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The State of the World
by Lisa Natoli
Date: 7/14/2006 10:01:29 AM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 2977 times
REPORT: State of the world 2006
I saw a movie last night that was really stupid - There is only love - but there was one good detail that I liked ... Sean Penn writing a report on the State of the World. I thought that would be a good writing exercise for me.
The WorldWatch Institute issues an annual report, but charges $18.95 (per year) to read it. THIS IS THE STATE OF THE WORLD. Nobody gives anything away for free. The cost of gas is $3.06/per gallon. I get 30 miles to the gallon. I make $10/per hour. It costs $40 to fill the tank to full, and on average I use one-and-a half tank of gas per week.
The state of the world is one of CONSUMERISM, EXCESS, and WASTE.
Almost every single person owns their own car. Many people own two cars. It is said there are more private cars on the road than people licensed to drive them.
The public transportation is practically non-existent - except in major cities. Last week I took the bus (Greyhound) from NYC to Boston and I felt like I was in a third-world country. It was the poorest of poor. I felt like I was in Africa. This is no joke. There was pee all over the floor and crying impovershed children.
My bus ticket costs $51 round-trip, and takes 4 hours from New York to Boston making it a great way to travel. But apparently people prefer to fly (even though it takes almost the exact same amount of time door-to-door on a plane than a bus considering taxis to the airport, checking in, getting through security, boarding the plane, delays, waiting for take-off, etc.).
They have discontinued most bus/train service in small towns. A car is thus a necessity to get to the nearest city to catch a bus or train.
Plane tickets are $150-$1500 one way.
A one-way trip on the NYC subway is $2.50. A 7-day unlimited ride is $24. A 30-day unlimited ride is $76. Cheaper than gas, for sure.
Houses are bigger despite smaller households. The average house in a small town costs $200,000 to buy. It is impossible to buy anything but a shack for under $100,000. Rents in NYC for studio apartments are $2000/per month. One bedrooms are $3500/per month. In Greenwich, CT it is not uncommon to buy an $11 million dollar house and then knock it down immediately and build a brand new bigger, more expensive house in the vacant lot.
WHAT PASSES FOR NEWS:
In this highly complex, complicated world the people who bring us the news have decided that FLUFF ENTERTAINMENT is best, with an emphasis on celebrity lifestyle. We get stories every day of which teen celebrity was at which nightclub, who's sleeping with who, who's dating who, pictures of celebrities at the beach in bikinis, celebrities talking on their cell phones, celebrities shopping for groceries, celebrities driving their cars. The weird thing, that I don't understand, is why these people are famous?? They are famous for going out to clubs. The age of the Hollywood movie star is over. Most of the "celebrities" today do not do anything except take drugs, go clubbing, and flash their boobs and private parts. They are famous because of "reality" tv shows, which follow people's lives with a camera.
The dumber someone is, the more "famous" he becomes. It's as if the media likes to show clowns, imbeciles and human flaws. We are constantly being shown photos of people's wrinkles, cellulite and aging bodies. If a celebrity gains 2 pounds, its all over the magazines with photos asking "IS SHE PREGNANT?"
People magazine just paid $4 million dollars for "exclusive rights" to publish photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby. Of course, I had already seen the photos on the internet one week earlier. Tom Cruise refuses to release photos of his new baby because People magazine only offered him $3 million dollars, and he finds that price insulting and offensive.
THIS IS THE STATE OF THE WORLD.
There are over 11,000 published magazines a month, mostly women's magazines and entertainment.
This is to distract people from what is really going on in the world - corruption within the government, war, monumental debt, a failing environment.
Yesterday in the news a man named Kenneth Lay, founder of a company called Enron died. His company stole billions of dollars from people, and was all-around corrupt. A few months ago he was found guilty of these crimes and was sentenced to jail. But he died yesterday of heart attack at 64 years of age, before he had even spent one day in jail and today people are outraged. They are upset that he got off "easy" and did not have to suffer in jail. This is the state of the world. People like to see other people suffer.
This world is a slaughter-house.
It kills people as "fair punishment" and it kills animals to eat them.
Every day there are stories of rape, abuse, cheating, stealing, lying, and deception.
This world cuts off people's heads and fingers. People tape bombs to themselves and walk into a crowded street or subway and blow themselves up. Children carry guns and are trained to kill. The goverment executes "criminals", people who have been found guilty by a jury of crimes. It's all political. It is not a fair justice system.
Everyone is paranoid.
