by Ray Jason
One of the many reasons that I
linger here in the Banana Latitudes is because the local people still have
backbones. Or to use a more creative description
that a friend of mine favors – they have not yet been “sheepified.”
First of all, they demand that the government do things to
actually help the real people and
not just the rich people. For example, there are free clinics for
pregnant women and there are local market days where food is available from
farm co-ops at reduced prices due to subsidies.
Yes, the Third World is so backward that they haven’t yet figured out
that you are supposed to subsidize rich, BigAg campaign donors and not the
people in the pueblo.
And secondly, if the authorities initiate policies that are
harmful to local interests, the people make their displeasure very
apparent. They start with acceptable
procedures by going up the normal chain of command. But if these fail, they engage in “direct action.” And they do not waste their fervor and time
on Lame Lefty symbolic gestures. They do
not stand beside a bridge with placards.
They shut the frigging bridge down with their bodies. And, if a telecom giant jacks the phone rates
up obscenely, it will suddenly discover that its transmission lines have been
severed.
I have been directly inconvenienced by these monkey wrench
gang tactics, but their bold and courageous fortitude both amuses and comforts
me. However, most of the other expats
are horrified by such “radicalism.” They
are outraged that they have to go without internet for 18 hours. But wasn’t part of the motivation for abandoning
the First World, to escape a frenzied culture so driven by schedules and deadlines?
*******
Down here, south of many borders, the average person is politically
aware and they are prepared to take action.
A major factor contributing to their vigilance is the fact that they are
not slaves to the monster with the blinking blue eye – the Television. Yes, they own them and they watch them, but
the Tube does not rule their lives!
In the evenings, the streets and parks are full of neighbors
chatting and laughing with each other.
They get their “news” from the direct reports of their friends and
relatives. They do not get it from the
perception deception that is television “programming.”
Because these everyday people are not isolated in a big box
and staring at a smaller box, they have a genuine underpinning of solidarity in
their lives. They understand that they
are not the only one upset about a certain issue, and therefore it is possible
to do something about it. They feel
empowered because they can do the math – they realize that they are many, but their rulers are few!
By contrast, in the First World, the Malignant Overlords appear
omnipotent and so the citizens remain docile.
They follow their tv’s instructions on what to believe and eat and drink
– who to hate or idolize – what to drive - and what to wear when you are
driving it. Perhaps the Idiot Box should
be more accurately called the Sheepification Box.
*******
The advantage that these so-called “disadvantaged” people
have is that they still have consciences and convictions. They are unwilling to settle for the creeping
crappiness of the modern world without mustering some resistance to it. They are still roused by the Power of
Refusal! And it is worth paying
attention to their strategy because MASS
REFUSAL may be the only potentially successful tactic left.
Surely the ballot box won’t work since almost all of the
candidates are owned by the oligarchs who finance them. And should a maverick or dark horse emerge,
there are those untraceable electronic voting machines to insure the will of
the Malignant Overlords. And if an
actual reformer somehow runs the gauntlet, there is always the Dealey Plaza JFK
option.
Certainly the acceptable channels of protest won’t
succeed. Look at the tens of millions
who rallied against Gulf War II in 2003.
They were simply and scornfully ignored.
Or how about the Occupy Movement.
It was suffocated in one weekend with a nationwide, coordinated “clear
the camps” police blitzkrieg. Plus,
there is the fact that polite protests seem to co-opt themselves. People return home feeling that they have
“done something.” But essentially all
that they have done is deceive themselves.
Armed revolution is a treacherous tactic even in the best of
circumstances. It leads to enormous
numbers of innocent people being killed.
And history is rife with oppressed peoples who rose up and violently
threw off their shackles only to become equally vicious oppressors. And given the militarization of police and
the extraordinary surveillance capabilities of governments, revolt is not just
a fool’s errand, it is a suicide mission.
*******
Most of my readers know what approach I have chosen to deal
with this modern world that increasingly seems like an Asylum. I abandoned it. I fled.
