Powering Through Writer's Block

I realize that I have written a grand total of ONE entry on here since Halloween. Now it's understandable that I often go for a time without writing because all of my creative energy is devoted to finishing work for the semester, and that can get quite hairy toward the end, as any grad student will tell you. However, I've been done with that for a week or two now, and still have not had the desire to write something here. I have the ideas, but they're just not coming out. So I figured that the only way I could stop this inability to write was... to write... about my inability to write.

That made a ton of sense, didn't it?

I admit that there are times when I don't have anything to write about, or I feel that it's kinda pointless to do so. Believe me, I know I'm not alone when I say that I'm growing so frustrated and apathetic about our political process that I feel like anything I say will fall on deaf ears when it comes to those who value ideology and hyperpartisanship above all else. Now the latest turn is liberals calling Republicans and their supporters "anti-intellectuals," which of course is the nice way of saying that they have the IQ of cabbage. Of course, the problem is that the people the Republican Party runs out there as candidates are easy fodder for such charges. Rick Perry can't remember lists that have more than 2 items, Michelle Bachmann constantly says things that are just factually wrong, Newt Gingrich thinks that 10-year olds should be school janitors, and Ron Paul clearly didn't exercise editorial control over his newsletters back in the day. And Mitt Romney is still flip-flopping Mitt Romney.

It's far too easy to oversimplify an argument down to here's what we think, and we're the good guys, and if you think the other side's argument has any merit, then you must be some kind of community college dropout. Rhetorical hyperbole rules the day... if you agree with anything the Right says, you're a corporate-coddling fascist. If you agree with anything the Left says, you're a communist. Pepper spraying someone has become okay because it's "a food product"; conversely, we live in a police state if any protestor decides to break the law, lays down in the middle of a busy street somewhere, and gets arrested for it. Neither side in Congress wants to truly solve our problems because it would erase their political raison de etrê, so they instead engage in brinksmanship on every issue, then at the last minute they pass a stopgap measure that means they can go right back at it again in two months. And with next year being a presidential and congressional election, don't think it's going to get any better.

So yeah, writing about politics can seem downright pointless these days... and anyone who wants to know how I feel about most issues can always refer back to past entries, because my views haven't changed much these last few years, and if you go all the way back to 2000 when this blog began, my opinions haven't changed as much as the ruling ideologies have. Not to mention the many outlets people have for them, most notably social media. A lot of the rhetorical hyperbole I see these days comes from people posting on social media, or people posting links to similar hyperbole. That's great that a left-wing publication put out a list of the "10 biggest blowhards" of 2011. Let me guess... A) they didn't have a single person from THEIR publication on that list, and B) everyone who did make the list was a right-winger. Oh, and C) a right-wing publication probably has a similar list, made up entirely of left-wingers. How'd I do?

As for music and pop culture, well... I want to blame Chuck Klosterman.

I started reading his stuff over the summer, and have been reading his latest book, "Eating the Dinosaur" during my break, and whereas reading other pop culture writers inspires me to want to write, reading Klosterman makes me want to quit doing this FOREVER. Because he is such a brilliant writer that I feel like anything I want to write about he has already written, and far better than I ever could. Then again, I don't do this to sell books.

I will ask one question though, speaking of pop culture and politics: Why the hell did we care so much about what Hank Williams Jr. thinks of President Obama? And I don't necessarily mean the furor that followed his appearance on Fox News, I mean the wisdom of booking Williams on a cable news channel in the first place. I mean I know they have 24 hours to fill each day, and they can't possibly fill it with nonstop hyperpartisan bloviating (although they certainly try), but I really don't care what a celebrity thinks of politics unless he/she is thinking of running for office. As I have said so many times, yes they have the right to say what they want, but they don't have a right to an audience, and I for one want no part of said audience. I guess when you put someone like Hank on TV, you expect him to say something that will provide grist for your viewers... which simultaneously provides grist for Media Matters or the Media Research Center or whatever partisan watchdog is waiting for something to exploit. It's great fun and games for them, but like just about everything that comes out of the partisan media, it does NOTHING to solve our problems. And unless he/she was also a Rhodes Scholar in political science or economics, whatever a celebrity says about politics probably isn't going to help much in that area.

So there you go... one nice rant that at least breaks the logjam in my mind and gets me writing again. Perhaps the feeling of accomplishment that comes from clicking on the "Publish Post" button will help get me going. Suffice to say, you may be hearing from me on a less frequent basis in the weeks and months to come, as I devote my time and energy to those final hurdles between me and a Ph.D, but when I brought this blog back over 5 years ago, I said I wasn't going to operate by a self-perceived need to post every week. That worked pretty well for 230-plus entries over those 5 years, so if my production slows, just know that it's because if I write something, it's going to be about quality and not quantity. There are still things I care passionately about, and when the mood arises, I'll get on here and say my piece.

Unless Chuck Klosterman starts regularly writing about the Mets and SU and radio... in which case, this blog is doomed...