The Changing Zeitgeist (Thank God!)

Here's a piece I drafted a few months ago. I didn't post it right away because I'm attempting to be more positive, so anytime I write something critical I tend to sit on it for a while. But it's short, it's true, and it's kinda funny. Though it may seem to have nothing to do with the new album, this essay is a glimpse into our current state of mind, and our state of mind will no doubt have a big influence on the album.

I was born in 1980. For my entire life, the baby boomers have controlled money, power, culture, politics, pretty much everything. Oddly the generation who claims rock and roll, civil rights, and enlightenment as their own couldn't wait to sell out. Big box stores. Corporate monopolies. SUVs. Tacky subdivisions. Ponzi Schemes. Reality TV...
.......bleccccchhhhhhhh..... 
I worked at a used boat dealership for one summer in my mid twenties. The owner was just as smarmy as you might expect, complete with the gold crusted watch and classic hot rod collection. His motto was "It's not what you say, but how you say it." I doubt Jim came up with this on his own, he probably read it in How To Win Conversations and Influence Buyers or The Seven Habits of People Who Attend Leadership Seminars. If you're around my age, chances are you've been employed by someone similar. Nearly every business has been run this way for at least the last 40 years. Watch any commercial, drive past any strip mall, read the ingredients on the juice flavored drink product for kids.
The boomers never met a slick slogan they didn't like. The bigger the company and the more robotic it's employees, the better. A snappy scripted telephone greeting is their idea of customer service. These empty suits have built empires on such bullshit virtues. They're successful. They're in charge. And they're not going to listen to you.
Now, we're in our late twenties / early thirties and we've become our own marketing demographic. We're buying our first homes, getting married, having kids, starting businesses, making records, getting involved. If a business wants to succeed in the next 40 years, they're going to have to appeal to us. And for some reason, the old shuck and jive doesn't work on us. Not even a little bit. We know when we're being lied to, we know when the person on the other end of the line or standing across from us is just following a script. And we don't like it.
So guess what? We get to watch the dinosaurs go extinct right before our eyes. If your boss insists that you "hone your schtick" just smile and nod, knowing that his or her days are numbered. I swear, we've been browbeaten our entire lives to accept things as true even though we know them to be false. And for a long time the liars were right- by virtue of winning and being in charge. But the truth always comes out. If someone tells you 2+2=5 don't believe them, even if they have a twinkle in their eye and a smirk on their face. It's not how you say it, it's what you say.