3.19.2004
Lost Causes
"He used to say that lost causes were the only ones worth fighting for."
Jefferson Smith - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
I do not know how to begin such a thought as this, so I can only begin it with the words I find right here and now. There are some serious problems with our nation; we have lost perspective on what is really important. It didn't happen overnight, it was a gradual situation that happened because we started to become more worried about those things that affect us personally and less about those things that affect our neighbors and strangers we've never met. Maybe this was because the world suddenly got thrust into our living rooms and we didn't know how to deal with how much of it there really was. Maybe we saw all the suffering going around us and felt we couldn't do anything about it, so the best we could hope for was to take care of our own.
Whatever the reasons, the cause has been clear: our country is no longer run "...For the people, by the people," it is run for the elite by the elite. A distinct and separate class of individuals who shape policy and opinion like master craftsmen. They do it quietly and subtly, so as not to alarm us. It is like a game of tennis, where the crowd follows the little yellow ball as it is batted across the court. When the ball is in the far court, we're not watching what's going on in the opposite court.
You see, every year, there are things we become aware and concerned with. These "issues," they take over the airwaves, they fill our publications, and they permeate our collective consciousness. We look at these issues and determine how we feel about them, of course our feelings lead us to make a choice, to take a stand, to rise up and be heard. But then we find out that if we want our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings to be heard, we have to join one of two groups who hold a monopoly on the political machine of our nation.
Oh, there are third and fourth groups out there, but they are essentially "locked out" of the process, the rules require them to gain enough majority votes to be heard, and because the other two have become so habituated into our lives, these alternative choices are never given a fair hearing, the same system that makes the rules is the same system forbids it, and the people are oblivious to this fact. So we must choose one of two groups that "best fits" what we believe our ideals, beliefs, values, and feelings to exemplify. We may have to compromise with some of them, because there is no "perfect fit," but by and large, one of these two groups will cover the majority of how we have chosen to live our lives, and we are able to give them our allegiance and loyalty.
These two groups, they are masters of disguise and deception. They know exactly how to tell us what we want to hear, while simultaneously outraging and angering their opposites. These groups aren't our friends, they are con artists and the American people are the marks. They aren't there to solve social problems or make us safe, they are there to keep us angry and at each other's throats. They use our prejudices, our beliefs, our feelings, our values, and our thoughts as a method of turning the people against themselves. The one thing they truly fear is that some day the people will awake and realize that they've been cruelly manipulated, they will put aside those differences that keep them separate and rise up with one voice and shake the very foundations of the corruption, greed, and vice that has so entangled it's roots in our corporations and capitols.
That voice shall pierce the armor they have placed before them and force them to respond to our demands. We have lost this voice over the years, we have been taught not to question, to go about our business. We have been burdened with more and more toil so that those who have placed themselves above us can maintain their positions. We have to work harder and harder to maintain what little we've managed to scratch out for ourselves while those who have reshaped this country's image continue to pillage, plunder, and strengthen their defenses. It is very much like the move The Matrix, where people are so "...hopelessly dependent on the system..." that they will help fight to defend it from anyone trying to show them the truth. They have been programmed and conditioned by professionals to believe what they are told to believe without question or worry. They accept what they see and hear as automatons. They no longer really think for themselves, they let others do their thinking for them. Opinions are fed to them as "facts" by "loyal followers" of their cause. They trust their leadership to do the "right thing" by them; and even when these leaders fail to deliver, their followers give them loyalty none-the-less.
Everyone knows politics is a dirty business. It is made even more murky by it's relationship to religion, to corporations, and the media, all of whom may have different reasons for snuggling up to politicians, but the end result is the same: we no longer know anything that resembles "the truth." We are given "the truth" by sources that have hidden agendas behind them. Through the cooperative lens of religion, media, government, and corporations, we are told what it is we are to know, believe, feel, support, and rally against. The delicious irony of it all: the very mechanisms of mind control in our society do not have to be forced upon us; we voluntarily subject ourselves to them on a daily basis. It is everywhere we are at all times, it is the very air we breathe and echoing through the very depths of our minds, but we can no longer see it for what it is, we can only see what we want to see, what others want us to see.
Why is it that there is so much desire to "regulate" the Internet? Why is it that totalitarian states strictly control the flow of this medium into their countries? Because it is a medium that exists outside the "mainstream" of control. The Internet was invented and designed to create a functional communications network in the event of a nuclear war. Information does not travel through it in a direct path, but is broken down into "packets" that are routed according to Internet "traffic" and reassembled on the other side. If any packets get lost, they can be resent. This makes it very difficult to regulate what is being sent or received. It is a nightmare for any group or entity that wants its people to believe only what they tell them.
