"...it's a bit too unthinkable for most sane people to accept."

Doug Rushkoff sums up living in the Modern World.

You just don't know.

:: Douglas Rushkoff - Weblog :::

"No, this isn't about religion or God. I'm losing belief in the most basic stuff: the stuff we hear on the news every day.

I can't bring myself to believe Ken Lay is really dead. It's too convenient for himself, his family, and the administration... He strikes me as too rich, powerful, and pathological not to get out of it. Find a body, pay off a coroner, and go to the beach. It's not a terribly elaborate conspiracy.

[Sadly this is the first thing I thought when I heard the news. I need help. - Rob]

...I stare at the news and don't believe anything they're saying. I've got no idea.

And I find I can trace this sense of uncertainty to the 2004 election. The 2000 election was crooked, but the fraud was rather out in the open. We watched hired thugs stop the Florida recount by trying to break into the room where the counting was happening - and delay the process long enough for the Supreme Court to choose Bush as the President. But the 2004 voter fraud in Ohio... was an entirely more hidden affair. Diebold voting machines, teams of fraud squads, and election officials too afraid that disclosure of what happened will turn people off voting forever.

It's sad and confusing not to live in a democracy, anymore, and this is part of what leads me to question coverage of any events that involve our government. And while it's quite plainly true, it's a bit too unthinkable for most sane people to accept. It goes in the same mental basket as more outlandish thoughts -- such as dynamite on the WTC or no airplane crashing into the Pentagon -- even though it's not conjecture, it's just plain real."