Frozen = Can't Concentrate
Sun., January 30, 05:30 PM
Because I still can’t read comfortably for more than a few minutes, I’ve been watching a lot more television than I would ordinarily do. And that leads me to a very small part of a quiz that I’m not gonna bother taking in its entirety.
Name a way that you are stereotypically a boy.
I watch Spike TV. If I were so inclined, I could do it for six hours every day – two hours of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” two hours of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and two hours of “CSI.”
Name a way that you are stereotypically a chick.
I find many of the commercials offensive – “the men’s network,” y’know.
I’m not inclined to watch that much, of course. I go to the office. I listen to the radio. And I sleep. I plan for the possibility every afternoon. I curl up on the couch and listen to whatever is on in the next room – radio, CD, television – and rest. Sometimes I just doze off for a little while, and sometimes I sleep for three hours, which tells me that I really needed it. Last Thursday I slept for five hours. It must be the cold weather. My brain is frozen again, which may explain why I’m stuck in neutral, writing-wise.
One of the reasons I liked “Star Trek” from the very beginning was the way the writers used the unfamiliar setting of the future to comment on familiar questions of the present. On The Original Series, there was an episode about a planet where all the people had faces that were half black and half white; that one was about racial prejudice. Last week (on TNG) an episode ran about a genderless planet. People there who felt male or female urges were “deviants” and subjected to corrective psychotherapy.
Is it so strange that I began thinking about the Prime Directive? In Star Trek terminology, that is the prohibition from interfering in the inner workings of another society; we don’t force our beliefs – whatever they may be – on others. And I thought, “Why are we in Iraq?” I’m still not convinced that democracy is the best thing for all societies, even though I believe it’s probably the best system around.
Go ahead, tell me I’m biased. My only nephew is currently with the Army in Kuwait and, yes, I’m worried about him. I’m also worried about my brother, his dad, who must be suffering terribly. Is this because Mr. Dubya believes he carried the “white man’s burden”? Do you think he has any concept of what he’s doing?
The weekly question in the paper concerned whether or not readers thought the inauguration festivities were appropriate. Even if there were a lot of private donations, the government still had to provide all that extra security so that Mr. Dubya could take his wife dancing? I thought it was wholly tasteless and unsuitable. As long as there are people dying for our country every day, I think celebrations should be muted. The private donations could have been applied to better purpose, either in Iraq and Afghanistan or here at home. None of that is “trickling down”; it’s an unfortunate example of rich people using their money to buy goods and services from other rich people. I hate this!
Pardon the rambling. Maybe this place will warm up and I’ll be able to concentrate again. Maybe hell will freeze over.
