The Value of Television

Beyond its capacity to pass endless hours, vacating our brains of any cogent thought, television does provide a wealth of information, albeit cloaked within a subliminal, mind-numbing, devilish assumption, that being the general belief that we, as humans, cannot absorb it in any sort of orderly, logical manner, thereby serving no redeeming purpose at all.

That being said, I did watch Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story the other day, and while it did reinforce my dislike of its pedantic, bombastic director, and while it also informed me that Walmart employees are worth more dead than alive, it also provided much of the fodder for this post, and for that I am grateful.

I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but I can categorically impugn this nation for its almost universal acceptance of myth (a myth being something patently false that we have been taught or believe to be true). Foremost among these myths are the Jesus story, the greatness of America, and the nutritional guidelines of McDonald's cheeseburgers.

In the gnostic gospel according to Judas, not only was Judas' betrayal of Christ painted as the ultimate, altruistic sacrifice, but Judas himself is portrayed as the best and brightest of the disciples. Of course, this book could never be included in the New Testament, because in it, Jesus tells Judas that he is only betraying the human body of Jesus, not the son of god part, and while there were centuries of debate, under the Roman emperor Constantine's guidance, it was finally decided at the Council of Hippo which books of apostolic writing would provide the most digestible pablum for the plebeian masses, setting the foundation, still in effect to this day, of letting the fat cats decide for the rest of us. Constantine needed to figure out what to do with popular perceptions of the rogue messiah, so he figured he might as well keep his absolute power intact, and the bible seemed as good a way as any.

Which leads me to the 'melting pot' perception of America. While I truly believe that at one time we did embrace this notion, the fact remains that we are now a nation comprised of diverse, homogenized, xenophobic self-interest groups, the worst of which is the typical nuclear family. Yeah, that's right! I'm talking about that mom-dad-kids thing. Of course I believe that kids need parents, but the family itself has become representative of the single greatest retreat from truth. It has become so grossly insular, so firmly rooted in the personalization of truth, so centered around the accumulation of personal wealth, that it is destroying the very foundations of the good ol' USA. If you need further proof, take a moment to consider the aluminum baseball bat. We routinely shell out $200 or more, in the hopes that our child might become better than we were, not wanting to burden them with the cumbersome weight of wood, knowing full well that these bats have caused the deaths of countless little leaguers. You see...it's all about the family. In the preamble to our constitution, you will find the words 'to promote the general welfare'. Clearly, where family is concerned, this is not the case.

Nor is it the case with nations. In my ever so humble opinion, the abolition of all borders is the only thing that will save us...and by this I mean family, town, social and national borders. OK...that's an old post. No need to rehash.

Which leads me to the point of this entire essay. There isn't a prayer in hell that we are ever going to send humans to Mars. First of all, given our current technology, it would take over a year to get there, and over a year to get back. And that's not even considering that the planets need to be aligned just so...before we can begin the journey back. So, whether we ask a group of just men...or just women...or an equal mix of the two, the group dynamic does not bode well for success. I mean, we'd be asking these people to go two and a half years, or more...without sex. There have already been several incidents of crew mutiny in various deep space adventures, and they occurred in trips of only a few months. We're talking close quarters here, with nothing to do, and nowhere to hide, and a long, long time. So, if we send all men, they are either going to kill each other, or revamp their sexual preference...or that capsule is going to reek of that musky smell of surreptitiously disposed Kleenex. And if they send all women, they better pack a few hundred cases of chardonnay...and Kleenex. And in order to send an even mix, we either have to abandon the ridiculous notions we have about sex, or be ready for the single greatest incident of bilateral sexual harassment suits this nation has ever seen.

And that takes me back to the movie...one shining example of an employee shared company, where all the workers shared equally in the profits, and the company thrived. No ponzi schemes, no stock options, no hierarchy. Just a bunch of people, realizing they don't need everything...realizing they just need what they have...promoting the general welfare.