Where do I even begin?

This morning I was reading "The Onion" and was curious about a link I saw entitled "Whopper Virgins". So, I clicked and was unpleasantly surprised when I found a short film (which my brother told me has also been made into TV commercials) about a crew of people (probably at least 20, by my own estimates) who travel to very remote, rural areas of the world in order to have people in these small 3rd-world villages taste test a Whopper and a Big Mac.

Here are my issues:
1. Do we as Americans really need the information of what a goat farmer is Turkmanistan thinks about the Whopper and the Big Mac? I mean, is that going to change our opinion of either corporation? Is this going to move us forward as a world community?

2. Do we, as Americans, really need to impose ourselves on EVERYONE?

3. Imagine if we used the same amount of money (my estimate at least $500,000) that was spent on this short film to make another short film about the way of life for people in these rural villages. To ask them about what issues they face in the world, how they view war, peace, poverty, spirituality, life in general. I'm not saying that the people in these villages are somehow savants and in some way more knowledgeable about the mysteries of the universe because they live humble, rural lives, but they do have something we all have and something that is important that we listen to: a perspective. And to only use this money and these resources to find out which fast food burger tastes the same is truly an insult to not only our own intelligence, but to theirs' as well.

ART SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR BANAL THINGS.

This is why art in our culture is suffering, because we use our talents for trite, unimportant issues. Sadly, one of the filmmakers of this piece is Stacey Peralta, the director of "Dogtown and Z-boys" and "Riding Giants". As artists, this is what happens. We must use our talents for corporate greed rather than using our artistic abilities to truly help further 2 of the most important issues to mankind- Peace on Earth and Dignity for all humans.

I have said this before on my blog and I will say it again, the downfall of a society is when we allow the voices of corporations become more powerful than the voices of the people of the world.

Imagine if half of the money spent on this film was given to 1 village to create a school, clean drinking water, a medical clinic. All things that would be way more important to any of these people than Whoppers or Big Macs.

I am not going to post the link to this video. I don't want it to get more hits. I don't want it to become an Internet sensation. I want it to stop. I want artists to be paid for art, which at the heart of all great art, gives us insight into not only the world, but ourselves.

Art can give us so much more than a novelty film that shows us not much more than how ugly we Americans can be.