my ancestors didn't fight, claw, and scratch their way to the top of the food chain so I could eat vegetables.

Brussel Sprouts are cabbage.

but Network was released by MGM initially, and its video and dvd distribution has been handled by Warner Brothers, which means that in some way, shape, or form it has been intimately involved with the MSM...again, not to nit pick.

Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance!

You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multi-national dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, Reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.

It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!

Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.

What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.

We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.

Awesomest This Modern World that ever awesomed!

High School class of '94 here. Got to echo UsedtobeKristin on the Civics/Econ load at my Southwest GA High School. Pretty much everyone had to take it their freshman year, but in truth, each of these classes were taught by the Houghton Mifflin Company and chaperoned by "Teachers" (if I remember correctly, one was a Coach that was counting the days till his retirement.) "Class, quiet down, open your books, read Chapter whatever, there will be a quiz on Friday." Still and all, at least the indifference was bi-partisan.

First off, congratulations to Team Japan. And job well done to both teams....

"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville— mighty Casey has struck out."

-Ernest Thayer

THAT'S their theory? Really? I mean....HYPNOSIS! And these are ACTUAL physicians? Really?!

Seriously, is it time yet for her to go back to Alaska? How bout now? Now? Please?

Someone remind me again why I became a recovering alcoholic instead of a practicing one. My God! Between the self-righteous, moralizing of some, who apparently feel it is their responsibility to point out the narcissistic banality of this author's work and life, and the unbridled glee that others have taken in sharing helpful hints for love with this woman, I don't know who makes me despair more for the future of this country. Seriously, I realize that in a forum of ideas there is the give and take of opinion that helps to form the common conscience of a community, hopefully allowing all of us to gain a greater appreciation of our own position in said community, but not one other commenter has taken the time to just appreciate the presentation of a view of a life. A life with regret, yes, but also a life that is obviously aware of its own contributions to that regret. This author hasn't asked for input into how to address her celibacy. She hasn't asked to be the standard bearer of some new type of non-participatory sexuality. And she most certainly hasn't asked for pity. She submitted a work and it was published, warts and all. No more, no less. Is it now beyond anyone's ability to just read the written word and state, "I felt it was well constructed and presented a point a view I hadn't considered before" or "I felt it was sloppy and self-indulgent and Emily Dickenson touched on the material with more grace and art"? I, by the way, felt it was slightly pedestrian, and feel that the topic of celibacy in a highly sexualized world is simply not that interesting. It's a choice. She made it. No big whoop. As to my fellow commenters, Jesus H. Christ, where's a bar when you need one, cause if you are the people I have to share a planet with, I desperately need a drink.

Ragnarok?

Didn't Futurama say that these robotic "assistants" would eventually lead to the fall of all mankind? Matt Groening, visionary.

you count long dead men among your best friends?

well, other than being dead.