I originally started this blog because I thought I could make some neat posts about cool television shows and relate them to some of the important ideas and events in our world. In short, I thought I could make TV useful. The truth is that while I still think I can, I just don't want to, in fact, I have less desire for that idea than I putting hot coals in my eyes. Why did this happen? Well let me tell you.
Any good writer, or at least half way competent one, does their best to have as broad a view of the world as possible. The reason for this is so they have as much as humanly possible to draw from for inspiration for the stories they weave. No matter what the writer wants to write about, they have to take time to look at the world around them. Because I had spent the last year or so keeping myself fairly isolated I had to take a peek out at the world around me in order to give myself a fresh perspective. What I saw has absolutely disgusted me. While I have always felt some amount of frustration with the other people on this planet, it never really hit me just how bad we had gotten.
See, I have spent the last year or so in what I best describe as a self imposed isolation in a bit of a spiritual hermitage. I had some events in life that forced me to take a long hard look at myself as a person, and during that time I had very little contact with the outside world. I didn't talk to many people, I watched very little news, and I didn't watch a lot of Television. I didn't realize it at the time, but doing this reset my defenses against the unbelievable stupidity of the average citizen of the US. Before I went into this phase I felt that while people didn't always do the smartest things, they also weren't that bad. I was wrong, very wrong.
I really don't know any better way to put this, but the world I see around me today is about as fucked up as I could possibly imagine. Right now our government is locked in a staring contest, the economy is on shaky legs at best, public education is at it's worst point in history, violent crime is growing, and as a people we are becoming more stupid and lazy. Don't believe me, then do this, go down the street and ask the next person you find to tell you the difference between the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Don't be surprised if their eyes glaze over a bit. Once they give you an answer (and count yourself lucky if they gave you the right one), ask them to explain what the big deal about Miley Cyrus and her appearance on MTV is all about. Chances are that most people will have trouble answering the first question, but have little problem telling you about the second. This is a serious problem and we need to fix it.
There was a time in this country where we were required to know not only the difference between the Constitution and Declaration of Indepedence, but also know what the Bill of Rights was, what these documents meant and why they mattered. Today this isn't the case any more, today it seems like all you have to know about your government is that they have an annoying habit of taking up time during your favorite TV show. I know somebody reading this is thinking "So what's the big deal about that." and that right there makes my point for me.
I know it's trendy right now to blame the president, blame the schools, or even blame religions, but I have a news flash, its not their fault. It is our own damn fault and it's time we faced the music and admitted that fact. We have accepted below average as good enough for far to long. We have accepted "I tried" as an excuse for failure and have grown far to comfortable with our own lack of effort. Instead of asking more of ourselves, we ask less while expecting everyone else to fix our problems. While I hate to say it, we have become the fat, indolent people the rest of the world thinks we are, and we need to quit thinking this is okay.
What we need to do is start expecting more out of ourselves and each other. Instead of saying that halfway is good enough, we need to say halfway is only one quarter of the way there. We need to start demanding excellence from ourselves in all aspect of our lives. We need to stop coping out with "I tried my best" and start saying "I could have done better." This isn't easy, and it shouldn't be. At one time this truly was the greatest nation on the planet and it had nothing to do with our government or our technology, it had to do with us. We are allowing ourselves to be a shitty place to live and our children are going to suffer for it. I for one am tired of standing for that and I am going to do my part to change it. I really hope that you will join me.
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