Sanity for Vanity

 I'm not generally a fan of new music. The newest band I'm a big fan of is probably Tool and I know they are NOT new. But today I heard a song by Lizzy that I really liked! It was called Games People Play and it included these lines: "Never meaning what they say Never saying what they mean And they wile away the hours In their ivory towers Till they're covered up with flowers In the back of a black limousine... People walking up to you Singing Glory Hallelujah And they're trying to sock it to you In the name of the Lord... Look around tell me what you see What's happening to you and me God grant me the serenity To remember who I am 'Cause You've given up Your sanity For Your pride and your vanity Turns You sad on humanity And you don't give a da da damn. "

The tune was good too! And Lizzy had a nice, comfortable, Cheryl Crow style about her. I was impressed! But.... surprise, surprise, the song was NOT new. In fact the original was released in 1968, written and sung by that household name, Joe North. Or wait a minute, Joe West. Nope, it was Joe South. Right Joe SOUTH. It won the Grammy for song of the year in 1970. So it ain't new and neither are the universal concepts old Joe Compass was singing about. Particularly giving up our sanity for our pride and vanity. Let's unpack that nugget, shall we?

As you all know, I love George Carlin. I don't fanatically agree with everything he said or even think everything he said was funny. I've seen him bomb! But he HAS been responsible for some of the thruthiest truth I have heard from microphones held by comics, MC's, announcers, anchors, poets, singers, teachers, and speechmakers of all sorts. This might be his best:

Nobody has ever said it better. I never get tired of that rant. Now... think hard about this question... have you ever heard one of these disgustingly obese, systematically undereducated, Pavlovically consumerist, Orwellically media-dependent tokens in the games rich people play say, "I am not proud of my country."??? Well, guess what, George has something for that too. 

"The big red, white and blue cock that's being jammed up your asses." ha ha ha ha. And old Joe East, or was it West? Anyhoo, he couldn't even say "give a damn," he had to turn it into "give a doo doo dee dum doo" or whatever. Think of how far THAT part of America has progressed. We're allowed to swear now! Yet on the issue of the "owners" playing their game and calling all the shots - things haven't budged an inch. In fact, they have probably gone backwards. So what's the pride for? "It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." That goes for a lot of "dreams." Yet people are "proud" of how we've turned those dreams into nightmares. Is it just something we say? Do we say it cuz we're not allowed to say the opposite?

"Pride" should be reserved for accomplishments or skills not for random, geographical happenstance. "It's not a skill to be Irish." Pride goeth before a fall. 

I believe that all it takes for most of us to acquiesce to our roles as pawns in our owners' games of chess they call the "free market," "economics," "business," or some other dismissively euphemistic thing like that is the mere whiff of riches. It ain't about freedom any more, I think we're all aware of that, but there is very little a RICH man can't do. To be more specific, there are few freedoms the super rich can't buy. Musk is breaking the law with his million buck a day reward for being a MAGAflake. Alice Walton (Walmart) drives drunk a lot. Even killed a person with her Porsche. Amazingly (!!!!!) the arresting officers get suspended, statutes of limitation on breathalyzers run out, and charges disappear. The rich have super-human powers and it's only because of the Mammon worship that has crept into so many cultures. This should elicit the exact opposite of pride from participants in those cultures but somehow it doesn't. It's absolutely insane! Manufactured insanity. 

Consider this another fall post, but this time it's not my favourite season I'm talking about. It's the fall that the rough beast humanity is irrevocably slouching toward. That's right, I don't believe it can be changed any more. The good guys are losing. All we can do now is slow it down in isolated incidents. Wanna speed it up? Vote for this ethically bankrupt imbecile: