ours is a culture of anti-intellectualism. craven lunacy airs on television Almighty and we fawn hypnotically; the finale of "american idol" garnered 40 million viewers. how so many can invest so much time in something so pointless and mind-numbingly simian is beyond me. i understand the schadenfreude appeal of watching simon cowell lambaste freaks who gladly suffer slings/arrows of national ridicule because their vanity is more than sated by being on national television at all.
but if we take so much pleasure in suffering -- especially when it happens far away and forces us to sacrifice nothing -- why not pay more attention to reality (NOT tv reality, reality-reality)? mainstream media is crap, but a more shakespearean tragedy there is not. genocide in darfur, slaughtering innocent iraqis sans reason (not that there could ever be a reason to justify it), treating sects of people as sub-standard, soldiers coming home limbless and insane, sodomizing mother nature, running up a $8 trillion credit card bill (translating into each citizen owing $28,000), and all for no reason at all. this is not enough drama for the ADD-addled american public?
i could give people the benefit of the doubt and say we're addicted to the glittzy distraction because ignorance is bliss and reality is a tad TOO harsh, but i don't think we deserve that much credit. intentional ignorance would mean that cognizance exists on some level of what we're ignoring. we've always been too self-involved to give even that first fiddler's fuck about anything but our own meaningless existences of pop culture and endless consumerism and glitter-picture html codes.
why should we care about darky children being murdered on a darky continent with no darky liquid gold under their feet? we don't even KNOW, much less care, about such things. as long as i get my rent payed on time.
i don't know exactly what i'm complaining about since i don't know what possible solutions would be. behavioral problems on such a grand scale aren't easily remedied without extreme motivation (higher gas prices -- good). for a start i'm ditching my cable.
in "seven" kevin spacey (john doe) said, "Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer."
genocide and war and racism and fascism and murder aren't big enough sledgehammers? how extreme does injustce have to get before we stop ignoring. never underestimate the power of denial i guess.
merry christmas!
1 comment:
Have enjoyed reading your blog. You express yourself well. You should be making money on that, if the world was just. Your emotions are undiluted and your outlook is understandable and fair.
Don't let your new kitty out. I have to stop mine every time I come in the front door, but cats aren't like kids. They can't be taught things based on reason. Your kitty isn't miserable or feeling unloved if she can't go out. She's just curious to a deadly degree.
I'm jealous of your wide-ranging knowledge.
Peace.
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