- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
This is a capitalism-ode I've been working on for the last 2 years (ever since Donald Trump was elected President), and it's inspired by my love of Thomas Nast, Captain America, and Alex Proyas media.
It's a political cartoon, which is why I didn't post it in the Writing section, but what do you think?
Cheers (signing off),
====
"Do you love America? Do you love the complexity of what capitalism represents? Think about it. Capitalism is a system based on liberty, free fill, fortune, and negotiation. Unlike Communism, capitalism promotes free-speech and an open bazaar. This is not simple. Capitalism is not simple. It creates dragons and swarms of piracy and treasure-hunters. My name is Ajay Satan, and I'm an Algerian-American Internet-blogging 'vigilante' writing about pornography/censorship in the modern age of media, markets, commerce, and industrial problems such as toxic-waste mismanagement. Should we think heavily about pornography values in this age of media-imagery? What does capitalism mean to you?"
"Sometimes I think I'm like a 'centurion.' You know why? I feel like I'm a 'guardian-soldier' defender of values of the great 'American Empire.' Sure, America has its evils --- racism, eco-pollution, scandals, urban sloth, etc. However, it's also the home of multiculturalism (on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world), free-speech media, the world's best schools, and also the most successful military and capitalist companies (e.g., Microsoft). America requires serious meditation...and serious defense. I'm the American Centurion, perhaps. I appreciate why capitalism creates both intellectual intrigue/imagination (e.g., WikiLeaks) and terrible wrath and retribution-problems (e.g., 9/11). Commerce creates both peace and war, which is why I'm a vigilante-philosopher and something like a new age rendition of Thomas Nast(!)."
"Why should I care? There're so many images in cinema/culture in America today about sophisticated intelligence, incredible machinery, wondrous capitalists (e.g., Steve Jobs), and outstanding warfare (e.g., Gulf War), regardless of the levels of criticism America incurs (e.g., Vietnam War). TrumpUSA is something like Reagan's America but also like Hoover's America, full of bravado and dialogue and exchange of expansion-oriented principles. That's why we see so many images in American entertainment about 'terrific heroes' doing things that widen our fantasies about Western intelligence or technology. That's why I should care."
"America is not a strange to chivalry. We respect southern belles and New York gentlemen. We don't have a Sherlock Holmes, but we do have a Batman and Dick Tracy. We care about the free exchange of socialization-relevant ideas such as governance over crime, terrorism, corruption, and racism/rape. American icons work everyday to make the American aesthetic feel more...human. However, with such great magic comes a great 'tribulation.' After 9/11, we all realized that new age capitalism creates a heavy deal of terrible angst. Will capitalism survive this sunrise? Will America be stamped as a beacon of adventurous traffic or slip into the history books as merely a 'fashion experiment'?"
"When I peruse the plethora of capitalism-patriotic American comic books such as Captain America and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, I think of why we Americans daydream about courage in the face of ugly evil (or terrorism). For under the 'veil of optimism' that modern media/networks create (e.g., Woody Allen's Celebrity), we feel the lingering presence of 'darkness' (e.g., Marc Forster's World War Z). We're ultra-conscious of the 'opportunity' to rebel in our liberty-based world that we are 'lambs' sometimes in the presence of a swarm of 'fire-breathing dragons.' After all, an urban druglord in Tijuana (Mexico) or Miami (Florida) might want to exploit all this 'capitalism-bravado' to create 'currents' of real vice. Isn't that why/how America has become an 'arena' for 'doomsday imagination'?"
"Various companies and even schools host media-themed conferences designed to introduce students and professionals to this modern environment of network-based aesthetics and intelligence. Everything has to be 'user-friendly' and communication-oriented. The new American ideal seems to be one of open debates and bazaar negotiations, and TrumpUSA is a hallmark of 'auction-oriented politics.' It's no wonder many American musicians and film-makers create Orwellian/dystopian themed songs/movies about ominous 'mega-forces' creating 'realms' or 'rings' of claustrophobia!"
"Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York looks at the overbearing presence of urban gangs in an ethnically-strained 1800s NYC complicated by early forms of racism, piracy, and immigration intrigue. This ambitious iconic novel adapted film starring Leo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz examined why the 'imagination' of America often involves the contemplation of very tangible forms of 'moral violence' (e.g., tommy-gun street law, hatchet-racism, bat-elections, etc.). Is America a 'cauldron' for experimentation nightmares? Should the 'American story' really be a 'Centurion Diorama' (like George Lucas's THX-1138)?"
"Kids today entertain themselves with adventurous video-games about wandering assassins/ninjas and centurions/sentinels traveling through urban and global landscapes in search of honor, fame, and intrigue. These new age video-games are like modern 'dioramas' of an evolved American 'aesthetic' inviting humanity into the 'lake' of fiery imagination regarding the intrinsic 'thrills' of capitalism itself. After all, don't we want our kids to 'play-act' the drama of the adult-world (just as they did yesteryear with Little Orphan Annie and Popeye)?"
