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daf
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We don't have to change our way of living. We just have to change who we're doing it for.
Currently there is a media machine taken over by corporate interests. It pumps out programming and advertising meant to steer people into buying certain products and behaving in certain ways.
There is ample evidence that any social idea you might have, can be slowly created with this mighty, mighty media machine. A quick illustration might be: Can you imagine what an 1860s couple might say if you told them that in the future, people walk on the beach with their butt cheeks showing? Media has a powerful ability to shape people's perceptions of what is right or wrong. What is acceptable and what isn't. What is desirable behavior and what isn't.
Mass media is the greatest social engineering tool ever created by humankind. Why in the world are we letting short-sighted "business visionaries" use this amazing technology to brainwash us into making them richer and even more powerful? Why are we letting them stir up our division in political, racial and sporting arenas? Why have we let them divide us with this tool we built to educate ourselves? ("Twix. Two for me. None for you.")
Why aren't we pumping images to our children which help them be self fulfilled, productive members of a society which was founded on principles of independence, team work and conscience?
Why can't we teach them to value small businesses and the quality work of good people over corporate logos, low prices, cut throat practices and slick salesmen in expensive clothes? Why couldn't we teach them to be fair in all of their business dealings and treat the quality of customer merchandise as they would if it was for their own family? Why couldn't we? This media marketing psychology thing can steer people in any direction over a generation or three.
Why couldn't we turn our exact same ritual of turning the TV on for the kids into a ritual that turns them into better people who care about the people around them, as well as themselves? People who share and cooperate and get it done, together. People concerned with living a life of character and honesty over material success. People who pitch in to aid the afflicted, while avoiding aid themselves unless they truly need it. We could do that. And our media is a good place to start.
But we can do even more to make this a better world without really changing our way of life too much. There is also an education system controlled by corporate interests. It teaches children the basic skills required to go from hyperactive imagination stations to calm, sitting in their workstations types quietly taking care of their tasks. The education system teaches obedience and it teaches punctuality. It teaches attention to detail and avoidance of error.
It pretty much pre-trains factory, office and lab workers. Very corporate. Very powerful stuff morphing a kindergartner into an automation engineer.
What if the same system which currently teaches obedience and systematic, corporate thinking taught children how to work together cooperatively without losing their individual identities? What if the very same school system we currently have were used to find out what a child is truly gifted at, instead of trying to mold them into somebody that gets a better job? What if we identified our national talents and fostered them where we could without forcing anyone to obey?
Wouldn't our end potential be that much more realized when we work together as a team, each being appreciated for the talent they bring to the table? How many school shootings would we have avoided then? How many suicides? How many tragic bullying sessions, or late night drug binges in one's teens? Knowing that one has a place in the world and people who have their back makes all of the difference. It always has. It always will. Think of all of the problems we're trying to legislate away that could be solved with a fairly simple solution.
Why couldn't our exact same trip to the bus stop be a trip where our babies return better equipped to help themselves AND those around them? A place that brings out the best in each of our children without changing their core personality from who they started as in the first place? A place where they learn that Americans work together, as well as how to engage in competition which rewards effort and skill over numbers. No slackers. No excuses. Try your best to help those around you, because they'll be there for you. They were educated that way. That's how we'd do it in the U.S.A. (Come some future day.)
Why can't we allow our children to grow up in a dignified human manner which values the best in each person and tries to be understanding of the worst? Why can't we stop rewarding shameful behavior and bring back shame as a deterrant? Why can't these very tools, which have been wielded in an attempt to turn us into robots and shopping machines, be used to turn us into Americans who value one another and stand together as we move forward to better things? Why can't we teach ourselves once again, to value the things that are truly valuable in the world, instead of TV-slung trinkets that fill up our storage units, garages and garbage cans?
It won't be easy at first. The hard part is that we all have to agree to take back what we built and what is, by all rights, ours: The American engine itself and all of its resources and machinery that were swindled from us by Wall Street.
We already run it, supply it, hire and fire for it, cash and write checks for it. WE basically ARE the corporations. If they have overseas sources or suppliers that are located in nations which trade unfairly, great! More manufacturing here in America. More jobs too! After that, we basically do our jobs, but the profits are funneled into building a small business manufacturing base, re-inventing media content and improving our education system all as investments in this bright future that will come as these children grow up with a media and education system guided by conscience, Constitution and common sense.
And we'll be able to afford to pay living wages to everyone, because we'll be keeping enough profits to ensure everyone has a living wage. We'll be able to bring back benefits, like actual pensions again. Small businesses will thrive, because we will rebuild a financial nest egg to provide small business loans, until we've finally dismantled corporate dependence completely.
We will buy back our political system and fill it wisely from those who are where we are, not those who are where we aspire to be.
That way, when they get to Washington, their dreams will be more like our dreams and their perspective more like our own; the suffering and aspirations of the working class still fresh in their minds having been plucked from humble beginnings themselves. (Don't wait. Find the most trustworthy, honest, incorruptible person you know and get them into office, pronto! That'll give us a leg up.)
