EAT THIS CAKE

Is that you, Foghorn?

Sweet Revenge

Tried to watch Melancholia on Netflix today. I said to myself, “Oh, I am not pleased—I do not like this film. It’s really gonna get it now!” At which point, I rolled over and proceeded to fall asleep. That’s right—I fell asleep just to spite it. Sweet revenge.

I know this woman…

This is your suggestion, Netflix?

"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre) 

Three Drunk Girls

Just watched “Arizona racist white ladies threaten Mexican people” and I’m stunned. I went to college for a year in Arizona and I heard so much about the state’s pathetic public school system, but this video shows the true, pitiable state of education in Arizona (and, perhaps, based on the response videos, the rest of the country). 

These girls are clueless and obviously drunk. It’s really disturbing that these are the things people are saying and talking about. It’s absolutely frightening.

The blonde one says the video is about the new immigration law that was passed in the state’s “legislator.” I can’t even. Legislature! Anyway, she is ecstatic about this law because “the illegals are making her life a living Hell!” I’m sorry, but what Mexican girl skipped you at a movie theater and pretended not to speak English so that she wouldn’t have to deal with you and made your life a living Hell? This girl is probably all of 16, has a roof over her head, has food in her stomach, hasn’t any responsibilities, and has all those pretty blonde highlights on her head, but her life is a living Hell? No, it’s not. People who were forced against their will, stripped of all their rights and dignity, into concentration camps, forced to walk in threadbare shoes or no shoes at all through snow and ice to do manual labor in frigid German winters, people who were starved and had to watch their fellow countrymen die from disease and malnutrition lived a living Hell—not you. Pathetic. If you have enough money to go to a salon and have someone charge you $150 to bleach your hair, your life is not a living Hell.

The blonde one also says Mexicans weren’t here first. Actually, yes, in Arizona, they were there first. Short history: we occupied their land, they tried to take it back, we were relentless and eventually bought them out.

Also, it makes me sick that these girls think it’s okay to dehumanize immigrants and joke about shooting them. This is what Americans do when they’re drunk and 16: they talk about shooting people.

I’m done.

Drama Continued

One more question arises: Why would drama and heartbreak make happiness more meaningful? I think the answer lies in the contrast between drama and happiness. If you understand life’s tragedy, if you’ve hit a low, you are better able to appreciate good times. This is purely conjecture, but I think it makes sense.

Drama

Does one need drama in one’s life—drama like what’s in the great novels and movies? I’ve been taught to seek balance, happiness, and stability, for these qualities enhance life. But what if I have balance without ever have had suffered? Is life complete without suffering? The characters in the books I read seem to be better, stronger individuals after experiencing love affairs, oppression, and deceit. Maybe these are what I need to be a stronger person. Maybe I need them so that I can rise above them or work through them. To experience true depression, or loss, or heartbreak may make the good times more meaningful.

"But isn’t that the cause of all the trouble? Words! We all have a world of things inside ourselves and each one of us has his own private world. How can we understand each other if the words I use have the sense and the value that I expect them to have, but whoever is listening to me inevitably thinks that those same words have a different sense and value, because of the private world he has inside himself too. We think we understand each other: but we never do."

Luigi Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of an Author)