The system...
The machine...
The low Song...
Evolutionary cycle of society...
Society's sphere
clairvoyant oppression
willingly repressed people
The reality of the Matrix.

All of these synonymous for the very world that we live in - everywhere. It is indeed a wonder that we allow ourselves yet also want society. I speak of change as someone else does eight thousand miles away, situations different and in a different language. Yet it seems to be the same. Perhaps globalization has happened since the very first eukaryotes were evolved into life. Still, humans definately seem to have a unique way to go about it. It's quite sad that we accept it - but again - perhaps it is because our animal instincts, our very 'nature' dictates acceptance, even while we cry for change.

I am helping a friend go through a time that I recently went through - moving 'out' for the first time. Her case is a bit complicated. I've been blessed (or cursed) with being an American, and having residency and the ability to establish credit, have inside knowledge of local areas, etc... Unfortunately (or fortunately) she is a foreign student and doesn't have that 'advantage.' However, because the system seems to require these hoops and hurdles to be accomplished, it is making it more difficult. It has been exceedingly so since the Patriot Act (GO OCTOBER 26!!!) has been established. You see, any 'alien' is now a suspected terrorist (in fact, if you curse at a buss driver it is now a federal offense and you can be arrested and put into military custody - as I learned today). Therefore, she has to have co-signers and back ground checks - something most people do not not want to deal with or are happy to hike up the fee to do such extensive protection of our 'freedom.' (This is where we roll our eyes). To make matters worse, the average American would assume she is middle eastern, and then through some esoterical and maligant process somehow link her as a suspect (gotta love nationalist-racism...). Funny part: she's Sihnalese (sp). Any how... the problem of that confounded with our laws (allowing her to ONLY get a job on campus, as a foreign student, making shit for wages) and of course the normal 'being poor in college' thing, the difficulty of finding a place in a good area, etc, are all mixed in. Then there is the fact that she actually WANTS to do well in school and earn an education, so studies take up a lot of time (though admitedly, we're both slackers ;-P). All of this has been re-occuring for the last 4 months and I've been watching it play out, and keeping tabs. (Yes, yes, I'm also supportive... it's not just a science experiment)

My conclusion is that not only are we perpetually and seemingly 'supposed' to do go through these rigours, they seem to be mentally preparing us to be oppressed. Alright, perhaps this is a long stretch. I'll back up a moment. I see these added difficulties for my friend and see a clear message: 'we want to make things difficult for you, so you leave the country.' Then there is the added message of 'and by the way, learn to be an oppressed middle class worker.' Here is how I see it unfold:

(1) We grow up in a home, and in America if we are poor/middle class, the general ethos seems to be: get a college degree so you can make something of yourself. Few times, I've observed, do we stress ways other than what convention says. As well, we also are taught to enter into this 'rat race' of getting into the 'best' schools, that will in turn grant us the larger wage for our economic costs in college.

(2) As we get older, a lot of people begin to actually question the 'system' (about age 12-15) in that we ask things like, "why the hell are we learning about... (insert something)." It is no longer just a function of X and Y, or learning a congruent phrase of ABC, we want to know application. The general response tends to me, "to develop this kind of concept," or "to move on to the next thing," often times, "because they make us teach us." Here is another favorite, "you'll see the usefulness of it later." OK, granted, a lot of these things ARE correct ascertions. However, the inability to really provide successful links and to get us thinking 'outside' the box creates a perpetuality of not really questioning what goes on around you.

(3) When it comes time to go to college, MOST of the people (at least 90%) who decide to go to college do not get into one of the top 50 schools. I should note that by ranking schools as top '50' it also permeates the purpose of creating class, or continuing class. Generally the 'smartest' or 'richest' people get into the 'better' schools. While I'll argue that it has become less and less dominant a practice, I might also add that the cogs of the machine seem to demand more and more degrees and that the level of education learned in correlation to the want or ability to learn has also been lowered exponentially over time. For instance, and I'll be a bit ethno-centric for the sake of having to be, it used to be required to learn latin if one was going into the sciences. This allowed, since science is 'western controlled' a broader ability to identify and explain phenomena and understand more scientific principle in the language they were origionally derived. A weak example, yet the first one I could think of in the spur of the moment. So moving on, we pump more people into college...

(3) Often as we go to college, it is the first time we really move out for the first time. Our predecessors usually have like-experiences: reminding us of how hard it was, the poverty they succumed to, the noddle soups, etc... the cycle seems to repeat itself (or has since the 1940s, in America).

((I have to go now, I'll continue this later.))