Monday, March 16, 2009

THE COUP WILL NOT BE TELEVISED



At some point in life, a good many of us begin to look around and take notice of the whole of the condition this world is in. It's not all glistening and shiny. It's not just success stories about how hard work and perseverance made regular people prevail. It's not about the mass marketing spewed from 300 million TV sets every minute of the day and night every single day of the year, or the stock markets or glamorous movie and television stars. It goes far beyond the cults of personality and privilege that dominate our aggregate social consciousness. In fact, once we do begin to take notice we soon find that none of that stuff matters, nor is it real, nor does it have a flaming thing to do with real life on this real world.

Odd, isn't it? That what's the most real, the most urgent, the most meaningful, is routinely swept out of sight and out of mind by our dear leaders and the monopolized establishment media? It's as if they want us to believe that reality doesn't really exist. We're to play along and pretend the tinsel on our Christmas trees is really snow and that the brand of beer we buy determines some part of who we are as people. If the system had its way, we'd see ourselves not as human beings but as consumers who are also the assets called human capital on somebody else's financial statement.

There's little doubt that the system is pushing hard to have its way these days. There factually is a media blackout of reality. Dissent is nonexistent according to the dominant media sources, which unfortunately remain the primary information sources for so many people. We don't hear about the growing numbers of tent cities springing up all around us, as if they're simply not there. We don't hear the personal stories of those who have been brutally ejected from their places in the system, ejected by the system itself, which has suddenly decided that millions of us must be ejected to facilitate its own survival. We are being told that we must give up much of what we have, that we must forfeit critical necessities, we must even give up rights, in order to save the great machine.

It's all quite contrary to common sense and reason. Yet nobody on our TV sets is asking the questions so many of us have, like, is this system something we want to save? Why should we care more about saving a non living thing, an idea, than we care about retaining our health, well being and prosperity? Why should we have to give up or forego anything to save a drunken, bloated abusive bureaucracy that in fact, doesn't serve us anymore? Why should we be given to believe we matter less than this system that has become a predator and beast instead of a servant and facilitator of what we stand for and believe in?

The system has indeed become an odious, licentious beast. It consumes us. It treats us as irrelevant as its concerns turn to self preservation. We are expected, no, obligated, even against our will, to bleed for the system, to be homeless for the system, to go hungry so that the system may be glutted and full and satisfied.

At what point will it occur to the masses that things are turned all the way around? At what point might people remember that the system is of no worth at all if it does us no good? I think that point is definitely here. People do feel the increasing weight of the burden of simple survival. It's getting harder every day to sustain life and retain the necessities of food and a roof over our heads. But I wonder what it will take to fully and finally peel away the scales from the eyes of the mass mind so that it can see the system for the illegitimate predatory monster that it is, that it always has been, indeed that it was designed to be.

Why do we not recognize our fair share and our right to it? Why are we so easily convinced by others that they are entitled to what we need and we are obligated, even patriotic by letting them have it? Why do we only grumble at the taxes taken out of our paychecks instead of knowing at a visceral level that no one on the face of this earth is entitled to help themselves to the fruits of our own physical labor? What daydream, or nightmare is it, that prevents us from seeing ourselves as above any system, as infinitely more important than any ideology, as the very point that any system at all should even exist?

The system itself has forgotten that it only exists to ensure our prosperity and to see that our shores are defended from outside attack. Or has it forgotten? It talks the talk to be sure, but it does not walk the walk. Judging only by the results of its actions we can see that it acts against our best interests across the board. In fact, what we most need protection from is the system itself.

Who among us is taught in school that the very reason we wanted to be self governing in the first place was to be free of the predatory rule of wealthy oligarchs and tyrants? We wanted the right to keep what belonged to us, to have our households respected by our authorities and to be given the benefit of the doubt when suspected of wrong doing, instead of having all we own and all we are be seized and turned to dust with the wave of a rich man's hand. Those who came before us knew very well the bottomless greed of the rich and the merchant and banking classes, they knew the natural bond between wealth and state, and they knew that the state is only the enforcement arm of the monied class which looks upon all peoples everywhere as chattel and prey to be used for their own profit and gain.

The idea of that repels us today as we see the injustice of it. Yet the fact that this is what we have before us right now still eludes so many people. They have no knowledge of the reality of all ruling systems or the purpose for those systems. They have no hint of history and no frame of reference for any such vile people who would do anything, kill any number of people to take their land and their natural wealth; and who see the general population of the world as nothing more than a slave class in excess which they feel the right to cull at will with whatever means they see fit. I'm not sure people can appreciate the depraved indifference to life and humanity that is the millennial birthmark of the wealthy class. There is something very different about these people indeed, but it has nothing to do with noble birth or innate superiority. Quite the opposite. In the truest sense these are people lacking basic humanity and morality. These are malfunctioning people who, given their way, immediately set about to pillage, plunder, oppress, control, silence and enslave everyone they can entrap. They are dangerous not only to humanity but to the continued health and existence of all life and ecologies on the planet. To them, the disastrous fallout of their great wealth creating technological system is something to ignore, a mere side effect of achieving their tremendous wealth and power.

But it's not a "side" effect. It doesn't happen on the "side" of anything. It happens right out front and center of many people's lives and it directly destroys towns, cities, lives, species and health, poisoning critical natural resources and destroying drinking water, fertile soils, oceans and the very air we breathe and depend on to sustain all life on earth. These are not "side" effects of anything, they are direct outcomes that come at a very high price. An ultimate price that threatens every last person on earth and every living thing overtly and directly. Yet, eerily and against all comprehension, the system consistently behaves as if none of these killing threats are real. It refuses to acknowledge what it has created, what it destroys, who it kills. And it does this in because it believes that nothing matters more than creating wealth for the already wealthy so that they may feel their lives are worth living. If it means the slow and total destruction of everyone and everything else, so be it. The system matters more than life. Your life, my life takes no place on the stage of the system. It stands alone before us proclaiming its penultimate, critical importance, claiming its right to exist while stomping its foot and insisting that many must die so that it may be satiated. (Seems to be a recurrent theme these days).

If it wears a suit, trust it. It never lies. It is respectable. It is distinguished. It is important. It is busy, do not interrupt it.
If it wears a uniform and carries a gun, it is noble, honest, faithful and true. Trust it. Worship it. Obey it.
If it bears an official credential, it is superior to you. It knows better than you. Believe it. Do not question it. Accept it on faith.
If it's just a regular person, it is irrelevant. If it dissents, crush it.
The system must prevail.

