Who's Fault is it
anyway?
By Dale G.
Cox
8/21/01
It would seem these days, that the only goal of our modern
culture is
profit. Granted, there are a few of us weirdo's who act like we value
human
life and the planet before profit. But, for the most part, modern
western
culture has become comfortable with profit as usual, or at least we
hope.
The party line is "I have to survive, no one else is going to take care
of me". The idea of rugged individualism has been taken to its
extreme,
and we have been successfully divided and conquered. Indeed, in
America,
we often walk by the homeless on the street, believing them to be
totally
at the mercy of their own bad decisions. While we are completely
hypnotized
by the Mercedes Benz that just drove by. Terrified of becoming them, we
know we live paycheck to paycheck in an environment we have absolutely
no control over. But like mindless sheep we accept that reality as
unchangeable.
Survival of the fittest is the general motto of our culture. And
although
we would never admit it in the light of day, most of us have a price,
that
we would do almost anything for. Success, security, comfort, the
ability to far remove ourselves from the competition of daily animal
life
in America, is the goal we all aspire to achieve. What would you do to
achieve that goal?
What most of us don't notice, is that slowly and consistently,
everyday,
our position is compromised. Indeed, it is the tendency of most
American
workers to slack. Well, maybe not most, but a good majority of us
embarks
upon each day to do as little as we can get away with. Why? Most of us
would say we're just tired. We're so used to doing so much, when we get
the opportunity to slack we take it. Either that or there is someone we
work with who gets away with more slack than we ever did, usually the
newer
employee, and that’s our excuse to slack when we can. Or, the most
popular,
we don't make enough money for what we're asked to do. More and more we
do it because we know we live in a pirate culture, and if we can get
away
with it we do it to get ahead. But, all in all, every time we think
we're
getting ahead, we're actually falling behind. Right when we think life
should get easier, it gets harder. The old job demands more than we are
willing to give, so we find a new one that looks better. The money may
be better, but the job is harder, and the cost of life is consistently
going up. We fill a position two people used to fill. Or maybe we're
the
sole survivors in the position two people used to fill. Cutbacks,
layoffs,
downsizing, streamlining, reorganization, there is a variety of names
for
it. We all experience it. But gradually we end up doing the things we
don't
want to do to survive. Eventually our illusionary work morals dissolve
in the face of survival. We learn to do what we must to survive,
because
the basis for survival is constantly changing.
Some of us actually endeavor to spend huge amounts of money
getting
a college education so we can move more quickly ahead of the pack. The
investment balances out with the larger potential salaries we hope to
secure.
Its not so much the job we will have to do, as much as it is how
comfortable
we will be able to live. Will we be able to buy happiness? The sleek
Euro
sport sedan, the nice home with beautiful furnishings and an attractive
partner. Because we know from TV and Hollywood, that wealth and
prosperity
attract attractive people to us. We will have personal power. It is
considered
smart to hang around wealthy people if one aspires to become wealthy
one
day. But, we would never dare to call it prostitution. It is an
established
moral of our culture. So, off we go to the job, eager to perform some
involved
task in our new capacity. Our company sells a product; we perform a
task
to help our company sell that product successfully. We read the company
goals. We meet those who have been successful with the company so far.
We hear the story of how the company got started, how successful it has
been thus far, and how successful it plans to be in the future. When we
will be eligible for our 401k and potential profit sharing and/or
bonuses
based on sales. We work with hundreds of other people, or just a few,
working
towards this same task for these same reasons. But, do we stop to look
at the impact on the world around us that our product has?
Suffice to say this is the reality of a capitalist culture.
Everything
is for sale, including us. So, upon what premise do we establish the
moral
concepts of our culture? In America, we wave the cross of Christ and
Christianity
like that is all we need to validate our cultural expression. But we
would
do almost anything for money, including acting like we love someone. Is
survival then the higher standard we rise to, and Christianity just a
casual
poster child we defer to in times of moral questionability? What of our
U.S. Constitution, and the principles of human rights we profess we
support.
