Bread and Circuses vs. politics

Disclaimer: This is a fairly angry rant, and it's got strong Democrat leanings. Please feel free to scroll or ignore if such things might be offensive to you.

I will even include some scroll space














As I browse through various articles about AI this season - the Sanjaya factor, the general lack of talent in the entire cast, the slipping ratings, I have often seen the comments of journalists who wonder why we are immersing ourselves in caring about crap like this when there are some real political problems in the world - global warming, the war, corruption in DC and the question is raised - why are we so stupid as to focus on the trivial in a world that is in such turmoil?

I don't generally regard myself as a potato - head; I make a focused and concentrated effort to pay close attention whenever ANY election is headed my direction, right down to the state constitutional amendments and such. (Texas has such a poorly written constitution we have to amend it every time we want to add a new line item to the budget.) But I spend more time thinking about whether or not I approve of Sanjaya Malakar than I do thinking about the war. Why?

Today it hit me that I may do this precisely because AI doesn't really matter all that much. If something happens on AI that I do not like, it's annoying, but ultimately just doesn't hurt the world very much. Six years ago I watched helplessly as, to my perception, the Supreme Court gave the most powerful job in the world to a intellectually insufficient little despot against the will of the American people, and as a result, the poor have been further disenfranchised, pollution has increased, our civil liberties have been horribly eroded and thousands of people have died because of a war started over lies that came about because of a personal vendetta the President had with Saddam Hussein.

I am a Democrat living in Texas. I feel like my vote has no power at all. I can write letters to my congressman, and I get form letters back assuring me that they are working very hard to further their own agenda. I've gotten to the point where I can play Spot That Spin Doctoring the instant any official speech begins. We could turn it in to a drinking game.

Am I interested in global warming? Yes. Can I take public transportation? No. You know why? Because I get off work at 6:00 and the buses stop running at 5 in my city. They won't create more routes and times because nobody uses the buses and people won't use the buses because they don't have enough routes and times.

About all I can do is recycle.

We do that.

And vote in real elections.

I do that, every time.

And read the paper. I do that. I get mad.

And we watch a lot of reality television that likes to pretend Sanjaya is a national crisis. It's nice to focus on trivial problems every once in awhile.

Well, Abrahammy, it appears our politics are right in line with each other. I really couldn't have said it better myself.

Even MORE of a rant that will piss you off if you like GB, so don't scroll down unless you wanna see!















It's incredible that in the face of what our Commander in Chief has done that people can still talk about Clinton and the oral sex incident, as if that comes anywhere CLOSE to the steady diet of bullshit the American people have been fed over the past 6 years.

A man who is supposed to represent "the people" yet completely disregards their wishes in favor of whatever agenda he's hiding behind the cloak of religion.

I have a friend from Texas. She's a George Bush Republican. I do not talk politics with her for fear we'll be rolling on the floor pulling each other's hair out.

I've never had to consistently mute my TV anytime the president came on.

Maybe we don't feel our voice is heard in politics. Maybe it's because one man got the popular vote and didn't win. So now at least we can pick up a damn phone and feel like we have a say in something!

I agree. Concentrating on something stupid like this makes you feel a whole lot better than watching a man with our fate in his hands completely disregard our wishes and is hellbent on distroying the planet.

Related: kurt Vonnegut died. I have a post with links in the "In the New" thread.

But this is SO related, I had to post a link to this interview with Vonnegut here.

LINK

p.s...fuck scroll space.

Another liberal from Texas checking in! I DO believe in us, I DO believe in us! (thanks to the Cowardly Lion)

Greeneyez - I feel like an idiot! I was searching and searching for the "C" reference in your post above. I just realized that the "GB" referred to Bush! Aackkk!!!!

Frazz- thanks for the Vonnegut info. I posted in the other thread.

I came in here looking for bread recipes and hot lion tamers

Thanks for the article Frazz. Sad about Vonnegut. Is there anyone now who can make an impact like he did?

Sadly, I can't think of anyone who can

I am in independent.Frankly as far as I can tell there is not much difference between the two major parties anymore. It is increasingly sad to me. Can you even believe that Hilary and Barack had to raise 25 and 26 million dolllars for their campaign ? It is ridculous and a waste. There is a very interesting article in Rolling Stone this week called "The enemy Within" It is about the Democrats campaign consultants and how much they charge with less than stellar results. It is sickening. But OTOH I am also sickened by the fact that a lot of the Republican party seems to be run by the evangelical right. How scary is that? I swear I wish I genuinely honest person would run that could truly make a difference. Because at this point of the game this country is run by lobbyists and big corporations.

And while I am on the subject of politics would it KILL the news media to give us an honest profile of our canidates? Because now anything i want to know as far as voting records and stances I have to look up for myself.
I like pop culture as much as the next dude but seriously that Anna Nicole circus made up 28% of the new casts. While we have a war going on and a major important presidential election coming up. It's just wrong on so many levels. I will STFU now.

Aerwin, speaking of what the news has become, have you seen the latest jibjab?

http://www.jibjab.com/

Click on the top "what we call the news"

Hysterical!

Jib-jab rocks! Funny.