If You Were Me, the Glass Would Be Half-Cracked

It's the elections. It happens every few elections. I forget why I started to ignore them. Box "A" or Box "B"...we aren't even picking candidates anymore, just labels, like some insane Cola War. Taste test for yourself, five out of six people don't even bother to vote. Apathy-Cola, for the new generation. New Generation, same as the Old Generation, pretending to be like the generation before it. We don't even change from one generation to the next. We talk about changing values, as if the entire country moved on to something new...but we haven't. It's an illusion of age. We took our cues from our peers on how we were supposed to act then, and now that we are closer in age to what our parents were, we just fall into the old role. It looks like it changed, but it didn't. And that is what we have coming in November. I admit it, I bought it. "Time for a Change". There isn't any change coming though. You can tell. It's the same season, early and mid fall of election year, it never fails, the mud flies and everyone's got dirt on everyone else. I'm still voting, I understand the risk of not responding to a mud slinger, especially in America where media weather has become fact. I'm sick to my stomach at seeing it, though.

It's like a demented Dr. Seuss movie, the one with stars on their bellies...hmm, wait, that WAS demented on its own. So this...is just like that. Makes one wonder about the wisdom of the Seuss. We laugh and point out the silly pictures to our kids, and we teach them how silly it is to be so blind and ignorant and stupid and hateful. I laughed when I was a child too, with my parents, it was all silly. How could anyone be that silly.

Now I laugh because I'd cry if I didn't. Like the machine cranking out star-fads, we just keep racing to stay in trend. It is almost November. This year we are ready though, we got our mud galoshes, never mind that we had them last election and still got dirty. No...we didn't just get dirty, we got filthy, it was worse than I'd ever remembered. Maybe it didn't change, maybe I just saw it clearer, but how anyone can see clearly through the cracked windshield of an oil tanker careening out of control with no one at the wheel is beyond me. I feel more like a passenger with her nails digging into the sides of the seat.

I'd complain about the driving, except I don't know how to steer the thing any better than the maniacs at the wheel. What I do know is that we aren't headed to the same destination.

But we know it won't get any better. At the bank I saw the streaming text under the HD television they have up. I wonder who has time at the bank to watch anything there? I guess it makes the bank look more informed. I asked the teller what has been going on in the news...but she had turned it down when her shift started, she had no idea either. I understand, I'd know myself if I watched the news more, but why would I? You can't trust what's on the news. I remember in high school history, learning about "Yellow Journalism"...an era of unrestrained sensationalism. I remember learning that we'd put that all behind us, that our journalism was a lot more accurate now.

I should have paid more attention. It is true what they say, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Did I wake up in the Outer Limits...or worse?

"I present to you, Nalia Storl. Cynic, Optimist, Environmentalist...Nihilist. Bored with history class, and unprepared for her final exam, a lesson of History in...the Twilight Zone"

I didn't expect it to be this literal. I always thought it was figurative, yet, here I am, desperately trying to remember what my Social Studies teacher told me that was so important about the dangers of sensationalism...why did we put a stop to it. Did we put a stop to it? Did someone pass laws? Was it just some...agreement to stop being rejected extras from the movie Idiocracy? There was something about labor unions then too. People got violent over that, people got hurt, died...but they said that good change came from it. They always seemed to try to hide that good could come from violent protest, well until they talked about the Revolution.

I wonder often if the English are just watching with a half smile hidden under the brim of all that tea we tossed into the Boston Harbor. Interesting fact, the Indian costumes worn by the revolutionaries weren't disguises at all, they were a statement. They were SAYING something, giving a nod to the people who taught us the most about freedom. That is neither here nor there, but I can't watch Addams Family Values without considering carefully Wednesday Addams contribution to our Pilgrim History. What would have been different today if the actual first settlers of America had the same "Immigration Policy" that we do today? Not that it is relevant, mind you. The situation today is very much different. The people who come into the USA now commonly don't even speak the language. They don't bother to learn about our customs or anything...

(That is an implied sarcastic snicker, by the way)

This really isn't an article, it's more of a rant, a rant about how everything today is all, cut and processed and put in neat bite sized packages. It's prepared, precooked and preheated, delivered to our door in thirty minutes or less. Of course it's ill conceived to complain about such great service, we didn't even have to go out and get our information, it is handed to us! Sure, it's a little over processed, it's either bland and neutrally tasteless or worse, it's hot and sauce drenched, dripping in cholesterol-laden sarcasm and jaded cynicism. And not the good kind we hear we are supposed to get. It is the bad kind that clogs up the arteries.

