However, I'm unsure if I can truly blame my social brethren for their infinite capacity for mindlessness.  Orwell, Huxley and Machiavelli were right - propagandizing a public is definitively simple.  Ten easy steps for a healthy dictatorship.  Here's how:

Step 1: Divide and conquer.  Ensure that your populace is given enough emotionally driven issues to stave off any potential allies.  Abortion, racism, sexism, (gay rights is especially effective at the moment) it really doesn't matter.  Take 'em all if you want.  Anything that prevents organization.

Step 2: Use the media.  Perhaps the most effective method of ensuring this division is to utilize mass media since it is the most widely used manner of the public educating itself.  Consolidate newspapers, magazines, television programs into singular beliefs so that opinions running counter won't be heard.  How often do you hear denouncements of capitalism on any television station or in any print media?  Have you ever heard condemnation on America's woeful human rights record?  Exactly.
NOTE: Currently, the internet poses a huge danger to the higher class.  However, given the looming threat posed to net neutrality, that may not be a concern in the future.

Step 3: Keep them stupid.  Nothing will topple a corrupt regime faster than an educated mind.  Place heavy emphasis on math and science, two areas of thought that have much to do with grinding forward industry, but very little to do with any social sciences, such as sociology or politics.  In this manner you guarantee a lopsided workforce, one with skills to advance corporate interests without the usual developed understanding of fairness.

Step 4: Keep them busy.  If individuals are too busy with work, family, schooling, partying and the like, then it means they're not given time to think.  If they don't have time to think, they don't have time to realize how screwed they are.

Step 5: Make them hate.  It's not enough that we all have differing opinions and that we may disagree; it's not enough to diminish the concept of right and wrong, of injustice.  To overcome that obstacle, each issue must be highly divisive and especially pandering so that it can reach even the lowest dredges of society.

Step 6: Indoctrinate early!  There can be no more effective results from your carefully monitored society than to teach children at an early age conformity is necessary.  While public schooling can do an admirable job of this (through pledging allegience to flag and country, ignoring certain parts of history and paying special attention to others, etc.), unfortunately, children still return to their parents at the end of the day.  That's why those parents need to be too busy and distracted to notice their children.  And this is where wonderful inventions like television come in (refer to Step 2 for more information).

Step 7: ALWAYS be at war.  This step is one of the most important.  War produces two effects:
    a) It creates a life or death situation for everyone, thus trumping all other situations and creating a solidarity (either for or against the war, it's irrelevant since the war will continue regardless) of fear that can be heavily abused.  9/11 is a prime example of this type of engineering.
     b)  It drives the economy and gives us something to do.  When people are dying and structures are being destroyed, that workforce and those objects need to be replaced.  In doing so, it gives purpose to war manufacturers whose companies are able to reap enormous benefits for something that should otherwise be meaningless.  Even on a civilian front, this proves a great asset to corporations: take Halliburton for example, offered a no-bid contract to rebuild a country America devastated.  Would they have made that money if Iraq was fine?  Of course not.

Step 8: Redefine individuality and freedom.  Your population needs to know immediately that individuality is a result of what they wear and where they pierce or tattoo rather than a natural personal evolution from birth.  By appearing different, one can feel different and thus their individuality is asserted.  If they feel that they have attained this difference from one another, then they will feel that they are exerting their right to be free and faux freedom is attained.

Step 9: Redefine and demand patriotism.  Create a fundamental bedrock that defines what it is to be a member of that society and demonize anyone that doesn't adhere to those rules.  If anyone is allowed to question the principles on which society is built then it's much easier for logic to be the dictated argument and people will listen.  If you remove that avenue of dialogue then you remove the argument itself and society's foundation always remains intact.

Step 10: Learn to utilize the government you're given.  While simplistic governments such as monarchies and despotisms can be mandated through militaristic force, more complex structures such as republics and democracies require a tad more ingenuity.  Let's use the American Constitution as the groundwork for an example.  To prevent corruption, the "founding fathers" drafted a resolution that would dismantle centralized power by delineating three separate branches which would watch one another.  These were called the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches.  To overcome this problem, use what you have at your disposal: the Executive branch appoints the Judicial branch with Legislative approval.  So, if you can control the Executive branch AND the Legislative branch, you can control the Judicial and thus run the entire government.  The drawback is Democracy, which enables the will of the people on their government.  However, by removing their ability to vote for anyone other than those handpicked to begin with, you remove the chance of upheaval.  Obama and Clinton weren't candidates we the people decided upon, they were chosen for us through the media.  Thus, we are forced to choose between those already dictated for us.

Unfortunately, as I'm unable to convert this diatribe into brightly colored cartoon animals dubbed over with an excited "tough growling" announcer armed with an 800 number you can CALL NOW to order the nation's newest China-made invention, I'm unsure as to how many of the American public I could ever actually reach.  Here, I'll make it easier.

You dumb.  Rich smart.  Rich use you to keep them rich.  You're a slave from birth that must work in their capitalistic world or end up homeless or dead.  No, no, don't listen to the cute bubbly Disney announcer--  Damn.  Too many big words.

