Written on 9 June 2008 by Will O'
v1.1 - 13 September 2008
Just as I suspected. It’s months later, and I’m absolutely unable to lay off the politics. I try to accept that the world is in a downward spiral of wanton stupidity and that it cannot be stopped. But, fuck, I get so goddamned angry at the undead who are suddenly finding a spark of life in Sarah Palin’s simpleton worldview, or the strident ignorance of Pro-Lifers. And the spoiler opposition parties everywhere who cannot accept they are not in power. And on and on.
Hopefully I will soon see the light at the end of this wormhole of bullshit we are all being sucked through and get on with the reasons for this blog’s existence.
v1.0
Apologies for the pretentious version number, but what I say right here and now will no doubt change as the best laid plans for this blog go astray. At least they always have. (See sidebar: Affiliated Sites: Scum at the Top and Bilegrip.) I tend to start out with a vow to refrain from political comment, discussing instead cultural and spiritual (as opposed to religious) matters. Alas, the events of the day, instigated by that scourge of humanity, the conservative right wing, inevitably interfere, and I’m back to raving and ranting again.
This time I swear it will be different! Well, a little politics maybe, but indirectly, peripherally.
Speaking of the peripheral, I’ve lived an eccentric life, mostly from the outside looking in. I’ve done nothing remarkable or extraordinary, but I may have come close on the odd, accidental occasion. An astrologer once told me that owing to a paralysis of ambition caused by Pluto on the Midheaven, I was basically taking the lifetime off. Anyway, my long-suffering wife keeps after me to write it all down for our daughter, who, at seventeen, could presently care less. I should write a book instead of being a blogger, but years of gnashing and writhing on the above sites have got me hooked on the immediate self-gratification of internet communication.
Still, before that all began I did write a couple of novels, both under a pseudonym. (Sidebar: Living in the O and The Moon Food Café.) But after a few swift rejections from harried publishers and agents, it became obvious that every other person on every other block in every other city in every other country was doing the same thing. Realising the books needed help from an editor and that every editor was hidden behind a metres-high slush pile, I cut my losses on postage and gave up.
That said, the title of this blog, Too Broke to Fix, relates both to me, and the state of humanity in what appears to be the hopeful but downright scary end of history. Let me reiterate here that I am not a religious nut. The gaseous windbag on high to whom millions of deluded souls wish to tether their carcasses at some longed-for apocalypse will not be found on these pages. My take on what the “end of history” means has more to do with transformation. And by that, I don’t mean yet another Utopian system bound to fail. As John Gray says,
“The idea that we can resolve issues of climate change by switching over to an economy based on windmills and solar power, when you have nine or 10 billion human beings who want the comfort and security that the richer parts of the world have, is utter fantasy.”
No, I’m talking more about liberating the mind from the brain encased in the skull at the top of the gravity-shackled body. No need to keep hustling upgrades at McDonald’s then…
Meanwhile, the plan is to find the traces of my time in the world; to write about people and places and events as I experienced them. At the same time, I’ll be keeping a sharp eye on how humanity deals with the wake up call of its imminent future. I hope the reader gets something out of whatever develops.
Cheers,
Will O’Hageman
Hmmm, I think you’ve already covered the ground I did in my recent last post….. Oh well.