…But there are good people in this world. There are those extraordinary individuals who strive to create rather than destroy. There are heroic ones who fight with throbbing valor until there’s no strength left at all and they are lain down in the Earth to rest in peace at last. Sometimes I lie in bed and think “Well, maybe’s there’s hope for society after all!” Then I wake up…
My father is a detective for the Phoenix Police Department and is currently working on the worst case of music and video piracy he has ever seen. Despite the indifference and sarcasm of the severity of such a crime which comes from the general populace of the world, particularly juveniles, this really is a big deal. He describes crates upon crates of thousands of pirated CDs and DVDs and several large burners lining the walls of the suspects’ storage room.
A few days ago my mother, my sister and I sat down to watch the news, for the previously mentioned case was supposed to be brought up. When it finally came on, there was probably less than a minute of information about the theft. The little that was there was abruptly interrupted by a much longer section about Jordin Sparks making it into the finals in American Idol, and mundane words and encouragements of brainless fans who don’t even know the girl. Why, I ask, should an over-aired program overflowing with people who can’t sing (and a select few who can) be on the news when you can just watch the show, when there is a much more pressing matter at hand? It’s ludicrous that people are more concerned about American Idol than an offense to the law. Jordin Sparks is on the front page of the newspaper today. The piracy issue is nowhere to be mentioned.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Jordin Sparks—she obviously sings well enough to have made it this far, and it’s wonderful that a teenage girl is fulfilling her dreams. However, when inane television shows are more important to society than criminal activities, one seriously begins to question the reliability of public opinion.
We were drawing political cartoons in school the other day, for example. There were some extremely crucial issues about which one could write. The war in Iraq, global warming, the price of fuel, abortion, genocide…the world is a very scary place! One girl in particular was having trouble deciding what to do, when she suddenly exclaimed that she found something that was “truly sad”—some guy name “Cyrus” was knocked out of Dancing With the Stars! Oh, the horror! I weep for you Cyrus. I weep with a thousand piercing tears, for how can society come to anything exceptional when even the advanced students look over imperative dilemmas in the deceiving light of reality shows?
In situations such as this, there oft comes a time when one begins to realize how perverse a civilization it is to which one, regrettably, belongs. There comes a point on the journey in life when one discovers one’s own disgust and revulsion towards society. It is at this point that one begins to feel ashamed of one’s own race. In the immortal words of Bertrand Russell, “It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.”