All Aboard

By: Jonathan Seidel

Kafka's trial Snowpiercer and political hegemony

Spoilers for those who haven’t seen the movie. Yet the movie’s finale is a kafkaesque conclusion to a whirlwind frenzy.  A mysterious aura clouds Kafka’s novel. A solidified order and established routine denote a carefully constructed model. The train is meticulously capitalized. The fate of the train in the hands of a conductor. A slanted classist divide hinging on a methodical mantra. Both protagonists confused by the system. Both seek to unveil its true nature.

Snowpiercer is the last train on earth. Revolving around earth in the global ice age. Outside the train is the frosty freeze. Ice fills the grassy terrain covered in crystal white snow. The train is the sole haven against the sheer disaster outside. There is no life nor growth outside. Leaving the train is terminal death. The train is humanity’s last stand. Surviving through the ice age. Traversing the global continent to outlast the cold. The perpetual movement fuels the warmth inside. Also personifying quest for life. Continuous cycles seek to uncover areas of life hidden in previous cycles. 

The train is arranged like a feudal system. Those with the most money are provided the best accommodations. Living lavishly in the front of the train. Those behind first class receive less privileges. Similar to an airplane, first class business and economy reflect wealth. Yet the price meets the qualifications despite the majority of stakeholders being rich to afford such accommodations. Nicer seats more leg room and free dining encourage a wealth disposition. The train acts the same way. All are on the commercial express but those with more money receive better privileges and prettier enjoyments. 

Ironically, despite being the last hope for humanity, democracy regressed. Capital insured differences between individuals. Rights were not equal and the train ran on monetary achievement. Those who accumulated a subpar living wage happy in their home filled experience were bounced to the back of the train. Forced to encounter dire conditions befitting peasants. The middle class was now the paupers. Plebeians revived in the new ice age. When democracy crumbles in the face of human termination, class revives to maintain order. Anyone who isn’t quite well off is shipped to the back to fend for limited scraps.

Orderly cooperation foils in a premodern enterprise. The tickets have been paid for prior to boarding. The train is set up to follow certain patterns. First class boards then business then economy. Each follows their place in their pecking order. Entering the aircraft like sheep. Greeted by smiling attendants guiding the passengers to their seats. Yet depending on the ticket the passenger is designated to the high life or the low life. To the left or to the right. Fitting like cattle into their destined zones. The framework is priorly registered to ensure a smooth transition from the streets to seats. 

Flooding cabins on the train the pilot calls over the intercom. His voice emanating from the cockpit. He provides instruction and ensures an easy travel. His voice originating in a life echo. His voice a reassurance of order and direction. Passengers strapped in will be protected and provided. There is a guide no need to worry. The pilot is the field piece to a successful journey. His voice fades and the engine revs. The aircraft hurries along down the runway and passengers brace for lift off. A sigh of relief as motion succinct with the travel. Stewardesses walk up and down the aisles checking passengers. Reminding them to straighten their seats and fasten their seatbelts. All is going according to plan. All are complying with the security measures. All follow for a safe flight.

Lift off is a bit tumultuous but once in the air with seat belt sign off, serenity reaches the passengers. Unbuckling seat belts receiving a cold drink from a stewardess passing by. All is good. The pilot has lifted the plane off the ground and is keeping everyone safe. Passengers feel safe. The plane is moving toward the destination without turbulence and with refreshments. Periodically the pilot’s voice enters the intercom reminding the passengers of their progress or slight delay but for the most part the stewardesses play the medium. They coordinate the information from the pilot to the passengers. They are the middlewomen. Providing and caring for the passengers. A hands on reminder.  

Wilford’s train works quite similarly. Stewardesses with a stronger military background man the resources. Divvying them up by class. Wilford’s voice periodically enters the intercom reminding and reassuring passengers of their journey. As the captain he is their savior and supplier. Their faith in him is absolute. The train keeps chugging along. His voice soothes and cements his authority. He chugs along and his assistants pick up the slack. Allowing him to focus on his job. Everyone else holds faith that he is pushing forward. His rules accepted as he conducts them forward. His voice is the ethos that prevails behind the wall. His face never seen only his voice heard over the intercom. A daily routine never missing a beat. Verbatim lyrics calming the minds and hearts of the passengers. 

Everyone accepts their role aboard. Everyone doing their part to ensure their survival. All fitting to a regiman for the perpetuity of the train. Accommodations are set in stone. All according to Wilford’s stone tablets. He has set the rules and the stewardesses enforce the rule. He has closed the cockpit and left it up to them. They are his eyes and ears in the cabins. Their job is to manage the order of the train and cargo. Passengers are clients. They are passively protected. They have bought their way on and by virtue cared for. A duty of the train to her passengers. Stewardesses are the train’s extension. Policeman enforcing society’s law. A canonized code with enforcers roaming to corral uniformity.

Not everyone falls in line. Some push back. Some miss the equality, some desire socialism. A technocratic order is one that yields acceptance initially but progressively shatters. First class is privileged but has no power to derail economy. Stewardesses are the sole insurance for classist divide. Only they can push economy back. They are the muscle and political anchor. It isn’t private security but societal makeshift enforcement. State courted officers on behalf of president Wilford. Wilford’s orders are absolute and his minions forcefully execute their orders without reflection. 

Rebellion from economy to first class is paramount. As travel persists comfort corrodes. Economy is the for the sheep in the cave. The escapee, the enlightened exiting the cave shifts the paradigm. Rallies the troops with a reinforced inspirational sermon. Bottom-up blowback against the regime. The order is systemically boxing them in. It is about time Wilford is spoken with. Yet economy is far away from the cockpit. The cockpit is locked sealed off. Bypassing the militaristic stewardesses is a struggle moving from car to car. Making way toward business and then first class. It is the tail that is upset. Business and first class wish for norms to remain. Happy with the allocated resources. Wilford has been kind to them. They do not actively defend as they as simple passengers but they jeer at the patriots. Loyalists to the monarchy. Happy for the status quo. 

