Fear and Loathing in America...

[jackshoegazer]

The BEAST has compiled it's yearly list of The Most Loathsome People in America. There are a lot of scathing reviews of some pretty nasty people, but I think my favorite was number four...

4. YOU

Charges: Silently enabling and contributing to the irreversible destruction of your planet. Absolving yourself of your responsibility to do anything about it that your immediate neighbors don't. Assuming that it's normal behavior to spend several hours each day totally inert and staring into a cathode ray tube. Substituting antidepressants for physical motion. Caring more about the personal relationships of people you will never meet than your own. Shrugging your shoulders at the knowledge that your government is populated by criminal liars intent on fooling you into impoverished, helpless submission. Cheering this process on.

Exhibit A: You don't even know who your Congressman is.

Sentence: Deathbed realization that your entire life was an unending series of stupid mistakes and wasted opportunities, a priceless gift of potential extravagantly squandered, for which you deserve nothing but scorn or, at best, indifference, and a cold, meaningless demise.

We're all fucking guilty. Now why don't we get together and do something about it. Maybe the Universe will grant us some leniency. Because the Universe has a heart, unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Comments

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I would like to point out that I do none of those things:

My choices as a consumer and citizen are made to be as ecologically harmless as I am able to make them. I refuse to hold myself to my neighbors standard of conduct. I don't watch television. I refuse to use antidepressents or any other behavioral modification drug, and encourage my friends and family to seek alternatives themselves. Unless you count my livejournal friends (which I don't - I'm assuming this refers to celebrity tabloids, for example), I make my personal relationship a very high priority in my life. I am repeatedly told I am "too angry" and "too serious" because of my reactions to our political situation. I keep myself educated, write letters, vote, and engage in discussions that I feel are meaningful and promote democracy AND have a job that I hope will be relevant to those ends in a field that is extremely pressing (climate change).

And my congressman is Bernie Sanders. Until I learn enough about the Wisconsin political system to be comfortable registering to vote here. Though I confess to not being able to remember who my state representative is for the state government for Orange County.

I'm not absolving myself by any stretch of the means here, or trying to be self-righteous (but probably succeeding). I just wanted to say that there are people out there who do try and live their lives intentfully, and they usually get made fun of, called fanatics, dismissed as ineffectual, or derided as not being hip enough.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I know, dearie. I'm in the same boat as you. And I too, regularly write to my Congress people. But I do watch some TV. On my computer. EEK!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I know you know. I'm just being defensive, since I'm usually made fun of for being a "good citizen." ;)

[wwonka666.livejournal.com]

apathy is a warm blanket i wrap around myself, it's truly the only way I can barely sleep at night.

I would like to thank you for pointing me in the direction of The Beast, truly one of the funniest things I've read since stumbling across The Onion as a highschooler.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of it before today, but yes, pretty funny shizzle.

[gutzilla.livejournal.com]

It shouldn't be "YOU", it should be "THEM".

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I like that it was YOU.

It forced me to look for these most horrible traits in myself in a way that I could not hide or explain away.

And the Sentence is my worst nightmare EVER.