Freedom isn't free...

Freedom is a fucking illusion.

Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic. But that's how I'm feeling right now. Let me explain.

I've been thinking a lot about other cultures and how they DON'T all bust their asses 40+ hours per week, earning very little vacation time each year. This article tells what other countries get for vacation in comparison to the United States. As of 2004 Americans work 50% more than do Germans, French, and Italians. This article (published in 2001) pretty much sums it up: "Capitalism could be another reason: Americans don't enjoy vacations as a right but as a privilege granted by their employers."

Look - I'm not lazy and I'm not trying to get out of working, but I'm starting to feel like, "What the fuck is it all for?" If you think about it you're really NOT free to do whatever you want unless you come into some money. And in order to do that you usually have to work your ass off unless you just got hit with some luck. Which means that we're just slaves to the system - with freedom being the carrot in front of our little jackass noses. Yeah, we can do whatever we want - as long as we work hard enough to get it. Who decides how hard, then?? As a friend this morning put it, "In America we live to work whereas in Europe (and probably some other countries) they work to live."  That's what I want. Less-strained lives and whatnot.

And let me go ahead and state that I think we're so capitalist because we're all on the brink of losing our fucking minds... if we have to work so hard we may as well have something nice and shiny and new to show for it. Forget all that time spent doing some mind-numbing or back-breaking work... true - that's only precious time we won't get back, but at least I can buy something to have to show for it. That's a problem. We (as a culture) need therapy, I do believe.

And before any of you comment and tell me that if I don't like things then to leave - well - all I can say is that I'm thinking about it. But before I can I have to get up some money so I'm stuck here for now, regardless. And I don't need your shit. I'm not anti-American; I just don't like every little thing about the way things are. And how do you change things?? You speak up, damn it. That's how.