Free to Be Disconnected

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If you’re reading this essay on MichaelKonik.com, you know that this is a reliable place to find “me,” the me who shares his ideas with the world, whether or not any part of the world is interested. This is where I unilaterally invade my privacy, allowing strangers to read my mind, exposing my beliefs and my doubts, keeping very little secret. You want to know what I think about something? It’s pretty easy to know. My Thoughts are even searchable. Hiding is almost impossible when you’re trying to be unflinchingly honest.

Yet if you’re looking for me on Facebook, I’m not there.

There’s an official Michael Konik Author page, which serves as a publishing conduit for my Thoughts. Dozens – dozens! – of people “like” it. Facebook also offers several Michael Konik Community pages, the equivalent of digital flypaper, where people who are looking for me on . . . → Read More: Free to Be Disconnected

Suspension of Disbelievers

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North Korea is launching rockets, Syria is slaughtering its citizens, and the Filipino community is organizing a massive get-out-the-vote campaign for a crucial election (not for something boring and unimportant like a public office but a cause that’s got folks passionately engaged: the American Idol finals). So the astonishingly weird five-game suspension of Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen — for comments emanating from his mouth — came and went with little comment.

Principles like free speech, you see, are “important” according to moldy textbooks, but, really, let’s be honest: it’s hard to care about silly old constitutional precepts like the First Amendment when we’re permitted to express our opinions in the form of Facebook “likes.” Plus, Ozzie offended a whole bunch of people, and there’s got to be some punishment for that, right?

For those who missed the imbroglio, what the baseball skipper said was that he loved . . . → Read More: Suspension of Disbelievers

Cages

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After reading Adam Gopnik’s masterful examination of the American prison system in a recent issue of the New Yorker, in which he examines our fetishistic compulsion to warehouse millions of errant citizens in prisons, it’s easy to conclude that our conception of “cruel and unusual punishment” needs reconsideration. Gopnik burrows through the rotten veneer of propriety that allows us to convince ourselves that for-profit “correctional facilities” are a good idea. He argues persuasively that incarcerating drug offenders is a horrible idea. And he explains why our obsession with procedural correctness is often antithetical to our goal of universal justice.

He also makes us understand what it must be like to be confined to a cage. Not nice.

Compared to solitary confinement and the torturous sensory deprivations that usually accompany a term in the brig, the death penalty seems vastly preferable, if not altogether . . . → Read More: Cages

Our Endless War(s)

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First there was “shock and awe.” Then the counterinsurgency, or “surge.” Now it’s “targeted assassinations.” Evocative labels all, making state sanctioned murder easy to accept, if not easy to understand. But does anyone remember why we commit these acts of violence and commit unfathomable amounts of our GDP to their execution? 

Right! Because we’re fighting a war on terror. The crazy thing about this war, like our other multi-decade assault on an intangible enemy, the war on drugs, is that almost no one can define our explicit goal. Ask the average American what we accomplished in Iraq. Did we win? Did we lose? Did the trillions of dollars we spent garner a nice return on investment? Ask her what we’re doing in Afghanistan. (Yes, we’re still there, trying to extricate ourselves from another fine imperialist mess.) And don’t laugh when she guesses, “kill the bad guys?” It’s . . . → Read More: Our Endless War(s)

Matters of Public Insertion

CONDOMSAVES

Aside from their protective utility, latex condoms aren’t anyone’s first choice for a sexual accoutrement. Claims to the efficacy of certain “ribbed for her pleasure” varieties notwithstanding, folks use them to prevent pregnancies and transmittable diseases, not because rubbers enhance sex.

Sure, the old putting-it-on-with-your-mouth trick, redolent of European brothels and Asian massage parlors, has its charms, and, yes, condoms come in all sorts of interesting colors (and flavors). Still, those in a relationship that doesn’t require protection (e.g., sterile married couples) would almost never choose to include condoms in their sex life. Compared to “bareback,” condoms are a drag.

