I'd like to thank my girlfriend for giving me the inspiration for this article. I'll get to that in a moment, but first: Do you remember when Netflix went down, during the premiere of Nick Cage? I'll admit, considering the title, that's an odd question, but for now just play along. When Netflix went down, there were a number of articles which jumped on the absolute calamity like this one, this one, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and this one too.
I remember last year, during my sophomore year in college, witnessing one of the three worst calamities that could hit the United States. In order, from best to worst, those calamities are an invasion on U.S. soil, A nuclear attack which could level Texas, and a power outage affecting around 400 technology crazed college students. I am of course referring to the worst of the three: a power outage. The buildings were pitch black, and those 400 some poor souls were forced outside into the blistering 65 degree weather. It was awful, a true calamity.
There were two types of students that day: the ones sitting in their quite literally pitch black rooms presumably on their phones, and the ones outside playing Frisbee and talking. I'm still not sure to this day which one had it worse, but you decide for yourself. I know this still doesn't relate to the title, but I'm getting there.
I really only remember about two sentences of my conversation with my girlfriend tonight while I was at work, but they really made me question Americans' priorities, just as I did when looking over a few of those articles on Luke Cage. I was reading the news tonight on CNN when I noticed an article about a new missile the Russian government has been developing called the SATAN 2 (which can level Texas). The first thing I noticed? There must have been a Satan 1. This isn't just a nuclear missile that could level Texas, this is an improvement on the previous missile, which apparently could not level Texas, and that's just such a shame.
Sharing that pertinent information with her, I was rewarded with a very different piece of news by my girlfriend: There's a new app which gives you rewards for walking around stores. A tech revolution, isn't it? For those of you interested in downloading it, it's called Shopkick and you can check it out here if that's what really what you're here for.
To be very clear: I am not trying to make fun of my girlfriend for sharing with me that there's a new app that rewards you for walking around stores; (there's a twinge of rampant consumerism in that in kind of app, which I'm not too happy about, but that's for a different article) but I am trying to say that maybe our priorities aren't right as a nation. One of my favorite Twitter quotes from those articles I shared was this: "Can't believe #Netflix is down. Not really sure what to do with my life now..." I'd be inclined to take that as a joke, but let's be honest about where our country is right now. We care more about what's on TV than about what is perhaps the most dangerous time to be alive.
This is not an era when we should say: "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." Rather, I think it's time we started saying "There is nothing to fear, but ourselves."
