Do I have your attention, yet? Good. So, maybe what I should've said is: most Americans are ignorant, uncultured, uneducated, mildly entertained, distracted, and selfish fools. Marcus Aurileus said greatly in so many words that a man's character is determined by his thoughts. I took from that quote more than from any else. What do you think of on a daily basis? Your stream of consciousness from one thought to the next, what is it comprised of? Take a moment to think before reading further. Relationships, television, recurrences of almost immediate (considering the scope of our lives) events, abstract religious ideals, politics, things to say, things to buy, things to do in order to occupy ourselves for one more small unit of time, things that we convice ourselves are worth while, the way and how we're going to make a few more bucks to buy more things that we are not commited to buy? Fleeting and insignificant little thoughts that do not add up to anything meaningful! How often do we watch television, and when we do, do we really watch? How often do we really even listen to music? When in class, listening to a lecture, do we even really learn anything? I imagine a large and systematic group of unconscious, not even subconscious, robots going through the motions; seemingly enjoying life, though distracted and bewildered, from one conversation to the next, from one joke to the next, from one stupid and ill-concieved thought to the next. In my opinion, they do not benefit the mind in any way. The mass media is perpetrated by people who exploit our boredom. The popular consciousness places value on something as insignificant as a brand and we, as individual consumers, suck these ideas up like vacuum cleaners, are used like vacuum cleaners, are unconscious like vacum cleaners.
I pose a question that many are scared to ask themselves, and if it is brought up in conversation either one will scoff, say "I don't know," or change the subject: why are we here? Does it become clearer with old age? Do we really know? Has anyone? Please, for a minute, seriously ask yourself this question, because in our culture it is not done (even by Christian religious nuts who tout their horn). Look around, at all the things that physically have no natural purpose (only idealized purposes), and ask yourself. It takes mental effort to temporarily remove yourself from society, think of things objectively and divide, as if you had no idea how things worked, as if this mass global system was a mystery. In this place we should return, at least for a little while, to reflect upon the nature of reality, and the reality of nature, and, I suppose, God.
Next time, although I somehow feel this goes against your writing style, you may want to shorten your paragraphs to make your post easier to read. And you may want to make you point clearer at the outset.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
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