Albert Camus, A Great Humanist And Existentialist Voice, Pointed Out That To Commit To A Just Cause With No Hope Of Success Is Absurd. But Then, He Also Noted That Not Committing To A Just Cause Is Equally Absurd. But Only One Choice Offers The Possibility For Dignity. And Dignity Matters. Dignity Matters.

-David Simon

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Albert Camus, A Great

David Simon

Topic

Voice

Choices

Matter

More From David Simon

We Didn't Create The Culture Of Film. We Certainly Market It Better Than Anyone In The World, But Film Could Have Happened Anywhere. It's Not Distinctly American, As Witnessed By The Fact That There Are Film Communities Throughout The World That Tell Stories To Their Own Cultural Liking.

Community

Culture

Stories

The Rest Of America, With Some Small Exceptions, Has Been Bulldozed And Rebuilt And Then Bulldozed And Rebuilt Again. Our Places Have Become Interchangeable. Here In New Orleans, Everything From The Architecture To The Way In Which People Eat, The Way In Which They Talk, The Way In Which They Do Business, The Way In Which They Dance, The Manner In Which Everything Is Set To A Parade Beat, They're All From Here. There's No Place Like It.

New Orleans

America

People

Blue Jeans Have Gone Around The World. But That's A Product. We Market Blue Jeans Better, Just As We Market Film Better. But You Can't Tell Me That If America Didn't Exist, The Culture Of Movies Wouldn't Exist. It's Not A Distinctly American Art Form.

Art

Blue

Jeans

The Trick To Making A Story Matter Is That Every Now And Then, Somebody You Care About Has To Go. If It's Somebody That You Don't Care About, Then It Doesn't Really Have - The Stakes Aren't There. But If You Do That Every Now And Then, Then The Story Matters To People. And There Are Actual Stakes Involved, Emotional Stakes.

Emotional

People

Stories

We Have No Sense Of The Collective Anymore In America. The Response To Katrina Was Proof Positive Of That.

America

Proof

Response

Life Is Too Short To Carry The Burden Of A Heavy Heart. It Does Not Serve You Or Anyone Else. Free Yourself Through The Power Of Forgiveness And Compassion.

Life Is Too Short

Heart

Compassion

Laughter Is A Symptom Of Spirituality. Laughter Is The Flow Of Love Coursing Through Your Body. Laughter Is The Nectar Of Present Moment Awareness. Invite More Laughter Into Your Life And Relish The Magic In Every Moment.

Laughter

Magic

Body

Transitions Are A Part Of Life, Allowing For Perpetual Renewal. When You Experience The End Of One Chapter, Allow Yourself To Feel The Emotions Of Loss And Rebirth. A Bud Gives Way To A New Flower, Which Surrenders To The Fruit, Which Gives Rise To A Seed, Which Yields A New Sprout. Even As You Ride The Roller Coaster, Embrace The Centered Internal Reference Of The Ever-present Witness.

Flower

Loss

Yield

I Encourage You From The Depths Of My Heart And Being To Know That You Have The Full Capacity And The Right To Make Changes That Will Enliven Your Awareness, Raise The Succulent Joy In Your Heart, And Experience The Vitality That Comes From Living In Balance.

Heart

Joy

Balance

Eventually, Someone Is Going To Pick Up A Brick.

Bricks

Picks

It Seems That In Baltimore, One Of The Most Violent Cities In America, Jurors Are Far More Reluctant To Convict Criminal Defendants Than In The Suburban Enclaves That Ring The City.

Cities

America

Criminals

You Can't Make A Good Show Based On Pure Verisimilitude, Pure Anti-drama. But You Have To Acknowledge A Lot Of Ordinary Life. Most Tv Doesn't Do That.

Drama

Ordinary

Tvs

All Stress Is Ultimately Related To Loss Or The Fear Of Loss.

