Democracy for Vancouver

Chardmanland nails down our dilemma succinctly:

What the hell does any of this have to do with anything?

I think it’s just that I’m frightened by the increasing lack of critical thinking or imagination I see with people these days. People seem so drugged and hypnotized by the mass media that they seem either like marketing androids or seem to be suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress disorder.

But sometimes I think that the airhead is the way of the future. They have it made. They never have to think or worry about anything. Never have to go to bed at night thinking about Iraqi children, American family’s getting the dreaded telegram from the military (’We regret to inform you…’), our declining state of Democracy. They are as untroubled by reason and cognition as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It’s all Pat O’Brien on Tom Cruise’s wedding. It’s the thrill of a whole new lineup at Old Navy. It’s changing your ringtone every week to match what’s the number one song on the Billboard charts. It’s getting whatever monstrosity that Taco Bell is pimping on TV and talking to your friends about it just like the friends in the commercial did.

I’ve seen the future, baby, and it ain’t murder (to paraphrase Leonard Cohen) - that’d be charitable.

I think that past dystopian future visions such as Lucas’ THX1138 or Huxley’s Brave New World aren’t too far off after all, we just have better swag, decor and individual toys. The food may not be pills, but after eating it, you’ll need to take a bunch of ‘em.

Wow! Now what are we going to do about it?