Spectacles

Trey Smith

The giddy, money-drenched, choreographed carnival in Tampa and the one coming up in Charlotte divert us from the real world — the one steadily collapsing around us. The glitz and propaganda, the ridiculous obsessions imparted by our electronic hallucinations, and the spectacles that pass for political participation mask the deadly ecological assault by the corporate state. The worse it gets, the more we retreat into self-delusion. We convince ourselves that global warming does not exist. Or we concede that it exists but insist that we can adapt. Both responses satisfy our mania for eternal optimism and our reckless pursuit of personal comfort. In America, when reality is distasteful we ignore it. But reality will soon descend like the Furies to shatter our complacency and finally our lives. We, as a species, may be doomed. And this is a bitter, bitter fact for a father to digest.
~ from We Distract Ourselves With Petty Spectacles While the World Goes to Hell by Chris Hedges ~

I have been amazed at the amount of column inches and time blocks that both the mainstream and alternative media have devoted to the Republican and Democratic Party conventions. You would think their speakers and participants had developed some earth-shattering ideas.

Both conventions were little more than contrived spectacles whose main purpose was to buck up the spirit of each party's political junkies. Both conventions were high on rhetoric, but delivered very little of substance. Even if you only pay half attention to politics, there was nothing new presented at either venue.

And now the campaign begins in earnest. For the next two months we'll be treated to one negative mudslinging ad after another. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be tossed around by BOTH sides. Each candidate will make a slew of campaign pledges that he has no intent on keeping, if elected. It's all part of the political theater!

All the while, the big issues will grow worse. Too many people will remain unemployed. Banks will continue to foreclose -- often illegally -- on people who are out-of-work and whose homes aren't worth that much anymore. The Fed will continue to print money for Wall Street. Drones will continue to fill the skies of Muslim countries and too many innocents will be killed.

Worst of all, as Hedges points out, we will continue to push our species and many others toward the abyss.