Stress

Loss

For A Detective Or Street Police, The Only Real Satisfaction Is The Work Itself; When A Cop Spends More And More Time Getting Aggravated With The Details, He's Finished. The Attitude Of Co-workers, The Indifference Of Superiors, The Poor Quality Of The Equipment - All Of It Pales If You Still Love The Job; All Of It Matters If You Don't.

Jobs

Attitude

Real

Since The Donald Trump Election, Which Has Involved This Administration Making Direct Attacks On Press Freedoms, You're Actually Seeing A Certain Amount Of Rallying And Reinvigoration By The National Press In Terms Of Covering National Issues And The Presidency. The Washington Post And The New York Times, Mother Jones, Propublica And A Lot Of Other Places, They've Actually Done Some Really Strong Work When Confronted With This Administration. But The Resources That You Used To Have At State And Local Level Aren't There Anymore.

Mother

Strong

Done

Boiled Down To Its Core, The Truth Is Always A Simple, Solid Thing

Simple

Truth Is

Core

When We Spend Time In Silence, We Can Hear The Voice Of Our Soul Whispering Its Sacred Message And Encouraging Us To Make Choices That Bring Us More Happiness, Health, Love, Meaning, And Peace.

Voice

Choices

Silence

Awakening To Who We Really Are Is At The Heart Of Yoga. . . .yoga Offers A Path To This Underlying Field Of Being, Which Is The Source Of Creativity, Fulfillment, And Abundance.

Yoga

Heart

Creativity

Homicide Is The Major Leagues, The Center Ring, The Show. It Always Has Been ... It Goes Beyond Academic Degrees, Specialized Training Or Book Learning, Because All The Theory In The World Means Nothing If You Can't Read The Street.

Book

Mean

League

The Same Creative Force That Generated The Universe Created Your Body. It Is Vibrating With Intelligence And Spirit. It Is Ultimately Sacred And Worthy Of Your Love, Respect And Intention. Take Good Care Of It And Nourish It With The Most Healing, Life-sustaining Foods, Experiences, And Sensory Impressions.

Healing

Creative

Body

I Had A Great Editor, Rebecca Corbett, From The Time I Was A City Reporter Right Through To The Years I Worked On The 'sun's' Enterprise Reporting Team.

Team

Years

Editors

It's Been Said That No Man Is A Hero To A Newspaperman, And I Spent Too Many Years As An Ink-stained Wretch.

Hero

Men

Years

The Greatest Contribution We Can Make To The Wellbeing Of Those In Our Lives Is To Have Peace In Our Own Hearts. When Our Hearts Are Filled With Gratitude And Our Minds Are Brimming With Enthusiasm, Everyone We Encounter Leaves Our Space Feeling A Little Bit Lighter Than When They Entered It.

Gratitude

Heart

Space

You Have The Capacity To Change The Plotline Of Your Life, Even If You've Been Acting From The Same Script Since Before You Can Remember.

Acting

Scripts

Remember

I'd Love If People Relearned The Lessons Of The 20th Century All Over Again. Which Is To Say This Country Progressed Economically And Socially When We Had A Better Balance Between Capital And Labor. Neither Capital Or Labor Won Every Argument. The Battle Between The Two Created Economic Tension, And Transformed The Working Class Into The Middle Class, And Grew The Economy.

Country

People

Balance

I Don't Consider Myself To Be A Crusader Of Any Sort. I Was Bystander To A Certain Number Of Newspaper Crusades. They End Badly, In Terms Of Being Either Fraudulent Or By Inspiring Legislations That Makes Things Worse. So, I Regard Myself As Someone Coming To The Campfire With The Truest Possible Narrative He Can Acquire.

Bystanders

Numbers

Narrative

You Have The Capacity To Change The Plot Line Of Your Life, Even If You've Been Acting From The Same Script Since Before You Can Remember. No Matter What Has Happened Up To This Point, You Have The Right And The Capacity To Be Happy. You Are An Innately Creative Being, Capable Of Writing A Love Story Worth Living.