If it is between more dollars in the bank accounts of wealthy financiers
and the health and justice of a common man, the wealth of financiers is officially and automatically the default priority.
Their money is more important than your life.
If many must die so that few may prosper, it is good and right and true. It is golden and imperial. It must be so.
The system must prevail.

It used to be, in earlier days, our wealthy class knew better than to believe they could flaunt their retarded imperialist attitudes in public and expect to get away with it. They never expected to be worshiped and obeyed by the average person. They never expected the public to embrace their deluded belief that they were better than the rest of us, or that they actually own everything on the planet and that the people are not entitled to have a single thing. They're not drooling down the shirt stupid. They do get it, at least enough to realize that few would agree with them and take a place at their feet, or out in the barnyard on dirt floors with the pigs and cows and sheep.

Strangely, the wealthy elites today have no shame anymore. They are obnoxious and openly destructive and quickly call for violent force to be used against those who have a problem with their absurd concepts of who they are and who the rest of us are. Instead of comprehending the basic preposterous, nonsensical idiocy of their precepts, they more than ever, have dug in their heels and more loudly than ever assert a fictitious right to privilege and special treatment and living above and beyond the law.

The officialdom of big fat government has followed along on the same path, asserting its privilege over ours, and its sudden strange need and ability to have and demand rights that it no longer deems necessary to extend to us. Our government has become expert at coming up with a thousand and one reasons to insist that we have no rights, no rights to our property, no rights to speak freely, no rights to hate who we will and love who we will or worship or not worship as we will, no rights to be safe in our own homes from government intrusion, no rights to refuse to fund the strength of a system that predates us and undermines us. Indeed, the point of view of all officialdom is rapidly becoming the standard perspective of wealth and power. They count and we don't matter. And this is bit by bit, yard by yard, becoming the written and protected law of our land.

It becomes less than mysterious that our government's value system is a carbon copy of the retarded elite's "value" system. Who's running this show? Well it's not us, that's for sure.

I have a problem with that. Tell me, are you either somebody's servant or in the way and okay to be exterminated? Is it too weird that that's even a question? How could it come to be like this? And all without the average person on the street even being aware of it. As abusive, predatory, immoral and unjust as our society has become, people are still not yet grasping what's happening. It's just too hard to believe a) that there are people that ugly, and b) that "the government" would allow such ugly people to legally backhand us to oblivion with their unbridled greed and record breaking avarice. Folks are waiting for an official announcement. A confession. They need the man in the suit on their TV sets to read a prepared statement from the rulers of the earth.

"The White House press secretary had this to say today. The president has a message for every American. He would like to announce that the new world order is officially here. America is no longer a country in the old way of thinking. It is only the name of a place that includes a strip of real estate in north America. The ruling elites of the world have retaken their rightful thrones and will now rule over all the world's people, hereafter to be referred to as serfs. This is all very good and the people of America are encouraged to be happy with this new arrangement. There is no longer a Bill of Rights, or Human Rights, or War Crimes. There are no Geneva Conventions. You will do as you are told, or you will be shot. It is a glorious day indeed.

From this day forward all persons shall be judged by the value of their labor production. Those who do not produce will be culled. Non-producers must report to one of our 900 American work camps to be retrained and refreshed in their attitudes. If their inability to work persists or is due to ill health, age or disability, they will be incinerated in one of our many new Population Enhancement Units. Do not worry, it is painless. Or so we are told. Death is instantaneous and happy.

From this day forth all serfs will refer to authorities and officials as "your majesty" or "my lord". You are required to bow your heads in their presence. Dissent will not be tolerated.

It is strongly preferred that all accept the wonderful improvements of the new world order with a smile on their face and joy in their hearts. Those who do will be fed and given labor to perform. However we are aware that for some this transition will not seem immediately beneficial or pleasant. Because we are benevolent, we are allowing a 30 day period for you to adjust to this news, during which time you are strongly encouraged to get used to it. This is what it's going to be from now on. After the end of this generous 30 day adjustment period, unhappy unwilling people will be collected and routed to work camps.

Truly, this is an occasion for joy and celebration. Your majestic rulers are most pleased that all has been accomplished with such sweeping success, without your awareness or consent. You don't matter anyway. So all is very well indeed. The current and former presidents all thank you for your idiotic trust. That you are naught but sheeple has been proven. You are born only to follow and do as you are told. Rejoice. From this day forward you will have what you want. You will be relieved of the burdens of thinking and achieving and planning and worrying about anything. All will be taken care of for you. Truly, you are blessed."

That's not going to happen. There will be no such announcement, and there's a reason for that. The reason is that if people were told the score in plain English, they'd be hip to what's going on. If they got hip to what's going on they'd stop this fatal idiocy and none of it could ever happen. People wouldn't like being serfs and seeing friends and loved ones dragged off to be brainwashed or killed. You don't even need much in the brains department to know that's a terrible deal. No one would opt for it. The only reason the controllers are getting away with so much criminal activity is because people don't know about it. Believe it, they need it to stay that way.

Interestingly, it doesn't look like that's what they're going to get. People are waking up in droves. People are asking questions, getting angry, demanding answers and wanting accountability. The controllers are being surrounded on all sides by a population that is no longer amused with their despicable, insensitive bullshit.

That's not to say the dominator class is at all detracted from attaining their final goal of total domination of planet earth, as asinine a goal as that is. Unable to learn, incapable of shame, they will ceaselessly forge onward, believing that as long as they're going for it there's a chance it will come. This is something we would do well to remember. They will never go away. Ever.

That said, there is good reason to see the times before us as lusciously ripe with opportunity. The grand veil has been drawn aside. We can all see the men behind the curtain. The whole world can see them, and all at the same time. The whole world is feeling the blow and pinch and stings of the stupid belief systems of the arrogant dominant class and their unrivaled idiotic greed. The controllers know they are exposed.

Now is not a time to feel powerless or to believe nothing can be done to push back. The reality is the exact opposite. Once people know something it cannot be un-known. It's there for good. More and more people now know these guys are deadly jokers, vipers and liars who are having their fun at everyone else's expense. Even with a new president in the house, people are not so willing to go back to sleep, not after the bush crime family shit and pissed on this country and nearly killed every good thing about it. People are awake and paying attention. What I see are people speaking out, talking about what they see. It had to happen, things don't make sense. People want answers. What used to sound like loony conspiracy theory is proving much easier to believe. It's all beginning to come out. This is only the crest, the very top of a great wave that has no other choice but to fall. And fall, it will.

