What is VERGE?

What is VERGE? Jersey Campbell explains a few things for us*:

*this is not the final version

A Rational Defense of Ratchetness by Jersey Campbell

Do you live in the New York Metropolitan area? Turn on your radio (do radios still exist?). Now turn the FM dial to 105.1 or 97.1. Soak in the ignorance. Bask in the ratchetness. Let it marinate in your mind.

“Ratchetness” is an epidemic people, and it doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon. Don’t fret people of Earth, there is a way to reconcile the rampant ratchetness infecting our culture with ideas that make actual sense and can be identified as reasonable.

Let’s take a look-see at some ratchet tunes and discover the real meaning behind them.  

The Lives of the Deceased by Jersey Campbell

I've abandoned my consistent essays on shit no one cares about (but me) for the time being because I'm exploring other writing styles, namely poetry. Don't worry though, I won't dedicate all my time to writing this mushy, abstract nonsense people love so much. 

This poem is for an anthology friend of VERGE Chosen Lyric is whipping up that speaks on addiction... thought it would be nice to share it with the five fans of VW. 

Jersey Campbell's Passage of the Day: Who the fuck is John Galt?

We had a couple of candidates for passage of the day today. I chose this one because I rule this post and thou shalt not have any bloggers before me.

Today's passage comes from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. On a serious note, I chose it because every time I post a quote or passage they are appropriate to the ideals I advocate. We're gonna switch it up today. The message we are about to read does not reflect my views; while I agree with some of what is said, I cannot support the whole statement. In a way this does reflect the ideals I advocate... it is healthy to explore opposing philosophies, and this is certainly an opposing philosophy. After we explore it, we can shut it down and throw whomever believes such philosophies in prison for life. We don't tolerate differing opinions at VW.*

Quick question before we continue- is it necessary to add a spoiler alert for literature that was released over half a century ago? Is it necessary to add a spoiler alert for a blog that three people read? Whatevs.

*Forreals... As I've explained before, we accept and welcome all philosophies here at VW . In our effort to expose all ideologies there will be more posts in the future expressing views that differ from mine. All viewpoints deserve a fair criticism and review, let's get to it. 

Ujima performed by VERGE

So here's the video to the script we posted a couple weeks ago.

Special thanks to Lady Rae, NYC Robert, and Jersey Campbell for playing the roles so well.

Post-Historical Art by KV Sart

A Pellucid liquid drops

            steadily in temperature

A steady

plastic-metal click

moves the cup

            shakes the cup

            vibrates the liquid within the cup

He hears me

            when I have said nothing

He sees

                        causal chains

            undermining his own values

            opposing his own values

            breaking the internal logic by which he organizes his values

In the closet he keeps

            A picture of his own face

It grows weary

                        Graying and sagging

            Not like his perceived face

            He hides behind his perceived face

            He puts a front of self righteous confidence upon his perceived face

He speaks to his id, ego, and superego by KV Sart

Super Ego:  What is it you want to be loved for?

He:  I don’t

Super Ego:  So, as the adoring crowd claps you do what? Duck your head in shame?  Run from the stage as a donkey runs from the rain?

He:  I cannot accept the praise in good faith.  What I have done was of mere coincidence and accident.  There is nothing praiseworthy in the action.  It is praiseworthy in the reception. The crowd is praiseworthy for praising correctly.  That crowd is exceptional.  I am ordinary.

Ego:  This is true but the crowd sees themselves through you.  They thrive as you thrive.  They love themselves as they love you.

He:  But they can only love as they have seen.  They can only praise what has been praised before.  I construct from prior construction.  Everything that is novel has been done.  I can only passively combine.

Super Ego:  Allow them to love you as they wish, there is love-worthiness in all creatures.

Id:  What they love in you is your drive and innate sense of purpose.

He:  I have no innate purpose.  My drive is a car ride in the night without headlights.  I move through the world in no particular direction, and in doing so I amass no evil and I amass no virtue.  My choices are both arbitrary and meaningful.  My outer display is a consumable product.  My inner life is my own.

Ego:  But surely it is not all mere chance.  Surely there is something to be said for virtue.  Of prudence, reason, and rationality?

He:  These are some of the guiding principles of civilization.  But even reason has its limits.  One cannot sit on the couch all day, reasoning the day away.  At some point, one must dive head first into the world action. 

Id:  In acting without reason we succumb to our instinctual selves. We act as we do in dreams, without thinking.

He:  There is an important distinction to be made though.  The dream being has no bounds of self.  There is no difference between subject and object.  It is simultaneously itself and all else.  In the non-dream world, I am a singular agent of action, and responsible by consequence.

Super Ego:  If everyone knew as you knew, would the world be a better place?
He:  In a way…yes.  In a way…no.  Better is a judgment that can only be made by the historians.  It would be better for me, because there would be no pushback.  Better for everything?  That is a question I cannot answer.

Ego:  If you sit on the fence, you risk not helping anything.  Isn’t it proper to sacrifice yourself for the greater good?

He:  The greater good is a figment.  There is only the good that sits in front of you.  Large-scale change is uncontrollable.  Those who attempt to control it become the power hungry dictators and genocide-creators.  The only good the individual can know stares them in the face every day.  We cannot see the links of the causal chain, and the idea of the greater good relies solely on the linking of the causal chain.

A peek inside the soul of a soulless man Pt VI: Are you there God? It's me, Jersey

I had a conversation with God the other day. God was asking me a lot of questions about my intentions with my life. Who knew God was a dialectic conversationalist. Or maybe God is just my God and exists solely for me... or maybe God doesn't exist and I'm imagining God as I want God to be... Regardless, it was a revealing conversation for the both of us. Here's how it went down:

Ujima by Jersey Campbell

VERGE- Vicariously Enter the Realm of Good (motherfuckin'*) Entertainment- is performing a skit tomorrow evening at this event:

I was charged with writing the script... and directing... and acting. Three things I have inconsiderable experience in. Yet, the show will go on- and it will be off the bomb. SO IT IS SAID!

Here is the script**:
(Video coming next week)

 *This is not a part of the official VERGE name
 **Script is loosely based off an anecdote about Ubuntu, which was also the famous rallying cry for the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, the eventual NBA Champions.

Jersey Campbell's Quote of the Day: the passion of the masses

This quote garnered a "same shit I was saying yo!" from me as soon as I read it.  Because really, this is the same shit I be saying.








  
"The masses have never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions, and cannot do without them. They constantly give what is unreal precedence over what is real; they are almost as strongly influenced by what is untrue as by what is true. They have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two."

- quote taken from The Art of Seduction by Robert Green

JC and NYC Rob on the radio and shit

This past weekend, Jersey Campbell and NYC Robert- on behalf of VERGE- were invited to Best Kept Secret. Judging by the name, we're guessing some of y'all don't know what Best Kept Secret is... let's clear it up. It is a web radio show on the SUNY Old Westbury Web Radio network hosted by Lady Rae. But shhh, keep it a secret. 

Here is a brief clip from the interview showing our very own JC performing some poetry for the listeners. Yeah, we video record radio shows, because there are no morals. Listen.. and be enthralled. 

Jersey Campbell's Vocabulary Word of the Day: Pillory

Pillory: a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision.


In a sentence: The pillory could still be effective today. It is often public sentiment that helps maintain our morality.