Those of us who traipse around in the messy and bizarre alternative news world, also known as reality, must seem very strange to those sliding blissfully around the surface of the bubble. The people on the surface of the bubble, being so many and still essentially comfortable, can yet afford to look at us with a little pity, perhaps, or bemusement.
“Do you really think something bad will happen?”, they ask, incredulously. Why yes, yes I do. (Pause here to bang head against wall.)
Could it be any easier to find alternative news? I don’t know how, unless of course it comes over the television. Ha! Thousands of people organize alternative news into convenient lists every single day, and blog about it, and analyze it, and connect obscure events together for your convenience. The information has not been hidden. All one needs to do is sit at a computer and look around, and read, and think, and bear with the confusion and the discomfort of having your entire world view dismantled and reassembled into a hideously ugly arrangement that, though it makes you cringe and mourn, at least has the benefit of rationally explaining what has already happened. Furthermore, it has a track record of accurately predicting events. So it is that, having immersed myself in this disturbing but useful world of alternative news, I can confidently say yes, I do think something bad will happen. Haven’t many horrible things already happened?
But still many Americans don’t quite visualize it. A little economic pain has started to bite, but so far it seems tolerable. We’ve lived through recessions before. We’ve lived through wars before. Well, actually, we’ve lived through wars fought in other countries before, which is almost the same thing, right? People believe things will get better. The election nears. They can wait it out. Soon we will have new leaders and events will turn upward again. We just have to patient for a little while longer, and then our new leaders will fix the problems.
There are many writers and pundits that constantly compare the American people to sheep. Anyone that has read political articles on the internet or in magazines has heard of the word “sheeple”. The word implies that the American people are led around like sheep, and that they are blissfully unaware of their surroundings, and like sheep, being led to slaughter, goes along peaceably to their doom. This is a great comparison, but like many other broad comparisons, it’s far too simplistic and doesn’t even come close to actually describing the mindset of the American people. The truth is that Americans do know what time it is, they do know what is being done in their name and they are very much aware of the erosion of individual liberties, they just don’t want to acknowledge it.
I could stop right here and make a simplistic statement such as the American people are in denial, that it is easier to go along to get along, that ignorance is bliss and hundreds of other statements that say basically the same thing, that it’s easier to deal with a problem if you refuse to admit there is a problem to begin with, if you don’t have a problem, than you don’t need a solution. This type of thinking is essentially the crux of the problem here in America. The simple truth is that many Americans simply don’t want to hear the truth. The admission of a problem is the admission that we need to find a solution. The quest of finding a solution to the problem is more daunting than just living with the problem. Of course this is not the only reason why many Americans stay in a state of denial, there are many reasons, one of which could possibly explain why so many Americans refuse to acknowledge the problem in the first place, and this is that the American model of a representative republic… has failed us miserably. In fact, our federal government is out of control. The truth is that at no time in the history of the United States, has a government so completely ignored the will of its people, as this government has. We have had Presidents ignore the will of the people before, but this President ignores not only the people, but Congress as well.
Lots of bad things can happen between now and the elections. Many of the people who have been wielding power these past eight years can no longer travel freely around the world lest they be detained for war crimes. That’s right. Why would we expect them to just walk away now and hand over the reins? Do you think they plan to spend one second answering for their crimes? Of course not. They have committed so many crimes, and so much evidence has been accumulated against them, and so much of it can be read by anyone with simply the will and the interest to look, that it’s inconceivable to me that they will voluntarily relinquish the relative safety and trappings of power. The risk of being held accountable is very great, and they don’t tolerate risks to their personal security. So something had better happen between now and then to insure that they don’t have to worry come January 2009.
That can you all keep kicking down the road? Do you even know what’s in the can? Do you even know what road we’re on? Do you know what the game is? Do you really think you should wait until January 2009 to stop playing this foolish game?
They are not playing kick the can, that’s for sure. They are playing different games: a numbers game, and a waiting game. They want you to keep playing kick the can. They want you to be forever distracted so they can finish their plans. They know their days are numbered; but if they can outlast your attention span by constantly distracting you with stupid television shows and make-believe bad guys and the Summer Olympics, they can get away with murder. They know their numbers are few, and ours many; but if they can keep you content with promises of economic security somewhere down the road — promises that haven’t been kept for decades — they can make their financial domination permanent.
The time to pay attention is right now. The time to get yourself caught up with 9/11, Israel, the War on Terror, Wall Street, domestic spying, the erosion of our civil liberties, etc. etc. etc., is now. Come on, people. Quit kicking the stupid can down the road already.
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