Overpowering the stewardesses they make a break for the cockpit. Alarm bells ring to first class. Terrorists seek to beech the cockpit. Freedom fighters are subjective to the end of the train. To the less fortunate seeking better conditions. Seeking an audience with Wilford. He doesn’t respond in kind so violence is applied. The first class sees their privileges overpowered by economy nobodies. A true disaster and tragedy. Oh the patriots have burst forth. Patriots or rebels. Pushing back the invaders. Their place is in the back, storming the capital. The privileged space of the elite is crumbling. Crying in horror for the stewardesses to protect them. Order for class division to defend the first class.

Passion and power pushes forth. The cockpit sealed temporarily. Enough banging disfigures the door. Dents and bulges cover the once steel curtain. The runner has breeched the stronghold to the open field. Marks fade into holes. Holes plunged through. Breaking down the distance to the pilot. A showdown face to face. The architect and self proclaimed tyrant must be tried for his imbalanced creation. A system cruelly subjugating the less privileged to the end of the line. Caesar had been courted yet not betrayed by his own (in the show) but upstaged rebellious fury. There is no Brutus no Washington but Straw or Sala. A glaring disconnect between the lord and the people. The lord runs a systemic masterpiece but at the expense of enabling social growth. 

Economy are not degenerates. Hard working people seeking a comforting life. Wilford has stolen that. He has forced them into a downtrodden corner. Scraps allocated to those who previously afforded basic necessities. Autonomy stripped and dignity reduced. Anger boiled over fantasized into payback. Weapons hot as the doors fling open armed and ready for action.

Peasants in Blue Trousers

By: Jonathan Seidel

The internal struggle of the working class: how white collar (industrialization) turned on blue collar workers (manual labor) in its pursuit of riches

Blue collar work and white collar work have been defined by manuel labouring and dress. Cleanliness and affordability permitted white collar workers to distinguished themselves from blue collar workers. Just as in the middle ages, the poor worked barefoot in the fields while the wealthy ordered around bootstrapped. The differential was coined by Sinclair in the 30s but it does not hide its antagonism today. Marx argued that the emerging middle class would just create new classes and more oppression. The middle class did provide a new outlet to make more money out of the impoverished zones yet it did also leave the poor in their tracks. This white collar middle class has accepted Marx's threat and executed the removing of the poor tailies from the train. 

White collar work is perceived as better. Following the line of argumentation that less manuel labour is better finds much agreement with medieval tropes. The wealthy had peasants complete their work. Keeping their clothes tidy and neat. The same can be said today for hiring a cleaning crew to furnish one's home. The ability to have someone do that labour for you while kicking back is a relief. Their services are necessary. The question becomes relevant when pawning off the job is due to riches or ignorance. Meaning hiring a cleaning crew can be construed as I can have someone do this for me since I can afford it or I need someone do this for me since I am swapped. The same goes for a babysitter. It is not so much wealth insofar as it is need. The more skilled jobs like a mechanic and electrician are inquiries that require learned knowledge. Riches may afford individuals but it is not laziness, its inepitude. The wealthy hire because they can but also because they can’t. Some wealthy are skilled and rather kick back let others do work for them like hiring a driver. Yet the desire to do so is to shift a burdensome load.  No matter the chore, seeking an outlet is about desire for need. The more efficient and loyal the more credible and the more expensive. 

Ignorance to the skilled market cultivates a unilateral discrimination against those who can do these jobs. The internet has made it easier to discern these issues but still require extensive knowledge. Though ironically the knowledge from the internet is educated by a skilled worker. While the knowledge is publicized it comes from a legitimate source. This can be can construed as an easier ride and thus needlessly relevant to society. Yet even a cleaning crew or a cashier if the intellectual capability does not require professionalism is still a necessary job. An electrician requires more schooling than a cleaner but the clear sidelining hourly pay demotes them. The lacked salary cuddles them in an inferior frame of categorical dementia. If the mode of pay is not like the others it must be because it does not require a full time image. Though this a governmental injunction, this becomes relevant in its individualistic persona instead of a company’s designation. Yet this issue follows into part-time jobs. Not all part-time jobs are created equal. Working varied projects will not require twelve hour shifts but it will require odd hours. Hours also do not meet the workload. Able to finish it faster does not mitigate capability. The model fails to apprehend the skilled nature. 

While the superiority complex against a cashier is faced with educational incompetence and minimal salary, the same can’t be said of an electrician. The electrician spends years studying to amass said knowledge. Those who do it themselves these days are learning from professionals who have publicised their work. While this is occurring throughout different professions it is not always sufficient. Not only do law firms require law degrees but also passing the bar. Gas companies charge to plug in appliances or the warrently is lost. Even with the knowledge out, there is risky application to implement it. Open educational assets assist in learning new skills but those skills are not always welcomed in the professional world. Professionalism requires due payment even at the expense of validity. Knowledge of skills must be verified by a third party before credentials are authenticated. An even crazier example is the illegality to start an ambulance company past the monopolized or governmental companies. Unskilled humanitarian efforts are berated for failing to follow the proper channels society apparently enforces. Yet even through these proper channels some credentials are superior to others. This is not a blue collar problem but a hierarchical exclusivity issue. If there are levels in the white collar world even more so distancing from the blue collar.

