Apparently, my last ramblings were very popular with our web and MySpace following. Go figure... I bore me to tears, but then again, I have to live with me every day.

See title... What the hell has happened to us? Americans? Human beings?

Really?! Politically speaking, I have traditionally been a registered Independent moderate. Best man theory of voting. I'd like to think I haven't changed. It's our general culture that has changed... For the worse... and it's making me feel kind of radical, most days. I mean, is anyone paying attention to the level of candidate we're getting from BOTH PARTIES. It's shocking. Time for a third party? Would we survive if we formed one? Hard questions.

I recently read that 60% of surveyed high school students believe that the government should control the content in the press...

ARE YOU @&$%*#-ING KIDDING ME?! WAKE UP EVERYBODY!

Free press. Free society. Period. If our information and opinion is controlled by one governing body, then we are heading toward one big, fat Orwellian nightmare. I don't care what side of the political fence you're on. No one but no one should control public opinion BUT THE PUBLIC ITSELF!

My first major issue is that no one seems to learn civics anymore as a subject in school. Civics. How governments work, or are supposed to work. Professor Don is the first one to say this, and he's right.

Particularly our Constitution. Does anyone really know what's contained in those amendments? They are the backbone of our Democracy. As fear, paranoia, and ingorance take more and more of a hold on our society, that backbone will break. The Constitution must be protected at all costs, whatever your political leanings. Without it, we will become what we fear... a hyper-powerful, despotic nation with no moral center.

Why am I rambling about this? Well... because I see the erosion of civility at a very grass roots level, and it's very disturbing. We are becoming sociopaths in bubbles. Most people spend all day behind glass... The computer screen, the windshield, the TV. The computer screen, the windshield, the TV. Everything is moving at light speed. We've become a living video game. You are your own universe... until we gradually degrade to rude, self-involved, ignorant islands. Our sense of consequence to our own actions is evaporating.

Shouldn't we be evolving, instead of devolving? Last blog, I rambled about martial arts as a spiritual refuge. Turn on the TV. Watch as even that has become perverted. Reality fighting, which breaks down to two guys throwing each other on the ground and pounding each other's heads off the floor. Newsflash, folks, without the philosophy of Zen Buddhism or Taoism, martial art erodes to combat science. Barbarism. You could have tuned into the same event at the Roman Coliseum 2000 years ago. Muscle-bound men trying to kill each other on bloody ground, and people CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT! So much for progress.

Punchline, it's a complete fiction. There are still rules to 'Reality Fighting.' There are no rules to a street fight. Remove the rules, and one solid poke to the eye, kick to the knee, or hand to the windpipe would end the confrontation in seconds. That would be followed by arrest, arraignment, trial, conviction and incarceration. So much for Reality Fighting.

From spiritual to the perversion of the spirit. Martial arts are a spiritual journey, in the end. Not anymore. Learn how to pound the crap out of your enemy. That's the message. Ouch.

Same goes for religion, all of a sudden. Once upon a time, religion was about feeding the poor, spreading a peaceful message, caring for the sick, etc. Jesus Christ was a hugger, not a fighter, historically speaking. So were Bodhidarma and Mohammed. Men of peace. Now, like Reality Fighting, we have Tele-evangelism. Self-proclaimed men of God preaching to STADIUMS of people in search of some higher meaning... and taking their money by the bushel. It's the other side to the same coin. The debasement of spirituality.

That callousness for the pain and suffering of others extends to daily life. I see more people driving around in SUV's the size of the Love Boat. They're coming onto the wrong side of the road. They're coming into your lane. They're driving in the out and out the in. You honk to warn them. They give you the finger and scream bloody murder. Why? You INTERRUPTED THEIR PHONE CONVERSATION! GET OUT OF MY WAY! IT'S MY UNIVERSE!

Whoa! Maybe if this new brand of sociopath spent less time mentally masturbating and more time actually relating to other humans, then he/she just might get more quality out of life. In fact, it just might raise the quality of life all around.

A teacher I know asked her 5'4", severely overweight male student, "Why don't you do your homework? What do you want to do with your life?"

With a straight face, the kid said, "I'm going to be an NBA star!"

... he was serious...

"Have you ever played basketball?" the teacher asked.

"No." he replied.

"Do you ever work out?" she queried.

"Nope?" he said, unperturbed.

"Then, what makes you think you're going to be an NBA star?" she pressed.

"I'm going to be an NBA star!" he maintained.

Then, he returned to playing Gameboy basketball in study, instead of doing his homework... or a pushup, for that matter. This wasn't Spud Webb in the making.

The people manufacturing these new technological toys are feeding the public dumbed down dreck. It is the stupidification of the culture. All of this Broadband media should be used to inform the public... not to make them less informed than ever!

Has anyone seen the moral equivalent to John Lennon or Bob Dylan in the music business in the last four years? Even Hip Hop, which was the last refuge of counterculture and edgy messages questioning authority, has now joined the corporate machine. No one is rocking the boat. Everyone is lip synching. Is it intentional? Are we being hypnotized into accepting whatever we're offered, even if the standard has dropped to an all-time low?

We have I-Pods, cell phones that play videos, fast computers, GPS in our car... all these toys. Imagine if we used them to INFORM PEOPLE? We have the undivided attention of a new technological generation. We need to use it to make better human beings... not zombies who don't even know how to hold a door open for an old lady or to say please and thank you... Or that the press should be free of governmental control.

If I've pissed you off, then ask yourself why? A little too much truth for one day? We're all guilty. We're all part of the problem.

Point? Let's start a fire in the grass. Let's use this Indie content revolution to spread a different message. Let's use all this technology to do some good, shake some trees, and open some minds.

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