Twenty Somethings and The Great Depression

This may turn out to be rather a depressing blog entry, but it is something that has been on my mind as of late. 

        

For me, as for most of my contemporaries, the decade of life known as 'the twenties' has been, so far anyways, a time of examining potential. A time for going to school, trying things out, and getting to the deep 'how-tos' of 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' In other words, most of us are NOT currently working out dream jobs. 

       

 This is where The Great Depression comes in. Now, when I read The Grapes of Wrath (which I'll just state right now I hated), I was focused more upon the plot than about the experiences of one particular age group. But, thinking back on it, what did happen to all of those people who moved through their twenties during the 1930's? All those people who were just graduating from college when the stock market crashed (go right ahead and insert obvious echoes of self-interest here),what happened to them? 

There was a huge shortage of jobs... and as far as the jobs that did exist, who would hand out these precious awards to young people with no experience? That would just be bad business when there were so many more qualified adults around. So did these people ever get the chance to follow through on their dreams? 

Probably not. With the mass starvation of that decade, I'm sure advancing as a successful bonds-salesman (or whatever) would take a back-seat to eating. Most definitely, most of these people just took jobs doing whatever it was they could get to do, and gave up on the dreams that would have been so graspable only a decade before. 

So what does that mean for us? The generation going through college, amassing gigantic student loans, and wondering if the same thing is going to happen to these loans as it did to loans in the 1930's. There is mass unemployment now, as before, who is going to hire us at a high enough salary to pay off the loans that come due 6mo following graduation? Us, rather than the 5,000-something people who got fired on our own black Friday and are now leaving New York in droves. 

Is this what the media is terming the "fear" and "panic" that underlie this election? According to wikipedia, there still aren't any overwhelming schools of thought concerning either the cause or the best way to have fixed The Great Depression of eighty years ago. Some people thought the government didn't do enough, some thought the 1.2 billion they paid into banks wasn't enough. Roosevelt's chairman of the Federal Reserve during this time, Marriner S. Eccles, thought that the best plan would have been to take their own bailout money ( $6 billion) and distribute it to the public through higher wages or lower prices, and that that would have staved off the depression itself. 

I know it is rather petty to worry about the dimming future of a particular sect of a generation when there are so many larger things at stake, but, as nothing horrifically major has happened yet, I think I'm allowed. Trust me, I'll shut up and help out when the time comes. Till then... would anyone mind hiring me, please? 

Will Ferrell is Also Awesome

Yet Another Winner

Why, History?

In browsing the internets for subject matter for this article, I came across some etymolygy that made me smile. 

Wikipedia tells us that the word "history" comes from the Greek historia, which means "an account of one's inquiries." In essence, then, the basis for history is distinctly dependent upon man's curious nature. If no one ever asked "why?" there would not exist this drive for transcription. In our historical accounts we answer questions, whether they be the questions we ask ourselves, or the questions we assume the generations of the future will need answers for. 

What, then, does it mean when we re-write history? Common knowledge would state that history is always written by the winner. Does no one ever ask about the losers? Or, since the winner of a philosophical debate is likely to have influenced the greatest margin of future thinkers, does the generation ahead simply look back upon the debates of the past for affirmation? In other words, do we only look back to make sure we're the heroes? 

This seems especially the case within American history. We wrote the stories of the violence and terrorism we enacted throughout The Revolution to reflect the outcome-- if we were currently subjects under Her Majesty's reign, I doubt we would have the same ideas regarding the correctness of violent riots and the destruction of hard-harvested leaf goods. 

We have also attempted to re-write the events of the communist era, though admittedly to a lesser effect. It's difficult to justifiably re-write McCarthy's mass witch trials, the similarity between his prosecution of Hollywood and the actions in the 1600s in Salem is mirrored so well it's sad. 

What I really want to know is whether the Great Depression of the 1930's was, in fact, so depressing that we have not made nearly enough inquiries. We hear that time is circular, and history repeats itself, but its hard to believe it is this inevitable. Is history in fact only circular until its lessons have been learned and we can escape its noose? It is logical to think that, were enough inquiries made, if enough people asked 'why?' and studied the stock market collapse, we would not have made the mistakes of the last twenty years. So why didn't we? Are we due for another red scare in thirty years? 

I wonder that evolutionary progression is dependent upon human curiosity. We've seen it in teenagers before, in a small scale. When they remain content and unchallenged before a television screen, their brains take on a distinct monkey-like appearance, even down to the grunting for food sometimes exhibited by the males of the species. It's sometimes a wonder how the nerdiest of them all manage not to throw feces. 

So I guess the real question is whether the technological progressions of our age have diminished our curiosity. With the constant presence of the internet (if you have an iphone, the internet is literally in your pocket) comes the constant availability of quick answers, and therefore a lack of real necessity for long-term learning. In other words, you don't really need to remember all the statutes of the Bill of Rights anymore, because they can be looked up instantly with a tap on a touch screen... and you are likely to forget the information a mere moment later, because you can always find it again. 

