A song about a guy you maybe know????
I'm just a regular Joe with a regular job
I'm your average white suburbanite slob
I like football and porno and books about war
I've got an average house with a nic hardwood floor
My wife and my job, my kids and my car
My feet on my table, and a cuban cigar
But sometimes that just ain't enough to keep a man like me interested
(Oh no) No Way (Uh-uh)
No, I've gotta go out and have fun
At someone else's expense
(Oh yeah) Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
I drive really slow in the ultrafast lane
While people behind me are going insane
I use public toilets and piss on the seat
I walk around in the summertime saying, "How about this heat?"
Sometimes I park in handicapped spaces
While handicapped people make handicapped faces
Maybe I shouldn't be singing this song
Ranting and raving and carrying on
Maybe they're right when they tell me I'm wrong
Naaaah!
You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, hot pink with whaleskin hub caps and all leather cow interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights, yeah! And I'm gonna drive around in that baby at 115mph getting one mile per gallon, sucking down quarter pounder cheese burgers from McDonald's in the old-fashioned non-biodegradable styrofoam containers and when I'm done sucking down those grease ball burgers, I'm gonna wipe my mouth with the American flag and then I'm gonna toss the styrofoam container right out the side and there ain't a God damned thing anybody can do about it. YOU know why? Because we got the bombs, that's why.
Two words. Nuclear fucking weapons, okay?! Russia, Germany, Romania - they can have all the Democracy they want. They can have a big democracy cake-walk right through the middle of Tiananmen square and it won't make a lick of difference because we've got the bombs, okay?! John Wayne's not dead - he's frozen. And as soon as we find the cure for cancer we're gonna thaw out the duke and he's gonna be pretty pissed off. You know why? Have you ever taken a cold shower? Well multiple that by 15-million times, that's how pissed off the Duke's gonna be. I'm gonna get the Duke and John Cassavetes...
(Hey)
and Lee Marvin
(Hey)
and Sam Pekinpah
(Hey)
And a case of Whiskey and drive down to Texas...
Why don't you just shut-up and sing the song pal!
I'm an asshole and proud of it!
As an American who grew up in a small American town, I must unfortunately say that while I don't think I've ever met anyone here who was bad enough to be summarized completely by that song, I've nonetheless seen some people who are pretty close. It's why I moved to a real city, and it's also the reason why I'm sometimes envious of Britain and Scandinavia, not always so much for their governments, as for their people. It just seems like ignorance isn't so much a matter of pride in Britain, Norway, Sweden, Iceland...
ReplyDeleteThere's really nothing wrong with the American Constitution. It provides very much the same set of rights that are found in most free countries. In fact, I've heard more than one British person say they wished Britain had the American Constitution. The difference isn't the government, it's the people.
In America, it's popular to say that you love the Constitution, but think of civil rights and due process as a bunch of unpatriotic liberal trash, even though those same civil protections act to protect the person who says those things. During the Bush administration, we had most of our due process stripped away to provide the President with power to search without a court order, to wiretap, to imprison without charge or trial, to deport to other countries secretly to permit torture that would ostensibly be illegal if it were done here. All that is necessary is an allegation or a suspicion. There is no need for due process, and we are to trust that our Executive would never use these powers arbitrarily. To even think such a thing is thought suspicious and unpatriotic by some people here.
Obama was elected on a premise that he would reform these artifacts of the Bush years. Instead, he has expanded them. He has proposed a kill switch for the Internet, trackable ID's for Internet users to make anonymity impossible, and he currently has had Army Private First Class Bradley Manning in solitary confinement without trial now for seven months, during which time he has been subject to sleep deprivation and psychiatric treatments involving drugs that have been called unnecessary and improper by three Army doctors in the same base where he is confined. Regardless of his guilt or innocence of his charges, for these things to happen pending trial in a free country, even in the military, is reminiscent of the old days of the Soviet Union, where "psychiatric treatment" was commonly used as a way of punishing dissidents in gulags, also without trial or due process.
This is happening not under the presidency of Bush, but under Obama, the "progressive" candidate who promised to heal the country's democracy. We are now in a position in which the only way we can vote him out in the next election is to vote for a Republican. More or less, we are damned if we do and we're damned if we don't.
