Fear as Flashlight, Cont. · 8 October 2008
So this was the nightmare. The markets in Asia and then Europe last night would tank. And then Tuesday would be blackest black in the US markets. Then McCain would pack his brass knuckles town to Tennessee. Come out swinging and 20 minutes in give America the horror theatre we really deserve. You know what I'm saying. With the old guy out of the race, the machine back in control, Rove would install Mitt exec experince financial guru Romney on top of the ticket and we'd be looking at a sympathy landslide for the safe patriarch. October surprise on another level.
Sigh. The world seemed to be in trauma-fatigue yesterday, though; and decline of the GOP and the markets continued apace with nothing so dire. Thank gods.
It's too beautiful here for words, by the way. I always forget about October in Los Angeles. My senses and memory are so full now.
And there's the placebo-PTSD thing happening in me: a gratitude that the sky is intact. Even if it is closer now.
I've always been suspicious of the scare-the-shit-out-of-yourself approach to practice. Hello, manufactured drama. And yet, there seem to be obvious immediate benefits.
Possible virtues of scaring the shit out of yourself (Global Meltdown Edition):
-Wake up, Zen style. Bam!
-See clearly what got you in to this mess
-Get serious about changing everything immediately
-Experience gratitude for remaining "fundamentals"
-Rue the day you went "sub prime"
-Reevaluate priorities
-See what you're really made of—in a moment of truth, how human are you?
-Let go. Find out falling was no big thing
Posted by (0v0)
Categories: markets-networks-society
, spirituality
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yeah, fear is a good thing. it’s instinctual, a warning sign of danger. puts everything in perspective. then we decide. ride the wave of the breath and merge with the sea. or insist on remaining a wave.
Posted by: Charusheela · Oct 9, 10:49 AM · #
Is this who I think it is…? If so, welcome! Now get back to work.
Me too. I’m supposed to spend the lunch hour reading a paper for tonight’s seminar instead of blogging or succumbing to the Colbert Nation procrastination station. L8r.
Oh P.S. this is not scientific, but PBS is polling on whether a certain someone is qualified to be VP and currently 49% of respondents say YES. Unfortunately there is no write-in option but we can still tip the majority to rationality with a 3-second vote. Here.
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 9, 11:11 AM · #
I just had an epiphany.
Everyone thinks they are living in reality. That explains everything.
No wonder I like Zen.
Explains my own past-history too!
Posted by: Gregor · Oct 9, 02:01 PM · #
I was at the Glendora Wal-Mart today helping to train cashiers for fundraising — long story — and I learned what some of these folks really want: to be able to vote for the President and Vice President independently, sans ticket. Never mind that these two people are expected to work closely and should have politics that are at least remotely aligned . . . brings up an odd truth, that in the personality game, Obama Palin make a pretty couple, and we all know how much Biden loves McCain. Rhetoric and inexperience, history in the making vs. stubborn old conviction.
Also saw a bumper sticker for the Obama Marx ticket. And I don’t think they meant that in a good way.
Strangely, crumbling capitalism is now the fault of the socialists. Socialists are “taking over” and on Lou Dobbs tonight, 77 percent of viewers believe there is a radical left wing conspiracy to manipulate the outcome of the election. It’s some weird Obama-is- ahead-therefore-Obama-is-doing-this-to-us-thing. That this isn’t the late-Bush era we’re seeing. It’s pre-Obama.
I’m afraid for violence in the next weeks. Without bread, the crowds are becoming mobs.
Posted by: yancy · Oct 9, 04:52 PM · #
Yancy, I love the thought of the Obama Marx sticker, but I think that most Americans are to scared of socialism and communism that they fail to see the positive elements these two contain. I once met an American when travelling in South America and when being asked about living in what used to be a socialist state, I replied I thought communism/socialism was a great idea, just that people were to selfish and power hungry (greedy) for it to work, this woman stepped to feet away from, as if my words presented some kind of threat to her, as in ‘this one is crazy and dangerous’. I mean for me, socialism is about free healthcare and free education and reasonable priced housing for everyone. Who in their right mind could be against that or even scared of that?
Sorry, I am digressing from your blog post topic, Owl.
Posted by: Fatou · Oct 9, 10:05 PM · #
I don’t know if this helps you, but it sure helps me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjdowef1oKE
Posted by: knl · Oct 10, 06:08 AM · #
Oh, and at last, there is the other ‘Owl’ at MIT... serving us this broad lesson in reality.
