Have you seen the big news in the e-mail or on Facebook about how a certain song about God and country was banned from the radio because its lyrics "were too politically incorrect"? Yeah, I've seen it about six times too many. The right-wing parrots are parroting whatever they are told to again, but that's not the point here. Stop and think about it.
If you think there's a big conspiracy to ban God and Country from country music radio, all you have to do is turn it on and listen, any given minute of any given day. Country music radio knows its audience, and they know what their audience wants. God and Country makes money for country music radio. Rap makes money for "urban" radio. Hate makes money for right-wing talk radio. What makes money is what is broadcast. Political correctness has nothing to do with it (Howard Stern is on the radio, after all). If Jihad sold in America, it would undoubtedly be on the radio, too.
It's not just radio, folks. I hate to break the news to you, but television programming is only what is historically proven to make you sit there while the commercials are on. Nobody really cares about "American Idol" except that it glues more eyeballs to the commercials than anything else does. Everybody: clothing companies, automobile companies, telecommunications companies, even oil companies, are not operating for any reason except to make the product that will make you give them the most money at the least expense to them.
Will you give more money to somebody who really cares about you and what you think? Then they do. Will you give more money to somebody who truly wants you to be healthier and live a happier, longer, more meaningful life? Then they do. If it costs them more to make it a little bit better becuse they love you, will they do it? Not a chance.
Jesus is on the country radio station to make you hold still and listen to the commercials that come between songs. That's what he's doing there. No more and no less.
Rush Limbaugh is saying outrageous things about the President - guess why? He has commercials on his radio show, too, and he makes a whole lot of money from the people who put them there.
Everybody isn't necessarily asking you to open your wallet and spend money for a product you can touch and feel. But just about every time somebody tells you what you want to hear, they are asking you to buy something. Stop and think about what it might be and what their motives are. The world today is way too complex and too full of buyers and sellers for anybody to completely avoid being bought and sold like subprime mortgages to a megabank, but with a little thought about where the money goes and who might be behind the messages, we might be able to escape the most blatant attempts to be used for someone else's gain.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Bad Brains, part I
I have written in this blog about genius. That is one aspect of the brain which makes mine stand out, but it also comes equipped with a couple of dark sides. One is what is described by my neurologist as intractable, atypical migraine.
I have had these headaches for just about as long as I can remember, but it was many years before I found out exactly what they were. And although migraine usually includes a headache, I have found out that the pain is far from the only symptom of the migraine. It is a complex neurological phenomenon that can also affect other systems of the body, and can seriously disrupt one's life. I don't want to go into any kind of medical detail here, since so much good and official information is available on the Internet, but I have to wonder if my experience with migraine is the dark side, maybe even the payback, for a brilliant mind which was always so taken for granted.
I used to think of migraines as "sinus headaches," because they occurred in the frontal part of my head, were often accompanied by nasal congestion, and tended to happen with sudden changes in barometric pressure. There was a time when I tried to be sure that I always carried prescription pain pills with me, since these headaches popped up without warning and didn't respond well to over-the-counter medicine. I recall a family reunion dinner that had to be moved inside when a sudden storm came up; I took a pill and crawled off to sleep in the car, unable even to make the rounds with my regrets. I have since been informed that there is no such thing as a sinus headache, except maybe a dull ache accompanying a severe infection. In fact, it was an ear-nose-and throat doctor who referred me to neurology for my headaches, suspecting they were migraine.
Before I was treated, I was likely to be found in my doctor's examining room, all the lights off, curled up in a fetal position on the table. On at least one occasion, I had to pull over to the side of the road and throw up on the way to the doctor, because the accompanying nausea was so bad. (Passing restaurants on the way to the office made me think about the food they served, and just the thought was enough to make me heave.) Light was like broken glass being pushed into my head through my eyes. And the muscles in the back of my head and neck would get exquisitely sore to the touch - something like the feeling of a very bad bruise.
I have only had the famous migraine aura once. I was at work, and was copying down a long number, twelve or fourteen digits. When I looked at what I had written down, it was only seven or eight digits long. A blank space had opened up in the middle of my vision, and I had not seen the numbers in it. I also had some black-and-yellow zigzags visible at the periphery of one side. I went to the eye doctor, who told me I was experiencing classic migraine symptoms, but I did not get the headache until several hours after the visual disturbance, and, in fact, until I was waiting for the eye doctor.
By now, I have been treated for several years, and am taking a combination of drugs to prevent migraine. I also have medication to take when I get a migraine anyway, which is fairly frequently. However, I rarely have severe headaches and never have nausea with migraine any more. Now, I have one of two types of experience: either a mild headache, for which I take some pills and am able to go on with what I would otherwise have been doing; or the semi-comatose migraine state. In this case, I wake up and try to get out of bed, but am unable. On weekdays, my alarm clock will wake me up, but on weekends, I often don't wake up until the afternoon. I stay in a semi-awake, semi-asleep state until sometime in the evening, dreaming; I don't get hungry or thirsty; don't have to get up to use the bathroom; don't wake up and get bored and want to do anything. This usually follows stress and the relief of stress, or precedes severe weather changes. This condition is usually not accompanied by headache, but afterward, I remain for a day or so in a groggy, confused mental state.
The main medication I take for preventing migraine causes me not to be able to recollect names of things - a condition known as anomic aphasia. This sometimes rises to an acutely aggravating level. Considering how often I get into the catatonic but pain-free migraine state described above, I have to wonder how much worse my condition would be at this point if it were to go untreated?
