America's Youth is in Trouble

This is a description of two things however, the twist is, only one is a real event and the other simply a video game. However, in the destroyed mind of today's youth consciousness perhaps they both hold the same sway. Judge for yourself:

"Its a dark time for humanity as aggressors march across the globe. As the darkness passes upon the free nations consumed by their own twisted ideology, millions perish under the iron feet of oppression. Those who choose to fight, risk not only their lives, but the future of the planet itself. They will always be heroes in the minds of generations to follow...."

This week saw the release of not only Ken Burns' sure to be seminal documentary about the second World War titled simply, "the War". Unfortunately on Tues Sept. something else was unleashed that will ultimately make more money and have more of a lasting opinion on everyone under the age of 18 (or 40 if you're a nerd, thats the +22 nerd coefficient added to any age restriction), Halo 3.

If you haven't noticed lately Microsoft has been in all-out blitzkrieg (a WWII joke, sorry Poland) with its marketing. Observe the most recent ad: panning through a diorama of a battle that never happened, during a war that will never take place. All you have to do is, "Believe". What a load of trouser dirt! Sorry that was uncouth. But I mean holy bejesus!. Why bother to learn real history when you can "play" fake history. I hope, though it pains me to say this, that people will actually start to "Believe" Halo is real, just so that Microsoft can say, "See! We proved we don't have to be subversive to make people use our products, we can pray on the natural stupidity of the population." Wouldn't it be great if you were at the WWII memorial in Washington D.C., and someone said to you, "Sure these guys are heroes but they'll never be 'Master Chief'. He knew how to get the job done." On that day I will shed a tear for America's youth. Until then my unopened copy of Halo 3 will hold up the leg on bed that seems a bit wobbly, or at least until Ken Burns' documentary is over. Since it started on Monday it will most likely be over sometime around Christmas 2009. Don't believe me? Check out the running time on his last documentary, 978 hours, and all in glorious commercial-free government and public-supported PBS.

Maybe in 10 years we will get a documentary about how awesome Halo was. About those who fought and died heroes on their cyber-battlefield. Only then will we know who the "Grestest Generation" truly was. Semper fi, Master Chief, semper fi.... (note: I have no idea if Halo has anything to do with the Marines and I refuse to find out).

Epilogue: Halo 3 made over $170 million in its first 24 hours, which according to Ken Burns' documentary would finance WWII for 15 minutes (or something like that). So I say, save your money and invest in War Bonds (the chinese certainly love doing that) and maybe someday it will finance a war where there actually is something at stake again.