Yesterday I knocked on my neighbor's door because a kitten was hit by a car in the road. I got it off the road, and went to the nearest house to see if they had kittens. The woman in the house, in her 40's, was terrified of me knocking at the door. WE LIVE OUT IN THE COUNTRY, IN A REALLY FRIENDLY PLACE! This is not Nazi Germany. I could hear her scrambling around the house when I knocked on the door and then finally she opened her kitchen window a crack, only enough for her mouth to talk to me (as if I would force the window open and rape and kill her). I asked if she had kittens because one had been killed on the road, and she calmed down a little (seeing that I wasn't going to kill her) and said no.
THIS IS THE STATE OF THE WORLD.
Everyone is afraid of everyone.
People watch too much television, which is full of violence. It's like the world is being manipulated by subverse messages. We are being controlled by messages which appear friendly and harmless. Almost every household in America has a television in every room.
Teenagers now go into their own room to watch television by themselves. If they get bored with television, they can click on their computer. If they are bored with computers, they can tune into their iPods to listen to music.
Hardly anyone reads books anymore. It's all fast-paced information now. Who's got the time to read a book?
The art of the handwritten letter is also dying away. Everyone uses e-mail on their computers. I don't get any envelope-stamped mail anymore. Not even bills. They come to me electronically, over the computer.
Hardly no one uses cash. We all use plastic debit cards, which deducts the money out of our bank accounts. Many people use credit cards, meaning they use a piece of plastic and a company bills them later for the amount due, plus interest.
FAMILY/MARRIAGE
Most people treat marriage as if it is dating. It's as easy to divorce someone nowadays as it is to break off a dinner date. There is little loyalty or commitment to go the long-haul with a person. Mostly families consist of one parent.
There used to be statistics on marriage and divorce but the U.S. Census Bureau stopped gathering information on marriage in 1996. At that time the divorce rate was 50%. I can only look around me and see that the divorce rate is more like 90%. Everyone I know is divorced or has been divorced.
People are still getting married, but it seems more of a reason for an eleborate party (the average wedding costs $40,000) than a reason to join in union with a person you love.
The family sit-down dinner is a thing of the past, except at holidays. People eat on the run, in front of the television, in front of the computer, in their cars, in fast-food restaurants, at their desks at work. Many people eat alone. We are a nation of obesity.
SUPERMARKETS
The produce section (fresh fruits and vegetables) is the smallest section in the grocery store. Mostly you find boxed/canned/frozen processed food. Aisles and aisles and aisles of fake food, filled with chemicals and preservatives. This is what America eats, along with meat, dairy, cheese and bread. We are the most unhealthy we have ever been in the history of man. People die of heart attacks, obesity, cancer, and disease. I believe it is because of the diet we eat. Most people's diet consist of sugar, meat and processed carbohydrates like white bread, rice & pasta. If someone is diagnosed as sick by a doctor, instead of switching to a healthy diet many people prefer to take take a pill, a drug or a vitamin.
There are over 400 kinds of cereal, 20 brands of toilet paper, 20 brands of orange juice, 20 brands of milk. It's excess and waste.
There are 40 different brands of bagged lettuce. They are all identical lettuce, but with different packaging. There are 10 different kinds of apples, most of which get thrown away because people demand their produce be the freshest of fresh. I'm trying to imagine how much produce gets thrown away at the end of every day.
We are losing common sense. We are not using our heads.
There are over 20,000 diet books published, and yet the world keeps getting fatter and fatter.
It's as if people are self-destructing, killing themselves with food, media and isolation.
People are tuning out with sunglasses, cell-phones, television, computers and iPods.
Is there good in the world?
Of course.
Individuals strive to do good, but in this overly complicated world there is a problem connecting with other people.
Most people I meet say they are lonely and sad. They want meaning in their lives, but cannot find it. People are constantly leaving or dying. There is no stablity.
THIS IS THE STATE OF THE WORLD.
There is no meaning here.
People say it is getting more enlightened, but I think it is getting worse and worse, more dark and chaotic.
Most people are sound asleep with eyes wide open.
It's kinda scary. I drive down the road and people are not paying attention because they are busy talking on their cell phone and not watching the road.
When you see two people walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant, usually one person is talking on the phone, the other person sitting or walking alone.
There is no connection with one another.
The tv is on in the background. People are racing from one place to another, going nowhere. Everyone is distracted.
When a government wants to destroy its people, first they blind them.
They take away their ability to think clearly and for themselves - but not by force. They let the people self-destruct.
THIS IS THE STATE OF THE WORLD.
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