So-called "reputable" sources are the first ones we should be suspect of. They are all looking to survive not by serving the public interest or trust, but by making money. They are nothing more than marionettes, and the purse strings are pulled to move their mouths. We have been dreadfully misled. No matter whether you consider yourself a "conservative", "liberal", or "independent," every single one of us has been tricked into hearing what others say and responding to it with undeserved loyalty. Alas, people do not want to leave the "safety" of their status quo.
Change is frightening and change is hard to face, but if we do not find a way to take back our nation, our government, and ourselves, there will soon be nothing to salvage. All great civilizations have fallen prey to corruption from within. Sooner or later they become empty shells and collapse in on themselves. This is the direction the United States is heading. We have been silently recruited to assist in the machinations of our own demise. We are taught that unless we stand up and fight for what we are told to believe in, the "enemy" will gain total control and domination over our lives. We are provided with great "social crusades" to hold us together to their purpose, ironically, it is these things that have kept us apart.
The struggle is everlasting, the fight is never finished, when someone falls, another is raised up to take their place. Neither side can be allowed to "win," the system demands that the constant struggle be perpetuated indefinitely. It is perpetuated in very perceptible cycles, but most of us don't notice them. We are too busy concentrating on the wrong things. The illusionists hold us spellbound as their misdirection continues to keep us from seeing the truth. We are watching the fireworks in the sky, complete with "ooohs" and "aaaahs," while what we're not supposed to see goes on at ground level.
There is only one way to take back our nation. We must stand up to the bureaucrats and tell them to pack it in. We must fire our government and hire a new one, we must take back the burdens and responsibilities of being citizens true citizens concerned with the welfare and well-being of everyone, not just ourselves. We must force a separation between the greedy corporations, the media, religion, and politicians. We must root out influence peddling and campaign contributions meant only to "buy votes" on issues critical to short-term profitability and not long-term prosperity. We must break the hold of the private banks and insurance companies have over our economic well-being.
They have been allowed to dictate economic policy for the better part of a century and this has only served to benefit them, not us. We must force our government to return to being a lean instrument of the people that spends money responsibly and balances it's budget. We must bring sensible rules to taxation that do not "trick" us into believing that our getting some sort of "refund" is a bonus or dividend to our indentured service. We must look at our personal feelings, values, and beliefs and recognize that in order for us to protect them, we must also protect the feelings, values, and beliefs of many others that may not be the same as ours, for if we seek to promote our own beliefs at the expense of others, we are imposing the very kind of tyranny our nation was founded to prevent.
We must simplify our legal system until "the law" is something everyone can understand, not just people who have gone to law school (and stopped being part of the solution). We must stop fighting over education, for as long as we are so busy fighting over how and what our children should be taught, nobody can truly concentrate on teaching them anything. We must learn to accept that, while we hold to what we believe to be right, good, and morally correct, each of us has a "dark side," and we must acknowledge and face it so we can stop being silly with regards to sex, violence, drugs, and other problems.
For too long, our collective attentions have been focused on the effects of social problems without facing their causes. We cannot address a problem based upon its outcome, that only promotes addiction, a criminal underground, and overcrowded prisons. If we instead focus our attentions and energies to the source of our social problems, we can begin to discover why these things happen and correct them, rather than waiting until afterwards to try and pick up the pieces. I implore you to step outside the narrow viewpoints, the "catchy" sound bytes and slogans, and really take a good look around you. Are you happy with the way the system works? Is it truly "...as good as it's going to get?" Would you like to really make a difference instead of fighting amongst yourselves for the table scraps of people who consider themselves your betters? If you truly want to know what freedom is, if you truly want to know what our nation is meant to be about, then you have to stop taking everything you are told at face value and look deeper. You have to stop fighting over issues that are designed to keep everyone split down the middle. You have to set aside all the rubbish we have been repeatedly programmed to spout when confronting our "enemy," and realize whom the true enemy really is.
Our enemies are not threatening us from without; they are not threatening us from across party lines. Our enemies are the ones we are taught to admire and respect. They are the ones who give speeches and say pretty words we like to hear. They are people we think we "elected." They are the ones who decide how our money is spent. They are the people who determine how our nation will deal with the rest of the world. They are the people who set policies that affect our quality of life. They are the people who protect the powerful and rich at the expense of the powerless and poor. They are the people who can be bought and sold on a whim. They are the people who create the social injustices and then pretend to solve them so we will look up to them and praise them. They are the people who keep us trapped in the illusion of what we want to believe is true. They use our beliefs, our myths, our emotions, our desires, our hopes, and our dreams to manipulate and control us.