Writing

Plot Lines

Creative

Not Only Did This New Pornography Industry Change The Way Men Look At Women And How We Relate To Sex, How We Sell Stuff, And Not Only Did It Change America's Cultural Landscape - It's Also This Incredible Metaphor For A Market-based Economy. The Great Pyramid Scheme That America Has Become. I Felt Like In Were Larger Themes In Terms Of Culture And Economics That Could Be Addressed.

Men

Culture

Incredibles

How Do We Allow God Into Our Minds, Bodies, Relationships, And Life? We Stop Squeezing The Divine Out Through Our Preconceived Notions Of What Is Sacred And What Is Profane. When We Assume The Mind-set That Everything Is Ultimately Divine, Though Sometimes More Disguised Than Others, Then We Can See That All Of Our Thoughts, Impulses, And Desires Arise From And Can Bring Us Back To Awareness Of The Sacred.

Mind

Desire

Body

Eating A Meal With Full Awareness Can Be A Powerful, Enlightening, And Healing Experience.

Powerful

Food

Healing

Healing From Our Past Is An Essential Aspect Of Expanding Our Sense Of Self And Awakening Our Capacity To Love. This Shift Often Manifests As A Change In The Questions We've Been Asking Ourselves. Instead Of What Do I Need? We Ask, How Can I Serve? Instead Of What Am I Getting Out Of This? We Start To Ask, What Can I Bring To This Situation To Promote The Highest Possible Outcome For Everyone Involved?

Love

Healing

Past

Tv Writers Live Life Of Well-paid, Specialty Prostitutes. We Have A Very Special Skill Set And We Occupy One Of The Higher Floors In The Bordello That Is Writing. We Do A Very Particular Job For A Very Select Clientele.

Live Life

Writing

Special

Those...who Insist That There Are Some Moral Limits That They Will Not Violate, Are Forever Surprising Themselves.

Forever

Limits

Moral

The Murder Clearance Rate Now In My City Baltimore Is Almost Non-existent. Nobody Can Solve A Murder, Nobody Can Do Any Actual Police Work, Because They've Learned How To Do Bad Police Work, Chase Drugs. Fighting Vice, While Being Unable To Respond To Sin. Generations Of Cops Have Learned How Not To Police Work By Policing The Drug War. Not Only Are They Police Brutal, They're Ineffective. Baltimore Is More Violent Than It Has Ever Been In Modern History.

War

Fighting

Police

I Always Tell Lawrence Gilliard Jr. He Never Got A Decent Bite Of The Apple, So I Was Happy We Had A Role That Seemed Perfect For Him. I Like The Idea Of Him As One Of The Few Moral Centres Of The Wire Show.

Perfect

Wire

Moral

It Is Your Birthright To Have A Life Of Meaning And Purpose. Whether Or Not The People In Your Life Have Consistently Celebrated Your Incarnation, You Deserve To Celebrate Your Existence.

Life

Appreciation

People

Any Music Can Be Healing If It Inspires, Relaxes, Encourages Or Creates Enthusiasm For Life In You.

Healing

Enthusiasm For Life

Inspire

Choices Are Much More Practical And Small When You're Dealing With A Real Story. It's About Execution, It's Not About Content.

Real

Choices

Stories

Acceptance Means Focusing On The Present While Assessing The Choices Available To You In This Moment. If There Are Many Possibilities, Make The Choice That Is Likely To Bring The Most Evolutionary Results. If There Is Only One Choice, Take It. If There Are No Obvious Choices, Relax And Accept The Fact That For Now, You Cannot Do Anything.

Mean

Acceptance

Choices

Every Day, Human Beings Are Worth Less. That's The Triumph Of Capitalism. The Money Gets Made, And The Fewer People We Need To Make That Money.

