Dreamland

We are no longer citizens of this country; we are consumers waiting to be swayed by marketers in the service of both corporations and government. We can no longer hide from the constant onslaught of their propaganda. Nearly every communication we receive is now designed to fulfill the interests of those that hold power in this country whether they represent political power or commercial interests. The enemy of these interests is the possibility that we may think for ourselves, that we may formulate our own ideas about how we should live, how our country should participate in the world. The commercial and government interests want us to consume without thinking. When people start thinking for themselves then the entire power structure is destroyed. The powerful would of course prefer that we think about the wonderful consumer products that are out there spinning before our eyes and stimulating us to create who we are through the products we purchase rather than through ideas. If some of us progress through this consumer cloud we are confronted with a barrage of messages generated by a vast machine of media organizations who try to point us to some cause that steers us away from the truth. This cause could be pro/anti-abortion; pro/anti-religion, republican, democrat, etc. It doesn’t matter what area we are focused on so long as we are focused on something other than their efforts to turn us all into mindless consumers of either their products or propaganda. It’s all the same. What matters most is that we don’t think for ourselves and act in our own interests whether as a group or as individuals. It’s all about control, power. As long as we remain sheep shuffling our over-sized asses through the malls of consumer products and pre-digested ideas we will be blind to the truth. What is this truth? What is this truth that “they” don’t want us to see? The truth is that we don’t need them. The vast bureaucracy that spoon feeds us every possible thing is a huge leach that sucks away our productivity as well as our ability to live decent lives and provide meaningful opportunities for our families. We are dazzled by this infotainment world that wants to amuse us so that we do not do the one thing that threatens all: think for ourselves. Turn off your TV, phone, computer, car, etc. Walk around your neighborhood and take an honest look at where you live and ask yourself if this is the world for which you want to take credit. Walk through your child's school and ask if this is the best, given our greate wealth, that we can do. Step out of this vapid consumer culture that teaches our children they have to have X to be Y. We have grown fat by listening to this vast machine that wants to push us into the consumer fantasy that we can become whatever we want simply by buying things to create ourselves. We have a bulging tick on our backs that doesn’t value honest, meaningful work. We are surrounded by a sea of people that do not contribute to our society in a meaningful way. And I am not talking about the unemployed and those on the government dole; they are an insignificant drain on society. The true leaches are the vast sea of corporate and governmental bureaucrats that produce this self-perpetuating propaganda. Most of them don’t even know they are a part of it because they have been sucked into their own system that produces for the sake of producing with no question about the value of that which is produced. They work 60 hours weeks producing garbage to watch, eat, read and use and throw away. These people will look back at their careers and there will be nothing there of which they can be proud. What is the solution? I am afraid that the solution will be presented by an unforeseen problem. Our sanitized world will be invaded by a force that will awaken this other possibility, this possibility that life can be meaningful, that our days don’t have to be wasted in these intertwined theaters of the absurd where we waddle from latte to burger to DVD to our inevitable death.