Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Bit Of A Thought Experiment



The year is 2025. America has gone bankrupt. Eight years of Bush's overspending on a preventable war put us into such a hole that it became impossible to dig our way out, particularly after oil prices skyrocketed and the Chinese called in their chits on our debt.

America is unrecognizable. Our resources are being plundered by other nations for their own use and profit. Our citizens subsist, they no longer thrive, but for a small number who have thrown their lot in with the "invasion".

I mention all this because over the weekend I was watching one of my favorite guilty pleasures: They Live, a 1988 film directed by John Carpenter.

Ostensibly, the plot revolves around an invading army from the Andromeda galaxy that has come to earth to feed off us and our natural resources. The army has co-opted our media and advertising, sending "subliminable" messages to "OBEY. CONFORM. MARRY AND REPRODUCE. CONSUME. SLEEP."

Most people are unaware of this invasion. Some are collaborators, helping the invaders in exchange for "a little taste of that good life". A few figure out there's a problem and try to recruit an underground resistance.

And then I turned off Fox News...

FAVORITE QUOTES:

1) "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."

2) "You... you look like your face fell in the cheese dip back in 1957."

3) "You see, I take these glasses off, she looks like a regular person, doesn't she? Put 'em back on...formaldehyde-face!"

4) "What's wrong with having it good for a change? Now they're gonna let us have it good if we just help 'em. They're gonna leave us alone, let us make some money. You can have a little taste of that good life too. Now I know you want it, hell everybody does. What's the threat? We all sell out every day, might as well be on the winning team."




Who do you think will be at the border, welcoming the Chinese businessmen in with open arms and deposit slips?