People

Triumph

Needs

Most Of Tv Works This Way: You Try To Get Something Up And Running, And Once You Do, You Just Try To Keep It Going, Because There's A Lot Of Money Involved.

Running

Trying

Way

While I Think Storytelling Is A Meaningful Way To Spend Your Life... It Does Feel A Little Bit Secondary Or Off-point.

Meaningful

Thinking

Way

We Are Innately Creative Beings Capable Of Writing A Love Story Worth Living, And We Cannot Afford To Miss Out On The Opportunity To Experience Nourishing Relationships.

Writing

Opportunity

Missing

Authenticity Is An Alignment Between Your Beliefs, Your Desires And Your Choices In The World. Desires Change Throughout The Course Of A Life, But Agreement Between Ideals, Aspirations And Deeds Is Key To A Life Of Peace, Happiness And Success.

Keys

Agreement

Choices

Doesn't Matter If You're Fourteen Or If You're Eight, There's An Incredible Vernacular That I Do Believe Has Become More And More Plausible To Talk This Way In The Public Sphere, I Think Because We Live In Such A Coarse And Pornographic Era. Years Of This Has Produced A Certain Amount Of Misogyny That Is Just A Given Of Life In America At This Point.

Believe

Thinking

Incredibles

People From Here Will Often Say, "i'm Not From The United States, I'm From New Orleans."

New Orleans

People

United States

The Beauty Of Love Is That In Giving It Away, You Are Left With More Than You Had Before.

Love Is

Giving

Left

I Would Be Lying If I Said The Journalism Doesn't Reflect My Own Choices As A Reporter And A Writer: What To Say, What To Emphasize, How To Say It, What Is True Or Untrue.

Lying

Choices

Would Be

The Best I Can Hope For Is That I Might Provoke A Water Cooler Argument Between You And Somebody Else. But It Is Not Journalism. It Doesn't Have The Rigor Of Journalism. It Doesn't Have The Proof Positive That Facts Provide. So It Can Be Readily Dismissed As Mere Propaganda. But I Can Certainly Reach More People.

People

Water

Might

Health Is A Return To Our Memory Of Wholeness.

Memories

Return

Our Memories

Awakening Into Love Is A Lifelong Path.

Life

Love Is

Awakening

Genuine Inner Freedom Is The Ultimate Aim Of Life. It Is The Unspoken Goal Of Every Thought You Have And Every Action You Take.

Goal

Aim Of Life

Action

It Is Your Birthright To Live A Life Abundant In Love. Make The Commitment Today To Open Your Heart And Let Your Love Flow.

Heart

Commitment

Today

If I Were A Person Of Color In Florida, I Would Pick Up A Brick And Start Walking Toward That Courthouse In Sanford. Those That Do Not, Those That Hold The Pain And Betrayal Inside And Somehow Manage To Resist Violence - These Citizens Are Testament To A Stoic Tolerance That Is More Than The Rest Of Us Deserve. I Confess, Their Patience And Patriotism Is Well Beyond My Own.

Pain

Betrayal

Florida

I'm Just A Swell Guy. No, That's A Ridiculous Notion - If You're Being An Asshole To People, You're Being An Asshole, That's All There Is To It. It Can't Be Rationalized Because You Wrote Something Worthwhile. First Obligation Is To Other People.

People

Guy

Ridiculous

You Shoot Another Guy—well, Okay, This Is Baltimore. You Shoot Three Guys, It’s Time To Admit You Have A Problem.

Guy

Three

Baltimore

A Tv Show Can't Hold People And Institutions To Account Like Good Journalism Can.

Tv Shows

People

Tvs

That's What We Were Interested In: How Power And Money Ran Itself, Much More So Than 'drugs Are Bad, Drugs Are Good.' That Seems To Me A Simple Moral Equation And One You Don't Have To Spend 60 Hours Of Television Examining. And I Think The Same Thing Is True With How We Approached Pornography Or Prostitution. Prostitution's Been Around Since The Bible, And Pornography's Been Around Since About 15 Minutes After The French Guy Invented The First Camera.

