Monday, January 17, 2005
Sitting In The Dark.
Do you ever feel like if you read the paper anymore you might have to kill yourself? Or barring that you might just have to kill EVERYONE ELSE?
Work has been slow with the snow and all so I've been reading the paper in my down time. I do realize that the news I read comes to me through filters, the Government filter, the press filter, and then the individual publications filters. That alone pisses me off. It bothers me that the news we are rationed is so sugar coated. Sometimes I feel like the proverbial mushroom, sitting in the dark, getting fed bullshit.
I know there are steps to take to get more accurate news. I know of people who get their news from sources outside the US. That does seem more balanced but I have to remember that those sources have their own agendas as well.
All my life I have been raised with the belief that the US is this super fantastic place with top notch health care, schools, democracy and blah, blah, blah. Everyone else in the world wants to escape their own oppressive lives and come to the great US of A and live the good life. So much so they risk their lives to do so. Because after all we are way cool and stand for FREEDOM!
I think I still sort of believed all of that until 9-11. At that point a light went on and I realized "Hey they aren't attacking us because they want to be like us. They HATE us." It was a revelation. Since then my view of the US has crumbled bit by bit and in giant chunks.
I'm not itching to run off to some other country. I know they all have their own problems.
I think my only logical solution is to win the lottery, buy myself that private island I've always wanted and become an independent nation. As an independent nation I will do my very best not to piss any other nations off. I will keep my politics to myself.
Oddly the article that sparked these most recent feelings was not political. It was about the infant mortality rate in the US. It said that there are 41 other countries with LOWER infant mortality rates that us. Which is GOOD for them but a little startling considering we think of ourselves as such a developed nation.
The article was short and didn't have much in the way of thought behind it. It basically listed a bunch of statistics with no attempts to explain them. I can think of a few ways in which their numbers might be skewed but there wasn't even enough information given to speculate on them.
Still, alarming.
Comments-[ comments.]
Work has been slow with the snow and all so I've been reading the paper in my down time. I do realize that the news I read comes to me through filters, the Government filter, the press filter, and then the individual publications filters. That alone pisses me off. It bothers me that the news we are rationed is so sugar coated. Sometimes I feel like the proverbial mushroom, sitting in the dark, getting fed bullshit.
I know there are steps to take to get more accurate news. I know of people who get their news from sources outside the US. That does seem more balanced but I have to remember that those sources have their own agendas as well.
All my life I have been raised with the belief that the US is this super fantastic place with top notch health care, schools, democracy and blah, blah, blah. Everyone else in the world wants to escape their own oppressive lives and come to the great US of A and live the good life. So much so they risk their lives to do so. Because after all we are way cool and stand for FREEDOM!
I think I still sort of believed all of that until 9-11. At that point a light went on and I realized "Hey they aren't attacking us because they want to be like us. They HATE us." It was a revelation. Since then my view of the US has crumbled bit by bit and in giant chunks.
I'm not itching to run off to some other country. I know they all have their own problems.
I think my only logical solution is to win the lottery, buy myself that private island I've always wanted and become an independent nation. As an independent nation I will do my very best not to piss any other nations off. I will keep my politics to myself.
Oddly the article that sparked these most recent feelings was not political. It was about the infant mortality rate in the US. It said that there are 41 other countries with LOWER infant mortality rates that us. Which is GOOD for them but a little startling considering we think of ourselves as such a developed nation.
The article was short and didn't have much in the way of thought behind it. It basically listed a bunch of statistics with no attempts to explain them. I can think of a few ways in which their numbers might be skewed but there wasn't even enough information given to speculate on them.
Still, alarming.
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