I found an article I wrote more than a decade ago. The tone tells me that I actually wrote it in the mid-2000s at the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A platform/website update in 2015 has the article dated in 2015, however, but article is much older.
I am trying to understand my thought process at the time. It's strange that I no longer remember what triggered the article, but something must have frustrated me. What is interesting, is that the information could apply today as much as it did in the early aughts. The most consistent thing is the constant "noise." My concern it seems, was propaganda, government overreach, and media manipulation. Back then, I was politically more active. In the article, I argued against pacifism, and said that the pen is a tool for both peace and resistance.
Fast-forward to today, I am on the opposite side of this view. The more you write and talk about it, the more power it has. My view today is that you must starve it of attention, the way you starve a fire of oxygen. Anyway, I must have been fairly heated when I wrote this article. It was fairly strongly-worded.
What' scary is that...whatever it was that I felt so passionate about in the early 2000s that compelled me to write this article, I can no longer remember. In 15-20 years, we most likely will not remember... what we are passionate about today, we will barely recall tomorrow. There is so much that I remember about the early 2000s that has been rewritten, revised, or forgotten today that it amazes me. The moral is, not to lose yourself to the distractions of the moment.
https://screenwritersdaily.com/2015/04/08/stoking-the-flames-of-war/
Lol my son sent this to me. This is what my kids "claim" I do. I see scams everyday in my business so I don’t trust anything. I would definitely ask why did you send me 3 codes, because the reality is, you need to give me a heads-up first. Don't just send me a code, call me...let me know. Before I agree, I'm interrogating you to make sure it's not a scam.
https://youtube.com/shorts/2u6DKFmkY4g?is=VOElOUkPkz43AUpY
Amber Diva Being cautious is very important.
I try not to say too much. To temper my noise to barely a decibel. I walk softly...and speak in whispers that only a few can hear, in codes that only few can decipher. Part of my reason for doing so is survival. I sense a shift in the air that I understand, and in an act of defiance, choose not to explain, but hope that others sense it too. There is an unspoken, perhaps shared secret knowledge between us--those who know, those who see, those who do. I am being a bit poetic here.. .a bit facetious. There is a strategic reason for doing so.
Andrew Morgan That's a beautiful illustration. We're all ciphers to each other. What you see that disturbs you is the lesson. Or to quote a license plate I saw a couple years ago: "Life is the school. Love is the lesson."
E. Writer Beautifully stated. That is very close to how I ended my last two books, that in the end, for humanity, love is the point of it all.
Amber Diva You’re a very intelligent woman
E. Writer Thank you, you too ! 🥰
The world feels very strange. We are in such a dystopian state. A streaming platform just emerged where people can pay bounties, basically people (IRL streamers) to do things, like set a car on fire, or hit someone with eggs. It's turned into The Hunger Games or Squid Games out here. We've devolved into The Purge. Let's talk about these things without directly stating anything political. They shall not claim this last refuge lol but let's raise the temperature a bit, without giving in.
😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔1️⃣1️⃣1️⃣1️⃣1️⃣
E. Writer That's going a bit far because every country has rapists, even in canada and Europe. There's trafficking and other issues in every country around the world. The difference here is that you have people here who think it is perfectly acceptable to preach and indoctrinate young men into thinking this type of behavior and believe this ugly type of speech is ok. The difference with other countries is something very simple, which is respect. These men and their followers respect nothing, or anyone. Not even themselves.
Alex Morton Of course there are deviants in every country, but the difference, as you state, is that in the US you have people believing misogynistic hate speech and that goes as far as advocating violence against women, is acceptable.
E. Writer There has been a movement to oppress people at many levels. This sort of disturbed demonic thinking is permeating all levels of society because we gave it a platform under the free speech Trojan Horse, and it is coming for everyone. It doesn't stop at the groups people decided they don't like. But I dont want to wade into those reeds, not here. I don't want it to become a stage for those voices to spread their views. I recall a mutual acquaintance of ours (I'm sure you know who I'm talking about) who was running a controlled opposition campaign, and when he discovered that politics will not be discussed on Neighbahood, he ended his acquaintance with the group as Zoe disbanded. He was never there as a writer, never produced any work, he was there to run counterarguments and controlled political opposition. I believe he was employed or deployed to say the things he was saying by a group at a higher level. These people were professionally trained to run counterarguments. They believe they are at war and the most powerful move one can make is to silence them through lack of engagement.
Alex Morton
I agree that it's time to draw this discussion to a close, lest we dive into political waters and in the process destroy the peace that prevails on this site.
What I just wanted was to assure everybody living in the vortex that there's a whole world out there that is not part of the decline of decency and democracy. I know it feels to Americans that everything is falling apart and everything wrong is happening, but it's primarily endemic to the US right now, and the rest of the world is just humming along as usual. It should give you hope.
