the dark side of the force

first of all thank you salman for providing the topic of today's rant. combining geekiness and ranting... what is this world coming to?

the more that i think about it the more apt the 'dark side of the force' is to where i am in life and how i got here. crap i cant believe im about to do this but here goes... while anakin skywalker wasnt the happiest or the most cheerful child, he was mostly good and positive. slowly over time, as things happened to him and those he loved, he was pulled more towards the negative. his real downfall in life came when he moved to the big corporation err.... city... err planet. yes planet. and it was his boss, err mentor... errr evil doer that forced him towards the dark side and made him rant on the internet, errr.... destroy his soul... err kill little kids.

anyways joking aside, its the people that lead us, the people you are supposed to look up to that form your worldview. when you are a little kid, your parents are your whole world and you learn to do as they do. as you grow up your world view is broadened and you have many teachers and your even learn to rebel a little, testing boundaries, testing your own world view. as a young adult you enter the work force and nothing you have encountered ever prepares you for the real world.

there is this bill gates speech circulating on the interwebs these days about the 10 or 13 things you should know about real life but no one tells you. thats how i feel. and this is how i imagien anakin must have felt. no one told you that you would have to go on a killing spree to impress your boss and get a promotion. all big corporations and evil lords are the same.... they expect you to kill your soul to get the job done. marshall erikson also knows how i feel. except that he doesnt give into the dark side... at least as far as ive watched the latest season. 

when you are greeted with the unfairness of everything this world has to offer, of course you are going to bend towards the dark side somewhat. and when faced day in and day out with the lousyness of those who are supposed to lead and inspire, makes you lose faith in a lot. and when everything else in your life is overshadowed by the empire, there is little room for much else.

 and here is what i have against anakin's transition to the dark side... it was much too much abrupt. come on, he suffered less than a year under a bad boss and he became the big ass corporate sell out and overthrew the manager? seriously? it takes years of slogging away at a meaningless dead end job, or at least some really big bad things happen. the perceived future threat to his beloved was not enough of a big bad in my opinion. also this brings to question the classic future telling dilemma - by foreseeing something and trying to prevent it, you actually make it come to pass. 

losing your faith in humanity is not something that happens just like that. sure you get major burns and shit, but seriously ever hear of reconstructive surgery? and just cos your boss is an ass doesnt mean that for the rest of your life you are doomed to wear the corporate uniform for life. geez ever heard of a work life balance? 

i guess what i'm saying is that when your brother tells you that he is hearing a lot of the dark side of the force from you, its time to re-evaluate and take a step away from the corporate big bad.