WAKE UP!!!

Patricia: My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement.

from Joe vs. the Volcano

I used to hear this quote and think, "yes, the world is an incredible place and people dont see it, they just take it for granted". The other day though, I was listening to yet another story of BushCo crimes and misdemeanors, and the phrase came to me again. People must be asleep for this to have gone on so long without a tide of outrage that pours into the streets and washes away not only the Administration, but all those that profited by it. That the Republican Party can act as it does, while decent conservatives stand by and watch; that the Democratic Party responds by enabling the Right's behavior, and drifting farther right itself; that torture is not only condoned, but performed by a nation that once prosecuted Nazis with righteous moral indignation...

I am amazed, truly astonished that this behavior continues in America.

I can only hope that America is asleep, because one can wake up, even from a sleep as deep as this one must be. My fear, though, is that this is not a nightmare we can wake up from, shaken but able to recover from; but rather that it is a fantasy, a daydream of hate and violence. I fear that we are deliberately listening to the voices in our heads, voices that come from the place of madness that can make the mentally ill truly dangerous. I fear we listen simply because it's fun, because it fulfills some whim or desire, and that as a nation we have become separated from the notion of consequences.

And while you're thinking of this, ask yourself why snuff films suddenly seem to be very popular.