"So let me tell you about the fictional modern-era American 'superhero' named Neo, the fictional Messianic protagonist from the inventive futuristic Orwellian/dystopian Matrix film-series about humanity enslaved by dream-controlling insect-like A.I. machines. Neo tries to free humanity from its own cynicism so it can escape the 'philosophical prison' created by these eerie fascist nearly-omniscient machines by reminding humans of their own desire to find personalized forms of expression in the age of machinery and media. Neo is like the new age Dick Tracy, so how will America negotiate its own brand of 'traffic-claustrophobia'?"
"Art saves everything, doesn't it? That's the best way to silence the swarm of vice --- through creativity. Isn't that what Neo would say? As an Internet-blogging 'vigilante' I have to endorse the albeit fictional Neo's brand of 'expression-oriented libertarianism.' The more we're allowed to entertain forms of capitalism-praising and capitalism-critical art in a free-marked and open-media under TrumpUSA in the 21st Century, the more we'll feel like capitalism can be 'freed' from the moral vices of narcissism engaged wrath/greed. Art reminds us of basic democracy(!)."
"So why do I consider myself a centurion/vigilante? Perhaps it's because I use/reference key/symbolic modern-era entertainment icons/avatars in Internet discussions/presentations/debates about the virtue of creative expression (like Neo!), liberal free-speech evaluations, TrumpUSA values, and of course capitalism-ethos. I think about the fictional wolfish A.I. robot Cyclonus, from Hasbro's A.I. fantasy-adventure film/comics/cartoons/toy/media franchise Transformers. If Neo is like the Messiah, then Cyclonus is like the AntiChrist, offering us more racy/dangerous messages/notions of the 'aesthetic allure' of piracy in an age of capital, power, negotiation, terrorism, pornography, and espionage. The more I write like/about Neo and Cyclonus, the more I feel like a new age Thomas Nast."
"So will America emerge as a nation of ideals/idealists or will it be haunted by the lingering presence of piracy/vice? How many more 'incarnations' of Thomas Nast will the American landscape see? Am I the last Thomas Nast? Am I like Batman or Dick Tracy? Am I like a vigilante or a Centurion? We each have a role in this TrumpUSA-oriented 'traffic-landscape' of capitalism and fantasy. So if there is a 'Great Tribulation' regarding new age socialization-consciousness (e.g., The Social Network) and Americans brood about 'capitalism-complications' and anti-globalization trauma (e.g., 9/11), will we see banners about euphoria (e.g., Born on the 4th of July) or agony (e.g., Dark City)?"
====
It's a political cartoon, which is why I didn't post it in the Writing section, but what do you think?
Cheers (signing off),
====
"Do you love America? Do you love the complexity of what capitalism represents? Think about it. Capitalism is a system based on liberty, free fill, fortune, and negotiation. Unlike Communism, capitalism promotes free-speech and an open bazaar. This is not simple. Capitalism is not simple. It creates dragons and swarms of piracy and treasure-hunters. My name is Ajay Satan, and I'm an Algerian-American Internet-blogging 'vigilante' writing about pornography/censorship in the modern age of media, markets, commerce, and industrial problems such as toxic-waste mismanagement. Should we think heavily about pornography values in this age of media-imagery? What does capitalism mean to you?"
"Sometimes I think I'm like a 'centurion.' You know why? I feel like I'm a 'guardian-soldier' defender of values of the great 'American Empire.' Sure, America has its evils --- racism, eco-pollution, scandals, urban sloth, etc. However, it's also the home of multiculturalism (on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world), free-speech media, the world's best schools, and also the most successful military and capitalist companies (e.g., Microsoft). America requires serious meditation...and serious defense. I'm the American Centurion, perhaps. I appreciate why capitalism creates both intellectual intrigue/imagination (e.g., WikiLeaks) and terrible wrath and retribution-problems (e.g., 9/11). Commerce creates both peace and war, which is why I'm a vigilante-philosopher and something like a new age rendition of Thomas Nast(!)."
"Why should I care? There're so many images in cinema/culture in America today about sophisticated intelligence, incredible machinery, wondrous capitalists (e.g., Steve Jobs), and outstanding warfare (e.g., Gulf War), regardless of the levels of criticism America incurs (e.g., Vietnam War). TrumpUSA is something like Reagan's America but also like Hoover's America, full of bravado and dialogue and exchange of expansion-oriented principles. That's why we see so many images in American entertainment about 'terrific heroes' doing things that widen our fantasies about Western intelligence or technology. That's why I should care."
"America is not a strange to chivalry. We respect southern belles and New York gentlemen. We don't have a Sherlock Holmes, but we do have a Batman and Dick Tracy. We care about the free exchange of socialization-relevant ideas such as governance over crime, terrorism, corruption, and racism/rape. American icons work everyday to make the American aesthetic feel more...human. However, with such great magic comes a great 'tribulation.' After 9/11, we all realized that new age capitalism creates a heavy deal of terrible angst. Will capitalism survive this sunrise? Will America be stamped as a beacon of adventurous traffic or slip into the history books as merely a 'fashion experiment'?"