The men who want to make the world their play thing are ordinary men. They are not all powerful or omnipotent. They are guys with boxer shorts who pass gas and want to get laid like every other guy. They can be led off the world stage and be told to sit down and be quiet because they're ridiculous and they've done more than enough damage. They've proven themselves to be pathetic ideologue idiots who are a poop stain on the underwear of the world. Enough already. We want some real leadership in there to fix this mess. That much is clear. Overwhelmingly, the American people are thoroughly and deeply appalled, disgusted and sickened by the damage done in the last two presidencies alone. Bush was the equivalent of a date rape drug. His true intentions became obvious when this country woke up bloodied and robbed with it's innocence gone.

Nope. We're not ready to go back to sleeping and blindly trusting just yet. This roller coaster ride is just taking off.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Zealotry Is Not Religious


If you decided to visit the Vatican you would already know before heading out to expect a whole lot of Vatican culture. You'd go there with absolute awareness that anything and everything said and done there, would be said and done Vatican style. Whatever topics of conversation brought up to the Pope or any cardinal or ordained priest would be discussed from the specific perspective of the Holy Roman Empire. It's not a place you would go for an objective opinion on much.

If you were able to sit down for a moment and talk with the Pope, before you even got that far you'd have to go through all kinds of pomp and circumstance and rigamarole that you'd never have to go through anywhere else. If you had a problem with any curious thing you discovered there, be it tall hats, obscene wealth, bleeding statues or the exaltation of mere mortals over other mere mortals, it would be you who would be considered oddball and weird, not them. You'd have no chance of making a reasonable, fact based case against any of their extreme Vatican ways or perspectives. Indeed, if you even tried to make such a case you'd be escorted off the property or worse.

But let's say you did go through all the rigamarole and you now have the opportunity to sit with the Pope and ask him a question. Your question is, "What can you tell me about Buddhism? Do you think Buddhism would be right for me?" What do you suppose the Pope would say?

Would he extol to you all the virtues of Buddhism and suggest that you go check it out for yourself, with his blessings? Or wouldn't he in fact respond with various descriptions and opinions of Buddhism that would, no matter how diplomatically, negate the validity of Buddhist beliefs and practices? Would he not insist that if you're at all concerned with your spirituality that there is only one right way to go about it, and that way would just happen to be his way?

There's not much chance that you'd hear anything but bad news about Buddhism and a 100% probability that you'd be told to become Catholic. The best thing for you to do, you'd be told, would be to get down on your knees to this man, and do whatever he and his official representatives tell you to do. Without question, without doubt, and without hesitation. And if you took the plunge and became Catholic but then decided it didn't work for you, it would quickly become a matter of fact that your refusal to submit yourself fully would make you a bad person.

If Catholicism didn't work for you, if it did not feed you spiritually, if being expected to prostrate yourself before some guy in a tall hat rubbed you the wrong way, it could only be because there is something wrong with you. The Catholic doctrine and rituals would be above scrutiny and reproach. At the Vatican, the Catholic leadership exists in an eternal state of perfection, even when thousands of priests worldwide rape little children, the church itself remains unscathed and above all doubt.

No, I'm afraid that if any problems arose between you and the Catholic church, it would be you who is the bad person, not the church, not the Pope, not the deeply entrenched system. Even the plain old ordinary Catholic on the street would be quick to agree with that judgment. In Vatican controlled territory, only one set of rules, laws and perspectives apply. These rules, laws and perspectives are strictly accepted as unshakable truths and all would be considered the very definition of right and good. The Vatican way would be inarguable and immovable. It would be the only way, period.

But does that make it so?

It might very well be the only way at the Vatican, but anywhere else you go it would not be the only way. In fact it wouldn't be a way at all. If you went to any Buddhist country and asked the prevailing Lama the same question you just asked the Pope, you'd obviously get a very different answer.

If you went to Thailand you'd be given a very different description and explanation of Buddhism and Buddhist beliefs, and you'd have a hard time finding anyone anxious to condemn your interest in Buddhism or attempting to dissuade you from joining up.

It's highly improbable that you'd be sat down and sold Catholicism. You'd find no Popes or cardinals or ordained Catholic priests to threaten you with an eternity of burning in hellfire and damnation for not choosing Catholicism. There would be no sign of Buddhist monks skulking around with their heads hung in shame and guilt for not being Catholic. And you'd be introduced to some totally different beliefs than those you heard at the Vatican, including things like reincarnation.

Something you would find in common with the Vatican though is a preexisting dominant culture. It wouldn't be Vatican culture, it would be a different dominant culture. Everything said and done by official Buddhism would be said and done in their own Buddhist style. They too would have their own rituals, pomp and circumstance. They would also have their own laws, rules and perspectives. Their Buddhist culture would be the dominant culture and any attempts on your part to make a case against Buddhism would fall on disinterested ears.

If you sought out the Dalai Lama of Tibet and asked him what he could tell you about Catholicism and whether it was right for you, I sincerely doubt he'd insist it was the one and only way to go. He would be of the belief that his way is the better of the two, the right way for him and possibly for you too. I don't think he'd back his position up with threats or with guns and thugs like they might at the Vatican, and I don't think he'd even be all that judgmental of you for being Catholic in his presence. There does seem to be more in the way of a live and let live acceptance around Buddhist beliefs and ways. But there's little doubt that deep inside where it counts, there exists a solid belief in the goodness and rightness of Buddhist doctrine, and that the common Buddhist on the street would automatically share the general opinions of the Buddhist figureheads.

You're going to get that sort of attitude pretty much anywhere you go with any belief system out there. Dominant belief systems most definitely control life in their respective jurisdictions and they all do so with the firm belief that theirs is the right way, the only way that is truly valid and real. Criticisms and doubts are never well received, and figureheads and common believers alike will have ready answers to doubts and dissenting opinions. The major belief system will carry on unscathed and remain powerful and dominant regardless of whatever serious facts come along that poke holes in the fabric of their beliefs.

This is the thing that makes all religions equal and keeps them at least somewhat humble. It's easy to see that widely differing religious beliefs still have much in common, and that they're dominant based on where they are on the planet. All of them share the undeniable reality that none of them can be "proven" to be right. It is, after all, about faith, not about proof. It is better to have tolerance and mutual respect between different religions than it is to wage endless war over something that's a matter of faith, not fact.


The thing about strongly held beliefs that gives me the willies, is the zealous intolerance to differing opinions and viewpoints, which are a normal part of life on earth. We've got them, they're here and they've always been here. It's not a problem to have different beliefs, it's only a problem being intolerant of them. Bringing up a differing opinion or even opposing facts can sometimes be met with tolerance and without taking offense, but sometimes it can evoke tremendous intolerance and offense and lead to rabid, even violent, hatred.