The Los Angeles City Council, whose serial acts of legerdemain and thinly concealed larceny could fill many books, has recently given its approval and support to a local ordinance mandating that those who would make adult movies in our city – an impulse which requires a city . . . → Read More: Matters of Public Insertion

Ten Years Later

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For a brief and beautiful time after the attack, we were united. We regarded our fellow Americans with respect and courtesy and kindness, with a commonality of purpose befitting our country’s name. In the aftermath of a national calamity, we were brothers and sisters.

For an even briefer time, the rest of the world – most of it, anyway — comforted us. “We are all Americans,” they said. 

Our tragedy was profoundly painful, a suppurating wound, a trauma that, we assured one another, would eventually heal. We would be scarred, of course, but we would recover, because we’re Americans and that’s what resilient and resourceful folks born of the pioneer spirit do. If this was a fight against unseen enemies who hated us because we were free, we would win.Ten years later, it feels like we’re losing. 

In the decade since September 11, 2001, we’ve looted our . . . → Read More: Ten Years Later

Paying Attention

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Attention! Everyone and everything, especially the ones and the things with stuff to sell, wants our attention. (This essay wants your attention – and if it hasn’t grabbed it by now, the author is probably in big trouble. Lacking curvaceous breasts, a sparkling smile, or the imprimatur of a certifiably important celebrity to give it gravitas, the poor thing is a big underdog in the Attention Game. But on it goes, pathologically determined to say what it means, even if it’s already lost you.) Today is now is fast is hot is the trend is now is sexy is now is fabulous is easy is mine is My is now is catchy is right now!

Funny tweet. Provocative status update. Latest video. The Number One something in America. A scandal. A shame. A pity. An inspiration. A shock. An affirmation.

Got it?

When our senses are stimulated . . . → Read More: Paying Attention

A Lost War

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On June 17, 1971, President Nixon told Congress that “if we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely destroy us.” And thus was the war on drugs commenced.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of another failed American war effort. The numbers, courtesy of the folks behind the next California “legalize it” Proposition, are staggering.

“We’ve spent more than $1 trillion on this war. And what do we have to show for it? Right now, 2.3 million Americans are sitting in prison, while over 7.2 million people are currently part of the criminal justice system as a result of being on probation or parole — a full 1 in every 32 adults. Because of the failed drug war, America now imprisons more people than any other nation on earth.”

Trying to arrest ourselves into submission hasn’t cut drug use. We’ve only created a . . . → Read More: A Lost War

Our Environment: Another Drug War Casualty

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Our failed War on Drugs has cost us vast treasure, ruined the lives of harmless citizens, and fueled a growing empire of violent crime. To continue with this national folly would be stupid at best and catastophic at worst. It’s time to legalize marijuana, treating it as we do tobacco, alcohol, caffiene, and other widely desired drugs. Doing so will also be good for our environment.

Because of prohibition — throughout a 5,000 year legacy of cannabis use among civilizations around the globe, the first century weed was made illegal was the 20th — what was once natural and open is now furtive and shrouded. Plants that belong outdoors, soaking up the sun and growing like, well, weeds, are now consigned to indoor “grow rooms,” where 1,000-watt lamps irradiate genetically stabilized clones rooted in nitrogen-rich fertilizer. The enromous quantity of energy consumed and waste prodcuts produced makes . . . → Read More: Our Environment: Another Drug War Casualty

Standing Together, Singing

PROTESTERS

This week twenty-five years ago, in 1986, Filipinos ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos with a non-violent massive protest on Manila’s main highway, EDSA. The movement was known as “People Power,” an apt description of the force that overthrew a tyrant. It wasn’t bombs or kidnappings or guerilla warfare that toppled the criminals in charge. The deed was accomplished by amassing enough people unified in purpose that the military realized they would have to kill thousands, tens-of-thousands, maybe more, if they wanted to preserve the corrupt status quo. This was a major problem, because if all your indentured servants are dead there’s no one left to exploit.

The People won. Marcos fled, the charade of fair and free elections resumed, and others took his place at the self-enrichment trough. The revolution continues, peaceably for now.

We’ve seen similar scenes unfold, thrillingly, over the last few weeks in Tunisia, . . . → Read More: Standing Together, Singing