posted 03-24-2001 01:03 PM            

From my own observations of our culture, it seems we almost seek out the lies. We seem to go for the symbolism over substance every time whether it’s from a product, politician or Hollywood actor. I don't know if it's a conditioning of Hollywood, advertising, or maybe just that each of us has so much on our plate worrying about our own realities, jobs, taxes and families at the end of the day, that we don't pay attention and just seem to accept the lies around us.

As a conservative Republican, I've been profoundly amazed at how people bought the Clinton garbage over the last eight years.....how they didn't see that Clinton was arming China with nuclear ICBMs while we argued about sex in the oval office (the least of his crimes used as a diversion for the heavy stuff). Even now, at this late date,...I know that my stating the truth about Clinton is going to offend many people....mostly Democrats...when in reality I'm not talking about anything political here, just a corrupt human being.

We mindlessly take vaccines and flu-shots, as just something we are supposed to do, without the consideration that industry might be keeping the very disease alive that they are claiming to be trying to prevent...thus insuring their own longevity. In the same sense, Coca~Cola originally had cocaine in its drink to keep people addicted to the product, so they would always have a market for it. We are so accustomed to marketing spin that we probably would not purchase a product without it!

posted 03-25-2001 07:31 PM            

That's one of the interesting aspects about being a truck driver, you get to see all sides of industry and the manufacturing process that most people never think about. I hauled medical supplies at one time to various hospitals too....and saw parts of hospitals that really freaked me out...very eerie....especially where they "sanitize" the bio-hazardous materials in these big blue bins.

And at one point I hauled fifty-five foot trailers full of laundry carts full of meatcutter's gowns from rendering plants....and let me tell you, after those things have been sitting a couple weeks in 100 plus degree weather...well the smell is indescribable...and the maggots....(I won't even go there). What most people don’t realize is that much of the time they make the drivers load this stuf.

Ironically one of the places that always freaked me out the most though was the Kimberly Clark plant in North Carolina. Here was this beautiful forested area...just thick with trees....and in the middle of it there was this factory belching steam with tanks and pipes going every which direction...steam coming up from various pipes in the ground..that cold florescent light and those cold cement and brick buildings...it just seemed so obscenely out of place in the middle of a lush, green forest. And I picked up these huge rolls of white feminine hygiene material (that went to the roof of the trailer). The whole place had this unnatural smell similar to burning nylon...when you drop a match on a carpet. For some reason the whole atmosphere just gave me the heeby-geebies...like a hospital.

On the plus side, my favorite product to haul were things like strawberries and apples and produce for supermarkets. If you've never smelled a 50ft trailer full of strawberries and apples...well there's nothing like that on Earth either.