As with all childhoods, mine was filled with confusions and rationalizations for a world that needed to make sense in my mind.  We're all forced to deal with and adapt to the society we're born into regardless of any rebellious attitudes, no matter how massive or miniscule.  Though I've been forced, as we have all been forced, to accept this collective mind of our parents and their parents we all, at some level, adapt.  However, despite all the conforming an individual experiences, there is likely to be a spark at some level, a particular belief that defies and refuses to accept the status quo.  Supposedly age overcomes this desire for change – that given time, the soul is effectively subdued enough to forgo any discontent and accept the plate of shit we're spoonfed daily.  Since my childhood one particular issue always remained embedded in the forefront of my thoughts and feelings and has refused to relent ever since.  Amongst the many driving forces behind America's descent into a bottomless chasm, American feminism has absolutely been one of the most damning.

I hated myself as a child.  The American 80s were a particularly nasty time for a young boy to grow up in, inundated with scientific evidence establishing that we're simply a devolved form of woman, that we perpetuate and instill a culture of violent rape and abuse against our gender counterpart.  I remember having not even entered my teenage years yet and breaking down because it hurt so bad to know I was born so deficient, so defunct and malicious.  Why couldn't I have been born a woman?  My mom's feminism stopped as soon as she witnessed the damaging effect it had on me but it was irrelevant – if I didn't have to deal with it at home, I would certainly deal with it in society.  Having the unfortunate distinction of attending Portland Community College during the late 90s early 2000s, I can vividly recall three separate times where I opened a door for someone in polite deference for my fellow human and was yelled at for asserting my dominance and minimalizing women.  I remember the posters plastered in the men's bathrooms that stated in bold black lettering "Rape is the Fault of Every Man!", a tax-payer funded campaign to enlighten men that if a man rapes, it's all our fault for the culture we take part in.  Oddly enough, this also marked the period of time where colleges began to notice significantly reduced male attendance and dramatically increased female enrollment.

Businessweek Online reported today that while American women have had jobs grow by 300,000 over the last 6 months, men have lost 700,000.  Colleges such as Portland State University boast an over 60% female student body, a trend that's largely increasing across the country.  Men are not only dropping out of public education at alarming rates but especially in the collegiate field where a clearly feminized (and highly vocal) society has finally begun to exact its toll.  The larger issue, the one that is heavily veiled due to our reluctance to observe a bigger picture and instead drown ourselves in mud-slinging, is the fundamental, instinctual and inalienable differences between man and woman.  To put it bluntly: from birth, man and woman are very different.  While nurture over nature can exist to a point, there are differences which exist that will never, no matter how much engineering we employ, change who or what a man or woman is at birth.

The feminization of America didn't simply begin with women, however – a large fault resides directly on men's laps.  Women and men have intrinsic differences, ones which make perfect sense regarding nature's consistent obsession with procreation and survival of species.  But what makes humans so different than the remainder of the animal kingdom is our sentience, our ability to pursue complexities in our minds and benefit from one another.  Man and woman are equal halves to a greater humanity, each representing enormous benefit that can never trump one over the other since neither is better than the other and each are necessary.  And that's where the mistake was made: man declared that his way of life, that of ambition and innovation, of strength and power, is the only way of life.  That by not pursuing what man pursues, all others must be stupid and weak.  It was inevitable given these circumstances that woman should adapt – the primary strength of womankind.

Corporations are becoming more and more distant everyday.  No longer are they interested in an individual worker as much as a cog, a piece that will fit into their ever-churning machine.  Men are nowhere even close to as adaptable as women and that is why contemporary America is far closer to perfect for woman than man.  Even ignoring history and the obvious that 99% of human achievement spawned from that of man, be they wars or scientific advancement, would it even make sense for a species to exist where both sides were individualistically innovative?  That both female and male were destined to pursue greater endeavors?  "Behind every good man exists a great woman," is not simply a cliché idiom, it is the fabric of what designs humanity.  Man cannot achieve, cannot be great and will stride directionless without the endless patience and kindness of woman.  Imagine society today: why do so many women stay with so many "bad men"?  Why do so many women accept their abusive husbands or boyfriends?  Female adaptation is what brought humanity to where we are now.  When man pursues his idiotic and fruitless task, to be disdained by other men as foolish and wasteful, who is it that stands beside him in lieu of his ambition?  This is hardly to advocate that a man should abuse a woman under any circumstance, on the contrary, finding a woman that will devote herself should be, without a doubt, inspiration for man to be good and never evil.

It's drilled ceaselessly into our heads that success as a human being resides in the ability to produce money, to innovate and to inspire change.  That criteria alone is flawed and undoes and damages humanity.  That is man's way of life, a belief dictated universally by men who believe their way is the only way, that by forcing women to conform to essentially becoming a man themselves, only then will they attain the greatness of being male.  Feminism's roots began in equality; that woman deserves the same rights as man and they absolutely and unequivocally do.  No woman should ever be told that they can't become an astronaut or a lawyer, however, no woman should be told they have to become an astronaut or a lawyer.  It's at these crossroads we exist now: a fight raging on between man and woman, over woman's struggle to adapt into a world of man of which they simply can't and of man's inability to understand why they're so miserable, why they feel aimless and abandoned.  The worst part of all of this is how much easier this has created a situation in which the rich can truly exploit the poor – men and women no longer have each other as allies, something that has never happened before.

