By Justin Roberts

Opinions Editor, ‘10

I regret becoming the Opinions Editor. Every two weeks I edit student submissions and, duty-bound, I sharpen these violent thrusts of insulated certainty. I preside over a section designed to shred our reader’s worldview and coerce them into accepting a new bias. Each issue takes me farther down the road of fraud as I lend my voice to endless squabbling. How did this happen?

Growing up in a marketplace of influence peddlers must affect children’s mental/emotional development.  They are pummeled with words, images and sounds that try to make them hate abortion, admire Mormons, seek Tony the Tiger’s approval, and then join the Marines. No wonder our society has become so fractured; we have thousands of expectations to disappoint.

This war for influence is getting us nowhere. Consumed with the search for meaning and struggling to define our societies, we neglect ourselves. Who are you? Look beyond the p.r. and think about the real reasons behind your beliefs and decisions. The various fictions of our lives, whether they be religious, philosophical, or moral, are appealing because they provide the comfort reality denies us. Escapism becomes a dirty word when we start believing our own fiction.

This is the downside of democracy: instead of coercing us with naked force or threats, the politicians, ministers, and businessmen are fighting for our cranial real estate. It is not enough to seize property or force servitude: now our leaders want us heart and soul.

Now, I have found my answer. Self awareness must precede any intelligent understanding of the world. Without it, we form a distorted picture of ourselves and confuse our needs with external and symbolic value. Then we fight for what we think we want and struggle, sometimes violently, to convert everyone to our cause.

It took me a month and a half to sort through this issue before I could write about it. I had started forming opinions before sorting through my own feelings. We have let too much of ourselves to be built by marketplace purveyors. It is ok to be uncertain. It takes time, deep thought, and hard experience to breed wisdom. Some say modern life moves too fast for quiet introspection. Anyone who accepts this should keep in mind what it is they are rushing towards: a society paralyzed by endless debate, a mind staked out to be claimed by corporations and media moguls, ending in a cold grave.