A Matrix Christmas
Here on this eve of Christmas 2008, I find myself thinking about a particular movie. Not a Christmas movie, per se, but “The Matrix,” the sci-fi masterpiece starring Keanu Reaves that came out in 1999. It’s about a hero, named Neo, who with the help of a shaman named Morpheus, saves humanity from enslavement to a digital dream world created by machines with artificial intelligence.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage... born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.
Now what in the world might all that have to do with a Christmas message? Well, “The Matrix” is a movie open to many different symbolic interpretations, and here’s the one I’d like to apply as we wrap up 2008: “The Matrix” is the hidden network of global finance, fraud, and lies that has brought us to an economic crisis that could well remake America, for either ill or good.
When you look at this economic meltdown, in all its gigantic proportions, don’t you feel like we’re all starting to wake up from a long, long dream? A dream in which we literally worshipped vast wealth and the people who seemed to create it out of thin air, buying into bubble after unsustainable bubble, like children following a greedy Pied Piper into oblivion. Now we’ve been awakened, like Neo, to see that we’ve all been unconscious dupes -- slaves – to a malevolent system that used middle class people and then left them nothing. Columnist and economist Paul Krugman has another name for this dream period, inspired by the Bernard Madoff mega-fraud: the Ponzi era.
"Meanwhile, how much has our nation’s future been damaged by the magnetic pull of quick personal wealth, which for years has drawn many of our best and brightest young people into investment banking, at the expense of science, public service and just about everything else?
Most of all, the vast riches being earned — or maybe that should be “earned” — in our bloated financial industry undermined our sense of reality and degraded our judgment."
Undermined our sense of reality. Or to paraphrase a line from the film, the Matrix has had us. Now, with its foundation undermined, reality has come crashing down, and as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman says today a “recovery” won’t bring America back; only a full “rebooting” of our culture, our laws, and our values will have a chance of returning us to that other dream, the American Dream…. if such a thing ever really existed.
Christmas. The Holiday Season. It’s always the best time for renewal, no matter how far off track everything has gone; Ebenezer Scrooge illustrates that with each telling of “A Christmas Carol.” Now we must face our ghosts and find our own redemption, for ourselves, our children, and for this country. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone. And as Morpheus says to Neo as he awakens from his digital dream, welcome to the real world.
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Comments: 13
Jim, it's awfully discouraging that you have such negativity in you. Your latest thoughts on Matrix resonate with pessimism. Every decade has had low points, but we've always risen above them. Remamber 'out of chaos comes cure'. As a man of faith, I believe that we are cared for by a higher power, whatever name is attached to it.
SO, be of good cheer, look for the wonderful things you possess - your kids, for instance, or your office wife, whom I have loved from afar since her days on ABC(fools for letting her go!!!) - and rest in the knowledge that our resilience assures our future.
And keep up that great 10:00 newscast. It's the BEST on TV!!!!
Jim, it's awfully discouraging that you have such negativity in you. Your latest thoughts on Matrix resonate with pessimism. Every decade has had low points, but we've always risen above them. Remember 'out of chaos comes cure'. As a man of faith, I believe that we are cared for by a higher power, whatever name is attached to it.
SO, be of good cheer, look for the wonderful things you possess - your kids, for instance, or your office wife, whom I have loved from afar since her days on ABC(fools for letting her go!!!) - and rest in the knowledge that our resilience assures our future.
And keep up that great 10:00 newscast. It's the BEST on TV!!!!
GRINCH!
Hello Jim. Jen's a tough act to follow, but I'll give it a try.
It is hard to argue with Mr. Friedman's suggestion that the decline in our economy parallels a fundamental breakdown of our value structure.
A most basic value, as I see it, is that of personal economic responsibility/financial restraint. The Great Depression can be attributed largely to the excesses of the moguls of Wall St. and of the banks, combined with reckless actions - and lack of action - on the part of Government. And to the extent that the small investor was buying 50-90% of his stock on margin, we can't let consumers off the hook even for those times. However, I'm increasingly drawn to the conclusion that since mid-century, consumerism run amok has been equally to blame in an uncontrolled spiral of borrowing and spending that we roundly condemn our Government for. (The WWII shortages and restrictions probably contributed to the underlying sense of deprivation.)