Grave undesirability of these professions is not only from low pay but dangerous areas. Oil riggers or plumbers are professions that many pawn off to lower class individuals. They are cheap manual labor but nobody wants to do it. If anything they should be more expensive because nobody wishes to do them. Coal miners are another dangerous expenditure that make quite little. Yes anyone can coal mine but no one wants to except generational residents. The ability to profit off good folk who work dangerous jobs is truly crude. This was happening in factories years ago and instead of upping the pay for the disastrous conditions they simply ruled for better conditions with the same pay. Such an alternative preferred health. While some jobs became healthier many didn’t and those stuck in danger were ignored. Supply and demand is the staple binary causation of market economics. Oil is demanded and the limited supply make BP rich but not their workers in Omaha. Prejudice against uneducated labor is replaceable. Are they replaceable because there are so many spots? There are enough companies with a surplus of applications who make significantly more than the limited space for the unskilled practice. Unskilled undesirability is criticized for education instead of effort. Manual labor is not in any way easier just ask the nerd to play football. It isn’t a given that anyone could do it even if educationally qualified. The skillfully unqualified CEO’s make millions over their workers who do the heavy lifting. 

There is a difference between independent workers and company workers but the same principle is in place. The perceptive inferiority is biased from afar. Specific qualifications are societally reinforced. More education gets one a higher paying job. Thus a PhD graduate should make more than a masters graduate but this is not always the case. The entrepreneurial world and social media has opened the door for dropouts to make old cash. Whether that is respected by society is a different story. Most parents would advise otherwise. Take the normative route play it safe. There is an option but afraid of failure it is ignored. Yet this was not a possibility in the past. The ability to eclipse the hierarchical economic forum was precluded on another’s generosity beyond the social standing. Jews and blacks were able to grow their businesses due to the openness of their oppressive excluders. A daring investment, now it is a matter of quotas and meeting the numbers. The gernerousity shown by a few pushed the ethical beyond the legal. Little by little the generousity fuelled into normative relations. The leap to dispair shifted history. Whether that generous individual be an owner or a buyer aided the discriminated folk. Today even with normative relations there is still issue not necessarily cultural bias but overqualification. The same rat hole has only expanded to include vast more people. All trying to squeeze into the hole; all trying to be accepted by the guard. The rat race has only funnelled the same inadequecy and limited opportunity. Even with new technologies the same hierarchy and demand thrives. Independent entrepreneurial elements due eventually lead to the same hierarchy the novelty permits more novel CEO's. Those individuals who youthfully scorned wealthy profiteering. The can turn the corner and change the paradigm. Will they turn over a new page or forget their former advocacy now with riches and power.  

Some choose the blue collar life others are forced to it. With limited spots there is not much else people are capable of doing. Falling just short is considered a major failure. Yet for those who chose the skilled effort are lambasted for their niche job. While plumbing may not be a clean job, it does cover necessary items that many office workers could not accomplish. The level of responsibility and skill is way higher. The faulty comparison between the cashier and the plumber is deeply apparent. Though the biger question is where this has fallen off. When did skilled work become an evil. A cashier can be done by most people but not an electician. The average office worker is dubious to the intracercies of fixing an air conditioning machine. Even the IT individual who may make more money at the company then other office workers can be sidelined for unique work. Its the oddity of the job in the social conscious. It is not about the ease of a cashier or the simplcity of a janitor but the oddity of the tech support. Garbagemen make a pretty good salary but are looked down upon as an icky profession. These days people post cringe fifteen second vidoes to make a lot of money. Women post nude pics on only fans for millions of dollars when porn is free. People claim how lewd and deplorable yet are the buyers. Steve Harvey once joked (numerously) that he knew a barber who makes four million--buying other franchises but always finishing "he cut hair". The economic strain does little to bewilder the social perception of certain professions. Making it big is a fluke.

Acknowledging that while contempt may be from inferior wages, this is not true of teachers or police officers. Said professions make much less on salaries (depending on where one works). Though ironically, a sociology professor makes more for their research than a high school mathematics teacher. Well, since universities have an exuberant amount of money they can pay their teachers a fortune (even in public universities) while high school teahers get less. Their is a prestige to an academic background but that is for their research not their teaching capability. Since they have garnered status at the highest academic level they should make more despite their inferior educational ability. It is making money for the brand not the execution. Like buying the new iphone knowing there isnt much change. The issue is more with the lack of effort recorded. The market does not always entail the necessity especially with governmental intervention or outdated models of payment. Though the seeming obvious necessity of education and safety trump other basic needs of hazardous situations. It’s a value question.

The People's Compensation

By: Jonathan Seidel

Blue collar degenerates and white collar proletarians: a case in student loan forgiveness and business ethics 

Student loan forgiveness has become a hot topic lately. Students eagerly take out thousands of dollars and upon graduation cannot pay back. Debts are piled up paying over the next twenty years. Student loan debt is not new but the absurd numbers and members is crazy. My father has student loan debt. His parents were against university education so he paid for himself. He has paid it over twenty years. While I have not asked my dad what he thinks about it, I could see him going both ways. Erasing the yoke off his shoulder and principle of paying back what is owed. While this has been a contentious case it recently hit centerstage when the Supreme Court ruled against Biden’s bill. Was this warranted? Does this reinforce a stereotype?

There are two main points against beyond the political polarization: ethical and economical. While these two are intertwined the latter delves into the historical development of student loans and university tuition. It is important first to reject the right wing agenda that conservatives are out to hurt minorities or are against liberal efforts. While this may be true, the bias does not overrule the insidious immorality of student loan forgiveness. The media will have a frenzy that republicans are hurting young people. They are destroying their future. Yet it fails to actually debate the inherent issues of student loans. If anything it is a political attempt to whitewash the issues with a discriminatory agenda. Predatory disgust to demand all dissenters. A strategy of ad hominem attacks to devalue their credentials.