I can't help but notice that when belief systems are more tolerant of the fact that other people have their own ideas and backgrounds and beliefs, that there is very little chance of friction coming up around differing opinions. But in more demanding, hierarchical belief systems where they insist on absolute unquestioning submission and conformity, the more risk there is that they will back up their positions with oppressive or even violent means. It's almost as if the less they have to stand on, the more insistent they are that no one be allowed to question what they've got going. That would make sense in that insecurity can make people do crazy things, not the least of which is to become unreasonable and lash out with violence.

We've all witnessed the insanity of extreme belief if we've paid attention at all to the last few years of American politics. There is a stubborn demand for all to remain blind to facts, to not see real harm being done in the carrying out of our new doctrines, to automatically reject contradictory facts and truths whenever they come up. It seems that true believers absolutely hate facts and truths that show them up and prove them wrong. They'd rather pretend they're right even when they know they're wrong. Those who buy into whatever dominant beliefs control the various areas of our lives are every bit as resistant to and offended by contrary facts and evidence that bring their bogus fairy tales into question.

But the thing about fairy tales is that they are fairy tales. They aren't subject to the same rules and laws that reality is. By definition fairy tales, beliefs, dominant systems, dogmas, patriotism, scientific beliefs, medical beliefs, educational beliefs, superstitions, enculturated rituals and habits, all of them, are based in popular belief more than they are based in tangible truths. It seems people really like it that way too, they don't want any holes poked in their personal belief systems, no matter how much better it might make their lives in the long run if they gave it some thought. They'd prefer to ignore screaming facts to whatever extent possible for as long as possible and they'll continue to do so unless and until they are given a paradigm change that is officially condoned. In most any belief system, change is fiercely resisted and rejected, even when change is sorely and obviously needed.

After seeing the damage done by expounders of hard core beliefs, it may surprise some people when I say that religions and spiritual beliefs are important and that there is room for them all. The more the merrier I say. Let me explain why. The fact is that organized religions do some very important things for humanity, not the least of which is to establish boundaries for human behavior that are taken seriously. The boundaries they set are given the highest official status, and are not to be crossed without very serious negative PR. No individual person can do that. No one person's boundaries have ever been respected by power. We need organized religion to assert the reality of human rights.

It's sad but it's still true. We're still utterly incapable of being able to respect all others and recognize every individual's rights and sovereignty just because they're a living being. That's just not good enough. Still on this planet, individuals hold no authority. All authority belongs to those in power and no individual can stand against that and demand justice, they just get run over and forgotten about, they wouldn't even be noticed.

We literally need to have the authority of official religious organizations to promote, define, teach about and insist upon moral behavior. People must be given strong teaching from childhood about what defines good and bad, and why good is good and why bad is bad, and all the world's most popular religions try to do that. They all have some kind of basic morality in common. If there were no religions to do that and to keep these beliefs alive and worthy of respect, guess what kind of ideology would quickly step in to replace it? The ideology of no rules. Of no respect. Of the strong over the weak. Of the ends justifying the means. It would not be pretty. Religions, when not corrupted, do really important work on this world.

We've all seen how foaming-at-the-mouth people in power can become. Is there any doubt that the insanity of the bush administration would have checked itself in any way if it didn't have to? Clearly not. They broke every rule of law and decency they ran up against, easily disregarding the fact that laws and rights and concepts of moral decency exist specifically to curb zealots like themselves and to prevent them from causing the inexcusable harm and misery they've caused. That's the trouble with zealots, they're nuts. They're always nuts.

It's an interesting irony that the only thing that can stop zealots from having their way with the world is the zealotry of others. Somehow they can connect to that concept. At the root of all strong belief systems is the assertion that the laws of that system supersede earthly law. Zealots can break any earthly laws on the grounds of their beliefs and still tell themselves they're moral, decent people, but it's not so easy to break the laws coming from religious beliefs. In the end it boils down to opposing beliefs of unearthly origin which cannot be proven one way or the other that keeps the planet from coming apart at the seems. Zealots recognize the immovability of other zealots and this is the only thing that keeps the really bad guys from going for broke.

Raging beliefs inspire men to do horrendous things to people whose crime is simply not believing what they believe, that's their whole criteria. Legitimate organized religions of the present day are literally the only protection we have against truly evil zealots of all kinds, including religious and non religious ones. Without the established major religions there would be nothing that could stop the worst kind of zealots from ripping this world into little pieces, and soaking it in billions of gallons of human blood. Without major organized religions to intervene and condemn that kind of psychopathic aggression, without them being an official voice that even zealots can hear, there would be no other voices that would matter.

I think there's an erroneous tendency to blame religion for the evils that zealots do. Religion is neither bad nor good just sitting in a book. Like anything else, it can be done right or it can be done wrong. It's not any given religion itself that does harm, it's the nut balls that gain a foothold and take it over the top and make it something it's not. They assign themselves roles of righteous defenders of their over the top beliefs and somehow, in their own misguided minds, they think that brutally murdering anyone who doesn't share their zealotry is a good thing. It's very strange when you stop to think about it that what's inside someone's head is considered so incredibly threatening to some people that the only way they can deal with it is to kill those thoughts right out of existence. Maybe there's more to what we keep in our minds than we know.

The truth about zealotry is that it is never about religion. Zealotry is a form of intellectual aggression, demanding others to support a cause or die. It is used to self-excuse inexcusable behavior and is always the self-justifying precursor to perpetrating unjustifiable physical violence. Zealotry is about being seriously mentally disturbed and needing to lash out. It may be about shame that is pointed outward instead of being faced. It may be about having a lust for blood, some people really like killing. It can be about raging insecurities that turn people into control freaks and with plenty of support behind them the sky is the limit. When you do it in God's name there's no reason to check yourself for signs of insanity, you're golden, at least in your own unquiet mind.

Zealotry is rising to the top of public organizations in a way I've never seen before. Apparently we've lost the ability to tell the difference between real values and the obnoxious, self righteous false values of others, when those others claim to be the guardians of all that's good and right and that which we uphold. I think we confuse the man with the doctrine and forget they have nothing to do with each other. We forget that the doctrine is always specifically aimed at the individual, at each of us, to live it if we believe it. It is not a team sport, we don't get points for joining and following, and we don't benefit at all from what we profess to believe in if that's how we perceive things. It's not about winning or prevailing over others, it's about winning and prevailing over ourselves.