We have given up our freedom for their chains and we have locked ourselves up in their prison willingly. When we believe what they tell us and repeat it to others, we are perpetuating their lies and their gossip as if it were gospel. We are unwitting pawns in their eyes and their game. They have tricked us into doing most of their dirty work for them and we beg for more. If this is how you choose to live your life, so be it. I choose free will. I choose the right to take back the responsibility of being a citizen of the greatest nation on earth. I choose to speak out against political corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse wherever it may be, not according to "party lines," but according to higher principles. I will no longer let the propaganda of one side or the other affect how I make my choices. I will instead weigh the issues myself and make an informed decision. I will stop being an unwitting source of one-sided truth. I will embrace everyone holistically instead. I will pay attention and question every source of information I access.
I will recognize that there are no sources of information above reproach, that all of them have a hidden reason for saying what they say. I will seek compromise where I can, and work together with those who disagree with me to find a solution that best suits everyone's needs, not just mine. I will remember that this is a nation full of wonderful diversity and variety, and that is a strength, not a weakness. I will not let my efforts continue to support a privileged few while others suffer the indignities of hopelessness. I will show compassion, not pity to all those who need a hand up, not a hand out. I will provide everyone with the same basic rights, because separate but equal is not equal.
I will expect that everyone be given an equal opportunity to excel, not by quotas or unfair adjustments, but by promoting merit. If a person wants something badly enough, let them earn it, not expect it to be doled out. That only serves to weaken the whole system and preserve the current class distinctions. We cannot change this nation by allowing the current system to continue, we can only change it by waking up and sounding the alarm. The cherished "American way of life," has been hijacked, and we cannot get it back by remaining passive slaves sworn to one party or another.
We must unite for the sake of all Americans, not just some of them who happen to agree with us. The time is now for us to speak with one voice. If we choose to remain asleep, we will lose that voice forever. It will be drowned out by the powers that be. They will continue to feed us what they want us to hear and we will haplessly thank them for it. If this nation stands for something worth believing in, if it stands for something worth fighting for, then we must stand up and believe, and fight, and win. I am just one voice, but I have spoken. We can make a difference if we truly want to. We can change the face of this nation and we can make a difference in the world, but we cannot do it separately, we must do it together.
© 2004, J.S. Brown
0 comments
Jefferson Smith - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
I do not know how to begin such a thought as this, so I can only begin it with the words I find right here and now. There are some serious problems with our nation; we have lost perspective on what is really important. It didn't happen overnight, it was a gradual situation that happened because we started to become more worried about those things that affect us personally and less about those things that affect our neighbors and strangers we've never met. Maybe this was because the world suddenly got thrust into our living rooms and we didn't know how to deal with how much of it there really was. Maybe we saw all the suffering going around us and felt we couldn't do anything about it, so the best we could hope for was to take care of our own.
Whatever the reasons, the cause has been clear: our country is no longer run "...For the people, by the people," it is run for the elite by the elite. A distinct and separate class of individuals who shape policy and opinion like master craftsmen. They do it quietly and subtly, so as not to alarm us. It is like a game of tennis, where the crowd follows the little yellow ball as it is batted across the court. When the ball is in the far court, we're not watching what's going on in the opposite court.
You see, every year, there are things we become aware and concerned with. These "issues," they take over the airwaves, they fill our publications, and they permeate our collective consciousness. We look at these issues and determine how we feel about them, of course our feelings lead us to make a choice, to take a stand, to rise up and be heard. But then we find out that if we want our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings to be heard, we have to join one of two groups who hold a monopoly on the political machine of our nation.
Oh, there are third and fourth groups out there, but they are essentially "locked out" of the process, the rules require them to gain enough majority votes to be heard, and because the other two have become so habituated into our lives, these alternative choices are never given a fair hearing, the same system that makes the rules is the same system forbids it, and the people are oblivious to this fact. So we must choose one of two groups that "best fits" what we believe our ideals, beliefs, values, and feelings to exemplify. We may have to compromise with some of them, because there is no "perfect fit," but by and large, one of these two groups will cover the majority of how we have chosen to live our lives, and we are able to give them our allegiance and loyalty.
These two groups, they are masters of disguise and deception. They know exactly how to tell us what we want to hear, while simultaneously outraging and angering their opposites. These groups aren't our friends, they are con artists and the American people are the marks. They aren't there to solve social problems or make us safe, they are there to keep us angry and at each other's throats. They use our prejudices, our beliefs, our feelings, our values, and our thoughts as a method of turning the people against themselves. The one thing they truly fear is that some day the people will awake and realize that they've been cruelly manipulated, they will put aside those differences that keep them separate and rise up with one voice and shake the very foundations of the corruption, greed, and vice that has so entangled it's roots in our corporations and capitols.
