Imagine being conditioned to believe that you represent the best of everything and anyone or anything remotely associated with you can have a share in your glory as long as they worship you. Now imagine suddenly facing the harsh reality that what you have been conditioned to believe is mostly ego inflating propaganda with little if any basis in truth. In the wake of this kind of revelation, what would you do? Would you continue to go along with a belief that you know in your heart is wrong? Or, would you take a stand and attempt to change for what you know in your heart is right? Except for those with hardened hearts, these questions confront and baffle many decent Americans today and overcoming this dilemma is America’s greatest challenge.
Along with this “looking out for number one” attitude and a declining interest in helping those less fortunate, the American people have adopted pit bull personalities. Can you remember when maintaining a low profile in our society was preferred over pompous, brash and in your face attitudes? To be cool, calm and collected back then meant you were qualified, confident and stylish without the antagonism, barbarianism and undesirable personality traits displayed today. Now it’s all about projecting the bad, “gangsta” or hardcore image, which some people go to any lengths to identify with, because on one hand they want to fit in and on the other, they want to stand out and be noticed. Although the terms liberal and conservative are misleading, even so-called conservatives identify with certain aspects of these “gangsta” personality traits and images because appearing to be tough is the popular thing to do and while they are reluctant to promote hardcore attitudes in their own communities, they profit from backing and promoting these attitudes in other communities. Newspapers, television, radio, movies and almost all forms of media and commercial advertisement uses and promotes hardcore language and images today. To be “cool” now means “there is no shame in your game,” people boldly perform ridiculous displays of arrogance and ignorance in public without hesitation, while others applaud in admiration. These displays stem from serious psychological conditions like low self esteem, inferiority or superiority complexes and rebellious desires to go against the natural grain of civilized behavior.
At the grassroots level, graffiti, slang language, tattoos, piercings, bling bling, obnoxious hair or fashion designs and even unnecessary cosmetic surgery, demonstrates a personal need to be noticed; to destroy or upset the norm or natural order; and depending on insecurity levels, to fulfill the need for what is known in psychological terms as reference group identification. At the other end of the spectrum conservatives have the need to be noticed as the people in control, so they usually end up turning a profit from marketing the pit bull mentality and all that is associated with it. They promote pride and arrogance while building their legacy on the backs and ideas of others. They also have a deep fear of losing their controlling edge, so they must instill fear in others to maintain manipulative power. Americans strive to be different but no matter how unique we think we are, popular trends in attitude make us appear to be the same, and arrogance is the trait that most Americans have in common. Many believe that the attitude is what makes America great and to a certain extent that may be true depending on how one defines greatness, but it is also true that the attitudes of American people have caused other great nations to lose respect for America’s global leadership. This is why politicians keep saying we need to regain world respect and restore confidence in America as a global leader. The bottom line is that won’t happen until the American people become more aware and responsible for their attitudes and actions both domestically and globally. We need to change our attitudes, get our priorities straight, quit falling for anything, standing for nothing and understand that talented or not, there is more to life than trying to be an “American Idle.”
