zeitgeist: the next big thing of crap?

I watched the two internet published zeitgeist movies over the weekend - it's been a long time since I heard a good cooperate conspiracy - and this one was pretty entertaining. I spent a brief period of time fact checking, but not enough to know if the film made me mad for no good reason. It is worth watching, if you are interested in making the world a better place.... I'm sure, like everything else, it isn't ALL true, but even if parts of it are true, it is a disturbing eyeopener.

it all boils down to the same thing...... activists spread the truth, hoping for critical mass --- enough for a change --- here the evil is the federal reserve --- so, my question is what would the critical mass be for such a change? I bet more than a third of the world's population. Not impossible, but it's an uphill battle.

professional unions

The American Bar Association protects the turf of the lawyers; they went after some poor schmuck who helped a client fill out a will program using quicken. What about the American Medical Association? Soon, the Herbs that actually work will be illegal to sell without a script. Meanwhile, the unions protecting the working class are slowly dieing, while the lower middle class won't even organize because they still believe in the fantasy of upward mobility. PhD scientists are making less money a year than bus drivers in the state of Wisconsin, a PhD Chemist starts at about 55,000 a year at one of the worlds largest chemical supply companies located in Milwaukee and the Milwaukee bus drivers make over six figures with overtime.

Why is education important? Why is competing in a global economy important? Sure NAFTA hurts the working class by moving jobs over the border but the economic "net gain" is greater than the net loss. Really? The top 1% do gain from NAFTA, and the top 1% also get all of the tax breaks, and the difference is made up by taxing the working class more with all kinds of creative regressive taxes like lotteries and now a tax on pornography.

So, why haven't we fought back? Well, how can you fight a system set up against you on a fundamental level? None of our current candidates have the american people's interests in mind - they will support the people who put them in office. Obama owes the insurance companies. The Medical Care crisis will continue under his watch. Gas prices will continue to skyrocket and we will be told the inflation rate is between two and three percent.. and we will take our cost of living raises (if we were lucky enough to get one) and be greatfull we have a job, while the one percenters hord the wealth of the world and allow people to starve and die of diseases that could be treated for pennies.

I was a sophomore in high school when I was taught the Social Darwinism no longer existed - it was in the context of the American industrial revolution. I remember being told unions were a way to fight this inequality. I also remember names like Vanderbilt and Carnegie.. Funny, I don't hear much about the super rich families anymore, all I hear about is Tom Cruise, Bradd Pitt and Angelina Jolee.

How close are we to repeating Ludlow? Or have the ultra rich duped the American people with a pathetic shell game of Hollywood, videogames, a synthetic war on terror and high oil prices?

we need more than another puppet election, we need a revolution, or at the very least a sit in with Angelina and a Xbox.


Ahh, revolution sounds way too involved. I'd rather move to Denmark or New Zealand, and join an union.

Wal-Wars

A very large unnamed retail company asked a smaller plastics company to lower the quality of their product so it would ware out faster. This is the world we live in. What's next?

ClassWar Link

Prozac, the new "opiate of the people"

Social Darwinism is alive and well in America. Read all about it.

What I'm interested in is if the introduction of drugs like Prozac can stave a class war.

The Death of the American Dream

When I was 19 I read Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. For me, Hunter S. Thompson existed in a place I wanted to see for myself. But it took over a decade for me to hear the Songs of the Doomed for myself. Since Fear and Loathing was published, America's elite have thrived. The income gap between the top one percent and the doomed have grown to proportions that haven't been seen since the French Revolution. Why don't we care?

Because it is our fault, right? We can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, right?

I'm a scientist, by trade. I have a Graduate Degree. I believe in statistics, and according to recent research that simply is no longer the case. The best I can hope for is to simply get by. I will never achieve the standard of living I enjoyed growing up. My father was a hard worker, and with less education he was able to achieve a standard of living I can't match. He was a Union Member. I'm lucky though. Because of his gumption I was able to get an education. Many here in the US won't get that chance.

Perhaps in the not too distant future unions will enjoy a resurgence. Hopefully those who try to unionize won't be branded terrorists by the Government.

But, with the help of Wal-Mart, Prozac, Hollywood and the myth of the American Dream we as a people will live in poverty quietly and without incident.

If there is a revolution, I hope they don't mind if I wear my Hawaiian shirt.
I have a feeling it is going to be gruesome. I'm going to need a bit of color to stay peppy.