I don't know what the situation is like in Norway, but I do know that sadly, the conservative movement here seems to have great influence of the Prime Minister Reinfeld and the judicial system in Sweden over the last few years. Sweden used to be known as one of the very most progressive countries in the world, but lately it seems that they can be bought with American dollars. I hope that you do what you can to hold on to your freedom in Norway. It's a beautiful country.
Well, yes, I agree. Scandinavia is to me the goal a lot of countries should strive for. Not just politically but also socially. The open-mindedness and care for others are high priorities and there is much to learn from for the rest of the world of the scandinavian mentality.
ReplyDeleteI never really realized it before I went out traveling. But that got everything into perspective for me. And especially after traveling in the US, where I feel conditions are really extreme. Is this the country that is supposed to be the country of the free and of democracy? To me it, in many ways looks the opposite, when I compare it to my won country, norway.
Thank you for your insights and comments, it was a very interesting read
:-)
Ironically, I first found this blog because I'd become interested in Scandinavian music recently, and awhile back there were postings of Norwegian poetry and mythology, which I found interesting also.
ReplyDeleteRecently though, the politics have become interesting as well though. I've been watching the case of Julian Assange in Sweden, and also Birgitta Jónsdóttir in Iceland. The case has been all over the news, but just a quick summary:
The American army soldier I mentioned earlier who has been detained under unusual conditions for nine months leaked restricted information about all sorts of government misconduct involving torture, spying on the United Nations, retaliation against other governments for not purchasing genetically modified corn seed from an American private sector company, internal details of America's relationship with dozens of dictators in various nations where democracy is being prevented because of our financial support for their regimes, etc. All of this data was given to an Australian journalist named Julian Assange, who does seem at times to be a man with a big ego and a wandering interest in various women, but that itself is not a punishable crime (more on that in a moment).
Assange had been giving speeches in Sweden, and was even thinking of getting a citizenship there so he could base his work on exposing government abuses in a country with a reputation for progressive policies. At that time though, two women who he had slept with went to the police together to ask that he be required to take an HIV test, because one claimed that when they were in bed after having sex that night that he had sex with her without a condom (she got him breakfast the next morning AFTERWARD), and the other one even threw a party for him at her apartment (AFTERWARD).
They went to the police, and the police had him brought in for questioning about possible rape charges. When he came in, he answered questions, and the prosecutor decided that there were no grounds for a rape charge, and said he was free to leave Sweden, so he went to England. However, shortly after that, the Justice Minister for the whole country (Beatrice Ask) had a prosecutor in Gothenburg -- which just happens to be the city in Sweden that the United States routes prisoners bound for torture sites through -- reopen the inquiry, this time with a different prosecutor. The second prosecutor filed a European Arrest Warrant through Interpol, but did not press charges, and said he was only wanted for questioning. Normally, Interpol is not used for cases of ordinary rape (the only sex crime they deal with is child prostitution), and they do not pursue subjects who do not even have charges against them.
Meanwhile, in the United States, some of our politicians and news media people have said that Julian Assange has committed treason against the United States. He's actually an Australian, so many Australian people are now wondering if this means they are expected to obey American law while living in Australia with no American citizenship. A few members of United States congress have even publicly called for Assange to be assassinated, and the President has formed a grand jury to try to find a way he could be prosecuted under our Espionage Act. They claim that the unusual rape inquiry going on in Sweden is outside their influence.
The two women have asked that the Swedish government drop the case, but the second prosecutor has refused. One of them has left the country, and the other is hiding from the media. Neither of them finished or signed their police statements. It seems that as soon as they learned the police were going to try to press rape charges, they left, because they only wanted Assange to be tested for HIV, and had been friendly to him even after their encounters, which they both agreed were voluntary. There are legal implications to the fact that the police statements that the Swedish government is pursuing this from are not signed by anyone.
(cont.)
When Assange learned that he was wanted again for questioning, he came to the police in England voluntarily, and was put under house arrest, and a radio transmitter was put on his ankle. He seemed to resent it, but I think that so far, the British have proceeded very honestly, and considering the things that are going on, having a transmitter on his leg might be the only reason he hasn't disappeared. (And I don't mean he might have run off. I mean he could just disappear.)
