Popular culture

Popular culture seems to idolize a certain way of living. As I listened to “Pop That Pussy” by 2 Live Crew, I couldn’t help but notice the themes: open sex, partying hard, doing drugs, and living without limits. The message is clear—freedom means indulgence. In another one of their songs, “Banned in the USA,” the group pushes back against censorship, arguing that their lyrics are misunderstood and not meant to promote violence or disrespect toward women. They claim to be simply expressing pleasure and freedom in a new era, pushing against the morals of those who don’t understand—likely white, conservative America. Hearing those lyrics made me reflect on the current state of popular culture, especially from my perspective as a middle-class white guy in my early twenties. Today, in much of rap, movies, and TikTok, there’s this ever-present sense that to be “free” is to act on every desire. If you want to fuck, you fuck. If you want to do drugs, you do them. If you want to party and lose ...
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July 6

 I tend not to trust my past self. Notes I write about ideas or psychological concepts always disgusted me after reading them the next day. Often I never go back and re-read what I previously wrote. During school I always took notes during class but almost never reviewed them. When the final came I went over the lecture slides again and took new notes. 

It all seems like a waste of time if I'm not going to ever go back and look at what I was thinking. 

The root cause of this is a lack of trust in myself which I believe has always been my problem. Trauma is involved in this process for sure but I've known this for a while and still can't get close to the actual problem. 

It's hard to describe in words but I feel like it's an energy deep within that locks away true happiness. Instead, I get glimpses of happiness through drugs and ego boosts. 

Maybe I've always wanted to be more and have more which blinded me from my pretty abundant reality. 

Everything I ever did had a cloud over it because I knew I could have more money, better friends, a hotter girlfriend, and the list goes on. 

I don't want to get too sociological but... "success" is promoted extremely heavily across the media I consume and with the people I meet. Usually, this is some sort of financial success like starting a business or getting a high-paying job. That's great and all but if it's something you don't like doing and the only reason you keep at it is for the potential future benefits of it then you are living in a fantasy and your employers know that.



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