metraboy online: july 21, 2000

boy howdy. the streak just entered day three. however, i took two hours taking two hours for lunch yesterday because this took me so long, so i might run short today.

yestrday I said that I would talk about two related questions"Why do I distrust books written by dissenters who view things the way I do? Why do I need to see that such books are put out by "reputable" publishers before I can believe in what they say?"

the reason tht this came up is that i was reading an article in punk planet about this guy who runs a pretty cool publishing company (sorry so vague; i left the issue at home). one of the books sounded awesome, but i found myself doubting the validity of the content of the book.

huh?

i'm a guy who likes PP so much that i have written (now) three updates on stuff that they made me think about and here i am doubting its validity due to the fact that it si kinda small press and talks about corporate conspiracies in an anti-corporate way? what?

there are two reasons that i can come up with that i doubt these things:

1. My schooling the last four years has taught me to be wary of "questionable" sources (which could be seen as one more way that colleges are used to indoctrinate people into societal norms)(i know that sounds crazy, but it's true to some extent)

2. Society as a whole makes ideas that are seen as contridictory to the established one seem crazy. In other words, "you don't conform? you must be nuts!"

either way, it disturbs me to think that I look at things this way. i remember when i used to think nate was crazy when he would talk to me about the evils of corporations and of capitalism, but something in his eyes (and in a lot of the things i read) made me feel like he was on to something. since then, i have read many many things about politics that have come from a so-called "leftist:" or "punk" point-of-view that i am beginning to be the truth in these stories.

so why do i still not believe it completely?

i think that there is always a "conspiracy theory" aspect to a lot of this stuff. it makes you feel like those crazy guys who have conspiracy reports and send them out to their legion of thirteen followers. it makes you feel like a cult follower or something, only this is the Cult of the Corporate Despisers. :-) it makes me frustrated to see a lot of the newspapers that may or may not have truthful stories set up in such a way that they look like hacks (ever see any socialist newspapers? you know what i am talking about). add to these things the cultural legacy of anti-communism, the growing awareness of semi-truths published as facts in the media, and the strong feelings of nationalism in our country, and you start to doubt yourelf to the core whenever you begin to wonder if you are really getting" the truth," whatever that may be.

i think i do know one thing, however.

i would trust punk planet much more than i would ever trust a government publication on such topics as labor relations, corporate greed, sweatshops, or unfair business practices. so i guess that's why i keep reading, and for the most part, keep believing.

take care, ya'll. i'll be talking to you monday, and maybe even this weekend--we shall see.

love,
metraboy

p.s. click here to go back to the main page with all the listings.

p.p.s. this is a bad ass beastie boys site where they annotate all their lyrics, song titles, and samples. crazy shit.

last updated july 21, 2000