(From "Current Jaffairs Magazine" Special
It seemed our struggle was nearly over, brothers and sisters. The system lords Bush and Cheney were on their way out, and there was hope that the terrible destruction they have wrought on our people would soon be addressed and undone.
For although they had somehow taken over McCain with one of Bush’s Guao’uld clones, it appeared that their attempt to prop up another false god in their place would surely fail.
But I fear an unholy alliance has risen.
(From the Head of the Q.U. Crypto-Political Sciences Department)
Look at this Ad for McDonalds. It features a young female of indeterminate ethnicity, and the taglines:
"Discover a career that fulfills your potential."
And
"It’s not just a job, it’s a career."
Okay, first of all, I have no wish to imply that those who work at McDonalds do not put in a hard day’s work. They certainly do, more than many in other more prestigious jobs.
But gods, how depressing if a job at McDonalds actually FULFILLS your POTENTIAL!
Seriously. If you feel this applies to you, I want you to go out right now to your local Community College (or Q.U. extension campus) and take some frickin’ continuing education classes if nothing else. Learn to draw, or paint, or dance, or sculpt, or take pictures, or write, or make nifty web pages, or even to cook culinary delights. Or go to a site like www.volunteermatch.org and flip burgers at a homeless shelter. Something! Please!
And the fact that it is not just a job but a career is, unfortunately, increasingly true for more and more Americans as our manufacturing and technology jobs are outsourced or shipped overseas where labor is cheaper, and/or better trained since they support actual working education and job training systems.
In fact, I just saw in the news today that
And egads, let’s not even get into the subtext of having a female minority face posted above such implications that a low-wage service job would fulfill your potential.
So how is this genre-related? Well, admittedly only loosely – in the sense that the Republicans are clearly living in a fantasy world when it comes to the economy, and the Democrats’ solutions to the problem sometimes sound like science fiction. And I fear that if McCain gets elected and pushes his backwards solutions on the country, this will turn into a true horror story.
Author, relapsed sarcasm addict, Clarion West graduate, milkshake connoisseur, winner of Writers of the Future, and member of Dungeon Scrawlers.
Randy’s humorous contemporary fantasy series from TOR (US) and Titan (UK) includes:
Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free,
now available for purchase, reading, and use in questionable acts.
In this sequel to Randy Henderson's acclaimed debut novel, Finn Fancy Necromancy, Randy Henderson spins another tale full of adventure, magic, and laughs, exploring in more depth the magical world and characters introduced in the first book.
More info →
“… it’s an urban fantasy, one that takes place in and around present-day Seattle. But even though it deals with sinister magic and family tragedy, it counterbalances that darkness with something that’s become increasingly rare in fantasy fiction: laughs, laughs, and more laughs.” -- NPR
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