E.T., COME HOME! (and put us out of our misery)

why do people spend time pondering the obvious question, "why do they hate us?" "us," meaning the united states... i found my answer on t.v. tonight. on fox, yet another mindless "bachelor/ette" reality show; on, disney's abc, "ALL AMERICAN GIRL." the latter was mind blowing. i saw malnourished, awkward women dancing clumsily and looking outrageously embarrassing in front of a crowd of primped and prepped audience members holding studio-prepared signs reading, "kira! you go girl!" okay, not all of them were malnourished. some were mid-western well-fed girls. but, boy! what prime-time television cameras did to their rhythm! it was painful. who can really watch this crap and not think that someone in another country--whose economy and people are getting the shaft of globalization due to our bullying multinationals--would want to kill us for being so oblivious and ignorant to our privilege? when i think of these mindless moments of popular culture, i think of how other pieces of culture and history are in danger of being lost forever. when the US and british forces came to "liberate" iraq, they made sure to head straight to the preservation of its oil wells, while allowing looters to gut valuable artifacts of iraqi culture and history... for what? so that we can value overgrown cheerleaders on a studio stage and die knowing that, "hey! i owned a navigator!" it'll be pathetic when aliens come to take over the human race. all we'll have to show for our "history" will be a lot of plastic discards and coca-cola cans... maybe starbucks commuter mugs, too.