If I only knew what I know now five years ago...

It's an interesting subject, this recession we are in. Everyone seems so confused, like this came from no where. The problem was simple: we live beyond our means. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the sole reason for the recession, but it sure is a decent part of it. And don't think for a second that I believe that I do not live beyond my means. Oh no, no, no... I am the perfect example! It really isn't 100% our fault, however. Much to the dislike of whoever reads this, I hate to inform you that we all are just consumers, pigs, if you will. Much like pigs we wallow in our own filth. Much like pigs we take more and more, and deliver less and less. We grow fat, both physically and mentally, on the idea that we are the shit, all the while rolling in our own as if we win more of something... anything... should we turn out to be the dirtiest. We become confident, happy that we get everything we want with minimal effort. And to make it easier on us, what we want is easily scaled down in size so that we have more room for more shit. We happily collect ipod nano's, have small screens for our mini vans to watch short films for short trips to the store to buy more small stuff for the vacant space on the wall because we'll be damned if we don't fill our over sized houses with shit.

Then we max our our credit cards.

It's at this juncture that the very fine folks who were so kind as to give us everything we want and need to survive show up at our residences (which are filled with shit), and before we know it we are processed, packaged, and ready to be consumed. It's a horrible thing, really.

Humans seem to enjoy living in excess. We have so much shit so we have to purchase newer, bigger houses that we really can't afford. This may be our own fault, but the system is just as much to blame because it willingly allows us to commit financial suicide by giving us the loans we need to purchase said houses/items. Why? Because that's how the system makes IT'S money, and that's how we are kept under control.

It really isn't all our fault though. We can't help it. A flaw with the human brain is that it tends to make individuals believe they are impervious to situations that the person has never experienced before. I could never be a victim of anything... but as soon as something goes wrong, immediately I am a victim. Why? Because something like this could never happen to me as an individual and now that it has there can be no other excuse.

Wrong.

The quick answer is ignorance. That part of the brain... the consciousness... that likes to say something can never happen to you, that's ignorance. It can happen to you and, chances are, it will. Regardless of what it is. It's ignorance that allows us as Americans to be "victims" of social engineering. I say "victims" because to be a victim of something such as social engineering is to also be a victim of ignorance. I stress Americans because I am an American and therefore believe that I can speak on behalf of and to other Americans. I lack international experience so I don't want to generalize to include humans as a whole. What I do know is how most of Americans operate because I've observed this through all the years of my life. Most of my life I have been an observer of human interaction and behavior, analyzing what I saw more than actually taking part in activity. I am not saying this makes me an authority on American beliefs, but I do tend to trust my judgement regarding this issue more than someone else's.

The scary thing about social engineering is that it is real. Social engineers are employed by the government, businesses, and even the entertainment industry to sculpt society. Even the fashion industry is propelled by social engineers. They are the admen. They are the public relations (i.e. propaganda departments) of business and government. They make you feel the way you feel when you purchase a product. They make you want the product to begin with. And what's worse is you don't even know it. You aren't even aware. I still find myself falling "victim" to it. We all do and we all will.

The funny thing about it is, once you open your eyes a little you see impossible things all over the place. You never see commercials again. Instead you see sick and twisted screams for attention, to live beyond your means and purchase something you really don't need or even want. You start to pick out the fallacies and rhetoric of news casts. Ever watch a Q and A with any member of government, especially every one's favorite Bush? It's hilarious! You never get an answer. You get an explanation of something, but never an answer. You get a defensive response, but what is being defended? Well, the question, really. It's funny in that this line of reasoning makes no sense at all, and sad in that so many people buy into it and don't question the fact that there is still a question and no answer.

I wish I would have finished my social science major. Unfortunately, through fault of my own and lack of understanding of a larger picture, I lived well beyond my means in an earlier time. I don't have the luxury of going to school full time and even working part time just to live now. So school had to be put on hold. I had such high ambitions to be a social engineer for the "good guys"... undoing some of what has been done and can be salvaged for a better future... and causing a little harmless chaos along the way.

The one thing good that I can say about the current situation here in the United States is that our systems of higher education are feisty and have no qualms telling you how it is. I felt a little disenchanted being a social science major because I came to find that almost everything I learned previous is wrong, or fallacious, or pointless. Much like existentialism, once you learn to see the world in a wider spectrum, you can't go back to living in ignorance. Well, you can, but then you would be displaying the worse kind of ignorance, willing ignorance. Of course that alone is kind of a paradox... un-ignorant to being ignorant.

But anyway...

What I was getting at is this: we put ourselves in the spot we are in. There's a 90% chance that this was engineered from the get go... all part of a higher, nefarious plan to accomplish some devious goal of the ruling elite (see: Bilderberg, CFR, etc). Regardless, we let this happen to ourselves. If we can get ourselves out of this mess, that will only make us stronger. If we don't, well... then I guess my fears are correct and America is filled with nothing but narcissistic gluttons who deserve all the hardships they are now faced with.

All I have to say is I'm glad we are supplied with doubles of pretty much everything because I'm sure if things don't start to look up soon we will all be selling kidneys, eyes, and testicles for gas to go to work and bread to feed our abstinence-only sexual education produced offspring.

Oh and for that new dress.

And big screen t.v.

And that weekend in Vegas.