Simple

Thinking

Guy

A Little Anger Is A Good Thing If It Isn't On Your Own Behalf, If It's For Others Deserving Of Your Anger, Your Empathy.

Anger

Empathy

Littles

I've Never Met Anyone With A Perfect Upbringing. It Seems To Me That Life On Planet Earth Just Doesn't Work That Way. The Basic Challenges Of Getting Our Needs Met And Managing Boundaries Are Inherent In Growing Up Human.

Growing Up

Perfect

Challenges

We Either Live Or Die Based On How We Live In Cities, And Our Society Is Either Going To Be Great Or Not Based On How We Perform As Creatures Of The City.

Cities

Our Society

Creatures

There Are A Couple Of Ideas For Features That I Would Love To Do. They Happen To Be Comedies.

Couple

Ideas

Comedy

Rural America's Not Coming Back. That Idea Was Lost With The Industrial Revolution. And Yet With More Than 80 Percent Of Americans Living In Metropolitan Areas, There Are Still Demagogues Who Want To Run Down The Idea Of Multiculturalism, Of Urbanity, Being The Only Future We Have. We Either Live Or Die Based On How We Live In Cities, And Our Society Is Either Going To Be Great Or Not Based On How We Perform As Creatures Of The City.

Running

Cities

Ideas

When We Were Kids Coming Up, If You Stole Your Dad's Playboy Magazine, That Was About As Much Of An Education As You Were Gonna Get. You Finish Looking At The Centrefold And You Read 'the Playboy Adviser' That Told You About What Stereo To Buy And Something About Sex Which You Didn't Quite Understand, And You Were Still Just As Confused. Now If You're Ten The Entire World Of Human Sexuality, And A Very Misogynistic Version Of That, Is Available To You On A Laptop After A Couple Of Key Strokes. I Think It's Changed The Vernacular In The Way Men Address Women.

Couple

Confused

Kids

Only The Human Heart Can Live In Present Moment Awareness. The Human Mind Cannot, Because Its Essential Nature Is To Ponder The Past And Plan The Future. This Is Why All Wise Beings Encourage Us To Go Beyond The Mind Into The Timeless, Boundless Transcendence Of Heart-centered Awareness.

Wise

Heart

Past

The Why Is What Makes Journalism An Adult Game. The Why Is What Makes Policy Coherent And Useful. The Why Is What Transforms Bureaucrats And Foot Soldiers And Political Leaders Into Viable Instruments Of Rational And Affirmative Change. The Why Is Everything And Without It, The Very Suggestion Of Human Progress Becomes A Cosmic Joke.

Games

Feet

Leader

Capitalism Is The Only Engine Credible Enough To Generate Mass Wealth. I Think It's Imperfect, But We're Stuck With It. And Thank God We Have That In The Toolbox. But If You Don't Manage It In Some Way That Incorporates All Of Society, If Everybody's Not Benefiting On Some Level And You Don't Have A Sense Of Shared Purpose, National Purpose, Then It's Just A Pyramid Scheme.

Thinking

Pyramids

Pyramid Schemes

I Feel Like If You Know Any Women Who's An Essayist Or A Writer Or A Public Speaker Or Just A Public Person, And They Have Any Presence At All In Any Kind Of Social Media, Or Any Place Where Men Can Voice At Them, You Have To Be Pretty Amazed At The Level Of Special Provocation And Sort Of Violent Speech And Misogyny That Comes At Them. Any Woman That's Really In The Public Sphere Has Experienced This. It's Kind Of Shocking How Universal It Is.

Men

Special

Social Media

Rural America's Not Coming Back. That Idea Was Lost With The Industrial Revolution.

