Just. Stop.

*** WARNING *** 

The filters have come off completely for this post. The editors have been shackled, bound, gagged and shipped to spend 10 to 15 with The Gimp. This is the result of climbing atop a soapbox and then launching the Sputnik straight into the stratosphere. Full-on rant mode. You have been sufficiently warned. Proceed with caution.

 

The more I see the state of the world today (various economies around the world, corporations trying their level best to profit-monger on anything and everything, snowflakes and the general inability of independent thought, governments stooping to all-time lows of morality and ethics, Congress selling personal information like browsing history*, and the general death of the Constitution), the more I want to eventually buy a sailboat and ride off to the Sovereign State of Fuck All, population two. (I’m not leaving my cat behind, and she counts as a populous…. heck, she has to pay Pet Rent at our apartment, so I figure she has some rights.)

The Internet and this prevailing wind of instant gratification has birthed an unending stream of bile, bullshit and bat-shit insanity. Most music these days is garbage (no, not Garbage – they were a fairly decent act from years ago), pop culture is obsessed with who/what can be the dumbest (apparently), and technology seems more interested in quantifying people like rats in a maze for monetization rather than, I dunno … actually improving the quality of life. It’s enough to make someone want to start kicking ass. (“Who’s Tony Romo now…?!? UPRIGHTS.”)

Granted, I’m generalizing. There are exceptions and moments of pure and endearing brilliance. But the world at large has drug itself to the precipice of total stupidity and, not having sufficiently quelled this self-imposed dare to see how far it can go, flung itself spread-eagle right over the edge.

Could we all just stop? Stop buying all this crap. Stop believing all the lies. Stop thinking we’re all entitled or better or immune. Stop letting others (corporations, the government, advocacy groups, anyone) think for us? Stop being so busy we think that’s an excuse or a means to an end? Just stop for a minute, and think. Think about what is opinion and what is fact. Think about what those facts tell you. Think about how those facts make you feel. Think about what needs to change.

Then, start making those changes yourself and not waiting for someone else to do it.

 

*Okay, so Congress isn’t technically selling your browsing history. They only voted approval for all ISPs to sell it… and I daftly wonder if any of those extra revenues of selling people’s lives like slaves will wind up back in the coffers of those same clowns in Capitol Hill as ‘campaign contributions.’ The statement above marked with an asterisk merely cuts out the middle man (the ISPs) and calls the situation as it is.