Vince Gilligan Interview With Charlie Rose

Things acquire the status of being good or evil only if someone - anyone - cares about them one way or the other.
Richard Taylor, Good And Evil, p.31

It is deep into the dog days of summer. The Oracle of Ottawa has been on his usual baseball watching binge, and enjoying every moment of it. Why today the Oracle got in three complete games! As the last west coast game ended, the Oracle of Ottawa flipped to PBS Watertown in the hope of catching something interesting and was quiet surprised to find that Charlie Rose was on. The interview was with the creator of Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan, on stage, live, at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City.

Vince Gilligan(left) - Aaron Paul(right) - who got it from Ep. 1 

The Oracle of Ottawa was intrigued. At last, the man himself! And it being the last and final season of Breaking Bad, the Oracle of Ottawa was hoping for the sincere, so obvious, explanation of what Breaking Bad was really about. There was nothing to lose now, the last eight episodes are in the can, and there is nothing left to lose by explaining the truth to the complacent American audience what the whole epic was really about. To hear the words right out the mouth of the mind that created it all. Or so I thought. What the Oracle witnessed was bizarre, surreal and completely raving American Psycho!  

Much to my amazement and shock, the Oracle of Ottawa had to come to the flooring realization that Vince Gilligan is in essence an idiot savant! Through the whole interview he stuck to his "awe shucks" marketing routine, choosing his words carefully, fully pondering there future possible impact on his further possible projects! He truly has not or ever had a clue to the impact of the prophetic epic that he has been allowed to tell, and its real meaning! At the time of this writing the Oracle of Ottawa is still reeling...

The first episode of Breaking Bad was one of the most powerful works of television that the Oracle has ever experienced. A brilliant chemist ends up teaching high school chemistry somewhere in a Southern US state. It is no doubt a "right to work" state, the money is lousy, there is no union, there is a handicapped child, and to add insult to injury, there is the insane American class burden of Walter having to portray to society that he is indeed middle class and is yet left by contemporary American society to some how pay for it all with nothing. Then there comes the cancer diagnosis! To this viewer in Canada, one could tell right away that Walter has no medical insurance to cover this catastrophic illness. Forced to the wall Walter abandons his morals and makes a monstrous conscious decision to survive long enough to provide for his family after his demise.

Contrast this with a Canadian high school chemistry teacher in Ontario, Canada  with Walters credentials. This teacher makes $70,000 - $130,000 a year, minimum. He is a senior department head, he might even teach a class or two a week. If this man comes a downer with a cancer diagnosis, it is just another life hurdle, certainly not a death sentence. He will have government and private additional insurance. He will be given sick leave at full pay, or very nearly, for as long as it takes. His chance of a full remission and recovery is astoundingly high. Not like Walter...

What Breaking Bad is really about is the death of the American Dream. It is a prophetic epic of the future of America. It is a symbolic tale of the death of America. A republic and a dream built on an outmoded frontier mentality that peaked on a battle ship deck in a Japanese harbour sometime in 1945. Now the European Union is the biggest economy on Earth. The standard world currency is not the American dollar, it is the Euro. The grand cities that were once the arsenals of democracy rot in bankruptcy. We are told that it is all creative destruction. Everybody got the destruction, and it seems that the creative ability was also destroyed in the process also...

Ponder the carnage created by Walter White. Ponder the vast amount of state resources it takes to search him out and possibly stop him. Ponder the global social costs around the world. Walter White is (was?) just one ordinary man forced to abandon his society, the great Leviathan, and in turn it is more than just one life that becomes nasty, brutish and short. What will be our fate when the Walters start coming out of the woodwork in their thousands?

Postscript: The Oracle of Ottawa was shocked by Vince Gilligan when he could not explain Walter Smith's street name of Heisenberg, it is no doubt a tribute to Werner Heisenberg who unlike Walter Smith was able and allowed to make great contributions to the world as the father Quantum Mechanics.
Bryan Cranston in the character of Walter Smith always exudes the aura that he too could have done great things if something as mundane as an IPO had not gotten in the way. Werner Heisenberg was also the father of the Uncertainty Principle, do you get it now?

