There has been deafening silence on so many issues that matter that it makes one wonder what sort of responsibility, if any, the press and media outlets feel toward the education of the American (again, let me apologise to those non-United States born Americans) public. Mainstream media has branded the continuing #Occupy Movement "privileged, naive, idealistic young people" and completely ignored Idle No more. The same network-owned cameras that hyped the Teathuglicans, who share many of the same basic ideals and values, bringing their antics to our living rooms almost daily just a few years ago are turned away from the continuing XL Pipeline protesters, the pro ecological interests, the tar sands protesters, and the horrible, toxic, deep well injection crowd who are fracking the crap out of our country. The protesters of today are well-established, thougthful and focused, yet the millions of news segments produced each day prefer to point the cameras with laser accuracy on the lone wolves, misinformed psychopaths, tragic but insular events that "prove" to their viewers that the world is a menacing, threatening and scary place.
Perhaps my writing seems bombastic to some, but the working for change that I have done over the years has informed me about the true state of each and every issue that we might choose to confront. The issues, in the end, are always the same. Ultra-wealthy individuals are picking our pockets for their self-aggrandizement, reaping greater and greater reward and simultaneously trashing our health, our economy, our planet, our educational system and our families. We are continuously told what our values need to be and those people telling us are doing so at the behest of commercial interests bent on enriching only themselves. That is why the noble opposition is still out on the streets, protesting the oppressors, calling out thuggery and speaking out against the corruption and greed, the deceit fear and hate that fuel the current rush to making bad judgements, stealing from the future to make hay today and the ignorant minority who the current slate of representatives often dub "job creators", thus absolving them from any responsibility or requirement to make good decisions.
We have plenty of examples of pompous asses, willing to jump up and down, scream and yell about intrusions on their"rights", but for the time being, let us focus on what we all owe one another. Many who decry the value of a free market are forgetting why we have regulation of markets in the first place. Abuse has always been alive and well in the marketplace. Caveat emptor or buyer beware dates back over two thousand years. Sadly, what we are "buying" today is a whole sack full of crap bought and paid for by the ultra-wealthy who have the heinous intent of securing even more wealth before the planet is reduced to a cesspool. Their track record is clear. Every single place on the [planet that has been deemed commercially viable by these interests has been deforested, or the native vegetation has been eliminated, the rivers oscillate between raging torrents and dry ditches, the squalor reflects poverty and those who were enriched by the boom times have moved on, leaving whoever has done the most work for them in the process to fend for themselves after the bust.
I am not an angry young man. I am not trying to prove something to someone. I am asking everyone to look deeply into issues of life, liberty and the pursuit of property. Life, perhaps the most important of these, is confused more and more with mere existence. Couch potatoes, video game addicts and shopaholics may feel alive when the adrenaline is flowing but the tidal surge in depression means that more and more folks are just giving up on their most famous inalienable right. The powerful interests that have found a way to placate and eliminate the threat from the majority of people unhappy with the way things are going is nothing short of genius, but it is, nonetheless, evil. Liberty as well has been morphed into the opposite of what it meant to our founding fathers. They actually envisioned everyone being able to experience leisure, pursue their dreams and learn from their mistakes. Instead we have created system after system that deems those who are not "productive" "takers" and those who destroy the environment or crash the economy, "makers". It seems that our current world view only allows liberation to flourish under the whip of capitalism. Whatever one wants to do is only considered viable if large sums of money flow away from individuals and into the hands of fewer and fewer top dogs. Property itself has been debased and the pursuit of it has led to the largest increase in debt ever recorded. It seems that all the things we desire are now presented to us with a multi-generational cost.
I have been searching for truth for half a century and this is what I have found. I do not seek the casual attention of easily led sheep. I do not give one iota of my attention to those who are comfortable in their placid acceptance of the way our country is headed. I will not jump up and down if I do not get my way. Instead I try to reflect the truth that I have seen, love those who make excuses for the way things are and forgive those who have been abused and neglected in their past that seek to foist their hate, fear, greed and deceit on the rest of us,to help soothe the deep wounds that have crippled their souls. We can stand up for our right not to be poisoned. We can stand for the rights of children to drink clean water, breathe clean air and eat food grown on uncontaminated soil. We can stop the insanity of corporate greed and deception. We can build sustainable communities. We can create a better world for the next seven generations, but it will require effort. It will require tenacity. It will require making corporate raiders responsible for their waste, their abuses and their short-sightedness. The revolution is not being televised. Standing for what is right rarely makes good television, but it is essential that we all do it now, the toxic legacy that is being spread across the planet will last longer than any of us. Surely, we love our children enough to spare them the pain and suffering that we see increasing all around us. No matter how much money we amass, we can never buy ourselves another planet.
