This is a giant middle finger to the jingoistic Americans who believe you must play by the rules to triumph, who excommunicate those who don’t agree, who believe in mind control.<\/p>\n
That’s the America we’ve now got.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re either with us or against us.\u00c2\u00a0 Look no further than Washington, D.C. for evidence.\u00c2\u00a0 Republicans won’t play with the Democrats, they offer no solutions, but they can’t be seen as weak, they’re fearful of Rush, Sarah and Fox News, they’re members of a horde as opposed to individual thinkers.<\/p>\n
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we now live in where heroes are homogenous, pureed for consumption, sans any rough edges for us to hold on to.\u00c2\u00a0 Go back to the Super Bowl…\u00c2\u00a0 One of the reasons we’ve got codgers performing is because Justin Timberlake played along, sold out Janet Jackson, apologized instead of admitting his complicity, absolving himself of responsibility in order to salvage his career.<\/p>\n
No wonder Paris Hilton and the Kardashians are stars today.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the real stars have abdicated their role.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve shorn off their rough edges or become cartoons in order to avoid scrutiny, in order to avoid blowback.<\/p>\n
Bode Miller is the most talented and most decorated ski racer in American history.\u00c2\u00a0 But his predecessor atop the throne, Phil Mahre, couldn’t congratulate him, only criticize him, as a skier and a person.\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s all about winning, isn’t that enough?<\/p>\n
No, we’ve got to win for our country.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got to spout platitudes.\u00c2\u00a0 As if athletes are not jocks doing it for personal glory.\u00c2\u00a0 And cash.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the real story.\u00c2\u00a0 But we don’t want to admit it to ourselves.<\/p>\n
Bode Miller celebrated winning the World Cup by drinking champagne, to the point he skied the following morning’s now irrelevant race hung over.\u00c2\u00a0 Let me ask you, you didn’t get drunk after passing the bar exam, you didn’t celebrate your wedding with a little drink?\u00c2\u00a0 How come you’re so hypocritical?\u00c2\u00a0 How come the media twists the truth to make a sexy story?<\/p>\n
Bode didn’t win in Torino.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d think he’d let down the whole damn country.\u00c2\u00a0 But where was the country when he was winning the World Cup before?\u00c2\u00a0 Completely tuned out, people didn’t give a shit, they were watching the NFL and the NBA.\u00c2\u00a0 But now, Bode has to ski for them!<\/p>\n
Individuality has gotten a bad name.\u00c2\u00a0 The goal is to be just like everybody else.\u00c2\u00a0 Check in with the younger generation, first and foremost you’ve got to be a member of the group.\u00c2\u00a0 The oldsters used to revel in their uniqueness, letting their freak flags fly, but now they’re calcified, sitting in judgment, demanding conformity.<\/p>\n
The new American sport is apologizing.\u00c2\u00a0 You barely have to offend before some nitwit demands you whip out a confession admitting your crime and expressing regret.\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe the person meant to do it.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe they’re just not like you.<\/p>\n
Barring a back of the field miracle, Bode Miller will get a silver medal in today’s Super G.\u00c2\u00a0 Which makes him two for two.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe not gold, but pretty damn good nonetheless.\u00c2\u00a0 What is America gonna say now?\u00c2\u00a0 About an athlete who did it his way and triumphed?<\/p>\n
This was the essence of rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 The stars of yore didn’t play by the rules, didn’t kiss corporate butt, and fans LOVED them for it.\u00c2\u00a0 Rained down cash.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where old bands still generate the most live revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 Who wants the young ‘uns, working with the usual suspect producers in it for the fame as opposed to the music.\u00c2\u00a0 You might not like Lil’ Wayne, but at least he’s not complaining about piracy, he’s putting out mix tapes for free, he’s about the MUSIC!<\/p>\n
We’ve got to terminate this conformity hogwash in these United States.\u00c2\u00a0 We must realize we welcomed immigrants with open arms, and the diversity of our populace is what truly made us great.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, if you’re not willing to listen to a contrary opinion, you’re only going to hear back what you already know, avoiding growth, like a major label CEO.<\/p>\n
Look back.\u00c2\u00a0 Our heroes were always the outsiders.\u00c2\u00a0 From James Dean to Steve McQueen, from John Lennon to Grace Slick.\u00c2\u00a0 Unafraid of speaking their truth, we gravitated towards them.<\/p>\n
Bode Miller is a modern day hero.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone who took the slings and arrows and still excelled, still triumphed.\u00c2\u00a0 We labeled him a loser because he disappointed us four years ago, what are we gonna call him now?\u00c2\u00a0 Are we gonna realize we were wrong, or make like he just doesn’t exist?<\/p>\n
Just like the oldster beautiful music people of the sixties made like the Beatles, the British Invasion and the San Francisco Sound didn’t exist.<\/p>\n
Led Zeppelin was excoriated in their heyday.\u00c2\u00a0 For their heavy music and offstage antics.\u00c2\u00a0 But decades later, the music remains.\u00c2\u00a0 We want new Zeppelins, but they’re nowhere to be seen.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we no longer nurture this kind of talent.<\/p>\n
Bode’s medals are now in the history book.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, he might even earn more.<\/p>\n
He’s just a constant warning to take the other direction.<\/p>\n
He was the first skier to use shaped skis.\u00c2\u00a0 Revolutionizing the sport.<\/p>\n
He’s got more natural talent than seemingly anyone out there.<\/p>\n
But he isn’t a me-too sheep beholden to a false game.<\/p>\n
I’d say that’s a plus.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d rather have a kid who’s a Bode than a Lindsey any day of the week.\u00c2\u00a0 I want someone who can think for himself, make independent decisions, question authority.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what drew me to the rockers of yore…\u00c2\u00a0 Rules were irrelevant if they were thoughtless.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can’t think for yourself, you’re no friend of mine.<\/p>\n
We make it tough to be an independent thinker.<\/p>\n
But they are our biggest winners.\u00c2\u00a0 Our beacons.\u00c2\u00a0 From Steve Jobs to Bob Dylan to Bode Miller.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a giant middle finger to the jingoistic Americans who believe you must play by the rules to triumph, who excommunicate those who don’t agree, who believe in mind control. That’s the America we’ve now got.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re either with us or against us.\u00c2\u00a0 Look no further than Washington, D.C. for evidence.\u00c2\u00a0 Republicans won’t play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Hv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2698,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}