Gagablog 82: Democracy....democracy everywhere! Preparing for “Sexx Dreams”

I spent a lot of time on “G.U.Y.”. Not just rambling about it here, but in this “G.U.Y.” zone, trying to learn lessons from it of dominance and equality and love, and working these lessons out in my own life. I know there is always work to be done, and I should be very happy to have made the progress I have with “G.U.Y.” as a focus for the last few months. Now I am ready to move on to the next phase, to work on “Sexx Dreams”. I love this song and I am eager to start exploring it, but I felt like I should make a prelude, and a chance to correct and clarify some things from the previous Gagablog, which I wrote last night and this morning. Right after I posted it I wanted to edit it and give explicit credit to the people who are fighting for justice, specifically all the protestors all across the country who are standing up against police brutality and murdering civilians with no consequences. I wanted to also add that SNL had a skit about this last night, making fun of the idea that it is “protesting” to tweet something with a hasthag. They had Keenan playing MLK and shaking his head at that, bemoaning how far away it meant the quest for justice was getting. I'm not saying all we have to do is tweet, but we shouldn't make fun of it either. We should encourage any form of protest and spreading awareness. And that is what social media protests and expressions are: they are the new form of protest, the microcosm f grassroots. Social media is used to coordinate physical protests as well – remember the Twitter Revolution in Iran? - and even if it is just sharing stories and expressions, it spreads awareness. You might not go out to protest, but seeing you post something sympathetic to a cause might make someone who likes you become more activist, or just like or share the post. Awareness does spread around. If an issue, or event, or exposure of evil, gets spread around, eventually someone will do something more than just spread the information, and actually do something about it. And it takes everyone spreading the information, like a chain that shouldn't be broken, to get the information to that person. The people who provide the links in that chain are more than just information carriers, just connecting with it makes people part of the magic that it takes to transfrom and fix issues.

This is all basically what I wanted to say after posting gagablog 81 this morning. Then I saw some more news on CNN, then some more news on CBS waiting for basketball to come on, and it all made me come to this conclusion: Democracy. I truly believe in it and believe it will save the world. I didn't used to, because I saw too much how it was corrupted by the interestes of greedy coporatipons, oil and military especially, and didn't live up to the ideals it espoused, suppressing some people's votes, or taking a long time to give people rights. But I believe in it now and accept that the difference between it working and going bad, between living in an enlightened society or a brainwased one, is education. I was missing some facts when I wrote the last gagablog, and when I got that information today I had a new and clearer perspective on it all. I connect it with "Sexxx Dreams" for a few reasons. The first is that technology and social media are what make this kind of "hashtag protest" possible. While hooking up outside your primary relationship has always happened throughout human history there are new possibilities thanks to travel and technology. Since people have more ways of hooking up we are developing more variety of relationships as well. These relationship "variations" can be compared to new kinds of relationships between countries as well: it's not just a world of friends ad enemies but hopefull will become a world just of friends and better friends.

Another reason I associate "Sexxx Dreams" with this moment in time current events is that I truly believe Gaga is the Goddess and her artwork is Divine. It is taking me over a year to write some of the things I want to say about Artpop, but as I predicted it will take some time for the magic of Artpop to come true, fully, in the world. I feel like we are ready to enter a new phase: the previous months were characterized by some jockeying for position, the struggle for dominance that is represented by "G.U.Y.". But I think we have turned a corner and the new era will be one of new kinds of "special relationshops", as implied, suggested, or proposed and seduced, in "Sexxx Dreams." I expect to get more into this idea in the next Gagablog as I really focus on "Sexx Dreams", and I hope I have some "Sexxx Dreams" kind of activities in my life to correspond with the focus of this era, just as I felt like my personal life struggles were helping me to experience and learn the issues involved in "G.U.Y" in the last few months as the lens of the gagablog has been on that song. But for the interim, before I really start talking about "Sexxx Dreams" (and since I don't know if I even really have anyone to flirt with, currently) I wanted to clear up some ideas about the US, Israel, and Iran based on what I heard on TV today and my evolving and growing belief in democracy. Because this whole series is about "getting it wrong", talking about Gaga's lyrics even if I am misunderstanding them or their meaning, then going back and trying to correct the magical meaning with more information, education. So it is no wonder my last edition might seem to have missed some things and hopefully this one will make more sense. But I also have been writing a journal about the I Ching Cards and had chosen a wild format, comparing the cards I chose at different times, "randomly" or for divnination, with events in my life. The format I chose was so lengthy and crazy and I think I will bring some of the different focuses together to make it more streamlined. I almost feel like doing that here, not bothering with "getting it wrong" first and just reading all the lyrics and everything I can find about all of the songs, then talking about it. But I know one reason I want to do that is embarrassment over lyrics I can't decipher, and another is saving time. I guess I just still believe there is some value to "getting it wrong", first, and learning from mistakes. My only problem with that is I can't apply that principle to the world: I hate it that we keep getting things wrong and want justice and green energy and peace and freedom for everyone, plus the end of money and exclusion, and I want it now. BUt I also believe in a mystical reality where all of this already exists and we are here to "realize" that reality, to make this world into the ideal we can sense underneath it, trying to break out and live freely. I don't mind recordnign my mistakes if I can learn from them or anyone else can. I don't want to make poor magic by talking bullshit, like my band director said "stop practicing it wrong, if you practice it wrong you will perform it wrong, practice playing it right!" But I do think the stronger magic comes to take over where lesser magic just made a faint impression in it's attempt.

