I can feel my cynic nature exploding by leaps and bounds.
I feel like an outsider looking in at the society around me. Im not even really complaining as much as I just dont feel a part of it.
Even stranger is that i dont even long to be a part of it. Im not really angry at anything, just i have disbelief in how oblivious people really are to what is happening. And dismayed at how hard it has become to watch television.
Do most americans know or even care that a toy factory in China just closed this past week? Do americans care to know what it means? It means America is about to get more expensive. It means people will have to start saving again. Stop bragging about how much they make, what car they have and where they live.
I despise materialism. I understand wanting quality butter to make a nice cake. I understand having well made clothes and a sturdy car. But why does it matter when A manufactuer takes said item made in china and sews a symbol on it. What makes that shirt worth 100 dollars? Why do people care about who makes the shirt? Is it true that only a few people in the world know how to make a decent shirt?
This world has taken external items and placed value on them. Skin color, height, shoes, eye shape, eye color, sock brand, car brand, house size, all things that are of no consequence, and has attached value (or lack of value) to them all.
I just cant believe how most people think about clothes, tv shows, movies, cars, and unimportant crap. People that watch MTV and "Dance Idol" are choosing presidents and representatives. Most people cant even name the senators from their state(Saxby Chambliss lost my vote to the libertarian party on voting for the bailout). How can my one vote even matter when the world is full of drones who consume fastfood, polo shirts (I have a couple, shame on me right? but i only payed 25 bucks per for mine), lexus cars, crap movies, and a presidential race that only gives lip service to real issues?
Where is the true substance in our western culture? Id say its in the happy families that manage to survive high taxes, high health care, a bad housing market, and even their own marriages; but as we can see right now, real families are under financial attack. When the family fails in a society, what is left? You can not marry into happieness. You cant buy fullness of life from a store.
Is life really about getting a lot of money and getting a really pretty wife (by TV standards)? Is it about having a lot of tsuedo-friends that are only around for the (preceived) good times in life? Is it about being able to brag about what you have and what you can by? Is it about a religion that makes you feel better about spending your life chasing money and trying to get more people to believe what you do?
Man, that is so boring. Where is the real part of life? People calling or writing letters? Seeing a kid smile. Helping someone that no one things is worth helping. Doing something for a reason other than money? Giving ones time to something other than making money. Doing something nice for a stranger. Conforting prejudice, racism, sexism, ageism, and lack of human respect when they all happen, not just turning a blind eye to it all.
America is about money and money only. And that is what globalization is trying to teach the world. Forget about your culture and what substance it has, buy a happy meal and you will be happy. Buy starbucks and you will be cool. Buy nikes and you can be like jordan. Does america not have anything else to export besides shallowness and greed?
And from all of this comes the current POTUS and his financial advisors suggesting a world currency to solve the international monetary crisis.
Greed is not good. It is not right. Imagine a society where you pay to breathe. Do you think people thought we would pay for water 200 years ago? Do you think 50 year ago people thought they would go bankrupt because of medical bills? Do you think 10 year ago people thought Enron and Worldcom would go from being in the Dow Jones going bankrupt?
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is spiritual, mental, and emotional death.
I have watched Hip Hop all but self destruct. And it all happened out of greed. R and B is now on its death bed. And i love Usher, Chris Brown, and Neyo, but that is more pop music than the R and B of the 60s and 70s. America has taken black music and turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold. And that commodity has in turn become blackness. You have 20 dollars, you can buy 50 cents new rap album and experience "blackness". You can say that you are not prejudiced because you have Chris Brown and R Kelly in your playlist on your ipod.
As an educated black man, how can i not be cynical?
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1 comment:
excellent post. i too have recently been finding myself with less and less faith in japan and her people. it's not for lack of trying, but i think a lot of the things that need to change here are simply beyond the people at this point in time.
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