Sol's Culture Wars

It's an effective marketing weapon, it engages voters at the emotional level; it's a cheap ploy that too often works.  The networks know this truth, their own research has proven it for certain. Fear can make folks buy, sell, go out, or stay home and worry over anything.  Climate change, disease, war, AI, space aliens, and King Trump, these are the scares that the media uses.  Kicking up your blood pressure is the goal of fear-mongering reporting, the type of sinister manipulation that can move billions worth of product fast, at the negligible cost of your health and well-being; you are expendable, even as you're spending every dollar.  Fear sells you into believing in devils, and demons, and dangerous ethics. Fear helps you to act rashly, foolishly, just the kind of assistance that kills, just the type of adrenalized mistakes that make bad situations even worse.  You are encouraged to be frightened many times a day by ruthless bad actors who pose as wise benefa...

Did America get enough of it in 2023? The kind of moral "hey look at me" ethic, drawing attention to causes and issues that sanctimonious types love to publicly cheer about, praising each other and themselves for their great work. Defunding police departments across the country, what a sensational idea! Let's call it a social experiment. Let's try even more: we'll decriminalize drugs, and public drug use, that's what we will call progress!  We've already allowed sidewalk tents, legalized vagrancy, squatters' rights, and secondary status for businesses affected, or residents endangered. Let's allow- for three years now- anyone into the US who can get here. That includes the next 9-11 terrorists, and literally thousands of cartel human mules smuggling in drugs and guns. These policies are all part of the new way of thinking, showing compassion, tolerance, and forgiveness to those who break laws, or harm others. We're also reforming criminal inves...

True around the world, not just here, everywhere, trends are similar, the preference is clear. Americans are big violence consumers. Violence is a very successful entertainment product. Most profitably mass produced, packaged, distributed, and purchased by tens of millions daily. Even better than cheap. There's so much free violence available on the internet, it's a limitless supply. Ready for brains to absorb and retain, no matter age or inclination.  Average Americans find violence to be so consistently entertaining, it's easily ingested with great joy and gusto; the scarier or bloodier the carnage, the better time is had by all. Great for profits, violent products are also highly addictive. Grand Theft Auto, an extremely violent game teens and kids play, is a billion dollar money machine.  Maybe we don't like to think about it, how violent our nation has become. After awhile, no form of violence will shock anymore. No entertainment. All repetitive images eventually l...

Contradictions unavoidable, both wary and hopeful, stepped sideways into this new year, more like a stealth slide, unnoticed, apprehensive by the hour, but also looking for reasons for calm, beginnings have to start somewhere, 2024, there's no shortage of opposing predictions, we'll be saved or doomed by June, at least, or cruise to higher highs while ignoring gravity entirely, which may not apply to us this year, markets will soar, fresh fortunes made, or else you are short selling the future in a devil's blind bet against advancing human progress.  Personally, I'll predict that predictors stay employed over the next twelve months, while the pundits and experts preen away before their trusted networks, and you won't see what they decide, and you won't hear about certain stories, or details that hint at who's really in control, identities are all AI generated this year, believe in nothing auditory or visual, owners will be well hidden from scrutiny, the powe...