I work for a fortune 500 company and frankly, I feel like a sellout. My real passion in life is music (I play guitar and drums) but I make my living from a job in Information Technology. I entered this field because it pays well and I'm pretty good at it. My main goal in life was to build my own recording studio (which I have since done) and that takes a lot of money.
After I graduated from high school in the late 70's, like most young people, I only cared about the things that affected me personally... playing music, family, friends, partying, etc. The only time I paid any attention to news or politics is when something really bad would happen. As long as it didn't affect me, the rest of the time I could care less.
I've always believed that most/all politicians are corrupt and thus had the attitude that "Why should I vote or care? They are all corrupt and what can my one little vote really change?" My dad used to tell me, "If you're so down on the system, why don't you go out and do something about it?" My response, "Why should I sacrifice my life and my time to fight a war I know I can't win? What would be the point? I've got better things to do" Typical self involved perspective. So I've lived the majority of my adult life in a cocoon spun of a reality of my own making. And for the most part, I've been pretty happy with it. At least I used to be. I guess 911 and George Bush changed all of that.
Almost overnight, I awoke and started to care. I started watching and reading the news and began to become aware of what was really happening. Thank god for the internet because without it, we'd all be screwed. Now I'm to the point that I have almost become obsessed with it.
So why do I feel like such a sellout? Because IMHO, the main threat this country and this world faces (besides religious fanatics) comes from large greedy corporations. One of which I work for ... a very large investment company. Large corporations have taken over and ruined just about everything...the media, health and medicine, food, most jobs, and for gods sakes even music. Through the media, they have conditioned us to be fat, distracted, ignorant, and lethargic. They are poisoning us with chemicals in our food and water and in our air. They are controlling us. They start wars. They pollute the environment. And we let them get away with it. We buy their products.
I work hard and do a good job at work because I am honest and I'm getting paid to do the work. In other words, I'm not out to rip anyone off. But I do draw a line. My workplace professes to support a work-life balance but they don't really. I have a side business in audio (my studio, my band), I have a family, and all of my bosses know about it. Because of it, I don't spend incredible amounts of my time working overtime like most of the others at work do. But when I'm at work, I work hard and do a good job.
Like most large corporations do these days, we are judged on a bell curve...they rank us compared to others in the same pay scale. So, even though I do my job well, because I don't take on extra things that would require long hours (like the others do) I usually fall near the bottom of the curve and thus often get NI's (needs improvement) on my year end appraisals. What a crock.
I watch all of the brainwashed people at work and just shake my head. Corporations have invaded and control our lives. They own us. They demand more and more from us so they can squeeze every last penny of profit from us and we just sit with our asses stuck straight up in the air and let them stick it to us. They instill in us the fear of loosing our jobs and we respond by giving and giving to the point of breaking. Our families and our children suffer, our society suffers and because of it, we have the quagmire we now have. Pure and simple greed.
I despise terrorism like everyone else in this country but I think I understand some of it's origins. Leaving aside religious motivation for the moment, it's global greedy big business. We (I say we because I work for one) have crept into every corner of the world whether they want us there or not. We have taken over governments (including our own) and have forced our beliefs and society on their people. We milk everything we can out of a place and then we move on to the next. Iraq is a perfect example.
I sometimes think about that movie that came out in the 80's called "Red Dawn"
Red Dawn: In the heartland of America, Russian and Cuban paratroopers begin to drop outside while classes go on in the high school. When the soldiers begin killing everyone in sight, local teens take to the hills to avoid the new totalitarian regime established in their little town and, as we later learn, throughout the world. As country folk, they are well familiarized with survival tactics and hunting, which allows them to carry out sophisticated acts of military sabotage, upsetting the balance of power in town with their guerilla warfare.
Would I be any different if that happened to me in my own town? Hell no! I would do everything within my power to protect my family and my freedom. But I'm sure that those who invaded us to impose their beliefs and their society on us would call me a terrorist, an insurgent. We call it patriot. I know that this is a simplified way of looking at terrorism because there are other dynamics at work. But 911 happened because we have forced our arrogant noses where they don't belong.
So what can we do about all of this? When are people, including myself, going to take a real stand against corporations who are apart of this? And I'm not saying that all businesses are bad. Many do responsible business. But more and more large corporations do. And those are the ones that need to be targeted. We do have power you know. Businesses only exists because we support them. We buy their products or invest our money with them. Cut off their life line ... money ... and they have no power. Perhaps one way would be to form coalitions via internet to target offenders by boycotting them. We should refuse to work overtime. We should not be so selfish and greedy. We should give back to society as much as we get. Of course these things would only work if "we the people" stand united. They have successfully worked very had to divide us. Something to think about.