Student loan forgiveness means the government pays for it. How does the government make that money? From taxes. Once some people are doing it everyone will do it because why would anyone pay for university. This cost will be incredibly high forcing taxes to increase dramatically. Who covers the burden? Anyone who is not a student. This includes adults and non-students alike. Is it fair to force other people to pay for your schooling, especially when this is a choice? Seemingly not. Not only does it teach irresponsibility but it also lacks the transitional mature notion of attentiveness to one's decisions. Though the biggest issue isn't so much the adults paying but the other teenagers. Those who paid off their debt by going to community college or trade school or no school. Why should the dropout working at 7/11 pay the exuberant amount for someone else?  

What forgiveness does is fail to reward students who responsibly financed as well as prefers university over trade schools and community colleges. Trade schools are notoriously cheaper but just as valuable. Everyone needs an electrician. Should the electrician graduate suffer for not attending a normal university? Even if their loans were forgiven it is proportionally unfair. For dumber students who weren't able to get into big universities they are punished by paying a high tax for smarter people. Is our society discriminating against dumb people? The electrician worked hard to get to where she is and is now forced to pay for someone else to enjoy a big campus and get a bigger degree. It is immoral to demand people pay for another's schooling at the price it is right now. The electrician should not be punished for choosing a noble path. 

University students also spent four years out of the workforce. Is it fair for a dropout to fill the void for their learning? School isn't for everyone, and this is only forcing people in that situation for a free ride. People who need to work to help their families are placed in a starling disposition. They have toiled in the workforce to gain a mediocre salary but work they do. The university student is living off of other people's money. Enjoying the highs of college at another's lively expense. The university student graduates and makes a higher salary than the dropout. Where is the dropout's compensation? The student gets a free ride and gives nothing back. The dropout who has worked very hard is punished and never compensated but the student is given handouts and never has to compensate anyone else. If only university graduates were taxed that would change the metric, but it would also then discriminate against those who worked during the school year. The government is advocating for universities with other people's pennies.

Ethically, it is problematic because the government is using other people's money for the student's university enjoyment. While university is free in other countries it is not in the US. Globally, college is public, not private. The imbalance generated by the blue-collar efforts versus the white-collar efforts already highlights a damaging oppressive precedent but what is even worse is that it is all the government's fault. All this does is scapegoat conservatives for a liberal mistake. Why is university so expensive? Why has it risen ten folds in the last twenty years? Maybe it is not greed but idiocy. University loans started small in the 80s but then the government started giving them out like candy which alerted the universities that the government could cover. Since they are private establishments, they raised their tuition given that the government was helping students out. On the other hand, community college is cheap because it is public. Even state schools raised their tuition because of this but not too much given the public inflexibility. State schools are registered to the state laws but if out of staters want in, they can charge whatever they want because the reduced tuition only applies to local citizens. 

Already, the rise in tuition was a governmental failure and not the fault of the people. So, the government is trying to cover its tracks by forcing the citizenry to pay for something they screwed up. If those politicians pay, then that is cool, but they won't. If they were public universities like in Germany or Israel then it would be different. It would be cheaper already and less taxable. This bill also does not stop universities from lowering their prices. If the universities are already raised because the government would pay in loans without these handouts, they for sure will charge more. Harvard may be 100k if this went through. There is little evidence they will lower prices but much evidence they will raise them. They are private universities and they can do what they want. Create public universities and then there won't be a problem. At least then, people can choose for a normative affordable caliber school. Until then, do not force people to clean up your mess. Stop giving handouts. Force colleges to reduce their tuition. Do not incentivize raising tuition and screwing over everyone else. As jobs begin to look beyond degrees, university should not be advocated but an option. This is not the way to go.  

This option only furthers the middle class into demurring blue-collar workers. It creates new segregation and a new supremacy focus. Only exposing the governmental/societal viewpoint that college is a necessity. Anyone who does not attend college is somehow inferior. Not only does this contradict the growing trend of companies overlooking degrees but it demeans those who do not have time for college. The issue is not so much the price insofar as other variables plauging struggling families. Some individauls may have to aid the family due to a sick parent or single parent. Saving money for university does not change the equation, they were not going because basic necessities needed to be covered. Yet these are extreme cases and society could aid these individuals. College is not for everyone. A degree that covers sometimes absolutely nothing but a piece of paper acknowledging classes completed. The focus on college retention muddles educational excellence. Many leave university to pursue their own careers since university is the problematic choice stifling their progress. Should they be punished for entering the workforce early and contributing to society? 

University degrees topple trade school degrees. The former pay more for university but are also rewarded with higher salaries. University is supposed to be a gateway to a prestigious profession. The university hype has deformed this prospect but it is not in vain. Companies maintain a strong belief in a degree. Given this inherent advantage, a trade school graduate is unlikely to receive a job that requires a bachelors in business or science. Yet, the divide is apparent even without debt forgiveness. Academic universities struggle with high graduation rates. For many, its another four years of school and chilling. Learning theoretical layers over practical skills. Nevertheless, the prestige given in its expense and the white collar professions subsequently pave a desired path to a higher part of the food chain. Debt forgiveness intends to permit lower class individauls into the elite corner but this only broadens the divide between the white and blue collar workers. Blue collar workers are not all poor suckers who could not pay for university. Many have a passion for machinary, uncle worked on cars or grew up on a farm. This hands-on effort is pitted with scorn. It is low level dubious labour that anyone can do better to make the bigger bucks as a clerk or administrative assistant.

Logic also applies to diversifying the governmental system. While it is good to have more diversity in the government to account for all people it does not mean that such individuals are ethical. Promoting diversity quotas may increase perceived reprensentation but may not actually represent. The same goes for this debt forgiveness that attempts to permit more impoverished into white collar sectors. Good move but at the expense of blue collar workers. There is a certain ethos to white collar professions. Less manuel labour and a slightly bigger salary speaks to a varied appearence in style. Yet, their educational value and necessity to society diminishes in the face of an individual who tirelessly harnessed their craft to a single purpose. Maybe they are only good at fixing lightbulbs and air condition units but they are more efficient and consistent than an accountant who has a little polysei knowledge on the side. In the productive realm there is a nice living for a tradesman. It does not always add up monetarily to the white collar individual but it does reflect a skilled need in society. Debt forgiveness only allows the already percevied social elites to get an easy ride to a higher paying job with little compensation to the tradesmen. 