World events became a little more clear to me this morning, after first hearing Fareed Zakari's "take" on current events, right after I had posted my own far less informed opinions in gagablog 81. Then I heard a democrat congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Goddard, who talked about strategy in Iraq with Bob Scheaffer on CBS. I had the intuition she would become president, btw, the same feeling I had about Obama when I first saw him make a speech at the DNC in 2000 or '04. She made very good points that nothing could really be done, no lasting gains could be made, without political solutions alongside military ones: she said the whole problem was that the Shiite-led government in Iraq had disenfranchised and abused the Sunni population, and that the militias that were fighting "ISIS" were making this worse with revenge killings and other atrocities that made ISIS still relatively appealing to Sunnis. The real problem she identified was a lack of true democracy. She said in order for there to be peace the areas with Sunni majorities needed to be given the power and ability to elect people who represent them. So the real problem in Iraq is fake democracy instead of real democracy. When I think of one of the major issues facing America today, abuse of police power, police killing citizens with no cause and then getting no punishment, and racist policing in general, it makes me think this is the same thing: fake democracy in place of real democracy. In this case it is an example of local power structures being disconnected and not responsible to the people they are supposed to be serving. And the problem of racism in positions of power so they protect each other and maintain a racist institution. The same problem exists politically on local and national levels. Republicans use their power to cause war, deny or steal people's rights and money, continue polluting the environment and overheating the planet, and protect their own greedy and damaging self-interests. They do this by voter suppression and voter suppression laws, trying to reverse the Civil Rights Act and succeeding at this quite a bit in recent years, and it just shows how really everything bad in America, and the world, is a result of this problem of fake democracy instead of real democracy.

After Congresswoman Goddard finished her first appearance on Face the Nation, Bob Schaeffer gave his closing remarks. I was severely disappointed in what he said but he was not nearly as bad as his Republican guests. All they said was that we had to kill any deal with Iran. When asked what their alternative would be, one suggestion was "no deal." Bob asked what incentive Iran would have to end their nuclear weapons program in that case and the guy could not answer. His alternative plan to "no deal" was a deal that put even harsher sanctions on Iran - to me, either would just be a path to war. Republicans are heavily invested in war, both with money and their beliefs. To me, the deal between Iran and the US is a path to peace that they fear because they really want a war, they are counting on it and accounting for it, literally. It's their business. But we, people, really don't want a war, especially not World War 3. Tow republican legislators seemed to get about 5 minutes or more each to say the same bullshit, then Congresswoman Goddard was making very good, insightful points clearly but was given less time, it seemed. Bob's final remarks were like a sad compromise at the end instead of pointing out how right the democrats are and how wrong the republicans are - and I would not expect that but it would be the only honest way for a smart person to sum it all up. I'm not saying Bob is not smart, I am saying that it was like he was duped and had to say the duped line, like he is still going by an old rule that may only just now finally changing: "never, ever, ever say anything bad about Israel." he summed it all up by saying he could understand the back and forth between Obama and Netenyahu but that the "special relationship" between America and Israel transcended all politics and personal squabbles - as it the conflict between Obama and Netenyahu is just a conflict of personalities and there are no actual principles or people's lives at stake. he criticized the White House's tone in responding to the latest news from Bibi: right before the election he had said he would never allow a Palestinian State in order to get re-elected, but after he won he backed away from that statement since it brings all kinds of international scorn and further strains relationships with the US. My impression is we are basically their sponsor, giving them 60 billion dollars a year to use to buy weapons from us, for example, which gives them a larger military budget than their four neighboring countries combined. And literally gives it to them. Bob said the White House had a sarcastic tone when it responded to Bibi saying "I didn't really mean that." But why shouldn't we be skeptical and sarcastic? Isn't this the guy who lies all the time about building settlements in Palestinian lands? Isn't he the guy who manufactured a war and killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians - for an election boost? Again, the real problem with Israel seems to be fake democracy instead of real democracy. And yet the reason Bob gave why our relationship with Israel has to be so special is that "they are the only true democracy in the region." Didn't we just rebuild Iraq and guide the formation of a new government? Why didn't we ensure it would be a real democracy? It seems like that would have avoided the problems they are facing now. And maybe that is not a rhetorical question because it was designed this way, to collapse into more war. But that does not mean there is no other way to change things, transform the situation, and move away from war for good.

