Okay, enough is enough. Ever since the passing of the election, the comments on this site have been dominated by raving lunatics (I am referring to the endless, incoherent, abysmally misspelled and run-on comments of those such as Dcj91365 and ellisliza who have dominated the comments for weeks now). I have sent a request to the administrators of the site to put a stop to this. This is a site dedicated to the purpose of changing the system---or being a catalyst for that change. This is Ralph Nader's website. It was never intended to attract rambling nutcases or people who need to quaff a dozen whiskey sours while blogging.
Also, slow it down a bit when you type. Punctuate once in a while. Sentences that run on and on end up making no damn sense, now do they? Learning how to spell simple words would be a big help as well. Stop trying to be so artsy-farsty with your writing, too. Speak plainly. We don't need poetry here. We need ideas.
So, basically, what's the answer? Keep plugging away, staying informed, and never lose sight of who's trying to help us; like Nader, like Gonzalez, and who at least doesn't mind hurting us; like Barack Obama, the Clintons, John Kerry; and those who enjoy hurting us, like good ol' Bush. We just have to keep hoping, I guess, that one day people will get tired of playing with their $2000 gadgets that cost $80 to produce, and join the ranks of the self-defending. In the meantime, give the bastards at the top all the hell you can. And if anyone does decide to storm the Capitol, I'll be there.
The problem being, we thinking, caring individuals, like the people on this website, have to suffer--greatly--for the majority's complacence. At this point, I'd rather just move to Canada, or Holland better yet, but those countries have no "open door" policy like we have here. So here I am. And I've grown to truly despise America. I don't want to feel that way, but what is there really left to love? I keep coming up short on that one. I'm 33 years old, and I work at a friggin' Sbarro at the mall. I can write, I can paint, I can play the guitar...and yet here I am, too damn poor to break my cycle of poverty, living in a country that would just as soon keep me that way. The land of opportunity? Sure, it is. If you're one of them.
Fair enough, Gaborok. And deep down, we all know you're right.. Much like the French Revolution, when the government is raping and starving its people, and there isn't even the barest thread of equality--true equality--left, then it is time for all-out revolution. I believe we have reached that time, but it's not gonna happen. Most people aren't even in shape enough to do that sort of thing, never mind realizing they need to. Are the American people getting what they deserve? Yes, they are. Because even when the corruption, the greed, the lies, the propaganda are laid out before them scrawled in blood, half don't get it and most don't care. Our "leaders" and our corporations have worked hard to rear an ignorant, apathetic population, and that's what they've gotten.
The answer is revolution...The mass-boycotting of evil corporations' products and services. Stop shopping at Wal-Mart. Stop drinking Coca-Cola. Stop eating at chain restaurants. Stop buying garbage we don't need. Get over our e- i- o- and u- addictions. Get over our "next newest thing" obsessions. Just because a company invents some modestly new technology, doesn't mean go in for it. We don't need $2000 TVs. We are letting them rape us. We must stop. We must take to the streets in large, mass demonstrations. We must scream until we are heard.
And the Reagan/Bush/Clinton Dynasty continues....But somehow, we call it a democracy with a straight face.
Hedges has written a brilliant article, which you can read in full at
www.greenchange.org. After reading this brilliant explanation of the country we now live in, you will see that the reason Nader can't get elected and is lucky to get on the ballot isn't JUST the corrupt system, the corporate control of the media and the debate commissions, and all these things we know need to be eliminated, but the level of unbelievable ignorance of the majority of the American populace. This, before any expectation of progress can be considered, must change. We MUST become an informed nation again.
The ultimate problem with America is not the corrupt politicians, the corporate control, the waste, the war, etc. The problem is we have an apathetic, ignorant population too damn dumb and lazy to do anything about it. Take a walk down any street and ask five people at random what they think about almost any national situation. Not one will be able to form an articulate thought. An article entitled "America the Illiterate" by Chris Hedges tells us:
"There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation's population is illiterate or barely literate. And their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year.
The illiterate rarely vote, and when they do vote they do so without the ability to make decisions based on textual information. American political campaigns, which have learned to speak in the comforting epistemology of images, eschew real ideas and policy for cheap slogans and reassuring personal narratives. Political propaganda now masquerades as ideology."
Eighty percent of our population thinks, acts and responds to the world around them on a sixth grade level. Even those who went to college. Take a serious look at our brainless culture. Look at how Americans respond to rhetoric that gives them a warm, fuzzy, falsely secure feeling. Deciding who to vote for requires no thought. Only reaction to stimulation; to be fed false notions of superiority; that America is the greatest nation on Earth, a beacon of hope, and that Americans are the bravest, kindest, hardest-working folks on the planet. Hitler used the same tactic to seduce millions. We get it every four years.
People no longer read in this country. Nobody bothers to inform themselves. Most couldn't grasp many of the great writings and honest news sources if they tried, due to the fact that we're graduating people from high school and college who are functionally illiterate. Obama played to the low attention-span masses in the same way that has become customary to most public figures.
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