from the convo I just had with myself

So I was thinking of my friend's lamenting his situation at work... his boss being an ass and all. The inevitable dynamic of manager and managee, with all the appropriate trappings of the managee's convictions of his boss riding him too much. Or not appreciating the work that he does. Or not helping in times you are convinced you have too much on your plate. Or for nonsensical criticism. Not always, but true for far too many. And for most, thats work - meaning half of waking hours for a huge chunk of life. So for a large portion of your life, you are engaged in an endeavor that if fraught with unfriendliness and, at times, belligerence. I may be painting in stark colors, but the gist is clear.
But that aint even the biggest issue.. The grand daddy issue of the whole capitalistic endeavour is that its paramount priority is maximizing the shareholders' value. There is that, and then there is everything else, way way down. Bypassing aspects of our existence that are not insignificant. Bypassing our physical, as well as our mental health; our well being. All in the name of more profits, bigger houses, and faster cars.
Never mind that we pay next to nothing to our teachers and next to everything to our professional athletes. Never mind that we work our doctors into utter exhaustion. We are deliberately bypassing our own well being!
But oh how sweet it all seems at the beginning. You enter a world that values success - what can be better? You are seduced. I came in wanting to prove myself, wanting to matter. You begin at first by paying attention and memorizing a whole bunch of marginally important stuff. Ready to regurgitate this drivel at a moment's notice. Ready to analyze the shit out of anything. And then you really make it by coming up with a way to save your clients a little dough, often by paying less to the government. Or you figure out how to sell false hope. Or make people believe they really want something.
Moreover, and this is where shit gets even more real, this system drives our government. Our ELECTED officials receive corporate funding, and in turn make it possible for companies to lower their standards across the board, be it Monsanto or BP. This is the system in which we find ourselves. In which most of us voluntarily participate. In which we work, pay taxes, vote, raise our kids. Our system. I sincerely hope our grand grand children will look at this level of mass ignorance the way we now consider Holocaust, or slavery. Would be asking the same of us: "Really? And you didnt stop to think about it? And WHAT WERE you thinking about??"

Uh, you see, the plasma tv I have wanted for a while now is on sale at Target.

And yet.. the dude abides.