This guy loves famous people.
See his hat? " I 'heart' Famous People"?
That would make a wonderful epitaph:
America
1776- 2007
We Loved Famous People
"I love famous people" is a more than a peculiar statement, it's a perverse new theology, the product of a highly irrational society, one that kills the fatted calf in bizarrely exuberant celebrations of the return of our prodigal children to the media spotlight while simultaneously ignoring events that we really should be paying attention to.
By qualifying our love of people with the word "famous", we have used semantics to tellingly, albeit unconsciously, acknowledge that we have turned our backs on our self-proclaimed national 'Christian' faith-you know, the one which adjures us to love poor (and presumably unknown) people? That one.
It also points to the corruption and downfall of language as a means of communicating ideas. If words no longer mean what they are supposed to mean, then communication will break down- and every endeavor that requires human communication will suffer as a consequence.This pretty much includes everything that people do, so it's a serious problem. Politics and policy are a good example of just how disastrous believing in lies can be .
Our political system has been crippled, perhaps slain, by the wounds inflicted by words with false meanings. "Freedom" = surveillance. Peace is war., etc etc...
George Orwell rolls over in his coffin and says "told ya so", but there's six feet of dirt and decades of stupidity muffling his admonishment.
I can hear the interred voice of Edgar Allan Poe, warning us, " Hey guess what? The only time those famous people even notice you is when they take time out of their famous day to hate you. Or rip you off." (Maybe that was Dorothy Parker- I always get the two mixed-up)
In this case, Mr. Famous Love is apparently ignorant of the difference between fame and infamy.
If you are best-known for setting records (since broken) in professional sports, you are famous.
If you later become a household name because you decapitated your ex-wife, your prior deeds are eclipsed and you are now infamous. You will be loved only by drooling half-wits and your high-powered attorneys, because frankly, no one else can stand to be around you.
Ah, if only that were true...instead, Mr. Famous Guy inadvertently* points out another sign of our national malaise- our prideful , yet ignorant and apathetic approach to our own national politics- many times I have heard people tell me "I NEVER vote because all politicians are crooked, it's all the same, it's boring etc etc."
This is often said with a perplexing defiant, defensive pride. If Al Gore had gotten one vote for every time I've heard someone boast about not voting, we wouldn't be in Iraq right now.
Well guess what? This country is in a mess - arguably the worst ever- and it's because you and you and you didn't vote. Or if you did, you believed the obvious bullshit and voted for the wrong man-twice. Even Diebold couldn't rig enough machines to skew the results of what should have been a landslide in 2000...and 2004. But fear and ignorance won the day- twice.
Fooled twice? Shame on you.
Yeah, tell me that Al Gore would have invaded Iraq..uh huh...it's quite possible that if Gore had won, Osama bin Laden would have called off the 9/11 attacks- the primary goal of the attacks was to goad America into a mis-placed and ill-considered war of savage attrition and it's very unlikely that Gore would have invaded Iraq- quite likely, he'd have finished the job his boss started by catching or killing Osama bin Forgotten - instead , the attacks led to an pointless, soul-killing war predicated on lies and an unquestioning national devotion to our sanguicolous leaders, a cabal loyal only to itself and driven by profits reaped on the harvest of war ; we allowed them to lead us blindly into a war that should have been obviously unjust and unwise to anyone NOT wearing a hat proclaiming their love of famous people.
Oh yeah, we love famous people. Again, I will use Mr. Famous Guy to illustrate just how utterly enervated and atrophied our national political will has become. MFG, unlike many celeb-gawkers, is politically active. Check out his choice of candidate:
Believe it or not, there are people who would be worse as President than George W. Bush. For example, I wouldn't want Charles Manson as President...or O.J. Simpson in any office that doesn't include steel bars, a stainless sink and a metal cot.OJ [in] '07. That's how far we have fallen.
We love famous people. Godzilla help us.
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* I have been told that Mr. Famous Love is a prankster, in which case his garb is a wickedly pointed jab at what ails us- what ails us is us.