Throughout all of human history since literally the dawn of mankind, no matter the wars wrought or pandemics endured, man has had woman and woman has had man.  Even if it was impossible to understand the complexities of what complemented one another given our little understanding of even the method of science to understand and evaluate differences, the fundamentals of community and a cooperation of male and female existed.  Particular instances can always be addressed on either side, that a poor housewife was brutally beaten by her drunken faithless spouse or that the ambitious good-willed husband has his heart skewered by his money-obsessed slut soon-to-be divorcee.  But it's irrelevant: clearly man did not hold women in contempt and compulsory servitude for tens of thousands of years until some sudden and miraculous breakthrough of American society.  How much history confirms this desperation of women to escape the yolk of the evil male counterpart?  Perhaps it could be argued that any significant male domination over woman existed over the last 2,000 years, an odd coincidence to the egomaniacal and insane despotism of the Catholic Church, but it is just as easily argued the horrors man tolerated.  But I digress – the point is simple: how the hell does it do us any good to lay blame on either side?

While females are collectivist, something observed repeatedly and consistently throughout nature, male friendships predicate upon an entirely different standard.  Nowhere is this more evident than in our sexual culture: we reside in a belief that sex is purely stimulus, that the act of being gay or straight, is in and of itself to attain orgasm, to partake in a one-night stand mentality.  Our ideals of lesbianism, for example, encompass that of rebellion and male-inspired physicality rather than the camaraderie and love and overcoming hardship and loneliness that Sappho related in her poetry.  Love between two women is beautiful but not due to the curvaceous sweaty forms leaping at one another, but rather a nurturing protection men simply can't understand.

Men have a great desire to protect women, in fact, this is likely a topic in and of itself that strikes deep within men's hearts.  I'm certain that at some point in virtually every man's life, a need to protect a woman from harm has bubbled to the surface in such a way as to be impossible to ignore.  However men are despised for their attempts at assisting women as it is seen as patriarchy, a male asserting influence and dominance over the weaker woman.  This is truly offensive because it is anything but.  Men have a very difficult time letting women endure bad situations, especially ones that are seen in men's eyes as not even necessary, however the advocated response is for woman to be individual and strong on their own, to shirk man's advances as overbearing and cruel.  This strikes particularly deep with myself due to the pure intentions I would have being ground through the mud as sexist and chauvinistic.  And it's a hurdle that men are keenly aware as near-impossible to avoid – women refuse to let men help.

The irony of our societal feminization is that it is actually quite the opposite.  Feminine power is now wholly masculine and is almost entirely devoid of femininity, of the very fabric that defines woman's advantages.  Where could balance, temperance, love, patience and understanding fit into the American commercial mold of consumerism and newness and imposing tall skylines?  While men flounder in a system obsessed with conformity and ensuring each person is churned out the same worker bee as the last, the unique qualities that govern man's ambition and drive are throttled to suffocation.  If women can attain straight A's in all their classes, land jobs left and right, why can't we?  While I watch my female friends and associates excel in academics, I know more and more men who not only fail at this endeavor but loathe themselves for it.  I'm one of them.  I ask myself daily: why am I not a success?  Why can't I fit in like everyone else and simply study hard and get good grades and buy a house and own a car?  Why do companies turn me away for an interview simply because I don't have a piece of paper from a university that doesn't even care about its students – why can't they at least evaluate whether I can perform the job necessary?

No one should hate themselves for who they are.  And feminism plays both men and women against one another in terrible ways.  It relegates a system in which men disdain women for their achievements and pointlessly strive for individual excellence, something that hardly fits into any contemporary corporate mold.  Worse, it creates yet another polarizing divide amongst the populous thus ensuring our distance from one another and assuring the rich and elite retain their pedestal regardless of how they act.  Nowhere could this be more clear than in the past 8 years, a period in which we've seen an administration take more liberties with breaking federal laws and removing our rights than ever before, yet we stood idly by and spoke of more "pressing issues."

I'll end this with a surprising quote said by none other than Obama.  He said something which I've never once heard another candidate espouse, something quite dangerous because of how true it is: "People don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody is going to help them. So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage."

Yup.  They sure do.

Reagan (x2), then Bush, then Clinton (x2), then Bush (x2).  All told, my generation and all those younger have experienced at best the early 80s, the beginning of the end of community and humanity.  Lacking any other society to compare it to, complacent and weak and especially ignorant, we allowed corporate interests to dictate our life direction.  Ridiculous acts such as rewarding colleges and schools based upon positive grade output manufactured a society of obligatory passing where students bought credits in exchange for them simply showing up.  Higher learning made their money, students reaped their degrees and everyone was happy.  In the end, business majors became a requirement, many job fairs and recruiters reflecting a demand for some iteration of a business-related degree to even be considered for a position.  I’m curious, if no one’s around to create what’s for sale because no one knows how, what will we do with our business majors?  Actually, we’re about to find that out.  This past week has perhaps been the most damning and frightening evidence of the impending disaster due to unfold.

Bear Sterns crashed in a single day from a net worth of multi-billions to being purchased by their competitor for a bit over $200 million.  Only two days prior, the investment bank required a bailout financed not only by one of their rivals, but our government who shelled out $30 billion of our tax dollars.  Abrupt massive layoffs are expected and many high profile investors have lost as much as a billion dollars.  Unlike the Great Depression, in which banks had enough money to cover debt but didn’t trust the public, we are facing a scenario unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.  For the first time, banks have acquired more debt than they have equity to pay with.  Worst of all, since the United States government is heavily in debt (borrowing $2 billion/day for Iraq), they’ll be unable to bail out but a handful more institutions.