Beliefs are personal, they are only personal, and we all are entitled to have our beliefs regardless of what anyone else wants them to be. It is unreasonable and irrational to demand that others see things as we do. It is wrong to demand that others change and it is wrong to kill others for refusing to bow to our will. We must recognize zealotry when we see it in our leaders, and we must see it when we are lured into zealotry ourselves. We need to reject it, no matter how compelling it sounds. We can do without zealotry. The world is not coming to an end by it's own hand. The world comes to an end at the hands of zealots, who in fact do the lion's share of all of the worst kinds of harm in the world.

Doing unconscionable things in the name of good is always a lie; but blaming the world's religions for the actions of zealots is missing the mark. If we are truly moral people we know we have to take each person as they come and judge them according to their own words and actions. We cannot condemn millions of people across the board who could have no conceivable knowledge or affiliation with dangerous certain specific zealots calling for the blood of imaginary enemies.

Obnoxious religious zealotry could actually be part of a larger game that seeks to undermine and destroy the legitimacy of all organized religion. There could be, and I believe there actually is, a long range plan to end all of the interesting, diverse, thousands of years old cultural religious beliefs that give us all the protection of human rights and which, if nothing else, stand for the sanctity of life. Turning the world off to organized religion through heinous displays of religious zealotry could easily lead to the eventual rejection of all organized religion which in my view would leave us all in the hands of the worst kind of zealots the world would ever know.

If that ever happened humanity would forever be the victims of people who use humanity for their own ends with no moral constraints because there would be no more recognition of morality and hence no claims could ever be made against the most inconceivably evil forms of human exploitation and suffering that future technology will make to order for just that purpose.

Praise the Lord. Praise Allah. Praise Buddha. Support the rights that all people have to the spiritual beliefs of their choosing. It could truly be that those rights are the thin line between hope for a better world and the introduction of new belief systems that see only money and power as legitimate and all other life as irrelevant.


Divide and Conquer


The long standing obsession of power addicts is to control others. The extreme right types don't feel any need to get real cerebral about that. Good old fashioned clubbing people into submission works just fine for them. The funny thing is they still want to be loved for it.

The other way around the outright clubbing of people into submission is to get inside their heads and make them love their servitude. This is seen as the more humane way to enslave people. The power guys who go this route may be slightly smarter than their tyrannical counterparts but they're every bit as morally bankrupt. The bottom line is neither of them respect people and both of them feel entitled to use people to their own ends. They're just not very nice people.


As we all know by now, the power guys we see on TV aren't all the power guys there are. The really powerful guys are as good as invisible to most of us. But they're still not all there is. There are also power addicts sprinkled in and amongst us unwashed masses and whether they're the club carrying kind, like guys who beat up on women, or they're charismatic mind twisting ideologues of church, education or business, they are there; and they are getting their appetites satisfied on somebody else's life, somewhere.

How many of us have had the mini dictator bosses? Guys or gals who are so full of themselves they're obnoxious and proud of it. Something is very wrong there.

Something is very wrong in a lot of people, and it comes out in all kinds of ways. Everybody has their own inner demons to struggle with. There's nothing wrong with that. It is usual and expected. So much so that frankly, it seems that facing those inner struggles and working the kinks out is what's unusual. Three cheers for the brave and true ones who are not afraid to objectively check themselves once in a while, and raspberries to those who are too selfish, dishonest or cowardly to go there. That said, there is a point to what I'm going on about.

The point is that long ago, certain individuals of decidedly high criminal intellect and deficit morals, noticed that everyone has their own personal bundle of insecurities. These individuals saw this as something beyond just the human condition. They saw it as a vast and limitless resource, something they could cash in on. They were and still are incredibly clever. They're also incredibly evil.

Evil people want to do evil things. It has yet to occur to anyone who really wants to do something evil that because it is evil they shouldn't do it. Well, it might briefly occur to them but people are nothing if not good at justifying anything and everything they want. It's not all that hard to get from "this is wrong" to "I deserve to have this".

Those previously mentioned clever and evil individuals know this, and this is what they decided to use to enslave the whole world. They developed a strategy we know of as Divide and Conquer. Playing two sides against each other, playing the ends against the middle, there are many euphemisms for it. This is a weapon used on minds, for the specific goal of manipulating those minds, and not just somebody else's mind. Your mind. My mind. All of our minds. I put it to you that every single one of us has been hacked with this tool in some way or form, more than likely in a great many ways and forms.

The shocking thing about this tool of political mind control is how incredibly prevalent it is right now, today, in the here and now. This strategic weapon is used as a stand alone or as a basic part of many and varied nasty scams being played in this country today, and not just here. This is by no means some minor or occasional trick pulled by common, easy to spot con artists. This is the favored and time honored monkey wrench that has destroyed careers and nations and countless lives. This is the big one. It has been for a very long time. It is used for many reasons, not the least of which is that it works so very well. It is very flexible too having endless variations and purposes limited only by the sheer evil and brass of the perpetrators. From an off the hip guesstimate I'd say that sheer evil and brass are in limitless supply these days. The successful launch of a Divide and Conquer mission can be, and is, used to control vast groups of people like Gumby and Pokey dolls who never suspect a thing.

Divide and conquer routines are the reason for the many, ever growing ways we're all conditioned to accept more and more control over our lives. Divide and conquer head games are how we keep ending up with less and less across the board. It's truly astonishing in how many ways "they" have managed to do us. We have certainly been done, a thousand times over and in thousands of ways. How many times a day do you get screwed over? How many of your personal options are blocked, controlled or denied by authority and power? Why does most everything you need cost more than you can afford? How much of your time is regularly wasted by authority and self important wealthy types? The policies that shape this country are not based on common sense or reason or fairness. Just the fact that's true makes clear that every last one of us is being fairly well screwed some way or another, pretty much 24 hours a day. Too bad it's not fun. This kind of screwing is more like rape. Just the screwer is having a good time.

Perhaps I've spent way too much time analyzing the machinations of despicable people but I can't help it. It's something I feel the need to understand. Even after putting so much time into it I can't claim to understand it in the truest sense of the word. I comprehend it. I understand the tactics and how they work and how they're instigated and spread, but I can't say I understand why. I'm afraid if I ever did suddenly understand why I would spontaneously become just like they are. I don't need to know precisely why. Ball park will do nicely. Besides when it comes down to people, and what doesn't, things are simply not that complicated. Folks who surround themselves with clouds of complexity and layers of important fluff are just little kids playing big games. They're motivated by emotional needs and all kinds of appetites. Who isn't?

I see the Divide and Conquer strategy under way all over the place today, it's everywhere people are getting hurt. It's an evil strategy. I think I've figured out, in a solid ballpark kind of way, how and why it works.

