I was originally going to write another blog as a sort of follow up to the one I did yesterday about the issues surrounding the release of Test Drive Unlimited 2. I was going to go further expressing my concern and disappointment with the gaming industry, but to be honest I don't want this blog to be purely a platform about attacking game publishers and developers. There are many other things worth writing about and besides, I am positive that there will be another game release in the near future that will give me ample opportunity to have another rant about the subject.
Instead I decided to write about how people are so easily blinded and distracted by the goings on in society. By distracted I mean the type of distraction put there by those in power to divert peoples attention away from the real issues that are having a profound effect on our every day lives.
I have always ended up getting embroiled in political debate despite my attempts to stay away from it. I will be the first to admit that I am far from being an expert in politics put I do have my eyes open as to what is going on.
At the moment our current government is implementing the systematic destruction of public services in order to save money. Conveniently they blame the previous government for the current mess the country is in and hide behind the excuse of the deficit being much higher than they expected, hence why the cuts have been so severe. I was under the impression the state of the countries finances was actually available freely to those who had an interest. Did the election campaign not include televised debates where all political parties went into detail about how the deficit would be tackled? I may be being naive here, but how can the opposing parties at the election possibly have a plan to cut a deficit if they are unaware of the size of the problem? Either way, these political parties lied to the electorate and once again, in this apathetic nation of ours, they have been allowed to get away with it.
It is somewhat ironic that this is the case, considering accountability was a watch word used by all the parties during the election campaign. Of course they knew that the average UK resident is too idle or too indifferent to do something about it so it is easy for them to pay lip service whilst carrying on as business as usual.
I don't know why people are so apathetic to the issues that are having a real impact on the lives of everyone in this country. It seems to me that so long as people's lives aren't too duly disrupted then they are happy to keep the bucket of sand at hand and their heads firmly planted in it. If anyone dares to enter their world and point out the glaring plans that are being put into place that will make sure the the average person remains a slave to the system they dismiss you as some sort of 'conspiracy theory nut case.' It is not as though they don't believe you. Even the most blinkered person can see that the mass reduction in public sector services will effect everyone in the country one way or another. It is just that they don't want the responsibility of having to face the truth and then the burden of doing nothing about it. So long as they have some semblance of denial in their own minds they can go on watching their mind rotting shows on the television without having to consider future.
Television has played a huge role in both educating and enslaving people. Like the internet the initial concept of the television was great - to beam programs into everyone's living room providing entertainment of one form or another. Quickly it is seized upon as a device for controlling the masses. After all, if you are at home watching the mindless drivel served up on 85-90% of the air time on the television, then you are not educating yourself to what is going on in the world and you are certainly not plotting any sort of revolution!
At the moment, the internet is a haven for free thinking people, but it is common knowledge that key governments want to control the content that goes on the web. It has started through corporations filing copyright infringement claims on channels like You Tube resulting in peoples accounts being closed with little or no explanation. I am not talking about the people that post whole movies on there but small snippets that easily comply to the fair usage policy that is supposed to protect them. We see that other countries are censoring the internet so that the civilians of that country can only access approved web content. Just because we associate that with far off oppressed countries does not mean that the wheels of such ideology are not turning here in the West. Again buckets of sand can be found at all good hardware stores for those who cannot conceive of such ideas. After all, the governments of the West keep telling us how democracy and freedom are the very tenants our society is founded on and the government never lies now does it?
If you think that I have been reading too much Orwell then fine but please think about this. We live in a society where we face the most intense surveillance on our streets in history. Our telephone calls and emails can be snooped on without our knowledge. Our personal information is passed onto to independent private companies without our permission. Does this sound like a free and democratic society to you?
In addition to this, there is the 'thought police' who make examples of any celebrity that has the misfortune to speak out of the politically correct terms. Like circling vultures they swoop down to tear at the carcass of those foolish enough to go against the grain. With ever so fake disgust and outrage they make examples of individuals as though they have been appointed guardians of the nations morality. Ironic since those who make the most noise are guilty of a lack of morals themselves. I look squarely at the news papers of this land of ours.
I could go on, but there is little point. Instead I will wrap up this blog with the following:
They say if you drop a frog in boiling water it will immediately leap out. If you place a frog in cool water and slowly heat it up it will happily sit there and allow itself to boil to death. These gradual changes around us is the water being heated up. The question is, do you want to allow yourself to be boiled to death, or do you want to leap out, take a look around and do something about it?
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