Forgive the fact that this post is 'from left field,' but I feel compelled to write it anyways...
First off, I have found a lot to grin about in the "Cake Wrecks" blog. Seriously funny stuff there—this lady Jan compiles pictures of the most sad, disgusting, or unfriendly looking cakes, and writes about them on her blog. She also posts some of the most tantalizingly tasty ones as well (like these cupcakes):
Secondly, I was browsing this Anarchy blog (for what reason? I don't know... maybe to Introduce a Little Anarchy?), and I noticed a blog posting on television, with which I agree 100%. I never knew I'd be in total agreement with an anarchist on something... maybe for a different reason, though. In his posting, he says:
Television. One of the greatest instruments ever created for mass media. People are drawn to it like a moth to the flame. When we are bored we watch television, when we eat we watch television, when we are stressed and want to relax, we watch television... So what happens? Our brains kind of shut off and slip into auto pilot. We ingest everything that the television spits out. Subconsciously we are being fed habits of consumerism and useless information about celebrities. We are watching reality shows as our own reality passes us by.
The major question to ask here is WHY? Why is it that we spend 5 minutes on the presidential elections and 20 minutes on what happened to Britney Spears this week? Why is it that we have 20 minutes of programming and 10 minutes of commercials that urge us to buy things we dont need? Stop and ponder why they call it programming... Thats exactly what's happening. We are being programmed and conditioned to become consumers and nothing more.
Interestingly, I think a man like the one who posts on Anarchy.net might say the Church is an institution like the media who simply tries to pacify it's followers, and make them not 'think for themselves,' when in fact this is far from the truth. I'm not saying he or other anarchists would necessarily believe this, but I think that's one area where we as Catholics can promote our faith as an alternative to the mind-numbing consumerism promoted on television, on the radio, and at most websites.