As a young boy attending school I first learnt of impending dangers such as global warming and chemically contaminated food and water. It seems likely that this was before many people who will read this had heard of these dangers and of course being the impressionable third grader I was I assumed something had to be done and that I was the one to do it. After nearly twenty years and much disenchantment I came to be somewhat of a cynic, but this is beside the point.
In times of stress and hard-ship we can always count on our escapisms to get us through the day and there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. Our TVs and video games, our sports and drugs, or whatever you prefer. We live now at a time however when action is needed, or if not action then at least concern. When we shut out reality for reality TV we are in effect shutting out ourselves, more importantly our futures together. We've become far too accustomed to waiting for our problems to fix themselves as a result of the "advanced state" of our society. When the gangs come, call the cops; when the Nazis come, call the Allies; when the smog comes, buy a hepa filter. After everything is taken care of we can go home and watch the action on YouTube as long as it doesn't conflict with the season finale of [insert show title here]. What happens though when we can no longer pay the police? Do the good guys do what they "have to" to feed their young? When the next evil group rises to power and the Allies can't afford the war machine because the enemy has our money what will happen to us? Are any of my scenarios actually feasible? If you don't trust me I suggest you watch CNN for ten minutes today.
At a certain point (and I theorize this point is nigh) it won't be enough to change the channel to make the badness go away. Chris Brown's soft voice won't stop the hurt that was on the horizon all the time. If we intend to survive we have to stop listening to pundits (ironically enough like me) and go fix something.
