It's 1, 2, 3, 4...What Are We (Not) Fighting For?

This got me to thinking. What is it with "US" (the collective us) anymore? Why is the media more concerned with runaway brides and movie premieres rather than the hard hitting news?

I think it's because humans have an insatiable need to be entertained -- and an aversion to pain.

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us

If you know enough things are wrong with the world around you, you have to either give up or join in the fight. Better to avoid the whole thing. I don't know if we could match the levels of social consciousness of the 60s because there are simply too many refuges and escapes from having to worry about what's going on in the world. (War? That still happening?)

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way To bring some lovin' here today - Ya
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
...

Talk to me (sister}
So you can see (sister)
Oh, what's going on
(What's going on)
What's going on
(What's going on)

Maybe we really will go out with a whimper instead of a bang...maybe medicating and entertaining ourselves into one collective stupor is our fate.

Maybe the path of least resistance is just too tempting to resist. Maybe we are dinosaurs waiting for the meteor to hit, while barely bothering to look up at the sky. Maybe I just really want an iPod.

(Smells Like Teen Spirit, lyrics by Kurt Colbain. What's Going On, lyrics by Renaldo Benson, Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye. )