“Darling, I can spend hours looking deeply into things!”
Friends, we are at a critical moment in world history. Never has it been more important for all humans to exercise their powers of thinking, even if, for some, it will be for the first time.
One way to get the attention of those whose brains are not in working order or are permanently on stand-by is for people like us to ask them questions, difficult questions like the one in the post title.
If you think the first question is too confrontational to be a conversation starter, another question that is bound to get their attention would be: “Shortly, when the world ends, would you prefer being burned alive or drowned?” Another option is to ask, “Which is the more likely future scenario: that in Lord of the Flies or that in Orwell’s 1984?” Option three could be to pose this question: “If God made everything, who made cancer?”
If the person stares at you blankly after questions like these then you know you have a real challenge on your hands but don’t give up. What you need to do is to get them on familiar turf. What you can ask is something profound, like, “Which advertisement do you like best on television?” A smile will quickly appear and you must be prepared for fifteen minutes of excited conversation about a four-wheel drive or a packet of potato chips.
Be warned! Say nothing during the deluge of meaningless words. Try to look interested even if you’re seriously considering committing suicide. Then, during a pause, slip into the conversation that you don’t have a television and besides, you’re building an Ark in preparation for the next Great Flood or you’re setting up a survival chamber at the bottom of an old mine, one that will withstand a nuclear blast.
“No television!” will be the horrified response. Once the shock of this reality sinks in then the next question, usually delivered with an incredulous smirk, will be, “…and you’re building a what?”
Friends, this is your chance. Seize the moment while there is some neuronal activity going on in the brain of your companion. Talk about the fact that most people in the world are brain-dead but indicate clearly that your companion is definitely not included. Lay out the facts. Carefully deconstruct the arguments which will be put up. Keep saying, “I know that many people think that but have you considered…” Watch his or her eyes carefully. They will be your guide as to when to press and when to back off.
Work along the lines that most humans are heavily indoctrinated but don’t realize it, that most humans hold views which are not theirs but those of others, that most humans are easily manipulated and exploited. Point to the many current world catastrophes and suggest that this couldn’t occur if humans truly used their great intelligence which your companion obviously has.
If, after thirty minutes, your companion returns to talking about advertisements on television, give up. You can’t plant seeds in stony ground.
But if there is confusion and concern in the eyes watching you, know that you have done a great thing for mankind.
It is all over, folks.
On Charles Freeman being forced out of becoming Chairman of the National Intelligence Council
Charles Greenwald
“In the U.S., you can advocate torture, illegal spying, and completely optional though murderous wars and be appointed to the highest positions. But you can’t, apparently, criticize Israeli actions too much or question whether America’s blind support for Israel should be re-examined.”
Chris Nelson
“Freeman is stuck in the latest instance of the deadly power game long played here on what level of support for controversial Israeli government policies is a “requirement” for US public office. If Obama surrenders to the critics and orders [Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair] to rescind the Freeman appointment to chair the NIC, it is difficult to see how he can properly exercise leverage, when needed, in his conduct of policy in the Middle East. That, literally, is how the experts see the stakes of the fight now under way.”
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David–Do you only see end of days scenarios as apocolytic? With full understanding that these are the “worst of times and the best of times”, lets introduce the best of times in every moment we live..we cannot change anything for the better unless we focus on the Good desired—not preaching to you but the Sacred taken away still equals the opposite of LIVE into EVIL-no matter who does the taking–Kate
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Shoe thrower gets 3 years in prison, instead of being made a national hero. Who runs Iraq?
In Germany, hundreds of news articles go on and on about the shooting. But the 16 is a daily toll in Afghanistan, thanks, in part to the Germans.
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Ken, that a prescribed attitude to Israel is mandatory for all political appointees is an indictment of the whole American ‘democracy’. It exposes its flaws and the way different pressure groups are so easily able to manipulate it.
The irony is that most American’s believe the whole world should have their system.
KAtheen, I don’t want to live in a world where Doomsday scenarios are the day to day reality. I hate to see the mess that humans have made of this world. We are capable of better but it requires two things: the removal of the manipulators and the changing of the sheeple into thinking beings.
Who runs Iraq, Ken? The Americans of course! They, with the support of warmongering nations like Britain, run a lot of countries in the world one way or another.
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Ken, and others here, what has puzzled me for a very long time is how I, and obviously you, have escaped the indoctrination into sheeple-hood, for want of a better word. I’ve always been obsessed, Fox Mulder-like, with wanting to know the “truth”, how and why this world operates as it does, and was always able to see right through the nonsense the “authorities” dumped on us. Countless times I’ve seen their eyes glaze over when I’d try to discuss a serious issue, it’s almost funny how uncomfortable they become, so anxious to run away from this deranged person bothering them! But I’d never consider being like them, pathetic wretches. Any ideas what saved us?
