THE GREAT GADFLY:

Someone's In A Mood

Sometimes we need to be reminded that there's a whole big mess of existence beyond our precious little pillow of a personal worldview.

I'm tired. Tired of explaining myself when people tut-tut the things that interest me. Tired of people feeling the need to explain themselves when they realize I don't care for something they're into.

I DON'T CARE.

Or, perhaps less callous and more to the point, I DON'T CARE TO JUDGE YOU.

I'm tired of justifying my tastes to people. Depending on who you are, I'm either an elitist art snob or a fucking lemming sheep sucking at the great mass-media teat. Guess what? I'M BOTH. Here's another shocker: SO ARE YOU.

I'm tired of absolutist thought. "Either you're THIS way or you're THAT way - there's no in-between." Here's some in-between for you: EAT ME. I'll think what I damn well want to think, I'll believe what suits my sensibilities, and I'll respect the views of others. And if you don't like that, then SCREW YA.

I'm tired of people who judge people who don't ask to be judged. Get a life. The real world isn't like "American Idol", folks. Not everyone is a freshly-scrubbed little GapBot preened to resemble a sexually available tour guide, just bleeding to sing adult-contemporary soft-rock ballads to the lions. Some of us don't give a squirt WHAT you think. In fact, some of us thrive on your disapproval. How about that?

I'm tired of aggressive mediocrity, and the dependence on half-hearted Cheez Whiz to make us feel comfortable living in a world that's more and more uncomfortable. I want MARILYN MANSON, NAKED, ON GIANT FLAMING STILTS, NOW. I want him juggling sex dwarves, and I want the whole thing narrated by a crystal meth-enhanced Michael Moore, broadcasting from a cage of hungry rats. THIS IS WHAT I CALL ENTERTAINMENT, FOLKS.

And there's always room for crappy reality television shows and banal wacky-slob-dad sitcoms. Sure! But do we NEED SO DAMN MANY OF THEM?!

I'm tired of Republicans. I'm tired of Democrats. I'm tired of opinions being replaced by agendas. I'm tired of "us" and I'm tired of "them". I'm tired of protestors. I'm tired of jingo-jangle war fetishists hooting in the streets.

I watched the nightly news for the first time in weeks a couple of nights ago. I'm sure I don't have to tell you I'm tired of that shit, too.

Perhaps I've committed a crime of hypocrisy or two or twelve in this rant. Ya think? I hope so. Nothing's more boring than consistency.

So let's talk about pleasure, then.

Let's talk about coffee and hard cider and music you've never heard before by your favorite bands, and let's talk about people who make you laugh and think and feel not so cut off from the vanilla fascism of the world, and let's talk about the beauty of an effortless appreciation of life rather than succumbing to the pressure to knock oneself out to "smell the roses", and let's talk about kittens and lemonade and...well, okay, maybe those things aren't on YOUR list, but there's a wide wide world of all the small things that bring us together and make us connect, and that's what let's talk about.

Just for one day, let's check our -isms at the door. Just for one moment, crack your window open a bit wider and expand your worldview. What's out there?

Someone out in InformationSuperhighwayLand is reading all this and rolling their eyes with an exhausted, been-there-done-that sigh. I want to buy them a beer and listen to their thoughts on life.

These are the days that breed acid casualties and dropouts from society. How full of hot air does the bubble get before it pops? We're all vampires and we're all victims with beautiful soft necks.

Oh, I haves me my moods sometimes. I like to think it's a healthy characteristic. What about you?