Popular culture

Popular culture seems to idolize a certain way of living. As I listened to “Pop That Pussy” by 2 Live Crew, I couldn’t help but notice the themes: open sex, partying hard, doing drugs, and living without limits. The message is clear—freedom means indulgence. In another one of their songs, “Banned in the USA,” the group pushes back against censorship, arguing that their lyrics are misunderstood and not meant to promote violence or disrespect toward women. They claim to be simply expressing pleasure and freedom in a new era, pushing against the morals of those who don’t understand—likely white, conservative America. Hearing those lyrics made me reflect on the current state of popular culture, especially from my perspective as a middle-class white guy in my early twenties. Today, in much of rap, movies, and TikTok, there’s this ever-present sense that to be “free” is to act on every desire. If you want to fuck, you fuck. If you want to do drugs, you do them. If you want to party and lose ...
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Dec 30

 I get in the habit of deep thought often brought on by books, the internet, or music. These thoughts begin with me connecting to a certain aspect of what is being said and then doing a complete deep dive into the meaning. I think I'm searching for some kind of truth in my head. I.e., the world is a bad place or believing in religion. Every once in a while I'll hold firm on one of these beliefs but as soon as my actual experience challenges it I go right back to research. 


Questions I ask myself:

- how hard should I work? 

- should I always strive for perfection?

- do you give up on old friends? 

- is being a "good" person actually deceitful?


I find answers to these questions which motivate me in the moment. But it's just something someone wrote and it could or couldn't apply to my life and my situation. The only thing that truly feels like the right answer is to live every day fully. And what I mean by that isn't to party all the time or go on adventures but to instead be present with the reality of my life. The reality might often suck. For example, I might have to work but that allows me to live in an apartment and eat good food. Both things I desperately want and need. I also want and need attention, affection, friendships, relationships, etc.., More often than not with the intangibles, I try and find solutions to getting those needs met. For example, instead of finding friends i'll just meditate or smoke weed, or play video games, or workout. In the end I'm just on a floating rock so none of it really matters. 

What I wish I did was go out and SOLVE MY OWN PROBLEMS. I consistently resort back to hunkering down and trying to change my brains mind rather than agreeing with what I need and doing something to get it done. 


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