Reality Check

“Indeed you can usually tell when the concepts of democracy and citizenship are weakening. There is an increase in the role of charity and in the worship of volunteerism. These represent the élite citizen’s imitation of noblesse oblige; that is, of pretending to be aristocrats or oligarchs, as opposed to being citizens.” —John Ralston Saul

Blue or Red Pill: For those that remember the Matrix, the pill choice represents the choice between blissful ignorance (blue) or opening your eyes to what is sometimes painful reality (red). How long can we ignore the reality that corporations and the uber-rich should pay their fair share of taxes? Our corporate overlords would have us believe that teachers are the root of all evil and that history can be re-written (as was done by Texas School Board) or should just no longer receive funding (a proposed budget cut). We would not want to take too close a look at history or we might realize how the cuts being proposed (in lieu of corporate and uber-rich taxes) will end up costing our nation in the long run. Not to worry, a royal wedding will distract the masses long enough for the corporate overlords to continue to enslave us (taxing the working class to the benefit of the rich).

Winning?: Speaking of distractions, looks like the Charlie Sheen tour is finally coming to an end. The press is almost gloating now that he has lost one of his “goddesses” and his tour is not making as much money as expected. Throughout the coverage, Mr. Sheen was made out to be an insane lunatic and the basis for his insanity was primarily money-based. I fully realize that this man is no role-model by any stretch of the imagination (he has never claimed to be such). But, the focus of the news was always on how much money he was throwing away by breaking his contract. Like the crabs that tear the limbs off any crab that tries to escape a crab trap (a simple box with a hole on top that any crab can crawl out of), the news was on a feeding frenzy tearing into Mr. Sheen for daring to say “no mas”. I, for one, do not believe that Mr. Sheen’s success or failure depends on his paycheck. I wish him all the best.