Americans Starting to Finally Crack Up. Summers Shootings Sign of a Weak Society

Howdy Yall! You know, from time to time I think it is important that I write about the old country. That place on the other side of the planet called The United States of America. This summer has been a little rough on my fellow countrymen. They have been dealing with a harsh heatwave; which I am sure has made some of them regret all those donuts they ate. Also, there has been several dark and twisted shootings this summer which have shocked the American society and been the endless topic of discussion on countless on-line forums. Most of the discussions have been focused on the old pro/anti gun debate. That debate, in my opinion, is like beating on a dead horse. I will not get into that here in my blog. Don`t ask me to do it either. My take of these recent shootings is a bit different and often refused to be talked about.

Random violence carried about by unhinged people is a sign of a weak society, a break down of social duty and communities based on social status rather than human bonds.

That`s right America! You have allowed yourself to become a society of greedy, self absorbed, weak little piggies who have little or no concern for your own surroundings. Ask most Americans what their neighbor does to make money and most likely they cannot tell you. Hell, ask them what their neighbor`s name is and what their hobbies are and you will get the same answer. It appears painfully clear that human bonds are at an all time low in America. People simply don`t give a fuck about each other anymore. This is exactly why nut jobs are able to fester in a local community until one day they snap and kill a boat load of people. No one gives a damn what crazy Charlie across the street is thinking and doing everyday until he starts shooting people. Then you want to lock him up in jail and forget about him. Everyone will put all the blame on Charlie without giving a second thought about societies failure to keep an eye on him. It is true that before someone goes on a killing spree there are plenty of signs that they are planning to do it. For example: If you see your neighbor hanging out with Neo-Nazi, talking to himself or doing odd things at all times of the day or night you might want to keep an eye on them or try to talk to them. You might prevent something dark and twisted from happening.

Yet, few people will do anything until it is too late. After a shooting rampage people always say things like, `I knew he was crazy` or `I knew he was up to something.` Well, if you knew something was up why did you sit back and not try to find out if your neighbor was getting ready to go off? Were you lazy, shy, scared or just so self-absorbed that you thought it was not your problem? Well, when you family and friends are dead on the street it is your problem.

You see how that works?

If you want to have a safe community, then you have to be part of creating a strong community. There is no logic to be found in simply saying it is not your problem until something happens. As long as society is self absorbed and weak, you will have a high number of twisted people just waiting for the day to go off and kill innocents.

Something to think about.

An Asshole Ghost in Tokyo

 It was bound to happen sooner or later. Hell, how long can an American live so detached and removed from all the Monday Night Football, Hot Dogs, guns, apple pie, rebellion, lame beer, arrogance, nationalist pride and raw aggression before something starts to change. Yeah, I have been to some pretty twisted places in my mind during my life in Tokyo so far. I started out as a hillbilly who was just happy to not be in the United States to something all together different. My path though Tokyo has led to places in my mind I thought did not exist. I have been damn near all the way to the bottom of hell in ones own mind during my time in this city. I have pretty much seen the beauty and the darkness of Tokyo and it has taken my mind right along for the ride. Yet, I have been able to notice something about me which I did not notice before. I am a bit less American than I once was.

Don't misunderstand me dammit! I am not turning Japanese or any lame crap like that at all. It is more of a change of perspective. If you dig deep enough in this blog of mine, you will find all the little pieces of this journey in all it's silliness, madness and illogical glory. It has took a lot for me to reach the point I am at now. There are post buried deep in this blog in which I go on and on about temples, food and little places I liked. You will also find angry rants on things which drove me mad. There are also a few post in which I express my loneliness while being stuck at a internet cafe for a night(I went though a period of sleeping in internet cafes just to escape from everything). There are drunken rants along with drunken tales. I even got a post or two about having a damn mental break down. I tried to stop smoking a few times, which ended in failure and promises to myself to stop drinking heavily.  I have wrote about teaching English and some of my theories about it. All of those things have led up to the point I am at now.

Not Anti-American; Not Non-American; Not Un-American but....less American.

Asia has changed me. I have learned that the soft American lifestyle, which many Americans still enjoy despite all the unemployment and desperation they are facing, is something truly odd in the world at large. The idea that someone can be without a job for years on end and still have enough to eat and a decent chance at not ending up homeless is very strange concept indeed. It is only in America that someone can be morbidly obese yet still demand and expect it to be, not only acceptable, but discrimination if someone calls them out on it. To call someone a fat ass in America is damn near a sin from what I have learned. In fact, to expect someone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and at least try in life is also becoming a sin. Now, I understand all about class struggle and how this effects a person's upward mobility. I am not talking about class struggle here. I am talking about the unique American ability to simply declare, "I don't care about anything but my own feelings toward anything. I like living in a bubble because the government, and society, must take care of me no matter what I do." This whole idea of "failure does not matter" and "everyone must accept me no matter what I do to myself" can only be found in such a nation as America. I used to think the exact same way because after all...I am a child of America.

Yet, these days I am less of an American than I used to be.

It is no secret that I grew up pretty damn rough. I know hunger and I know what it is like to fight to survive. But, even in my worst days in America, my life was far easier than the working poor in China or Vietnam or for that matter Japan. When you are poor in most parts of the world, you are really fucking poor. You really don't have shit! At least in America, I did have some food to eat. Bless the goodness of Regan cheese and Regan powdered milk. At least I had people around me who could provide me with some happiness. My parents were damn poor but there were others around who had enough money to give a little taste of what other kids had. I stole things just to take care of myself, but to some poor kid in China, my idea of stealing would make him laugh. Hell, you never see the kids that hang out in Yokohama? They are some rough bastards to say the least. I have seen those little fuckers fight over damn near nothing. Those same kids usually live in an apartment the size of a McDonald's deep freeze; and most likely just as cold in the winter. For fuck's sake, a guy in Vietnam came up to me with no arms asking me if I wanted to buy a book about the Vietnam war! After seeing and experiencing things like that, I have become less American.

