Anti-anti

Originally written November 2, 2006

"u seem to be anti-alot of things these days."

A friend of mine spoke these words to me about a month ago, and I promised to write a blog about it. I thought it was an interesting comment and could make for a very interesting blog. It is also refreshing to hear another person's honest perspective on your own beliefs. It came up during one of the many debates on the message board in our fantasy football league. I try not to get involved in as many these days because I like to etch my words into something 'concrete' here on the blogs. I've written some long, essay-worthy arguments only to have them disappear into Yahoo heaven like a fart.wav in the wind.

It is a simple statement, but difficult to take on. It was hard picking a place to start. So I will first paint it with a very broad brush. It all starts with my leftist friend, Jesus. My world should be modeled after his teachings. As in the red font in the bible (Should it be blue?). I believe they should be applied to all economic, social, political, agricultural, and just plain moral issues in the world. That right there means you are anti-just about everything in the new millenium. The irony of it all? I was anti-WWJD bracelets back in high school! Now, my whole ethos is based on that acronym. [I thought they were too much of a flashy, religious diamond ring for my humble, traditionalist Christian ways. So my 1995 self was anti-my 2006 self! Of course, 2006 Wes turns the other cheek to 1995 Wes. Even though he can be a stubborn asshole. And was lazy.] It must be said that many of Jesus' teachings can be summed up with The Golden Rule. Something so basic it should be followed by the world's religions, atheists, and agnostics. Millions of people reach the same conclusion on issues that I do. They do so using many different beliefs and personal experiences. This is just one of the ways I reach that same conclusion.

With a broad backstroke of the brush, I say that contemporary society increasingly conflicts with the WWJD mentality. As the population grows, the majority cares less about their fellow man. They become more materialistic, self-interested, and follow the daily routine of a consumer. This whirlwind gets stronger with unchecked capitalism. Fact: This system in itself has no interest in mankind unless it is attached to a dollar sign. Any good deeds by a corporation are simply advertising in the form of P.R to make more money. I don't have to explain it all, because I think the consumer cycle is quite obvious. But with the passage of time, its' affect on mankind may not be so obvious. The wave will grow with the number of people that ride it. I personally choose not to contribute to the tsunami. You get to choose which side you are on. Just because there are less people that would agree with me, doesn't necessarily make me the anti-everything rebel. There are just more people on the other side.

Now back to the anti. When the majority of the world around me goes against the tenents of my belief system, I have no choice in being "anti-alot of things". Linguistically, for me to be anti- one side of things...it means the rest are anti- my side of things. For example, I am anti-Bovine Growth Hormones in cows. I insist on drinking organic milk. Therefore, I could say that everyone on the other side is anti-normal milk, or anti-nature. I would hate to be called anti-nature. But as Radiohead said, you did it to yourself.

There are also lots of little brush strokes all over the canvas. So it is more complicated than my previous 2 broad strokes. It takes them all to paint the entire picture. This blog post is definitely not anti-metaphor.

The "these days" portion of the comment also holds some merit. I have increasingly grown further anti- over the last 4 years (or so). It didn't come from nowhere. I have always been left-of-center and left-brained [but not left-handed]. It is the drive behind it that has grown over the years. The biggest motivator over the last 4 years has been reading. I have always been well-read, but never really read. If that makes any sense? Prior to my recent renaissance (that would be an undeveloped, Early 14th century Renaissance.), I never read with the same ferocity and volume.

Speaking of '1995 Wes', I wish I could smack him around. If I had the same motivation back then, I would be 10 years ahead of where I am now. That is a mighty fine prospect. But the past is the past, and in 10 years at age 38, I will be happy I started caring when I did. Even if the rest of the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.

Some Anti-

Anti-poverty Anti-anti-welfare Anti-processed foods Anti-genetically engineered foods Anti-corporate farms Anti-animal cruelty Anti-racism Anti-denial that racism still exists Anti-union busting Anti-red state Anti-blue state Anti-passive Anti-corporate corruption Anti-corporate Anti-beastiality (except chickens) Anti-ignorance Anti-hopelessly naive Anti-right wing fundamentalist Christians Anti-right wing fundamentalist Muslims Anti-any right wing fundamentalist Anti-hate Anti-violence Anti-fascist Anti-war Anti-evil Anti-college social organizations falsely masked under the guise of 'community service' Anti-giant corporate sports marketing machine Anti-Wes unsuccessfully trying to kick sports altogether Anti-marketing system that keeps people watching sports and consuming to numb them of the reality around them Anti-people that don't watch The Office Anti-Goliath Anti-you being anti this blog post Anti-Desperate Housewives Anti-emo guys that wear girl jeans Anti-people that sing at concerts Anti-unfair marijuana laws Anti-corporate prison-building machine Anti-those that don't question authority Anti-those that don't question history as it is written by rich white men Anti-pencils with hard erasers that don't erase Anti-out-of-state girls in lingerie that keep sending me friend requests Anti-dark at 6pm Anti-anti

Tracking my Anti-

As you can see, I didn't really jive with things from the get-go.

"Up the anti" - J.J.