ng to notice it - or care about it. I am one of those directionless twenty-somethings killing themselves in the name of a GPA. I am counted among those whose main concern is whether or not the printer in the library is going to print their report that’s due in an hour, or if their car has enough gas to actually make it to campus. The concept of sleeping and eating have now become circumstantial, as a result, I generally don't concern myself with global, economic or social issues; in fact, the only issues I’m actually aware of are the ones parodied on the Daily Show, or the Colbert Report. I consume what I am fed, and generally don’t concern myself over the ingredients.I Don’t Care. And most of us don’t. That’s what it all essentially boils down to. I have my priorities, I arrange them as I see fit, and I focus on them. Isn’t that the model for success? If I don’t let other [little] things get in the way of my work, I’m seen as goal oriented or driven, no? By striving toward this ideal, we, as a society learn to accept this barrier between what there is to know, and what we let ourselves know. Think about it, media coverage of events is often the way we hear about them. Our attention spans have atrophied so badly, there better be footage of green explosions or at least some videos of things on fire if they have any plans of holding our attention.
So along comes this war in Iraq. We have all these cool bombs and jets and tanks and guns and missles - and we're using them!! SWEET!! (hey, at least we're stopping a madman from maybe ~ possibly ~ almost ~ using them - if he might have had them---right?). Show me a few clips of an emaciated terrorist televangelizing his ‘evil’ views from some obscure cave and - I’m Sold. You feed me explosion after gunshot after bombing, and you better bet I'm not changing that channel, at least until some boring old-timer in a suit comes on and starts rambling about some policies and…
Still, Americans felt better about themselves because the shallowness that plagued their hollywood discussions was more ignorable when they talked about politics, it was "cooler" to do. No one seemed to care anymore about it than they would care if Ross and Rachel got back together. The American flag was transformed from a symbol of national pride and unity, to a fashion accessory to people who want to look like they care.
Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley said it best when he wrote, “We are living in a culture of extreme advocacy… Discussion has given way to debate.” And debate is fine, but Americans only debate the topics that the media deems “popular.” Everyone has a stance on the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but when was the last time you spoke with someone about the ones in North Korea? And I’m no better. I really don’t care about anything that doesn’t affect my priorities – I don’t read the newspaper – and I don’t watch CNN. I walk around all day listening to loud music on my iPod as I overpay for gas and get pissed about all the damn rubber bracelets everyone is wearing, as well as the ribbon and flag magnets every car.
But I don’t do anything about it – just like I’m doing now, I debate about it. As a culture, we all consume what we are fed and rarely question the source. We even rationalize it by complaining that “we can’t help it, it’s force fed to us everywhere we go.” Commercialization has rendered us as an entire generation of intellectually emaciated drones 'scratching on day to day, and all we’re waiting for is for something worth waiting for. We fear that pop culture is the only culture we’re ever gonna have. We are more than the sum of what we consume - desire is NOT an occupation' (*thanks KMFDM). This is bad America, our consumption is killing us --- change the channel --- or pull the damn plug.
- NIX_BRESSER
No comments:
Post a Comment