And we could have this all if we took over the machines of corporate greed and started keeping corporate money for the betterment of those who are doing the work to make America great and to prepare our country for a bright, prosperous tomorrow.
People with all different ways of seeing the world actually working together both on and off the clock to make their communities a better pace to live, work and be inspired by. All because they aren't struggling against each other to survive on the crumbs that have been left in the economy by Wall Street and the plutocrats.
We wouldn't even have to change our way of living. We'd just have to change who we're doing it for, that's all. Our children would be able to shape the world from there.
And they'll be glad we did.
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dafremen
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/05/oregon-wildlife-militia-standoff-power-cut-off
Sorry this isn't is the same 10 second sound bite you're used to being served by politicians and the media. It's my usual long one. It's full of some good stories, good points and maybe a laugh or two. Hope you enjoy and think to pass it on.
Remember the Guardian? They brought us news, via Snowden, that the government was spying on everyone's phone records and trying to get Facebook, Google and the rest in on it too?
Well, who bought the Guardian recently? Or has it always been this biased in its reporting?
For instance. What is "rightwinger" supposed to tell me? It's like a liberal N word. (Talk about journalistic excellence. They should have gone for "conservative poopy pants" and won the Pulitzer.)
I'm anything but a "rightwinger", but I still think the Bundy standoff is a valiant example of democracy at the edges of its patience, refusing to be ignored.(Which mirrors my feelings about the 2010 uprisings. Too bad they were so easily quelled, and that the discussions they started simply became fodder for a new rhetoric spewed by politi-puppets. "We'll fix Wall Street." "We have to end income inequality" "We have to bring integrity back to the markets." Blah. Blah. Blah. They won't. ) This stand off is also an excellent example of the simple binary logic that makes gun control seem like a bad idea right now.
[][][]Armed protesters get taken seriously by armed authorities. Unarmed protesters do not.[][][]
That is an undeniable fact. If you're thinking civil rights marches and Ghandi, think again. The media used to report these atrocities until the public took action, but now Congress is bought and so is the media, so it hardly matters what the public grumbles about anymore. A little spin and distraction will make it go away. And if the public doesn't like it?
"Tough shit", says Congress, "now go away. You bug me kid."
"But..but...you said you loved me! You said you were going to change!" ,weeps the American public as it goes, unarmed, running back to it's discontent.
Taking that logic a step further, we can assume then that any unarmed populace that wishes to revolt against an armed tyranny is screwed. An armed populace? Well, they might still be screwed, but at least they've bought some time to figure out how to de-screwify the situation, or work out some terms with the oppressor.
Again, this is simply the way it works. Political bias in any direction you'd like. No denying it.
So it really doesn't matter whether you think Bundy and his boys are terrorists or patriots. It doesn't matter whether you prefer forest preserves or logging operations.
The Guardian is doing everyone a huge disservice by biasing its articles in this manner and possibly helping to disarm a populace that is currently being exploited, lied to, brain washed and manipulated by its governing authorities and those who control them. They published the Snowden documents. They know these things. At the very least this is bad judgement. At the very worst, it's negligent, deceitful reporting.
Below, you will find three examples from my own experiences as to why this is an AWFUL time for gun control. These are just three, There are many more where they came from. I'm a street musician. Trust me. There are many, many more stories.
Example #1
Speaking of my "rightwinger" beliefs:
My new friend Peter and I and some other guys were marching at the NATO Summit in Chicago in 2012. Later in the evening, they had a slam poetry competition at the Green Mill I wanted to enter, so I left them at around 6:30PM.
As I left the crowd and started heading back toward the Mill, I noticed all of these city buses pulling up. Insides were cops filling all of the seats and standing too. A few years back, I drove a city bus with a high school and two jr. high schools on its route. This was right after the schools empty and I never saw a bus as full as that cop bus. 4 more buses pulled up behind it, just as full, with a tactical vehicle tagging along behind.
Cops started pouring out of the buses, all of them with riot gear on. At the back of the tactical vehicle, a cop was pulling some full body armor on. (Sidetrack: Did you know Amtrak train company has an armed police force with tactical weapons? Found that out as I went to catch a Megabus to visit my father a day later. http://police.amtrak.com/index.php/overview/special-operations/sou)
I didn't get to see what happened next, but Peter was in the thick of it and from what he described, it was pure evil. I might have thought he was full of it, but he had 7 staples in his head to prove it.
Let me tell you, Peter was in our carpool of 6, and he was the politest, most thoughtful guy. Very idealistic and fearless, but in a humble way that tended to humble those around him from what I gathered in those two and a half days. He opened doors for people, tried to reuse his water bottle, vegetarian, just very conscientious to the point of protester sainthood.
This is Peter the way I saw him when I got back from the Mill that night(well, imagine that stapled up. He hadn't had a chance to change or recieve full medical care yet.):
http://www.trbimg.com/img-1337561007/turbine/chi-nato20bloody20120520155426/768
He told me that when the police ordered the crowd to disperse, they did so after they had surrounded everyone on all sides. A few people caught on and got out through the corners before they closed ranks. He wasn't sure if they got away or got arrested.
