White Noise, Propaganda, and Complacency

Increasingly, the more I watch TV, the more I surf the net--as we used to say in the 90's (does anyone say that anymore?)--the more frustrated I get with our culture.  People, myself included, are so easily distracted by inane nonsense, but, I suppose, to a certain degree, we can't help it, because it is designed to distract us from what is going on right in front of our faces.  

I know I am probably a crazy person with tinfoil on my head rambling my crazy paranoid theories about the world, but I really don't think that I am that crazy or paranoid.  While it might not count for much anymore, I am highly educated.  I study language, ideas, and stories--how to analyze language, ideas, and stories, and while that might not get me a well-paying job, they are invaluable skills.  Especially in the everything goes, misinformation age.

These are skills that we all need to develop, to be able to discern  the genuine from the bullshit.  That's the real reason that college degrees have been turned into a commodity--why teachers and instructors are marginalized and paid unlivable wages.  

If people are really educated, then they will be able to see through the illusions.

Good ideas, facts, sound science, get lost in all the white noise that so easily distracts us.  We don't have telescreens, we have the Internet and television.  Instead of the "Two Minutes Hate", we have a nonstop, 24-hour barrage.  We are inundated with messages, most of which can be simplified to, "Look the other way."

It's time for people to wake up and stop following and start listening.  Stop looking the other way.  It's time to find what's real, which is mixed in with the noise that makes us so apathetic.  Stop being apathetic and start being conscientious.

As far as we know, without a doubt, we only have one life, and the only time you can take action is in the present.  Time doesn't stop, it doesn't slow down, and the more of it you waste, the less of it you have.  You can continue to go about your life, and pretend there is nothing wrong, or you can begin to face the truth.  What are you going to do?

A Poem:

Never.

Never be complacent.
It’s that unspoken sort of knowledge
that our parents passed down to us
through the horror flashing in their eyes
as they tried to make ends meet.
But it’s like trying to make a circle
from infinity to infinity
and trying to keep reliving it.
There are two ends:
one that you are always traveling towards,
and another that you
are always traveling away from.

You can never go back, because
it’s all exploding behind you.
 If you don’t keep moving forward,
it will engulf you.  Your matter
will be sapped back
into the universe
until it is regurgitated…

Maybe we really do live forever.

We can all be kings and queens.
We are all swimming
through the same vast ocean of universe.
We are all traveling through space
and reliant on light.  We all breathe air and
require water and sustenance
from other living things.
We are all part of an ecosystem,
whether natural, or artificial.

We can all be the kings and queens.
We can be whoever
we define ourselves to be.
We make it all up.
Our minds are trampling us
under the immense weight
of our self-consciousness.

We are so smart that we scare ourselves,
and we cannot grasp that we can
progress if we put our minds to it, and carry
on only the best ideas, and try to repair
everything that’s broken, or keep trying,
because it is an impossible task.

But that is what should humble us.
It is difficult
but we can keep wanting it.  We should
always keep wanting it.