Poodles and Crucifixions

Pink Poodles and the Crucified Christ are perfect examples of our crazy, modern society coupled with an intricate human past woven together in an imbalance that we live with daily and don't think to question at times...

What in the world am I talking about, you may be saying.
I saw a story today, a fluff story. I see many of them working in the news room, we call them "kickers". When there's no hard news to give, it's usually a feel good piece towards to end of the half hour dealing with puppies or babies or adorable old couples celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary.

But I digress... this story was about pet owners bringing their poodles to the groomer to have them dyed pink and purple to celebrate Easter.

How is it that we've come to a point the history of humanity, where we commemorate the ultimate, awe inspiring, bloody sacrifice and subsequent resurrection of Jesus... with pink and purple poodles...with eggs and bunnies and sundresses...

Not that I'm an overly religious person... on the contrary, I am against organized religion... But it bothers me that no one understands what sacrifice is anymore, or responsibility, pain, penance, love.

It seems to me like all that people want is feel good commercialism: the pink poodle puppies who save their elderly owners from a fire on the day of their 80th anniversary who subsequently buy a condo in Florida from the insurance money... oh and the woman found the diamond ring she lost decades ago...her son the firefighter wins the lotto and buys a mansion in L.A where he marries the next American Idol.

Is there an entire generation of children growing up who actually idolize American Idols? That really scares me... where are the real role models... What happened to the old Nickelodeon with shows like Pete& Pete that taught kids that they have power, and creativity and can do things better than adults whose minds are clouded by the mundane, by standards! We're a commercial driven, drugged up society.

As soon as someone faces challenges, starts asking to deeper questions of the meaning of life that can't be answered by have a high paying job or a pretty spouse, we say they're depressed and put them on pills to make them numb. But it doesn't work does it.

We're trapped in our own little worlds, plugged into our ipods...overwhelmed with impute and stimuli to make us forget, to save us from troublesome thought.

Perhaps I'm being too broad, too generalized. But I think this self involved, commercialistic, instantaneous gratification way of living is an epidemic tearing us away from our very humanity, our ability to think. I work in TV and most of our audience is pretty damn stupid, and some of the statistics and research I read is terrifying. Did you know that in a recent survey more than 30 percent of Americans believe, ACTUALLY BELIEVE, that the world was created by God and has only existed for roughly 10-thousand years...THIS IS A THIRD OF THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. (I'm going to look for the exact survey and put up a link soon!)

What can you do against that?

Reality...what is reality. Because despite whatever the truth of our existence may be, the actual truth, people are going to believe whatever they want to and make it real in their minds and live their lives according to those concepts. Does it make it real? The masses certainly give the idea power... enough to power to spark some of the bloodiest conflicts of all time.

Ideas are dangerous because they manipulate our realities.

That's why the media is so powerful, that's why I think that i can make a difference, to help fight the half truths, the subliminal bias and conditioning and PR that can sway the masses and make people believe and fear things and change the way they vote.

But I don't just want to have people vote my way. I don't want them to believe my ideas, I don't want ego to be a part of my work. I want to expose truth, and let them decide...I'm not just saying that as a clever slogan like some networks (Fox*cough*fuckers*cough*)

Can I do it people, can I make a difference, can I stop the pink poodles?