And then what?  Borrow from other countries?  The same ones who also don’t have money due to how reliant their economies are on ours?  Globalization is not only highly unethical and exploitative but also extremely dangerous due to the very situation we’re facing.  If the countries of the world employ an economy tied into feeding the beast of consumerism that is the United States, then what takes place if the U.S. crashes?  I’m suddenly reminded of a phrase of some kind, some ancient idiom from my childhood: something about eggs and baskets and not putting them somewhere.

Many American business owners across numerous industries are complaining of a shortage of qualified employees; that is to say, employees with skills rather than pieces of paper.  Local business is pointedly shaken, with no possibility of outsourcing due to the obvious lack of necessary resources.  Our refusal to rely on trade skills, on reinforcing a society obsessed with academic prowess over experience and talent, has paved a road that leads off a sheer cliff.  The American machine once had a traditional and notable ability to produce, to generate industry and heavy exportation.  Where we currently stand is precisely the opposite – our society has become an importing whore, the very businesses our country created abandoning us in favor of cheaper and more skilled labor.

Foreign businesses are becoming reluctant to even accept American currency based on how rapidly its worth is depleting.  Our falling dollar has shown little evidence that it plans on even slowing down, leaving our economy in a perpetual freefall.  With each new piece of information regarding the struggle of enormous conglomerates such as Citigroup or JP Morgan Chase, the puzzle becomes clearer, a frightening picture coming quickly into focus.

We will all feel this very soon.  Wheat has already tripled in price due to overfarming corn for ethanol.  Oil prices are hitting new records not seen before with a barrel costing over $111 just today.  For those with fruit fly memories, prior to 9/11, a barrel hovered around $25.  We have hundreds of thousands of unsold homes across the entire nation with those numbers climbing everyday.  Investment banks worth billions and household names such as CompUSA and Sharper Image have already careened into the oncoming chasm, a fair indicator of what’s to come for the rest of us.

Slowly, economists are beginning to recognize the decline.  For example, a European think-tank has predicted a full-scale economic collapse by the third quarter of this year.  If true, widespread shortages of even the simplest of supplies would occur, impacting not only the manufacturers who create our goods, but the truckers who ferry them and the stores who stock them.

To be honest, remedying these issues is next to impossible now – it’s much too late.  Perhaps if we suddenly removed our entire operative force from Iraq we may be given enough leeway financially to recover.  But that obviously won’t happen.  Given the circumstances, I can’t possibly foresee any other future than that of a permanent and widespread change across the entire planet.  This crisis can unfold in two ways: one, the United States could feel such enormous pressure to remain a financial powerhouse that it would invade Iran quickly to secure their oil fields and thus produce black gold.  This scenario, however, is highly unlikely due to China and Russia who also have enormous oil interests and has a very real potential to cause World War III.  The second and much more plausible is a rapid economic decline into insolvency where America will be forced to succumb to massive bankruptcy and impact the global economy as a whole.

PORTLAND, Oregon – Police have arrested a suspect linked to the mysterious death of Nine, a neighbor described by residents as "a quiet individual who enjoyed helping children with math."

Seven, whose age and address were unavailable, was arraigned Monday following a week-long investigation into the murder of Nine.  While police refused to provide more details of the killing citing respect for the victim’s family, the conference confirmed rumors of an autopsy report that indicated Nine had been cannibalized.

Last week after receiving an anonymous tip, police found the body of Nine at his home.  The following day, rumors began circulating that Nine had signs of being eaten, sending the town into a frenzy.  Local businesses closed yesterday in memoriam of Nine.

"We really felt we had to," noted one store owner who runs a bookstore specializing in nursery rhymes and puns and jokes.  "Nine really meant a lot to the community.  He’s been there for us just about everyday."

Phone records indicate that on March 2^nd, a close friend of Nine attempted to call him in hopes of alerting him to the threat on his life.  According to police, the friend, Six, had left several messages on Nine’s answering machine warning him that he considered Seven dangerous.  Leading up to the murder, residents described Six as becoming more fearful of Seven, often leaving them to ask themselves "Why was Six afraid of Seven?"

Prior to Nine’s death, Seven had been described as acting erratically and annoying coworkers and friends with counter-intuitive multiplication tables.  "He was being very weird.  I think feeling like an outcast finally got to him," said Ten, a self-described close friend of Nine.  "Two syllables is really strange to a lot of people."

"It’s hard to believe Seven ate Nine," said one resident who refused to be named.  "Seven was a part of our community for as far back as I can remember.  It really shocks you to think something like this could happen so close to home."

It’s unclear what the prior relationship between Seven and Nine had been and no motive has been given as to why Seven would target Nine.  As for the allegations of cannibalism, whether it ends up being true or not, it’s clear the incident has affected this community.

Seven is set for a hearing on March 18^th.

Our nation is one of remarkable history.  Though a majority of our founding fathers would likely collapse to their knees in uncontrollable sobbing were they still alive given the direction our country has headed, America has been and continues to be a country of many firsts.  A pioneering destiny that refuses to relent even in the face of mass apathy, rampant corruption and international genocide, we are still able to break records and pave new paths.  Take, for example, our debt.  No, not our government's debt but rather the debt of us as individuals.  For the first time, at least as far back as the feds began tracking the relevant data, our housing debt has overtaken our housing equity.  That's right - American homeowners owe more than their houses are worth.

