Hollywood, California, is my spiritual hometown. I actually grew up in three other communities in California, but it hardly seems to matter which three. How could my heart take root anywhere under the tyranny of American public schooling?
I don’t have to work for a living. After my father died in December 1997, my family and I won a legal settlement.
The Blog About
Nothing: Sudheer of Hyderabad, India, is a big fan of Playboy and an
even bigger fan of Seinfeld. In this blog, he composes humorous
dialogues for the show’s characters.
Hit & Run: the official
blog of my other favorite magazine, Reason: Free Minds and Free
Markets; winner
of the 2005 Weblog Award for Best Group Blog; “the best
libertarian blog” according to the October 2005 issue of
Playboy.
Scoobie Davis Online: a self-described “filmmaker, surfer, and party crasher” in southern California. He’s also a Playboy fan, a left-leaning political gadfly, and a connoisseur of Jack T. Chick religious tracts.
The Search for
Health in Decadence: poetry and philosophical writings of Will, who has
engaged me in lengthy, good-natured debate through comments on my
blog.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven
Pinker. With stylistic flair, a Harvard cognitive scientist
refutes myths about human nature underlying a multitude of political
beliefs—including many of those that would either favor or
oppose the sexual revolution.
God in Popular Culture by Andrew M. Greeley. A liberal Catholic
priest sees quasi-Christian messages of grace abounding in the
allegedly soulless realm of commercial pop culture. For all I know,
Greeley is not necessarily a Playboy fan. But his
interpretation of Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin” has
influenced my impression of Playboy. (In case anyone wonders, my religious heritage is Lutheran on my father’s side and secularist on my mother’s.)
How do I know? Because this diabolical musical variation on Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds looks so much like the sadistic glee of the two dipshits who gave me life in teasing me in public on a difficult subject during a difficult time. Not coincidentally, it’s the sadistic glee I take in publishing this post, too. This is a scene of grand-scale science-fiction violence with imagery clearly intended to evoke the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Sensitive persons, you know the drill.
Naturally, Wikipedia can tell you everything you didn’t know you would enjoy knowing about “Yakety Sax” (not to be confused with the less interesting “Yakety Yak” by the Coasters).
For another inspired take on extraterrestrials extra-tyrannicals, read here.
Update, June 15, 2008, 5:37 p.m.: Probably the fourth time all the way through for me, the Spielberg version of the Wells novel is as good as I remember.
Shantra Harmony M. left this comment at November 18, 2007 9:11 PM
Brian, It may be my current state of mind or maybe my IQ has taken a nose-dive, but I don't really get this post. Sorry! Maybe when I look at it again, it'll be different.
Vanessa left this comment at December 19, 2007 1:30 AM
Brian, I have been meaning to tell you some things regarding this post, but I have been all too guilty of thinking them rather than actually taking the time to write them. Really, though, my comments are very simple. Although I do not know the specifics of what happened between you and your parents, I understand that you experienced being terrorized and humiliated under their authority, and my heart responds to you for this. What I want to emphasize is that, no matter what anyone might or might not say, the pain you feel is real and it is valid. I believe what I’m seeing is you dealing with your painful experiences through public expression, and I am really glad for that. All the best for you in your healing, Vanessa
Shantra left this comment at December 19, 2007 8:21 PM
OK, Brian, I have come back to revisit this post and provide a more thoughtful comment. I just re-watched the YouTube video. The point seems to be that destruction and carnage are humorous, and I now get the connection you are making with your own adolescent experiences. If your parents made fun of the difficulties you experienced at puberty (and I believe that they did), I agree that it was both a cruel and stupid thing to do.
Speaking to a general issue you have mentioned often, you know that I disagree with the categorization of teenagers as the "new niggers." However, I think it is an interesting concept and one worth exploring, and I am open to reading up on it.
Regarding your personal situation, I wish I understood better what you've gone through. I've read your previous blog posts on the topic very carefully, but haven't found the level of detail I need for a thorough understanding. I know that you must have suffered some pretty severe trauma during your adolescence.
Any parents who poke fun at their children's awkward phases are making a horrible mistake. I don't know the extent of what your parents did to you, or whether both of them were equal perpetrators of pain or if that was more your father's doing (with your mother standing behind him), but it's clear that they made mistakes.
I also agree that the public school system has some atrocious failings. Yes, I'm a teacher, but I teach at the post-secondary level, which is not compulsory, and I have good reason to do so.
I will share one personal experience with you that might have an impact. My junior high experience was pure hell. I was the most hated girl in the entire school. I had one friend, and sometimes she turned on me as well. Nobody was able to do a thing to help me (and I don't think anyone really wanted to). I begged my mother to allow me to change schools for eighth grade, and, in one of her bigger mistakes, she refused, insisting that if I changed schools, my experience "wouldn't be any different." I think she was wrong. I also believe the real reason she didn't let me change was a selfish one which I won't go into.
I do not minimize the pain anyone suffers as a result of their parents' mistakes. In my own case, I view my parents' failings as just that: mistakes. That doesn't make the memories less painful, but it helps me feel compassion for what they were going through at the time. My father was my age when he and my mother divorced. When my mother was my age, I was thirteen years old. Both of them were going through a lot, were relatively young, and had been through their own traumas when they were children. So even though some of their mistakes changed me forever, and not for the better, I really can't feel hatred or even anger toward them. I just feel sad for all of us. I feel sad that my father is not able to connect with me emotionally in the way that I would like. I feel sad that my mother was so self-centered when I needed her most that in some ways she abandoned me. And I feel sad that I did not have the skills to stand up for myself and make my own experience better.
I think I've mentioned this before, but the current definition of emotional abuse of children accepted by the APA is that if the child is hurt, then the parents have perpetrated emotional abuse, irrespective of their motivations. By that definition, I think we'd be hard-pressed to find many people who were not emotionally abused in some way. Nevertheless, this does not minimize anybody's experience, however common it may be.
I truly hope you will be able to let go of your rage, give in to the pain that underlies it, and eventually reframe your concept of what the best way to deal with it is. This many years later, it is a tragedy that so much of your emotional energy is taken up re-living the pain of your adolescence.
Despite all of our conflicts, I wish only the best for you. I'm sorry you felt that I wasn't taking you seriously. That really is not the case.
Shantra Harmony M. left this comment at November 18, 2007 9:11 PM
left this comment at December 19, 2007 1:30 AM