Tradesmen are an critical asset to a society, building homes repairing roads  troubleshooting power grids. The reality is that these jobs may not be worth a four year college degree but they do require mentoring. Knowledge must be known. There is a bike guy on the street over that fixes the broken knots in the bicycle. It is an outrage to demean their character by what the market value of their work is. Yet the demand is there. The lack of salary and hourly service creates a continuum that leaves their profits in the dust. They are paid per hour not per project. This obviously hurts their profit numbers even if their performance is adequate. There is a supply and demand axis to take into account but there is also the hourly dissent. Nonetheless paid per project may be the optimal move whereby whether it be five minutes of five hours the nature of work is tailored to price instead of a fixed price for limited time. Right now this is not in the books across the board so the blue collar inferiority is real in price as well as in manuel application. While someone may not need a handyman for everything, there are aspects that require skilled knowledge that the average joe is unaware of. It is this apparent reality that society must review. Blue collar workers may work more physically demanding jobs and may not sit in air conditioend offices but the work is skilled and essential. 

Society's goal is to remain cohesive. Giving one group a way out due to a governmental failure and apparent agenda is ruthlessly obnoxious. The ethical and procedural issues precede the issue with a lack of accountibility for their failures. Still, this also further divides the academic university from the skilled trade schools. The suits from the overalls. This decision enriches the former folk as well as displaces the latter. Forcing their depleted hourly wages to censored higher taxes for someone else's kick-back vacation. University is a place to grow but stealing money from hard working americans for the dubious nature these days is ridiculous. There must be more thought into this deal than simply wiping the debt clean. Congress should pay out of their pockets not the working class. Stop diminishing their worth from the ivory towers and be elected officials amongst the blue collar folk.   

"Foreign" Aid

By: Jonathan Seidel

Kafka was right and why people wish he was wrong: Guantanamo bay

Kafka’s vision has been discredited as psychotic and conspiracy seeking. A tale of a different society cough cough communism. Don’t get ahead of yourself McCarthy. The devil is in the details. Kafka’s version focuses more on mechanical directives than authoritarian commands. There is no reason, it just happens. There is no boogeyman trying to frame or a jealous ex out for revenge. Shit happens that is unexplainable. Though accordingly robotically. Some mistakes are made but the system must go on so mistakes are funneled out. Akin to the movie Snowpiercer. There must be a puppet master dangling the strings. A master ensuring the poverty of the ruts. 

Snowpiercer acts as a conduit to Kafka’s “unreal stories” as so many commentators confessed. It’s just political humour. Kafka was not joking. His fiction was a lighthearted way of depicting a cold dark possibility. Many of Orwell’s critics slam him for his irrationality. Even the fictional absurdism is not impossible. Democratic equality is a pipe dream. People are so quick to shake off the uncomfortable truth with a quick laugh as their face drops for a moment only to shrug it off insistently. Like waking up from a bad dream. That was just a dream it didn’t mean anything. Yes it did. Unable to face fears people fail to confront the menacing foe. Yet allowing this foe to persist in his menacing permits more harm. If ignored maybe it will go away. It won’t. This is no pump up speech it is a consequentialist embrace. Don’t be naive. Life may traveling into the sunset only to crash into the setting sun. 

Reasonably inquire whether the direction of events is amicable. Systems and social balance is a product of generational conformity. Human nature is a crux for undisputed anarchy. It is what high school biologists claim from personal experience. This applies to any model that is accepted by the people. Unnerved by exceptions and out of turn actions that are apologetically defended. Why is this the case because that is just the way it is. Living with such peaceful standards veil the disasters down the road. Foregoing repairing the cracks is due to cognitive bias. Incapable of conceding to obvious issues either denying or defending. No accountability and no answer to the riveting damage. Those able to make change do not. Happy to continue with the current regime. The model works most of the time so it shall stay. Subconsciously projecting that if a few get hurt that is part of the system’s imperfections.

Victims desire change. Those unaffected rarely see the harm. Potentially cringing at discomforting photos. Yet unless immediate action occurs those photos will be lost to oblivion. Problems far away reduce interest but problems close by promote defensiveness. how dare you say such bad things about my hometown. It is a sweet safe place. Blackballing those who charge negatively. It is those who are part of the system that struggle to break out of the concurrent norms. This is the way of life it must be correct. The onlooker skeptically questions norms' efficacy but the victims scream in agony. Slave owners took their role for granted while slaves cried for liberation. Abolitionists pondered and concluded that it was wrong but it took time. The onlooker investigates, the victim experiences and the perpetrator mimics. The spy gate scandal was quickly ignored. How could a government spy on you? They cannot. Isn’t that an invasion of privacy? Well if you have nothing to hide don’t worry. What??? Such dubious responses erode the principle. It is not whether I am not a goodie two shoes but the ability to invade whenever. I could be squeaky clean and still despise. Since this is illegal but it’s a democracy so it’s okay. Should a criminal not get due process because the town saw him commit the crime? 

Whether good or evil, there are imperatives that must be heeded. A system is only considered when enough victims are protesting. March on Wall Street and Black Lives Matters amassed sufficient push to enact changes. Those changes have been reminiscent of victim and onlooker assistance. The drug war has persisted hurting communities but many citizens still look unfavorably on drugs. Even after medicinal qualities were hoisted still they have been criminalized. The communal consensus looks terribly on drugs more than alcohol and cigarettes. Alcoholics gain sympathy to recover but drug addicts are cast aside with less remorse. Alcohol is good while drugs are bad. Alcohol has a longer hold in society as a delicacy that was overwhelmingly accepted despite its danger. Drugs and cigarettes do not have that longevity and their hastening propaganda threw them aside spitting on addicts.

