putting the cart before the horse

i often get carried away with frivilous things, but i am trying my darndest to control it.

the thing which is probably my biggest pet peeve is how people will complain about things being the way they are even when things are the way they are because of the people that complain about them. in other words, in most cases, when there is something a person doesn't like about the world, it is in their control to change it. but, they don't. they accept it and only complain rhetorically.

for example, an basic phone bill costs $40-$50. should it cost that much? no. the major cell phone companies have re-couped investments years ago. there is no way my having a cell phone is costing at&t anything, yet they charge me out the wazzu once i send more than 200 texts in a month. consider this, i can use skype to do a video conference call anywhere in the world for free. yet i must pay a minimum of $42.99 per month just to have the freedom to make a simple phone call whenever i want.

so, why do cell phone bills cost so much? because people are willing to pay any price and addicted to talking on the phone and status symbols or whatever. the same thing goes for cable television. many people pay $50, $60. $70 or more per month for cable television. and then always complain about how much the cable bill is and how there is nothing worth watching on any of the 500 channels. i mean, it's really quite simple. if you don't agree with the system, don't support it. i get fed up with tv after about 5 minutes of watching it. so, just try and guess how much money i have spent on cable tv ever? try to guess how much i have spent on tv's in my life? yeah, the answer is $0. soon, i will have a solution to the phone issue and i will update here when i finally figure it out.

anyway, panda had me watching documentary's this week. they were all good for what they were, mostly as tools for awareness.
future of food
the yes men fix the world
the garbage warrior

among the three, the garbage warrior was most amazing.
but, the point rasied in each of them was that every single person on this planet is in control of what they spend their money on and who they support. i get sick of saying that i get sick of hearing people say that wal-mart puts the little guy out of business. i will continue to say it. wal-mart is not the problem. the people that shop at wal-mart create the problem. wal-mart only exists to the point that people allow it to. even more repulsive to me is, in small towns like mine, people say they have to shop at wal-mart because there is no where else. the same thing with gasoline prices. people complain endlessly. however, the problem only exists because the community at large got duped into making such things necessity by ever supporting them in the first place. and every "yeah, but..." answer to the problem just furthers to make it a reality. where there is a will there is always a way.
it will never make sense to me because i know that if i do not need to shop at wal-mart, there is really no absolute necessity about it for anyone. my town has three grocery stores: albertson's, safeway and wal-mart. i don't shop at any of them, but i don't starve to death. there will be a forthcoming blog about how i avoid shopping at chain stores, even though there are only chain stores in my town.

i know it will alienate people to say, but until each individual person becomes responsible and only buys what they need and from who they believe in, there is no credibility in complaining about "the system". problems are never the fault of a system. problems are the fault of the people who buy into the systems. if you, as the consumer, say no to the things you abhor, there will be nothing wrong with the system. don't accept things as they are. do something about it!