Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Unrest In Peace

A quick peek at all the news that's out there today reveals s a lot of unrest. It's everywhere you look. There's the unrest in Egypt. There's unrest in Lybia and in Mexico City the drug cartels are bonding together to resist capture. Here in the US, Charlie Sheen is babbling and manic-ly proclaiming his rock star status while Lindsay Lohan has commenced on her own "Unrest-full" press tour.

I read yesterday that although there is unrest in the world we live in, Americans are more interested in who won an Oscar and whatever words last came out of Charlie Sheen's mouth.

Why? Because we can. Because our forefather's fought many a famous battle of unrest to ensure that we had certain freedoms from political dictators and oppressive governments. So we can indulge in frivolity, in the privacy of our own computers, if we so choose.

In Beijing, the Chineese people are uprising against authoritarian rule, only to be met with police force and imprisonment. In Yemen, thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest against their president, possibly hoping for the same kind of outcome as Egypt. Yet, in LA, they are calling a press conference to announce the new cast of Dancing With the Stars.

And somehow, it's OK because that's just how we, as Americans, roll. Detroit Free Press journalist Mitch Albom wrote about how the Kardashian's made $65 million dollars last year without doing anything of particular importance. Not one of them found a cure for cancer, wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning essay, solved an economic crisis or contributed anything of civic value to this country. They simply perfected the art of having an audience and we bought it, all $65 million hooks, lines and sinkers.

There is a battle going on in this country too, over public vs private workers and the unions that represent them. The battle hymn of the so called "working man" can be heard throughout the land.

I just hope it's not loud enough to drown out tonite's 20/20 episode with Charlie Sheen.

6 comments:

Jim said...

A little revolution, now and then, is a good thing.

By the way, I think Ghadaffi could look a lot like Charlie Sheen if he cleaned himself up a little . . . shave . . . take off the Howard Johnson's kitchen towel . . . drink more . . .

XO

Deech said...

If this isn't a little skewed perspective...nothing is....

the walking man said...

Candace I think when we feel the real pain of the coming "beat the crap out of your wallet" that is going to happen this year; then we won't worry about Charlie and Lindsay so much except how much taxes did THEY pay.

I was stunned when i was walking by the TV and some show my wife was watching said Sheen made 2 million an episode. Now you're telling me the Kardashian clan made 65 million, Beck made 32 million, Limbaugh 33 million...yes ma'am I do not keep up with this mess to much because i read news sources but I am now questioning how much in taxes do these folks pay and what needs be done to make them pay a fair portion.

Scope said...

Trust me, I've been paying more attention to Libya, the middle East, and Wisconsin than I have Hollywood the last month.

But then, after the Packer's Super Bowl victory, I want to see Wisconsin suffer a little. ;-)

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