Benjibopper

Labels: 2004, Poetry, politics, Toronto

How is it that Eminem can climb the pop charts
like he's some kinda piece of magic
When he has less talent than Talib Kweli,
The Roots, or even Lenny Kravitz?

Labels: 2004, Poetry, politics, Toronto

worksie shoppie slippy sloppy
instraments we shall make
soo-ey oo-ey icky wickie
instraments today

Instramental tooled in kits
devised by spammers, scammers n slammers
coiners of phrase and cliche

"to reinvent the wheel"
when "collaboration-building"
could save us all
is a sin to Allah Ganesh
Better to cop, adapt, revise, re-apply
instructions from the manual

Carefully crafted by marketing gurus
specialistic yahoos, goobled n garbled
in just such-in-suchaway
in the instrament-maker's workshop
we learn how to work in time
beat 1 undone farflung on-a-drum
the perfect essential rhyme
in which our reason shall define
the perfect time for a plot twist
[Goldilocks the dominatrix
pimping circus bears in Demoine]

Anyway back to Newtonian physics
chop these up real small
divide into 3 equal piles
weighing equatorial amounts
drop them into the water
watch equidistant waves
spooling outward
proving the world is round
It's that luminescent bit
at the end, when the full moonlight
catches the sinus waves
on a 45 degree angle at 3 am
that proves what I'm saying is right

Labels: 2004, doodles, Poetry, Toronto

A young man stood captivated and captured
and carouselled in the cryptic crimsom
of tepid tortured boiling blood
at the sight of one seaweed-soaked maiden
cascading in waves of skylight ripples
aglow with the source of the sun
and its big brothers
bathed in moonlight dancing
on white smooth young soft feminine skin
perk-breasted shyness too pure and perfect
to return his glances of gaze or respond
to his brain-wave love psalms
composed by a riverbed stream
until finally he asked her opinion
and she had none
and the illusion was shattered

Labels: 2004, love junk, Poetry, Toronto

Longing is the universal feeling: desire
so I asked my girl how to pray
because being raised a Christian
there was so much blood on my hands
and more spilling every day

She said let's have a weekend without computers
so I got on my knees and scrubbed
but once loosened the river released
and flooded the whole of the house
until all I could see was more blood

I ran to every corner
and I covered every inch
my bones were bared
with no muscle spared
it had to do in a pinch

The bank forclosed on my heart
and I had to reboot after all
got lost in virtual communique
fighting porno popups galore
fearing their effect on my balls

I sent off a quick letter
to keep the loan sharks at bay
got back to planning my wedding
organizing expense accounts
distributing wealth on work 'n' play

You gotta spend money to make money
so I'm due for a lottery win any sec
I still long to travel the world
see those poor kids up close
they're dirty but what the heck?

We're all longing for something
for some of us it's food and such
but who is ever satisfied?
I keep longing for more
after every single touch

What does it take to simplify?
throw all this broken shit out
throw out the stuff that works too
it'll bust up soon enough
guaranteed without a doubt

It's the one thing you can be sure of
things end and things fall apart
the great mystery of it all
is no matter how many things die
there's always something else to start

Labels: 2004, philosophy, Poetry, Toronto

I can't spare a minute

Not for sick kids
nor pleasant pretty women
saving children for a living

What a sad state
to strategize exclusively
responding to the needs
you yourself perceive
based on limited experience
and the few reports
you've found time to read
in between meetings

But it's a hectic world baby
information is fragmented
like split screen television
you can't know everything
and you can't save 'em all

Just like the docs on ER

Labels: 2004, Poetry, politics, Toronto

I'm not certified
un-bonafide
I hide inside
individuality

I'm associated
negotiated
somewhat appreciated
for marketability

NBA dreams fade
unfinished novels spayed
no time to play
despite agility

What I am is me
ebrace diversity
but my eyes see
oppression

Power and discrimination
makes criminalization
the bottom of civilization
my obsession

