London Tap Water and the Fountain of Joy
It's pathetic, I'm addicted to my own blog. I have no doubt that I'm its most assidious visitor. The day before yesterday I viewed it around 70 times (70 times!) in the irrational hope that some new comment would show up or some new quote would inexplicably appear. I'm beginning to understand the downside of keeping one of these. At least I realize my problem though, so hopefully I will be able to understand that these things don't update themselves and that no one really views what I post here.In any case, there's a few things on the news today that deserve mention. The first of these is a short article on "Express" (which is distrubuted for free in the D.C. Metro and which is printed by The Washington Post) titled Prozac Nation. This article states that
'The British consume so much Prozac that traces of the drug can now be found in the country's drinking water, the government's environmental agency revealed this past week. The anti-depressant is apparently entering the river system and groundwater through treated sewage, health officials said.'
Did you guys get that or do I need to repeat it? OK, I'll repeat it. THE BRITISH TAKE SO MANY ANTI-DEPRESSANTS THAT NOW YOU CAN GET THEM WITH YOUR TAP WATER IN LONDON. What does that mean? Well, for one, it means that if the amount of Prozac that gets into the water system is enough to leave traces, I cannot even imagine how much they put into their bodies. More importantly, though, it is reflective of the pathetic state our CULTURE OF DEATH has reached. How long are we going to drug ourselves with mindless television, electronic gadgets, fashion, high-and-mighty career goals, superficial relationships, plastic surgery, and, well, drugs? Our culture is becoming emptier by the minute and we just keep urging it on, hoping that tomorrow's improved numbing mechanism will save us from the sense of meaninglessness that forever rears its ugly head whenever we forget to take our "hit." It is not going to happen people. Not going to happen. That's just not the way we work, it's obvious. Depression rates in today's world are FIVE to SIX times greater than at the beginning of the 20th century, and yet we are much more comfortable than before. It's pretty clear to me what's happening here. Our culture has forgotten about meaning. It has forgotten to help us understand what all our progress is ultimately for. Its kept on asking the 'hows,' but forgotten about the 'whys,' and only now we're beginning to begin to understand the tragedy of all this.
And no, I'm not saying that all of these modern distractions are inherently bad, Prozac has helped a lot of people. But they should be just that, distractions. Things to help us relax or heighten the enjoyment of something that already fills us with joy. If you buy a convertible, do it hoping for a day when the sun shines bright upon untraveled roads and the woman you love sits next to you; her flowing hair dancing in the wind. Don't do it so you can get a trophy wife who will sit next to you with her fake boobs hogging all the view and her dyed hair stepping all over the wind's toes. Don't make material things into idols, or risk looking as dumb as a person kneeling before a golden calf. Choose one of the two.
Well, I think there was something else of importance in the news, but somehow I've forgotten.
posted by ertandberni @ 10:01 AM
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