sic semper tyrannis

As a kid, the one thing that always mystified me about the 'evil' Soviet Union and it's satellite countries was how populations that had been exposed to concepts such as the Magna Carta and the French and American revolutions could sit around doin' nothin' while friends and neighbors were being thrown into Gulags and disappeared.

Of course, if I'd known about relativism at the time, it would've been much easier, but...it was sitting there just outside of my conceptual reach, waiting for me to introduce myself to it. Relativism isn't shy - it's just never in a hurry.

I never considered that these folks were just trying to get from meal-to-meal, and didn't have the luxury to wrestle with concepts such as political freedom.

So the question is - when you have a culture swimming in creature comfort, and the freedom to explore new horizons in human existence - how do the neo-stalinists go about keeping a population down?

How is Jennifer coping with Angelina's pregnancy?
How are the Holmeses are coping with the Cruise spawn swimming around inside Katie?
What actors are gay?

America's icons of oppression (interchangeable but never thought-provoking) can't show us how to live a better life, but because we are so fucking bored and stupid, it's all we have to keep our interest (well, that and whether 7-Eleven can improve Slurpee technology)...

...Just the crawl along the bottom of the screen that "Kate and Lindsay may be doing blow (and each other?)" provides enough of an adrenaline rush so that we can shrug our shoulders when we hear that Dear Leader takes pride in his defying the Constitution or we hear testimony from a Supreme Court nominee who sees no problem with strip-searching nine-year old girls who are not suspected of committing a crime. The market choice is obvious...hot girls making out wins again! And to go against the market is un-fucking-American!

The corporate clothes have shifted into turbo-drive. Sic Semper Tyrannis