Life the Universe & Everything (The REALLY BIG Catch-up Post)

Jul 19, 2009 09:43

Well, it's been ages.  I've not really had a lot to write about that wouldn't make me out to be a completely obnoxious pain, so I figured why torture my friends with that?

This post is mostly social commentary, and about the things that are currently affecting me with regard to the USA and my life here.

So there has been a lot of crazy things happening in the world of late.  So many of them just seem so completely important to me, and yet I have noticed that hardly anyone else here in the States seem to notice too much or really care.  There are loads, it's just not here in Nowheresville, CT, apparently.

When everything began to happen with the protests in Iran, and the horrible situation there came to light in the UK and some US media, especially on Twitter where many of the freedom fighters have been using that medium to communicate, I went out and bought some green ribbon and attached one to my name tag at work.  I thought many people would make comment, or at least some would ask what it was for, but only one person asked.  One in over a month.

It upsets me, the lack of concern.  It makes me feel that the citizens of this country only care about their own freedom unless the news agencies come up with a reason why they should.  Of course, it could also be that everyone is so much more concerned with the financial crisis in this country that the lack of basic human rights of an entire population seem too small to worry about, because we can't go on that trip to the Bahamas this summer.  Is that fair?  I don't know, but it sure seems to be.

On Twitter, scores of people have added the green overlay to their icons, mostly influenced by celebs who have done themselves.  Even the celebs have been brow-beaten into not updating about Iran, such as Aylssa Milano, whom I followed originally because of my adoration for Charmed, but now follow because she is an AMAZING source for information that even I miss in the news.  She is so wonderfully in touch with the world, it makes me wish she were even more popular so that she could help better influence the masses.  But, can she?  Like I mentioned, she was bombarded with people replying to her and telling her that her posts about Iran were annoying and 'spam', and then she lost many followers due to this desire of hers to care about the world outside of the US.

I'll admit, this has only made me feel a lot more annoyed at the way we here in the States have allowed our government and our media to create zombies out of us.

Zombies, you say?

Yes, zombies.  Not the 'risen from the dead, BRAAAAAINS' type of zombie oft seen in poorly written horror flicks, but the kind of zombie that goes through life with tunnel vision, listens to the news media without even wondering if they're getting the full story, who complains about freedoms they lost when they are the ones who signed them away, the kind who doesn't even realise their own government has brow-beat them into submission in a place where they are meant to be in charge.

Am I being harsh? I suppose you could say that, but at the same time, it is the truth.  If you haven't, you should take the time to watch Michael Moore's SiCKO.  You can watch it for free >here<.  The film addresses a lot of points about our healthcare system, and as I have lived in the UK and have many Canadian friends (one of whom is actually just leaving school to start as a doctor), I can back the stories told there about those countries.  My French friends have vouched for the information about France, so I know those parts are true too.  Don't take my word for it?  How about one of the highest-paid former VPs of the American 'healthcare' system? Click >here< to watch his admission.  I think that is a good endorsement.

One of the scariest things I took from the film though was not in regard to healthcare, but Moore's comment about the American population and his comparison of us to the French people.  He comments that in France, the government is afraid of the people and works to ensure they are happy in order to avoid their ire.  We, on the other hand, are afraid of our government and do our best to avoid upsetting them.  Wow.  And we're the "land of the free"?  How can that be if our 'democratic' government makes us all so afraid to protest that we are willing to allow our freedoms to be washed away and won't do anything about it?

That point was driven home for me when I went into work angry at my new discoveries.  I knew from personal experience the American healthcare industry was not there to help us, the people, but I hadn't known the degree to which the corruption spread.  So I became incensed and was venting my frustrations to my colleague.  What knocked me out was when she said, "Well, that's the world we live in.  What can we do about it?"  She might as well have slapped our forefathers, the founders of our 'Land of the Free' right across their wizened faces.  She might as well have spit on the constitution, or torn up the declaration of independance.  Why not?  If we aren't going to use them, if we aren't going to make use of the struggle our forefathers made, or the sacrifices they gave to allow us to be a "free" country, then why wouldn't she just do those things?

Now, don't get me wrong, I do not blame her individually, but rather I blame all of us.  Not you, not me, not her, but all of us for allowing the government to become so filled with corruption, greed and selfishness that the USA is no longer the land of the free, but rather the land of the zombified, poor and abused people.  Don't worry, 1% of the population here has about 85% of the wealth, and they also happen to be the ones in charge of the government, so you must be in good hands, right? (percentages may be inacurate and are for effect only.)