I sailed away. This strategy has
bequeathed me far greater joy and fulfillment than I ever experienced in the
proverbial Real World. But I genuinely realize that such a bold
strategy is not possible for most people.
However, even though you may not be able to remove yourself from the madness,
you can resist it. Here are some good
examples of the Power of Refusal:
·
Suffocate the warmongers STOP ENLISTING IN THE MILITARY! This is so crucial, and it could massively
and profoundly wound the Malignant Overlords.
Our rulers in the West have manipulated our economies so that there are very
few decent jobs available. Thus, joining
the Army seems like a sensible option.
But examine it more
carefully and it means leaving your friends and families for long periods of
time - and possibly forever. It requires you to kill people that you have no
quarrel with, so that rich men, whose sons never go into battle, can get even
richer. And it could lead to a lifetime
of physical and emotional injuries where you government only pays lip service to
your “sacrifices” on the 4th of July.
If enough people stop
volunteering for the military, they will have to institute the draft again; and
that would lead to a gigantic backlash as draft cards are once again set
ablaze. As long as there are any civilian
jobs available take them. They might
seem awful and menial, but they are also noble - since you would be helping to
subdue the Imperial Dogs of War.
·
Don’t mistake smart for dumb Smart Phones, Smart Homes, Smart Cars, even Smart DUST is
being designed. How long until they
start marketing Smart Condoms to inform us whether we are experiencing
pleasure? Can nobody see the madness in all of
this? Mark Twain detected it 100 years
ago when he wrote, “They have turned a thousand useless luxuries into necessities!” Does nobody notice that self-aware,
big-brained, miraculous humans are being turned into hypnotized consumer sheep?
And there is an even
darker side to this manufactured addiction to “the latest and the greatest.” Many of these Smart devices are spying on
you. Since when does any government have
the right to know whether you are in your home or out somewhere? But the body heat sensors of the Smart
electrical system in your “castle” provide them that information. And why should the Malignant Overlords be
entitled to know where you drove your car this week?
Has everyone forgotten
what the term “inalienable rights” means?
These are inherent rights that no government can take from you. Too many Smart Devices lead to too many dumb
people.
·
Nuke your TV
If you can’t
actually shoot your TV or set it on fire because it is against the condominium
association guidelines, at least TURN IT OFF!
It is a fiend – not a friend. So
much of the debasement of the quality of modern life is a direct result of
television addiction.
Intriguingly, the main
justification that apologists use for keeping the vile contraption, is that it “keeps
them informed.” If the falsehood and
absurdity of that defense was not so tragic, it would be hilarious. The mainstream media provides government
approved propaganda. Anything that
disputes the official narrative – e.g. that Vladimir Putin is Evil Incarnate
and probably eats baby bunny omelettes - is forbidden.
I have not owned a
Sheepification Box since I sailed away from the Asylum in 1992. Abandoning it has not diminished my powers of
critical thinking. Indeed, it has
accelerated them, since I use books and the internet for my research.
Here are seven other
reasons to nuke your TV that spring quickly to mind: 1) Violent children’s’
cartoons, 2) the Kardashians, 3) “survival” shows where the most vicious people
triumph 4) the Kardashians 5) “Happy” news 6) the Kardashians 7) “History” shows that glorify war.
*******
A few days ago I crossed the bridge
that the locals often shut down if they are seriously upset by some government
action. Down on the riverbank there were
about a dozen women washing their clothes like their ancestors did five
generations ago. I marveled at the paradox
in play here. Most of the people from my
world would view these simple, hard-working people as “backward.” And
yet when it comes to dealing with injustice and greed, they are far more “advanced”
than those in El Norte.
As the bus crossed the bridge, I
smiled as I imagined these washerwomen seeing a phalanx of demonstrators approaching. They would abandon their laundry duties and hike
up to the bridge and join the protesters in a human barricade. And then I sighed in admiration for these
poor people who have so little money … and
yet so much moxie.
