90's Volume Pumping

Last night I saw the 1990 Christian Slater flick, "Pump Up the Volume." It was something that I was frantically trying to find but found it increasingly difficult as the days wore on.

Sometimes I get in these states of mind when I can't find something that I become sort of obsessed with it and have to find it. Usually the more obscure and unknown, the better… I know I could order it on the net with a click of the button, but there is something that is so much more fulfilling when you find something that you've been searching for (on foot) for days and days. I finally found the movie at a Media Play right down the road from my house. Incidentally it was the last copy and it was on sale (bonus!).

I'm not going to give it the full Reel Reviews treatment, but would like to tell you a bit about it. Essentially it's your typical early 90's teen angst movie (i.e. Breakfast Club (actually circa 1985 but of the same caliber), et al), only done the way that only Christian Slater could do it. He plays a pirate radio dj, who rains trouble upon his high school by spreading his rebellion on all the good little girls and boys. He uses the radio waves as a medium to attempt to start a revolution in his community where "truth is a virus". What ensues is the typical (typical in that you know what is going to follow in the story) mass chaos of teens "stickin' it to the man" (my dave slusher quote of the day) by revolting against all forms of authority to express the severe depression and trauma that are the teenage years.

Obviously this is not the most put together movie of all times (typical for movies of that era), but the premise is sort of inspiring in a way. I started to think of a correlation with the message that the writer was attempting to convey and with that of blogging and, more importantly, podcasting. I found that a comparison does exist, but only on a certain level. In the movie, it so happened, that as a result of the words spoken, sweeping changes began to happen in the minds of those tuning in. I started to think to myself, if this was possible today, in this time of extreme amounts of information (almost to the point of overload). It would seem that we live in the ultimate era of dissemination of information and in our ability to reach the masses for change and rebellion, yet very little of it seems apparent. It could be argued, and perhaps I agree with this, that change is subtle and rears its head after seemingly long periods of time. I could also be argued that with the amount of information freely available over this massive network, we should be world changers in a day. I think, though, that perhaps a crucial point is being missed. That is the point of the foot work I was referring to in the first portion of this post. I am as guilty of this as anyone, but I read something revolutionary and/or inspiring and think to myself, "Wow, that's really nice...I hope someday someone can do that." It's true. I am becoming that which I always promised myself I would never be. I go to my job and do my work to the best of my ability. I go to school and soak up every last morsel of information I can (sometimes I try too hard and miss so much). I become stuck in this cycle that I cannot break out of at times(let me say, here, that there is nothing more important to me in life than learning. Perhaps it is a control mechanism, but I cannot suffice to just knowing the status quo, but I have to dig deeper to the real reason behind things). Trust me when I say this, I am not crying on anyone's shoulder, nor am I asking for sympathy. I make my own bed and lay in it, as I am expected to. I am not going to make the age old argument that society is what makes me do it, because we all know that is complete and total bullshit. My problem is that I am lazy and refuse to get my hands dirty, as it were. For example, I made one podcast to get my stuff out there and haven't made another since. I can make every excuse in the book...my microphone sucks; I don't have the web space anymore, etc. If I want to be true to myself though, I am so afraid of rejection that I become paralyzed to action. Upon deeper reflection, I am afraid of the responsibility that becomes mine when I make comments of an important nature...responsibility to have something to back up my beliefs or, in the case of any scientific judgments I make, have an adequate amount of knowledge to make my assertions (of which I have some, but am unwilling, at the moment, to take that plunge). There is a certain amount of weakness in the way I am coming to terms with these feelings because I choose not to act. I have the tools at my disposal, but I make excuses all the same. Are there others like me who are plagued with the paralyses to action? Do you have something that you deem important to say and yet choose not to? The world is not all bad, but there are some things that require our action to change (war for oil or peace for mankind, as an example). Action begins with a voice, then is made complete with the foot work that is required to give that voice substance. Perhaps one day I will practice what I preach. Perhaps...