The Great Shift

I've been trolling the nets for a good story to post, but I don't think a single news story could do justice to the overall picture I'm seeing. Wheat fires in Russia. Gulf oil spill capped. Google making deals with Verizon. Economy in the sewer tank. Corporate profits up. Regular jobs down. Gay marriage legal. Police focused on victimless crimes. White collar criminals running free. Democrats avoiding their taxes. Republicans offering nothing. Tea Party gaining support.

It's so much, and it keeps coming faster. The world is shifting beneath our feet, and it's all some of us can do just to keep up. Average Americans are bearing the costs of mistakes made at the highest levels. Technology is inventing magical devices. The future is upon us. And we are just trying to figure it out.

Like an infant opening its eyes for the first time, the human race is blinking in the bright light of information brought to us by the internet. What does this all mean? How can we make sense of all this information? How can we make use? How can we make money?

Our world, our culture, our selves, are changing faster than ever in history. Changes that used to take generations are now happening in just a few years, and I only see it getting faster. The interconnected minds of the internet are showering us with information as we struggle to keep our heads above the waterline. The waterslide of information seems to have no end, but damn is it a fun ride.

Separated families are sharing pictures on Facebook. International debates between regular people are happening on internet forums. Videos of important events fly across the globe before we even know what it means. (What does it MEAN?)

Corrupt businesses and government officials are being exposed at a fierce pace. Every other day another bank committed fraud, another congressman evaded his taxes, another ex-vice-president caught with his pecker out. The leviathan of government and business is being exposed for the sociopathic money machine that it is. And we, the people, watch with interest.

The wars we don't want to talk about brought into focus by criminals stealing classified records. The president we hired to end the wars expands them, telling us he will draw down. Next year. Or later.

The health care we were promised, where is it? A 10 minute doctor visit is still a hundred dollars or more for those without insurance--where's the fix for that? Americans now required to pay money to insurance companies--this is reform?

The internet brings the picture into focus, sharpens the contrast, and it is a chaotic picture indeed. Our leaders are corrupt, kowtowing to whoever gives the most to their campaign. Our businesses are using government to extract more profit from the over taxed, over spent, drowning in debt populace. And we are starting to see it, in a way that no one has seen it before.

We've seen it. We've talked about it. We've lived it. Now one question remains:

What are we going to do about it?