Seeing No Evil

I suppose the only thing I miss about having a TV is that I'm no longer able to watch the Saturday morning (Korean time) NBA games on American Forces Television, complete with "commercials" telling the troops to use the buddy system when they leave base, go the bathroom, etc. But then, without the television, I do a lot more reading, write off the time on this site, and - this is probably the best change of all - I no longer have to suffer through highlights of the latest Portland Trailblazers loss, of which there are always aplenty.

I remember telling my father a few years ago, when Portland was at the height of its "Jailblazers" period, that I'd probably root for the team even if it fielded a starting lineup of Charlie Manson, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Ted Bundy and Joseph Stalin. I mean, what am I supposed to, stop being a Blazers fan? I've recently come to believe, however, that such a felonious starting five would probably fare better than whatever the team's put on the floor this year. In any event, flagrant fouls would be a lot more effective if left to someone like Manson, don't you think?

Then again, would anyone really want to see Manson or Bundy involved in a riot like the one in Detroit a few weeks ago? Not me. But neither do I understand why people were so surprised about that fight. To me, it's no different from the military giving immature eighteen year-olds a rifle, training them to kill and then being shocked when they snap in a civilian area and do what they were trained to do. We shouldn't be surprised by violence when we live in a world that promotes it to such an unbelievable extent.

Not that any of it matters much to me. I find that I'm not half as riled up about the imbecilic state of the world as I once was, back when AFN was beeming "Combat Camera," "This Year in Military History," and "The Leaders" into my brain for hours at a time. Since getting rid of the Lucifer's Dream Box (as it's been affectionately called), I've slowly felt the black paint disappear from my eyes. A few of my more basic mental faculties have even returned - I can, for example, now go to the bathroom without using the Buddy System.