Because I went to the doctor's office yesterday, I read Readers Digest. Because I read Reader's Digest, I read a quote from Bono. Astoundingly, this quote set my mind a-thinkin'.
He said, "Ireland, where I come from, is a country, not an idea. But America is an idea." Interesting. I guess humans have peopled the globe and established countries through migration throughout history, always in search of a better life, so in that respect, the Americas are no different. But he makes a point; our nation was created by a set of written documents putting forth a set of philosophical beliefs, not by circumstance or a conquering foreign army or anything like that.
But it also explains to me why America has gotten off track: it's become so well-established that "Those People" have ruined it. Not irreparably, mind you, but ruined nonetheless. "Those People" always jump in after someone more fun, more clever, more passionate, more noble, more visionary, and/or with more aesthetic sense has started something good -- and they ruin it by trying to own it or control it.
I don't know exactly who "Those People" are, but I know the mark of their damage. "Those People" move into quaint little seaside villages or exciting new artist enclaves and drain them of their life essence and vitality. They put up "big box" retailers. They enact ordinances. They know how "other people" should act, and bully them until they are either in jail, fined out of existence, or demoralized into acquiescence.
These people can be either conservative or liberal, depending on what tool they want to use to beat "other people" into oblivion. They have some sort of evil hive-mind that somehow destroys both innovation and time-tested goodness alike. The only positive thing they have ever done is raise the overall quality of readily available coffee.
They are an amorphous blob, difficult to describe or pin down, but they seem to hold all the money and power. Oh, poor people definitely contribute to "Those People." Sadly, many poor people aspire to become "Those People," and jump on the bandwagon the minute they get any semblance of money or power. They just don't have the means to inflict the damage that the monied/empowered ones do.
A partial list of their crimes:
- Taking over other people's ethnic traditions, foods, dress or music, changing it to make it more "familiar" and "comfortable" for themselves, and thereby draining it of its beauty, joy, and/or power. In America, that translates to changing it into something more vaguely "Anglo-Saxon," in other countries, the prevailing culture would destroy it in its own way. Examples: Olive Garden, Taco Bell, top 40 music
- Moving into neighborhoods starving artists have changed from seedy and dangerous into funky and exciting, "gentrifying" it into bland oblivion and driving out the artists by driving up the prices; moving out when neighborhood isn't chic anymore; moving on to the next "hot" area populated by the artists they chased out; repeat until entire city is ruined
- Destroying the soul of any religion or philosophy by joining, then "tweaking" beliefs until they become devoid of actual meaning
