Has the Era of Free Thinking Completely Past?

I am an active answerer for yahoo answers. I also write blogs and read them. I watch news and read and comment on news stories. I can't help feeling dread more and more each day that I do these things. Hundreds and thousands post the exact political views as their favorite bias news guy from the night before. The hot topic is of course the economy and Obama. Those that are republican blindly defend Bush and those that are democrat are certain Obama will succeed. Where has common sense and independent thought gone?

It is clear that Bush did a terrible job. Let's accept it and move on. It is clear that Obama has hardly taken office and so many are certain of their views on whether he will turn us around or crash us into the abyss. Common sense says it is too early to tell. When we refer to the economy and bailouts, the word of the day is systemic. It seems to me that this way of thinking or rather, lack of thinking, is systemic. Not only is it blinding people from reality but it is so well engrained in our psyche that it must be intentional.

We know that our schools only receive funding when they teach what Uncle Sam says they should. At the same time, we know that our graduates are leaps and bounds behind the rest of the world. We allow ourselves to accept that media is unbiased when we know they are not. A press secretary told us that it was normal to tell the news outlets what to say and print. We know that opinions vary and that no one person can have all the right answers and yet we watch and listen to the same "expert" give an opinion and then we hit the information super highway proclaiming that this is the gospel. We do all this while never once researching fact on our own.

If you participate in the "answers" sites like I do, you will observe an epidemic of lazy stupidity. You can watch a person ask for answers to nearly every question on their tests, home work assignments and study. These people rarely ask about the formulas behind the math or the theory behind the science, they simply demand the answer. Many of these questions can be answered in 2 minutes of googling and yet they won't even put forth that effort. The senior citizens among us today proclaim they are the last decent generation and I am inclined to believe it. I worry about us when they are all gone.

We were convinced as a society that such things as spankings were harmful to children and yet as these punishments diminish; we see more of them in serious trouble and locked away in prison. At what point does common sense prevail? How far must we fall before we realize that something is wrong here? Trillions of dollars go missing, it makes news one day and is gone the next and what do we do? We forget it and move on to the next celebrity news story right along with the network. We hear of a woman being arrested as a terrorist for spanking her child on an airplane and still we just turn on our favorite reality show and forget it.

We have been lulled into a grand illusion. We are taught to believe that we do not have the power to affect real change. We are taught by ridicule not to think and express unpopular ideas while we accept the media's definition of what is popular. There is every indicator in the world that what is going on DOES NOT WORK and yet we all go about participating in the propaganda machine. You don't see it? Think about this - a random news station has say 10 million viewers on any particular night. By the next morning, they have millions of those viewers spewing out their message all over the internet and thereby reaching more people. The funny thing, at no point is any of this researched or proven to be true. The news said it, an "expert" that they invited agrees with it (imagine that) and the next day -BAM - it is all over the World Wide Web. It is posted and debated with a heated passion by people who have not spent the first minute checking its authenticity. Now the message is perpetuated further. Someone reads a posting that is all based on the news from the previous night. The reader then posts it on their site and attests to its absolute truth. Before long, so many have fallen into this trap that it is "the popular opinion".

Popularity is important isn't it? You learn all about it in school long before you learn math. You have to wear the popular clothes, do the popular thing, follow the popular shows, etc or you are subject to ridicule. Just look at how many generations this has span. This popularity concept teaches you to fall in line. You have to play football not join the science club. You have to be a cheerleader not a debater. If your common sense tells you that the $200 jeans actually look bad and don't last and that the $30 jeans are perfect - you better not say that out loud and you certainly better not wear them. Another example? Ok. Did you know that the cheap brands of champagne usually win taste tests? Yet we choose the most expensive when we can. Why? It obviously isn't for us - the other tastes better! We do it for show - for popularity. We go to the "in" restaurant and pay a fortune for a funky tasting miniature food dish. It doesn't fill us up, it isn't always tasty and it certainly isn't a good value - yet we do it. What comes next? We have to make sure someone we know knows we went - that is the whole pay-off. These actions clearly defy common sense and yet we do it.

We fall for this facade time after time. If you have a charity and want to make it popular, get some celebrities to speak for it or do a moving commercial about how dedicated they are to helping. We go for it. We don't even realize that 30 minutes before that commercial, we were hearing all about that same celebrity talking about the new 10 million dollar vacation home they bought. This person wants some of my $40k a year? We buy into this "not for profit" scam every day as well. We believe these guys aren't making money. Well, by the time the millions in salaries are paid, the celebrities are paid, the "necessary" flights to Paris and Aruba are paid, the giant office rent is paid, the company cars are paid - yes, there is no profit left. Come on people.

When we consider all this and the many other examples that have popped in our minds, we really must accept that we have indeed, lost the ability or willingness to think for ourselves, to learn, to research and to stand out and express unpopular opinions. It is easily likened to being a herd of complacent animals mindlessly following the shepard. So is this a call to rebellion and being a punk and saying screw the man? Not in the traditional sense, no. To revolt and demand real change, to not accept the BS anymore and to begin to again become free thinkers IS the message. Where our traditional and romantic "rebels" go wrong is in bucking the system without using the system. These rebels chose to escape the system all together. Forget school, forget college, forget suits and ties and corporations etc. This is not the correct approach. Those running the system succeed through the system. Hold fast to your beliefs, don't fall in the trap but DO get well educated, DO get the good job, DO play politics to get into a position of power and THEN be the rebel. How amazing a complete reversal could be? Imagine if the norm were suddenly reversed. Imagine that instead of a politician lying to the people and serving special interest, the politician lied to special interest and served the people. Play the game; appear to sell out to selfishness. Gain power, move up the chain and when you're in a position to actually impact the country, lower the boom, if you will. Just make sure that your security contingent is hand picked and well paid.

We even actively support the illusion of law. Most Americans will tell you that it is a fair system and no one is above it. A guy steals a few hundred dollars from a convenience store and gets ten years. A guy steals billions and gets six months. A guy gets a DUI and hit and run and he goes away for years, Congressman Charlie Wilson does it and goes to Paris, never goes to jail or faces charges and even gets re-elected. We say we are innocent until proven guilty and yet we are arrested and placed in jail before court aren't we? Of course if you have the money, YOU can bail out. No discrimination there, right?

I have to quote Neil Boortz, as best I can, from his appearance on CNN yesterday only because he told the truth. "My job and yours as hosts for news shows, talk radio is just like any other DJ. We say what we have to to attract an audience and keep them engaged long enough to get them to the next commercial - that's it". He made these remarks on the heels of the Rush Limbaugh story of late. Did he risk anything here? No and he is smart enough to know that. Even when it is obvious to us, pointed out to us, we still go for it. IS it any wonder then that I ask - Have we lost the ability to think?