I want to see us take back our country.  It won't be easy, and it will be a struggle, but I would love to see us do it.  I would love to see us fight for education, health and equality in our land to bring us back to being a truly free country.  No more allowing goverment officials to be elected that do not actually care for us, but only for their own pockets.  I'd like us to protest more, to go out in the streets and stage a protest with thousands fighting for the freedoms we've lost.  Just like they do in France.  Just like we did in the sixties.  Just like we did in 1776.  You know, when we fought against the oppression of the King of England?  Well, we're there now, people.  We are.  Look around you...

Where is your freedom now?

Work has you afraid to be late.  There are so many job losses and cuts these days, they tell you to jump, you say "How high?" after you've already jumped a few times at varying heights to be certain they know you're giving it your best effort.  When they say, "Higher," you do your best and hope it's enough.  When they cut back your benefits so that your child can't get their teeth fixed this month, you say, "Well, they're doing their best in this economy," and let your child's tooth fall out, hoping to someday be able to afford to put it back for them.

When you accidentally cut yourself making dinner, you could probably use stitches, but you know that the local hospital is out of network, so if you go it will cost you a load of money.  Because gas prices are so high, you don't want to drive the extra way to the network hospital, so you bandage it and hope for the best.

When you see they've cut the education budget again, you think they must need that money elsewhere.  You can't imagine that money is just going into the pockets of the politicians, even though you read about politicians who are stealing from government funds nearly every day.  Your kids won't get even half of the education you got, and they will come out of school weighing nearly twice what you did, but that's just progress, right?

We can't have national healthcare here, because it's too expensive.  Great Britain, who has the highest-valued economy today can, but we can't because we have too many people.  We spend $650 billion a year on our military, but we can't spare a quarter of a percent of that to help our own people from illness and massive health insurance debts, right?

We can't have national healthcare because the doctors would be poor and they wouldn't be as well educated, right?  Great Britain has some high paid doctors, but that's not all of them, right?  Of course not, because Fox News told you so.

I just wish we could wake up.  For five minutes, I would love to see every last person in this country take a look around and not say, "What can I do about it?"  THIS IS THE UNITED STATES!  You can do ANYTHING.  Democracy means you just have to vote to make it better!  So do it!  Take part!

I just don't want to see you read this, ignore it and go back to letting the government rule you.  We rule them.  We are the government - the governing body of this democratic nation.  The expression 'POWER TO THE PEOPLE' is the basis of democracy.  USE IT.  Please.  For your children, your neices, nephews, cousins, parents, siblings... Friends.  Be American and FIGHT injustice, don't just shake your head and hope it gets better.

Of course, being someone who has an inclination towards the same gender, it will come up.  "Gay" marriage.  I don't even like that term.  I'm not asking for you to legalise "gay" marriage, but how about just making it legal for me to get married to the man I love?  (No, I don't have one right now, but I would love that to be possible.)  Here in Connecticut, and also in Massachusetts, where I'm from, I can get married, but I still don't get the same benefits a "heterosexual" would have.  Yes, I get some of them, and in regard to the State, all of them, but not in regard to the federal government.

Do you think I am a second-class citizen?  Do you think the taxes I pay are less equal to yours?  The taxes I pay are for the "straight" part of me, right?  I didn't know I had a "straight" part, but apparently I must, because you seem to think that's all of me that deserves the same right to marry, divorce or be in love legally.

And for those of you who believe marriage is an issue of religion, I would disagree.  Wholeheartedly.  Firstly, the bible itself speaks of marriage as an issue of property since women are devalued.   In the bible, a woman should be stoned to death for marrying when she isn't a virgin, and she can be returned for a full refund.  I don't know the exact place in the bible, but it's Leviticus I'm sure.  Read it.  It's there.

And how is it religious to go to Las Vegas, meet someone and marry them five minutes later?

The GOVERNMENT issues marriage licences, NOT the church.  As a matter of fact, if you marry in the church it is not a legal marriage until you have received your marriage certificate from the state.  So how is that a religious ceremony?

I'm not trying to force a church to marry me, but I want MY government to marry me.  I want MY government to acknowledge me as a full, equal citizen of this country.

If you disagree, then you might as well throw a chain around my neck and put me to work in the cotton fields, because inequality is the same no matter what you call it.

Okay, that's me done.  Soapbox put away.  If you read it, thanks for taking the time.  If you didn't, no worries.  Social commentary isn't for everyone...

democracy, freedom, national healthcare, sicko, free health, healthcare

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