Posted by: Gregor · Oct 10, 08:23 AM · #
I love Laura Nyro. How come NOBODY knows about her? Oh yeah, patriarchy. Thanks. This is GREAT. Her face as she sings—as that amazing voice comes out of her—is a bit too self-aware to be rapturous. But still so good to watch.
Here’s No(wl)am again, in the Irish Times.
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 10, 11:59 AM · #
Yancy, this—
Strangely, crumbling capitalism is now the fault of the socialists. Socialists are “taking over” and on Lou Dobbs tonight, 77 percent of viewers believe there is a radical left wing conspiracy to manipulate the outcome of the election. It’s some weird Obama-is- ahead-therefore-Obama-is-doing-this-to-us-thing.
I have been thinking aobut this all day. For that angry midwestern guy at McCain’s rally yesterday, the message has been internalized perfectly. This is Obama bringing socialism. What do you do? Stay out of the way from Nov 4- Jan 4 while everything tanks and the world trashes Bush? Or stand up and own the word socialism and for once in our lives tar the other “ism” nobody bothered to demonize even still. The one that starts with a C.
Part of me fears violence now as well, it’s true. At least we won’t have McPalin in office to declare Martial Law pre-emptively, but seriously. I’ve seen some econ professors show absolute rage today. Very disturbing. The hard core of their theory (the rational actor and the effeciency of markets) is dying pretty nastily. Paradigm shifts hurt, especially when you really understand better than everyone else what is going down.
As you know, I’ve taken pains to put a margin of our income into the IRAs throughout grad school. And yeah, I’m a pretty gutsy investor. Hilarious, all those dinners out and shows we may as well have taken in these past years. Poof! :)
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 10, 12:00 PM · #
Laura was probably still within shouting distance of being a teenager when she performed this concert. Her over self-awareness was part of her package. Self-consciousness was her “rapturousness” at that point because it was so authentic.
For me, re-hearing that song made me remember that we’ve been here before. The chaos (and resulting fear and anxiety) of our current period is only, quite simply — and quite neutrally — history. I don’t mean to denegrate outrage, and I’m aware that this will all probably get worse before it gets better (rereading history definitely teaches that one), but seeing free-market capitalism fizzle isn’t all bad.
Posted by: knl · Oct 11, 04:18 AM · #
hi (0v0)
i prefer to get my political editorials from you. they are more truthful than the media’s.
hugs, Arturo
Posted by: arturo · Oct 11, 04:18 AM · #
I’m a gutsy investor, too, so this whole thing is interesting. I’m okay with paying for the paradigm shift with some of my hard earned cash — but I say that assuming long-term investments will right themselves over the next decade. ;-)
The socialism thing. Totally weird. Left over from the “Russia’s evil” days. Always need something to demonize. And now I feel a little frightened as socialism and Obama (and, I presume, his race) are all smooshed together into a National Enquirer-style boogie man.
Posted by: karen · Oct 11, 06:09 AM · #
KNL, yes. Analysts now are saying how this is a non-secular phenomenon. That is, it wasn’t predictable according to the usual business cycle. But… it’s just part of a longer cycle. So many people have been seeing this coming for so many years. It’s a bigger kind of cycle. You’re right about Laura Nyro. A few months ago I spent a Saturday morning watching her on youtube. There’s a lot of emotion in these old clips… a different kind of performance than what we see now. I actually like the vulnerability.
Arturo, thanks. Frank Rich is pretty good too. :)
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 11, 12:24 PM · #
Karen, I’m thinking the same thing. This is all too ironic to be ironic anymore. I’m glad that it’s Bush who will be the one to semi-nationalize the BANKS (HOLY SHIT), and in general that this happened now. Just so more people will see that this is a result of THIS era of fiscal and perhaps monetary policy. (Stuff like this will engender that.) But yeah, for most it will all get smooshed together. I’m intrigued to consider the differences between an Obama-led New Deal and one led by Hillary. For people in the center, Obama may have more symbolic credibility—ushering in the Mommy State as a black man? Who knows…
I do think we’ll finally get over the fear of the Red Menace soon—now that the Red Menace is a violent Capitalist thug-kleptocracy! Ha! Back to Woody Guthrie Americana…
As for investing… it’s really funny. We are risk tolerant because on some level we don’t care. A lot of people take it personally when they don’t get to consume as much. That changes everything.
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 11, 12:25 PM · #
Fun.
Posted by: (0v0) · Oct 12, 03:24 PM · #