The ever on-going battle of the VS.

Have you ever noticed that almost anywhere you go anymore you are bound to find someone or something that is being compared to something or someone else that may or may not be similiar?

And I am not just referring to things like "Coke vs. Pepsi". I mean, at least with something like that, you can understand the competition aspect. They are rival companies that each produce their product and each one is trying to get as many people as possible to chose its soda over the other.

When it comes to products and advertising, you have to compete. It is a "dog eat dog" world out there in those regards. But lately we, as a society, seem to have gone even further. We compare this show to that show, this person to that person, or even this piece of broken glass over here to that piece of glass over there. We even go so far as to compare ourselves with not only our friends, but with people we have never met before and seem to "idolize" from a distance.

And the worse part is that we take these challenges and heave them out in front of everyone so that they can see us, or our friends, parents, siblings and children, pushing forward in hopes that we will be voted "The best" or "The strongest" or "The prime choice" for the masses.

When did we get so involved with ourselves and being number one that we stopped taking common sense into account?

I mean, seriously. We had a TV show where people ate bugs.... FOR MONEY! And don't get me started on Jon and Kate and their brood. Is it really that acceptable now to air your entire clothesline full of dirty laundry to the public at large?

At least with blogs comes some sense of anonymity. Some. Not much. Which is why you can usually dictate who actually gets to read them, and who doesn't. You can even use them as a diary of sorts where no one else can read them if you want.

I find myself looking at where we are, as a whole, and I see disturbing signs that remained me a little too much of 'A Brave New World,' 'Farenheit 451' and '1984'.

Everything locked down into political correctness. Every thought, every belief, monitored for the "sake of world peace" as it were. We tag our pets and there has been talk of tagging criminals and children. Again, for the safety's sake.

Not too long ago, they took Webster's English Dictionary out of a public school because it had the definition of oral sex in it. They have since returned it. But how long before Tom Sawyer is gone, because of language that, at the time of writing, was thought to be acceptable.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying that we should return to that language or that we should say it is acceptable now, but what happened to parents and teachers working together? What happened for parents taking some responsibility for what their kids learn? Is the only thing we want to teach them is that as long as they can get their 20 minutes of fame, no matter how they get it, they will do just fine in life?

We sit in our houses, drive around in our cars. We preach a greener world ecologically speaking, but then we persue a greener world monetary-wise. We say that people should help each other, yet we only truly look out for ourselves. Why? Because as the saying goes, we do not have to out-run the tiger. We only have to out-run our companion.

We make excuses for our behaviour along the way. "Others will take care of the problems of the world," "It is okay if I don't participate. After all, I am only one person. I can't do much either," "It's only a problem. I am sure it will fix itself and not get worse." We have become a society that believes the world (and others in it) owe us, when we have done nothing to earn it.

Thus, while we may get mad and offended at some disaster or tragedy that befalls another, we only take action when it begins to intrude into our small little world. We watch others drink in the limelight, envious of what they "have" and wishing we had it as well. We become entranced with what we perceive as their "strength" at being in the public eye, and wish we had the same strength, or the same "abilty" to make "something" of ourselves.

So entranced do we get, that we become all but oblivious to what is truly going on around us. We ignore everything else and focus only on this small fraction. And when the world finally comes screaming at our door, we cry like we have never cried before. And we believe that we are alone, for no one can ever possibly understand what we are going through, because we live only in that small world.

It is a frightening concept. And one that leads down so many wrong paths. All of which have had some part in creating this decadent society in which we live.

Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps the world, and the people in it, are not as bad off as I perceive them. Perhaps on a few decades time, people will be waking up to a luciously green world, where they smile at each other, and inquire as to how others are doing. Perhaps they will work together to make the world a better place. And in doing so, they will learn to accept their differences and even revel in them.

Then again, perhaps in a few decades a single man will awaken one day to a never ending nightmare, where all he can do is scream "It's People! Solent Green is People!"

Either way, I guess we won't know until that time comes. In the meantime, better grab your 20 minutes of fame while you can. After all, it is only 20 minutes in the grand scheme of things.