I wonder if we are going to lose our ability to concentrate, and therefore lose our ability to one day answer life's biggest questions. Most revelations require a lot of time and obsessive thought over one particular subject, but when is the last time you did that? There is hardly a need for it anymore, because there is no real need to fill time with thought-- there's always the internet to amuse you. And a child that is constantly amused and content is a child that doesn't ask questions. Will it become a child without history? If it is a child without history, how will it ever escape the tight inevitable noose that time will wind around it's neck without the countless experiences of it's forefathers? I guess we'll see.

Religion and Your Drug of Choice

I was watching the History Channel again today, and I began wondering how deep our religious background played into our cultural drugs of choice. 

Let me take a couple steps back for you-- the History Channel special I was watching today was entitled "Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way." I highly recommend it. On the list of History Channel programs that I have actually watched in my lifetime (a number which grows exponentially the more tired I grow of the dirtier and dirtier reality shows gracing my TV guide), this special ranks just behind "Rumrunners, Moonshiners, and Bootleggers," which was a compelling history of illegal alcohol manufacturing and trafficking in America. 

Marijuana and its history took up a startling chunk of the show. They began by explaining that cannabis (and poppies, but that's another story) has roots dating far back into ancient civilizations. In the Hindu religion, cannabis is viewed as a gift from the goddess Shiva. 

This startling link between a deity and a mind-altering substance got me thinking about the many and specific mentions of wine and drunkenness in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. There is the incident shortly after the Great Flood, in which Noah gets drunk and passes out in his tent, the long line of Nazirites (which included Samson and Samuel), and the incident where Jesus turns water into wine as one of his miracles. In fact, and brief (and very nerdy) google search will discover that the word "wine" is used over 200 times in the King James Bible. 

So what does this mean? Clearly religious background influences culture, and drugs are certainly cultural expression, but does it go any further than that? Alcohol certainly leads to far more violent behavior than cannabis, and there is a notable difference between, say... The Spanish Inquisition and Ghandi. 

Is the behavior of the western culture purely dictated by the harvests of 8,000 years ago? Grapes easily lead to wine, and grow well near Jerusalem. If the ancient Jews were just drunk all the time, the necessity of a violent and vengeful God to reflect and legitimize their own violent behavior is a simple evolution of thought. 

Whereas, until Manifest Destiny bore the first fruits of the British Expansion into India, that entire continent seemed rather low-key and peaceful. Granted, there was that horrible caste system they had to ascribe to, but hey; even pot-heads need some sort of social order to keep them busy. 

This entire discussion requires infinitely more research, and a great deal of compare and contrast, but it makes a compelling extension to Marx's famous remark that "religion is the opiate of the masses."

What $700 billion Could Buy

"Taxpayers should compare the bailout with the pricetags on a few other items deemed unaffordable by the Administration and Congress:

• Covering health care costs plus out-of-pocket medical expenses for all of America's uninsured: $100 billion

• Universal preschool: $35 billion

• Rebuilding New Orleans: $100 billion

• Free college education for everyone: $50 billion

• Total energy independence for the United States, with a shift to renewables within the next ten years: $500 billion"

With the bailout plan in the works, sometimes its tough not to think about all of the spectacular, important things we could be having if giant, wealthy banks hadn't ripped us off for so many years, fallen straight on their asses, and then begged for help... But don't worry. I'm sure the President has got it under control...

(taken from an article at http://www.progressive.org/mag/rc092408.html written and researched by Ruth Conniff on Septenber 24th.)

The Fairytale We All Deserved to Hear

(click on the poem's image to read it)

I know it's rather odd to equate so many things to episodes of Sex and the City, but this particular adult fairytale really reminded me of a scene from that show. Charlotte poses the theory that, deep down, what women really want is to be rescued, and it serves as the theme for that episode. 

Later, as Carrie is shown writing her column, she speaks to the camera, saying: "Is it true? DO women really just want to be rescued? Or would Sleeping Beauty eventually gotten up, scored a great job with a health care package, bought a home, and gotten a baby from her neighborhood sperm-bank?" 

Its quite a dilemma. In a way, don't all people want to be rescued? I mean, no one has the answers to life's great questions, and who in their right mind actually enjoys working so much harder than they have to? It just is not a mentality which should necessarily be assigned to women. I know many many men out there, waiting around for their sugar-mama. 

There's nothing inherantly wrong with the desire to be rescued from your measly human existence, I believe that the problem begins when the desire to be saved clouds your self-respect so much that you would listen to the frog hitting on you in the bar, go back to his castle, and agree to become his lifelong maid. That's the part of the story that truly could use some re-telling.

If Only It WERE a Disney Movie...

If you watched the Matt Damon clip below, you'll see why this spoof preview is amazing... and REALLY scary at the same time.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Matt Damon

I love this. It amuses me to no end.

For Those Not Yet Registered to Vote

Never before has an election seemed more inextricably linked to the everyday lives of the American citizens. Possibly because we have recently been handed direct proof of what happens when apathy gets the best of us, and we just sit back and allow others to make decisions for us. 

Last election only 64% of the population voted. And, to break that down even further, only 47% of those aged 18-24 turned out to vote. Ironically, that is also the age group of most of the people being killed now in the Iraq war. 

The current administration has spent eight years treating the public like children. Hiding information, and ignoring it as if we are unable to put forth thoughts of our own. If you don't vote, you prove them right. So get out there and register. I promise you it's worth the paperwork.