A look at the news- the state of the world
I’ve put off getting an internet connection at home for a while since money is tight and I knew the connection would be slow, but now, I’ve gone ahead and done it. I’m connected in the Casbah.
The connection is slow. When the United States is awake, it is incredibly slow and when the U.S. sleeps it’s just sort of slow. Like a good dial up connection.
I’ve been looking at the news a lot and it’s not surprising at all. The U.S. has found new reasons to further tighten its security and thus make itself more isolationist while still embracing a ‘world U.S.’ policy. Obama continues to make change we can believe in, i.e. no real change at all with more civilians being killed during his first year in office than in Bush’s last. The economy is still struggling, the rich are still getting richer and the poor getting poorer, make note of the fact that the poor don’t usually have stocks, so the Dow industrial climbing higher isn’t the sign of prosperity it is painted as. Health insurance rather than health care will soon be forced on all Americans with those who don’t sign up being penalized. You can read that as if you don’t pay the insurance companies, you will be found and fined. Climate change is striking and energy consumption is still climbing.
Recently I’ve come to the conclusion that the upbringing of Americans makes every one of them (including me) think deep down inside that we might be the most important person in the world. Surprise, we’re not. All that ‘you could be the next Einstein, Lincoln, or Ford’ is to blame and as a result, it’s easy to see why Americans are so willing to use the bulk of the world’s resources while the rest of the world suffers. It also explains why American’s get so angry when they are cut off in traffic or argued with “Don’t you know who I am?”
In short, Americans are fucked. Most of us will never be more than just one in six billion struggling soft bodies trying to pad our next the best we can. We love superlatives ‘greatest’ ‘best’ ‘fastest’ etc but the truth is that unless we really stretch our definitions none of us really are any sort of superlative (present company included). I’m neither the best writer of my generation, the best blogger, or the best anything…and chances are neither are you. You’re just you and if it makes you feel better, you are the best you there is. The absolute greatest.
As I struggle to make my way and to clear the way for Hanane and I to get married and have children and build a life together, I am constantly asking myself why. I love her. I think we could be good parents. And, well, we’re here.
It doesn’t mean I think it’s fair to those kids though if they happen. They get a world that probably won’t be better than this old fucked up world.
So the news is not surprising. It’s boring. I want money but even if I had it, it probably wouldn’t be good for much. What, more travel? A nicer sofa? Hot water? I’ve got more than I deserve, and no doubt you do to, though I doubt you can admit it yet.
But hey, go watch Avatar and enjoy the prospect of an entire planet of fairly happy people who are missing just one thing to save their entire civilization and world, a United States Marine. Oooh-rah. Go Jarhead Clan! Go America! You can feel good about it, you need something to feel good about right? After all, you might be the most important person in the world…or maybe even in the universe.
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We are brought up by big brother (government and the rich) – feeding us with all the crap we buy and believe. Advertising has ruined a lot of good people, and still so many in the USA sit in front of “something” to find out what they believe and what they should do! What is presented overall is ruining the the adults of tomorrow.
Though I have to reiterate, there are many of us who know what is happening….we just have no way to do anything about it except in our own little “worlds”. Freedom of choice, the mix of cultures and beliefs (which is fine), and the mind-splitters, have pulled USA citizens apart. There is such great divisions of thought, I am afraid there is not any way to even revolt. Those who hold the biggest weapons rule. It’s sick and sad. My husband says in order to live you have to have money for one thing or another. Mom said the industrialization of man is the ruination of man.
if i were english i’d say “spot on vagomite”….since i am american, i won’t wait my valuable time and just say “yep”.
i meant “waste” my valuable time… oh wait, i have wasted my time despite myself. i think there is a deep and meaningful lesson here.
Sitting across the border, I see and hear these things on a daily basis – a few things unnerves me and one caused me to build my new site, was that 1 out of 99 Americans is now in prison/jail. Astronomical figures in the past 20 years – its also claimed that 1 out of 34 have been to jail, of those 60% African American. Is the US turning into a prison for hire conglomerate?
I watched the health care debate and thought that if a country were going to revolutionize a health care system for its citizens, and were going to start from scratch; then why not look at the free health care systems from other countries, take the best pieces of each and make one of finest in the world? I’m sure big Ins. would hate this idea, and quite possibly had their hand in the decision – go figure.
Lastly, I believe the US will become a “service country” in a few short years, and here’s why: went to Oahu a few years ago – while beautiful outside the tourist traps – the state, IMHO, the US will be exactly like Hawaii pretty soon. A service country – having no tangible goods for sale outside its borders, it will simply become a service country playing host to tourists from countries that previously could not afford it. As I write this, the US $ dropped to .97 to my CAD $. The times they are-a-changing. By “service” I mean wait staff, cooks, valets, gardeners, tour guides, workers for corporations outside the US… you get the idea.
Sorry this reply dragged on V, all this weighing heavily on my family’s mind as we have a sister in the colonies and we all wish her to wake up and come home.
Nick, It’s one of the reasons I chose to leave Hawaii and the United States….from where I sat, I didn’t like the way things were heading. Of course now I live in a developing nation and see lots of other problems, but overall, I think I made the right decision to leave. The recent healthcare ‘reform’ looks to me like a dangerous plan where everyone is forced to pay the corporations and still no one who really needs it gets any kind of healthcare…oh well….business as usual. Lucky for me, I’m the kind of guy that never needed much from anyone and I’m trying to get to the point where I need less, though taking on a wife probably won’t make that easier.
In short, please drag on…I miss having this kind of conversations and with any luck, this will become a place where they happen more and more.