State of the Union

So I was listening to sound clips of Glenn Beck today, and his famous "get off my phone" line that he embarrassed himself with on his radio show. And I'm past wondering why he's on TV of course, but really, has this been some gradual culmination of crazy going on in the world lately?

I only have 2 and a half decades of experience on this planet, and for most of that time I've avoided politics to the best of my ability. at a certain point I figure you have to get involved to some degree in order to keep in touch with what's going on around you, and how to react to something that you disagree with. But it's people like Glenn Beck that remind me of what Socrates pointed out over 2 millennia ago-and I paraphrase: "..the problem with democracy is that everyone believes they are entitled to an opinion."

Now I don't have a negative view of democracy as a concept, and strongly believe it was a good idea in the foundation of our country. I wouldn't hold myself to say it may require a few addenda to keep it current and applicable to the needs of a nation like the U.S., but having an opinion isn't a right. The abuse of free speech is wholesale today, and nearly every idiot that has enough money to buy a megaphone is out on some corner mainlining their gospel into your ear.

The problem-I think-lies inherently in thinking we are qualified to an opinion despite our ignorance on the subject or discipline. This is why I limit what I say when talking about the Middle East, or why I just kind of disappear when the girls and gays start talking about Sex and the Twilight Groove Back 3. At least until I've educated myself a little more on the topic. But I duck out of that conversation for a whole list of different reasons. This kind of entitlement to an opinion allows the idiots to come out of the woodworks and bestow the gems of wisdom they will on us about Obamacare, and how we've "tooken der jarbs". I'm really getting of sick of seeing this; people who react off of their emotions, with no thought to being informed and thinking through the facts.

I don't really remember world history that well from high school. But if I remember one thing standing out, it's the 200 year tipping point. It seems that a pattern takes shape when new countries are formed after those two centuries. some kind of pressure on the government and people shows up. And I think it's especially intense this round, due to the rate of information exchange, the age of the internet, and technological breakthroughs along with our position as a world superpower.

There are so many amazing things happening right now. The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, the amount of good information on the internet, medical discoveries, cat and dog videos all over the place. it's really an exciting time to be alive.

It's just too bad that we've been so spoiled by all of the hype and all of the spectacles that grace our TV screens. MTV and reality shows have been drilling this idea into our heads that we need to watch morons' lives. I don't know who decided it, or when it clicked, but all of TV is reality-based now and i don't think it's entertainment... it's garbage.

Patton Oswalt makes a good point when he said,

"we try to tell ourselves we're being entertained by their stupidity, but are we really that dark and depressed? what happened to truly being entertained? it used to be a guy on the Ed Sullivan show that was doing something nobody could do, and that's why they put him on TV, cause he had talent."

.. and I can't agree more. I was in a supermarket a few months ago with someone as I was saying this nearly verbatim, when they started asking me to keep my voice down. I brushed it off like I didn't think I was being too loud and persisted into a tirade about how the Kardashians would just be another word that people would reply to with a "bless you", if not for a "leaked" videotape of her getting pounded by the washed up Ray J. and i don't know if it's supposed to be Rayjay, or RayJay, or who gives a flaming shitfuck, but think about it:

Brandy gets famous for her singing. Her younger brother-who had no musical experience-then tries his hand at music, and fails. Then he tries acting and fails. Then after a long period of continued failure, the narcissistic, talentless guy that only got famous through Big Sis' hooks up with Beverly Hills trash and makes a sex video that "accidentally" leaks to the internet.

There really isn't any other reason why anyone would care about her. And in our drone state of just eating whatever the "entertainment" industry puts on our plate, we get a slice of the Kardashians like we never had good TV to begin with. Reading-Fucking-Rainbow got canceled in 2006, Mr. Rogers is dead and now we have this crap filling some of those voids. Hell, even the Fresh Prince isn't on TV anymore for the kids. We have to stop watching this mind-trash, and stop paying the bills of talentless hacks whose opinions will drop into the soft malleable brain tissue of the next generation.

Moments after this, and old woman in her 70's-I presumed-politely interrupted me and said this, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say that I agree with everything you just said." And that was a nice connection. It was validating.

Think about how scary it will be to imagine the next generation of world leaders growing up on The Jersey Shore. America has lost it's sense of humor. Now we only laugh at stupid people, while icons like George Carlin wither in a box, and yet we allow ourselves to be starstruck if we see the douchebag reality-TV "stars" in person. Our idea of deserved respect is ruined. We pay respect to people who have yet to prove anything and simply pay it as a matter of status that's preached to us by a network that also tells us what trends we have to follow to avoid snide schoolyard harrassment. Merits in society no longer apply.

Where are the heroes of our communities? Allow me rephrase that question: Why aren't we being exposed to the great people helping to make the world a better place? Why aren't they on a red carpet? Why don't we know who received a Nobel Prize this year and for what? Have all the news outlets given into the madness and decided to only report drama? There are so many distractions in our lives now, that our previous president was able to infringe on our Bill of Rights without impunity.

Is it really just all about the individual now? Sure the previous decades and generation may not have been the most affectionate or sane, but goddamn it, they got shit done! It's because there was a time when your neighborhood was important to you. When you knew your neighbors by their first and last names, and who the mayor was, and who your governor was and what they were doing for you and your family and friends. The knife's edge has been pushed closer to our throats every year since those times, slowly violating our lives through legislation. The desperation our country is in for money, for war, and for control at home and abroad has reached a level that is unfit for the people.

And now we bleed. We bleed because of selfish ideologies from the Republican party, and the cowardice of the Democratic party. The government kisses the ring of big business, and we suffer through it. We're at the shit-end of the deal as a buyer being sold an overpriced shiny red apple with a worm inside waiting to send us to a hospital where we learn our health insurance doesn't honor the procedure because of pre-existing conditions, forcing us to work harder and past our age of retirement. And then we can recoup the losses of the poison that was inflicted on us in the first place with our social security regenerating our vitality to that of a whittled branch that had a metal stake in its roots to control the growth from the beginning.

Since I don't have the time to talk about how religion has been turned on us, as a tool for mob mentality and how even now, it can walk freely beyond respect for any non-believer, I'll close this entry.

I realize now that I have much more to say than I'd thought before writing this entry. And I hope my thoughts don't maintain a repetition as I continue to add to this. Because there is a whole lot that can use improvement, and time can't be wasted with what little time we have to enjoy the simple things that keep us going.