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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Close Encounters

posted by on January 17 at 12:02 PM

metodi_stalker.jpg

Rome just gave me an idea: The city is a chaos that works. Big cities in the Third World are chaotic, but they don’t work. For a city to be outstanding it must be at once chaotic and not fall apart. The water must run, the trash be collected, and the electricity radiate to the tidal tails of the city. But what makes this complex emergence work? The combination of wealth and love. A city must be rich (I’m not against wealth but the capitalist domination of wealth and its generation) and, most importantly, be loved. A city with just wealth is as dead as a city without it. Love is needed for the productive chaos of humanity.

While flying across the Atlantic, I listened to Gangstarr’s “In Memory Of.” Not far from the close of that melancholy track, Guru, the rapper states: “Without love, we would never exist.” We can give this statement more substance by saying: “Without love, a big city would never exist.” Because the city is about love, the country (its opposite) must be about hate. There is always something severe and mean in the manner and expressions of those who live in small towns or outside of the city. When you see them praying in a small church, or driving a pickup truck down a desolate road, what you are watching is a profound hate for humanity. There is no real love in country people.

The nature of a galaxy is not be alone in the middle of nowhere. At this moment, Andromeda is fleeing the space of its loneliness and approaching our galaxy. In six billion years, the two will meet and create one massive system of stars. Other galaxies are also coming our way, and in a future at the edge of the imagination, there will emerge a mother of a galaxy. Complexity and propinquity are the cosmic imperative, the galactic truth, the sideral law. The force of this law is love.

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1

"There is always something severe and mean in the manner and expressions of those who live in small towns or outside of the city. When you see them praying in a small church, or driving a pickup truck down a desolate road, what you are watching is a profound hate for humanity. There is no real love in country people."

What an asshole you are, Charles. Of course, I'm not sure even you really believe this.

Posted by bigyaz | January 17, 2008 12:18 PM
2

were you high when you wrote that?

Posted by Johnny B Good | January 17, 2008 12:18 PM
3

agreed on rome, it works. but if u want a non working version of a beautiful italian city go to napoli. the camorra (the local mob) there controls the garbage pickup and last time i was there, the city was filled with uncollected garbage and it was filthy as any developing world city, with just as much crime, but with good food. rome works because its nothing more than a tourist destination and a money laundering center for the mafia, the camorra and the ndragheta.

Posted by SeMe | January 17, 2008 12:18 PM
4

I stopped reading at "Third World". There is no "Third World" anymore (if there ever was), and developed/developing is a false dichotomy.

A really badass TED talk on this:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

If you don't know TED talks you're missing out.

Posted by w7ngman | January 17, 2008 12:27 PM
5

"The nature of a galaxy is not to be alone in the middle of nowhere."

Uh...not sure I follow. Using the impossibly vast nothingness of space to make a point about interconnectedness seems like a stretch.

Posted by Matthew | January 17, 2008 12:42 PM
6

A city with just wealth is as dead as a city without it.

Dubai and Singapore being cases in point.

Posted by bma | January 17, 2008 12:54 PM
7

Lovely post. And while I've certainly experienced generosity in country folk, it's never been the same kind of love as I see on a city bus.

Those suburbanites are the ones who hate.

Posted by Donna | January 17, 2008 12:55 PM
8
The force of this law is love.

Um, actually, it's gravity.

Posted by jd | January 17, 2008 12:56 PM
9

So Alien planets think the planet Earth is a bunch of dumb unloving hicks.
I can understand that.

Posted by solar system | January 17, 2008 12:58 PM
10

really--there's no real love in country people? really?? huh, i learn something new every day on the slog.

Posted by kim | January 17, 2008 1:15 PM
11

And, unlike Seattle, they actually have inexpensive residential rental apartment buildings that are taller than four stories.

Coincidence?

Nope.

Manga Italiana, Charles!

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 17, 2008 1:36 PM
12

why it gotta be on/off, love/hate, city/country?

if god is love, and the universe is god, love is everywhere.

Posted by max solomon | January 17, 2008 3:34 PM
13

The city is about rampant sex, Charles. Love is hard pressed here. You have to be looking for it in order to find it, and that just makes you a total loser. PARTYY!!!

Posted by Mr. Poe | January 17, 2008 3:47 PM
14

Dude, once you go to Mexico City I really believe you will find yourself unable to leave. Come visit when I´m there this summer.

Posted by Grant Cogswell | January 17, 2008 4:56 PM
15

I just got back from Rome too!
Cool stuff... Depressing as FUCK.

Capitalist greed for the sake of greed. Ugly Prada hand bags, The Vatican (enough said? How can anyone not see the hypocrisy in the OVERWHELMING amount of money spent on marble and gold. "you can't take it into heaven" but apparently you can slap your pope stamp on it and turn a blind eye to the poverty in the world" (side note! John Paul the 2's tomb was just a slab of humble style marble. Love that guy!)). Furthermore, the disregard the people had for their own city (Dirtier than Prague and Dublin combined).


Not to mention that Rome has always been as black hearted, as capitalist, and as cold. (hence the pillars)


IMHO too, the initial coldness of the people, which is hard to overcome, was a huge turn off (and this is no doubt because I was a tourist in a big family that had no choice but to stand out. Despite sincere attempts at speaking the language, and "doing as the Romans do" (which was laughed off)).


Good Coffee, amazing historical artifacts, HARDLY loving.


Although, outside of Rome (In the countryside!) I was amazed at the warmth i felt from the people.

Posted by Pat | January 17, 2008 6:41 PM
16

Are you lonely, Charles?

Posted by Hermes | January 17, 2008 7:19 PM
17

p.s. as a whole the universe is expanding infinitely (like a balloon), everything getting farther and farther (and farther). Not to mention deader.

dude-bummer

Posted by Pat | January 17, 2008 10:31 PM

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