Before the world ends...

...I have a question...
Has anyone even fucking noticed?
You know in those "end of the world" movies where an overpaid actor trudges through the snow looking like he just walked out of a spa, complaining of frostbite and the ignorance of the few who could have done something?
I feel for him right now...not the actor, the actual character. Although I'm sitting in sunny California, my scope is turned towards the literal and figurative rumblings across the globe.
I am not at all superstitious. I do not subscribe to the bat shit crazy wailings of extremists and loony tunes; that we'll all be judged and 2012 is it so get your shit in order.
I think that is just another example of the psychotic projections of our shortcomings onto the past and/or a higher being.
For example, all the hullabaloo surrounding next year. Many historians claim that the ancient peoples of South America who we credit with this prophetic observation, just got tired of fucking counting so high, and figured they'd continue later. There is actually no hard evidence to suggest that they thought it was going to be the end of the world.
I stopped writing in birth control reminders once I got to December 2011 in my calendar. That does not mean that I expect to wake up pregnant on December 1st. It just means I can fill that in later. However, this is not how we, the people, think.
There is no need to take care of our ills and sins now, because the world will simply end whenever it wants to ; God will simply pull the plug when he feels like it ; mother nature will shrug us off when we get too obese and dirty to carry, etc, etc. The problem with these ideas isn't necessarily the fact that people believe them, it is that they feel it relieves them of any sort of responsibility in crises, from the local level to the global level.
If I had a dime for every time I heard some religious nut say "It's not in our hands," I could probably single-handedly bring this country out of debt.
And while I enjoy picking on religious extremists, it's not just them. Even people who are not extremist (either secular or non), find it easier and more convenient to rest on the assumption that their actions will make no difference in the impending doom of our species and our world.
So, we sit and watch with detached apathy, thinly veiled with a facade of care, as the world takes a swan dive.
New Zealand experiences two major quakes in less than half a year...oh, shame.
Libyan civilians are fired upon from helicopters by their own people...oh, bummer.
Our own government is ready to literally just fucking shut down because nobody can agree on a damn thing other than the fact that we're broke and in deep shit...oh, well, I'm fine.
From the Pyramids at Giza to the royal palace in Jordan - like dominoes along the Northernmost countries of Africa, civil unrest marks the end of an era in the mid-east and all Americans care about is whether Steven Tyler eye-fucked the next candidate for musical poser of the year.
We have had the most fucked up weather ever this year and all people do in response is crank the heat, keep the engines running and buy some more fur.
Why?
How?
Is our apathy a sign of devolution or of evolution? Is it a sign that our brains have progressed to the point that we are able to use it as a defense? Is it, like I said, a conscious projection? because somewhere we fear the truth - we fear the outside confines of our cuddly bubble? Or is it subconscious or not even? Is it more cynically the simple dumbing down of a nation? Is it just the continued idiotization of the great U S of A?
These questions aren't rhetorical. I would really LOVE a response.
Although, I don't expect anyone to really have the answer. Even if I knew exactly why, the question needs to be how can we fix it?
How do you get people to care about their own lives and world?
It seems an asinine question to ask. But that's where we're at.
My heart goes out to the people in New Zealand, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the homeless man I passed today, the man I saw commit suicide last week. My heart goes out to the people who can not help their situation, who are born into mayhem or it is cataclysmically brought upon them.
I have no pity, however, for the people who do nothing, who pray for change. Who sit and wishfully think about a better future but don't DO anything. That's pathetic and ultimately, psychotic.
It is up to the people to change the fate of this world. It is not up to the Mayans. It is not up to God. It is not up to the Tooth Fairy or Santa or Obama or Palin. It is up to you. It is up to me.

Do Something.

Fast Blast: News 2.10.11

From fashion and art to dictators, school boys and whales, it's a helluva day around the world.

Mubarak hangs on: Egyptian president Mubarak gave a speech this evening in front of a packed Tahrir square, surprising his constituents and the world by proclaiming that he wasn't going to step down. The crowds had already been cheering and celebrating all day in preparation for the official word. Needless to say, they were disappointed and angry. Mubarak announced that he will be handing over certain powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman. This didn't do much to quench the anger in the masses. Suleiman is a military man, head of intelligence gathering and widely regarded as a heartless extension of Mubarak.Major opposition leader, Mohamed ElBardei warned that things will rapidly turn violent if Mubarak does not step down. "Egypt will explode," he tweeted. After Mubarak's speech, crowds chanted "Get out, Get out!" The latest development reports masses of more than 1,000 encircling the presidential palace where heavy security guards the building and others nearby. This will be a long night.

The soldier's side: Reports show that for the second year in a row, the US military has lost more soldiers to suicide than in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, over 468 troops committed suicide. If everyone bitches so much about supporting the troops, shouldn't we support them enough to bring them home and pay for adequate physical and mental healthcare...? Nah, that's not as fun as moving little green men around on a board.

A billion pounds of flesh: House Appropriations Committe Chairman Hal Rogers announced today that he intends to cut $100bn from Obama's budget this year. "Our intent is to make deep but manageable cuts in nearly every area of government, leaving no stone unturned and allowing no agency or program to be held sacred," Some Democrats feel, like Rep. Schumer, that the Republicans are "blindly swinging a meat ax to the budget when they should be using a smart, sharp scalpel." He said that they need to pay special attention to what areas of government spending will benefit job growth and the economy and what areas won't, as opposed to just throwing a blanket over the whole thing and slicing $100bn. However, it seems that even some of Rogers' co-workers are unsure of exactly what's being cut: "We will make $100 billion in discretionary cuts while making common sense exceptions for our troops and veterans. " House Appropriations Committee Communications Director Hing said (that by the way, is the most made up job ever). Ummmm...oh right, that's a bullshit patriotic way of saying you won't cut military funding, but everything else, from schools to health care to jobs and public works will be bent over the House podium and royally raped - while you have that image in your head, imagine Obama's speech to corporate America the other day where he vowed to try and slash corporate taxes to make free trade easier. You're welcome America.

Saving the whales: Thanks to less pollution and international bans on whaling, whales have returned to the waters of New York Harbor, just beyond the Verrazano-Narrows bridge which connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. An estimated 50 fin whales now live in the area. Guess that campaign really did work...save the whales!

School boy bomber: A man dressed in a school boy uniform blew himself up, along with Pakistani troops at an army training camp in Northwest Pakistan this morning. There seems to be some discrepency as to the age and identity of the suicide bomber: army and police claim it was a teenager in a school uniform, the Pakistani taliban said it was a soldier on the base who had volunteered, and Reuters claims it was a boy as young as 12. This comes as a sharp reminder of the strong Al-Qaida and Taliban operations along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite years of attacks against the groups. Not to beat a dead horse, or a dead ideology, but at what point did we decide that we could conquer what essentially is an entire continent deeply rooted in faith - with nothing more than firepower and arrogance? It was all about Bush in his flight jacket on the aircraft carrier wasn't it? Congrats USA - no mission accomplished, missing a conscience.

The fashionable apple: Mercedes Benz fashion week kicks off today in the Big Apple with BCBG stealing the show in throwback 70s style on Auschwitz survivor thin models...I dunno, seems a little retro for my taste.

Art Walk: If you live in LA, check out the Art Walk downtown. In the center of the city (Spring-Broadway between 3rd and 8th), galleries will showcase their pride and joy along with live music, alcohol and free swag like condoms and fashion magazines.