Experience is bullshit. Intention is everything.

I really feel that the quality and depth of what goes on with 'pop' culture is a general reflection of the trends in consciousness of the nation (at least). And I've had the idea that playing only musical geniuses on the radio would increase the ability of "the masses" to step outside of their collective box. This is not to say that I'm speaking from the standpoint of a boxless horizon. I, too, have so much to learn and grow. But I've noticed that when I (somewhat severely) discriminate against what I perceive as mediocrity, search for and surround myself with what I believe to be genius, through the resulting immersion I become more greatly in touch with a consistent inspiration towards Life.
In other words, when I turn off the radio because it sucks (which is about 99% of the time), instead of letting it drool in the distance, selling me shallow ideals and encouraging useless desires, I then replace it with what I know to be a truly legendary musician/poet/whatever. And I find I am a better, more thoughtful, inspired, alive being.
I feel that we, as a culture, have lost our culture due in great part to the fact that we take very little responsibility for our surroundings. This can be seen on every level. Consider that: Instead of cooking for ourselves, we often resort to purchasing food that has already been prepared (seasoned, salted, mashed, strained, measured, shaped, packaged, etc.) for us. Here we rely entirely on an abstract entity to provide nourishment for our bodies. This in turn, has subtle and not so subtle effects on our immediate and future physical health, emotional stability and mental availability.
Did you know that constant sound causes harm to your nervous system? Does that matter?
I feel so often bewildered by humans. If the air we breathe is a fundamental platform for the quality of Life on Earth, why do we continue staring straight ahead from within automobiles? Why do we smoke cigarettes? Why, in lieu of intuitive and scientific discoveries, do we not make changes in our behavior to accommodate our newfound knowledge? Is there something innately wrong with us?
It would seem we've managed to alienate ourselves from nearly all natural processes: We fight battles that no one can justify -without hiding behind technicalities and reducing the human experience to a mechanical formula of anti-poetry and dogma; we work unfulfilling jobs and come home to our accidental children and consume meals of candy-coated crap; we go to sleep with pills, wake up with caffeine and do it over and over again until we die of cancer or some other premature, degenerative disease. Why are we doing this? Not for the children.
Everything we do and think has an effect.
Paying the bills is obviously not good enough.
Blaming it all on "the System" or "the Man" or "the Liberals" is not good enough.
We can do better than this, right?