Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Elfman!

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As an unapologetic child of the 80s, below is a favorite music video of mine from that era. Thus, showing at least three things that have changed since then with respect to what can be conveyed in a music video without consequence: (i) mental health issues; (ii) using little people for laughs; (iii) pedophilia. All the same, it’s always been a catchy tune.

Death by Consumption

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Those of you who have been on Slope for a while probably know that I hold no affection for consumerism. I agree with Thoreau that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”, and my view is that men – – and, God knows, women – – try to extinguish that desperation by plunging themselves into debt to buy crap that they don’t really need. It’s simultaneously pathetic and revolting.

Buying stuff ceaselessly has become the American Pastime, and this “lifestyle” is a vapid emptiness we have successfully exported to China, Japan,and all around the world. We are now a globe packed with insatiable consumers, always looking for the next shiny thing to distract them from an existence that would torment them if they deeply examined it.

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