Make Do
hmmm - i wonder if this artist is named dick ? i know one of the monkeys is. and one might be a jr., and the other a secretary of defense.
Sometimes when
I start to write I start with something simple like an idea and a title, tonight
I followed the same pattern and found the Word program apparently not up to
speed as I typed the words “make do” I found myself waiting for the do, to
appear thinking something surely must be wrong with my wireless keyboard or
that maybe I just didn’t hit the keys right. Anyhow I do as I usually do, when I
screw up and try to duplicate the stupid error and guess what I made do-do. I laughed
at the mistake for as soon as I typed the other do in there, the computer came
alive and spit out some do-do. I guess you put shit in; you get shit out as
they used to tell me in computer class. It is only as smart as the idiot punching
the keys and tonight I wonder.
I wanted to have
a grand set of plans to offer up for my time off, but instead I have a movie
review, and would suggest that if you like what reading and self-expression, is
all about you will enjoy the movie ‘The Book Thief’. It is set in Nazi times
and under Hitler’s pre-World War 2 days, where he is aligning the people of Germany
behind his dictatorship. In the process a young girl is abandoned by her mother
because she cannot feed her children and one has died. A young girl, who is
left, is found to be illiterate by her peers and in the end she is smarter than
her accusers, who label her a dummkopf. Along the way the war advances itself
and an accordion player and his wife, who is described as a walking
thunderstorm waiting to happen, take her in, and this young girl and her new
parents, change each other’s life while trying to make do with the German war
effort. It was grandma that touched me with the phrase ‘make do’ and it
resonates in my life as I never seemed to have enough money or enough time
instead I have learned to make do and live with in my means, as well when faced
with some hard decisions the heroines of the movie learn to make do with the
little they have.
Now here comes
the rub and irony of all this. I just watched this movie where they burn books
and encourage the citizens to come forth, and burn books by their own hand and
give up on intellectualism , and free thinking and bury themselves in the
socialist movement where it is all for one, being Hitler himself , one for all,
as long as you think like Hitler does. I don’t want to give too much of the
movie away , as I think all should see it, as I feel it is written with a
unique point of view. I have included a link to the trailer to tease you into
watching. I was teased by the name of the movie itself.
This is not by
itself an amazing book, but myself not
knowing exactly how to put the Charlie Hebedo terrorist murders in perspective,
it became abundantly clear after watching this movie of how many parallels of restricting free speech there are
between the movie and the act of terrorism by the Muslim Al- Qaeda sect. This
is also on the heels of another author who wrote that although what happened to
Charlie Hebdo was a tragedy, it was a tragedy of their own making as they were
tempting fate; they were responsible for the consequence of their own actions
as they pushed the issue by showing the prophet Mohammed being sodomized. It would be no
less controversial if Jesus was portrayed in the same way and I doubt there
would be few religious zealots here in the USA who would react favorably, or turn a blind eye
towards a cartoon of the same nature, yet may want to do entirely the same
thing to a Muslim cartoonist. Free speech is free if you don’t have to pay for
it with your life.
The irony comes as that is exactly one of the
reasons we entered World War 2 as we could never see ourselves as a nation
falling to a dictator who killed millions of Jews in concentration camps, and
stripped away the right of free speech and replaced it with a propaganda
machine, so that even their own citizens think as one. This is going against
one of the main reasons the USA sought to have its freedom after being
repressed by the British and being treated as non-subjects without a voice. It seems
as if the radical Muslim Al Qaeda group is trying to do the same by saying that
Charlie Hebdo shouldn’t have a voice that goes against their way of thinking.
But here we are
in Paris, a country that at one time was subject to a Nazi invasion and are
stubbornly proud of their right to free speech. Who have a hard time understanding
why people who obviously don’t live in the country want to come and silence the
staff at the paper and commit and act of terrorist war is beyond anyone in France’s
expectation? But it happened, and instead of soothing relations by respecting each
other’s point of view, this has escalated the situation into further driving a
knife deeper into each other’s heart for wanting to exact revenge. This is a
flaw we humans have, and that is to know when enough is enough, as our mom’s
used to say. I never thought it was enough especially when I was losing and
wanted to win, but who was I to doubt mom. I just quit what I was doing.
