An American Snapshot via Facebook

Posted by Chris Campbell at Monday, September 07, 2009

It's hard to believe that with a democrat in the White House and a wide lead in both houses, the present political climate is one of the most disgusting I've ever witnessed. Comparisons to Hitler as Obama preps to speak to Americas children? Death squads as he works tirelessly to get more Americans health care? Since when is helping your fellow Americans equal to a man responsible for overseeing the murder of six million people? What in the world has happened here? Our country is becoming such an embarrassment. I thought I was ashamed of my country under Bush, but at least then it was our government we could blame; now it's our own citizens. It literally is every man for him or herself. We have a president who wants all Americans to join together in common causes and all hell breaks loose.

I've recently found a lot of parallels to what's happening in our country to the behavior that we all witness on Facebook. Like many, I have a wide array of "friends" on Facebook, ranging from "real" friends to colleagues present and past to a whole slew of assholes I went to high school with. (I mean seriously, have the 100 additions from high school brought on one rekindled friendship? No. (Ok, Dan L. and Jill A. are exceptions.) The majority of you annoy me even more now than you did in the halls of our tedious high school.) But to the point: If you even keep up casually with people's updates, photos, etc., everything we're witnessing above is really just a steroids-version of what we see on this social-networking service. Most updates are "Look at me here," "I have the best kids ever," "I ate dinner with (insert b-list celebrity)," "Look at my new car," "I am a serious asshole." It's just nonsensical self-inflated basura. You'd think that such a massive and open community would inspire people to communicate, share knowledge, share the arts, share real-world experiences. But no, it's a bunch of fools running around flexing their muscles. Some will say that I do the same as I'm always inserting links back to my half-assed blog, and honestly, they'd probably be right. But I, at least, try to share some music or art that inspires, a policy issue that I'm passionate about or something of value.

Do I sound bitter? Perhaps. But I'm just growing increasingly baffled at what a self-centered society we all call home. Because to me, it's starting to feel less and less like home.