level 5-6? Our humble opinion is that Holocaust has to be a solid 10. On the other hand, The Drama Queen Media would say that every day is a solid 10 on the nightly news.
So if you ever feel the urge to kick a guy’s family jewels for saying “at least you have your health”, or to puncture your bosses’ lungs with a crowbar, or to smash your 1999 Chrysler Cirrus in a government agency entrance, c’mon dude, be original!!! That’s nothing that hasn’t been done already during Medieval times (except maybe for the Chrysler thing).
But if you want to do something that hasn’t been done before (you know, because what we’ve tried yet as not worked): try to change your own small world. If everybody did that, we are optimistic that the world would change faster and more efficiently than whatever we are doing now.
On another note, we surely hope Mother Nature will read our modest blog (In our dreams…Yeah! Right! like she cares!). Mother Nature scares us way more than violence itself. We would like to bet that she is actually doing tests to wipe us off of this rock (See Japan, Haïti, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, etc.). Maybe she’ll come up with a bullet-proof-Ebola-like virus or a mega worldwide Tsunami (if you don’t swim, that might be a good time to learn).
In the meantime, The Nutcases around the world will have something to look for: the end of the world in 2012. I have to specify the year because we just “had” one this year, in May.
2012 is just another scare…or is it?
New Character(s) brought to this Blog: The Drama Queen Media (played any and all media) and The Nutcase(s) (played by your average local moron, screw loose, loser, goofball, dunce, loony, idiot, insane, screwball, round the bend, nut job and/or politician).
This week’s lucky number (we know it’s stupid...but please, just play along!): 7
Personal message: To the guy that keeps honking every time he picks up someone for carpooling very early in the morning: “Get off your fat ass, you lazy douche bag, and knock on the person’s door”.
Quote of the week: “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night” – Anonymous (stoner).
To do: say something kind to someone you really don’t know.
Bad choice of a rock band name: London Riots
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