"I fall in love with the old times.

I never mention my own mind."

That was England's fault too, or rather, a friend from England. The song is stuck in my head, but catchy. I haven't heard it on the radio, yet. I'll be surprised if I don't hear it complete with it's radio "editededness", where they say the first and last sound, but the middle is left out so it isn't really said. It makes me wonder if that isn't how our media has become...radio edited. Say the first and last sounds, but leave the middle out, so no one is offended.

"Let's #^$% the world

With all it's trend

Thank God it's all about to end

They say it's all about to end"

Well here's a nod to Scars On Broadway, it's catchy and I like it! This is from the band that broke up because the lead singer was too political (rumor?)...and then they release this. I can't imagine how much more political one could get, unless you look at Serj's stuff...yeah, okay, more political. Not certain how I feel about it, I mean, I'm offended, but, then, isn't that the point? So, in a way I love it, but I'm offended by it at the same time. It is completely out of line.

And completely necessary.

Unfortunately, it is what passes for truth, no offense to Tankian, but...come on people, he's a ROCK star! Why do we need him to tell the rest of us what we already know. I have to wonder at my own lack of ...well, doing anything about it. Something should be done, I think many of us feel it, but what can we do, ourselves. We're held hostage by the idea that raising a stink or caring too much is somehow unfashionable. Maybe we DO need rockstars to say it?

Why has our news become about what is fashionable? Our consumer market has made a business out of news. Like our fast food, limited menu, colorful, but basically the same greasy ground up processed garbage in a disposable container. It's not even meant to last beyond twenty minutes (and you thought no analogy was perfect). Its true, bring up a news story from a year ago, and most people look at you like you brought out a moldy Happy Meal. The reason...they say... is that they have to stay competitive. It's capitalism that has turned our media sensationalist, just like before. And here is where I wish I had paid more attention...didn't we ...stop that? Sometime, before my grandparents were born? I don't remember how, and maybe I'll research "yellow journalism" for myself. At the moment, however, I'm just going to complain about how nasty our fast food is, how there is nothing decent to eat, unless you get it imported.

Like, from England.

They say England has this law...one they don't always use. Tabloids flaunt it all the time, but no one seems very plussed about it. In their actual news, however...it is Illegal to publish something that is false or untrue. I'm not sure about all the details, I'm certain they mean "as if it were truth", but still...what an idea?! In the USA we'd have an issue about free speech if we tried to push a law like that, but...can't we do something that keeps deliberate falsehoods from being piped in to our homes like it was actual food?

Today, the BBC is regarded as having the highest standard of integrity concerning truth in reporting. Not just because "They has a law", but because they are less biased and report....news. Real news, not unusual articles with no authorship all pointing back to Fox+, but actual news.

In MY country, when people talk about airplanes with no windows, or the color of molten aluminum, I can't just nod my head and say "yeah". I have to find someone with experience in molten aluminum. I have to ask them if molten aluminum actually glows red hot or more of a silvery color. People who can weld aluminum aren't exactly common, but they do exist. They don't need college degrees, you don't have to schedule an appointment to talk to one. They aren't even particularly difficult to find. Even if a welder you talk to cannot braze aluminum, they can usually point you to someone who can.

What was the answer I got?

It's the glass is half empty, half full syndrome. If it's not truth, it must be a lie. If it is not hot, it must be cold. If I tell you it is not black, then you assume it must be white. We've been led down a path of "this way or that". We've been spoon-fed arguments of "If you aren't for us, you are against us". Is the glass half empty, or half full? I think it was the great philosopher, Linus (Peanuts, by the late Charles Shultz) who commented, "But I ordered fries...". Which is the real issue isn't it? How many times have you asked for something, and instead of getting an answer, got two unrelated but polar opposite positions instead?

"When do you think we'll get health insurance benefits for our workers?"

"Caff or decaf?"

"Oh, Decaf, of course"

Maybe some day we'll realize that the glass is always full.

This work is a rant, written without citations or sources, it's a raw impression, done without research or fact checking. I've inserted hyperlinks which should not be treated as "sources" but as impressions instead. Whether or not anyone agrees with this is beyond the point of the article. That said, nothing here should be taken at face value, nor should it be cited as a source itself. In the end it is my hope that you think for yourselves.