Random Crap

A very brief review of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”

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An original American doozy if ever there was one.

I finally had the chance to finish it, after three attempts.

Not that it’s difficult to read or anything. But, well, life you see.

So it goes.

This is a PTSD (anti-)war narrative in the form of an absurdist sci-fi story.

I wish I could go through something like this myself – literally live out a Tralfamadorian journey of non-linear temporality – but I have no interest in experiencing war and mass butchery in order to do so.

Nor am I keen on having to engage in forced propaganda that returning soldiers must parrot to ensure the military industrial complex escapes justice.

Now, as a recently minted American, I daresay 2023 is different in terms of the masses accepting war propaganda without challenge.

Nonetheless, I read this book with a fear that the only thing that will prevent our society from alienated decay and mass torpor is, ironically enough, crisis or disaster.

It sobered the ever-living crap out of me.

The monograph on American prisoners of war and its note on American social relations could well be written about vast swathes of my adopted country today.

It is a brutal reflection on American classism and loathing for cooperation, but it could also be written about vast swathes of any society in our current time.

As we journey through a fascinating new phase in technology, information, and individualized access, we’re alienating ourselves and parasocializing at the same time.

Then again…

Is it really all that bad?

Meh. The more I know, the dumber I feel.

So what do I know?

Poo-tee-weet indeed.

I went to the gun range with my neighbor today…

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The shadow work is just a quirk of lighting as I took the photo on my crappy phone…I don’t have a pistol (though I am thinking of getting a bolt action hunting rifle).

Took me back 25 years.

Karnataka Home Guards basic training, 1997 summer batch. (I got the gold medal for standing first in my cohort, thank you very much). Mostly civil defense and emergency disaster relief training, but we got half a day or thereabouts with a rifle. Enfield 303. Bolt action.

I had 10 shots then. (Third world training for a part-time auxiliary force is…very basic).

This time around, with my new bestie and lucky-to-have-as-my-neighbor Bob, at our local range, among the many offerings, I was treated to 20 rounds with a Ruger 223. Bolt action. Was like riding a bike, but only after some genuine humbling anxiety.

Once I got my bearings with Bob’s pistol, I got the right with my 20 rounds. I had 18 shots on centre-mass target or thereabouts and, the last two aimed at the top, just cos. I’m thinking an important martial philosophy for humble soldiering is to start with the most humble, organic weapons. And seek to master them first before moving on to anything fancier. I don’t think I want to fire a semi-automatic, an automatic, or even a pump action until I’ve mastered the humble bolt action.

(So I also won’t embarrass myself with how close the fucking target was…)

Thanks Bob. Always good to keep our skills sharp.

Now on to PT, cooking, and doing the dishes.

(Soldiering is 99% homestead, fatherhood, and being grateful some other sorry soul loves my stupid ass…hurrah!)

Cannabis can be seen as food, I do believe…

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You know, if we’re still going with a Hippocratic framework…then we (also) let medicine be thy food.

How is cannabis, which is basically medicine to whoever around the goddamn earth is using it, not food? (Bearing in mind, that all medicines and foods can be abused, thus nullifying the puritan “addiction” argument.)

Furthermore, the scientific copout I have with this hypothesis is that it kinda already is…beverages, butters, sweets, pastries etc, all of which exist in regular ways, are supercharged with a myriad different permutations of THC(s), CBD(s), CBG, CBN et al.

Cannabis super foods and super meds are on their way in a few years (with peer-reviewed, scientific backing). Time to open the floodgates of R&D and diversify the availability. Relief, recovery, and realization beckon for many more.

Cannabis, after all, belongs to the people.

Free Healthcare, Free Education & Free(d) Cannabis

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That’s a political platform Molly would love (because it’s a winning one).

Medicare For All.

Education For All.

Cannabis Legalized… in every way possible.

That’s a winning platform for any ambitious politician at pretty much any level, any office, and any place.

C’mon Minnesota and Twin Cities power-mongers…take this platform and run with it!

(Or else Molly will be sad. And you don’t want to make Molly sad. Trust me. You don’t.)