The comments Fareed Zakari made earlier this morning made me realize the nature of all of these problems is the same: fake democracy in place of real democracy, or not enough democracy. I realized that it is very much the "same situation" between Iran, the US, and Israel - I mean, everyone knows the issues are connected but I'm saying it is all the same problem. When I wanted to look at the relationship or conflict between the US and Iran as a kami, spirit, or godform, it made some sense, but I might as well look at the whole "issue" between Iran, Israel, and the US as "one thing." and this one thing probably applies to relationships between other countries, as well, with different specifics. And the whole dynamic probably applies to relationship between people, too - between two people who are in a relationship and "someone else" who is in a kind of relationship, or wants to be, with them or one of them - kind of like Sexxx Dreams. But I will have to wait and explore that dimension later and finish this up. Fareed mentioned that Bibi had said his only response to questions about his stance on Palestine should be to retweet what the Ayatollah of Iran tweeted (that feels funny to type that, like they are schoolkids or something) about "destroying Israel." Sure, it sounded harsh and Fareed acknowledged that his Twitter feed was full of hate speech but said "he has remained in power for a long time." I am so ignorant about things I have no idea if the Ayatollah is elected or not, but I guess the point of that comment is that "hate-speech" kept him popular, at least in some demographics. I can't support that because I don't believe in hate, it is not the way to go, and I think that all good goals will be achieved faster by loving means instead of hateful ones. But Fareed went on to explain that for years the Ayatollah has advocated the "destruction of Israel" but NOT by military means. This whole revelation blew my mind, having heard mostly talking points and little analysis of these situations. Its like, what do they supposedly even want nuclear weapons for? For that matter, what does anyone ever want them for? Not to use them, but for the threat of using them. And those who don't have them basically want to try and develop them so that the countries who do have them will try to buy them off and keep them from making them. Again, as I have said before, the best way to get other countries to disarm is to lead by example and disarm ourselves, SHOW that we don't need weapons, no one does. I thought it was very poignant and insightful a meme someone posted on facebook: all of this talk about the US and Israel trying to prevent Iran from developing "a" nuclear weapon, their first, and the meme read "Iran is concerned about the US developing its 8,400th nuclear weapon." I think it is a secret and no one knows for sure -what's up with that? - but last estimate I heard was that Israel had 75 nuclear weapons - I think they don't really admit to having any.

Fareed explained that whenever the Ayatollah was advocating the destruction of Israel he had a specific plan in mind: not a military action against them but political: if all the people in the occupied territories of Palestine and Gaza and the West Bank had voting rights the nature of Israel as a "Jewish state" would change. Israel would have government that was representative of the people. Now, with 4.5 million people living under Israeli rule and subject to their invasions with much more advanced weaponry, but no vote to make things better or have political redress for issues, there is an Apartheid state in Israel, the only one in modern democracies - according to Fareed. To me, if you look at the political process and voter suppression in America you can see we have an Apartheid system as well, even if it is not as clearly defined. I have no idea how demographics break down in Russia, for example, but I get the impression they are repressive of gay people and probably women, too - not that we aren't in America, but this is just the first example I can think of. And we all have this problem and it is the same problem everywhere: not enough democracy. If Iraq had more real democracy the Sunnis would have a stake in the system, involvement and investment, instead of bitterness at the lack of these things, and there would not be that room for "ISIS" to grow. If we had more real democracy in America we would have government and policies that meet people's real needs instead of propping up a system that serves big businesses, oil and war companies. If Israel had more real democracy the Palestinians would have a vote and influence in the system and it would not be a recruiting poster for misguided violent "jihadis" (Jihad is an internal war, morons!). If Iran had more real democracy, and I have no idea how much they have but if the Ayatollah is kept in power with hate speech then that is a sign, to me, that even if they have democracy it is perverted by bad education: not that complaints against Israel are invalid, but expressing anything hatefully is to appeal to the worst and stupidest elements of people and society. He could accomplish the same thing much faster by being nice - unless he too us using "change" as a false goal and truly only wants to profit from conflict and war. If Russia had more real democracy their people would not seem to universally condemn the corrupt system. We seem to do that in America, too, especially now when less than 10% of people think Congress is working. But we also don't support the government and re-elect someone by 90% margin - though maybe they don't either and they are just so corrupt they don't even realize how suspicious that looks to other democracies. If Ukraine was sensitive enough to it's Russian-speaking population, I assume, there would be no conflict there. which makes me wonder, is there any country where they treat the minority demographics better than they treat the people / community in power? That president of Ecuador who lives simply might be that kind of leadership by example. The protest this year in Hong Kong was an attempt to demand more true democracy in China. It really seems like the common issue that we can work toward, not as a geopolitical choosing up sides but as a world that is all on the same side, humanity and nature, and works to meet everyone's needs, everywhere, as much as possible. ANd the recipe for doing this is Democracy and Education. We can do it, we have the tools, we certainly have the needs, and where we think we fall short of the resources is where we will discover magic to make the connections, once we start acting in good faith.

