Sunday, October 21, 2007
(12:16 AM) | Stephen:
So Weary
I've been working 6 days a week for a couple weeks now, on top of taking care of the kids, so I'm a bit tired.
But what really wears me out is the news that spews out from Washington DC every day. I'm tired of politicians being more in league with each other than they are with their constituents. I'm tired of knowing that the minuscule number of super-rich white men who control this nation's large corporations have plans and goals diametrically opposed to mine, goals that include an increase in their wealth intentionally at the expense of everyone else in the country. I'm tired of knowing that their concerns and whims will always be more important than mine.
I'm tired of the millions of people who sell their Constitutional rights, livelihood and their children's futures for the sake of meaningless rhetoric about abortion and homosexuals. I'm tired of people so closed-off and callous that they can't muster the barest amount of empathy for someone who might not share their exact experiences. I'm tired of so-called "Christians" who stand for nothing but hate, who fight for a fetus yet throw children in the garbage, who worship a God whose grace apparently runs out after covering their multitude of sins so that no one outside the four walls of their shrinking sanctuaries can taste of it.
I'm tired of a national press that trades in silly insults and gossip, that creates false equivalence in order to satisfy braying critics, that consists far too often of people who peddle racism, fear, lies, eliminationist rhetoric and simple bullying. I'm tired of every magazine, every commercial, every toy being designed to intentionally tell my daughter to hate herself and the way she looks.
For that matter, I'm tired of every toy being so loaded with toxic materials that they should all be shot into space. I'm tired of the degradation of all our products, each generation of manufactured goods lowering in quality to generate more profit for the privileged few, each year seeing "food" producers chip away at FDA regulations so they can pump diseased cattle with more hormones and antibiotics, feed chicken even more of their own solid waste, spray ever-increasing amounts of chemicals on our produce and even meddle with their genes - as if anyone really understands the consequences of genetic manipulation yet - in order to increase crop yields even as they sacrifice taste and nutrition.
And it's all - all of it, everything I've mentioned - for the Almighty Dollar. People oppose abortion and any help for mothers and children because the former is free and the latter would cost. People never want to pay more, so when a retailer like Wal-Mart throws poorly made and dangerous shit on the shelves, as long as it's cheap people will buy and be grateful they can fill their homes with it. We're driving around in cars powered by technology that's well over 100 years old, getting fuel mileage that would have embarrassed us 20 years ago because it's cheap. Not inexpensive, not a good deal, just cheap.
We're sailing into oblivion, you and I, on a ship made from the bones of children who work and die in sweatshops, in a sea full of the blood of the world's sex slaves, malnourished and abused. And as long as our politicians wear flag lapel pins and tell us who to hate and fear, as long as the high-fructose corn syrup keeps getting pumped into our food and as long as the damn television keeps us drowning in dreck, we'll just grin and row faster.
Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!
But what really wears me out is the news that spews out from Washington DC every day. I'm tired of politicians being more in league with each other than they are with their constituents. I'm tired of knowing that the minuscule number of super-rich white men who control this nation's large corporations have plans and goals diametrically opposed to mine, goals that include an increase in their wealth intentionally at the expense of everyone else in the country. I'm tired of knowing that their concerns and whims will always be more important than mine.
I'm tired of the millions of people who sell their Constitutional rights, livelihood and their children's futures for the sake of meaningless rhetoric about abortion and homosexuals. I'm tired of people so closed-off and callous that they can't muster the barest amount of empathy for someone who might not share their exact experiences. I'm tired of so-called "Christians" who stand for nothing but hate, who fight for a fetus yet throw children in the garbage, who worship a God whose grace apparently runs out after covering their multitude of sins so that no one outside the four walls of their shrinking sanctuaries can taste of it.
I'm tired of a national press that trades in silly insults and gossip, that creates false equivalence in order to satisfy braying critics, that consists far too often of people who peddle racism, fear, lies, eliminationist rhetoric and simple bullying. I'm tired of every magazine, every commercial, every toy being designed to intentionally tell my daughter to hate herself and the way she looks.
For that matter, I'm tired of every toy being so loaded with toxic materials that they should all be shot into space. I'm tired of the degradation of all our products, each generation of manufactured goods lowering in quality to generate more profit for the privileged few, each year seeing "food" producers chip away at FDA regulations so they can pump diseased cattle with more hormones and antibiotics, feed chicken even more of their own solid waste, spray ever-increasing amounts of chemicals on our produce and even meddle with their genes - as if anyone really understands the consequences of genetic manipulation yet - in order to increase crop yields even as they sacrifice taste and nutrition.
And it's all - all of it, everything I've mentioned - for the Almighty Dollar. People oppose abortion and any help for mothers and children because the former is free and the latter would cost. People never want to pay more, so when a retailer like Wal-Mart throws poorly made and dangerous shit on the shelves, as long as it's cheap people will buy and be grateful they can fill their homes with it. We're driving around in cars powered by technology that's well over 100 years old, getting fuel mileage that would have embarrassed us 20 years ago because it's cheap. Not inexpensive, not a good deal, just cheap.
We're sailing into oblivion, you and I, on a ship made from the bones of children who work and die in sweatshops, in a sea full of the blood of the world's sex slaves, malnourished and abused. And as long as our politicians wear flag lapel pins and tell us who to hate and fear, as long as the high-fructose corn syrup keeps getting pumped into our food and as long as the damn television keeps us drowning in dreck, we'll just grin and row faster.
Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!
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