I have no idea what is happening in the world anymore. It could be the lingering effects of the massive amounts of pain killers I’ve been taking – the only GOOD thing about my experience in undergoing invasive surgery at a facility run by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs (The same incompetent slobs who are about to suffer massive budgetary cuts so the Bush administration can “afford” to line the pockets of our nation’s most wealthy citizens). Or it could be that there’s just a hell of a lot going on right now, and no one seems to have a handle on any of it except this guy. This is, of course, disconcerting.

I’m reminded of the final scene in Star Wars: A New Hope (“from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker” for you purists out there). It was the assault on the Death Star – the Empire’s ultimate weapon (Although in hindsight we should have guessed that it was just a prototype, and that the Empire was secretly building a bigger, badder Death Star battle station all along. But I digress).

Despite all the confusion of that epic fight, two things are permanently burned into my memory. The first is the line “Stay on target!”, referring to the small thermal exhaust port the rebel insurgents were gunning for in their attempt to destroy the Death Star with a single, well placed proton torpedo. The second is Porkins.

Porkins has nothing to do with anything else in the movie – or the trilogy for that mater (I say trilogy because there are only three Star Wars movies in my reality). He’s just a fat schmuck who lives his life under the increasingly oppressive thumb of the Empire until he just can’t stand it anymore. He finally works up the courage to do something about it one day, and joins the rebellion. Leaving his shity life behind, Porkins works his ass off to become a skilled X-Wing star fighter pilot, and eventually makes it into the rebel’s feared Red Squadron. Then - about a minute and thirty seconds after his character is introduced – his X-Wing is vaporized. If that’s not the most depressing thing you’ve ever heard…Well, you’re just dead inside.

At any rate, the phrase “Stay on target” has been echoing in my mind the past few days as I’ve been reading the news. The war, SARS, the RIAA, a laughable budget…it just doesn’t stop. Every time I read something and think “Shit, it just doesn’t get any more screwed-up than that,” another headline comes along.

I’m left asking myself if it’s always been like this? Has the United States always teetered on the edge of ruin, and we’re just now coming to realize it because news gets disseminated so quickly these days? Or have we progressed to an actual point of no return after generations of over-consumption, political corruption, and public apathy?

I’m still trying to figure it all out, but one thing I do know is this: I’m not going out like Porkins.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, media