Unauthorized voyeur
looks down unsure
his strategy impure
dispossession

Oppressed look up
praying for good luck
promising all stuff
for inclusion

Others pure hate
me participate?
in their fate?
exclusion

Programs in schools
new policies & rules
associations with tools
delusion

I'm an individual
identified residual
community unfeasible
seclusion

You're one too
and you and you and you
drifting in the goo
of an aquarium

The only way out
come together without
leaving others out
and envision the solarium

Move toward the stars
that free us from scars
having held us marred
trapped in sanitarium

Labels: 2004, philosophy, Poetry, Toronto

I was very excited over the holidays to read a comment on my blog - my very first comment! I couldn't wait to respond. Or so I thought. But then I did wait, and wait, and wait, and here we are a month later before I find the time to write again. So it goes.

The response was interesting and fairly well reasoned. But there was this assumption there that democracy is best, that it's the inevitable, ultimate phase in the evolution of political systems. Which it isn't. It is arguably the best we've done in the past 10,000 years or so. Arguably. Sometimes when I read the newspaper I long to be a feudal serf, but maybe that's just my own perversion.

The response I got also talked about certain countries having evolved naturally toward democracy, like Palestine and Turkey. Eh?

At around the same time I read that response I was reading a great book called 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man', by John Perkins, who used to work for a large American Engineering Consulting firm called MAIN. His official job title was 'Senior Economist'. His actual job was to convince governments of developing countries to take on humungous loans from the likes of the World Bank, the IMF (international mother fuckers), and the US government. I mean loans so humungous that no developing country could ever realistically hope to pay them off. Once lent, this money would be paid to companies like MAIN (now defunct) and Haliburton, big American Engineering Consultants. These companies would install infrastructure (like electricity grids) in the developing countries (like Indonesia and Ecuador). So, the countries are hugely in debt, and the American companies are hugely rich. But when the debt comes due, the developing countries can't pay. So the US, WB, and dirty international mother fuckers, call in a favour. Like, "hey, that's some nice looking oil you got underneath your protected rainforest. Let's say we get rid of all those pesky indiginous folks on top of it, clear the mofo, drill for oil, and we'll even throw in some cattle that can graze on what's left of the land when we're done."

This is how countries develop, and evolve, toward 'democracy', which is a system where people choose whether they will be ruled by America's puppet or someone else's puppet (like in the Ukraine it was Russia's puppet). Let's not kid ourselves by saying this is a natural evolutionary process, or that results are rosy and fragrant. It would be nice if this hands off approach (to the non-US world) was real, but alas, it's a fantasy, and the world of "hate and mistrust" is where we live.

As for whether cultural differences are real or imagined: I work with newcomers to Canada on a regular basis and, though everyone I work with (whether Canadian or New Canadian) wants to be well and healthy (and the same for their loved ones), there are what I believe are fundamental differences among cultures. The differences are in expected behaviour, attitudes, and assumptions. Some cultures are more based on hierarchy than others. Some cultures are more contextual (i.e. trust is harder to come by, familial ties are stronger). These differences are fundamental because they cause confusion when people communicate and work across cultures. People from different cultural groups have different expectations, and this is where conflict can occur.

But I agree that people like Huntington over-state the significance of cultural differences. Or, perhaps they understate the importance of other sources of conflict, such as competition over resources.

Oh, one other thing. My friend C-Mac asked me to revise his statement about Japanese culture. Here's the revision:

"Much of mainstream Japanese Pornography seems to me to be far more violent than N American porn - and often seems to not be catagorized as porn at all. Therefore it is my opinion that at least this part of Japanese culture is fucked up.

Pbtbhtbthbthbth"

He still hasn't told me what 'pbtbhtbthbthbth' means.

Happy January folks, only 9 days till suicide month.

-Bopper

Labels: 2004, non-fiction, politics, Toronto

So I finished reading that 'Clash of Civilizations' paper by Samuel Huntington and much of what he said was true. It's true that there are fundamental cultural differences among human beings, for example, and its true that these often prevent peaceful, productive interactions, and at worst even cause destructive conflict.