Canada Day 2013 Boycott

A picture contains the possibility of the situation that it represents.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.203

The Oracle of Ottawa feels compelled to provide the important public service of warning away anyone that is contemplating coming to Ottawa, Canada for Canada Day 2013. In years distant past, Canada Day was the one premier event of the Ottawa social summer season. It was then run by the National Capital Commission. It was one of their major events, and they usually put the whole year before hand into it. It was also the time of the Canadian Just Society, security and propaganda of all kinds were kept to the bear minimum.  

Welcome to Harperland 2013!!

Now the Oracle of Ottawa feels it is his duty to warn the public that there will be several very important changes in Canada Day 2013. The major change is that it is now being run by the Department of Canadian Heritage, or in plain English, by a big disgusting fat pig by the name of James Moore, presently the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Yes Dear Reader, Canada Day has been commandeered by the 'Harper Government' for the soul purpose of celebrating the accomplishments of the Fascist State. With many demonstrations of the 'Harper Government' and free market capitalism. There is a rumor that the finale is going to contain a 3-D hologram show of Maggie Thatcher, in respectful memory, just before the fireworks, can hardly wait can ya?  

Somehow the eternally cheap 'Harper Government' has somehow coughed up the money for the possible appearance of  Carly Rae Jepson. Whoever she is? And didn't she do Canada Day in 2010? Anyway there is also a very long list of other garbage you never heard of before. There simply is no one on the A list that wants to be anywhere near the 'Harper Government' in any respect. And of course since this is a 'Harper Government' project there must be the sickening appearances of "victims". James Moore went all out on this one, no doubt at the behest of the Prime Ministers Office, and has arranged for the eternally sickening Chris Hadfield to conduct a few experiments for the kiddies, and the second rate playing of his space cadet song. And to make it all an absolute barf fest, the show is going to be hosted by Helene Campbell, of Barfhaven!   

Sweet Jesus Sweetheart! The lungs were free. This Canada Day you should be out a nice cottage somewhere on the Quebec side sitting on some young lads face for at least the whole of Canada Day, now that you got the wind for it and all. And perhaps you should see how long you can hold your breath with a somewhat constricted throat. In other words you should be out enjoying your life, since even Senator Mike Duffy has more talent than you.

For all you "out of towners" the Oracle of Ottawa must share a few tips of warning. Such as; there is no more free parking anywhere in downtown Ottawa. The City has been ordered by the 'Harper Government' to implement Demand Price parking. And of course on Canada day there is a lot of demand for parking, you are on your own. Also be very careful what you bring and what you are carrying on your person. The person on your left and on your right is going to be either a cop or a corporate security guard. There will be many opportunities for you discover all the wonders of the Canada (In)Action Plan. The koisks are going to be less than 100 feet apart on Wellington, Bank and the Sparks Street Mall. Come to Ottawa and party with the crooks and skidmarks of the 'Harper Government'. Enjoy!!

Was Ayn Rand A Total Fraud?

A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.
Francis Bacon, Essays, Of Truth

It was simply astounding to the Oracle of Ottawa how big a role Ayn Rand played in the last American election. It was even more astounding to the Oracle of Ottawa how many dead head Americans of the raving right wing actually live by this insanity. But to the relief of reason and the world, sanity and a wicked Democrat ground campaign, (that was not outsourced), won out.

Ayn Rand and Objectivism - Where they belong...

The Oracle of Ottawa remembers well as a younger man reading Atlas Shrugged. It was the first thousand pager that the Oracle ever read. It was followed by most all of the other titles. The Oracle of Ottawa still has a mint copy of Atlas Shrugged in first edition hardcover, with a mint dust jacket, as a monument to the gullibility of youth. Yes the Oracle of Ottawa was quiet a fan. But it did not spur an interest in economics, that was down by the 2008 financial meltdown and Karl Marx. That really got me interested in economics...

For old times sake the Oracle of Ottawa recently hit up Ayn Rands article on Wikipedia and was amazed at how deep the content was, and the fact that it is fully cited! You could not imagine the Oracle of Ottawas shock when he came upon the cited fact that the woman who cursed and campaigned all her life against government and all forms of welfare that is paid for by the taxpayer, discovered much to his surprise that Ayn Rand collected Social Security and Medicaid!! And that fact is cited and referenced!