Yes! It has become harder for me to accept people who are big as a Hummer screaming about how everyone should cut them a break. I have lost some of my ability to understand someone who leaves a comfortable life, with a decent place to live and a decently stable job yell about "my rights! my rights! Everyone is a fucking racist!" When I hear someone complain about how much society sucks and they hate it all, but do damn little other than bitch and point the finger without working towards making the situation better, are sad in my mind. Those who do little to add or enhance society demanding to be handed to keys to the kingdom all the damn time! What the fuck is wrong with you people? Really!? You want everything society has to offer without getting involved in society. You want to just walk into a perfect situation without having to earn your metal. That type of attitude and behavior has made me less American.

Yet, with all that said, I was not feeling this way them I first came to Japan. Yes, I bitched a lot and failed to understand some of the things which were going on around me.  Yet, the longer I lived in Japan, and traveled around the world a bit more, I started to see that the American way of life truly breeds weakness and arrogance. I feel that at this point the weakness of arrogance has all but been beat out of me. Yes, I am still human and have my moments when I cry, doubt myself and feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. Yet, now I have developed a distaste for those who have it all and still complain that they are not shitting pure gold.

Less American? Yes! Un-American? No!

A Taste of America

So things have not been going smooth as of late for ya boy yall. My blogging has slowed down to a crawl as I try to get my head screwed on tight. The good news is things are starting to get back to some strange idea called "normal." Yet, one of strangest experiences as of late has went a long way in helping me clean the shit off my shoes. Recently I took up an invite to spend a day on a damn US Navy base here in land of the raising sun. As most of yall are aware America has it military boot firmly placed in Japan`s ass. America likes the situation and the Japanese, despite their bitching from time to time, enjoy the fact they got a powerful army to back them up at a moments notice.All of that don`t really matter a damn to me. I just wanted to check out a `foreign` US military base and get a taste of home.

My buddy is ex-Navy who spent four years stationed at Yokosuka Navy base. He said he could get me on base with offers of  `American beer, American food, and Taco Bell.` Hell, I would be damn stupid to pass on such an offer.I have not eaten `real` American food in a long time; McDonald`s does not count. I have gotten too used to eating Japanese food and half-ass attempts at American food. So off I went to the Nazi Camp, I mean US military base, with an ex-sailor.

I showed up late but my sailor buddy did not seem to mind much. He was busy trying to handle two high maintenance chicks and a grumpy hungry two year old baby. He was happy to see my ass when I flagged him down at the train station. He finally had him some back-up so to speak. After a quick hand shake and smile of relief, he lead me about two blocks away to meet up with his ball and chain, her friend and his cute but hungry two year old child. He them hauled the gang off to the base.

Now, remember I have not been around anything directly tied to the United States in several years. I completely forgot my home culture is filled with a boot licking, crazed, everyone is shit and a terrorist Nazi-like mind set. Stepping onto a US military base in Japan only throws me head first into the New-American mentality. I was excited as I was watchful and cautious. My Ex-Navy buddy knew the drill much better than me. I have been spoiled with complete freedom of movement and privacy; with only getting harassed by board Japanese police once or twice a year. We rolled up on the base and low and behold I need to be toe tagged before setting foot on US owned soil. I can understand the need for some kind of permission to enter a military base but the manner of going about it is a little unnerving. My Ex-Navy buddy said to me, `Stay cool man. I will handle this.` He gets some kind of strange form requiring me to report my nationality, current address and other such personal information. They wanted me to submit to a biometric shake down but my buddy got me out of it by saying, `It`s cool he is an American living in Japan and not a threat.` The butch looking Navy gal gave me a look of malice only given to enemies of the state; which in her mind was most likely anyone not enlisted. She ended up giving me a slip of paper with my picture on it saying I was `cool` and away me went.

When I finally got into the base I felt a wash on strange comfort come over me. I could feel American culture all around me but something was off. It was like some kind of weird simulation of American for some spy training camp. Everything look and operated a bit too perfect. At first I felt pretty good but soon a felt comfort yet confused and a silent paranoia. That`s when it hit me: I am right in the middle of US territory. It had been a long time to experience a taste of my own culture.

After a bit of time freaking out on my surroundings I decided to get what I could out of a day at the base. My Ex-Navy buddy got us on a bus and hauled us off to a food court. While I can get crap like KCF, McDonalds, or Burger King(which is kind of good) the really good American fast food is denied to me by the Japanese. Well, when we rolled up on the food court my eyes could only focus on one thing; Taco Bell! I must admit I ate like a starved pig. I may have ordered 1/3 of the menu. It was a bad call but a tasty one. The ladies in our company were taken back by my viking like feasting.

The next stop in this strange trip was the PX. The PX is very different from any old-school image in my head. It was like a military version of Wal-Mart. Stocked full of all the usual suspects of American consumerism. To my credit, I did not go into a spending spree like the zombie creature known as the American consumer. I only bought food and beer. I had to indulge myself in some `real` American food. I bought a soft shell taco kit, a four pack of Mac&Cheese, five cans of winners in a can and a six pack of Ice House beer. I was happy with my haul.

The day ended at a on-base bar with some good conversation. My buddy and I discussed our troubles over a few beers. Overall, a day at the base was interesting and good for me; despite the square atmosphere.