The victim is helpless without the onlooker’s aid. Onlookers who remain bystanders are indirect persecutors. Most of the issues are not directly caused by people but are promoted by complicit relation. Abolitionists and white civil rights activists ensured that the victim’s voice was heard. Victims sully in their weakness. The Jews did not have abolitionists. They had secret saviors. No one marched with the Jews in Berlin. The victim must stand for himself but he requires external aid. Assistance from the persecutor world. The privileged folk can’t comprehend the victim’s pain but they can attempt to alter change. Instead of accepting the horror as natural selection, there is a way out. If something smells fowl there is probably a skeleton rotting in the closet. If it looks like a duck it’s a duck. Don’t be fooled by an institutional promise that is just propaganda to continue their horrid actions. 

Society acts as a machine. Loyalists will defend their ideal to the end. Kafka’s boogeyman is not the puppet master as he has passed. Geppetto died and Pinocchio is running the show unobserved. Robotic Pinocchio has one mission and it follows through. The machine has no feelings and free of autonomy acts linearly. A system unchanged and unattached leads to a runaway train. The train has a path but can only be halted by the driver. The driver’s negligence fosters danger and dismissal. The passengers do not know the driver fell asleep. Until the crash no one will realize the fault. Until the victim experiences the shift in norm. When the passenger becomes the victim of a runaway train or a hijacked plane. There is no reason to change attitude until the graving news is realized and internalized. The collective grouping and sympathetic onlooker will push for change as long as their credibility is safe. If the stakes are worthwhile. Unlike the German citizens who feared to protect. They weren’t Jews nor commies. 

When the policy affects the individual victimizing him he complains. Yet if the problem is not obvious or impedes the collective’s lifestyle resistance will void change. The privileged folk don’t understand the victim and wish for no alteration. Life is fine stop kvetching. Especially in high standard countries where others are living worse off elsewhere is easily knocked as an attack on the beauty. Yet the privileged fail to understand the struggles of the poor. Well the poor should work harder yet do not understand that the environmental surroundings are poisonous. They are insidiously demoralizing the community. Since the outsider isn’t afflicted with the challenges they can hardly relate spinning vein ignorance of a dogmatic dream fed to an illusion.

Tick Tock Titanic

By: Jonathan Seidel

Plato’s allegory of the fools on the ship: a wrongful target, trusting the captain too much     

Plato’s allegory is ingenious but it marks the wrongful attack on democracy. While Plato used it against direct democracy, it also gains incredible scrutiny to representative democracy. Relying on representatives to honestly represent is pure naivety. Plato’s model is genuine in its ancient illustration. Plato’s allegory has to be modified to the modern age. A passenger ship transporting people from one place to the other across the ocean blue. The ship captain cares for the passengers’ welfare until someone screws up and an iceberg crushes the ship sinking it into the sea. Thousands are killed by ignorance and pride. From the crew to the architect. Too much hype and not enough attentiveness. 

The Titanic is a perfect example of failed leadership. Yet unlike a bad team leader who is demoted or kicked off the team, this action cost countless lives. Their flawed engineering paid a high price. People trusted their expertise and their promise. Passengers wished to visit America for work or for loved ones. Living their lives. Lives cut short by arrogance. It was their duty to protect and they failed. Never held accountable for their sins. Martyring themselves for their mistakes along with their murdered passengers. Faith is a high price when unreciprocated. Dangerous waters outside patrolled by professionals. Professionals who screwed up haunting families and friends. The ship was professed unsinkable and sink it did. Sunk like many did before it. 

There was no man holding the captain at gunpoint. No enemy warship taunting its might. Just a passive object stationary. Smashing into an immobile frozen structure. Akin to crashing into a parked car. A defensive player trying to pull a charge. Move around it. Be aware of your surroundings. No. The unsinkable will not be outdone by a lowly inanimate object. A true David and Goliath story with David waiting for Goliath to pass out from exhaustion. The underdog of underdog stories is fluid victory over the aggressor. Pride foiled the lives of many attendees. Collateral damage in the name of supremacy. Dragging innocents into a lion’s den weaponless. Dragging them blind into the furnace of death. 

Blind faith in the captain’s efforts is not all dubious. He is trained to direct the ship and ensure the passengers’ safe passage to their destination. Skills are learned to eclipse excellence. Yet perfection is an almost impossibility. Though the difference in failure from a worker’s error to a captain’s is the difference between life and death. This same analogy applies to pilots. The captain is legitimized by the crew and his personal credibility. His previous successful voyages account for prestigious experience. Yet one false turn spells disaster. One bad decision leading to a travesty. Accidents happen. There is no denying that. Yet the pure animosity to humility doomed the ship from the start. Their pride was their downfall. A renowned legacy leader fondling in the spotlight. An expert fell prey to his image and his ship’s durability. 

Passengers likened his capability to an expert. He would accompany them safely. There was nothing to fear, the captain would steer. A few hiccups along the way was nothing to fret. Passengers enjoyed the lavish novelty of the ship. Embarking on this escapade was a luxurious experience. The ship was a landmark in revolutionizing ship travel. Marvelling the beauty of boat voyages with cruise-like mentalities. Enjoying the festivities, passengers paid little attention to the events encircling them. The captain would care for the safety while the passengers comforted themselves. Unaware of the danger lying ahead. The trust was banal as the ignorance was their ultimate downfall. Preoccupied with their benefits they saw little to concern themselves with the crew’s job. Enjoying the ship’s gifts compensated their attention engulfing them in a brief utopia. 