E. Writer Your message cut off.
This is truly an amazing feat. Imagine traveling for 50 years, at about 38,000 mph, and making it one light day from Earth, roughly 16 billion miles. And it's still sending data.
https://www.popsci.com/science/voyager-one-light-day-earth/
Alex Morton And there's nothing else on the way out there that I'm aware of. I think that there was a long period of time in which US administrations viewed NASA's space program as a huge amount of money for the occasional stunt and they choked off a lot of funding and attention. The first time round for NASA, in the race to the moon and the advent of the shuttle, there was a certain amount of elan to the program, a true spirit of adventure and a certain amount of doing a thing because it was worth doing for its own sake. The current renewed interest in space is strictly financial and military. There isn't a bit of soul to it. And I don't see it stretching out beyond our solar system again.
E. Writer Which definitely stinks. Even if NASA was given the funding to pursue interstellar travel again (they were not aware that Voyager I would make it that far), we would not see the results in our lifetime. Right now, Voyager I is traveling over 38,000 mph and it still took almost 50 years to make to interstellar space.
Alex Morton With the speed of light being the ultimate barrier ...299,792,458 m/s there's still plenty of room to go and so it is possible for something to be developed that would provide a speed for interstellar travel that could show results in our lifetime. But, with military might being the meme emanating from the White House, and that not dependent on much greater speed than we currently can achieve, I don't see much happening in that regard. At least not from the US. Just four times the speed they can now achieve would do it, easily.
E. Writer The only problem is that matter or anything with mass cannot travel at the speed of light. Also, that much of space exploration has been privatized. Unless there's money to be made i don't foresee it happening 😔
Alex Morton Yes ... I know that we can't travel at the speed of light, but even half that speed is enormous. That was my point.
Finally got around to watching American Fiction. Great movie. Officially streaming on Youtube, free, which was surprising. It was on Apple Streaming last time I tracked it and I don't have Apple streaming. It was a very good movie, very ironic. It has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score. It's about the superficiality of books and the expectation that Black authors write only about Black pain, and how those writings are always winning awards. So the central character, played by Jeffrey Wright (One of my favorite actors), writes a book (complete satire) where he pretends to be a fugitive writing a memoir about his life.
Alex Morton Re your post, I get a message that it is age restricted and only available on youtube and when I go there, the link doesn't work. Regardless, the entire movie is available on youtube, and I plan to watch it. Sounds like a winner.
E. Writer Yeah it won't even show a preview. But when you click that link under "Learn more" it takes you directly to the movie. If you click anywhere else, it doesn't work.
I am waiting on two more reviews. One of the reviewers today, sent me a review that was written so poorly, I sent it back. 60% of the review was random quotes from Chapter 1. The rest was practically jibberish that looked like it was written by a nine-year old. I wasn't trying to be a Karen, but I asked if that reviewer could be barred from reviewing my work again. I told them that I understand that the subject matter is difficult, but I would rather wait until they have a better reviewer than to accept what was sent my way. So far I have two reviews and I am waiting on two more. Then I am done with the review aspect. The book will be released in October. So there's time for everything.
https://aclockworkuniverse.com/reviews.html
Michael Jackson acted out a shocking scene in his Earth Song performance. He could not have depicted this today.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1JKYK1wUVr/
Amber Diva Earth Song is one of my favorite songs and videos by Michael Jackson. My mother had me watch the video with her. I was 16 years old . I was so touched and was almost brought to tears by the message and video ❤️
E. Writer It is so beautiful and underrated out of his catalog.
E. Writer It's odd how much time can change how we think. A decade ago I loved writing romance novels, now I'm embarrassed that I wrote them.
Frank Hutton A few years ago I went through some archival writing, looking one last time for anything of value. Found a bit Because as it turns out, my basic prose proclivities were there from the start. Nascent for sure, but there. And multiple times when reading a piece I'd not thought of in maybe 40 yrs., I recalled where/when I penned it and why.
E. Writer I often link my old material to a time and mental place I was in at the time it was written. With maturity and growth I find that my views have changed such, that I don't recognize what I was writing, or why. Like the article above, I was in my 30s when I wrote it. I'm in my 50s now. I like looking back and thinking about how much we grow and change with time and wisdom. That's my takeaway I think, I hope I am not in the same mental space as I was as a thirty-something year old woman.
Frank Hutton Whereas the poetry I referenced was mostly still on point. Not including the occasional attempts @ epic romantic fantasy, ugh. That's even despite 50 yrs. of continuing personal, intellectual and creative growth. Nothing's the same of course because life's not static, except @ base I'm still me. I find real contentment in that throughline I mentioned. It's foundational & I still benefit greatly from it.
E. Writer Poetry is very timeless.