ReplyDeleteThe British have refused to extradite him back to Sweden without a hearing, which he had, but he lost it. He has the right now to appeal all the way to the British Supreme Court, which he is doing. Meanwhile, Sweden has to wait, and people in Sweden are being badly embarrassed, because this whole affair is casting the Swedish justice system, which had been known as one of the most progressive in the world, as one of the most corrupt in Europe, and a tool of the United States when the United States wishes it.
Many had expected that because Britain has a much closer relationship to the United States than Sweden is believed to have that Britain would simply hand Assange over directly and not even bother with giving him to Sweden to let the government there do it. However, one of the details contained in the government documents that were leaked was a letter describing that during the START nuclear disarmament treaty negotiations with Russia, Russia said that it might consider agreeing to the treaty if we would give them all details and specifics about Britain's entire nuclear arsenal, which was bought from the United States. We did. The leaks confirm that the United States government gave away (or leaked!) the complete tactical breakdown of the United Kingdom's nuclear defenses to Russia simply because they asked us to during a disarmament treaty negotiation.
This has left the government and people of Britain slightly less friendly to American interests than they normally would be. Assange is currently getting the benefit of a full extradition hearing, and though he resents it, a radio collar for his leg to make sure nothing happens to him. Also, the people of Britain have been sympathetic to a point that some have wondered if there would be riots if they ever did decide to give him back to Sweden. All of this has been extremely embarrassing to Sweden, because it puts them in the position of being a "bad" government, which is not how they're used to seeing their
country behave or perceived.
Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an active member of the parliament ("Althingi") of Iceland, who has assisted Julian Assange in putting together video material from the leaks showing an American helicopter gunship firing machine guns at a reporter and two children and their parents, and saying over their radios that it was what they got for being in a war zone. Jónsdóttir
is now having her personal data on all social web sites investigated in the United States, and apparently she is now part of a criminal investigation to see if she too is a traitor, even though she is a member of the government of another country. She is now actively avoiding coming to the United States, because she fears she could be arrested or have or laptop searched or confiscated upon arrival.
(Meanwhile, George Bush has had to cancel trips to Switzerland and Canada because fears *he* might be arrested for war crimes upon his arrival!)
This has all been a very long complicated story, but that's one of the things I've been following in Scandinavian news lately. And to think all of this began only because I started liking the music and poetry last year!
Ah, that's cool. Yes, I am very fascinated by mythology and especially the norse, so I often write about it. What kind of scandianvian music are you getting into. Let me guess, black metal? Hehe. It is the normal guess, since that is what we are most known for internatinally.
ReplyDeleteAh, I have not been paying attention recently actually, so thank you for updating me :-) Been a bit in absorbed by the Madison issue while being here.
Wow, that is shocking and very interesting. And kinda funny, as I just commented on a post above here about the happiest countries in the world, and how Scandinavians claim to trust their governments completely.
Thank you for the insight :-)
Actually, on YouTube recently there has been a lot of electronic music and a sort of concert posted under the name 'iamamiwhoami' by Swedish musician Jonna Lee. I liked it a lot, and it also made me interested in her earlier less electronic, more guitar/piano oriented stuff. Then I started just getting interested in Swedish/Norwegian/Icelandic music in general. I'm mostly interested in electronic and jazz though.
ReplyDeleteTo see the "concert" (which was performed in the woods in Sweden at midnight), play the five "To Whom It May Concern" videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/iambountytk
This is the song that got me interested:
http://www.youtube.com/user/iamamiwhoami?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/6/MMroXbAmrI8
The site for her acoustic stuff:
http://www.jonnalee.com/
For the most part, the trust Swedes have put in their Parliament has not been misplaced. One of the documents that was leaked by Assange indicated that the United States connection to Sweden involves only the Prime Minister and the Justice Department, and that neither the people nor the Parliament would be aware of what is going on, nor how involved the United States is in influencing their government.
Norway seems to stay out of big world political scandals though for the most part, which is admirable. America's first president, George Washington, advised that we should do the same, but we ignored him.