Opera Mondays

Local Edition. Nelson Martinez. I’ve seen him a few times and he’s very good, and really fun to watch (especially as Figaro).

SWPL Zombie obsession

SWPLs are obsessed with zombies. Many have postulated that perhaps it is a desire for a common enemy to unite “us” – and since it’s a zombie, no one can assault the SWPL with the kryptonite of all insults: “Das Racis.”

However, I think the zombie obsession has nothing to do with zombies, and not everything to do with a common enemy.

How many SWPL things can we see in the picture above? I see three. 

SWPLs love zombies because it allows us to set a reset button on society. It is less about zombies and more with the byproduct of the outbreak- a return to traditional values.

So what does a mass-scale zombie outbreak mean, realistically?

1) Return to traditional gender roles

Men are stronger, faster, better shots, tend to choke less under pressure and are the de-facto protectors of the group. Women take care of chores that require less strength and more cooperation: laundry, food, gardening, cooking.

2) Life has an immediate and obvious purpose. Stay alive. Help your in-group stay alive. Fight the enemy. Survive.

3) Localvorism/Organic food. You eat to survive. You eat what you can find. No chemicals. No radiation. No fat chicks.

4) No advertising. No consumerism. The consumerist life-style is gone.  No trends. They are unimportant and frivolous. IT IS THE END OF NARCISSISM AS WE KNOW IT TODAY.

5) Communication is person to person, or perhaps by radio. No phone, no twitter, no duck face facebook pictures. Social media is dead. Once again, narcissism is dead.

6) The end of class structure ruled by wealth. The end of fiat currency and usury. No derivative backed security blah blah. The end of money. It is a foraging/hunting system and a trade and barter system. Or a “strongest takes it”, I suppose.

7) There are strong cohesive in groups, and a distrust for out-groups. Your group is your family and your community. Of course no movies, or TV shows will show this, but considering most social circles are already very ethnically/racially homogeneous, most of the in/out groups will be divided by race. Distrust of an out-group is common and encouraged.

8) No pussies allowed. Only the brave, useful and strong survive. No safety net.  Zombieworld is no world for egalitarianism. The stupid and weak will die. The assholes and thieves will be discarded. If you’re weak, learn to be useful. Be nice to your group, they are your social security.

9) The end of traffic and congestion. No useless tasks. No drivers license, mortgages, or parking tickets. No state. Your community is the state.

10) No news. No politics. No Nancy fucking Grace. No outside agendas trying to poison influence your mind and your pocket. Information is mostly fact based.

11) An armed society is a polite society (and an alive one). Everyone is packing.

12) Everyone is their true self. No make-up, no plastic surgery, no Rogaine, no steroids…you come as you are. Again, the end of narcissism. Less superficiality. (Also, no fat people!)

13) Women are valuable for more than their looks. They exist for the continuation and well-being of the in-group, as do the men. There is also a return to modesty and sexual discretion and discrimination, as:

a) there is probably scarce methods of contraception

b) women have to be extremely choosy about who impregnates them as he will be their main protector (not the government!)

c) no Maury Povich

14) After the fallout, life is generally peaceful and cohesive. There is always something to do, though.

15) And of course the SWPLs favorite.

Marathons!

All of these scenarios, sound quite pleasing to me. However, SWPLs do not actively seek out the scenarios they desire. They instead hope and pray for the violent death and horrific infection of almost the entire human race. Better than appearing racist, I suppose.

Oh, they also dress up like zombies and take pictures. Aren’t they all very special and unique?

Good job guys.  Enjoy your suburbs and cable TV.

Full disclosure: I am a casual viewer of The Walking Dead, but being quite sensitive, it does tend to give me nightmares. 

I’m Confused About the Amish

I haven’t really watched the show Breaking Amish, except for a few minutes here and there. For the most part, I find that Amish values- specifically placing morals above family and in-group, hyper religiousness, prohibition on natural urges, and most importantly obsession with righteous indignation to be the very things that are wrong with a Puritan based society (i.e. North American founding stock). Catholics don’t get a free pass either.

The obsession with appearing moral is in huge part what has led to the disintegration of WASP society, as it seems those coming from Puritan stock (and those raised in a Puritan “light” society, such as the US) are pathologically obsessed with appearing “moral.” Unfortunately this desire trumps group loyalty, which is where it gets troublesome.

The show is basically about 4 Amish and one Mennonite that leave their respective communities to experience New York City (of course, they don’t quite experience the soul crushing grind of a 9-5 job, bills, late rent…..as TLC takes care of accommodations).

