- - -Braces- - -

After watching the film Idiocracy, I would like to make a rather bold, irrational, claim. I want to forewarn the attentive blogger that this metaphor came to me in the middle of English 404 class on Wednesday. It surely has some kinks to be worked out, but on the surface most would approve that it is true. This is merely a thought of mine explained, and not everyone may understand/follow it.
Without further a due, I want to introduce my thesis. The American public and a teenager both experience the hardships of braces. I use the term braces in the most obvious sense of the word; the metal train tracks that coat the rims of one’s teeth, usually an adolescent or teenager. Furthermore, I will speak from my own experience with braces and the opinions on the American public are surely my own. My views will be portrayed in a third person narrative to keep it as simple as can be. But first, I want to give some background on the thought of braces. In each situation, the American public, and the teenager, I will compare their hardships accordingly. For the public, Barack Obama is the orthodontist of the teenager. Obama controls the public and an orthodontist controls his patient. It is up to the avid reader whether Obama is good to his public, but it can be concluded by my statement that every teenager hates his orthodontist.

What – Braces for the public surround the cutthroat economy. For the teenager, life just
plain sucks. As a kid, no one wants to get braces, you get laughed at, you are the butt of every other joke, and they hurt like hell. People that have already had them usually find it necessary to let you know, by smiling. The American public feels the same way. In these hard economic times it is easy to criticize America in their struggles. The optimists will look back to the better times and the pessimists will compare it to the Depression.

Why – There are many reasons why the economy is lagging, but this isn’t a business course and it can be generally concluded that “why” is now the most important comparison I want to convey. For the teenager and the public alike, braces act as a reminder to how great the future will be once the braces are off. After all, it can’t get much worse. The worst and most important times of a teenager’s life happen during “brace years.” The public knows that they want to go anywhere but here, trying not to admit that the country is virtually bankrupt. After viewing idiocracy, I never thought America would get to a point where it would Never get any better, for the characters in Idiocracy, all hope was lost.

When – Braces don’t just come at a bad time, the come at the worst time. Maybe not so much for America, but is there ever a good time for a recession? For kids, braces usually come on during the most strenuous, ugly times in a kids’ life. To make matters worse, you have to deal with acne and B.O. No one likes that. And no one likes the economy when it has acne and B.O. These economic times stink, and so do braces!

In conclusion, my metaphor of braces weighing down America and a teenager seems like a pretty loose interpretation of the situation. But honestly, braces sucks for teenagers, and the economy sucks even worse right now.