Congratulations to President-Elect Obama

I honestly never thought I would see an African-American president in my lifetime – thanks for surprising me!

The news media are all over the idea of the first ‘Black’ president, but it just points out the idiocy of such distinctions in this day and age.  Obama’s father was an African, his mother an American of European stock…what does ‘Black’ mean anymore?  Black as compared to what?  The old ‘brown paper bag’ comparison?

Do we have a ‘hair-nappiness’ scale we can compare people against? A ‘nose-width’ caliper?

What people usually mean is: ‘Blacker than me.’

Personally, the American Failure editorial staff recognizes Mr. Obama as the product of US society, US education, and US politics.  Best wishes to all of us, here together.

Don’t Worry Everybody…

I have successfully flown my stunt kite many times since that original post.  Anyway, this blog is about separating real failure from imagined failure, and that post was about a failure of inner peace, rather than kite flying.

People occasionally write to me and tell to cheer up, things aren’t so bad.  They are missing the point.  The American Failure is about self-knowledge, and about self-appreciation.  The only time we fail in a way that matters, is when we fail to acknowledge our inherent equality with others.

The true message of this blog is: abandon self-delusion.

The 5 Ages of the American Failure

5: Astronaut

11: Paleontologist

18: Astronomer

30: Violin Maker

47: Happy would be enough

Today in American Failure – October 3

• 1993 – Battle of Mogadishu: In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s organisation in Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 US Soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed in heavy fighting. (wikipedia.net)

Funny – most people don’t mention the thousand Somalis when they talk about this.  And why exactly were we fucking around in another country again?  Not enough work at home?

Own your failures

The other day I was trying to fly a stunt kite for the first time.  It turned out to be more difficult than I had expected, but I was prepared for this ordinary sort of failure, and bore it with good grace.  I got the lines tangled up, spent 45 minutes untangling them, and then spent a further hour failing to launch.  But that’s not the kind of failure I’m talking about today.

While I was battling a construction of ripstop nylon, carbon spars, and twine, more and more people began to arrive on the scene: the field I was using is also in use for pee-wee football.  Now, personally, I despise the kind of parent that lets their child engage in organized contact sports.  I think that sending your child off every day after school to be indoctrinated by grown men who shout at them is quite strange.

So more and more SUVs are cruising into the parking lot, and quite a lot of these parents and children are standing around watching me fail time and again (I lost track) to launch the kite.

And here’s where I failed: in my mind, I started to think that these people were mocking me for failing.  I heard a few shouts that may or may not have been addressed to me, but in my mind. I made them about me.

I started to imagine all the things I would say or do if anyone were actually to approach me and make some remark, all weird macho fantasies about using my limited martial-arts skills to teach them a lesson.

Well, I finally gave up – they were going to use the field – but I left in a very bad mood.  And I wondered: just what the hell is wrong with me?  I can can take one kind of failure, but to be mocked is somehow worse than actual failing?

How much of the anger and violence in our lives exists solely in our minds?

Failures at Work – the sequel

There have been several replies to the original “I Am a Failure At Work” post.  It’s not a secret that many Americans feel insecure in the workplace, and live in fear that one day the big boss will find out that they are incompetent failures that should never have been hired.

Here at American Failure Corporate, we have a saying:

It’s only work.

The more I observe the workings of the average administrator, the more convinced I am that the concept of competence in the American business is a myth.  For instance, administrators in my workplace do little but attend meetings all day long.  When I express my opinion that meetings are mostly a waste of time, they agree heartily.  They don’t seem to worry that what they do all day is waste time.  Why should you?

The current state of American business is a perfect example of why the lowly worker should relax and go with the flow.  Corporate CEOs are raking in millions in bonuses without any proof of competence.  If they are fired, they will easily find a similar job elsewhere.  How?  Because other CEOs and future CEOs sit on the hiring committees of American corporations.  These people certainly don’t want to start a trend of businesses demanding results as a condition for gargantuan golden parachutes.  To do so would be to ensure smaller payouts for them in the future.

So administration has the game rigged.  Workers do not enjoy the same power.  So the least you can do is stop believing the lie, the lie that you are somehow required to attain a level of competence unnecessary for your “betters.”  All they have that you don’t have is a $1000 suit and an old-boy conspiracy network.

Today in American Failure: July 23

1984 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine. (wikipedia.org)

In my opinion, this wasn’t a failure of Vaness Williams.

Today in American Failure: July 21

There was so much to choose from today, but I had to go with a perennial favorite:

1925 – John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school. The jury fines him $100.

Of course, the BIG failure is still running today – that Americans: fail to understand even the rudimentary scientific process; fail to believe the evidence of their own eyes; let their feelings of personal inadequacy keep them from accepting ideas from certain people; can claim that a certain book is the infallible word of a supreme being, but then pick and choose which parts they actually believe.

An American Failure Landmark – July 10, 2008

US President George W. Bush signs the 2008 amendments to the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance) Law.

I believe at his inauguration the president swears an oath to protect the constitution of the United States, not to undermine it.

Ira Glass discusses perserverence in the face of failure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE&e