Since I'm sure many are unsure of exactly what that means, allow me to clarify.  If Joe Happyman has a house worth $300,000 and decides he wants a Porsche he can't afford, he can pull equity out of his home and get a loan using the house itself as collateral.  Now, if Mr. Happyman is duplicated a hundred million times and each one has withdrawn $150,000 in loans against their house, who's the one carrying that debt?  Oh yes, banks.  The same ones who have been quietly borrowing tens of billions from the government because they can't afford the debt they're carrying – our debt.  And now, the ultimate question: if we don't have the finances necessary to cover how much we owe to the banks, how're the banks supposed to be reimbursed?  Uh oh.  Did someone say "meltdown"?  I'd use the term "Depression II: Return of Building Jumpers", but I wouldn't want to be considered an alarmist.

This first, however, is one of many other symptoms of our rapidly deteriorating economy.  Throughout the Bush administration, we also finally managed to break not only a $2 trillion budget record, but also the $3 trillion mark.  Think about that – within a span of almost 8 years, we've nearly doubled our spending.  That is a feat of notable monument, a record not to be sneezed at.

The first time the government sanctioned a law to seize citizen's assets to hand them over to corporate interests.  The first time the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th amendments were not only ignored, but sanctioned in writing.  The first time a president cut taxes during a time of war.

And perhaps for the first time in American history, only a handful of its citizens actually care that any of this is happening.  Revolutions have defined our United States, ashes born anew from the likes of King George, North versus South, slavery, suffrage, voting rights, civil rights, Vietnam.  As a people, we have a lengthy history of advancement and progression, of cooperation en masse to topple inhumane and corrupt administers.  Yet here we stand, the most flagrant of crimes against the entire world unleashed not for a single year, not for even a "few" years, but eight insurmountably long and melancholy years.  We did nothing.  Even when given the chance to elect a new administration, we the people decided to flip off the world and reelect perhaps the worst pillagers humanity has ever experienced.

We are the byproduct of a carefully engineered society, one in which our strongest asset, that of our natural inclination to commune with each other, has been removed.  On every political and sociological front we battle with our neighbors, especially regarding the insignificant and always on a moral topic, an important distinction that exploits our systems of belief.

I guess I'm surprised that such a simple strategy, to divide and conquer, could be utilized so well against us.  But don't mind me.  Go back to sleep.

Most Americans appear to agree that their country is headed in the wrong direction.  It's hard to know exactly what's getting worse fastest but actually discovering the root of our failings seemed impossible.  Fortunately, collecting data that I have over the past few years, I believe I may have the culprit that erodes a better way of life.  In our present lives, with so many different answers to the complexities of life, it's finally nice to be able to point the finger at what truly is the root of all evil.  From obesity to mass murder, it appears all of society's woes can finally be attributed concisely – video games.  In fact, let's go over the list of exactly what video games can cause, including but not limited to:
*ADD
*ADHD
*Child abuse
*Exploitation
*Murder
    -Infants & children
    -Against teenagers
    -Against police
    -Mass
*Obesity
*Property damage
*Rape
*Riots
*Sloth
*Spreading hate
*Suicide
    -By accident
    -On purpose
*Violence
    -With weapons
    -Against women
    -Against children

During my research, I began to notice a very similar pattern emerge in yet another recreation, one far more invasive and literally in millions of homes worldwide.  Startlingly enough, there is another malady with remarkably similar symptoms that has plagued our society for thousands of years.  Through tireless investigation, I may have discovered the root of an even longer period of hardships humanity has been forced to endure.  Where video games are today's destruction of our civility, it is none other than that of "television", "radio" and "movies" that deserve blame as well.  As evidenced:

*ADD
*ADHD
*Child abuse
*Exploitation
*Murder
    -Against gays
    -Against women
    -Against children
*Obesity
*Property damage
*Riots
*Sloth
*Spreading hate
*Suicide
    -By accident
*Violence
    -With weapons
    -Against women

However, in each of these mediums of storytelling, it is the depth of the "book", history's tool of rebellion, that poses the greatest concern.  Unlike video games and television which generally require substantial funding to create, a literate individual with pen and scrap can write virtually anything.  I realize how difficult it is to accept given their massive intrusion in our homes but I have found that several of these paper-bound menaces include the very same issues covered above, if not moreso.

It's quite clear given the circumstances that, especially to maintain the sanity of those cocooned in the safe and warm status quo bubble, that scapegoats are required.  Admitting that mass murder in our middle schools and on our college campuses is a result of something far more endemic to our American culture as a whole would require an enormous amount of time and effort to overcome.  Considering how much we all enjoy stability, it's best that video games remain our scapegoat, a triumph over reason in which we can all safely pat ourselves on the back for rooting out the culprit.

To stop suicide, tie them up.  Don't ask them why they want to die.
To stop murder, take away their guns.  Don't ask them why they want to kill.
To stop rape, stone the man.  Don't ask why he did it.
To stop public disobedience, outlaw assembly.  Don't ask why they protest.
To stop theft, adorn all merchandise with security tags.  Don't ask why they stole.
To stop obesity, join a club.  Don't ask why they got fat in the first place.
To stop depression, take a pill.  Or a few.  Or many.  Don't ask why they're miserable.
To stop hate, ban symbols and ban speech.  Don't ask why they hate.
To stop racism, pretend we're all identical.  Don't ask why we might be different.
To stop sexism, read the previous line.

Today our war is against video games, the true enemy of the people.  Tomorrow, we shall find a new root to our misery, whether we fight Eastasia or Eurasia, it is more than enough to preoccupy our thoughts so that they may never wander, especially into the distant dreams of a better life.

