Whoa... an empire in decline?

So yes, okay, of course, we all know that America is decadent, a degenerate society of consumerism and war-mongering meddlesome international politics.

Wal*Mart is a parasite feeding off its hosts, the wholesalers who supply the store, and the employees ("associates") who toil under its oppressive boot.

Fox News are purposely distorting facts to suck the brown stuff out of Bush's ass hair.

The government is manipulating the population using fear tactics and propaganda into believing everything it says is true and nothing is bad -- except the countries at whom it points a menacing finger, saying "thar be terrorists".

Yes, it is the end of this decrpeit empire.

Or is it?

See, Asheville, NC is this interesting corner of the US.
I was watching TV in New York, when these... well... rednecks come on TV, and Brandyn says "That's where you're going..."
"No, that's South Carolina"

Asheville, North Carolina.
Population approx. 70,400 (2004)
It's a small downtown, too. Just a few city blocks, I suppose. Built on very irregular mountain terrain.
You got your Karmasonics music shop on one corner, your Greenlife grocery up on Merrimon, the organic custom made cookie store here, and just about every art, craft and organic diner you can think of.
This town is so wholesome I could just choke on my own bran muffin.
Not a MacD in sight in the whole downtown area. You gotta walk quite a bit for that.
All the books here are either from second-hand stores, or one shop called Malaprop's.

Microbrews abound, and a wonderful little joint called "The Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company " will serve you its own home-brew in a movie theatre that screens $2 movies all week.

Where's the Barnes & Noble, you ask? Well, that's way, way out... by the Wal*Mart.
Everything big and evil seems to have been cordoned off beyond the bridge... like the troll from an old children's story.

So what's my point?

Well, New Yorker's don't seem too much affected by what's going on in their country, or at least they're maintaining an appearence of obliviousness. Either that, or it's just easier when all the money in the world seems to flow through a neighbourhood just downtown from ya (cf. " Financial District", where the land is worth more than the gold that's used to outline its borders).
And Asheville seems to be holding out not too badly.

There's a glimmer of hope for this country. People seem to be waking up and taking notice of what's going on. And since this is Bush's last term in office, hopefully something better'll come along in.. uh... shucks, that's three years away still, isn't it?

Man, you guys are in deep doo-doo.





Links of interest:

The Wal-Mart You Don't Know
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
http://www.walmartmovie.com/

Noam Chomsky on America's Quest for Global Dominance
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=3450