April 25, 2003
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In my last ‘blog, I mention that I wouldn’t mind learning how to kick ass. Tej responds saying: “if you do walk in, you will become addictted. Guarnteed… learning to kick ass is a drug.”
And of course it is. That’s why the US is in Iraq.
Seriously, though, that’s one of the reasons I feel more than a little motivation towards it. I want to understand violence in a context other than being bullied in junior high, and in a context other than watching as US troops kick ass in Iraq while chickenhawks cheer.
Watching ‘The Matrix’ last night got me thinking a lot about violence. For the clueless: It’s a very, VERY violent movie. It’s almost violence porn. It gets a thumbs-up from me, however, because it ultimately teaches that violence only works toward ignorant ends, within the means of blissful ignorance. Neo can stop bullets and do whatever the hell else he wants to; violence becomes irrelevant within the matrix. My favorite exchange is when Agent Smith explains that the humans didn’t buy into a happy blissful synthetic world, so they used the model of suffering and competition to keep them placated. A Zen master couldn’t have put it more succinctly.
At least, that’s my reading. The sequels will probably prove me wrong.
I recently had someone tell me that I seemed incapable of being an asshole. I like to think I have that ability, but I also suspect that it only ever happens by accident, not intention. I want to iron out what violence really means in my life, separate from righteous indignation and politics.
I also want to grow my bottom three chakras to a mutually-beneficial relationship with the others.
And what the hell else am I really doing anyway? I should go sit in on an Aikido class. It’s structured social. Rawk.
Comments (5)
yeah the whatever brothers responsible for the Matrix intended it to have strong
buddhist content, so i would expect more of that in the sequels.
Ooooo! Getting Homer to be an asshole! That would be a great challenge! heheheheheheh…
I agree with your thoughts on the Matrix.
I think they intended some vague self-referencing metaphorical play on violence as we see it depicted in videogames, TV, etc. The idea of a matrix is just basically the ultimate videogame, and you see the TV metaphor come up over and over in the film. So much of the violence in that movie is so freakin’ stylistically perfect, too… almost beautiful in its execution. A friend of mine painted a canvas after seeing that movie, a bunch of curvy black forms with 3D depth. She titled it ‘Death Becomes Beauty’. Somehow that fit so well.
And, of course, let’s not forget the whole movie was a graphic novel brought to the screen the right way. (As opposed to every other movie recently raised from graphic novels).
…martial arts made me a lot more comfortable in my skin.
you don’t have to ever hurt anyone to walk with the assurance that you could, if you had to. and that tends to keep people from bothering you. predators go for the afraid first. usually.
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