When I look at our generation it makes me think about what we are doing to ourselves.  We have become a generation of sex-driven, partying obsessed, conversational lacking, hypocrites living in a society that we have created to fit the models which we are trying to live.  Conformity is a product of what society says is right.  Well apparently we think that living a life of no tomorrow and risking everything for nothing is a product of what we want for ourselves.  Women of today have begun to think that living their life like their male counter parts will allow them to be accepted into what society deems appropriate for a successful individual.  It really isnt a unique, non-conforming activity.  Apparently it is cool to be unique.  But is uniqueness really possible?  Is it possible to listen to your own kind of music, watch your own kind of movies, and try desperately not to imitate someone else's lifestyle...pretty much imitate someone else?  Conformity is something we can never get away from.  An understanding of what society tells us is ok and then going one step further and defining ourselves, is that breaking conformity?  When escaping our capitalist driven self-beings we encounter that opposite.  The anarchy of people who want to be different; who want to separate themselves from conformity.  Arent those people conforming to eachother and in an essence being the subversion of conformity? 

The situation in Lebanon has made me think that this is only the beginning of something more, probably something worse.  The US claims that this is only apart of the war on terror.  But really what is the war on terror?  An immediate attack on a country that US foreign policy has had problems with since the first Bush regime; or possibly a chance to "rule" a region that doesnt want to buckle under to western ideals and pretty much the "American way of life".  The war on terror is just another way to convince the willing American ignorancy into thinking that our country is working to make the world better.  Well i dont see anything becoming better.  The US has become one of the most hated states in the world.  The US has enemies on all sides of the international spectrum from Insurgents in Iraq, to Iran, to "terrorist organizations" like Hezbollah and Hamas (which really have nothing in common except both being from the same region), to Castro in Cuba and Chavez in Venezuala, and you cant forget our great friends in the dear nation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea.  A war in which a nation (the US) just blatantly accuses other nations of extreme activities really doesnt seem like they are defending themselves against terror, it seems like they are creating it.

Ever since the UN decided they were going to create Israel there have been problems in the middle east between Israel and its neighbors.  The US of course has always been the other nation that is constantly "protecting" Israel from its terrible terrorist neighbors.  I guess it really depends on what you consider a terrorist.  if you believe the constant threats the US makes about terrorism and give into the ignorancy the US wants you to sucomb to, of course you think that every nation in the middle east (except for Israel of course) is a terrorist nation.  Lets just ignore that Hezbollah is protecting itself from Israeli forces, lets just forget that Iran is just trying to start a nuclear power program because oil is disapearing, lets just forget that when you piss off another country of course they are going to hate you.

I am not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, and i figure that no one really cares what is going on right now in the Middle east, but believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg.  With Israel, the US, and the UK not wanting a cease fire and believing that a ceasefire will not stop violence in Lebanon, then of course violence is going to continue.  Violence breeds more violence which breeds more violence.  If i am not mistaken, ceasefires stop violence.  Peace talks help that violence to remain to stopped.  When a state bombs another state, then of course that state is going to react.  That is going to continue, and probably will not stop; probably will never stop.

A couple weeks ago i was in FYE looking for CDs of course and one of my friends asked me why?  Why was i buying CDs when it is a lot easier just to just download songs from the internet or steal them from a friend?  This made me think.  Why was i buying these cds?  Why was i spending hard earned cash on something i could get for free?  I thought about it for a bit and released it was nostalgia.  CDs are our generation's version of vinyl.  It is the essence of history for our children.  I like having an entire cd of a band i barely know, and then listening to it non-stop until they become the penticle of perfection (in my mind of course, because obviously once someone else thinks they are cool i can't listen to them anymore...kinding).  A couple weeks ago i was looking through my Dad's record collection.  They seemed so old, so vintage, and yes so cool (as much of a cliche as that is).  One day, many years from now, when there are no more record stores selling CDs, cassettes, and of course vinyl, i will be able to look back on my collection of CDs and remember the days that i looked through everything to find the perfect cds.  When everyone else has MP3s of all their favorite bands from their youth, i can look back at my CDs.

I know i am probably jumbling a huge grouping of people into one catagory here and saying that everyone has given up on the glory of Cds, but i do realize there are others out there like me that respect the greatness of an album; who spend hours in a record store; who know the feeling of finally finding a cd you have been looking everywhere for (even if we know it would have been ten times easier to just to download the song online).

This has been my reminiscnence of days old, but hey i enjoyed it.