Everything has a price. My marketing teacher, back in the day when I was interested in such learned pursuits like "learning", told me to never give away my information for free.
Yesterday I took a two minute survey to get a free DVD rental. And no: I didn't disclose my financial information (which is about to fluctuate rather wildly come July). As I did the whoring for the free flick, I chose the flick I wanted and I chose "Cosmopolis". I've wanted to see this since viewing the very first trailer.
I won't say much about the movie except that it was esoteric, intellectual, multi-layered, dystopian, cold, detached and interesting.
I will say that, post "Occupy", I am sad on two fronts: I am sad that nothing has changed; and I am sad that I have changed nothing. I don't bank with a bank. Big fucking deal. I donated more to charities in 2012 then I ever have. I also bought a car for $16,000. I make sure to vote in municipal, provincial and federal elections, but I don't actively get out and try and make any political changes (in fact I work for an organization that heavily subsidizes a political party that - if elected - would bankrupt our province {again}).
Basically it's this: when Michael and I were in Chicago in 2011 we came across some of the first Occupy protests. I thought it was goddamned awesome. From there I went to Montreal where they had almost daily (if not daily) Occupy protests which, again, I thought was awesome.
It's 2013. What changed? What didn't change, and why? Was there not enough groundswell? Are we too affixed to our iPhones and car payments to look up for a moment and really grasp what's happening? Did we give it our best effort and simply come up against the man and rules and regulations and red tape and we didn't have sufficient lobbyists behind us to affect the change we so hoped to see?
Was it apathy or bureaucracy that brought us to our current station in life?
Sadly, I admit to falling into the "apathetic" slot.
Watch Cosmopolis.
Watch Inside Job.
Watch The Smartest Guys in the Room.
I don't have an excuse for my political inactivity.
I foresee you at a rally in the coming year. It amazes me that people just sit idly by and allow this shit to happen to them. I think we should all quit voting for anyone who is Democrat or Republican, at least that's what I'm doing. I'm going to look for these on Netflix and Hulu.
ReplyDeleteI agree: if everyone voted for who they wanted to be in office the political landscape would be very different. Unfortunately most people seem to vote for one party in the hopes of keeping the other one out of office.
ReplyDeleteMost people vote on very narrow interests. The powers that be exploit those interests.
ReplyDeleteOccupy was doomed to failure from the start. People occupying the streets and slowing stuff down while doing nothing productive just pisses people off. Even if I fundamentally agree with the premise, if I'm looking out my window while I'm at work and people are blocking traffic and beating drums I won't exactly have much sympathy for them, and if anything it will detract from their message.
I agree. So I suppose then that I wish people were more concerned about what happened (and is happening) and worked to enact some sort of change, instead of watching golf like I'm about to do.
DeleteDuder if you do attend a rally be sure to wear a shirt or placard that states "I've taken a year long hiatus from my job to protest." Maybe someone will buy you a hotdog.
ReplyDeleteKinda like when I wear my marathon medal to lunch after I'm done my race. Not because I want people to acknowledge that I've just run 26.2 miles, but so hopefully the server will give me extra rations because they think I'm starving.
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