There's one conspiracy theory to which i'll subscribe: the stupidification of the American public. We're sold a bill of goods that boils down to buying goods. Fuck plastics, *marketing* is where it's at. Kids aren't stupid, but the public is fed the notion that we have to have TV's with DVD players on the back of every captain's chair in our SUV's, just to placate those kids with sugar-coated advertisements disguised as entertainment; or sit them down in front of the boob tube instead of playing in the yard, because the yard is full of DIRT (which can only be truly removed by antibacterial soap!) I see my friends with kids simultaneously think their kids' every turd is a work of genius while they keep the kids coddled in cocoons like intellectual bubble-boys who are allergic to the slightest threat to their delicate minds. The worst part is that most of these parents know the truth, but are too worn down by trying to pay off their second mortgage and credit cards that they can't lift a mental finger and fight it!

Even those of use who tell ourselves to resist mainstream marketing are pandered to in a different way - whole foods, electric SUV's, outdoor adventure that's as safe as a walk around the block. And then, as we recognize *that*, we're marketed to in even more insiduous ways. It's recursive, and maddening.