Shake Your Ass (A Misleading Title)

I have recently read a book and seen a movie that have really made me think (which is never a rarity, but always a nice surprise). The book was The Ethical Assassin, by David Liss. The movie, V For Vendetta. Both are fantastic in their own way. One is a suspense/comedy, one is an action movie. Both have characters who strive to get things done, to overthrow ways of thinking that we are bogged down in. Both have the understanding that to get people moving, sometimes you have to punch them in the back.

I believe we are victims of ourselves sometimes. We tend not to go outside of our own little bubbles of understanding when it comes to certain things.

Take the treatment of animals, for instance. Do you realize that meat-bearing-animals are often so pumped full of drugs to keep them edible that they develop sores on their skin, they stand around in drugged dazes, and they are literally driven insane by the conditions they live in? (now, im not talking clinical definitions here, but think about it.) Why is this ok with us? Is it because they are bred for our consumption? Is it because we really think a God put them on this earth for our benefit? Im not disagreeing with that, but muse over the fact that its a whole lot easier to get upset about a drowning puppy than a cow with hoof and mouth disease. They are both animals, arent they? Is one worth less than the other?

Keeping in theme with the aforementioned works, take also the government. Now, although I seem very rebellious, I have a strong sense of right and wrong about certain things, and justice. I believe in the death penalty for some. I believe that sometimes war is the only viable option. I wish it were not the way it is, but thats what we got. (Im not mentioning Iraq here, but rest assured I dont think that was the only option.) So I dont think that overthrowing the government, and having complete anarchy is the way to go. I aint no Tyler Durden. But think about the level of apathy you have towards everything the government says. I know that personally, every time a statement is made by the government (in some form), I take it with a huge grain of salt. Its been bred into our idealogy that politicians are SUPPOSED to lie. Like 80% of the time. So everytime the president (ANY president, mind you) says "Dont worry! We got this under control!", part of you wants to believe him. Part of you thinks he's lying.

You end up getting stuck somewhere between the two, where its like you heard nothing at all. And, after awhile, its like there IS no one to tell you when to worry and when not to. There is so much bullshit flying around nowadays. Fear Terrorists, but by that we mean in no way to harm the Muslims. Love your country, or else! It feels like a giant sleight of hand we are being shown, and I don't know what to look for anymore to pay attention to.

Everything we know, everything we learn, is put through the cheese cloth of our own idealogies and philosophies until we don't know what we are hearing and what we choose to hear. These ways of thought are taught, but we also sit back and let them take over, so we aren't blameless. Sometimes, it seems like we are fed so much bullshit by other people that we don't know how to stop bullshitting ourselves.

And Im here to tell you, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.

I want to give you all an assignment. I'm not going to tell you to sign a petition, because I don't have one, and I'm not going to tell you to have a sit-in until we get a good society, because your legs would be mighty sleepy by that point. What I want you to do is this: Take a moment, or an hour, or a whole day, and THINK about everything that you hear on the news, or in the newspaper, or on TV. Try not to get bored with the stories about Iraq, or the weather, or the commercials for car insurance. Take a step outside yourself and look at how you think. You may be surprised at what you find.

Now, just in case some of you haven't really gotten the gist of this yet, I'll say the obvious: I dont want you to believe what I believe. I dont want you to read this as, "Yeah, that guys right! Lets kill politicians and cattle ranchers!" I want you to realize that you are sieving out what Im saying as you read this. I dont want you to change the way you think to make me a better blogger. I want you to change the way you think because that's what we HAVE to do, if we are going to grow as a society. We are at the pinnacle these days, of everything we can accomplish. Without some new frontier, without light-speed travel or cold fusion or war with aliens, the only place we can go is downhill from here. But, again, it doesn't have to be that way. If we can rethink our way of thinking, we can make this place great. We can be what we always wanted to be, people who gave and changed and really made the world a better place. I believe in us.

But we can't do anything if we sit back and let the world spin us around.

We have to move the world ourselves.