Piercings, tattoos, name-brand clothing, knock-off clothing, expensive clothing, overseas clothing, 12-cylinder sports cars, SUVs, 42" plasmas, 42" LCDs, blood-diamond jewelry, caffeine, McDonald's, obesity, apathy, depression, anxiety, Prozac, abused livestock, school shootings, buy low, sell high, D.A.R.E., pornography, rights for women, rights for blacks, no rights for the poor, born-again Christians, Fox News, clearcutting, cancer, breast cancer, breast cancer, breast cancer, loans, credit cards, credit debt, credit counseling, New Orleans, guns, tax rebates, tax evasion, privatized eminent domain, gay pride parades, men are rapists, men are stupid, Match.com, eHarmony.com, autism vs. autistic, handicapped, impaired, never retarded, deaf militants, Gulf War Syndrome, Iraq War Syndrome, anti-choice, anti-life, white phosphorous, cluster bombs, napalm, land mines, --THE HOLOCAUST--, overseas labor, NAFTA, government spying, celebrities, Britney Spears, who the hell is Thurgood Marshall, distrusting our neighbors, the Pledge of Allegiance, Under God, best country in the world, consume.  Consume.  Consume!

A few years ago I lived in a dilapidated squalor, a house held together by memories and a reluctance to migrate.  Given the opportunity to peddle my house several times over the years, I saw no reason to sell for less than what I believed it to be worth (due to the near-acre of land it stood on).  Finally, realizing the insanity of half-million dollar houses selling to what appeared to be just about everyone, I became very afraid that the housing bubble was on the verge of something akin to a massive explosion rather than a muted deflation.  Two months before the foreclosures began to truly accelerate, I sold my house to a developer who planned to split the lot into three homes immediately.

That house is still there.  No one lives there.  Nothing has changed.  And I suspect, given the current circumstances of our economy, it will only get worse.

To abandon our consumerism is to defy that which defines our individuality.  Whether you're a native Portlandian azure-dreadlocked collegiate narcissist chugging coffee through lip hoops or ambivalently enduring the career world grind, the end result is an obsession with an accumulation of wealth to prove one's uniqueness.  The art of conversation, of exploring the depths and intricacies of the human mind, have decayed beneath the crushing weight of the fear of confrontation, the uneasiness of instability.  As much as I have lamented our culture's unfulfilled desperations to experience the love and companionship of those who feel exactly the same, it is the realization that the chapter of American dominance and capitalist subservience is coming to a close that ignites my kernel of hope.  How incredible it is that in a span of almost 30 years, our slumber at the wheel has obliterated the very structure that created America – community.

To quote Offspring, the kids aren't alright.  Although I would love to pin the blame on a single generation that delivered this period of misery into our lives, it is, has always been and will always be the classic tale of the rich elite exploiting the ignorant poor.  Trickle-down economics (or supply-side or Reaganomics) did precisely what those who implemented it intended: give the majority of our nation's wealth to the richest forcing the working class into a perpetual month-to-month desperation, paychecks unable to provide even the simplest savings.  My entire generation and those born subsequently have been robbed of the splendor humanity possesses naturally, our positive instincts, our right of sublimity.

Marketers have played our natural instincts of justice and fairness, of love and companionship to the endless benefit of the wealthy: ensuring not only that we consume, but that we are clearly divided between white and black, rich and poor, man and woman, pro-life and pro-choice, a list that labeled us far more concretely than something as irresolute as individual personality.  We can never organize for no abortionist would ever consider alliance with a Baptist, and vice versa, no matter the greater cost or looming threat.  Feminism abandoned its roots in equality decades ago, replaced by the corporate dream of this untapped female market.  "You've come a long way, baby!"  "You've got your own cigarettes now, baby!"  Black and white ads plastered with a voluptuous supermodel lighting up, evil men reprimanding their wives for such a filthy habit.  Women were granted choice!  Now they too could suck down tar!  Free from the dominant patriarchal chains, corporations latched on, associating every product imaginable with their newfound liberation.  Simultaneously, this ensured two halves of humanity isolated from one another – something that had never before been accomplished on such a massive scale.  For the first time, men would no longer have the power or drive to lead for lack of their traditionally strongest support, the sympathetic and loving woman.  "Behind every good man…" became a tired cliché, another reminder of our sexist past.

Man is a raping and violent unthinking beast and woman a manipulative cold and calculating whore.  From the highest rooftops we all scream the wonders of America, of our comfortable lifestyle and advanced technology.  The search for human connection has been replaced with cold hard cash, the one concrete outlet that assures a brighter future.  No longer should any of us be forced to endure trusting one another, such an unstable grounding, when currency is accepted by everyone.  Money is safe.

People need people, no matter their refusal, it is the recognition from another that bestows rapture.  Pornography is an excellent example of the ultimate exploitation of this human need.  Women sell their bodies and their dignity, a life no one would choose if given the choice, to attain a secure lifestyle, one that no longer is afforded through the protection of another.  Men languish in this endless sea of perversion because they're alone, because too few love them and they love too few back.  This is not to say pornography wouldn't exist if not for our seclusion, but their correlation is almost entirely inextricable, a depressing reflection of how much we've truly lost one another.

