The Show Must Go On; Put on a Happy Face ("Have a Good Day!"); And when the happy face is a lie and it actually hurts inside ("Cheer up for chrissake, you're making me feel rotten")

One of the nice things about a liberal Western democracy is that mostly anything can be said, at least for the time being.

"The show must go on" might as well be the American motto, one that finds its way across the globe in search of new markets and opportunities for "growth."

"Put on a happy face" might serve as well.  We are supposed to do this as a solution for what troubles us inwardly, and as the modus operandi for our lives.

But sometimes I think this becomes a poor substitute for real change.

In any case, the American way of life is predicated on sheer materialism with a veneer of religion to make the former palatable and go all the way through.

If you speak louder, are up to date with the latest cool gadgets, laugh with greater zeal, shout-out with more "enthusiasm," and relentlessly smile, smile, smile, maybe other people--and yourself, along for the way--won't realize how truly unhappy you are with your life.

Being distracted on (= concentrating on) technological innovations (the "cool" factor, along with sports, among most people) are a neat way of not noticing.

And if you can't have a genuine smile, fake it.

Most of us are faking it, and doing a pretty good job.

That's what we get paid for.

The name of the game that dare not speak its name.

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Lindy English was not some aberration.   She was the child and the face of America that got slapped down for doing what the culture denies, disallows, and produces.

It's not as if bullying--and getting away with it--is something that doesn't happen all the time.

A country which believes that the solution to violence is more violence--hence, our capital punishment and our near non-existent gun control laws--and confuses that belief with fundamental human liberty is not doing so well.