| William Blake Jr. 2006-04-10, 11:29 am |
| The man's life is a result of the mindset that he possesses; and the
same is the case for societies. The people's beliefs, perspectives,
perceptions and feelings and outlook that are their function shape the
world they inhabit and the world they bequeath to their kids. The
mindset, through actions done in its pursuance, becomes
self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling. And the ideas shaping it become
reflected in the nation at all its levels, shaping its social movements
and its climate and ultimately the lives of all that are in it
involved.
The mindset, however it came to pass, therefore becomes the ultimate
and complete authority over the lives of the people within the
civilization. It becomes so complete and encompassing that people
don't question it, but are rather by it shaped. The mindset -
whatever its origins, whatever its methods, whatever its function -
becomes therefore a greater, more complete and more invasive power over
the lives of the people than does the government. By shaping the minds
of the people it shapes all their actions and then the world they
create with these actions. As such it becomes the true authority of the
land.
To be in any way regarded as democratic, an authority has to be
balanced and checked and held accountable. In other words it must be
official and open and complete and thus subject to accountability that
comes from being brought open into the sun. An authority that is not
official is an authority that becomes unaccountable, unchecked and
unbalanced. Which means that it is well on its way to becoming
totalitarian.
America, seeking rightfully to avoid totalitarianism, has applied
checks and balances on all levels of official government. This has
prevented any official organ of power from turning tyrannical and
absolute. The same checks and balances, however, have not been applied
on American society. They have not been applied on American
communities; on American media; on American business; on American
churches; and especially on American public opinion. Which means that
totalitarianism has found a way to slip under the radar screen and
through controlling the minds of people has found a way to create a de
facto tyranny in the land of the free the home of the brave.
What are the signs of this totalitarianism? They are all around us.
They are in fears bludgeoned into people's heads, from fear of being
different to fear of being open to fear of being fully alive. They are
in similitude of thought; similitude of feeling; similitude of
perspective, all bludgeoned into the minds of America from earliest
ages. They are in the hideousness of American social climate from high
school onwards and the strident sellout psychologies that pander to
this conman's totalitarianism by portraying the people's
legitimate reaction to such climates as pathological. They are in the
control of people's wants, minds, hearts and desires and their
twisting into wanting, valuing and seeking what they would in many
cases never rightfully want, fear what they should never rightfully
fear, seek what they should never rightfully seek and believe what they
should never rightfully believe.
I refer to this as conman's totalitarianism, precisely because it is
unofficial. To people who think they are free under this arrangement,
the correct question to ask is, "If you all are so free, then why are
you all the same?" To go further: Why do you all dress the same, want
the same things, believe the same lies, approach life with the same -
mindset? And if you truly believe in freedom, then why are you so
vehement in attacking anything that is in any way different from
yourselves, whether these be the people within or the people without?
It makes no sense to create a country designed to be free of official
tyranny when unofficial tyranny takes its place and exercises over
people's minds (and thus over their lives, and over their
civilization) a greater coercive power than is exercised by the
President, Congress, Supreme Court and state and local government. It
makes no sense to create a country designed to be free when the basic
unit of human consciousness - the mind - is twisted into
perpetuation of a big lie. To be democratic, authority - all
authority - must be official, checked and balanced, and thus
accountable. And in standing up to conman's totalitarianism in all
its aspects, one does one's duty as a true American patriot.
Freedom of thought is at the basis of all other virtues. Freedom of
thought means true freedom; freedom that shapes one's mind and
radiating out of it one's life and one's actions within the world.
Freedom is prerequisite for knowledge; as it is only within the context
of freedom that one can be free to acquire true understanding, one not
shaped or manipulated by usurpatory interest or mindset of any kind.
Knowledge, in turn, is a prerequisite for responsibility and ethics; as
it is only through knowledge that one can understand the world enough
to know the full range of consequences of one's actions and then act
in a manner that's calculated and thus could regard itself
responsible. And it is only a choice that is calculated and informed
that can consider itself ethical, as it is only by knowing the
consequences of one's actions and taking responsibility for them that
it is possible to make a choice based on values.
By transitive rule, freedom is a prerequisite for ethics; as it is only
within context of freedom that it is possible to make choices, not
based on avoiding or anticipating consequences for self, but rather
because they are the right thing to do. And freedom of thought, being
the root of all other freedoms, becomes the prerequisite for ethics.
Thus, it is impossible to have ethics, responsibility, or any other
virtues we see people claim to profess to believe without freedom and
knowledge. And it is impossible to have actual freedom and knowledge
without freedom of thought.
Which means the following: That it is only through freedom from the
oppressive mindset that it is possible to attain to any kind of virtue.
And that in freeing people from conman's totalitarianism one does
sacred duty before ethics, responsibility, knowledge, and America.
Freedom of thought has another virtue that is just as real. It is
freedom of thought that allows people to see what others don't see.
This has multiple applications. The first of these is that it corrects
errors that happen when people think the same way and exposes them to
perspectives they need to think better and understand the world more
completely. But it does this furthermore: Become the root of all
innovation that exists in the world. Which innovation depends on people
to come up with new ideas that are a result of original perspectives.
And it is this innovation that is at the root of all manmade good that
exists in the world.
Therefore freedom of thought is not only at the root of all other
virtues (liberty; knowledge; responsibility and ethics) that are
espoused by America. It also is the reason the world has what it has
now. And as such, it is the true and unshakeable source of not only
moral good, but physical and political and technological and artistic
good. Which makes it, quite truly, the saving grace of humanity and the
reason for all it has accomplished.
Ilya Shambat.
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