I must admit, of late I have been in one of my “what the hell are we doing” moods. This being in the most grand of views; “we” being the collective we of every man, woman, and child on this planet. This time around it has been prompted by the recent Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero.

Though set in a dystopia fifteen years in the future, the album forces the listener to confront some very real issues facing the human race: ecological destruction, political corruption, war, terrorism, an apathetic public, and greed.

Why do we allow it? Why do we sit back and watch as we willing allow ourselves to be lied to about the state of the world? Why do we not take advantage of the precious gift of democracy and free speech? Why do we sit by and assume that someone else will take care of things?

I echo the words of a former professor of mine, Dr. Dan Jones, when he says that “democracy is not meant for the naïve and apathetic,” only I would expand that statement to “life is not meant for the naïve and apathetic.” No I am not talking about mass euthanasia; rather I am talking about a cultural renaissance.

We live in a world where people are unaware of the world around them. It is time to change that. Don’t simply accept the world as it is presented to you, hell don’t believe the world that I feel is right; all I ask is that each and every human being understand why they think the way they do and not just accept the world that is presented to you. Furthermore question any and everyone who tells you to think only one way, odds are they are lying to you to push their own agenda.

Dogma is a scary thing, and it is one of the worst things to happen to free thought. Dogma is the one thing that can destroy Gods world.

I close by reciting a few lines from the song Zero-Sum on the Year Zero album:

“In our hearts we knew better / and we told ourselves it didn’t matter / and we chose to continue / and none of that matters anymore / in the hour of our twilight…shame on us /
doomed from the start / may God have mercy / on our dirty little hearts / shame on us / for all we have done / and all we ever were / just zeros and ones”