I have had these headaches for just about as long as I can remember, but it was many years before I found out exactly what they were. And although migraine usually includes a headache, I have found out that the pain is far from the only symptom of the migraine. It is a complex neurological phenomenon that can also affect other systems of the body, and can seriously disrupt one's life. I don't want to go into any kind of medical detail here, since so much good and official information is available on the Internet, but I have to wonder if my experience with migraine is the dark side, maybe even the payback, for a brilliant mind which was always so taken for granted.
I used to think of migraines as "sinus headaches," because they occurred in the frontal part of my head, were often accompanied by nasal congestion, and tended to happen with sudden changes in barometric pressure. There was a time when I tried to be sure that I always carried prescription pain pills with me, since these headaches popped up without warning and didn't respond well to over-the-counter medicine. I recall a family reunion dinner that had to be moved inside when a sudden storm came up; I took a pill and crawled off to sleep in the car, unable even to make the rounds with my regrets. I have since been informed that there is no such thing as a sinus headache, except maybe a dull ache accompanying a severe infection. In fact, it was an ear-nose-and throat doctor who referred me to neurology for my headaches, suspecting they were migraine.
Before I was treated, I was likely to be found in my doctor's examining room, all the lights off, curled up in a fetal position on the table. On at least one occasion, I had to pull over to the side of the road and throw up on the way to the doctor, because the accompanying nausea was so bad. (Passing restaurants on the way to the office made me think about the food they served, and just the thought was enough to make me heave.) Light was like broken glass being pushed into my head through my eyes. And the muscles in the back of my head and neck would get exquisitely sore to the touch - something like the feeling of a very bad bruise.
I have only had the famous migraine aura once. I was at work, and was copying down a long number, twelve or fourteen digits. When I looked at what I had written down, it was only seven or eight digits long. A blank space had opened up in the middle of my vision, and I had not seen the numbers in it. I also had some black-and-yellow zigzags visible at the periphery of one side. I went to the eye doctor, who told me I was experiencing classic migraine symptoms, but I did not get the headache until several hours after the visual disturbance, and, in fact, until I was waiting for the eye doctor.
By now, I have been treated for several years, and am taking a combination of drugs to prevent migraine. I also have medication to take when I get a migraine anyway, which is fairly frequently. However, I rarely have severe headaches and never have nausea with migraine any more. Now, I have one of two types of experience: either a mild headache, for which I take some pills and am able to go on with what I would otherwise have been doing; or the semi-comatose migraine state. In this case, I wake up and try to get out of bed, but am unable. On weekdays, my alarm clock will wake me up, but on weekends, I often don't wake up until the afternoon. I stay in a semi-awake, semi-asleep state until sometime in the evening, dreaming; I don't get hungry or thirsty; don't have to get up to use the bathroom; don't wake up and get bored and want to do anything. This usually follows stress and the relief of stress, or precedes severe weather changes. This condition is usually not accompanied by headache, but afterward, I remain for a day or so in a groggy, confused mental state.
The main medication I take for preventing migraine causes me not to be able to recollect names of things - a condition known as anomic aphasia. This sometimes rises to an acutely aggravating level. Considering how often I get into the catatonic but pain-free migraine state described above, I have to wonder how much worse my condition would be at this point if it were to go untreated?
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Racism for Christmas
It was shortly before Christmas, 2009. I was listening to NPR, and I heard the most racist comment that I have heard in quite a long time. It was tossed off rather casually, but it made me think. The comment was made by someone who was connected with the production of a play called "Black Nativity." He said, and I'm not quoting him exactly, "If you go see 'A Christmas Carol', you would think that there were nothing but white people in America."
Now, it would seem to me that if you went to a very good production of "A Christmas Carol", you would believe you were in England in the 19th century, and America would never cross your mind. This is a story that's set in a very specific time and place, among the merchant class in an England before mass immigration. People of color could be cast in a theatrical version, but it wouldn't make much sense.
For contrast, take another hoary Christmas show, "The Nutcracker." It is a fantasy set around the dreams of the young German girl, Clara; but it could as easily be about Carl without changing the overall story or any of the musical set pieces. None of the characters in Clara's dreams - mice, nutcrackers, sugar plum fairies - belong to any specific place or time, and they could be cast with anybody talented enough. The same goes for the orchestra. You don't have to be white or black to play Tchaikovsky, but you should sound good.
Why limit the barrier-breaking in "Nutcracker" to race? Imagine the possibilities for sugar-plum fairies in an over-the-top, cross-dressing drag version!
And coming full circle to the "Black Nativity" production: I haven't seen it, but I would be willing to bet that if one saw it, one would think that there were no white people in America.
Now, it would seem to me that if you went to a very good production of "A Christmas Carol", you would believe you were in England in the 19th century, and America would never cross your mind. This is a story that's set in a very specific time and place, among the merchant class in an England before mass immigration. People of color could be cast in a theatrical version, but it wouldn't make much sense.
For contrast, take another hoary Christmas show, "The Nutcracker." It is a fantasy set around the dreams of the young German girl, Clara; but it could as easily be about Carl without changing the overall story or any of the musical set pieces. None of the characters in Clara's dreams - mice, nutcrackers, sugar plum fairies - belong to any specific place or time, and they could be cast with anybody talented enough. The same goes for the orchestra. You don't have to be white or black to play Tchaikovsky, but you should sound good.
Why limit the barrier-breaking in "Nutcracker" to race? Imagine the possibilities for sugar-plum fairies in an over-the-top, cross-dressing drag version!
And coming full circle to the "Black Nativity" production: I haven't seen it, but I would be willing to bet that if one saw it, one would think that there were no white people in America.
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