he's that good

just noticed that my boy matt good has again posted a link to this blog from his site. gawrsh, i'm honoured. bienvenue to matt's fans who stumble over here, however by accident. did he tell you we're working up a bit of a project? i haven't really told anybody about it on account of not wanting to jinx it or incite some jerk to run off with the idea. but i think matt might have mentioned it. we're both pretty stoked. all i will say is this: tour bus, unlikely venues, guitar, politics, controversy. now if only matt can make it through the big deluxe edition cd/dvd set release and related tour dates, we might be able to get planning. busy rock stars.

as for this page, well i've been doing a bit o' navel gazing lately. shocker. but now that you're here, it's not like i feel any pressure to be profound. my brain works at a snail's pace as compared to matt's. and my stomach can hardly stand the daily exhaustive headline scan that his can. i suppose i rant, every so often, less intelligently, about things that aren't hard to trip across.

so i ask again, am i the only one who is stunned by the lakota tv commercials? seriously? i really can't get over it. i'm telling you people, some ad execs (are there even any members of the lakota nation in charge of the company?) got together and decided it was ok to put traditional native headdress on joe and jill arthritis sufferers who dance around pain-free to a culturally ambiguous soundtrack. i just can't fucking believe it. can you imagine if an ad for a medicine from ... wait a minute, i dont' even need to go through the comparables that would get people all up in arms. most any other cultural appropriation would incense people. actually, it just wouldn't happen. apparently, first nations iconography is still up for exploitation. makes me proud.

but what i really wanted to vent about today is oprah. i hardly know what to think. i realize the disturbing frequency with which i evoke her here, but holy jesus it's hard not to. today she announced that her program last week on america's most wanted child predators led to the arrest of two of the fbi's top fugitives. she's giving out $100,000 rewards to viewers to whose tips lead to arrests. she's so uppity and sanctimonious about this newest of her crusades. she delivers sermons into the lens with the fervor of a preacher/politician. it annoys me, but it works. man does she wield some fucking power. she has the power to put millions of viewers to work on any issue she wants. and i admire that she has chosen this one. but i can't help be irritated that someone with that level of influence and those enormous resources will mobilize viewers but not politicize them. she wants to do good, but her drippy speeches turn my stomach. it's the same churning that goes on when oprah cameras head into the middle east or eastern africa to investigate rape as a tool of war: she wants to expose westerners to the atrocities suffered by women, but won't call them abuses of women's human rights and certainly won't explain to viewers how it all happened. she wants to shock viewers with the awfulness of it all, but not offer any analysis as to where blame may lie. she doesn't have to, but damn, i wish she would.

if i'm really honest with myself, i think i'd admit that i'm mostly just jealous. or angry. it grinds my ass that those of us trying to achieve real justice, real equality, real peace, are struggling in the trenches to gain numbers, support, political clout, public crediblity, to affect change. we are desperate for resources, for wider audiences, for a pulpit from which millions of eager consumers of a message would be reached. we are thirsting for a spokesperson with mass appeal enough to cross popularity and political lines, to inspire people to stand up. someone who people have grown to trust over time, who we watched evolve from big hair and big earrings to big issues and big power. we need an oprah. only ours would be an outspoken catalyst for action who cultivates politicized activists and leaders, not just disciples.

so where the fuck is she?