Then the police began closing ranks with batons out front, pressing in on the crowd. Peter was up front and said that the members who came prepared to implement Black Block defense came to the outside of the square. Soon they were squeezed in as far as they could go and people were being crushed in the center of the crowd.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/21/article-2147309-13345F28000005DC-69_1024x615_large.jpg
(Like the flippin' emperor's guard huh?)
The Black Blockers began resisting the forward movement of the police, and that's when Peter got clobbered by a two-handed stiff arm to the forehead with the officer's baton. He said he fell to the ground, and that's when he got the brilliant idea to crawl under their legs. He got kicked once or twice while crawling his way through the gauntlet of cops, bruised ribs and a messed up finger from where he got stepped on. (Ok, so THAT might have been an accident.)
The thing that occurred to me later was something that had happened earlier.
When we had been walking to the rallying area in the park, we saw this street cop walking by. I said, "Have a good day officer. I hope everyone gets home safe." His response? "Oh, we won't be the ones not getting home safe tonight."
(The rest of the encounter was pretty silly. I told him he obviously had me confused with the wrong guy. He said he knew my kind. I explained how wrong he was and told him about my military service. He talked about his Marine Corps experience. I engaged in some inter-service smack talk about how I've seen more Marines with broken ribs from landing on top of each other during rappelling exercises than have actually ever landed on solid ground. He went off muttering "Have a good day, sir. Have a good day, sir." Probably a good thing I wasn't at the "bash the protesters" party, I guess.)
Sure enough. He was right. They weren't the ones who got hurt that night.
Example #2:
When Occupy was routed by the police after the rich got tired of hearing the public's cries of "Foul play!", not all were as easily dismissed as our pathetic Detroit Occupy movement was.
After the police said, "Ok, you've had your fun now, children. The rich people are tired of looking at your tents" (or something like that), several of us tried to stick around to make the point that a protest is a protest and it's not supposed to end until grievances are addressed. (Hunger strikes don't stop just because everyone tells the striker "Ok, ok, we get the point. You can eat now." And they shouldn't end because some asshole would rather shove his feeding-tube-filled fist down your throat than discuss your grievances with you .) But the cops pulled out acoustic devices and started tearing up tents with or without people in them. What could we do? They had guns, batons, tasers, LRADs and horses.
So excuse me if I take exception to your smug, biased label "rightwingers" Guardian. I'm 100% behind the 2nd amendment for good reasons.
Some of us are out on the front lines giving a shit while the Guardian sits and plays armchair politics from the convenience of its pulpit; taking the occasional field trip to continue Keeping Up Appearances that your news is more of a "slope bouquet" than the "slop bucket" it's becoming. There you have it though, through my eyes. These aren't light, parroted small-penis-related opinions I'm spewing. I know wherefrom I speak. I know what wolf is at our door; I've seen its ugly face and smelled its stinking breath.
The Bundy folks aren't being treated like party favors for badged sadists, are they? No. The cops aren't joking about this. They aren't smiling and getting ready to crack open some human piñatas for a quick, satisfying thrill. The cops aren't just doing whatever they want to these guys are they?
No, the armed authorities are dead serious and paying attention this time.
Example #3:
I was handing out campaign fliers south of 8 Mile for a local activist running for council, when two aggressive dogs started coming down the street toward me. They didn't have a bit of fear. I was lucky I'd had a couple of pit bulls as pets earlier in my life. I knew not to run. But they didn't stop coming, because they knew that a single, unarmed human was no match for them.
That's how it feels to have done nothing wrong but try to speak your mind for the betterment of your community and have something threaten you with brute force for your efforts, an animal that doesn't know any better.
I looked down and saw a paint stirrer stick on the street as I held my ground in a wide stance. I broke it in half lengthwise and it made a crude wooden dagger. I held the dagger up. They stopped immediately. They began to test if I was bluffing by trying to double team me from different sides. I kept my distance and, jabbing in their respective directions, called for someone to come get their dogs before I had to hurt them. I was able to hold the dogs off until a very elderly man came to the front door of a house with no fence and called them.
That feeling after it was all over is why I respectfully (and sometimes not so respectfully) disagree with gun control advocates. They are playing with fire well beyond their capacity to comprehend most of the time. I have dead friends. I've experienced that. It stinks, especially when it's random and unexpected and they were young.
But the point is I don't have a fascist state yet, I hope..but I've experienced a taste of it.
My freedom, family and human dignity mean more to me than to give some badged dogs in the street a chance to make me run when they bare their teeth.
I'll stand and fight for what I believe in thank you. Guns are the only thing making that possible right now.
Fix the people. Fix the laws. Fix the checks and balances. Get rid of greed. Get rid of malice. Get rid of these things instead of pumping them up as a society, then we'll talk about getting rid of the guns. Not a moment sooner.
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