Man, there are some days where you just feel lousy.

A verbatim conversation.

Man, there are some days where you just feel lousy.

Look on the bright side, at least you aren't an exploited Filipino girl.

Actually, it's because of shit like that. That's why I feel lousy.

I feel lousy because people don't give two shits about an exploited Filipino girl. Given the opportunity, they'll simply use her for their own pleasure. People don't care about foreigners who aren't incredibly familiar--even those who vaugely are. People can die in other countries, what do us Californians, us Americans care? We're not being actively exploited. We may be being spied on, but surprisingly, we're somewhat okay with that.

I know I don't speak for everyone. I know my point of view may warp the actual truth of the matter. But damnit there has to be something real about it.

People don't get reality anymore. It's an unworkable concept, flailing about in a mind duller than dirt. About 20 people were killed in Iraq by a mercenary army without provocation. That's murder, on a huge scale. Are people wandering about, feeling the pain for those who were needlessly destroyed? No. Even the most liberal people I have heard, those who are dead-set on leaving Iraq--they shake it off like it's nothing. "No surprise", they say. Totally anesthetized to any sort of real connection to any sort of physical event.

It's still castles in the sky. Still etheral. And that's always intractable.

I know our generation. I know how we think, what we feel, how impressionable we are and how stupid we can become. And frankly, with that kind of a population, you aren't going to get anything done to stop shit like this. The only people that do anything real anymore are those who want to do it for their own self-interest. No one does anything real out of morality. Or love. Perhaps false morality. Or leading emotions. But never something that comes from the deep, rooted need to keep all of us together and all okay. I don't think we have it in ourselves anymore.

It's just been stripped out.