That voice shall pierce the armor they have placed before them and force them to respond to our demands. We have lost this voice over the years, we have been taught not to question, to go about our business. We have been burdened with more and more toil so that those who have placed themselves above us can maintain their positions. We have to work harder and harder to maintain what little we've managed to scratch out for ourselves while those who have reshaped this country's image continue to pillage, plunder, and strengthen their defenses. It is very much like the move The Matrix, where people are so "...hopelessly dependent on the system..." that they will help fight to defend it from anyone trying to show them the truth. They have been programmed and conditioned by professionals to believe what they are told to believe without question or worry. They accept what they see and hear as automatons. They no longer really think for themselves, they let others do their thinking for them. Opinions are fed to them as "facts" by "loyal followers" of their cause. They trust their leadership to do the "right thing" by them; and even when these leaders fail to deliver, their followers give them loyalty none-the-less.
Everyone knows politics is a dirty business. It is made even more murky by it's relationship to religion, to corporations, and the media, all of whom may have different reasons for snuggling up to politicians, but the end result is the same: we no longer know anything that resembles "the truth." We are given "the truth" by sources that have hidden agendas behind them. Through the cooperative lens of religion, media, government, and corporations, we are told what it is we are to know, believe, feel, support, and rally against. The delicious irony of it all: the very mechanisms of mind control in our society do not have to be forced upon us; we voluntarily subject ourselves to them on a daily basis. It is everywhere we are at all times, it is the very air we breathe and echoing through the very depths of our minds, but we can no longer see it for what it is, we can only see what we want to see, what others want us to see.
Why is it that there is so much desire to "regulate" the Internet? Why is it that totalitarian states strictly control the flow of this medium into their countries? Because it is a medium that exists outside the "mainstream" of control. The Internet was invented and designed to create a functional communications network in the event of a nuclear war. Information does not travel through it in a direct path, but is broken down into "packets" that are routed according to Internet "traffic" and reassembled on the other side. If any packets get lost, they can be resent. This makes it very difficult to regulate what is being sent or received. It is a nightmare for any group or entity that wants its people to believe only what they tell them.
So-called "reputable" sources are the first ones we should be suspect of. They are all looking to survive not by serving the public interest or trust, but by making money. They are nothing more than marionettes, and the purse strings are pulled to move their mouths. We have been dreadfully misled. No matter whether you consider yourself a "conservative", "liberal", or "independent," every single one of us has been tricked into hearing what others say and responding to it with undeserved loyalty. Alas, people do not want to leave the "safety" of their status quo.
Change is frightening and change is hard to face, but if we do not find a way to take back our nation, our government, and ourselves, there will soon be nothing to salvage. All great civilizations have fallen prey to corruption from within. Sooner or later they become empty shells and collapse in on themselves. This is the direction the United States is heading. We have been silently recruited to assist in the machinations of our own demise. We are taught that unless we stand up and fight for what we are told to believe in, the "enemy" will gain total control and domination over our lives. We are provided with great "social crusades" to hold us together to their purpose, ironically, it is these things that have kept us apart.
The struggle is everlasting, the fight is never finished, when someone falls, another is raised up to take their place. Neither side can be allowed to "win," the system demands that the constant struggle be perpetuated indefinitely. It is perpetuated in very perceptible cycles, but most of us don't notice them. We are too busy concentrating on the wrong things. The illusionists hold us spellbound as their misdirection continues to keep us from seeing the truth. We are watching the fireworks in the sky, complete with "ooohs" and "aaaahs," while what we're not supposed to see goes on at ground level.
There is only one way to take back our nation. We must stand up to the bureaucrats and tell them to pack it in. We must fire our government and hire a new one, we must take back the burdens and responsibilities of being citizens true citizens concerned with the welfare and well-being of everyone, not just ourselves. We must force a separation between the greedy corporations, the media, religion, and politicians. We must root out influence peddling and campaign contributions meant only to "buy votes" on issues critical to short-term profitability and not long-term prosperity. We must break the hold of the private banks and insurance companies have over our economic well-being.
They have been allowed to dictate economic policy for the better part of a century and this has only served to benefit them, not us. We must force our government to return to being a lean instrument of the people that spends money responsibly and balances it's budget. We must bring sensible rules to taxation that do not "trick" us into believing that our getting some sort of "refund" is a bonus or dividend to our indentured service. We must look at our personal feelings, values, and beliefs and recognize that in order for us to protect them, we must also protect the feelings, values, and beliefs of many others that may not be the same as ours, for if we seek to promote our own beliefs at the expense of others, we are imposing the very kind of tyranny our nation was founded to prevent.