How is that possible? As of 2007 the woman had sold over 25 million copies! How was it at all possible that she was busted skint at the end of her life? Only in America, one can guess. Where were all her rich and adoring fans? And you would think that with all that money she must have made from the fruits of capitalism that she must have had a killer portfolio of common stocks. But alas no. Come to think of it now, Ayn Rand didn't have a clue how a real company operates in the real world. Do you ever remember any of her characters in any of her "novels" ever referring to the stockholders? Hell no, the main characters acted like it was there personal company. How many railways bigger than a spur line were ever held privately in the last century?  It was all so totally insane. But to a sociopath it is all in a days work...

Another myth that was often propounded and repeated many times in the last campaign by Ron Paul among others was that Atlas Shrugged is the greatest novel next to the bible!! But alas the Oracle of Ottawa must disavow my unlearned American friends of this lie also. Check out the List of best selling fiction authors on Wikipedia... Ayn Rand is no where to be found, and never was, or ever will be world class.

The first American Psycho?

How Many Walter Smiths?

I am the danger!
Walter Smith, Breaking Bad, Season 4, Episode 6

How many Walter Smiths can a first world society absorb before it collapses into total anarchy? When a cable network drama series is in the top one thousand articles on Wikipedia, it would appear that it is not only the Oracle of Ottawa that is pondering such questions. The Oracle of Ottawa has caught the first few episodes over the summer recently passed. The first troubling impression is that the story takes place in the United States of America. One would expect such a story to emanate from Eastern Europe or the old Soviet Union.

Bryan Cranston

Other issues that were experienced was that I found myself getting as angry as Walter! Yes it is quiet true that most middle aged white men are angry today; they have every reason in the world to be so.  The whole plot, premise and story line of the series raises serious questions relating to philosophy and ethics.  If the social contract of a society is so eroded that is of no advantage to participate in that society, is Walter Smith indeed committing an evil act, in attacking it to preserve his family and all those that he loves?  If a society is quiet willing to sacrifice the core of its middle class to "under the bus" does the abandoned individual still have an obligation to attempt to be a part of this society? Does that society even have a right to exist into the future?

There is also the irony of Walter clinging successfully to his old values of purity and craftsmanship that were once treasured by the society that has eroded to the point of abandonment. There are no spin doctors and / or fart catchers in Walter Whites world. For some reason the Oracle of Ottawa found himself deriving great comfort from that.

One of the gentle shocks of catching those first few episodes was that Walter Smith looked really familiar. I was somewhat shocked to find that the character is portrayed by Bryan Cranston of Malcom in the Middle fame. How is it that this once gregarious and mild man could find it in himself, at his age and having experienced all his previous success, to so very accurately portray a man who is facing life and death situations on very many levels all at once? Perhaps the character of Walter Smith seeped into the persona of Mr. Cranston, and the ugly reality of its evil and the society that perpetuates it got to the core of this man.

The Oracle of Ottawa will keep a tab on the future events, but he has a very difficult time to actually sit through the episodes. To the Oracle of Ottawa the show is a perfect snapshot of present day Western society. And with the recent revelations of one Mitt "The Nit" Romney the Oracle can only think that a mere cable channel television series will have a very deciding effect on the upcoming Presidential election this fall.

The last point that the Oracle of Ottawa wants to address is the oft heard comment that it is just impossible for a mild mannered high school teacher to go so far from his core values, to utterly turn so away from the society that has left him under the bus... I will let Bryan Cranston handle that one....

In The Ashes....

I don't even have any illusions, and sometimes I miss those more then anything else.
Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway,  p. 169

Do ya? Do ya watch it? The First 48? Dog; The Bounty Hunter, Intervention, Billy The Exterminator, Heavy, Storage Wars, and / or The Pickers? The rule for good television today is making a profit, a career or even fame and celebrity from someone else' misfortune or carcass. And woven in this is a savagery that increases as time goes on.

The fire of the American Dream is down to it's last dying embers. The shit eating beetles of the spiral to the bottom are starving to death now that the carcass is almost gone and are randomly  transformed in an instant catalytic pop to another piece of inert detritus.

The frontiers are all gone. A new world has risen from the old. No one has been taking notes. The elephant in the room is us....

Once, when I was a younger man, a crazy, obsessed traveler embarked on " a savage journey to the heart of the American Dream"

We know what happened to the Dream...

The Savagery? It is well and thriving....

It alone continues.....

( As your lawyer I am getting ready for the Governor General Literary Awards.....)
[sob.... BRAVO!! :EDITOR]