Unfortunately, most Americans regardless of their social, economic and political status are in denial about being conditioned with a false and unnecessary sense of pride stemming from the inflated American ego. Thus, many are unaware of the fact that this condition has produced an epidemic of psychosomatic disorders that tend to glorify, popularize and endorse inhumane and uncivilized behavior as being the “American way.” To state it plainly we are a spiritually, mentally and physically sick society, steered away from the natural and healthy development of human interaction and pushed towards the cold hard world of technology, automation and robotics, which in many ways adversely effects our ability to successfully navigate through the myriad of current issues. For example, the days of “service with a smile” in America are over. American businesses are so obsessed with turning profits you can’t even interact with a live person on a business phone call. All of the conglomerates, takeovers, dummy corporations, prompts and message services makes it impossible to connect with a live person competent enough to address your concerns. Reliance on electronic technology in the corporate world these days, is usually directly related to the term ”downsizing,” which reduces the number jobs and places less emphasis on customer service. If a mistake is made, once it is in the system you are just out of luck, the chances of correction or resolution are slim to none! As a result, those who are able to retain employment must adopt quick fix attitudes to keep up with the computerize pace and that leads to a lack of competence in the work place, making transactions more cumbersome, confusing, time consuming and often still requires filling out papers and standing in long lines waiting to speak with a live person. In addition, belligerence runs so rampant in our society, people actually avoid doing business face to face and would rather close a deal with the click of a mouse or push of a button than with a hand shake, further illustrating our need to get a grip on reality. There is no question that in the short run, productivity can benefit from modern technology making more happen easier and faster. However, in the long run if technological development and human development are not balanced, the imbalance stifles creativity, jeopardizes independent thinking and actually renders people incapable of exercising common sense.
Technological communication methods used by the media to disseminate propaganda for manipulation and mind control are essential for a minority of people to control the thinking and behavior of the majority. Political campaigns are notorious for taking advantage of these methods and contributing to this mind boggling illness. In fact, they depend on the people’s psychological vulnerability to spread the disease. Those able to intelligently recognize symptoms and rationally diagnose conditions, at least have a chance to begin a healing process. Others simply remain in the infirmary of ignorance and arrogance, clinging onto distorted ideas of American patriotism. Now that we are in the throes of another “deathbed” presidential election, previously mentioned psychological conditioning becomes even more evident. With the American people being relegated to a WWE (World Wrestling & Entertainment) or ‘Ultimate Fighter’ mentality, the campaign trail is like a pre-game sports rally or a hyped-up Hollywood production with top flight marketing and promotion. Candidates who have access to the most money gain the greatest access to the media and are given the best opportunities to win. Real experience and knowledge of the issues are overshadowed by personality and marketability because contrary to what most politicians say, for them, it’s not about serving the American people, it’s about winning and controlling people. American’s tune into campaign attack ads as if they were award winning soap operas and although they may not vote, they don’t want to miss one entertaining episode of campaign drama. On the surface, focus appears to be on the issues, but politicians and their backers know that the American people are mesmerized with entertainment so they use the media to entertain and manipulate public opinion.
Senator Obama was labeled a “nobody” and accused of not being experienced enough to serve in the Oval Office, yet after all of the media hype that George W. Bush received, he is living proof that you do not have to be the most qualified or experienced candidate to become Commander and Chief. Now Senator McCain further demonstrates his many years of experience being out of touch with the American people by introducing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate! Aside from being connected to big oil, she is a little fish in a little pond, who hasn’t busted a grape in serving the broad cross-section of American People, but she is herald by the media as the second coming of Christ because of a pit bull speech that really didn’t address anything. This is a good example of how the media takes a tough talk, “gangta rap” attitude and makes a desperate political ploy appear to be an overnight success. Common sense would tell us that drawing a comparison between yourself and a “pit bull” might be appropriate if you were campaigning to become the mascot of a soccer team, but as an attribute to your qualifications for upper echelon government and world leadership, it is an insult to intelligent voters who are serious about the upcoming election. In today’s promotion oriented and personality worship style politics anyone who can raise money and delivers an entertaining speech, even if it shams and speculates on the issues has a good chance of getting elected, because the American people have been conditioned to support things based on entertainment value. It is clear from the campaign hullabaloo spearheaded by the media, that under the present circumsatnces, neither politician nor proletariat can present a failsafe plan that can guarantee any success that we might witness in the near future. The number one reason being, America is in so much disarray right now, it is unreasonable to think in terms of any overnight victories. Yet, the politicians keep promising and grabbing at straws while the media looks for opportunities to instigate, fabricate and sensationalize stories that will increase media ratings and keep the people duped.