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David G Reply:
March 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Coyote, that is an excellent question. In my own case, I found school to be tedious and boring. Rote learning was the preferred method of teachers. As a child I also used to stutter so found the company of books to be enjoyable (as I got older, I grew out of it). I read widely. I always wondered about the world I lived in, wanted to see it for myself, and did so living in several countries.
I’ve always been the odd man out, the one who never fitted in, never wanted to fit in. I wanted to have lots of different experiences, was a gypsy, a renegade. I was unlike all my siblings and my parents.
Why I was, I really don’t know. But I’m glad that I was.
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Thanks for the reply, David. My childhood was chaotic, to say the least-alcoholic stepfather, beatings, moving every year, true poverty, all kinds of grief and uncertainty. Never attended the same school more than a year. I, too, found refuge in books, it was the only safe place I had, and I read everything and anything. Maybe, as a sort of “moving target”, their conditioning “didn’t take”, as someone once told me. At times I kind of feel like the character in the movie “They Live.” Anyone seen it? The hero finds sunglasses that allow him to see the real, hidden world beneath all the hypnotic implantation, and discovers to his horror it’s not at all what he, like all the others still hypnotized, had believed it to be. But I’d rather be like this, clear eyed, and informed, than those dreadful sheeple. I’m delighted to find others like me, too. There really aren’t very many of us…
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David G Reply:
March 13th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
That describes me perfectly, Coyote, discovering that the world is not what I’d been led to believe it was. All my castles have been destroyed and I now see the world as it is: an ugly place.
But something keeps pushing me to try to make it better even if I know that it can’t be any better than the LCD. Perhaps that’s wishful thinking on my part, a weakness, an inability to accept life’s grim reality and the deeply flawed human condition.
We are sad, conflicted creatures!
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“…building an Ark in preparation for the next Great Flood or you’re setting up a survival chamber at the bottom of an old mine…”
For me, why bother. When the end of times come, if within the rest of my life time, I’m offering up myself to the great Universe, where we all come from.
No point in surviving, because most likely there will still be those types that have helped bring our world to our sorry state survive, too.
On top of that, I’m 52 years old, alone, and have nothing to live for. Of course, if there was the opportunity of getting off this stupid world and finding myself on another, friendly and natural, planet, by all means, there would be a reason to live! It’ll be just like winning the lottery! Yea, fat chance of that happening.
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COyote—the movie ‘they Live” is one of my all time favorite movies…so much truth and that is the world we try to live in…I think those like us are different simply because we do SEE and certainly choose not to be like Them…the sheeple-poor wretched creatures is right David…I agree there are different species here on this planet…but is the answer to annihilate them? I am rreally asking–can we accomplish anything in this reality with a reactive attitude..we can’t wipe them off the earth…increased polarization cannot connect us–however I believe with WISDOM, GOODNESS AND POWER, a triangle of the person is formed and the power of One is born…Kate
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Thanks for the personal info David. I can relate to what you wrote; like you I loved to read and that lead to my asking questions that authorities like teachers did not want to answer. I learned to not ask these questions out loud and for a while I pretty much did not even ask them to myself even though I never felt that I fit in or belonged. I never felt I thought like or was the same as the people around me. As I have gotten older I have started to speak out again. A bumper sticker I saw once pretty much sums up my attitude about whether or not to speak about issues I find important. SILENCE IS THE VOICE OF COMPLICITY. That seems to say it all.
Speaking out has caused conflicts, but I refuse to remain silent any longer. It is too important that caring people speak; up there is too much at risk to remain silent.
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Miguel, if we can get the sheeple thinking, things will be better!
KAtheen, annihilating the sheeple is not an option. Stripping away their indoctrination and programming is.
Jeannie, reading does seem to be an important factor in freeing people’s minds. With reading, there is no authority figure there, just you and the book.
Cheers.
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MadMax and the Thunderdome. It is already like that on alot of the inner city freeways.
David, There is a tree in my yard that has reminded me of things you have been recently talking about. It sits there looking old and dead for about three quarters of the year. In fact just a month ago I was wondering what the heck to do with it because it sits right where I want to put a food garden, then tiny buds appeared. It is now in full blloom with the most graceful looking Magnolia flowers. How many of us appear dormant, when lovely blossoms are being nurtured just beneath the visual surface?
Your blogsite probes beneath the surface of human nature and is like a lily pad in a barren pond.
I understand you employ yourself and you are a bit of a taskmaster to your employee. It is okay to rest on the seventh day, even *God* did. Then again, you are doing something right, and being an atheist, you are free. That sounds great even to type! Maybe I am an atheist and didn’t even know it. Thanks for all you do David. Peace.
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David G Reply:
March 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Grace, we all have potential within us. Unfortunately it is buried under tonnes of crap. Clearing away the crap by questioning is the key to thinking for ourselves and that brings freedom to make a better world.
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