Randomizer Volume IV Series V

Because I continue to have thoughts....most of them random.

• I am reading some Aristotle right now and am intrigued by his thoughts regarding the middle class. Bear with me and see if his comments resonate with our current environment. He argued that a middle class was essential to a proper government. Those who possessed moderate income lacked the arrogance of the rich and the envy of the poor. Furthermore they didn't have "so much property" that they spent their time in leisure nor did they rely on the state for support. Because of this they would "ask the law should rule them." Right now it appears that America is losing it's productive "Middle Class". I agree with Aristotle that this is a very bad thing.

• I watched the US-Mexico soccer game a couple of weeks ago and I am sort of glad that they lost. A US victory probably would have resulted in death, carnage, and revolution down there. This is the one thing that the Mexicans have over us and over the last 10 years it has been steadily slipping away. This article by Bill Simmons does a great job of illustrating Mexico's unhealthy relationship with a bunch of short guys who kick a soccer ball around a patch of grass.

• It has been about 10 years since America was introduced to Survivor and other reality shows. As someone who tries to maintain a certain level of standards I thought that the rest of the nation was like minded and that this trend would end after Joe Millionaire. I was wrong and it looks like I will have to continue to weather the storm. One positive side effect is that it effectively reduces the amount of time that I watch TV. At the rate at which these shows proliferate I predict that everyone in the US, myself included, will have been featured on a reality program by the end of 2033.