Perhaps my writing seems bombastic to some, but the working for change that I have done over the years has informed me about the true state of each and every issue that we might choose to confront. The issues, in the end, are always the same. Ultra-wealthy individuals are picking our pockets for their self-aggrandizement, reaping greater and greater reward and simultaneously trashing our health, our economy, our planet, our educational system and our families. We are continuously told what our values need to be and those people telling us are doing so at the behest of commercial interests bent on enriching only themselves. That is why the noble opposition is still out on the streets, protesting the oppressors, calling out thuggery and speaking out against the corruption and greed, the deceit fear and hate that fuel the current rush to making bad judgements, stealing from the future to make hay today and the ignorant minority who the current slate of representatives often dub "job creators", thus absolving them from any responsibility or requirement to make good decisions.
We have plenty of examples of pompous asses, willing to jump up and down, scream and yell about intrusions on their"rights", but for the time being, let us focus on what we all owe one another. Many who decry the value of a free market are forgetting why we have regulation of markets in the first place. Abuse has always been alive and well in the marketplace. Caveat emptor or buyer beware dates back over two thousand years. Sadly, what we are "buying" today is a whole sack full of crap bought and paid for by the ultra-wealthy who have the heinous intent of securing even more wealth before the planet is reduced to a cesspool. Their track record is clear. Every single place on the [planet that has been deemed commercially viable by these interests has been deforested, or the native vegetation has been eliminated, the rivers oscillate between raging torrents and dry ditches, the squalor reflects poverty and those who were enriched by the boom times have moved on, leaving whoever has done the most work for them in the process to fend for themselves after the bust.
I am not an angry young man. I am not trying to prove something to someone. I am asking everyone to look deeply into issues of life, liberty and the pursuit of property. Life, perhaps the most important of these, is confused more and more with mere existence. Couch potatoes, video game addicts and shopaholics may feel alive when the adrenaline is flowing but the tidal surge in depression means that more and more folks are just giving up on their most famous inalienable right. The powerful interests that have found a way to placate and eliminate the threat from the majority of people unhappy with the way things are going is nothing short of genius, but it is, nonetheless, evil. Liberty as well has been morphed into the opposite of what it meant to our founding fathers. They actually envisioned everyone being able to experience leisure, pursue their dreams and learn from their mistakes. Instead we have created system after system that deems those who are not "productive" "takers" and those who destroy the environment or crash the economy, "makers". It seems that our current world view only allows liberation to flourish under the whip of capitalism. Whatever one wants to do is only considered viable if large sums of money flow away from individuals and into the hands of fewer and fewer top dogs. Property itself has been debased and the pursuit of it has led to the largest increase in debt ever recorded. It seems that all the things we desire are now presented to us with a multi-generational cost.
I have been searching for truth for half a century and this is what I have found. I do not seek the casual attention of easily led sheep. I do not give one iota of my attention to those who are comfortable in their placid acceptance of the way our country is headed. I will not jump up and down if I do not get my way. Instead I try to reflect the truth that I have seen, love those who make excuses for the way things are and forgive those who have been abused and neglected in their past that seek to foist their hate, fear, greed and deceit on the rest of us,to help soothe the deep wounds that have crippled their souls. We can stand up for our right not to be poisoned. We can stand for the rights of children to drink clean water, breathe clean air and eat food grown on uncontaminated soil. We can stop the insanity of corporate greed and deception. We can build sustainable communities. We can create a better world for the next seven generations, but it will require effort. It will require tenacity. It will require making corporate raiders responsible for their waste, their abuses and their short-sightedness. The revolution is not being televised. Standing for what is right rarely makes good television, but it is essential that we all do it now, the toxic legacy that is being spread across the planet will last longer than any of us. Surely, we love our children enough to spare them the pain and suffering that we see increasing all around us. No matter how much money we amass, we can never buy ourselves another planet.
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