America!

Safely in the states and have had many opportunities to observe the native American in their natural habitat... bah, whom am I kidding? Truthfully spent much of my time here surrounded by family members with their own sense of ... odd-wierdyness that one can expect and appreciate only in family. Needless to say that family matters are not suitable for broadcast into the ether's of the world wide web so I'll have to fall back onto a few thoughts that have crystallized themselves during my few brief trips the much talked about and widely publicized United States of America.

Firstly I must comment that it is oddly surreal to visit someplace that through countless movies, TV shows, news broadcasts and even for that matter books! Driving through historic backdrops all along the Interstate 95, and passing by all manner of iconic buildings from 'THE' White house (I have seen other white houses and they were okay I guess) to the Poe museum... err...Edgar Allen Poe ... the Raven... anyone? Anyway either from a real sense or implanted media suggestion, the US feels more historic than any place I've visited up north in Canada. Not only that but over all the impression is of a more... veteran people... if that makes sense.

The people in America (at least the north east side I've visited) seem to have a feel of a people that have lived through troubled times and are the more experienced and a bit hardened because of it. Again it's just a general impression as compared to Canadians en masse, my home country does have a more peaceful and dare I say ... bland history in comparison to our southern neighbors, but can that account for the slight difference in atmosphere one experiences in a country? Having neither the scholarly background nor the inclination to really study this further (as with so many other thoughts) I'll just leave the observation out there and make of it what you will.

Besides the proliferation of flags (seriously I believe there must be a flag makers lobby doing some thorough work in the states), one can't help but notice the nature of media and advertisements in comparison the Canada's. While one can hear about it in such movies as Bowling for Columbine it doesn't really have the same impact as watching an hour of network television and being bombarded with a decidedly more aggressive and oddly mind numbing series of advertisements. While probably Canadian ads are more subtle about it, one can't help but notice the common threads among ads which seem to be; material goods can make you happy (enlightened even - as one ad proclaimed), debt is okay if you can buy what you want, unless you buy _____ you will stay a loser. Amid the early days of the Iraq war I once attended a meeting of supposed communists (meh, had nothing else to do) anyway the speaker there described the American need for consumerism and it's growing and unreasonable demand for resources as a symptom of an unviable economic model and the reason for the imperialistic invasion of Iraq. To put it a bit more simply, those greedy Americans are so fat and hungry that they need to hog as many resources as they can to satisfy an ever increasing appetite. At the time I neither agreed or disagreed with the idea, though experiencing the daily onslaught of propaganda, I can't help but consider it valid.

People have to buy things, lots of things, to keep this economy going... if one considers North America as a self reliant entity then this isn't necessarily a bad condition. However given that most of the world hasn't the luxury of even a fraction of the material goods forced upon consumers and in some cases can't even receive the basic necessities of housing, water and food... something is definitely very, very wrong here.

I think it is dawning on many people in the country, however I'm not sure that there is any quick recourse to take. One can be aware of the absurdity of the system, doing something about it is another matter altogether... actually it's for that same reason that I find the 'reality' documentaries done about the 'system' such as, the corporation and Darwin's Nightmare so depressing, both films (and many others like them) expose and decry the injustice of the system and how it is contributing to the suffering of the common man... yet gives no real way out of the situation. It is like walking up to someone and explaining how horrid and hopeless their situation is - then walking away while smiling and patting oneself on the back for a job well done.

In any event I highly doubt any form of radicalism is the answer (as much fun as protesting might be). A real fundamental change of our system of beliefs and economics are required, either from a grassroots or top down approach - though personally I find the former much more likely, yet without strong leadership doomed to failure.

This post has gotten a bit too wordy and preachy, next one will definitely be on a more frivolous topic - less depressing and easier to sleep after writing. To all a good night, and I wish that all may find the answers to the questions that plague one mind - or at least a suitable compromise.