Cross posted at The American Way
Today is the first day of me trying to strip my own ideology from my input into this project. I am not this project. I am merely an observer.
So let's be blunt about this. There is no possible way that I can have no agenda. If you have been following what I have been writing here, the agenda I bring is unavoidable. I felt that it was most honest for me to show this side of me. It is time, though to get rid of this. For this project to progress, I need to leave my agenda aside.
Ok, let's be honest about this, even still, I do have an agenda. My agenda is communication and dialogue. In the eyes of some, this might make me partisan. I am not partisan. I have no desire to see one party or another win. My goal here is become a documentarian. I am collecting data. I am an ethonographer.
At the same time, I am the only constant in the film, if there is to be a narrative, I must be at the center. I am reminded of the work of Hunter S. Thompson.
HST was first and foremost a political reporter. HST situated himself at the center of the narrative. And did a frightening amount of psychedelic drugs.
I am not so much interested in the crazed manic energy of HST's work. I am interested in his full immersion in the story. And in Fear And Loathing, he was after the American Dream.
I am not after the American ream. I am looking to see if Americans still believe in the dream. Perhaps HST saw the coming demise of the American Dream. He wrote Fear and Loathing at the beginning of the end of the era of the middle class. In terms of the American Dream, we may now be at rock bottom.
HST's manic energy, his fear and his loathing served a purpose, but their time has come and gone. Fear is a basal emotion. It is a basic survival mechanism. I believe that we are passed this. Is there much more that we can fear?
Okay, there's a lot more that we can fear ... The things to fear are themselves products of fear i.e. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Yes, we might descend into actual fascism, but this would be a product of fear. We need to get passed fear in order to make progress.
Loathing is quite simple to leave behind. Loathing is a natural response to the economic order of our country. Loathing will get us nowhere. We need love.
I don't mean john lennon love or hippy dippy free love. I'm talking about real love. Love of community. Love for each other. Love is a sincere interest in the well being of another. If your neighbor is doing well, you too will do well.
Love is also an appropriate response to fear. If we show love we bring down protective walls. In showing love, we are opening ourselves up to others, making ourselves vulnerable. We are showing love and preparing to love others. Yes, it is through the lens of love that I will be operating my camera.