Smoking Mirrors – June 20, 2008
In this world it is altogether likely that every one of us has known someone who drank too much and had a driver’s license. As we reflect on those people that we have known, it is safe to assume that all of them have encountered at least one of the following; received a D.U.I., been arrested, been fined, lost their license, been imprisoned, been in an accident, been injured, injured someone else, killed someone, been killed or after experiencing one or several of these possibilities found their way into a recovery program. Of this latter number, it’s safe to assume that some of them went on to experience more of these options before they found their way back into recovery again or were no longer in a position to.
We’ve all known people with more machismo than good sense; people that take offense far too easily or simply imagine it. We’ve all known people who are sure they can kick our ass and are not shy about letting us know this. Our experience has been that when they drink, it’s much more likely that they are going to look for a situation in which they can act out their violent tendencies.
In this life we have encountered people who believe that every man or woman, whether they are single or attached, is fair game. Lies and intimidation are standard items in the tool belt of the amoral personality.
We may not have all met but we have all heard about individuals who kill for personal gain and for whom there are no barriers of conscience when it comes to getting what they want. We’ve heard about people who do terrible things to animals, children, men and women or anything that crosses their path. We know they are among us but they don’t have purple skin, tell tale horns or distinguishing marks. They look like you and me. I once went to a Halloween party dressed the way I always do and someone asked me who I was supposed to be. I told them I was a serial killer, “We look just like everybody else.”
We all know people that are screwed up in one way or another. We may even be one of those people. All of us are screwed up on some level even if we are only insecure. It’s really a matter of degree. There seems to be some acceptable parameters between which we can freak freely and then there are the points at which we cross the line. It’s a hard line to see. It’s not the same line in every place. We may know when we cross it and we may not but there is always some consequence, if it is only in our minds.
A government is only as good as the people that represent and administer it. When the majority of its agents are mindful of the law then the rule of law will generally apply. It’s an imperfect world, if only because you cannot please everyone. Balance is the key and balance is normally present when the majority is mindful of the law.
Evil and its permutations is not a new invention or perspective. Evil has been around for as long as there is a history to study. It hasn’t been the same thing over the long course of time. It changes and often doesn’t appear to be evil at all until it comes into bloom. Sometimes what is good turns out to be evil and sometimes what seems to be evil turns out to be good. It’s a hard thing to define and often harder to control because evil can afford the best lawyers. Evil very often has a whole lot of money. Money is the after shave that evil likes to put on before an evening of date rape and dismemberment.
We’ve always had evil. It’s something you manage. You manage it the way you control garden pests. You manage it like highways, with rules of behavior that become laws because most everyone agrees it is a good idea to set certain limits on speed and inaccuracy. One thing that is certain, evil should never be allowed to make the laws that govern our lives. In this case evil can be defined. In this case, evil is what happens when the laws are not a reflection of the will of the people but a reflection of special interests whose meals and means are realized out of the people.
When evil gets control of the mechanism of government then they make the laws. They hire the enforcers and the lawyers and they go on a rampage of theft and murder which does not end until they destroy themselves or are driven back into the darkness by what we will metaphorically refer to as ‘forces of light’. Evil doesn’t come to some moment of epiphany and decide to be good. Evil doesn’t push itself away from the table and say, “I’ve had enough now.” Evil is like a fire. How much wood can you throw on a fire before the fire says, “Thank you, that’s enough for now”?
When evil gets control of a government, one of the first things it does it to go after the control of information and news. Evil is most effective when it can create enemies against which it must defend itself and which legitimizes the manner in which it conducts business. Evil gets a handhold on government when the governed cease to pay attention to it. This is why a wise man once said that, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” One of the goals of evil when it takes control of government is to circumscribe your freedom into increasingly smaller circles. This is why, their in house news organs will proclaim that the enemies which they created hate your freedoms. This government takes your freedom in order to protect you.
When a people become too comfortable in the excesses of a material society they are easily distracted. Comfort is also highly addictive. People who were formerly good cease to have a problem with killing to maintain their comfort level. For a small minority it is impossible to have too much comfort and they enhance their comfort surplus by taking it from the rest of the people. There’s no limit to this. This minority has something very much like a serious alcohol problem and they also believe that they can kick your ass and take whatever you have whenever they want it; be that your women, your money or your life.
One of the things that evil is especially good at is in appearing to be reasonable. The lawyers that evil employs are all reasonable men. A short while ago, evil took control of the government of the most powerful nation on Earth. You know those maps that you sometimes see in subways and at bus stops? They say, “You are here.” That’s where you are.
Things will get worse and worse until either cataclysm or revolution occurs. The worst part of the equation is not the evil that is in control of the government. The worst part is the enablers; those who serve evil for what it brings them in power and prestige, those who serve evil out of fear, those who serve evil out of ignorance and those who serve evil so that they will not wind up like you.
Maybe some higher power will serendipitously burn away this evil from our midst and maybe we are required to act collectively and maybe then and only then will some higher power come to our aid. We all have our own idea of what lies beyond the bandwidth of the senses and what lies beyond the gates of death. Some believe in a beneficent God and some believe in nothing at all. What is certain is that no one knows the mind or the nature of whatever it is that is or is not.
Sooner or later, particular events- or the unbearable pressure of an increasing confinement and want- is going to make the people move. This can take various forms from panic to violent outrage. My suggestion is that it is time to step away from the machine. It is time to put down your tools and stop contributing to the thing that is tormenting you. A non-violent revolution is a difficult movement to stop. There will no doubt be violence but it does not have to be yours.
While there yet remains the illusion that you are free, you must join in an international strike that shuts off the flow of money and goods that serve the interests of the evil which has stolen your government and perverted your laws. A slave does not have the same options and that time will come if you continue to row, row and row down this less than merry stream.
The money changers must be driven from the temple once again. Evil must be driven from the corridors of power back into the darkness of its natural habitat. Before you can do this you must drive your complicity with evil from your own heart and cut back on senseless craving.
You have seen- and will see- nothing positive from any of your donations and efforts to support any candidate. You have seen nothing come from the outcry for an end to illegal wars. The machine rolls on. The machine will not roll on if the people will that it should stop. This very year you will have evidence enough of what must be done. Deny the beast its fodder and it will eat itself
alive.
I’ve Got To Drive
Original source: http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com/2008/06/camptown-ladies-sing-behind-concertina.html
Last updated 23/06/2008
Homepage