Fantasy Is Killing Us

There are many things that I do not understand, but I really don’t understand the current overwhelming attraction to make-believe. We are deeply involved in a war in which we have no business. Our President is even more deeply involved in stripping the Bill of Rights away from our Constitution. The opposition party, such as they are, seems unwilling or unable to do anything to stop these activities, even tough most of the citizens of the country agree that what the President is doing is wrong. Perhaps the Democrats have been purchased by the same big business interests as the Republicans.

At the same time, Americans seem to be hiding their heads in the sands of fantasy and make-believe at every opportunity. Movies and television about people with super-powers. Best selling books about witches and warlocks. A retreat into the Dark Ages with ultra-conservative Bible literalists. A complete retreat from hard science fiction and into fantasy. “Reality television” which is nothing more that tightly scripted inexpensive actors acting out in sensationalized ways.

Perhaps the two phenomena are related. I suppose it is possible that the horrors being inflicted on our country by the major corporations, and the politicians that they have bought and paid for, plus the frustration and helplessness that the average American feels on these issues, has caused this retreat into fantasy. Or, conversely, the greedy CEOs and politicians may have noticed that no one was paying attention and decided that this was a good time to raid the candy store.

Either way, the ransacking of the country appears nearly complete. Most major industry has relocated elsewhere. Educational shortfalls have rendered American kids unable to compete in the world marketplace. Our trade balances have nearly bankrupted us. Our currency, long the standard of the world, is rapidly becoming valueless. We don’t have much of a country left any more.

Perhaps that’s why little George and shotgun Cheney are not worried about the way future generations of Americans will see them. At the rate we are going, there won’t be any future generations of Americans left to worry about it.


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