Many economists suggest that our economy "thrives on debt". It does seem so - as the financial institutions collect those debts, and consumer product companies have reaped the benefits of the excessive spending that the debt makes available. But debt wasn't always that tempting to take on - certainly not before the issuance of the first credit card in 1950, and probably not before the first one to allow an unpaid balance, with that pitfall known as the APR.
It would appear that only a consumer-led revolution could reconstruct the American Dream from the bottom up. That would primarily take the form of individuals boycotting the use of revolving credit on their cards. The card issuers would go bonkers over this and would probably have to impose an annual fee (like AMEX) followed by a percent or two monthly interest on payments even when made in full! (My plastic then goes right into the shredder.) Then the makers and sellers of the plasmas, iPhones, X-Boxes etc. will just have to curb their inventories and learn to live off a market that has learned to live within it means. (What a revolutionary concept!) While the restoration of the economy to this lower octane equilibrium might require a generation to achieve, the optimist in me is betting on the people to get this one right.
As a parenthetical thought, the housing debacle will require a similar consumer awakening, but that is a subject of deeper emotional and economic complexity. For another day.
Mike
hey jim this entry has nothing to do at all about the "matrix christmas" indeed i do find it a liitle funny anyway im a HUGE fan i have been for years just wishing you and your family a very merry christmas and a blessed new year!!
hey jim this entry has nothing to do at all about the "matrix christmas" indeed i do find it a liitle funny anyway im a HUGE fan i have been for years just wishing you and your family a very merry christmas and a blessed new year!!
12/29/08
Kaity, I have to tell u, LOVE the leather! The shirt/jacket tonite is absolutely gorgeus. My boyfriend and I always look forward to 10 of course for the news but also to see what style of leather your wearing for the night. Props to your stylist. Sorry Jim, but can u give her the message... Remeber she hates blogging. We luv u too!
12/29/08
Kaity, I have to tell u, LOVE the leather! The shirt/jacket tonite is absolutely gorgeus. My boyfriend and I always look forward to 10 of course for the news but also to see what style of leather your wearing for the night. Props to your stylist. Sorry Jim, but can u give her the message... Remeber she hates blogging. We luv u too!
Hi
Happy new year Mr Watkins.
It was cool to see you without a jacket on Dec24
Any reason .
However it was cool to see a sporty look.
WE LIKE TO WATCH YOUR NEWS.
PIX simply the best.
All the best to you and your family and especealy yor son,Liam
I loved the original MATRIX, but around my way it is always the YANKEES *grandsons love them. I even found a Yankee baby-ish DVD for the kids for Xmas. Instant replay. They know everything about baseball and I know zilch.
Lee *Mets fan by default
PS:I lived on top of Shea and the traffic was horrendous. Anyone hear of Flushing Meadow Park. My life revolved around the 64-65 World's fair as a tween. I could tell you stories, but I won't....Lee
I loved the original MATRIX, but around my way it is always the YANKEES *grandsons love them. I even found a Yankee baby-ish DVD for the kids for Xmas. Instant replay. They know everything about baseball and I know zilch.
Lee *Mets fan by default
PS:I lived on top of Shea and the traffic was horrendous. Anyone hear of Flushing Meadow Park. My life revolved around the 64-65 World's fair as a tween. I could tell you stories, but I won't....Lee
I wasn't going to mention this, however, I think it is ok. I went out with someone who looked like you when I was very young. Maybe that's why I have you typecasted as a anchor. Strange, but true. I never married my crushes. I just like to look at them and get crushed. Funny..... LEE
PS: Jim, why did you take those cute bumps off your face - they gave you a rugged look. I mean you are nice looking now, but the bumps were exceptional. OK, I'm being silly now... nich git
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