I’m starting to see shadows of the gates of hell bordering the Atlantic to the east, tracing the Pacific Coast Highway to the west, lining the scalp of Mexico, and skimming the soles of Canada…Yes, we are living in hell. The United States of America have fallen far from heaven, and are floating somewhere in the sea of the underworld. They’re living with Lucifer. Earth is nowhere to be found. Literally, it is being destroyed. Our values are in their most carnal form. We are lords of the flies. We spend our time like money: aimless and frequent. And for many, both are borrowed commodities. Despite the commonality of divorce, marriage exists, though it has morphed from a sacred triad to a relation between humans and things. As trite as it may sound, it seems that rather than dying to live, we are living to die. Killing ourselves softly with the venomous hedonistic snake we’ve created. We’re living in a recession alright, but I’m afraid it’s far more spiritual than fiscal.
Entertainment and corporations pervade everything, even the most altruistic at heart: churches, schools, and family dinners. Everyone can be a star thanks to reality television. The fairy tale has become attainable, and up close, we’re finding it’s more nightmarish than we thought. Young entertainment stars are painted as clowns, surgically enhanced with parts that make Betty Boop seem like the girl next door. What you see is not what you get. We walk around displaying porcelain-laden smiles and skin stained oompa loompa orange. Each day is a masquerade. Competition has waged a war amongst us. But what are we fighting for? Maybe we should ask the residents of South Central LA.
Farms have become factories, farmers-slaves to the pimps of the food industry. Genetically produced animals and coming soon…genetically arranged humans. Oh wait, haven’t we done that already with steroids and embryos? Pharmacists are the new physicians, the wizards in white coats, concocting the magic potions for our invented ailments. Salespeople and marketing CEO’s are the new royalty. Pop stars and professional athletes are jesters of the entertainment circus. It’s a mad world.
Time is an illusion, conversation-a lost art. We’ve got to launch rockets to find space, for busy-ness has replaced intimacy. Interaction is interrupted by noise and distraction. We’re a culture of runners. Not only in the “physical fitness” sense but also in the living sense. Generated by fear: of being fat, of being ugly, of being poor, of being inferior, of loss, of pain…and the irony is that the more we avoid it, the more we create it. There is no end to our appetite. We are never satisfied. We produce food in unprecedented bulk, but have sent quality to the slaughterhouse with the rest of the e-coli ridden cattle. We do not fix problems but medicate symptoms. Prescription drugs, pesticides, and plastic surgery are one in the same. Where are we? Who are we? Are you proud to be an American? I recognize the many attributes of our nation: clean water, peaceful transfer of governmental power, freedom of religion, and the list goes on. But who are we as a people? What is our undercurrent? Beneath the cloak of consumption, is there substance? Are we aspiring towards heaven or content living in hell?
