From outside the box

Recently while waiting to get my oil changed I picked up a "People" magazine and skimmed thru it. The last time I read a "People" magazine was 10 or 15 years ago and I remember that it was always full of articles about teachers, Nobel prize winners, humanitarians, and an occasional story about a movie star. What I noticed now was that the whole magazine was about movie stars. My first thought was that this was a special Hollywood edition or something like that, but no, it was just a regular weekly "People" magazine.

Why have we become so fascinated with the popular and the beautiful? Not only have we digressed to an unhealthy obsession with these people, it seems that our movie stars don't even need to be talented or working. Many of them are just popular for being popular. It's like the news media is exposing us to us as to how shallow we are and we don't even get it. Why have we dumbed down? Why do we give a crap about these people? We used to make fun of England for the obsession they had with their royal family because these were people that basically were popular for being popular. We have become that which we once laughed at.

Have we become so complacent about important issues that we just take for granted that the folks in charge of things will make sure we are kept safe, the economy will be fine, and we will survive? Are we so bored and drawn to fluff because we no longer engage ourselves in these larger issues? We are in a war (maybe an illegal one), tens of thousands of innocent civilians are being slaughtered in Africa, we may be starting the cold war back up with Russia, we are so far in debt to China and Saudi Arabia that they pretty much own us, oil companies are hijacking the economy and nobody is noticing that the politicians are not doing a thing to stop them, Habeas Corpus is in jeopardy, our constitutional rights are being eroded, we are being called non patriotic when we do our patriotic duty of questioning our government, the middle class is evaporating due to outsourcing of jobs, the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, were all getting fat, and all we are interested in is a spoiled no talent blond heiress going to jail, or who gets Anna Nichols baby.

America is ours to embellish, to strengthen, and to fix when things go wrong. It is also ours to loose. And if we loose our freedom, it will not be because of terrorism. It will be because of apathy. It will be because we have been conned into trusting the fox that is guarding the hen house. It will be because of laziness and our lack of attention. It will be because we trusted "they" to make decisions for us that will have effects we did not see coming until it's far too late because we were too caught up with Paris Hilton.

We can change this direction. We need to care more about the larger issues and trust those in charge less. We need to question more and follow less. We need to start paying close attention to the hen house because the wolves are surrounding it. There are too many in power that keep wanting a bigger piece of the pie. And they know that when we are more interested in Paris Hilton than we are in their shenanigans, then all they have to do is start dishing up the pie and snatching up the hens. And that is exactly what is happening right now.