Maryn, Fizz, you’ve both mentioned things I believe point up to what extent American leadership can be held accountable, not to negate individual accountability.
Considering our government’s (the military industrial complex) inclination (ahem) to give corporations priority over its citizenry, it’s not hard to see the effect on society. As the government takes more and more control over personal choices (doesn’t it seem there are ever-expanding laws dictating every aspect of these choices?), we are left with, if not in reality, at least the perception that we aren’t accountable. And with so much emphasis placed on corporate importance and power, the corporations and mainstream media dictate (read brainwash) what we are to believe is important. We are bombarded with the mindset of the government/corporate world; power and material possession at any cost take priority. Isn’t that the subliminal, if not the overt, message sent these days? Is there any doubt why impressionable youth adopt these ways in spite of our best efforts?
As a parent, I like to believe my children have taken on the best qualities I have to offer, but I have to admit it’s been difficult to compete with the constant onslaught of information they get that runs contrary to my beliefs. I can’t speak for others, but I bet I’m not unique in feeling that the few hours a day, some weekends and vacations, of quality time I’ve spent with my kids, has been overshadowed by the endless hours of conflicting information they got from mainstream media, especially TV, that’s the mouthpiece for what’s termed our “leadership.”
As to my kids learning more from what I do than what I say, I fear, because of the very nature of our frantic way of life as we scramble and fight to provide for our families, they have witnessed very little of the toughest decisions and actions I’ve made. More often than not, those most demonstrative of who I am and what I’m made of, occurred on the mean streets and in the workaday world. Too many times, just in trying to protect them and allow them some semblance of a happy, untroubled childhood, I’ve refrained from telling them about the crap that goes on in those eight, ten, twelve-hour-plus days when I’m not around them.
