“War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.” George Orwell 1984
Let me be clear, I am no pundit. I have zero expertise in most everything. All I have are my opinions, grounded in feelings and not facts. I certainly don’t write to be argumentative either and will not engage in any. I don’t give a shit about being right, as if there is such a thing. I care about being honest and that is all. In spite of my seemingly, casual writing style, I think about the stuff I write a great deal.
I wanted to write the above, because of my last story about Mind and Spirit. Within my internal world, it is kind of the story of my life. In hindsight, the view of a—holes, I was concerned that being positive about something implies a certain, professorial expertise. For the record, if there is even such a thing, it couldn’t be further from the truth for me. I don’t really give a shit about being attacked for my knowledge, but don’t even think about touching my sincerity.
I’ve got to address the blind optimism of so many. There is this idea that with the new developments in technology, etc., we will figure out a way to side-step the climate disaster that is steamrolling directly at all of us. Not only that, there is this lame idea our good wishes will body slam the nasty oligarchs, who will limp off into the sunset . There are also endless examples of how groundbreaking, human creations ended up kicking us all in the ass. Keep an eye on the miracle of AI, whose instillations are already sucking up our water supply and jack hammering our electricity grid. I am not even talking about the damage it will do to our lives in ways that time will undress. The issue is an awareness of our consistent behavior over time versus this childish idea that all will end well. Freedom is not given, it is taken, always has been.
You know, history comes in handy. Our story is already written in the past and all you gotta do is take a look. Last time I checked, fascist regimes do not gently transition to more inclusive ones. The wars they start, whether military or social, do not end well for them or the battered citizenry either. What is going on here and most everywhere else is not some fickle, unpredictable turn in our history. It is our history.
Non-violent responses to dictators only go so far. Not only that, we don’t have nearly enough cheeks to turn. While this country and the world desperately need a prophet, the absence of one, along with the spiritual silence leave no choice, but a violent one. Our last, almost prophet was Dr. King, who transcended civil rights to champion all human rights. His opposition to the Vietnam War was only the beginning, which is why he had to be stopped. A guy by the name of Jesus met the same fate a long time before. He objected to the corruption of the leaders of his faith and their taking up with gold idolatry, etc. Can you think of anyone today with a gold obsession?
Let me clear the air before I get to the meat of this story. One of the comments from my last story referred to me as a catastrophist. I know it certainly doesn’t apply to how I have lived my life, especially recently. I love my life and feel blessed to have been afforded the opportunity. I also believe we are an incredibly dumb species, incapable of embracing our fallibility. On top of that, we are not nearly as smart as we think we are. We are part of a much larger scheme and not in control of it.
The experts like to trace the beginning of our political miasma to Ronald Reagan, but I disagree. The handwriting on the wall began with John Jacob Astor, the first millionaire in our country. While he certainly is not responsible for where we are, he began the goose-stepping march to the wealthy controlling our destiny today. In doing a quick check on his history, it caught my eye that in addition to making his early money in the fur trade, he sold opium to the Chinese to enhance his growing fortune. So, amongst other things, our first mogul was a very early pusherman. Up at that level, you instinctively do whatever it takes to pad your bottom line, humanity be damned. Power has always been an intoxicant for us humans, like it or not.
The demise of every goddamn civilization is the populace thinking things will change for the better over time. Extremes do not work in politics. They may appear very sexy, but it is the middle where stab ility resides. It always has and always will. The extremes strangle the breath of the individual and I don’t give a shit which side. Not only that, but going back some time following Mr. Astor’s singular ascendancy, the everyday man was on his way out. In other words, it has taken many decades to fall this far and if you think it will turn on the dime, kish meir,in tuchos.
For a while, I thought all it would take is a serious nationwide strike and a refusal to spend any money for a day. I wrote about that very thing in one of my prior stories, as if I had the answer. Well, I believe I do and it is far more potent than a benign response that would magically bust the shackles of our invisible imprisonment. That young man staring down the tanks in Tiananmen Square 36 years ago, died for what he believed in. Being willing to die for a cause makes angels out of mortals, regardless of its aftereffect.
Mutiny is the only way to right our Ship of State in order to avoid the fate of the Titanic. The commanders of this world and past ones have never benignly given up power. It must be taken from them. These blood suckers are oblivious as to how they are perceived and they don’t give a shit anyway. They will even try to intrude on a World Cup celebration, always thinking no else is at all important. “I threw the palm tree overboard” is how it must begin.
It’s going to take a while for people to realize Trump is just an orange link in a decades long chain wrapped around our necks, jamming us into a future that does not belong to us. Let me be clear, I am not calling for revolution, primarily because it is not my call. The last thing we need is another idiot sending young Americans to their death on our own goddamn shores. This needs to be an internal movement, one that grows organically and exponentially, because there is simply no other choice, none. The war I am talking about will not be initiated by our corrupt and morally bankrupt, geriatric politicians or their sycophantic generals. The people actually need to become members of the people tribe. It is that beautiful, all embracing middle.
At present, there is a youth led movement in India called the Cockroach People’s Party, believe it or not. The name is a take off on a high ranking official referring to these young people as “cockroaches” and “parasites of society.” Their protests began as a reaction to inequities in their educational system and has rapidly spread to broader societal, economic and political issues affecting Indian youth. Their prime minister, Narandra Modi, a Muslim hating Hindu, is a zealot and a reflection of the sharp, global tilt to the right.
What I am talking about will put Abby Hoffman and hisYouth International Party to shame. Those Yippies were not an organized, hierarchical movement, but represented the growing discontent amongst our youth to the Vietnam War and the blind politics of the late 60’s. It is reminiscent of today’s invisible antifa.
Now, I know my head would have to be up my butt if I didn’t bring up the purposeful dumbing down of our country. I have to credit my partner in crime for bringing it up last night, in time to catch me before I posted this. The rich, white kids are getting solid educations, but their numbers are way smaller than those who are being thrown away, because of where they live or the color of their skin, etc. . To me, this puts some heat on our young people to get their shit together, before they lose too many of their brothers and sisters, purposely denied the tools to succeed.
I know right now there is no evidence of any kind of youth led movement in this country. It also doesn’t take long for it to be ignited. There is tremendous power in a spontaneous, organically birthed explosion. It will only happen if it is youth led. For Christ’s sake, the future will always belong to them. As for me, I have to believe it is coming, otherwise we are all doomed, regardless of age.
I swear to God I believe!
Blessings
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