a reply to:
Mon1k3r
Excellent John Carpenter flick reference from one of my favorite movies. Your post brings to mind lyrics from the Ten Years After song: "I'd Love To
Change The World". I also frequently contemplate the baleful state of the world's human leadership and wonder at the very tactile excruciation their
so-called imaginary evil systems inflict on our minds and bodies. To say "it" has always been this way is cliche, sure, and yet it really has,
provided one can believe the voluminous account of our species history.
Put out of your mind for a moment if you will the essentially omnipotent arsenal of technology driven killing power the architects and operators of
the various systems that control us possess. With that discarded from thought, what then remains in the armories of the enforcers and controllers that
they can use against us? Bereft of their weapons with which to instill fear in all of us by threat of violence and imprisonment and death, what
superior power do they still hold over us clenched tightly in their hands ... or more accurately ... in their heads?
Belief. Belief is the true weapon of those that control all of us, bend all of us to conform to their system which as another poster above pointed
out, has also become
our system--our only known system of surviving to the point where we are completely dependent upon their dictates; that
is, defining the way we live our lives by their whim, by whatever rules and parameters benefit them most.
Belief is their most potent weapon. Their belief is patriotism. Their belief is unwavering faith in a religion of the state, of the economy, of the
right of our corporate influenced leadership (call them nobility, whatever) to do as it pleases in the pursuit of wealth, and to oppress and control
the general citizenry however violently is necessary to above all else protect and maintain the pursuits of their noble masters and of course, their
wealth.
Of course, most Americans would consider the above paragraph absolute fantastical drivel. Nevertheless, the infrastructure of the system is the most
hallowed institution in America. Life certainly is not most precious, nor is individual freedom or property, or the education of children or the care
of the sick or any humanitarian consideration for that matter.
They're true believers. Ever been freaked out by demonstrations of faith in the audiences of those big television evangelists? Or how about by the
blind faith demonstrated by cult members like those at Jonestown? The controllers and enforcers of the system truly believe, fanatically,
fundamentally, whatever, that their system must be protected at all cost no matter the toll in lives or quality of life--they'll do anything,
anything to preserve it. Why? Because they believe the way of their system is the only "righteous" way, and without it dark ages ensue.
Now, speaking to why large groups of average citizens do not go out and form up guerilla units or whatever to fight back and change things. We the
citizenry lack that true belief in whatever system of life we think is better, more merciful, more beneficial--all of us would be rebels we simply do
not have the same level of belief or faith driving our desire to change the world as those that control the world and us have in keeping things as
they are and always have been. They are willing to wage war, to kill anyone young or old by the thousands, maybe even millions if need be in order to
maintain. In order to maintain these systems all of us find so abhorrent.
Flip side. We're our own worst enemies. How? Noesis. Our noesis. Most of us strive from late childhood or aspire to attain the ultimate adult
maturity, which in our society is becoming a responsible citizen. We want more than anything to demonstrate to the authority figures in our lives that
we can pay our bills on time, make the big purchases in life (cars, boats, property, houses), that we're big boys and girls who are old enough to
know its time to conform, to surrender absolutely to the system and dispense forever with fantasies of change and rebellion. And why not? If we
conform, if we surrender, then there's a place for us. There are rewards, benefits, recognition by those we want to impress. Everyone has that desire
deep inside to live up to some set of standards, of expectations that they either created for themselves or have had demonstrated to them by some
mentor or parent figure, whoever.
Further, the means by which activists of most any stripe go about their campaigns of resistance and protest are tragically, comically flawed (no
insult intended). Think for a moment about those in power above us, those who wield near infinite manpower and the deadliest arsenal in history. When
they want to change something or obtain something or make something happen for their benefit, what do they do? They don't gather together and stand
outside on the steps of their opponent's base of operations and wave homemade signs. They start by throwing cash and resources at the
problem/obstacle and if their opponent cannot be bought, they bring to bear shock and awe, death and destruction. They inflict mass casualties and
destroy the enemy system's infrastructure first because infrastructure is what's most dear to them.
Protests, activism--carried out within the constraints of the law--it's just futile, unless it serves some political agenda. Revolutions, real
political change ... history has shown us that these lauded examples of movement toward a better way of life almost always begin with initiatives by
the wealthy, the nobility, by those who already have so much more than the average man.
People out there are enraged, but fear and complacency keep them down pretty darn well. Those who set out to fight back are instantly branded
terrorists and dealt with accordingly.
Changing the system using the processes of that same system I think, is another fantasy. Two major political parties, a population virulently divided
along two party line philosophies so rabidly that each side would likely wage war on the other to prove it is right and round and round the system
cycles. Vote third party, sure, and watch as in the process of raising campaign funds right or left leaning corporations purchase your third party
knight in shining armor. Vote. Vote for real change. See your sterling candidate do whatever he or she pleases after winning office, while diverting
funds to pet projects or their own wallets. Fixing a broken system with contaminated components ripped from some other part of it is no solution.