First Blog, Detroit, All Consuming Conglomerate Approved Media and You

The Heidelberg Project (pictured above)

Let The Depraved Rambling Commence!
Here it is then, the first blog post. I suppose this is traditionally where I'd introduce myself. I'm an American college student near Detroit, who's sick of being silent. Everyone wants to have their voice heard, it's only human after all. I believe that being from my area (the post industrial shithole our nation gladly ignored for generations.) I am provided with a skeptical (read: ANGRY) point of view that allows me to see the World in a different light than many Americans who have yet to see their cities crumble. I've seen the supposed "artistic movement" that is the Heidelberg project. I get it, it's so artsy and it represents the struggles of modern Detroit and blah blah. (Oh! It's super trendy too so be sure to take a ride there from your home in the burbs and take lots of profile pictures so you can show what a true Detroiter you really are.) Call it what you'd like, and appreciate it for what you will. It's still a pile of junk. What positive things can we do to actually make a difference in our once proud city, besides not voting for gloried players like Kwame Kilpatrick whose entire reign in political office felt like the alpha male baby daddy who tells you what you want to hear and splits leaving you to deal with his demon seed.

Shaping the "Detroiter" Image
Chrysler's Super Bowl commercial featuring Eminem even glorified living in shitiness. Yeah, being from Detroit does make you pretty bitter and angry I guess, "hardened" some might say, and it of course has it's own lovely brand of scrappy local flavor (I got quite a lovely taste of this flavor via frequent trips to dope houses during high school, what a way to experience the true nature of the city, though.) A bustling party scene makes it a popular area for college bros and their orange girlfriends as well, so they can feel like they're not just getting fucked up in some dilapidated house on a block where 3/4 of the houses are burned down, they're totally contributing to the youth movement of Detroit though, so down with the urban scene too. The commercial did have one thing right, and that was help establish Eminem even further as the face of the young Detroiter. Seeing him walk into the FOX theater with the marquee displaying "Keep Detroit Beautiful" was ironic and heartwarming as he stood in front of the choir to show his allegiance to his hometown.  (Link to ad if you watched the "Puppy Bowl" instead  in a show of flamboyant protest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc) I have a lot of respect for Eminem, he's dropped the  sullen, drug addled, punk kid image in favor of his new image which I have mixed feelings about and spun it into a more mature, but still delightfully brazen, up in your grill persona, some might say for for the better.

Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide. - Buddha

The Deterioration of Free Thought in the US? 
I finally reached my breaking point on this one. Hearing canned opinions day in and day out lifted from various television news outlets day in and day out, I'm damn tired of hearing people's regurgitated parroting in a clumsy effort to have an "informed opinion". We were once a proud nation of strong, free-thinking, pioneering spirits who prided themselves on freedom. (Yes I know America was founded on slave labor, work with me here people.) We're becoming increasingly desensitized to things that would make George Washington's reanimated corpse stick his skeletal foot up our sorry collective asses. We are complacent killing women and children in foreign countries daily to defend companies such as Haliburton (google the keywords "pentagon trillions missing") and to what end? So we can have that little extra bit of a non-renewable resource that we carelessly waste with reckless abandon to  like it's our purpose? It's absolute savagery, but since we're a world superpower that makes it acceptable in the eyes of the average American. Television is almost entirely brainrot, and you should take all news shown on TV with a grain of salt, hell a shaker full of salt! Many older people in the US (read: the people who vote) are far too comfortable with the medium of communication television has provided them with since their youth, this stubbornness and lack of research is killing our ability to think freely in an era where free information is readily available to anyone who cares enough to seek it. Encourage your older family members, friends, and co-workers to research their opinions more thoroughly! (Just try not to be too condescending about it.)

Well, I really enjoyed writing this. I also hope I didn't depress you too much, I will try to keep future entries short and sweet for short attention spans. Feedback is very much appreciated!