We must simplify our legal system until "the law" is something everyone can understand, not just people who have gone to law school (and stopped being part of the solution). We must stop fighting over education, for as long as we are so busy fighting over how and what our children should be taught, nobody can truly concentrate on teaching them anything. We must learn to accept that, while we hold to what we believe to be right, good, and morally correct, each of us has a "dark side," and we must acknowledge and face it so we can stop being silly with regards to sex, violence, drugs, and other problems.
For too long, our collective attentions have been focused on the effects of social problems without facing their causes. We cannot address a problem based upon its outcome, that only promotes addiction, a criminal underground, and overcrowded prisons. If we instead focus our attentions and energies to the source of our social problems, we can begin to discover why these things happen and correct them, rather than waiting until afterwards to try and pick up the pieces. I implore you to step outside the narrow viewpoints, the "catchy" sound bytes and slogans, and really take a good look around you. Are you happy with the way the system works? Is it truly "...as good as it's going to get?" Would you like to really make a difference instead of fighting amongst yourselves for the table scraps of people who consider themselves your betters? If you truly want to know what freedom is, if you truly want to know what our nation is meant to be about, then you have to stop taking everything you are told at face value and look deeper. You have to stop fighting over issues that are designed to keep everyone split down the middle. You have to set aside all the rubbish we have been repeatedly programmed to spout when confronting our "enemy," and realize whom the true enemy really is.
Our enemies are not threatening us from without; they are not threatening us from across party lines. Our enemies are the ones we are taught to admire and respect. They are the ones who give speeches and say pretty words we like to hear. They are people we think we "elected." They are the ones who decide how our money is spent. They are the people who determine how our nation will deal with the rest of the world. They are the people who set policies that affect our quality of life. They are the people who protect the powerful and rich at the expense of the powerless and poor. They are the people who can be bought and sold on a whim. They are the people who create the social injustices and then pretend to solve them so we will look up to them and praise them. They are the people who keep us trapped in the illusion of what we want to believe is true. They use our beliefs, our myths, our emotions, our desires, our hopes, and our dreams to manipulate and control us.
We have given up our freedom for their chains and we have locked ourselves up in their prison willingly. When we believe what they tell us and repeat it to others, we are perpetuating their lies and their gossip as if it were gospel. We are unwitting pawns in their eyes and their game. They have tricked us into doing most of their dirty work for them and we beg for more. If this is how you choose to live your life, so be it. I choose free will. I choose the right to take back the responsibility of being a citizen of the greatest nation on earth. I choose to speak out against political corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse wherever it may be, not according to "party lines," but according to higher principles. I will no longer let the propaganda of one side or the other affect how I make my choices. I will instead weigh the issues myself and make an informed decision. I will stop being an unwitting source of one-sided truth. I will embrace everyone holistically instead. I will pay attention and question every source of information I access.
I will recognize that there are no sources of information above reproach, that all of them have a hidden reason for saying what they say. I will seek compromise where I can, and work together with those who disagree with me to find a solution that best suits everyone's needs, not just mine. I will remember that this is a nation full of wonderful diversity and variety, and that is a strength, not a weakness. I will not let my efforts continue to support a privileged few while others suffer the indignities of hopelessness. I will show compassion, not pity to all those who need a hand up, not a hand out. I will provide everyone with the same basic rights, because separate but equal is not equal.
I will expect that everyone be given an equal opportunity to excel, not by quotas or unfair adjustments, but by promoting merit. If a person wants something badly enough, let them earn it, not expect it to be doled out. That only serves to weaken the whole system and preserve the current class distinctions. We cannot change this nation by allowing the current system to continue, we can only change it by waking up and sounding the alarm. The cherished "American way of life," has been hijacked, and we cannot get it back by remaining passive slaves sworn to one party or another.
We must unite for the sake of all Americans, not just some of them who happen to agree with us. The time is now for us to speak with one voice. If we choose to remain asleep, we will lose that voice forever. It will be drowned out by the powers that be. They will continue to feed us what they want us to hear and we will haplessly thank them for it. If this nation stands for something worth believing in, if it stands for something worth fighting for, then we must stand up and believe, and fight, and win. I am just one voice, but I have spoken. We can make a difference if we truly want to. We can change the face of this nation and we can make a difference in the world, but we cannot do it separately, we must do it together.
TANSTAAFL!
© 2004, J.S. Brown
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