You probably agree that lying to others is sometimes forgivable. But how do you explain lying to yourself? You see a country bleeding like a gut-shot deer. You see a country that has abandoned its historic virtues. And whom do you blame? Why, who else? You blame the millions of citizens who allow themselves to be brainwashed by television and Hollywood — the gang that systematically hypnotizes Americans to act like the good little sheep in Far From The Madding Crowd. There they were, mingling and bleating happily, when a deranged sheep dog stampeded them to their deaths over a nearby cliff. Well, you’re no sheep, not you. Oh, no, nobody’s herding you anywhere because you’re too savvy. Ingeniously, you saw the brainwashing start a long time ago. It was a gradual thing, like moss growing on a rock. You were never fooled by innocent, clever and sometimes hilarious sitcoms that taught you life’s important lessons. Promiscuity is preferable to sexual abstinence. The more partners the better. Better still if they include both sexes. Career women are divas; housewives are drones. Good English is dull; dumb is cool. Christians are recidivist morons; atheists are intellectual giants. You were among the first to notice the advent of social engineering in TV dramas and movies. All authority figures – police chiefs, judges, department heads, etc. — were (and are) black or female. Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford seldom have white bosses; and if either does, they are always as corrupt as a white Charles B. Rangel. Big business? Evil. Wealthy white industrialists exist only to rape the environment and pillage the poor. You were quick to learn that movie scripts without the F word deserve little, if any, respect. In fact, the true excellence of any script is in direct proportion to the frequency and diverse use of a word that apparently merits the admiration of the truly cool among us. Any movie that doesn’t play the race or gay card has not a whit of redeeming value. And, unlike many of your enlightened peers, you never fell for the avant-garde practice of piercing your tongue or nipples or tattooing your skin to improve on God’s design. Nonetheless, like the incessant tide, mass media continues to knock at your door. Drum. Drum. Drum. “C’mon, join the rest of us. Dumb it down, baby. You won’t feel a thing. Be happy. Just give Rap a chance. Rap is cool. It really isn’t as monotonous or juvenile or brainless as it seems.” But you resist, right? You simply won’t take one ounce of credit for the rule of insanity. You didn’t contribute one iota to the corrosion of the American Miracle. If anyone’s been brainwashed, it certainly hasn’t been you. Right? Right?