Although both Democrats and Republicans claim vast philosophical differences, for the past eight years, there hasn’t been much difference in practical application for the majority of American people (or minority if you rely on media polls). Politicians campaigning for Presidential elections have always expressed the need for change, acknowledging that we cannot continue to follow the leadership and direction of those traveling the same path that led us to our current predicament. Both hyped and realistic polls show that most Americans agree with the need for change, especially regarding the issues of education, energy, health care, economy, foreign policy and a host of other problems which have developed or escalated under the current administration, very little emphasis is placed on the need for the American people to change their attitudes and behavior. Unless we overcome the plummeting digression of human values we cannot expect to be effective in bringing about real change! The ironic thing about this debilitating syndrome is that governing officials and political leaders are harping on and on about physical issues, but not really addressing psychological and attitudinal conditions in their rally for change. It’s like offering people who have robbed banks all of their lives opportunities to be trained as legitimate bankers, but when they complete the training and go to work, they end up embezzling from the banks because they were never trained to get the criminal element out of their system. History shows us that Europe decided to reduce her criminal element by expelling undesirable citizens under the auspices of offering them an opportunity to start over in a new land (America). However, shortly after landing, the undesirables casted out of Europe immediately began to commit crimes upon the indigenous people of this country or so-called (American) Indians. We are often reminded of the great philosophical principles that America was built upon, yet we refuse to openly acknowledge the fact that generations of Americans have contradicted those principles in practice and continue to reflect the attitudes of those early settlers.
For quite some time now the “New World Order” under American leadership has been infested with corruption. Hardened criminal (covert) activities committed by the higher ranks in corporations and government are kept under wraps and are more difficult to prosecute even though they usually have devastating effects on larger numbers of people. While the smaller crimes for individual or personal gain such as perjury, steroids, adultery and minor fraud, sometimes referred to as “cheating” offenses, receive exaggerated media hype, more convictions and more severe punishment. Religion, which is supposed to be our moral base and usually our last hope for salvation against this kind of practice, has succumbed to the mandates of the State and been enshrined in mockery, providing only superficial influence in society. The Constitution and Bill of Rights, once revered as the foundation for setting precedence in American jurisprudence now serves mostly as theoretical reference material to assist in manipulating the law for deviant purposes. Governing officials, lawyers and courts are more concerned with image, process, plea bargaining and profits than real justice. An article entitled “Con Game,” featured on Forbes.com, stated that America’s prison industry, which has its roots in slavery, is a multibillion dollar enterprise designed to keep the inmate population growing for the exploitation of cheap labor. It seems to me that what trickled down from the Ronald Regan era was more corruption, prisons and prison mentalities. Yet, some people see that period of time as a highlight in American leadership and refuse to acknowledge the role that leadership played in orchestrating the sequence of events leading to today.
Once again to keep the election game afoot, the current administration has to sell us that infamous bridge to nowhere, but the American people must be advised that win or lose, the objective of this administration is to retain power and control. So, as we near the election, we see gas prices droping a little, hear talk about bringing a few troupes back from Iraq, economy bail out ideas are being introduced and anything to sell the people on the idea that it took eight years for the current administration to clean up the mess made by the previous administration and things are just now starting to turn around. Yeah right! All we have to do is stop and think, how can we expect politicians, who represent the special interests of an elite minority of the American people, who have a history of knowingly and willfully profiting from initiating legislation that disenfranchises the American majority and writes off the outcomes of their atrocities as “collateral damage,” to all of a sudden be in touch with the needs of America’s majority population, change their positions on the issues, give up their profits and pass or support legislation that clearly benefits the majority of Americans? I don’t think so! In reality, we know from experience that this will not happen. Regardless of the party, those identifying with the policies of the current administration are too arrogant and there is too much at stake for them to change! It’s time for American people to wake up, study the history, be realistic, change your attitude and cast a conscious vote for the candidate who you think can best understand your needs and is therefore best qualified to represent your interests both domestically and globally!
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