“Everything’s Amazing, and NO ONE is Happy”

Today’s post title, stolen from the opening minutes of a video we posted a few weeks back, is as good a summation as I’ve heard for our nation today.

Our lives are filled with wonders which were unimaginable just a short time ago: tiny cell phones, huge flat-screen TVs, laptop computers & tablets, and every other sort of convenience for our homes.

And yet, much like spoiled little Veruca Salt in ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory‘, too many folks in our nation today want what they want right now, …and upon receiving it are still not satiated. They merely move on to the next “want”. They never seem to be truly happy or at peace.

Which begs the obvious question, WHY?

I’m betting we could ALL guess at a few of the likely reasons:

• One is almost certainly that many of us were not taught to be grateful for everything in our lives: both the good AND the ‘unanswered‘ prayers.
• Another basic one is that we were given too much, but learned to work for too little.
• And still another may be our media, which continually dangles the next “widget” or “desire” in front of us, telling us that our lives will be perfect if only we go get it.

But I think just as large an issue as any of those, yet rarely discussed, is our physical and mental need to relax, unwind, recharge, …and our growing inability to do so. And I think the culprit is simple: politics today has invaded everything. 

From food to marriage, from the Boy Scouts to Sesame Street, where can we turn today and not potentially run into a Leftist political landmine?

Unfortunately, nowadays one expects to find Statist politics filling most news reports, but what about normal TV shows? Political tropes are rampant in almost all of them, too, and (surprise!) they are too often Left-leaning in worldview. Most movies? Same thing. Heck, we even had the “surprise presenter” at the Oscars this year being (who else?) The First Lady.

C’mon, give us a break, guys! Can’t I watch one flippin’ show without being hit in the face with this stuff?

What about sports? Well, once upon a time sports was almost completely apolitical. Now? Hardly. Sometimes it’s more subtle, and sometimes it’s not, but the fact is that it’s there…and worse, you know it’s there. Honestly, that’s why I watch games with the sound muted a good share of the time.

Even comic books, long ago a place of escape for kids that also (**gasp**) reinforced traditional values, have now gone “All-In” on their decades-long Progressive lean. Last year’s non-heterosexual comic “events” were just the warm-up act: THIS year they’ve created…“Occupy”-themed superheroes!

If you thought the Occupy movement was a laughing matter … well, you may be onto something. DC Comics — a company whose name is a reminder that its earliest product was meant to bring a smile to its customers’ lips — announced on Friday that it will be releasing two new series.

Both focus on the plight of the 99 percent.

Wired reports that the two titles in the Occupy series, which will debut in May, feature superheroes. “The Green Team” carries the motto “Money CAN buy them happiness — and they want to share it with you.”

The motto of “The Movement,” meanwhile, is “They were the super-powered disenfranchised — now they’re the voice of the people.”

“Incredibilis”.

Comics have been leaning this way more and more for years now, but this is now completely absurd. And just in case you were wondering, no, there are no “Tea Party” themed superheroes rumored to be in development anytime soon.

—–

It is not by accident that so often the same people who are aghast at any mention of God (or even just traditional, objective values) in the public sector are ALSO usually the ones hectoring us with Leftist political views. As I’ve repeated ad nauseam since last year, ours is now a cultural battle with politics acting as the weapon of choice. Stirred and spurred by our politicians and media, our entire culture is now blanketed by this sense of unease.

No wonder no one’s happy.

We can try to withdraw from it, thus leaving it to get increasingly worse, or we can engage and try our best to change our little corner. One thing is certain: we AREN’T going to be left alone, regardless of what we decide.