Ideas

America

Revolution

Authenticity Is An Alignment Between Your Beliefs, Your Desires And Your Choices In The World. Desires That Are In Alignment With Core Beliefs Generate Powerful Actions. Like A Wave That Draws From The Depths Of The Ocean, Actions Connected To Your Authentic Self Are More Likely To Manifest Your Intentions.

Powerful

Ocean

Self

I Think What You've Seen From Donald Trump Is This Whole Election Cycle, There's Been A Level Of Misogyny That Has Become Certain And Fixed.

Thinking

Election

Misogyny

African American Music Can't Happen In Germany Or In Italy Or In Mumbai. If America Disappeared Off The Face Of The Earth Today, The Greatest Single Cultural Loss Would Be Blues, Jazz, Hip-hop, R&b, Rock-and-roll.

Loss

Rocks

Rock And Roll

Barack Obama's Understanding Of What The Drug War Had Cost The Country Was Meaningful. And Very Quietly In His Second Term, He And Eric Holder Did Make Some Adjustments In Terms Of The Use Of The Department Of Justice, On The Federal Level. You Saw Ratcheting Back Of Drug Prohibition, And Mass Incarceration. You Also Saw, On The Part Of Some Certain States, A Realization That They Followed The War On Drugs To A Useless Place, That They Were Only Doing Damage To Communities, And Bankrupting Budgets With Prison Construction.

Meaningful

Country

War

More People Pay Attention To Fiction And To Narrative Than Pay Attention To Journalism. That's Quite Sad. More People Pay Attention To Television Than To Prose. That's Equally Sad, If Not More So.

People

Attention

Fiction

How That Happened - How The Money And The Power Arrayed Itself And Who Got The Share In That, Who Got Cut Out, Who Was Exploited And Who Did The Exploiting - That To Me Is A Story Of The Deuce That's More About Almost The America That We Inhabit Today, More Than Just Merely About Pornography Or Prostitution.

Cutting

Today

Reality Is Ultimately A Selective Act Of Perception And Interpretation. A Shift In Our Perception And Interpretation Enables Us To Break Old Habits And Awaken New Possibilities For Balance, Healing, And Transformation.

Healing

Reality

Old Habits

On A Practical Level I'm A Tv Producer And Storyteller Who's Gone About As Long As You Can Go Without Achieving A Mass Audience.

Long

Gone

Levels

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. Is A Fine Actor And I've Always Felt Some Residual Guilt That We Killed Him So Early In The Wire. It Was Always Planned That Way; We Didn't Kill Him Because Of Anything He Did, We Don't Kill Off Actors Just To Do It.

Guilt

Wire

You Are Worthy Of Love And You Deserve To Be Happy. You Have These Beautiful Qualities And Many More Because You Are Living The Gift Of A Human Incarnation. My Hope Is That You Will Embrace These Truths And Your Birthright To Live A Life Abundant In Love, Joy, And Celebration.

Beautiful

Joy

Quality

If I Had To Guess And Put A Name On It, I'd Say That At Some Point, The Drug War Was As Much A Function Of Class And Social Control As It Was Of Racism.

War

Class

Names

What We Were Trying To Do Was Take The Notion Of Greek Tragedy, Of Fated And Doomed People, And Instead Of These Olympian Gods, Indifferent, Venal, Selfish, Hurling Lightning Bolts And Hitting People In The Ass For No Reason — Instead Of Those Guys Whipping It On Oedipus Or Achilles, It’s The Postmodern Institutions . . . Those Are The Indifferent Gods.

Selfish

Oedipus

People

With More Than 80 Percent Of Americans Living In Metropolitan Areas, There Are Still Demagogues Who Want To Run Down The Idea Of Multiculturalism, Of Urbanity, Being The Only Future We Have. We Either Live Or Die Based On How We Live In Cities, And Our Society Is Either Going To Be Great Or Not Based On How We Perform As Creatures Of The City.