This point was well made (better made) in Benjamin Barber's 'Jihad v. McWorld'. That book also dealt with the westernization of the rest of the world and the paradoxes in the 'clash' that Huntington refers to.

The big truth that Huntington seems to deny is that if enough money is on the line, God will do business with Vishnu (no matter how big their cultural differences), so weak-kneed human beings will surely do the same, and in fact, they do. Although the trading blocks of 1993 were established largely along the lines of like-culture, China is one of the West's key trading partners in today's world economy, and both ideology and culture have taken backseats to profit.

But so what?

The only MAJOR problem I have with Huntington's paper is, well, the conclusion. As I said, much of what he said is true (and perhaps even obvious). But in the conclusion, titled 'Implications for the West', he argues that because cultures are doomed to clash, the 'West' better damn well stop dismantling its super-weapons because all the other major cultures are catching up in terms of their military power. So, that's the part where the Washington hawks' beady little eyes light up. Fuck that.

How about this for a conclusion: we have at our disposal two roads to peace: 1. coexist and happily ignore people who aren't like us (except those who immigrate to where we live) or 2. learn to get along despite our differences.

Huntington might call that neive, but it's worked before. Again, I point to China. We really don't like the way their government works and we certainly don't trust them, but now they have the Olympics. We don't have to trust their government, or anyone else's, but 1.4 billion people can't be all bad can they? We're learning to get along with them.

Stockpiling nukes has never caused us anything but trouble. These 'other cultures' of the world would be smarter to drop their weapons (programs), as would 'the west'. But since their trying to catch up, let's make it a little easier for them, by cutting back on what we have. Then maybe we can all work together, toward 0 weapons.

Crazy, I know.

This method of making essentialized comparisons of cultures was not founded by Huntington. I often see value comparisons made between nations and/or cultures. "See how Buddhist Burma is superior to America in its value of consumption as a means to labour, rather than consumption as an end." [EF Schumacher, 'Small is Beautiful' 1975] "See how Japanese pornography is more disturbing than its American counterpart; ergo, Japanese culture is fucked up." [my friend Conor in conversation at 'The Only' in East Toronto, after about 2-3 pints]

While these comparisons offer some insights into how cultural values can influence the impract of that culture on its own society and other countries, these value comparisons are ultimately futile because it is impossible to say with any accurate certainty that one culture is better off, that the people of 1970s Burma were better off than 1970s Americans, or that modern day Americans are better off than modern day Japanese.

I find a more useful comparison is that between the values common to human beings living in civilizations, and those common to humans not living in civilizations, because here I find it easier to conclude that those of us living within civilizations have it worse.

When I make such comparisons though, I am often accused of essentializing, or worse, romanticizing. Meanwhile, those making blanket judgements of "the West" or "Islam" are lauded as insightful and progressive.

There, it's 3 days to christmas 2004 and I just finished reviewing a paper written in 1993. No wonder no one reads this thing except my girlfriend! Happy Holidays.

The Bopper

Labels: 2004, non-fiction, politics, Toronto

Talib Kweli is a genius.

I'm thinking from now on I should buy only hiphop albums. Except maybe I'll also pick up the 25th anniversary re-release of 'The Wall' because that's an insane album and Roger Waters is also a genius.

To paraphrase Bob Dylan: Lanois asked me what I'd been listening to lately and I told him Ice T, and he seemed surprised, but he shouldn't have been because Ice T, NWA, Public Enemy, there was no bullshit with those guys. They were doing music that was truly innovative. We were making an antiquated record. I didn't want to tell Lanois that, but it was true.

I don't think Dylan's antiquated, nor is Woodie Guthrie or Pete Seeger. But most of the innovation going on in music right now seems to be happening in hiphop.

Peace out,
Bopper

Labels: 2004, best of, quotations

Well, Bushy's coming to town. Not this one, the capital of Canada. That's Ottawa. Not Toronto.

I'm in Toronto though so to join the protest I have to leave town at crack o'clock, drive 5 and a half hours to the town that never wakes up, and join the rest of the outsiders.