I was a happy kid growing up.  Grocery shopping often gave my desperate (albeit childish) samaritan need an outlet – trips included helping old women with lifting bags into their minivan, crying children consoled and led to customer service, asking the various employees busy facing if they needed any help.  Elementary school was a friendship paradise, children too young to have adapted to society's disdain for connection, too happy to worry for their futures.  Then high school hit.  As the years progressed, fewer and fewer were willing to trust that I had only their best interests in mind.  It wasn't personal – I was simply human like everyone else and thus, never to be trusted.  Worse, I was born a male, and thus I was clearly a danger, especially evident when I attended a local college and was berated not once, not twice but three different times because I held a door open as a courtesy to a human being, unaware of the apparent connotations due to their female persuasion.  My chivalry was disgusting, sexist, regardless of the fact that I extended this deference to everyone equally.  I realized that no matter how much I tried to convey to others that I could be trusted, that my character refuses betrayal and exploitation, it was irrelevant – I couldn't be trusted.

History has repeated itself so often, especially in regards to a population's willingness to accept even the most dehumanizing destitution that I am left to wonder whether the impending financial crash America will endure can truly change anything.  It is always easier to follow than to lead, to acquiesce, to float downstream.  However, given our wide access to humanity's greatest mistakes, it is the hope that we may one day expand our knowledge enough to overcome even the most ignorant servitude that drives me.

We are a broken people.  Given the future of our economic woes, I dream that this will be the catalyst necessary to reignite the humanity that lies dormant in so many of us.  Most people have no idea the depth of this rabbit hole; that this current administration has broken very substantial records with our debt and unrestrained spending; and they won't see it until it's too late.  It's what always happens.  To quote the philosopher, I believe his name was Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation."  Perhaps when the dust has settled, we will be born anew.

"Don't you want to be free and men?  Don't you even understand what manhood and freedom are?"  O brave new world, no matter how treacherous the path or elaborate the design, it is those who tumbled through society's cracks, who refused to imbibe our material soma, who awake as a black sheep that exhaust their energies to rouse those who aren't even aware they're asleep.  Though it becomes more and more apparent with each passing day, a monolith on my heart, that the manipulated are wholly unaware of their puppeteer, perhaps one day an honorable soul will choose to engineer humanity into happiness and love rather than to exploit for short-sighted gain.

In the proud tradition of socially engineering an American populous too distracted and divided to realize the implications our current actions will have on the future, our government's medical branch would remind us that the war between men and women is still a vital and important one and is not to be ignored.  The Center for Disease Control released a report yesterday outlining the dramatic amount of abuse we're all subjected to.  Did you know that 1 in 4 women have endured abuse?  I know, it sounds high.  Let's analyze the definition they use in their report:

"…as threatened, attempted or completed physical or sexual violence or emotional abuse by a spouse, former spouse, current or former boyfriend or girlfriend or a dating partner."

Amazingly enough, at one point in a person's life, they can expect "attempted emotional abuse."  Is that when someone is about to unleash a tirade of expletives in one's direction but maintains their composure at the last second?  Yes, that's quite traumatic.  I can certainly understand this dire need to protect our citizenry.

Unsurprisingly, the journalistic rags that picked this report up plastered their headlines with phrases designed specifically to generate outrage.  As Reuters put it, "Quarter of U.S. women suffer domestic violence" – that elicits a far greater response than something more akin to the actual report like "CDC reminds Americans that the definition of 'abuse' is broad enough to steer an aircraft carrier through."  While I would enjoy using this episode of irresponsible tabloidism to illustrate the U.S. government's alliance with big business in ensuring Americans remain consumerist sheep by doing everything they can to pit us against one another, it might make this rant a bit too divergent.

Interestingly enough, the CDC's report notes that nearly 12% of American men also believe they have been the targets of these same attacks.  To be honest, given that I've also been engaged in explosive verbal warfare with love interests in my past, I suppose I would be forced to count myself amongst those 12%.  In fact, given the criteria of what constitutes abuse, I'm thoroughly surprised that the statistics didn't reflect a barbaric Americana where everyone's answers to their black eyes are running into errant doorknobs or falling down precarious flights of stairs.  Maybe that's why the numbers weren't as high as they should've been.

In any case, irrespective of the actual content of the report, the mass media has done an excellent job of reminding men how truly despicable and evil their very presence is.  I'd write more but I have to brush up on how much more money I'm making than my female counterparts.  Oh wait, I'm poor.  Wait a second, where's that god-given benefit of infinite wealth and power that comes gift-wrapped with my genitalia?  I must've misplaced it...

I don't want to attack Americans all the time.  Like I've stated in the past, I used to be quite the patriot, believing ignorantly that Democracy represents the people, hard work opens infinite avenues and though the blood of our kin is spilled overseas, it is never wasted.  Unfortunately, and repeatedly, I find myself so disgusted with the average American for what appears to be a limitless list of horrific qualities that I'm unable to simply submit and accept the "when in Rome" disposition.  Today's flagrant injustices include tolerance, hypocrisy and a brave eastern state with too much heart and too little tact.

