Think back four years to the months leading up to our last Presidential election. The Smog Chronicles had yet to begin, but those who knew me understood my position. This was the peak of Obamamania. Under George W. Bush our nation had endured eight long years of war and recession, dishonesty and corruption, almost everyone seemed eager to turn the page and move forward.
The United States had been introduced to its potential savior four years prior at the Democratic National Convention where Senator John Kerry accepted his party’s nomination. This was our first sign that the artificial, reality show nature of American politics was in full swing. Dangled in our view like the mechanical bunny in front of the Greyhounds at the dog track, was America's best "hope" of electing it's first black president.
Not long after taking office we saw our newly elected Commander in Chief transition from "yes we can" to "thought we could". It soon rang clear to those of sound mind that we'd once again been taken for a ride. One of our principles is awareness of the holographic nature of US government. The fact that in elections you are essentially presented two choices, frequently out of the blue, neither of which you helped place on the ballot. From these two choices you voice your opinion and receive a feeling of satisfaction from "helping elect" the nation's next leader. Once there is a change in the executive branch, we discover the same problems persist, we pick up right where we left off.
In reality, a vote could be compared to the effect of a person putting their all against a mountain in attempt to move it. For generations we've been disillusioned into believing we live in a true democracy. Our reality has been prescribed since the earliest stage of printed media. Agencies responsible for reporting the news are run by the same ones being reported on. Imagine yourself a popular musician performing a concert then receiving the task of reviewing your own performance, thereby influencing your own record sales. How can you expect a corporate owned media to give honest unbiased coverage of a government owned by the same corporations?
It doesn't add up.
Have we gotten so hypnotized by our digital baby rattles that reality has become less familiar than fiction? It seems as though wireless internet connections have become the new umbilical cords, living in an age where we've never been further removed from our mothers. While our technology enables us to be better informed and closer in-touch, it seems to be yielding something else entirely. Have you noticed how our latest political pawns like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan resemble virtual or artificial humans? Have you noticed how Americans are almost without feeling towards this upcoming election? I believe it's the combination of unconsciously recognizing the futility of believing in actual change combined with electronically infused pacification. Something along the lines of "I don't care who sits in the oval office as long as it doesn't interrupt my wireless digital freedom."
My grandfather used to say "everyone born after 1950 came out of the womb like this" (arm bent at the elbow, hand in a "C" as if holding a drink). He had an excellent point, one we'll cover another time. I submit that it seems these same people came out with their necks at an angle, other arm bent at the elbow with hand clasped (around a phone) in front of their chests.
What are we evolving into?
I've gone on and on for years about the importance of our connection to nature and how we're drifting from it. I've mentioned time and again how most everything we need to truly understand is available to us in our natural world. As time progresses, I see us growing less and less human. The more individualized we become, the greater we rely on digital communications, the weaker we become as a species. Only when this technology is used for organization or spreading the good word to a large audience can we lean back towards the righteous path. Our grip on reality will continue to slip until we awaken and begin to re-identify with what once defined us as us.
Men have become tools of their tools. HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Good reads, Ben. I agree that next to our wireless rattles (nicely put, by the way), cable news blinds far too many people to what is actual reality. Quite frankly, it is frightening. In sifting through the vast interwebs, meanwhile, it is growing harder to find unbiased data as long as emotions run high during this election, especially.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it is worth, however small as an ant pushing a boulder: I still vote and discuss the issues of our day with friends and family in "hopes" of a better world as we age, hopes of which that everyone knows deep down can never be pinned on any one man.
Change and revolution start in our communities; the media and broadcast entities of the world be damned.
S-