Materialism

There is nothing that catches my eye in the news... Guardian is boring and all about Wimbledon. The New York Times has this article about stolen credit card data and the Internet. Which was interesting and informative. But what's scary about identity theft is first, on a personal level, the loss of privacy and in many ways the self. Your private information is out there for everyone, or at least one individual to see. It's a scary idea that someone can take on your identity and buy thinks at your expense. But it's also scary in the more intellectual sense that there is such demand for credit card information. With stolen credit card information, one can buy things... it's all about materialism or consumerism. The ramped desire and demand of materialism in our society is scary and sickening. People are stealing other people's identity just so they can buy material things. The idea of it is scary. The fact that it happens is sad. The only thing that matters is the material, the shirt/car/chair/glass/shoes/video game/vase/sofa/knifes... and on and on and on. I'm not sure what the demand or desire for these things, sure some are necessities, but stealing others identity for these things? That is personal corruption at the highest. It is also one of the greatest problems in our society. Materialism, in my opinion, only creates emptiness. It places things/stuff/objects between the individual and other individuals/society. This space or gap that is created is filled by only one thing, more emptiness. We move even further away from out society and others around us, creating unhappiness. To make up for this unhappiness, people buy more... and it continues on and on and on.

The United States under-20 soccer team made it to the round of 16 in the World Youth Championships, lead by Freddy Adu (who seems to have been having just an okay tournament). They play Italy as we speak. Go USA!