Am I the only one to notice how our society is increasingly covering up its failures by hiding them behind a smokescreen of symbols? The latest example of this from Massachusetts, where the officials decided to replace "underperforming schools" with "commonwealth priority," careful not to offend the egos of students and teachers, got me thinking; what else do they hide from us?

As it turns out, our society is literally filled with similar symbols that seem to mislead people by taking the edge of all negativity and turn it into something else. Thus, handicapped people are not disabled; they're "special." Idiots are not dumb; they have "emotional intelligence." The Iraq war was not imperialism; it was about "spreading freedom." Forcing companies to hire minorities over native workers isn't racial discrimination; it's "positive special treatment." Globalism isn't world government; it's "openness." I could go on forever.

Why do we hide our problems behind misleading symbols? Because it keeps people at bay. No one wants to hear about ugly realities like the fact that stupid idiots cost us time and money, that our environment is getting more black than green and that our diversity projects have created more racism and inequalities. So we point our focus to symbols that we attach to each failure and let those replace reality. "What you're seeing is not an economic depression," experts say, "it's a 'Minor Bump On The Road.'" And who doesn't want to believe them?

This is useless; we're just playing word games. Changing language doesn't change reality. Symbols are effective because they're easy to understand, easy to follow and can take any shape and form that suits our needs. Politics is about appeal and therefore it is by definition a game of who's best at catching the attention of the crowd. This is why people cry when they see Obama on TV, and repeat the word "Change" when asked why they're so happy. But in reality nothing has Changed at all. They worship the symbolic world that our society is producing to keep us in check. If you trespass into reality, you're a dangerous dissident, probably a terrorist, and need to taste more of freedom and democracy.

Let's stop the games. Underperforming schools are still underperforming, no matter what we call them. If you're disabled, you might call yourself "special," but only in the sense that you're physically retarded. Symbols don't fool me and they shouldn't fool you either. We don't have time to play charades. Our society is one gigantic symbol that represents failure. We need to fix our problems instead of hiding them, because the more we fail, the more often we will stumble over what we brushed under the carpet yesterday.