Thursday, July 22, 2010

An Open Letter to Children. And Myself

Nothing is expected of you because you have proven to be worthless. With your detached ambivalence and glossy eyed acceptance of all things that go bling or thump you have turned into a vessel. You are governed by things. You are seduced by images. You are hypnotized. You are under a cloud. You are given a papier-mâché heart and, as advertised, its battery operated thumping tells you to feel happiness, warmth, sincerity and love and you believe it without question.

You are sold a plastic outstretched hand and you use it to touch people. You are told that this is human contact and you begin to believe that this is as intimate as skin on skin. You trick yourself into believing that you are connecting with people. Your language has been abbreviated and shortened into code and gibberish and nothing is really said or expressed.

You are handed a bag of shit and you are told it smells great and you learn to love the scent. You spray the scent on your body and you are told that this is what sexy smells like.

You are handed an edible American flag and are told that you are patriotic if you digest it. A terrorist, a communist, a non-American and a problem if you don't. You are hypnotized. You will never see beyond what is being sold to you. What is being told to you in big lights with handsome men who you want to be like. Long slender sexy women with pretty handbags full of nothing.

You will be put on a plane and sent to war. You will be shot by a bullet and killed or, even worse, paralyzed and the same people who handed you the bag of shit, will hand you a pin made of brass. The color of gold. The color of bronze. Third place.

You are easy to seduce. You have no brains. You have no guts. You are sold a DVD with images of revolution and told that, by watching it, you are rebelling. But you don't know what you are rebelling against. You are proud simply to be holding a product that you call rebellion. They hand this to you in particular because they know that you will not rebel. You will accept whatever they call rebellion. Whatever it is defined as. But rebellion is when you are not controlled. And you are being controlled. Like your parents control you. Like your teachers control you. The same control that you so actively try to fight against. But worse. You are the ones who are going to accept anything that is easy. You are not going to ask for change. Not going to fight for change. Why would you? There are no consequences for you. And if you are poor? Who listens to you? You're not able to buy anything. You mean nothing in this country.

You will be drafted. You will be killed in a war. You will be controlled for the rest of your lives. Your miserable wasted lives. And people will continue to make money off of your ambivalence. Off of their control over you. And you will change nothing. You who preach from a bag of shit that has been handed to you will change nothing. And you will live in a world that has been laid out for you and it will be too late.

But here's the real thing: Even if you really tried to do something to change the state of the world; you'd befuddle it. Your revolution would be sponsored by a soft drink, and eventually the same people who you are fighting against will find a way to sell you a bag of shit that has the slogans of your revolution painted on it. And you will buy it. They know that you are a generation of fickle idiots who follow trends and all they have to do is wait out your storm. Not even a storm. Not even a fog bank. Not even a drizzle. Your "storm" will be a nicely dressed white teenager pouring that name brand soft drink on a crowd, and maybe one up-and-coming blogger or reporter will mistake it for rain and report on it as a forgettable human interest piece, or a short, choppy tweet. But nothing will change. All they have to do is wait for the rain to dry. Once the waiting period is over, they will begin producing products again and you will buy it and be put back in line.

I am typing this on a Mac that I bought in a shiny Apple store. I am wearing name brand jeans that I bought in a store with loud music and pretty girls. I am going to save this on a social network’s server. We are told that social networks are a revolution in the way that we all communicate. Some independent forum made for people to express themselves away from their parents. Away from their teachers. Away from their government. Away. Social networks are used for market research. The captains of the grand ship “Shit Bag” are reading this and reading everything that you idiots have on these sites, and they are painting new bags of shit every single day to sell to you.

Congratulations. You are feeding the beast. You will all die in a war. You will all add to the wheel. You will not change anything. So stand in line and wait for the next bag of shit. You deserve it.

I will be told by my friends who read this that I sound angry. Something funny will be posted by somebody I know hilariously suggesting therapy. That's because anger is not allowed in this world. We all must be happy and distract ourselves with comedy while the world eats itself and you and me and all of our friends are either left in the dark or we choose to ignore it because it's too depressing to learn. Too dark and too big to try and do something. Laughing is easier than crying. So we cuddle and stroke our bags of shit and suck our thumbs so we can go to sleep and dream about bags of shit.

I will die in a war. I will add to the wheel. I will not change anything. I will stand in line and wait for the next bag of shit. I deserve it