There are two essential elements to a successful divide and conquer plan. The first requires having actual personal skills. You have to be a very slick, credible talker. Being a bit intuitive about how other people's minds work is a real plus but it's not really necessary. You only have to be very good at using your mouth and you have to be a very convincing liar.

The second element is the divide and conquer formula itself. The simplest picture of it is the drawing of a line between two circles. The line is a line of separation and the two circles are people or groups of people. The line is drawn with words of course which is why we don't see lines all over the place in the real world. These lines are all drawn inside our heads.

The technique involves creating a separation between people. A separation that does not and would not otherwise exist. What this means is that artificial lines of separation need to be created and inserted by external others between people that have no bones to pick. With full willful intent, lines of separation must be connived and contrived to over come our natural desire to live in mutual respect and peace with others. Left to our own devices in a just environment, humans tend to enjoy and care about each other. Creating separation between peaceful and caring others is a pretty darn evil thing to do so for that alone I rather resent these people. From what I can tell they really really enjoy doing this too. They like destroying lives. A lot. But I digress.

Drawing these lines between people requires putting ideas in people's heads that are usually not quite true. This is where the skill of slick talk comes in, along with the lies. Sometimes there may be some seeds of truth buried in amongst those lies but those seeds would never surface and grow without outside tampering. Normally, all kinds of differences are easily set aside in order to maintain good working relationships that yield far more benefit than letting trivial things grow out of proportion. The goal of the perpetrators is to reverse that trend and fan the flames that piss people off, that scare people, that make people jealous, that offend and hurt people, all of which inject strong lines of separation between people.

That's only the first level. Going this far achieves separation that was not there before. It creates discord, unhappiness, distrust, arguing and suspicion and it will effectively destroy relationships of all kinds. Some people enjoy doing this sort of thing just for kicks because they like watching people get upset and hurt. They truly like instigating fights they themselves engineer, after which they sit back and enjoy the show. I've known a few people like that. I don't have much to say for them. But things can be taken much further than this.

Lines of separation can be specifically tailored and introduced to achieve precise political goals that will predictably result from the explosions and fallout they induce. What is required is not only drawing lines of separation, but also simultaneously delivering permissions that precisely target personal insecurities. Those insecurities are worked into a lather until they become inflamed and infected and are then lifted up onto pedestals.

The pedestal is a stage that provides a platform for expressions of moral outrage and entitlement. It is upon their own imaginary stages that uplifted parties may act out their truly bad behavior which they will see as a right that supersedes the rights of others if need be.

Moral pedestals can elevate most anything that somebody somewhere wants, needs or just wishes to legitimize, to a higher cause. This even includes pedophiles who openly promote a supposed right to sexually molest children with claims that it's good for children and a loving thing to do to them. It includes child molesting priests who are protected by the wealth and power of the Catholic church's deeply entrenched claim of operating on higher moral ground than the rest of us. It includes promoting and protecting viciously villainous law enforcers who brutalize citizens in the higher moral cause of protecting the country from vicious villainous brutalizers. It includes protecting and defending our lying politicians who point to higher moral cause across the board in order to engineer the creation of the otherwise unacceptable.

Claims of higher moral cause incite and protect religious hatreds, class wars and racism, and seem to justify unjustifiable military actions. The higher cause of national security creates and protects NSA mass eavesdropping and spying on citizens without warrants or need, and spawns CIA thugs who do terrible things in the name of patriotically protecting the country.

Externally created and inserted lines of separation become razor sharp cut off points that deeply and permanently separate persons or groups from literally everyone else. When sufficiently propagandized in the media, when sufficient sympathy or fear has been aroused in the general public, it gives unearned, undue power to the elevated group because they now symbolize a higher morality than those outside their group possess. It elevates the separated ones to positions of authority and lets them run rough shod over others in the name of their higher moral standing. All this is achieved simply by adding the illusory dimension of specially unique, higher than average moral high ground to a purposely picked and infected wound. This is incendiary stuff.

The lies told to add a pedestal to the separation have to be tailored and personal. They have to speak to personal insecurities, the fear that something wanted or needed or deserved is about to be taken from them, or stolen from them or refused them. This is the device used to get our country to war over and again. Lies are told that say our freedom and democracy is at risk from an external enemy who is out to take our way of life away from us and replace it with one that is vilified and demonized. The terrible threat of communism, fascism, socialism and now terrorism. It's always about enemies that are created out of thin air with lies of separation that raise us onto our own little pedestal and make us feel morally entitled to "defend" ourselves from them. It doesn't take much to convince morally superior, entitled people that acts of forward aggression are necessary. In fact they're not just necessary they're critically required because the threat is so imminent and close to our door steps. Even though nobody's even seen a communist or a terrorist, once the lies have been implanted and the pedestal has raised us off the ground and above all others, the invisible threat consumes us and we are hell bent to protect our better way of life.

The basic pedestal message is easily spotted, it's always the same message. "All who are good and decent must support us as we wage our morally justified fight for our fair share of justice or equality or security or legality", or freedom and democracy or whatever their cause is. "Those who are against us obviously hate us and are unreasonable and dangerous. Those who do not respect and agree with our higher moral ground are our enemies. Our moral superiority automatically makes us right and our enemies wrong. Our moral superiority makes us better than all others. We are victims and this is not our fault or our choosing. We are only defending ourselves. And because those who are against us are morally inferior to us and hate us and are unreasonable and dangerous, we must protect ourselves and we are morally entitled to treat our enemies as poorly as we like because they are out to get us and take away or prevent us from having what is rightfully and morally ours".

It does sound good in theory, very compelling. In reality it's completely invalid, especially when it gets to this foaming at the mouth stage. The problem is that everybody has a gripe. Everybody is not getting their fair share of something. Pedestal groups invariably dismiss that fact and rather rudely insist that their own suffering matters more than anyone else's. In fact it often becomes a case of the pedestal group quickly becoming raging lunatics who perpetrate exponentially worse crimes on their imagined enemies than anything those supposed enemies have ever or could ever do to them. There is also the problem of a complete and total failure and extreme disinterest in correctly discerning who is actually an enemy to them. Any one person who has ever done anything offensive to them automatically condemns entire groups, entire races, entire nations, and usually includes literally everyone who does not embrace "the cause". This leads to unbelievable amounts of innocent people getting hurt and killed which no one is morally entitled to do. There is no exception to that and no group so special that they don't have to be decent human beings anymore. Pedestal mania has the unique characteristic of allowing people to become the worst people in the world while still proclaiming their great moral superiority to anyone who will listen. It's quite painful to witness, to say the least.