Captain cool hid the scary truth even as the end was nearing. Aware of the detrimental spiral he insidiously failed to alarm the passengers of the imminent threat to their lives. Disorderly forming rescue efforts to ensure the passengers’ survival. Arrogance fueled lacklustre rescue and ignorance ensured heavy losses. Lacking grave moral panic for the sake of order frustrated the fluid safety of more passengers. His efforts even if noble in the end were unnecessary had prior skepticism been a minute amount. Salving a sinking ship is already a horrid loss. Saving less than half of the passengers is a grave tragedy. Barking orders in the chaotic scare failed to compensate the rest of the castaways. His passionate last stand was underwhelming to the dead. Those forced to remain on the ship disallowed to enter the lifeboats. Ineptitude compelling others to fall for a personal mistake. 

Victims of the horrific tragedy cannot testify nor receive compensation. Their only sin was boarding the ship. Trusting in their legitimate abilities. Mistakes are inevitable. Yet precautions as well as acknowledgement of the stakes is necessary for the crew to take into account. This was not a cargo ship but thousands of people aboard. The spectacle of the ship’s luxury captured their hearts. Better to look nice than be safe. A design flaw that merely ousted the creator within moments of the crash. Victims who had little knowledge to react or plan to save their lives. Helpless sheep without a focused shepherd. The crew failed the passengers. Setting up a beauty for it to sink like all other ships into the sea. The beauty couldn’t not hypnotize the sea. The sea remained calm and the ship walked right into the trap. The devilish sea weaponized the arrogance emanating from the ship and taught them a lesson for the ages. 

High seas are not friendly. They will follow their current and act in their own self interest. It is too bad, the crew boldly deduced they could conquer the sea. Such pride knocked them on their stern. Passengers were comforted in the confines of he ship. Unaware of the imminent danger they enjoyed their everyday routine. Fond of the entertainment their minds were induced in the spectacle. Sit back and all would be found. Trust the experts. This trust brought a few days of flavorful enjoyment and tragic pain. The ship’s haul protected the passengers, it did not protect the ship. With the ship’s defences down sank its stern into the ocean. Some passengers got away but most drowned or jumped to their deaths. The freezing ocean water sunk the stressful souls creeping to safety. Once the ship was penetrated, its final nose dive was inevitable. Only negligence could be blamed pointing the finger elsewhere except themselves. Passengers suffered for negligence and little accountability was taken nor charged. 

Interlocking Machinery

 

By: Jonathan Seidel

A system of objects: belonging before being and undignified existence

The other is projected as a substance of objectification. The other is manifested in complete peculiarity. Stunned and confused by the other's rampant differences. Even the simplicity of a parent is an other. One need not utilize a mirror to recognize difference. The fact that you are not me is intuitively a division from oneself. I cannot understand your prerogative nor control your actions. The realization baffles but routinely comforts the soul. Otherness is a starstruck moment but one that is easily overcome in the futility of youth. Before the other can even be comprehended the self desires the other. Instinctively, rejecting the grasp of another until comforted. The other needs but a moment of engagement to be accepted by the infant. Serenity shrouds the emotional distress. Otherness is an embrace of concern. 

Infants are less capable of defining otherness. Selfish in their desire to be cared for. Their attention seeking mania can be upheld by anyone. Comfort is normalized in the routine of the cared other. The awakened infant may intuitively deny a cousin holding her given this irregular feeling. The instinctive rejection is not malicious but a stranger danger reaction. A fight or flight syndrome. Her way of fighting is calling for help. A mini damsel in distress. Yet if the cousin routinely soothes her or a consistent babysitter will slowly become accustomed to this change. Otherness is recognized by a sense shift. Appearance is younger, voice is higher, weight is lighter. It is these changes that alarm the infant. Even if she cannot explain verbally why, there is a cognitive swift response. Bells ring and the infant yelps for help. The cousin of babysitter must explain who she is and her role. Demonstrating via comforting action that she is not a threat but a caregiver. 

As the brain develops so does the child’s understanding of otherness. A child lost in the mall will cry for her mother. Scared and alone, she does not know what to do instead of express her fear in tears. The tears alarm those around her and enable bystanders to come to her aid. Children are gullible. The lost child will resist the stranger’s approach. Yet his calming words will embrace her sorrow. Asking her where her mommy is and assisting her in returning is a steady step in the correct direction. The rational brain has developed overpowering the instinctive skepticism. He is not my mommy but he is promising to return me to her. Understanding his intent and scared pushes her to make a desperate act. The stranger is no longer someone passing by but a helper. He will personify himself to assist her. He is no longer an object but a subject. Someone who has unveiled the otherness stonewalling any prior connection. Once she returns to her mother so caught up in her fear she hugs her mother and forgets to thank the man. The man returns to an object finished with his task.

Children are self-centered. Everything revolves around them. Otherness is a pact against them. The story of life is theirs. A Truman Show type mentality. Whereby the protagonist of this world is the child’s journey with actors aiding in her development. The troubling event traumatizes but aids in the child’s development. The individual is honored to assist the lonely child. Yet her mission ends with the conclusion of the play. The daughter is returned to her mother and they live happily ever after. Life is just a sequence of continuous storylines. The man’s objectification is the child’s lack of interaction. The child knows by routine engagement. She may forget his name upon leaving the mall. Her memory is not engraving this event nor her helper at the forefront of her mind. It is not consciously selfish but subconsciously irrelevant to her plot. 

Even in youth, there is little that resembles otherness beyond action. Children in the park care quite little for appearance. Children are simple. Playing in park with different races or genders is normal. As long as the other accepts your entertainment. Sharing passions for children is the highlight of friendship. It has much to do with getting one another. Living close and playing often emboldens that situation but long term friendships are those that mark significant energy on the child’s part. Friends from the park are park friends. There is little engagement beyond this. This does happen in adulthood as well. People do have their ball or bar friends. Yet in youth there is less categorization. The other is quickly embraced as someone like-minded. Children who do not enjoy your passions will be ignored or cast aside. Sometimes even bullied for their difference. Many of these friends are conditioned by the event encountered. The child enjoys his friend on the playground but if far away or different communities that little engagement leads nowhere as the child grows up. Consistency is necessary beyond the playground especially when fun at the playground is outdated.