One Amish grandfather learned his (biological) granddaughter is leaving to NYC and just tells her to “get out” without trying to elicit an explanation or wishing her well. I see this as an example (albeit extreme) of general Northwestern European behavior. Morality is too rigid and when placed above all else, becomes a replacement for what SHOULD be paramount, which are blood and ethnic ties. The grandfather’s identity of Amish is above his identity of grandfather, when it should be the other way around.

Here is where the trouble starts:

This morality above all else almost lends itself to helping an out group instead of an in group because if the game is that morality is THE ULTIMATE virtue, then the best way to show your altruism is by helping an out group. Because it is in our biological interest to help our in-group- so WASPS would then by default choose to help the out-group (showing they are so virtuous they can circumvent their BIOLOGY!) as it shows the ULTIMATE altruism  helping someone who does not benefit you in any way and even might hurt you. It’s not as if they don’t know this or do it in spite of….they do it BECAUSE OF.

Then again, the Amish are one of the only people to have successfully maintained their way of life, and as one Amish kid said on the show.

“Why are you shunning me?”

“To keep the Amish society.”

The strategy of kicking out the “weak” in order to maintain the whole seems to counter the previous criticisms. If you shun the part of the group that would weaken your way of life, and seek to undermine your culture, then you can keep the whole fairly strong and committed. That also acts as a deterrent against other “revolutionaries.

So all in all, I am confused as to whether the Amish strategy is a good one or a bad one. I’d most likely say bad, as Protestantism on crack never did anyone any good.

Finally, don’t watch the show. It is obviously propaganda against a tight knit community, and is mostly likely staged (the girl in the picture below was already married and had been on TV before). Also, the couple that “met” on the show already possibly had a baby.

Opera Break

(Late) Opera Break

Am private just for a little bit!

 

Television Values: Then and Now

Television values: Then

Community

Self acceptance

Benevolence

Tradition

Family

Helping others:

Maintaining a nice image:

And now?

Fame

Money:

Image

Popularity:

Promiscuity:

Teh Gay:

And of course…multiculturalism!

I was inspired to write this post because of this article.

On a list of 16 values, fame jumped from the 15th spot, where it was in both 1987 and 1997, to the first spot in 2007.From 1997 to 2007, benevolence (being kind and helping others) fell from second to 13th, and tradition dropped from fourth to 15th.

The study assessed the values of characters in popular television shows in each decade from 1967 to 2007, with two shows per decade evaluated, including “Andy Griffith” and “The Lucy Show” in 1967, “Laverne & Shirley” and “Happy Days” in 1977, and “American Idol” and “Hannah Montana” in 2007.

“I was shocked, especially by the dramatic changes in the last 10 years,” said Yalda T. Uhls, a UCLA doctoral student in developmental psychology and the lead author of the study. “I thought fame would be important but did not expect this drastic an increase or such a dramatic decrease in other values, such as community feeling. If you believe that television reflects the culture, as I do, then American culture has changed drastically.”

Community feeling (being part of a group) was the No.1 value in 1967, 1977 and 1997, and it was the No. 2 value in 1987, the study found. By 2007, however, it had fallen out of the top 10, to 11th.

“The rise of fame in preteen television may be one influence in the documented rise of narcissism in our culture,” said the study’s senior author, Patricia M. Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles. “Popular television shows are part of the environment that causes the increased narcissism, but they also reflect the culture. They both reflect it and serve as a powerful socialization force for the next generation.”

The top five values in 2007 were fame, achievement, popularity, image and financial success.In 1997, the top five were community feeling, benevolence (being kind and helping others), image, tradition and self-acceptance. In 2007, benevolence dropped to the 12th spot and community feeling fell to 11th. Financial success went from 12th in 1967 and 1997 to fifth in 2007.

The two least emphasized values in 2007 were spiritualism (16th) and tradition (15th); tradition had been ranked fourth in 1997.

Fame is pushed on pretty much every show. I have never liked the term “be someone” linked to adulation by strangers. We have a very warped sense of values.

I hate pretty much everyone I meet. Why would anyone want attention from asshole strangers you don’t even know?

Update: Praise JESUS!!! Glee is off the air!!!

Communication: Then and Now

Communication Then:

Communication now:

Ugh. Bluetooth.

I understand…..

 

Opera Break

It’s still Monday…..

 

No one yells M’ama, like Guiseppe Di Stefano. I think these are the sweetest lyrics……

Work: Then and Now

Work then:

And now:

We are completely removed from what our work produces. Then again, what exactly does one produce in an economy based on consumerism and Ponzi schemes?

And no wonder everyone is so fat. All we do is sit down and push buttons.

Opera Break

Mario del Monaco- Vesti la Giubba….

“Recitaaaaar…”

This is a good song to listen to when you hate life. Makes all your problems seem epic.