Running

Cities

Ideas

What Drugs Have Not Destroyed, The War On Them Has

War

Drug

Destroyed

America Is A Country That Is Now Utterly Divided When It Comes To Its Society, Its Economy, Its Politics. There Are Definitely Two Americas. I Live In One, On One Block In Baltimore That Is Part Of The Viable America, The America That Is Connected To Its Own Economy, Where There Is A Plausible Future For The People Born Into It.

Country

Block

Two

Sex Work Is A Completely Unregulated Industry And To Make The Affront Even Worse, The Product And The Labourers Are The Same Thing! The Product Is The Sexuality Of The Actual Labourers: Flesh. I Think In That Sense, The Exploitative Nature Of Unencumbered Capitalism Is Made Even More Dramatic.

Thinking

Dramatic

Sexuality

In The Wake Of Katrina, What You're Witnessing And What We Are Very Careful To Depict Is A Form Of Patriotism.

Form

Careful

Katrina

I'm Making A Lot Of Money. I Should Be Paying A Lot More Taxes. I'm Not Paying Taxes At A Rate That Is Even Close To What People Were Paying Under Eisenhower. Do People Think America Wasn't Ascendant And Wasn't An Upwardly Mobile Society Under Eisenhower In The '50s? Nobody Was Looking At The Country Then And Thinking To Themselves, "we're Taxing Ourselves Into Oblivion." Yet There Isn't A Politician With Balls Enough To Tell That Truth Because The Whole System Has Been Muddied By The Rich. It's Been Purchased.

Country

Thinking

America

In Baltimore They Can't Do Police Work To Save Their Lives. Now Because Of Freddie Gray They're Not Even Getting Out Of The Car And Policing Corners - They're On A Job Slowdown, Basically. Right Now If The Police Stopped Being Brutal, If We Got Police Shooting Under Control, And The Use Of Excessive Force, If We Have A Meaningful Societal Response To All That Stuff, And The Racism That Underlies It, The Question Still Remains: What Are They Policing, And Why?

Meaningful

Car

Racism

To Be Told You've Won A Macarthur Fellowship Is Very Flattering And Gratifying Personally.

Fellowship

Macarthur

Flattering

What Drugs Haven't Destroyed, The War Against Them Has

War

Drug

Havens

From A Spiritual Perspective, Freedom From Attachment To A Particular Outcome Is The Ultimate Expression Of Liberation. We Can Choose The Actions We Take, But We Cannot Control The Consequences Of Our Choices.

Spiritual

Attachment

Expression

The Drug War Is A Holocaust In Slow Motion.

War

Holocaust

Drug

There Are Two Americas - Separate, Unequal, And No Longer Even Acknowledging Each Other Except On The Barest Cultural Terms. In The One Nation, New Millionaires Are Minted Every Day. In The Other, Human Beings No Longer Necessary To Our Economy, To Our Society, Are Being Devalued And Destroyed.

Two

Our Society

Economy

Nobody Reads Anymore In America. Reading Has Become The Least Effective Delivery System For Narrative. That's Sad Because Prose Is The Means By Which You Can Deliver Very Complicated, Nuanced Explanations Of Problems And Possible Solutions.

Reading

Mean

America

What City Has Given The World More In Terms Of American Culture Than New Orleans? There Is None. Not New York. Not L.a. Not Chicago. Not Anywhere, In The Sense That African American Music Has Gone Around The World Twenty Times Over, And It's Continuing To Evolve. It Is Our Greatest Cultural Export.

New York

New Orleans

Cities

We're Now Seeing Levels Of Inequality Raise Their Heads That We Haven't Seen Since The Age Of The Robber Barons. If Somebody Watched The Deuce, And Understood The Allegory About Capital And Labor, And Understands What Happens When One Side Is Vulnerable To The Other, That Would Be Swell.

