T.V.- it's a conspiracy man

For those of you who may not know, I'm not a big fan of t.v.. Commercials make me want to vomit (WHEN did dishwasher soap get sexy?! And why does EVERYONE have to half naked?!), half the time you have no idea what they're advertising anyway, and most of the "entertainment" found inside that little black box is just crap. If I wanted to watch a neighborhood make out with each other I can buy binoculars, and if I wanted to watch women demean themselves for men I'd speak to more girls my age okay! Now, I will say that I do watch some television, I have my "shows," but for the most part I think that t.v. is a big fat waste of time- I also think that it may be being used by the govorners of the free world to keep us all complacent and non-combative.

Okay, yes I'm going a little 'The Man is watching you' and even a little 'beware of Big Brother' but just jump on the conspiracy train for a minute.

What I've noticed:

• This country is going down the rabbit hole- FAST
• My friends who watch little to no television are MUCH more aggravated and politically involved that my friends who watch moderate amounts and lots of t.v. (This includes me, the more time I spend watching t.v. the less I seem to care about the state of this Union. I'll expand on this, don't' worry.)
• There doesn't seem to be the kind of political unrest in countries that have satellites on every house that you see in the poorer countries does there? (Assuming people ACTUALLY watch the news- which, let's face it, most people don't, and even those that do don't pay as much attention to international news because it just isn't available. Personally I think it's because they don't want you to know, but that's just me.)
• What kind of programming is available to watch: utter moralless crap. NOTHING about political activism or getting involved, no role models shown on t.v. are writing their local congressman, even the history channel is showing more "reality" shows than actual historical documentaries- from which we may learn something other than what Miley is wearing and who Britney is having babies with next.

Television, well, media in general really because this also comes across in popular music and even in current fashion, the general message seems to be: right now! Don't worry about the future, just go out to the club, get wasted, go home with someone, worry tomorrow. However, they never say when 'tomorrow' will come. Quite frankly, I'm pretty appalled with my generation. Most of the people my age seem to be self-oriented, unmotivated, irresponsible, whiney sluts who think the world owes them everything and then some. (What? Too harsh?)

But really, when people "tune in" to t.v. they "tune out" of reality, and yes, sometimes that is very much needed, but now I think it's just becoming ridiculous. Checking out every once in a while is fine, the brain needs a break, ya know? But it seems like Americans stopped caring after the disillusion of the 70's and we haven't turned back on yet. Well, hey, guess what America? Now's a PRETTY GOOD TIME TO START GIVING A DAMN!

But I digress...

We, via the television, are constantly bombarded by perfection- pretty, constantly moving colorful objects, and because we've gotten used to that it seems like we need to be constantly entertained (rather than going out searching for something entertaining)- t.v. has made us lazy. Who wants to deal with the fucked up world of reality when the pictures in the t.v. all look so pretty? Why would you want to deal with your problems, much less your Countries problems, when you can sit back and watch all sorts of other people's problems get solved in thirty to sixty minutes or less?

And Hollywood has no original ideas- I'm convinced- so instead of using their imagination, they seem to be going to the next money making eye-grabbing scheme (last week: series, this week: 3-D movies, God help us next week!) so we, as a society, are ever more expecting to be surrounded by big flashy-ness, by fun, by RIGHT NOW, and we don't even bother to realize what is ACTUALLY going on RIGHT NOW. When was the last time Congress did something that was ACTUALLY worth while? (Filibustering DOESN'T count!) Why are our troops still in Iraq? Why don't we have health care? Why are there still no jobs? There are so many questions that need to be answered and yet how many civilians are even bothered to ask the questions? They're too busy living the life that t.v. and popular media is telling them to live, so they are getting drunk and watching t.v. and not reading the newspaper or participating in this democracy.

Personally, as previously mentioned, I care less about what is going on in the world the more I watch t.v., and that speaks pretty strongly to me. When I first moved out on my own, we couldn't afford cable, so we had a t.v. and a dvd player, and that's all we had. So we spent more time reading and interacting with our friends and getting involved because we weren't worried about what was going to be on t.v., and because we needed to find something to do other than the easy solution of: let's just watch t.v.. When I moved in with my now ex-boyfriend, he NEEDED cable t.v., so we had it, and I spent less time reading and less time getting involved politically. Now that I'm on my own, I once again can't afford cable, and I'm spending more time reading and getting politically involved. And this, more than anything else, convinces me that t.v. is just a mind-numbing device, and I also think that the government has picked up on that, and are pushing us more into social media, t.v., movies- everything based on reality but that ISN'T reality to get us to stay quiet while they run things the way they see fit- and clearly, the way they've been doing things isn't working out that great.

So: CHALLENGE!!!

TURN OFF YOUR FREAKING T.V.'S!!!!!! For a week AT LEAST but let's try for something more long term! READ A NEWSPAPER, READ A BOOK, WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN- GET INVOLVED!! Stop settling for a fake reality when the real one is waiting right outside your door!

Getting Back on Track

So I've now lived in my new apartment since the end of February, and it finally feels like things are starting to fall into place. Granted I got over my ex already (finding another woman in your bed just expedites that process, let me tell you) and I was seeing another guy briefly, and my friends and I are on track more than ever now that I can hang out with MY friends rather than just my ex's friends, but I was still feeling slightly off.

Now, I'm a little nuerotic- read my blog or know me at all and this will become abundantly clear- so I tend to do a lot of internal psychological analysis (this is just a habit I have, things happen in my life or to my friends and I look for a bigger pattern, or what it could mean, etc.) because I'm weird, but hey, it works for me so whatever, and here is what I've got:

I tend to read several books at a time. One for each genre/mood- this way I have reading for every mood and occasion. Since I first rented my apartment until this past Friday, I had not FINISHED reading ONE book! NOT ONE! I've started several (Slash's autobiography Slash, Sophie's World, The Watchmen, Seduction and the Secret Power of Women: The Lure of Sirens and Mermaids, How to be Single- just to name a few) but just haven't had the umph needed to finish them. Well, last week before our weekly Glee party (I am SUCH a Gleek by the way- so on board with that show!!!!) my girl-friend Rachel brought me more of the Sookie Stackhouse novels- and since Thursday I've finished two of them: Club Dead and Dead to the World. This was great for me! Because I usually finish at least one or two books a month (based on time available, obsession status, and length) my not finishing a single book in several months was starting to bother me. I would start more and just get half way through them and stop. To me, this screamed, "this is part of a larger problem" and I really think it was. My break-up was hard on me and I've been working long hours, and my commitment and attention span hasn't been what it used to be- so the fact that I have made a stand for myself that I really needed to make (no, I won't go over that online thankyouverymuch) and finally finished a few books, I feel like my old self> and DAMN HAVE I MISSED WHO I USED TO BE!! So guess what world? This officially means "The Bitch is back!!"