Clearly, there are major, serious flaws in the reasoning of pedestal people. But you see, they are not encouraged to think reasonably. Reason is the enemy. It is their insecurities that are fanned, inflamed and encouraged in order for the perpetrators to control their thoughts and actions. It's not possible to deal rationally with people operating only at the emotional level. This is because it's not possible to think critically and be emotional at the same time. Emergency workers know this quite well and have to deal with it every day. People have to be brought out of overwhelming emotions just to be able to explain what's happened or give factual information that will allow others to help them. This is usually achieved by calmly and insistently asking factual questions of the upset party. This forces the brain to switch out of emotional thinking and into critical thinking in order to retrieve the facts that answer the questions. As long as they can keep them in critical thinking mode, overwhelming emotions are immediately and noticeably subdued. Pedestal groups are absolutely kept away from all rational thought. Irrationality is the most essential component and is absolutely required to carry out the divide and conquer manipulation.

Pedestal mania cannot be reasoned with. Attempts to bring pedestal maniacs down to earth with rational thinking or by supplying hard facts will not work. Rational thoughts and facts are invariably perceived as hate filled threats and will more often than not result in the rational thinker being brutally attacked and destroyed with insults and ridiculous claims and assertions that are never backed up by facts. Rational thinking feels like an attack to pedestal maniacs because it is in fact a plea to let go of the unreasonable thinking that is causing so much harm to so many others. To pedestal maniacs in full frenzy, rationality feels like a weapon to undermine the validity of their higher moral ground and in so doing, undermine their cause, and in their unclear thinking to actually destroy them as human beings. It's quite a pickle to contend with once emotions are inflamed and sides are taken all around.

Pedestal groups will almost always promote the idea that they are persecuted. It's a great tactic too because it's probably true. Who hasn't been persecuted at some point in time?

Everyone in any kind of group has been persecuted and horribly mistreated somewhere along the line. It's not something only these over here or those over there have had an unfair share of, this is universal. Women have long been abused and mistreated. Children have long been victimized. Handicapped people have been shafted since forever. Religions of all kinds have been on the war path and on the defensive at some point in history. Every race has been abused and murdered. No one gets out of here with dignity intact. It's a perfect insecurity to work into a lathery wound and make use of because it applies to almost everyone.

The only people who remain untouched by all the persecution, brutality, violence and suffering are the same people throughout history and into present times. The controllers. The wealthy. The powerful. They also happen to be the obvious perpetrators and instigators of all this persecution, violence, hatred and brutality. Their deeply understood and widely used methods of creating separation between people can be seen again and again throughout history and in today's current events. Today's groups on pedestals are expressly brought to believe that they are threatened as if they alone are suffering, or as if their suffering is different and more valuable than the suffering of others. They are consistently brought to believe they somehow have the right to relieve themselves of their insecurities and fears at any and all costs to others.

Political correctness is the daddy stage for all pedestal groups. It provides the premier platform for every major politically engineered Divide and Conquer action currently tearing us apart from within.

The two most obvious tell tale signs of political engineering are media driven, well organized, slick looking campaigns and the lack of serious, genuine or even any government interference. ALL grass roots movements are met with official disapproval and police violence and they are all denied media access. Legitimate grass roots campaigns are on their own and are without much exception, struggling along without sufficient funding.

Full time "activists" that eat well, dress well, live well and do nothing but travel around the country in comfort and style to promote their cause, who are given time, space and respect in the establishment media, who are rubbing elbows with establishment, institutional and media personalities, who's airfare and hotel costs alone are more than most of us make in a year make plain what's really going on. A manipulation. These figureheads may be compelling and may even be legitimate true believers in their causes. They may honestly believe that their generous financial support comes to them because they are genuinely supported. But sooner or later, or even from the beginning they are made to understand the rules that come with that money. They will do what they are told and they will not do what they are told not to do. They are pawns. Their causes may sound legitimate, and they need to or they wouldn't be useful or believable.

Wealth and credibility are controlled and these organizations are NEVER allowed to become powerful or politically potent on their own. I think it's safe to say that any grass roots movement or organization that begins to become effective at swaying public belief in the right direction is either taken over with divide and conquer operatives or is destroyed, often violently and despicably. There is little chance that any strong organization or force exists that is not controlled by the controllers. That might answer many people's questions as to why it seems Americans are "doing nothing" in the midst of being destroyed by shitty people. Highly paid covert perpetrators are inside anything and everything that could potentially undermine the total control of wealthy establishment power players.

Notice the many obvious elements in any televised movement, cause or protest. Hundreds of matching, professionally designed, printed or broadcasted, mass manufactured and well distributed advertisements, signs, tee shirts, hats etc., cost a great deal of money. Real grass roots movements don't have any money. They don't have any means to widely distribute information. Their signs and placards are homemade. And they definitely don't have means or access to expert logistical national organization. Slick, professional web sites are another giveaway, and do notice how prominently displayed their pleas for money always are. It becomes quickly evident that a greater single hand is organizing things, and this hand is a central power accustomed to wealth and prestige, that conceals itself and expertly milks money out of everyone they can suck in with guilt, blame, and calls to show one's politically correct solidarity with the harmed and downtrodden, persecuted, marginalized, and often offensive, divisive and destructive pedestal people among us. This is called controlled opposition. It's nothing new. What's new is that it's so unknown to most of us when the fact is it's a dominant reality in this country today.

We actually could lift entire societies out of all manner of injustice simply by making all injustice unacceptable and by not standing for it being perpetrated on any group. We used to do this by guaranteeing the same rights to everyone, whether we liked them or agreed with them or not. We were once able to see the common sense need to protect everyone's rights, not just our own, including everyone's right to speak openly and freely and to have their own religious and political beliefs even if we strongly disagreed with them. We knew perfectly well that not doing so would undermine and soon destroy all freedoms and rights, including our own. Establishing a status of specialness for certain groups while removing the respect, legitimacy and basic rights for others is exactly the way to self destruct any group and any country. Agreeing to disagree while standing together to demand equal treatment under the law for one and all is what so many have fought and died to protect. This belief is what allowed us to finally achieve a safe and sane place to live as free peoples and have a chance of maintaining that freedom for future generations. Divide and conquer works at the opposite end of freedom and sane thinking. It seeks to make some people lessers and other people more which is of course the worst kind of illegitimate nonsense and transparent hypocrisy there is.

