“Control Of Value” by: Joshua Landicho

            What are the most important things in life? Where are beliefs based from, and how do they manage to attain the significance given them? Who decides what is right from wrong? Often by simple observation, individuals establish standards of living that are signified by the solidarity of their practices. However, what some people might consider to be essential points to live by, others may not perceive as sacred. Whether it is ethically, spiritually, professionally, or morally upheld, there always exists an opposing end of the spectrum and those who stand in between. These different beliefs are given their importance through experience and cognitive understanding. Important ideals are what we hold close to us, that is why they are considered “values”. Although there is constant movement and growth throughout an individual’s lifetime, values are usually picked up during adolescence, when a child is most receptive to the world around them. In hooks’ book Where We Stand: Class Matters, she states, “In a culture where money is the measure of value, where it is believed that everything and everybody can be bought, it is difficult to sustain different values” (47).

Hooks is conveying that when society finds an individual’s worth based on the degree of monetary capital, different principles become hard to uphold. Through spreading propaganda, present culture teaches a meaningful life is determined by the amount of one’s material possessions. Enough of this “poison” is able to cause fragments in one’s value system. For example, television constantly shows the extravagance of luxurious lifestyles, underlying the notion that having lots of money is the easiest way to live a happy, substantial life. These become the lives we struggle to pursue and clone today. Everywhere we turn there is something trying to be sold to us, promising a sense of fulfillment through tangible indulgence. Subliminal messages in magazine ads, television commercials, billboards, and even newspapers quietly whisper answers to our problems with a catchy sales pitch. This daily bombardment leaves very little space to create our own definition of personal value. We mechanically and subconsciously allow mass media and gimmick dictate how we should live and who we should be. The glamour and glitz of celebrity icons left us lost in a trance and simultaneously neglecting our own worth. Suddenly we have become pathological consumers, constantly feeling the need to buy more things to further distract ourselves from our own reality. Little do we know—we are roused with marketing schemes and lies. Reactions of the middle and lower classes across the nation are to work laboriously, living check-to-check just to attain the newest craze on the street. Uninterrupted, America has evolved into a self-sufficient materialism-based mechanism. Therefore different standards such as family values become more and more strenuous to maintain. Many times those principles are even compromised or forgotten about altogether. These are the oppressive but remarkably accepted results of the system hard at work.

Luckily, there are people against mass deception who sometimes use the same strategic methods to educate the masses to open their eyes and witness reality. Through music, film, and literature, Americans who are aware of the system’s cunning disinformation serve as the present-day revolutionary voices of consciousness. Bell Hooks falls under the few, not fundamentally as an advocate of values, but of truth. In turn, I’ve allowed myself to fall in line with many others who, being raised in this type of consumer-driven society, are stuck in the rut of false hope and pretension. But after learning about the different ways we are manipulated and exploited, I have taken a personal stand against the powers that be, against “the man”. Self-awareness has empowered me from becoming swallowed into the statistic of leading a robotic life in the shadows of ignorance. Continual material purchasing in excess will only contribute to the changing attitudes towards the poor by further debasing values, misdirecting attention from the most crucial issues. I have chosen not to be victimized by consumerism and materialism. However, I have also come to the realization that it is not solely these things in essence that negatively impact my life and millions of others searching for peace of mind. But it is the imbalance and obsession of money and consumption that is unhealthy and ultimately leads to a slave-like way of life. We need to get free, because the “masters” will continue to insist on the demoralization of the poor until all those disadvantaged find themselves done digging their own graves with a platinum-plated shovel, unprepared to lay six-feet deep under false shame. 

I Gotta Find Peace Of Mind

I gotta find peace of mind
I know another cord...
I gotta find peace of mind
See, this what that voice in your head says
When you try to get peace of mind...
I gotta find peace of mind, I gotta find peace of mind
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible
He says there's no me without him, please help me forget about him
He takes all my energy, trapped in my memory
Constantly holding me, constantly holding me
I need to tell you all, all the pain he's caused, mmmm
I need to tell I'm, I'm undone because, mmmm
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible
He says it's impossible without him, but I know it's possible
To finally be in love, and know the real meaning of
A lasting relationship, not based on ownership
I trust every part of you, cuz all that I... All that you say you do
You love me despite myself, sometimes I fight myself
I just can't believe that you, would have anything to do
With someone so insecure, someone so immature
Oh you inspire me, to be the higher me
You made my desire pure, you made my desire pure
Just tell me what to say, I can't find the words to say
Please don't be mad with me, I have no identity
All that I've known is gone, all I was building on
I don't wanna walk with you, how do I talk to you
Touch my mouth with your hands, touch my mouth with your hands
Oh I wanna understand, the meaning of your embrace
I know now I have to face, the temptations of my past
Please don't let me disgrace, where my devotion lays
Now that I know the truth, now that it's no excuse
Keeping me from your love, what was I thinking of?
Holding me from your love, what was I thinking of?
You are my peace of mind, that old me is left behind
You are my peace of mind, that old me is left behind
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible
He says it's improbable, but I know it's tangeable
He says it's not grabbable, but I know it's haveable
Cuz anything's possible, oh anything is possible
Please come free my mind, please come meet my mind
Can you see my mind, oh
Won't you come free my mind?
Oh I know it's possible
Anything, anything, anything, anything, anything, yeeey
Anything, anything, anything, anything, yeeey
Anything, anything, anything, anything, anything, yeeey
Oh free! Free, free, free your mind
Free, free your mind... free, free your mind
Free, free, free, free your mind
Oh, it's so possible, oh it's so possible
I'm telling you it's possible, I'm telling you it's possible
Free, free... free, free... free, free... get free now
Free, free... free, free, free, free... free, free
You're my peace of mind, that old me is left behind
You're my peace of mind, you're my peace of mind
He's my peace of mind, he's my peace of mind
He's my peace of mind, he's my peace of mind
What a joy it is to be alive
To get another chance, yeah
Everyday's another chance
To get it right this time
Everyday's another chance
Oh what a merciful, merciful, merciful God
Oh what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful God