Bawk! Bawk!

You know you live in a consumer society when you associate holidays with ads as much as with anything else. I can't think "Happy Easter!" without thinking of a 1980s tv commercial for M&M's candy, that featured a kid in a chicken suit saying "Thank you Easter Bunny! Bawk! Bawk!" If you know of an online version, please point it out because I can't find it and I'd love to see it again.

Nostalgia for television commercials. How sad.

For Christians, this is supposed to be a day of happiness, and I hope it is. Yet, regardless of your religious beliefs, today might also be a good day to think about the world we're living in. Just about a year ago the U.S. went to war in Iraq for no clear reason. Thousands have died in the last year — for no clear reason.Now, the Bush administration has declassified the August 6, 2001 memo saying Bin Laden was determined to strike in the U.S., that al-Quaida cells were in the U.S., and that their plans included hijacking planes. It's no coincidence that this memo was released on a late Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend; clearly, Bush and Co. are hoping people will be too absorbed in their holiday observances to pay close attention to the significance of this development. Meanwhile, the completely lackluster walking corpse that is the Democratic nominee for president is MIA. Oh happy day!

I've been so absorbed in moot court competition (I didn't make the board, by the way), the auction and the finals looming over my head that I haven't had time to pay much attention to the news. I'm sure I'm not alone; it really is easier in many ways to concentrate on your own life and what's going on w/in your immediate sphere of existence than to devote time and thought and energy to the larger world. And there's certainly a bliss to ignorance, but where is our bliss leading us?

But what am I saying? It's Easter. We have funny television ads. Thank you Easter Bunny! Bawk Bawk!

p.s.: I really didn't sit down to write such a bitter pill, but then I read that memo and there you go.

Posted 07:35 AM | Comments (4) | general politics life generally