It is impossible to achieve justice by granting some individuals or groups more power and more rights and more political influence than others. That is indeed the exact recipe to never achieve justice. Divide and conquer is a tricky piece of mental manipulation, a vicious and very destructive one that instantly creates real victims and does real harm. For the perpetrators it creates real inflammatory situations that can be manipulated and used for as long as desired. There is no chance that pedestal groups will ever solve a single outstanding injustice or that they will ever receive the kind of permissive adoration and blind acceptance they demand, and no chance at all that they will be given what they want. Pedestal groups demanding special non existent rights and special treatment under the law will invariably create resentment, strong disagreement and ill will. The pedestal groups will be manipulated to see this justifiable anger as an attempt to deprive them of what they want. They can then be led to incendiary hatred, to vengeance, to torture and injustice that truly exceeds any injustice, loss or damage they've ever experienced. This paves the way for them to feel entitled to take what they want by force and deceit, with cruelty, hypocrisy, injustice, and murder. It's the perfect political tool.

Divide and conquer works on nations and it works on small groups. It also works on individuals. But that's only the second level. Going this far creates a group of people who see themselves as being at risk of losing something important to them, who are ready to perpetrate crimes and violence in the morally sanctified name of self defense from foul offensive others. If you really want to crank up the heat you have to go one step further. You must now approach the enemy you just created and do the same thing to them. You have to create a separating line between them and those people back there who are now willing to kick their ass, and you have to lift them up on their own pedestal too. Now you're talking. At this point you've got two sides ready to pull out every stop and tear each other to shreds and pieces in the belief the other side is out to get them and take away what's important to them.

It's hardly surprising that bankers have been so easily creating wars since forever in order to bankroll both sides' armies. Filthy rich bankers are scummy people, aren't they? Indeed they are.

What's been described so far is only the tip of the iceberg. This basic routine can be taken anywhere the perpetrators desire. Once the perpetrators have gained the trusting ears of their victims, they can tell all the lies they like. The insidious thing about all this, something truly distasteful is that in order to really make things happen, the perpetrators have to insinuate themselves closely to their victims. They literally have to become trusted friends and leaders. How disgusting is that? When the job is important enough the fraud will be taken as far as it can go. Perpetrators will pretend to love, respect, sympathize with their victims, they will even marry them if need be. They will manipulate and use someone's heart and soul for personal gain and do it without an ounce of shame or guilt.

If they're willing to break someone's heart then it should be evident that they'd have no problem with pretending to be anyone, anywhere, in any capacity. They can pretend, very convincingly to be friends, elected representatives, esteemed professionals, and military leaders. They can, and actually they do. Now we're getting into the wild, wild world of covert intelligence ops. Of spies and lies and prostitution, arms sales and business deals and drug smuggling. Of throwing games and battles where real people die. Where presidents stand before us telling big fat lies to cover real agendas, and to cover their own butts. Where those who know the truth are taken out, or gagged or destroyed in any number of ways.

Guess what? This is reality. This is a snapshot, a thumbnail sketch of reality in our world today. Things are not what they appear to be. Powerful types are very often not at all what they portray themselves to be. Within the government it explains the long held obsessions with catching foreign operatives, with developing ultra high tech secret gizmos and gadgets that give an advantage to our side. Left alone to evolve in secrecy with untracked and unaccounted for billions, a vast culture of spying and intelligence organizations developed and spread into nearly every aspect of life. We're watching government fear and suspicion spread like a viral infection throughout all branches of government, turning once sane and stable individuals who saw themselves as protectors, into heavily armed and armored soldiers on a battlefield where everyone is a potentially deadly enemy, including five year old girls and teenage boys, and little old ladies in wheel chairs. Any and all of them, any and all of us, could be hiding a bomb or have a grenade stuffed somewhere.

We have bio-weapons labs springing up like mushrooms now, resurrecting long dead diseases from desiccated bones in graveyards. We are ready to unleash virulent plagues on a moment's notice in the name of self defense. We have enough nuclear warheads to destroy the entire world a few times over. We spend unconscionable amounts of money on military machines and bombs and bullets and our fear and hate is so sharpened and preened, that the scarier we get, the scarier we believe the enemy is. We have to have ever more bombs, ever more tanks, ever more ways to kill those bad people over there, and to control the bad people right here at home. And who are they but the ones who don't see the "threat"? The ones who speak of peace and friendship and sanity and not arming the skies with predator drones and star wars satellites and secret weapons and mind control and ....

When what we're doing does not make sense and yet we feel so compelled to keep doing it, there must be a reason. The reason is probably lies. A great many lies, steadily delivered to exactly the right people in exactly the right places. Supporting lies can be broadcasted and disseminated. More lies and new lies and old lies can be recycled and retold, especially the ones that have worked so well in the past.

Lies separate people from other people. Lies separate people from themselves. Lies make us blind to what's in front of our faces and deaf to what we could easily hear. Lies make us obsessed with ourselves, with what we've got and don't have, with what we want or think we deserve and won't rest until we possess it. Lies create selfishness and fear, suspicion and resentment. Lies light fires of revenge over things that never happened and never will. Lies are things that cut off what really sustains us, just like severing an artery. The whole purpose and intent behind lies is to make us stop being who we really are. To make us stop doing what we do, and to make us do what we would never otherwise do. Lies are told by those who want to destroy us, who want us separated and afraid, trapped, weakened and controlled by our own fears. Lies can keep it all going for hundreds of years. Lies are weapons used to deprive, undermine and control others for personal gain. At the root of it all lies are told to divide and conquer.

What is the source of all these lies? Who is it that benefits from all the lies that are turning our country into a paranoid, divisive insane asylum?

Who's not getting hurt but is growing stronger? Who is protected from harm, abuse, or attempts at correction? Who is above the law and who is under the hob nail boots of the law whether innocent or not? Who would never be arrested for crimes of the greatest scale and will never live out their years behind bars, and who will waste away in prison for exponentially lesser private crimes?

I think we can all see who the spreaders and repeaters of lies are. We can also see what they've become and what they've wrought. We can easily figure out who's gotten richer than Satan himself and who is losing or has lost all.

The one thing we might never know is why they feel this eternal compulsion to manipulate people to death and destruction for personal gain, when with less effort and a more pleasant frame of mind to operate in, they could benefit more by instigating prosperity and justice and also have a much nicer world to live in. They would also earn the genuine respect and affection of the people and a bona fide place in the history books. They could actually feel good about themselves, legitimately.

Perhaps there is a first lie that spawns all others, the very one that is at the root of the world's worst problems. The original, self-excusing lie. The lie that liars tell themselves to make their lies okay to tell: "It's not wrong when I do it".