Unfortunately these
guys don’t listen to mom, but the world and humanity would be much better off
we could define that place where enough stops. We can’t as it isn’t in our
nature. All we need is love according to John Lennon, but I doubt if we see
Ali al Ansi the head of the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda embracing the French prime minister anytime soon. In fact I feel
we may even see the holy warn as some Muslims would like to see played out in more
terrorism, and unrest in peaceful nations. Our schools are already prisons ready
for a lockdown and this is thanks to Al Qaeda and 9-11. How much more can we
take or believe, when in fact we have come to find our own government guilty of
terrorizing our lives much like the Nazi’s by monitoring our online and
telephone conversations as compared to what the Nazi special forces did to
their own people turning one against the other by performing espionage on its
own people and using that as a means to incarcerate them.
Eric Snowden will
never be a martyr in my book, and can easily be defined as a traitor himself when
it comes to what he did to the American public as we need to have faith in our
armed forces and intelligence gathering community. We lost a lot of faith in both
with the revelations of what he stole in terms of intelligence he was sworn to
protect and never divulge. He was given a high security job that he prescribed
himself to. With plenty of high level secrets our country really didn’t want to
share or ever expect to share. He betrayed our trust first to allow himself fame,
and in the process try to negotiate some kind of reprieve for letting us down. The
good he did is far outweighed by the bad. Still he showed us as a free nation
just how free we really are and that big brother is watching us all the time. Should
our government be watching its own citizens . if you look at Timothy Mc.Veigh and
the Oklahoma federal courthouse bombings , one would think we surely need to
look at domestic terrorism also. But who decides that?
I don’t think
anyone had any doubts what was happening after 9-11 and the Patriot Act, and
its highly secretive going on’s in the name of national security. The story
would eventually come out down the road as most usually do. Eric Snowden took
the wind out of everyone’s sails and hurt the country in the process by expediting
the lack of trust we have in our present leadership. The could-a, should ofs ,
and would of’s, have looked at all angles, but what is done is done, and where
do we go from here.
Personally I would
like to find a country that thought more of the majority of people it
represents than a minority who runs it. Where we tone down the rhetoric and
just try and get along again. The gun lovers and the gun haters try to find
common ground. No we can’t take your gun away, so quit waving it in the air and
shoving it down our throats, we are not the enemy, we are your neighbors. Religion
has no place in politics and for the same token government should not interfere
with religion, unless they are affecting human rights. Freedom of speech or the
right for a woman to own her own body, and make her own mind on decisions that
affect her health is her right only. If
she is for abortion then that is her right, and if not then that is her right
also. No one else’s. I would like to see a country where the elderly and our
youth never have to worry about food on the table, or a place to eat that food
at, and sleep, and that they can call their own. That everyone has healthcare
that wants it and those that don’t, don’t have to buy it or they can buy their own. But still if uninsured, would never be denied
healthcare when they need it the most. Maybe because some lessons are hard to
learn, and sometimes they may just get lucky and live their life and never need
anything. That will work till they die and then it will be someone else’s
burden, to pay their bills after they are gone.
I was told by a
friend that if you are going to criticize then you need solutions, and so this
last paragraph was an attempt to find some of those solutions or else start one’s
mind thinking that way. I have done many cartoons and I was worried about this
and that while creating them, thinking
my warped mind should never let anyone except maybe a few of Playboy’s
thousands and millions of readers see exactly what was going on in my muddled
brain. I never sold any of my cartoons or had them shared in print, except a
few tame ones here on my blog. I have a lot more you have never seen. I also
doubt if you ever will, as some are now out of taste, or time, meaning they
were relevant earlier in my life when society was in a different position, now
they are just lame jokes most would never get. Some I have to take a second
look at. Others I laugh right off.
Could I as an author of a blog and also as
a cartoonist, advocate what Charlie Hebdo did, or in fact stand up for it? Well I think it went the way it did because
they lacked as much scruples as the Al Qaeda did also. I don’t think there are
any winners just losers. As well we all lost something here, our dignity as a
human race, to ever let thing get this far. The more I understand human
behavior the more it scares me. And it is animals that I feel a closer kin to,
as I, like the ostrich, would rather choose to bury my head in the sand, or lay
in the trees and eat and fart like an orangutan than think that we as humans
will ever get along. But like Charlie Hebdo and like Al Qaeda, I have a right
to express myself and choose too, and would also be offended if someone tried
to take that away from me, or use it to ridicule me into conformance. They would rather make do-do in their pants,
than mess with me and my freedom of speech.
The Book Thief Trailer 2013 Movie - Official [HD] - YouTube
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