Here is a quick taste of how this relates to "Sexxx Dreams", now that I have established somewhat what I am talking about. "G.U.Y." and the state of the world we are now, hopefully, leaving is all about dominance and control. It is also essentially about entering or ending a relationship, a primary love relationship. "Sexxx Dreams" is after that. When you are lonely or working on a relationship it can be the biggest deal in the world, whether or not that person loves you, if you can be together and how, etc. Just as if you are really poor all you can worry about it whether you will eat or not. Once you "have" that primary relationship, it is natural to wonder about "others." Just as, once you are rich enough to know you will eat everyday then you have the luxury to choose what you eat and look for new preferences. If you are really hot and get all sorts of lovers, and your lovers accept that there's just too much goodness for it not to go around, well that is like being so rich you have your own personal chef to cook whatever you want at any time. But this is an analogy: richness is bullshit. In the modern world the richer you are the more chances for love/sex and different kinds of it might be available, but no one is really "worth more" than anyone else or more deserving of pleasure. And it doesn't work that way, really, though we want to act like more money means more love. There is actually in inverse magical relationship between love and money. I like to say everything is really Love. everything is energy and the real, ultimate energy is love. But Money is the slowest form of energy, the most stagnant form of Love. So we have economic syetems all based on the idea of "gaining" the most money and letting the least amount of money "go" or pay for labor, the least amount to other people and the most for "yourself" - but I'm not even talking to anyone as I write that, there is no "yourself" even if dozens of people, were they to read that, might think it was an indictment of them and their riches, and even feel proud of that. "The love of money is the root of all evil" because we mess up both by treating love like money and vice versa. Love works the opposite way from the economic system: the more we give the more there is. If we act like we can only love so much we will get defensive and retract instead of expand. But once we learn how to love better we CAN treat money like love in a good way and share more to enjoy it more.

I see the world events of the past, up to and especially shown in the past few months, as being part of this "G.U.Y.", "who's the boss?" dynamic. Now we are finally at a stage where we are not so defensive we have to worry about who is "in charge." We can trust each other, or start to, and get enough equal representation, democracy, around to verify that we are all taking the best care of each other that we can, and the same principle will be in place no matter whose turn it is to be "in power." This is a new standard but I feel certain we will reach it and there are more and more signs of it everyday. Once we feel "secure" we can fool around, "Sexxx Dreams" style. This will be the theme of the new era, and then we will move on to even better and more glorious themes - but I won't mind if we stick with this one for a while, or if the lessons we get from it stay with us forever. Because people are just too attractive to only have a "special relationship" with one of them. Countries are, too. We should all develop a special relationship with Mother Earth and then fool around with each other as much as we see fit in whatever contexts are respectful to Her. Between countries, as between lovers, the relationship itself can be described like a kami, egregore, or godform, depending on how serious you are or what terminology you like. But I start to think that all of these things, that seem so imposing as to be "out of our control", the fate of nations and the destiny of love, are really only appearing to be Big, Powerful Giants. They are really like Burning Men: all of this structure made to look like a giant godform, to scare us into thinking something awful might happen - and it might if the thing came to life ("war" in the world events analogy) or collapsed and hurt people. But the REAL, ultimate purpose of these Big Structure/Beings who seem to control our fate is to burn them and free ourselves from those ideas, and learn a lesson together by doing it.