The Real Problem with America

You know the real problem with this country? Oh! You do?! Do Tell!

Too many stupid Republicans getting us involved in wars that are none of our business, you say? No, not really. Leaders have been getting us involved in wars for as long as their have been leaders. War is a natural process in our species and if we can’t find someone to fight somewhere else then we’ll just end up fighting ourselves. Even if you think the current War in Iraq is a sham, you must admit that nobody reading this really KNOWS enough about the situation to say for sure that the war is a sham or not. We haven’t seen the real intelligence; god only knows what’s really going on or what the Bush administration is basing this whole war on. Republicans are definitely NOT the real problem.

Too many stupid Democrats going around hugging trees, causing problems for Republicans, sympathizing with terrorists and trying to erode national security in the name of civil liberties, you say? No, sorry, wrong again. The Democrats are an important part of the political ecosystem; the Republicans tend to try to govern from the top down. They tend to take care of the top of the societal food chain, the rich, corporations, etc, while democrats tend to try to govern from the bottom up by taking care of the little guy by supporting unions, minorities and the least represented of all, the environment. No matter how much we may enjoy pointing fingers at each other, an honest person must admit to themselves that we need both. The truly right way is somewhere in the middle. We need people to support corporations because they employ people and we need to make sure workers and the environment don’t get abused. The Democrats and the Republicans fill these roles nicely and balance each other out over time as the grand pendulum of democracy shifts power back and forth between the two parties. Democrats are definitely NOT the real problem.

The moral fabric of the country is being eroded, you say, by a vast conspiracy of godless deviants? No, I’m afraid you’re wrong on that count too. This is, in fact, all a trick. There were just as many deviants back in whatever golden bygone area you want to look at but today more than ever our media tells us about every single one of them in excruciating detail. We hear SO much about these people that we start to think that everyone’s this way and that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Clearly though, this is just not the case. If anything, people are actually more benevolent than ever because as a society we HAVE more than ever. There is so much material wealth in this country that sometimes we have to load it in bags and take it to Goodwill because we just don’t have anywhere else to put it all. So no, this is definitely not the problem because it’s just not true. If anything, this country is more homogeneous than ever. We just hear a lot more about the oddballs because that’s what sells newspapers and gets people to watch the news.

Religious fanatics are trying to run our lives, steal our country and take away our liberties, you bemoan? No, that’s not it either because that’s an inherent contradiction. Those people who try to run your private life with a Bible in one hand and a cross in the other are not really religious. They do what they do in the name of religion but in reality they’re doing it for their own selfish ends. Their motivations actually have nothing to do with religion except that they try to use it as a crowbar to get what they want by threatening you with eternal suffering of one sort or another. These people are the modern equivalent of snake-oil salesman trying to sell an idea and in exchange get 10% of your income (gross, not net) each week. Truly religious people you typically don’t even know about. They don’t try to sell you anything or hit the pavement trying to earn their Heavenly Rewards merit badge for converting people. A truly religious person won’t actually try to convince you of anything in an active manner. You may find a Bible on your desk at work but the person giving it won’t make themselves known or take credit for it. So no, the religious people of the world aren’t the problem, they’re quietly going about their business in the best way they know how and you probably couldn’t point them out in a crowd if you tried.

You’re apparently not going to guess so I’ll tell you. The problem, my good readers, is us, every single one of us. It’s not the politicians, it’s not rich people, it’s not welfare moms, it’s not religious fanatics and it’s not even Satan worshipers. The problem is every single one of us and the society we’ve made for ourselves. As a society, our energies are so incredibly misdirected that people from a hundred years ago would just shake their heads. We have more free time, more material wealth, longer lives and better general health and security than any group of humans ever to gather on this planet. We have got it really good. We should be the most incredibly enlightened, intelligent, cooperative and technologically advanced nation ever by a factor of ten at least, but we’re not.

The reason is, frankly, a very simple one. As a nation, we’re lazy, and when we’re not working at the jobs we hate, our top priorities are partying, having fun or just wasting away the hours until it’s time to go back to work. We eat fast food because we’re too lazy to cook. We’d hate to take time to cook because that might cut into CSI. We’re too lazy to read a book or do something productive so we sit and watch television and encourage our children to do the same because we’re too lazy to raise them properly too.

Our society produces an infinite variety of video games, sports entertainment, TV shows and movies (primarily ones with violent themes), junk literature and pornography to fill our free time almost to the exclusion of all else. Sadly, these things are out there in such abundance because it’s what people care about. Don’t believe me? Go to work and eavesdrop on a few conversations. I think you’ll find that if people aren’t talking about their jobs, they’re talking about one of the five things above. American’s seem to love to exist in a zombified state, a constant hypnagogic trance induced by mindless images on a television screen. When we aren’t watching TV or playing some abhorrently violent video game, we’re blathering endlessly on the phone with our equally zombified friends about them.

Some of you may well say, “So what? So what if I watch TV? What does that hurt?” The answer is that it may not be hurting anything. If, in fact, all you were capable of ever doing was watching television then you’ve lost nothing. If, on the other hand, you were capable of something else, something more meaningful than merely occupying space for 60 minutes, then you’ve lost everything. Every hour you spend doing some mindless activity is an hour you failed to achieve something.

Rather than sleeping away an hour in front of the tube, you could have read a book that inspired you and changed you forever. Perhaps that hour would have been spent talking to an elderly neighbor that really needed someone to talk to or perhaps you talked with your child and discovered a really wonderful human being there that you never knew before because you never bothered to listen. Maybe you volunteered at the homeless shelter and met your future wife. Maybe you went for a walk every day and added 20 years to your life. The point is, that television, video games, getting sloppy drunk and other mindless entertainment is a big fat 0 in the grand scheme of things. No matter what you do, as long as it’s not wasting your time with passive and meaningless activities it’s better than watching Gilligan’s Island reruns and the world will be a little better place for your efforts. Einstein did not take a break from Relativity to watch Survivor. Don’t let your own magnum opus go down the drain because some voice in a box told you, “Don’t miss a second of next week’s exciting episode!”