Personal Statement — Karl Wolff

 

The Internet has given everyone an opportunity to share personal information and turn blogs into sensational confessionals.  We’re a long way from St. Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  Suffice to say, my personal statement is not a biography or a confession.  I expect you, Dear Reader, have the nuance and skill to read between my lines and make the necessary assumptions about my metaphysical and political brand loyalties.

This isn’t a Personal Confession; it’s an Aesthetic Position.

Political rhetoric has devolved into self-parody.  Our economy has crashed with the reliability of a Windows™ product.  What’s a person to do?

Miracle Max: There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What’s that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

Is the economy mostly dead or all dead?  I don’t know.  I’m not an economist.

As far as political, economic, and theological notions, Egg Shen summed it up nicely:

“Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoist alchemy and sorcery. We take what we want and leave the rest, just like your salad bar.” — Egg Shen, Big Trouble in Little China

Allegiance to a certain political party is also a means of enslavement.  I strive to be above the petty squabbling of our limited, limiting, and lifeless two-party system.

Cynicism offers a convenient carapace against the fads and foibles that intoxicate the masses and enrich the elites.  But like Belize in Angels in America, I hope we as a nation can aspire for a place where “race, taste, and history are overcome.”

What I admire about Matt …

I wanted to collaborate with Matt because I admired his knowledge, critical acumen, and unique perspective.  On his blog, Worse than Hitler, he writes film reviews from a different critical place.  I don’t agree with everything he says, but any great partnership will involve creative friction.  You can’t have a dialectic without an antithesis.