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Shadows and lies
When
you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. People around you feel
it, though. It’s the same when you’re stupid.
My
promotion of a gift economy seems stupid because it doesn’t involve
the pursuit of money. As a result, I receive gifts, especially when I
travel. Books and shirts are among the most popular items I receive,
and the latter often contain witty historical expressions. Among my
tee shirts is one with a phrase from Benjamin Franklin: “It is the
first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
Most
people I encounter clearly do not agree, at least in practice. In
theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in
practice there is. Still, I’m astonished at the prevailing
mentality among the American citizenry I encounter.
Apparently we are
so afraid to question authority, so willing to believe blatant lies,
that we willingly capitulate to liars and thieves dressed as CEOs and
politicians.
I
provide few links in this essay. Evidence for each of the following
claims is abundant and easily obtained. If you’ve not grasped these
tidbits by now, additional evidence will remain unconvincing. I
suspect your ignorance is willful, your inability to see a direct
result of eyes sealed tightly shut.
Most
notable is the inability of nearly everybody I know to pursue
radicalism. For starters, most people I’ve met cannot distinguish
between a radical and an extremist, despite the clear
difference.
If
it’s unclear I’m writing about you, ask yourself this question:
“What have I done recently that runs counter to the status quo?”
If you don’t have a significant response, you’re likely to squirm
while reading this essay.
Plunging
down a rabbit hole — any rabbit hole — apparently makes one
likely to pursue radicalism on additional topics. Fortunately for
governments, few citizens are willing to look deeply into any topic,
no matter how important. The shadows in the cave are far too
comfortable to risk facing reality head-on.
And
then there are the Strong Suggestions of
Thermodynamics Laws
of Thermodynamics. The official story of 9/11 violates the Laws of
Thermodynamics, yet few people I know are willing to question the
official narrative. After all, doing so would adhere to Franklin’s
maxim, a notion foreign to the typical modern ‘murican. The
Orwellian absurdity continues with the disparaging term applied to
those who question the impossible official narrative: “truther.”
A
few additional examples are presented below. They provide an
opportunity for me to launch a too-infrequent rant into the void.
Ergo, my latest attempt to combine reality with its common partner,
absurdity.
Civilization
is not the only way to live. Indeed, humans lived without
civilization for more than two million years. We’ve lived within
the shackles of civilization for a few thousand years. Civilization
clearly is omnicidal. Few notice. Even fewer care.
Civilization
is an expression of patriarchy. The current version of industrial
civilization benefits a few Caucasian men at the expense of every
other living being. Most civilized people believe this set of living
arrangements is wonderful.
If you are reading these words, you benefit from imperialism. American Empire is real, and it covers the globe. There is no escape.
The
two dominant political parties in the United States represent twin
cheeks on the same ass. If you believe the next person to occupy the
Oval Office will improve the situation for the masses, then you do
not understand the issue.
Elizabeth Warren, or any other
“progressive” candidate (i.e., contemporary neo-conservative) —
the next great hope of many forgetful Democrats — will prove as
disappointing as the current president to these deluded,
die-hard dims Dems.
The
United States is dominated by a corporate government and corporate
media. When greed is your only god, sociopaths assume control. We’re
there, fully embedded within patriarchal fascism. The standard
response of my fellow citizens: “I want more. I deserve more.”
Apparently I occupy the land of the me and
home of the crave.
The
big banks have run this country for a very long time. They
orchestrate everything from laundering
drug money to cracking down on any form of resistance.
They’ve been in charge for a very long time. Few notice, and even
fewer care.
The
American system of public education is designed to “dumb down”
the populace. Critical thinking belongs to a bygone era. Nearly every
one of the so-called, self-proclaimed teachers I know refuses to
acknowledge reality on this issue. And most other matters, for that
matter. These teachers are paid to think, and also to teach others
how to think. They have overwhelmingly failed, and they continue to
fail.
The
prison-industrial complex, like almost every other aspect of American
culture, is designed to enrich the wealthy and enslave the poor. Some
people claim the system isn’t working. Au contraire: It’s working
as planned, as indicated by the beneficiaries of American Empire.
Monogamy
and the marriage-industrial complex are part and parcel of
patriarchy. The dominant paradigm is not superior to other ways of
living. Deep down inside, you surely understand.
We
cannot sustain the unsustainable, including civilization. Nor should
we attempt to do so. Civilization requires tremendous violence.
Industrial civilization is the most violent version yet.
American
exceptionalism is a myth. American military power, largely supported
by willfully ignorant taxpayers, is necessary to maintain American
lifestyles, including grid-tied electricity, the modern banking
system, and all that follows.
Abrupt
climate change is under way. Global climate change causes suffering
and death of humans and other organisms. There is no escape.
Net
energy decline is under way and soon will contribute to the early
death of most humans on Earth. Fossil fuels have peaked and the Age
of Expansion has been replaced with the Age of Contraction. The Age
of Conquest has nearly reached its overdue end.
Collapse
of industrial civilization is under way and will be complete soon.
When collapse is complete, the world’s remaining nuclear power
plants will melt down catastrophically, thus shortening the lives of
many humans and other organisms. There is no escape.
The
interaction between anthropogenic climate change and collapse of
industrial civilization affects every aspect of human life in the
industrialized world. There is no politically viable approach to
addressing either issue, much less the interaction between them.
Many
centuries ago, Plato presciently wrote a line that resonates strongly
with me: “Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of
their culture will never be understood, let alone believed by the
masses.” Indeed, we’ll disparage them by, paradoxically,
referring to them as “truthers.” We will therefore remain in the
shadows of our cave of blissful ignorance
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Guy , this speaks to me I'm actually smiling right now from my insides out , I hear you !
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