Except, I'm an insider now. I'm trying to change the system from within. Having more success at it than I ever did from without. Those fences work you know, especially with all them big burly human blockades surrounding them, and the perpetual stream of consiousness tear gas flowing like leftover chili, burns the eyes. They swing big sticks too, and by now they probably have tazers, and guns that shoot bullets of rubber and lead [do they still use lead or are they, like the pencil people, worried about lead poisoning?].

I don't wanna give the impression I'm scared or anything, it just doesn't seem to fit. My schedule I mean. Because after the 5.5 hour drive and then about 5.5 hours of protesting, we'd have to drive 5.5 hours back. And this is a Wednesday, you see, when he visits. That means missing work that day. And a 16.5 hour day without enough sleep. It's just hard to even imagine what with so much to do at work, so many projects I care about, that do more to change the world than standing around getting gassed ever will. Do I sound like a sellout?

I'd love to go, and all, it'd be fun. I miss protesting, it's a tremendous team-building exercise. Corporations should do it, send their people out teambuilding at a protest against their competitors, good for the team and the public image. Shell could send their marketing team down to Esso to talk to passersby about the damage Esso is doing to the environment.

Anyway, what I meant to say was that protesting is a great bonding activity. You really get close to the people you're there with. It's like war but you don't have to kill, and the odds of dying are low, relative to war. And you're united in cause, in righteous outrage.

Goddamn Bush, we should be outraged shouldn't we? What right does he have to fuck the world the way he has, the motherfucking rapist. He should be protested everywhere he goes, Canadians should take a stand against the earthfucker, the peacefucker, the brownpeoplefucker.

Unfortunately he won't ever listen, it won't make a difference to him or his hawks (I shouldn't even call them that, hawks are beautiful animals and you don't ever see hawks committing genocide do you?), it won't change the world. But it feels good, it feels good to do the right thing, to be on the just side. But you gotta question that feeling, like this: isn't that how Bush probably feels too? Anyway, protestors aren't out to kill. They just want to express their anger, express their dissent, their strong disagreement and dissatisfaction with America's choice for world dictator.

Empires rise and fall - America's due for a major collapse. So are the rest of us. Bush is accelorating the process. As the fire consumes us I want to be able to stand up and say "hey, I did my best to stop this."

Bopper

Labels: 2004, non-fiction, politics, Toronto

Just finished reading 'The Bagdad Blog' - the printed version of a blog by a guy calling himself Salam Pax. He started blogging in Sept. 02 from Bagdad - a lot of fear/anticipation about the impending American bombs. Really good stuff, and kind of inspiring for other bloggers because he ended up writing for the Guardian and doing work for television and blah blah blah, hey, maybe it could happen to me! If only the Americans would bomb Toronto. Don't they see the connection between Prime Ministers Jean Chretian and Paul Martin and 9/11? Surey they could, if they looked hard enough.

Anyway I went on Salam's blog (dear_raed.blogspot.com) and it seems he went on hiatus in April of this year. I read some entries that came after the book and it's still great stuff, my favourite being about how he's personally reconciled previous internal conflicts about being too Western for an Iraqi, being "in the middle." And about how, being a middle eastern man he feels the need to pull out all the many varied aspects of his identity (educated, fluent in Arabic and English, queer, etc.) in order not to be "painted into a corner" by the Western way of looking at people, i.e. mideastern men are Muslim terrorist wife-beaters, period.

As someone who strives to avoid labeling people, and therefore tries hard not to jump into identity games or proudly self-identifyin any way, it offered a lot of insight as to why people do that. It is kind of akin to me belonging to all the traditional power groups (white, male, straight, christian-born, middle class), and therefore making special efforts to prove that I'm not so oppressive. It's weird that we have to do these things to prove ourselves, but we do.

Anyhoo, I was disappointed that he stopped blogging for so long, and I'm really not sure why. But, that's obviously his perogative. It's just a bit of a bummer to discover you're a fan of someone and then just then they stop producing.

Yours,
The Bopper

Labels: 2004, best of, non-fiction