Views on the Industry

outside of the inevitable backlash from the targets of some of my blog posts, i have apparently accumulated some unknown and certainly unwanted additional antagonists - - in other words, i wake up today, and i find the cost-benefit is no longer positive, in trying to provide some context outside of the conventional wisdom...to some, this may sound like double-speak in an effort to clear my name, but unfortunately too many still live within in a system that favors a few with voices, and either disregards or attempts to destroy those who don't abide by the established system...whatever, i am still learning, and i guess i still need to learn some more, and add on top of that the always present reality that i don't get paid to do this blog or anything else, so why bother?...do i really owe anyone who thinks that things are as they should be any real perspective?...

the most troubling part keeps me thinking of something off of Sinead's Faith and Courage album (2000), where she basically apologizes for the pope-picture-ripping on SNL, by saying she is sorry for losing some of those who originally supported her, simply because she did something that made sense to her, but others didn't have all of the same experiences, so how could they completely understand...feel free to lambast my comparison with Sinead, hell, feel free to get Sinead, herself, to counter my comparison, i don't care...i live for myself, and that cost-benefit is haunting me right now...i have my own experience that tell me what i know is right, and those aren't the same experiences as what others have had, regardless of whether they are getting paid by the system to keep quiet...

so, as is customary: please accept my apology if i offended anyone, for most of my efforts, it was about money, and making business decisions not based on politics but on optimizing returns, which is the basis of business...i don't remember being a bigot, or unnecessarily making statements that didn't reflect what i thought was a legitimate economic or even social argument...but, it is definitely time to quit the pursuit, i just don't have the appropriate perspective to continue to fight for what i think is right...or, what i think is really the case is that the cost-benefit just does not work out for me right now, so i got to do whats right for me, and let what happens, happen...

for the first time in a long-time, i kind of understand Lauryn Hill, i mean we all want a new album, but that Unplugged effort must haunt her, simply because it is so correct and so unparalleled, and so accosted and used as exhibit A in the case against her that she is "crazy"...i can just see her looking in the mirror, asking: 'what do i owe them?...i know Talib has asked me to return, i know i could make a great pop album, i know i could make a great political album, but what would be in it for me?'...go ahead, lambast me a second time for comparing myself to Lauryn, i hope you realize soon enough that i don't care, and that is the point...

maybe, by me removing myself, for the most part, from the discussion, i can be a living representative of how the point of winning the fight is just simply not engaging in it...maybe the whole fight is a set-up to keep us all in check, while the real blessing is just living and forgetting about trying to save the world...i have had so-called addictions, but none of them even approach the impact that this nagging addiction to counter conventional wisdom has been on me, like many times in the past decade, i need to save myself first, and let you all, figure it out, especially those who are getting paid for it, and maybe even allow others to pick-up where i left off, and i know there is room for improvement...

i will be a living representative of someone who has survived the war, and not a soldier anymore, i will write poetry, or business plans, or something that takes me closer to my own goals, and trust that the world is actually ever-so-slightly skewed in the direction of what is right winning out over current conventional wisdom...i really don't have to worry about the opposite happening, anymore...so, carry on, blogosphere, Venture Capitalists, all defenders of conventional wisdom, soon a new day will come, when what i have said will not be the exception, but the standard, or even better, won't even have to be said at all, because actual peace and justice will reign over oppression...i no longer consider that a possibility, it is a reality...