Life in the Woods vs Life in Financial Crisis
Thoreau lived in solitude at Walden Pond for two years and two months formulating a pure philosophy of divinty within self (the writings became central to transcendentalism and mirrors the RBN ideals of God Self) and finding that modern man is shackled by ipods, stupidly expensive pants and crappy jobs that lack meaning. His modern man was enslaved by different constructs but everything he wrote while in self imposed exile (ok, not really exile, he still gave lectures to his neighbors in an outdoor amphitheater he built) still rings true today. Hell, it’s even more important now as we see the financial situation worsen to a point where even Middle America trusts our elected officials & banks less that we trust this guy.
I journeyed to Walden for several reasons: I like hiking, the leaves are changing colors, my buddy John Allen of Headband and myself have been going on walkabouts round town and had mini van at our disposal. Interesting sidenote; I once saved my friends’ marriage by bringing him to Walden and simply talking shit out. They named their dog after me in an unequal exchange.
Anyways, Walden & its’ philosophies as a counterpoint to the American psyche at a time when our shit is going terribly wrong….what was I trying to get at? With the financial bailout ultimately rewarding CEOs of failed banks and adding to our insane debt to China(where we have no leverage to bargain as we already owe them our shirts: figuratively & literally) we’re seeing that the individual citizen is not only alone, but actually has the government working directly against them. The cost will be passed to the taxpayer, wall street will remain unregulated for the most part, 401ks vanished overnight, and then this bullshit etc etc. So , again, Walden and Self Determination and it’s relationship to art/design/fashion/and most importantly, hood figgas. Well, FUBU also known as “For Us By Us” is an excellent example of circumventing the status quo and getting over by any means necessary. This mentality is finally taking root in the average American who watches NASCAR & shops at Walmart and of which 5-10% of engage in S&M for pleasure. (source Kinsey Institute).
This mentality was also a founding tenet of Hip Hop. With ghettos in NYC abandoned by the government and left to burn ( an excellent historical account can be found in the book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop) , we saw Hip Hop born out of the adverse conditions. I wonder what the hell is going to come out of the current Hell we’re living in, or if we’re too subdued by our computers, SUVs and Doritos (yummo!) for real change to occur.
Traditionally, university campuses are one of the strongest places for revolutionary thought & movement to become organized and later galvanized. I talk to the students that come through my shop and I truly wonder if they can save this ragged world. Hey you with the knapsack & facebook profile, please prove me wrong. The future, after all, is unwritten!
On a lighter note:
DOWNLOAD: a really old dub reggae blend i did of “dirt off ya shoulda” that heads seem to like.
