R.I.P. Blockbuster

[Michelangelo]

Originally Posted by JYX

Since the dawn of social class strata, there has always been a rich/powerful vs. the poor social class struggle and typically if the disparity becomes too extreme there are social uprisings and even civil wars.

I would disagree that Western media is "exerting control" over us and trying to influence us, as if its some conscious form of "mind control" by the elites. It's more or less a lot of us are just too lazy, too busy trying to support our lives/families, and/or too spoiled by the amenities of living in a developed nation (i.e. having accessible hot water, and easy access to life-saving immunizations to not fully grasp how lethal/debilitating those contagious diseases can become without those immunizations). I mean how much social change (at least in the United States) has really been progressive after the 70s and 80s (racial and gender equality)?

At least the baby-boomer generation was advocating for bigger social change, and the ones before that were enduring the strain and hardship of the Great Depression (26% unemployment) and WWII (418,000 causalities in the U.S.; I know your Scottish though Davetello ), can our generation proudly claim that we endured or created such great social change? Psh... It's mostly because our generation has been spoiled and has a "sense of entitlement". We are growing up in age when we, and generations after us, are acquiring trophies for merely participating in sports and not actually succeeding. Our generation is more obsessed about pop culture, tabloid celebrity news, and our insatiable need for instant entertainment gratification rather than the gross injustices that are still prevalent in society. The nadir of our generation's priorities is that somehow we have made talentless Kim Kardashain as popular, or even more so, than legitimate talented actors/actress in the already superficially driven entertainment industry.

When society has dubbed us as the "Me" generation because of our self-centeredness, it makes sense. Why in the world would our generation be concerned about broad, social change of others if it didn't immediately affect us somehow? Most people are either too short-sighted or prefer the quick fix of self-gratifying entertainment/profitability, like an illicit addictive drug, rather than investing in a self-sacrificial societal change that would benefit all.

As easy as it is to blame the elites or the people in power, a lot of us have to look at ourselves with the same amount of harsh criticism. It's interesting that so many people want to solely blame the big banks and corporations for mismanaging money in the 2008-2009 Recession, which is partially true, but what can you expect when 50% of the American population can't even control their own spending.

Laziness is what the companies in control love about the masses. We don't ask questions, we just buy things. If we asked more questions of the things we bought would we even be able to answer them. Just take a look at a film called 'Food Inc' that tries to ask some very basic questions about food and just see how far they go with it. Same deal with Blockbuster, we all just found other stuff to buy or a better way to get what they had and so no more Blockbuster.