Age

Vulnerable

Inequality

There Were A Lot Of Video Store Owners And Managers Out Of Work, Once Pornography Became More About Streaming And Downloads. But The Other Thing Is That There Are A Lot Of People Who Make Money By Finding A Place To Stand And Add Almost Nothing. It's Particularly Ironic If Your Job Title Is Pimp. On Some Level, In A Healthier World Where Sex Work Could Be Rationalized And The Risk Reduced, Your Whole Job Title Would Be Extraneous Anyway. It's Not Exactly A Point Of Great Grievance If You're A Pimp That Suddenly Your Prostitutes Don't Require The Same Level Of Reliance.

People

Pimp

Risk

Pornography Has Become Rationalized. It's Become Much More Coherent And Profitable.

Pornography

Unless You Loosen The Hold That Your Past Has On You, Your Future Will Unfold In Much The Same Way . . . It Is Time To Begin Writing A New Script That Accurately Reflects The Beautiful, Powerful, And Worthy Being You Are.

Beautiful

Powerful

Writing

The Mismanagement Of American Newspapering Is Quite Remarkable. But All Of The Fellows Responsible Are Now On A Golf Course In Hilton Head Or Some Such (place), Having Secured Their Bonuses And Golden-parachute Buyouts.

Golf

Bonus

Golden

Meditation Is Like A Bath For The Mind; It Clears And Refreshes Our Windows Of Perception, Allowing More Light, Love, And Happiness To Flow Into Lives.

Light

Meditation

Perception

What We've Learned From The Whole Election Cycle Of 2016 President Elections Is Men And Women, Men Particularly, Are Pretty Comfortable Talking About Women In Terms That - I Think It's Hard For Me To Not Believe This Has Been Influenced By Fifty Years Of Open Pornography And That Kind Of Culture.

Believe

Men

Thinking

Our Future Can't Be Separated From The Fact That We Are All Going To Be Increasingly Compacted Into Urban Areas, Though We're Different In Race And Culture And Religion. And What We Make Of That Will Determine The American Future.

Race

Different

Culture

What Appeals To Me In The Deuce Is Some Of The Same Things That Made Me Interested In The Wire, Which Is There Seems To Be A Theme Here Around Markets And Capitalism And Labour. This Is A Moment, 1971, Of Something That Was Under The Counter: Then Brown Paper Bags Suddenly Became Legal, Pornography. And It Was Really The Birth Of An Industry Which Is Now A Multi-billion Dollar American Standard. And These People Were The Pioneers At A Moment Where There Really Were No Rules, Then Suddenly There Was A Legal Industry That Was Allowed To Exist.

People

Wire

Birth

Baltimore's Often Called The Most Northern Southern Town. It Has A Distinct Essence. It's Definitely Post-industrial, Definitely Rust Belt, Very Working-class. I Grew Up Outside Of Washington, And I Felt I Was Moving To A Completely Different Place When I Moved 30 Miles North Out Of College.

Moving

College

Essence

There Came This Point Where I Sat Down With All My Notebooks And I Had To Start To Write, When I Thought: This Whole Notion Of Writing For The Person Who Understands Nothing, The Average Reader ... He Has To Die! I Can't Have Him In My Head. And So The Person I Started Writing For Was The Homicide Detective.

Notebook

Writing

Average

The Best #‎ Gift We Can Give In Any Interaction Is To Leave People Feeling Lighter, #‎ Happier , And More At #‎ Peace .

People

Giving

Feelings

One Of The Sad Things About Contemporary Journalism Is That It Actually Matters Very Little. The World Now Is Almost Inured To The Power Of Journalism. The Best Journalism Would Manage To Outrage People. And People Are Less And Less Inclined To Outrage.

The Greatest Contribution We Can Make To The Wellbeing Of Those In Our Lives Is To Have Peace In Our Own Hearts.

Heart

Life Is

Contribution

Healing Is The Process Of Reestablishing The Integration Between Body, Mind, And Spirit, Creating Opportunities For The Return Of The Memory Of Wholeness.

Memories

Healing

Opportunity

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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