Which oppressive regime am I?

What would you say if it was revealed that there was an organization in the world that killed innocent people? What if this organization kidnapped random civilians, no matter what their nationalities, and spirited them away to be tortured in secret? How would you take the news that those who trusted their safety to this power because they have no other choice were spied on and suspected, without any cause? And suppose this organization committed its heinous acts in the name of "justice." What would you think? If you're anything like me, you'd be appalled. You'd wonder why nobody has stopped these people. You'd wonder how to make it stop.

But you'd also want to know what kind of a human being would do such things in the first place. Many people promptly think of radical groups such as Al-Quaida, Hamas, and Hezbollah. While it is true that these organizations do engage in despicable activities, the paragraph above is meant to describe the American administration. Collateral damage from Iraq and Afghanistan aren't even mentioned in the news anymore because the numbers of civilian dead are so huge. At the very least, there have been Britons, Afghans, Iraqis, Americans, and Canadians interrogated and in some cases tortured simply because they have Middle Eastern blood. How many Americans are under surveillance in the name of security, when the vast majority of us have done nothing worse than despising the administration and its actions? And then the right-wing wackos try to pass it off as "security," or try to push some Biblical quote in our faces. The parallels to certain other religious fanatics scare me.

A System of Checks and Credit Cards

In history class we're studying the Enlightenment of the 16-1700s. This means that we get into discussions of Voltaire, John Locke, and other such notables. A recurring theme is that these are the people who shaped modern governments such as ours in the States. The values that these men defined are central to America and our freedom. However, as much as this was true even ten years ago, it isn't so much anymore. In Locke's Two Treatises on Government, he outlines the fact that the governing body is there to protect the rights and property of the people. When the government no longer fulfills this function, the people have the right to do away with it, just as they would do away with a thief robbing them of their things. Also emphasized is the value of keeping too much power away from one person or governing body---the origin of the modern check-and-balance system.

We definitely need Locke today. The current administration is not serving or protecting us as it should. It is not adhering to the check-and-balance system; rather, lawmakers seem to be chosen and legislation passed by a system of checks and credit cards. They promised to make us safe. Now, in the name of security, fairness and freedom are being sacrificed. What do we have to show for it?

RIP: Innocence

Some say the end is 666,
The date of armageddon.
But the day the world will never fix
Is known as 9-11.

Just think about it

Interesting conspiracy theory:

-The elections are coming up in November.
-The administration's most acknowledged weak point has been oil prices.
-Gas prices have dropped nearly forty cents per gallon over the last few weeks.
-Now, a month before the elections, a vast new oil reserve was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hmmm...

The Pitfalls of Being Pretentious

At the moment I am in the middle of a pretentious phase, thinking about life, the universe, and everything (42), and trying to come up with ways to explain it and cope with it. Many musings focus on the corporate takeover of civilization.

It is the epitome of the Establishment. The neon and plastic signs lining the roadways. McDonalds, Nike, the Gap, Starbucks, Burger King, and hundreds of others. All of them want us, the citizens, to buy their products. Being the politically minded cynic, I often think of how industrialized these products are. Fast food is, for the most part, disgusting, because the companies substitute cheap mass-produced chemicals for real food products in order to maximize profits. Clothing made half a world away by people working for pennies a day costs about $100 per item, just because of the brand name. A pair of jeans for forty dollars is considered a huge sale. Now, I happen to like Gap jeans because they fit well. However, I get them when they filter down to the Goodwill, because then they are less than $5 a pair, the money goes to homeless shelters instead of millionaires, and my family has enough left over to pay the mortgage.

I was also considering copyrights and trademarks. For instance, a if a company has a "secret recipie" that they use, people at home are allowed to use it if they know it as long as they do not then sell the product. However, if a company makes it so that they own that recipe through patents, it's illegal for ANYBODY to use it, for at-home consumption or otherwise. This gives me nightmares. Imagine, some time in the please-don't-let-this-happen future, when EVERY action is patented by some company or other. We wouldn't be allowed to make spaghetti sauce because Kraft would own all the recipes. We couldn't sew our own Halloween costumes, because various clothing manufacturers will have patented every design. The act of writing a webcomic will be restricted by the writers who claim a certain style of art. All we would be allowed to do is sit around and be advertised at.

I support small businesses, often because the quality is so much better and because the policies are fairer by a long shot. But the problem with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat. Small businesses usually grow. And then they buy or force out little guys. Not all big companies are jerks, but a lot are. In America's quest for convenience we homogenize ourselves. No variety is left. It's just a number 2 with large fries and a Coke, or a Ventri Mochachinno with a triple shot before plunking down on the La-Z-Boy couch to watch the game sponsored by Gatorade, Shell, Reebok, and Ford, with Britney Spears as the Home Depot Halftime act.

Such bleak outlooks are depressing. What's worse is that we need these companies. I don't know how to make a pair of jeans. I can't build a bike or a car or a pair of shoes. I am a crappy gardener and I certainly don't own any livestock. I am not self-sufficient in today's society. Unless I go live in the wilderness and survive by natural resources, I need to buy things in order to live. I am saddened that this is the case, and I wish the state of things were otherwise.