Thoughts after today’s class
John Zamer
Journal #5
Today’s class was spent discussing a few pieces of news which I found very interesting and also a bit depressing. I knew about the health risks involved with high fructose corn syrup, but I never knew it was in our bread. I find that to be absolutely disturbing. When I asked my mother why the hell there was high fructose corn syrup in our bread, she said all bread needs sugar. Obviously I know nothing of cooking. At any rate I think that the situation with the foreign dependence on oil, the crisis in the economy, the possibly stagflation, plus the ongoing wars which aren’t looking great, all spell for a bleak future.
I am just as patriotic as the next guy. I also, however, read a lot of history, and every empire falls. Every civilization crumbles. Time defeats them all. Is the American republic as we know it reaching its end? The idea brings my mind to scenes from post apocalyptic films. Highways in disrepair and people fending for themselves. America is the world sole super power as of now, but our food is killing our children, and we are not making many friends with foreign policy. I have honestly looked closely at each presidential candidate and can say that I don’t feel that either will really change things enough to take us away from the path to ruin.
This generation of children doesn’t know the meaning of exercise. I see the kids in my former high school, and half either look older than me, and the other half look younger than 13. More than two thirds of the kids at my elementary school are chubbier than their baby fat should let them be. There are weird things going on with the diet and basic health patterns of Americans today. I have gone through my whole life thinking that my generation was the same as every other, and the next generations will live in the same world I lived in. Things were pretty solid I assumed. The reality is that the next generation of kids is going to be growing up in a world we can’t even truly imagine. A world where admitting you believe in God is basically like admitting your irresponsibility intellectually. A world where rap and hip hop is the same message worded in as many different ways as possible. The message of all I care about is having sex and getting more money. I love rap, and I listen to hip hop all the time, but if I hear I got my money on my mind in one more song I might turn off the radio for good.
The sad thing is that some people spend every second of every day listening to these songs or whispering them under their breath when they can’t hear them on their ipods. If that wouldn’t brainwash you, I don’t know what would. The message isn’t one that has any real meaning. It is a very materialistic message which, when one makes it his only value in life, is a message that leads to depression and even suicide.
These same people that spend all day immersed completely in this fake world created by the media and artists have no clue what their country is doing over seas. If you give them an article about why Chris Brown died they will read it all the way through, but if it were instead an article about something real and relevant in anyway, it would some how cause them to be bored with it and not desire to read any more.
This is the world as we know it in America, and I think that it is reflected in the fact that we haven’t really had any great presidents in a while. And this upcoming presidency is not going to be that great either.
It is said the only thing that unites America is the common language. After all, what really unites me to an Alaskan? Or a man from Dakota? Truly the only possible thing would be the language we speak. We are both in an extremely large republic named the US, but what is the US? When broken down, it is a system. A system that creates the need in every child to get a degree and enter the work force as fast as possible. And once in this work force, to produce as much as possible as fast as possible until you retire. Now because there is this need built into the society of the US, those who cannot afford university education need a means to attain the goals of the society. Well that’s part of the system too. Those that cannot afford to do what the system has mandated that they should do are sent into the military.
One of the main signers of the Communist Manifesto was the United States. Basically underlying how important a public school system was for the new society. With this public school system the ideals of the society are placed on the children and they know that they need to get to work. If they don’t want to or they cannot afford an education, the other option is to serve in the military. Everything you do is taxed, so that your success is actually the systems success. What real connection to I have to Washington other than the fact that my taxes go there? The only thing we have in common is our language. Our culture is different, our ideals are different, and our appearance is different. When America looses its common language, it will loose its unity.
Give a rap song to the president and ask him to translate. I guarantee he cannot comprehend what is being said. Not even Obama could understand most rap. It is a new language. There are many sub-cultures being developed around the nation, and as long as they develop independent of the other areas, they will eventually be irreconcilable. The standardized public school system is completely crucial to the American system. This is what teaches kids how they should speak correctly. This is what teaches kids why we should care about people thousands of miles away. I think it’s funny that some politicians claim to support education very strongly. Deep down, if they know anything, they know that the public education system is the only thing holding this country together. Now we all know that America is supposed to be a capitalist based economy, so why would the United States sign the communist manifesto? I honestly don’t know much about that particular era in history, but if Obama becomes president he is going to try and change a few things. Centralizing and monopolizing by the state of all that produces while maintaining the free public school system is something to watch for. If not communist then at least one could say it is socialist. Whatever one calls such policies, they are not capitalist in the least, and any deviations away from the original capitalist ideals in my opinion show a lack of trust in them. A different America is coming, slowly but surely. Within the next few generations The State will grow in power until just insinuating somebody is an Arab will be the same as charging them with a crime. Every phone call is already monitored some argue, what is the next step? Torture, which is forbidden by the Geneva Convention, is commonly practiced by bases on foreign soil run by our soldiers. Just what kind of country are we going to be in thirty years?