Teenagers incorporate complexity into their deduction. The other again does not fit into mold of the teenager’s identity. The more recognition of the self imbued, the more projected. If one is more religious then those who are not may be considered outsiders. At times teenagers are less interested in individualistic passions and more group values. “Classist” models become well apparent and a hierarchy of popularity is acquainted. Where these values emerge from is irrelevant, the niche is the interests placed to fit in. What is cool and not cool becomes a desire to be accepted. From infants to teenagers, each wish to receive attention. Wishing it from people one’s own age. Family has suffocated attention, it is time to spread out. Aware of this notion, this competition and aura. Its the non-athletic teenagers eventually from their own group to share that comforting spirit of belonging. The soloist is not a bully mongering scheme but a friendless weirdo association. A stigma for attention seeking popularity and a personal urge to be liked combines for fitting in. Whatever group that may be. 

Otherness slowly gentrifies in the remoteness of an individual. A transfer student may excel or fail in a new school. The awkward nature of the new kid inquires of his place in the school. Categorization has been destined and completed. Even if this may be freshman year, it is the superficial nature of the other. Teenagers are in between childhood and adulthood. Seeking independence from their parents but yet not independent enough to be alone. The solution is a middle-ground of friend group independence. Higher awareness of otherness whether that be appearance or speech meets its match in befriending others. It is easier to befriend a single person but the group requires not only quantitive acceptance but also qualitative acceptance to vibe with the group. In a group, fitting in means altering projection to comply. It is a shrewd representation of the self. The self is subjected and yet an object to those outside the group who recognize the apparent hypocrisy. 

The new kid fears to make the first move. He is the reflected object. Friendless and alone with little knowledge. His mystique may arouse interest or isolate him. Yet his confidence verbally or actionably tests his worth. To which group will he fall to. What is his fate. An athlete may aid his stock but also may hurt him. If he is good for the team without hurting someone else’s spot will congratulate him but if he is messing with an established vision that may tease his burden. Yet consistency with players on the team will unveil his distance. Hanging out more than just during practice will bring him closer to the group. Friendship will grow the more revealed in time. There are many variables. His success may invite condemnation. If the new kid steals one of his teammate’s girl that may spell disaster. Every move is observed. Hawk eyes judging each step if he is fit for their crew. Walking on thin ice even if he aligns completely with the crowd. 

Staying with the new kid example. If he is a foreign exchange student. An immigrant with little knowledge of the layout. Barely speaks the language misunderstands the culture and thus left alone. Athletic capability will help his stock and finding those passionate. Basketball is its own form of communication. There is a poetic license to masterful play. He is objectified as the weird new kid until that barrier is breached by a niche level of communication. The otherness is cleansed in the compatibility with the subjects. He is no longer some random individual but a part of the basketball group. Finding a crew is necessary for his being to be pronounced. His barrier is his belonging. The foreign kid is a testament to his outsider agenda. He alone unless he can overcome.

A crush follows the same formula but instead of the group dynamic it is a sole individual. Though there are group variables in peer pressure but I digress. The crush is an object of imagination. Emotional feelings pair up minutely against the logical meshing of personality. This is certainly the case, pondering of any friendship with another but even more so when feelings for the other usurp logic. Fantasies may emerge but cannot do justice to the realistic portrayal. Asking a crush out is a personal unveiling with a simultaneous transformation. No longer is she an object of indirect thinking but a threaded message. When she says yes and the relationship begins the awkwardness of infatuation struggles to voice conversation. Frequent conversation reduces the distance to embracing otherness as a reflection of the self.

There is a melting pot theme that is muddled by a priori propaganda. Surface differences whether in appearance voice or smell. These differences may halt advancement. Peculiarity has immediate shock effect not long term distance. Only as the mind advances does clarity of cultural discrepancies divide. The mature mind weighs differences and backs accustomed outlook. Propaganda becomes enmeshed in the circuit of representation. It is the group polarity that constitutes membership. Membership excludes the outsider. Individuals can push past differences but groups entitle themselves away from others. Stronger group identity may turn former subjects into objects. Whether that be a former friend entering a group or outside the group. The dynamic changes perception of the other. 

Though at times, the objectification has little to do with preconceived notions and more with pure ignorance. An old friend may transition to an object. Thinking about their life after moving away is not in the dignified conversation. It is necessarily wrong but a recognition of change. People change and an old buddy may be a stranger to you. He is an object gazing at his shift and alterations. What may be is not what is conceived in the mind. The other is a stranger to the self. Confidence aids in unveiling that masked objectification but it does not cancel it out. The experience following the initial shock encounter subjects them to personalization. Otherness is no more. It is breached with brazen action. Deductions are concocted lacking real data. Internal argumentation with little value beyond the alienated intent. 

Wanderers are small outliers. Most people find a relative camaraderie to belong somewhere. Their essence wound up with their connections. People walk in groups compromising their individuality for the whole. Existence is weary in its fundamental relation to itself. Human variance consults value alignment. There is a desire to connecting with others. Yet the other changes over time. The youthful liberal becomes an aging conservative. Children find their group niches and stick to the plural mindset as they develop. While friends may change the community exclusivity is an inevitable part of progression. Otherness is erased quite quickly in youth but in adulthood is carefully monitored. The mature mind surrounds with like-mindedness. Stubbornness sinks in and little advancement is done to alter the echo chamber. Objects remain on the periphery uninvolved and disengaged.