Imagine how little we would have to give up to make the world a better place.
If the Coca Cola company and all the other soft drink manufacturers cease to be, the most we would lose that meant anything would be the jobs related to its manufacture and distribution. We could find something else for those people to do and the value of publicly owner water resources would increase. If we tried to produce our own witticisms rather than buying them stamped on clothing made in the third world imagine how much more interesting and culturally diverse we would be and the people making the shirts would think of something better to do other than produce disposable culture for us. If we turned off whatever electronic umbilical we are using just for a while an actually paid attention to the people around us we would get a better understanding of others and ourselves without paying some corporate third party to format the relationship for us. Imagine how many lives we might save if we reduced our energy usage just enough to pare away the petty affectations and gluttonous egocentric junk food that is burying our culture.
We are an empire, and we are doing what every empire has done for seven thousand years. But do we have to do it for sugary bubble water, inane banter and escapist toys? Will we ever learn?