For the past few months, Vermont has been the only state with the courage to not simply recognize but also act on our administration's illegal and dictatorial leadership of our country.  While not surprising given their lengthy history of opposing numerous fascist ideals, it's their unfaltering determination in the face of their pathetically subservient neighbor states that deserves high accolades.  No matter where one travels in the U.S., it's very likely the trumpet of tolerance is blasted from the rooftops from sea to shining sea even when it's clear none of us, save for Vermont, truly believes it.  Case in point:

Americans are mounting an anti-Vermont backlash, many refusing that state any tourism and boycotting goods manufactured there as well.  However, it's the calls to imitate Nick Berg-style "justice" on Vermont's elected officials and support 9/11: Part 2 on the state that reflect our fanaticism so vividly.  This is the same state that elected Governor Howard Dean, the man stripped of his potential presidency during the 2004 nominations because the American people felt his high-pitched "whoop" easily outweighed anything relevant to actually leading a country, such as a voting history or political ideology.  Can you imagine if we found out Gandhi or Mother Theresa yelped at some point in their lives?  Hell, I know I'd never be open to learning anything from them ever again.  But I digress.

I find it incredible that in the same breath, Americans are able to utter their devotion to freedom, individuality and tolerance whilst demanding everyone conform to their view or expect retaliation, even mass slaughter.  It's not that I'm surprised we export this hypocrisy internationally – that's something we've been doing for literally decades (and it appears with each passing decade we become better at it).  It's that our beliefs are apparently so infallible that we are willing to sacrifice our brothers and sisters to prove it.

The "terrorists" we battle overseas have no need to worry about dismantling a pleasant American life.  We elect people to do that for us.

Hi there!  I'm a typical American.  And I'm here to tell you why I love America.

I guess the most important part of being an American is an awareness of how free we are.  We have freedom of speech (in designated places and with the right amount of money), freedom of religion (unless you're a cult but eww, who likes cults?), freedom of the press (as long as you don't say anything to make Americans feel anything other than that everything's alright, we hate being depressed), freedom to assemble (with the right permits) and freedom to petition (more permits).  Although, it's very un-American for me to be able to name all 5 freedoms in our First Amendment – I apologize.  I'm trying to represent everyone here.

But that leads me to the next thing about America that makes it unique and so important.  Our Democracy.  We get to vote on whoever we want to have as president.  I know what you're thinking, that's just way too many choices.  I mean, we have millions and millions of people in our United States.  But it's okay, the choices are already made for us!  See, each party selects a group of candidates to become our president and then depending on who has the most money and gets the most TV time, they become that party's official representative for president.  Then it comes down to the two parties in the actual election, where all kinds of things decide the outcome.  But even that doesn't really matter because usually the candidates are pretty similar and our votes are rigged anyway so it's even less thinking we have to do.  Like I said, it's super easy being an American.

The next thing I'm so proud of is our rich and diverse culture.  I mean, take our clothes.  Clothing is super important, that's why people pay thousands every year for name-brand stuff.  America has so many choices of things to wear provided by so many different companies.  I don't really care that most of what I wear is manufactured overseas by grossly underpaid and mistreated workers.  They're getting paid something, right?  And a dollar over there goes a lot farther than a dollar here.  That's how free trade's supposed to work – rationalize treating others how you would hate to be treated by saying at least it's not as bad as it could've been for them.

Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about other countries or what America's deals with them are.  Oh wait, I do know something – the Eiffel Tower is beautiful.  I went there on a vacation once.  That reminds me – French people are rude.  Some of them actually didn't know English very well so I had to try louder to speak with them.  What the hell?  Don't they know that it's my tourism that gives them money?  They should all be bending over backwards to thank me.  In fact, aren't we sending troops all around the world to keep everyone safe?  Everyone should be thanking us every step of the way.  We do so much for the world.

One of my favorite parts of being American is that we have everything done for us so we don't have to do anything.  In fact, from birth, we're told what to do and when to do it.  It makes choosing paths in life so much easier.  I know of these people called 'hippies' out there who don't care about our economy and just want to sit around and do creative things all day but that's not American.  American is going to college so you can get a piece of paper that proves your ability to conform so you can get a job where you'll do more conforming.  The only people that have problems are people who don't try to fit in and what do they give us?  I'm so sick of this liberal crap about liking the job you're doing.  You're not supposed to like it, it's a job for crying out loud.  It's selfish to think that life should be enjoyable most of the time.

Our public schooling is amazing.  A bus comes to pick up and drop off my kids so I don't have to.  It's so great too 'cause then I finally get a break from them.  Ugh, who wants to be around their kids all the time?  Don't they have to learn independence anyway?  I recently read something that said the average amount of time a child is engaged in conversation with their parents is between 10-20 minutes a day.  Isn't that great?  We're such a productive country that we don't even have time for our children!  Kids are really boring anyway, they just don't know enough about Paris Hilton or whether to shop at Nordstrom's or Macy's to keep up with adults.  Oh wait, wasn't I supposed to be talking about our public schooling?  I forgot what I was saying about it.  Oh well.

The Iraq War is a huge deal to me, too.  At first, I was completely for the war and behind Bush all the way 'cause my friends were and so was the news but then everyone started changing their minds, so I did too.  That's another thing about America – you've got to learn to keep up with the trends so you aren't left behind.  You know how embarrassing it would be to say you're for the war when everyone else is against it?  Can you imagine the stares?  It gives me shivers.  That's why I'm against the Iraq War but I can't really remember whether I'm for or against getting the troops out now or over time.  That's okay though because someone will let me know (through a friend or Fox News) what to think on the subject soon enough.

Well, I could go on and on.  Our overcrowded prisons (which is awesome, that means we're getting all the bad guys off the streets), our treatment of the poor and disabled (can the blind guy type 60 WPM in Excel?  I don't think so, screw him) or that we have less people we feel we can confide in and love than ever before (less Christmas gifts to worry about).

America: home of the free and land of the brave.