"When I peruse the plethora of capitalism-patriotic American comic books such as Captain America and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, I think of why we Americans daydream about courage in the face of ugly evil (or terrorism). For under the 'veil of optimism' that modern media/networks create (e.g., Woody Allen's Celebrity), we feel the lingering presence of 'darkness' (e.g., Marc Forster's World War Z). We're ultra-conscious of the 'opportunity' to rebel in our liberty-based world that we are 'lambs' sometimes in the presence of a swarm of 'fire-breathing dragons.' After all, an urban druglord in Tijuana (Mexico) or Miami (Florida) might want to exploit all this 'capitalism-bravado' to create 'currents' of real vice. Isn't that why/how America has become an 'arena' for 'doomsday imagination'?"
"Various companies and even schools host media-themed conferences designed to introduce students and professionals to this modern environment of network-based aesthetics and intelligence. Everything has to be 'user-friendly' and communication-oriented. The new American ideal seems to be one of open debates and bazaar negotiations, and TrumpUSA is a hallmark of 'auction-oriented politics.' It's no wonder many American musicians and film-makers create Orwellian/dystopian themed songs/movies about ominous 'mega-forces' creating 'realms' or 'rings' of claustrophobia!"
"Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York looks at the overbearing presence of urban gangs in an ethnically-strained 1800s NYC complicated by early forms of racism, piracy, and immigration intrigue. This ambitious iconic novel adapted film starring Leo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz examined why the 'imagination' of America often involves the contemplation of very tangible forms of 'moral violence' (e.g., tommy-gun street law, hatchet-racism, bat-elections, etc.). Is America a 'cauldron' for experimentation nightmares? Should the 'American story' really be a 'Centurion Diorama' (like George Lucas's THX-1138)?"
"Kids today entertain themselves with adventurous video-games about wandering assassins/ninjas and centurions/sentinels traveling through urban and global landscapes in search of honor, fame, and intrigue. These new age video-games are like modern 'dioramas' of an evolved American 'aesthetic' inviting humanity into the 'lake' of fiery imagination regarding the intrinsic 'thrills' of capitalism itself. After all, don't we want our kids to 'play-act' the drama of the adult-world (just as they did yesteryear with Little Orphan Annie and Popeye)?"
"So let me tell you about the fictional modern-era American 'superhero' named Neo, the fictional Messianic protagonist from the inventive futuristic Orwellian/dystopian Matrix film-series about humanity enslaved by dream-controlling insect-like A.I. machines. Neo tries to free humanity from its own cynicism so it can escape the 'philosophical prison' created by these eerie fascist nearly-omniscient machines by reminding humans of their own desire to find personalized forms of expression in the age of machinery and media. Neo is like the new age Dick Tracy, so how will America negotiate its own brand of 'traffic-claustrophobia'?"
"Art saves everything, doesn't it? That's the best way to silence the swarm of vice --- through creativity. Isn't that what Neo would say? As an Internet-blogging 'vigilante' I have to endorse the albeit fictional Neo's brand of 'expression-oriented libertarianism.' The more we're allowed to entertain forms of capitalism-praising and capitalism-critical art in a free-marked and open-media under TrumpUSA in the 21st Century, the more we'll feel like capitalism can be 'freed' from the moral vices of narcissism engaged wrath/greed. Art reminds us of basic democracy(!)."
"So why do I consider myself a centurion/vigilante? Perhaps it's because I use/reference key/symbolic modern-era entertainment icons/avatars in Internet discussions/presentations/debates about the virtue of creative expression (like Neo!), liberal free-speech evaluations, TrumpUSA values, and of course capitalism-ethos. I think about the fictional wolfish A.I. robot Cyclonus, from Hasbro's A.I. fantasy-adventure film/comics/cartoons/toy/media franchise Transformers. If Neo is like the Messiah, then Cyclonus is like the AntiChrist, offering us more racy/dangerous messages/notions of the 'aesthetic allure' of piracy in an age of capital, power, negotiation, terrorism, pornography, and espionage. The more I write like/about Neo and Cyclonus, the more I feel like a new age Thomas Nast."
"So will America emerge as a nation of ideals/idealists or will it be haunted by the lingering presence of piracy/vice? How many more 'incarnations' of Thomas Nast will the American landscape see? Am I the last Thomas Nast? Am I like Batman or Dick Tracy? Am I like a vigilante or a Centurion? We each have a role in this TrumpUSA-oriented 'traffic-landscape' of capitalism and fantasy. So if there is a 'Great Tribulation' regarding new age socialization-consciousness (e.g., The Social Network) and Americans brood about 'capitalism-complications' and anti-globalization trauma (e.g., 9/11), will we see banners about euphoria (e.g., Born on the 4th of July) or agony (e.g., Dark City)?"
====
