Quote Originally Posted by lateralus
Thanks for always typing what I'm much too lazy to. It's only 'teaching' those who're uncomfortable enough with themselves to be influenced by it, though. I'm long past that.

Its lack of real content doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable though; music can and does influence people, and I listen to a lot of music which many would consider questionable. Don't you? I still get off on shows like Cops and Laguna Beach, mostly laughing at how STUPID and shallow everyone is. It's hard to find a young person with a topic other than 'who said this', 'he said that', 'she is driving this', or 'he is hotter than him', so you do have a valid point. I make it a point not to let television or music influence my character.
I'm glad you agree with me. I too don't let modern music or television influence me. I observe it rather like an alien would, examining what it is and what it means about our culture. And frankly, it scares the shit out of me when I compare it to the popular culture of the past. Nothing means anything to anyone anymore, like nothing had meaning to me during my youth when I wasted so many precious years in front of the tube mindlessly absorbing whatever was on. I was lucky enough to break myself out of that vicious cycle and am afraid I might slip into it again if I observe too much too often.
This is off topic. Oneironaut, I find you to be one of the most intelligent people on the boards, and I agree with you in that government is infinitely flaw prone. I used to consider myself an anarchist years ago, but frankly, I think the human race is doomed in whatever we do. That's why I don't get myself all worked up at how ridiculous everything is anymore. Even the most intelligent people are hopelessly inconsistent. Have you noticed? This is as good as it will ever get.
It's rather unfortunate that you've given up hope in humanity, especially when there are so many inspiring historical examples we could be following. I don't blame you for giving up hope in the midst of all this mindless apathy, but I believe this is really specific to our era of mass media and systematized stupidification (is that a word?). Time and time again history has shown us that the human spirit when put to work can achieve freedom and spontaneity the likes of which had never been seen before. There was the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Commune of Paris, the Italian factory occupations after World War I, the Spanish Civil War, the events of May '68 in France, the civil rights movement...something like that can happen again if humanity can escape this mental cage it's been put in. This is all rather off-topic though, so I'll leave it at that.