In America we say everyone is equal, when they are not. We say we
support
democracy for the rest of the world. But we only do that when its
profitable
to the pirate Industrialists we harbor and support. We have created
quite
a few dictatorships, to create the illusion of opposition to our
illusionary
democracy. Filling the coffers of the Military Industrial complex
with the sell of military products. Even our democracy is a fake. We
don't
elect our presidents, we elect a successor to the throne chosen by
those
who rule us, and we live in a plutocracy. Our elected officials
consistently
compromise our so-called moral values, and consistently evade the
consequences
we cannot. So, as a culture, what moral values can we really say we
stand
for, if any at all? What are we doing to change that?
How do we look at the world around us? It's been my
observation that
most of us think the rest of us are just stupid. The jerk that cuts in
front of us in traffic is stupid. However, when we cut someone else off
in traffic, the other guy is a jerk for not letting us in. Or stupid
for
not being well adjusted enough to deal with it in a mature way. Driving
our cars is yet another environment where our community values excel.
We
push and shove always competing for the better position. It has been my
observation that in traffic we act the way we really would if we
weren't
trying to act like we get along. Someone bumps into us in passing and
we
immediately get hostile. In most situations of incidence, we
immediately
blame the other person, no matter what happened. We seem to have an
inability
to except fault for anything, least of all our own actions. In America,
with at least 200 million adults all hurrying about on a daily basis,
it
is statistically certain that we will create a certain amount of
accidents
daily. The mindless busied frenzy of our culture makes it impossible
for
us to not have accidents. In fact the potential frequency of accidents
is only increasing every day. You could say the frequency of our
incompetence
is becoming a tangible aspect of our every day life. Applying the
domino
theory to that concept doesn't paint a good picture of the future. It
would
even be wise for businesses to factor into any potential venture, a
percentage
figure that would represent random loss. Most businesses already
recorded
it as waste. Call it the undeniable evidence of our imperfection. But
how
many of us can accept our faults gracefully? How many of us
persecute
others for our faults or insecurities? Indeed, our illusion of
community
is usually just that, illusion. It typically extends only to the extent
of our immediate social circle, when we are around them. We act like
sensible
people to impress those who give us social recognition. When we are
away
from that group we behave in ways they would probably not believe. We
have
discovered that to act in seeming compliance with someone else's
perspective
of who they think we are wins us social recognition. Who we are in
public
and who we are in the privacy of our own minds, are usually two
different
people. When one observes the reality of our culture from the
perspective
that actions speak louder than words, one can observe hypocrisy
everywhere.
So, whose fault is it anyway? An age old question. If we are
good people,
how do we hold those who are bad accountable? How do we define "bad"?
In
America, "bad" has become whatever the white male majority defines as
bad.
Thus, even though the constitution was written so that all men would be
treated equal. It was interpreted that only certain white men deserved
that privilege. Women, indentured servants, and people of color were
automatically
excluded. This was the condition in America when this very document was
drafted. Women were seen and not heard, there were many white
indentured
servants working off contracts to their Lords (feudalism), and there
was
already a brisk trade in black slaves from Africa. So why did those
so-called
patriots even draft such a document? Was it just to have something to
wave
at the King of England as proof that they stood for something? When
indeed,
the very rights they aspired to achieve for themselves, they in turn
denied
to people under their control. Let it be known, that as a concept of
social
organization, they destroyed the very constitution they fought so hard
to put in place, at the very point of its inception. The proof is
evident
in America today. Since it's inception, the constitution has been a
fraud.
The fact that even today, racism is institutionalized in America shows
that never in our history has it stood for what it meant. The children
of Africans brought here as slaves still fight against oppression in
America
today. Women are still second class citizens across the board. Fighting
for the right to have control over their own bodies. We have laws that
forbid a woman to make decisions for herself. The concept of organized
labor in this country has struggled for 200 years, and still it
struggles
for fairness and does not get it. We are still indentured servants,
paying
the lord for the piece of land he leases us, and most of us are quit
busy
working off our debt to him.
So, Who's fault is it? If we are to make decisions for
ourselves, it
must be ours. The whole concept of the U.S. Constitution was way ahead
of its time. The words and the concepts are valid and well written. We
have spent 200 years belaboring a simple profound document with
mountains
of reinterpretation. Because, unfortunately we are still barbarians and
we could not accept the simple truth of that document. The Christian,
in
his pursuit of happiness, cannot be happy if someone else is sinning
nearby.
The Racist must overcome his own sense of inferiority, by making
someone
else more inferior than him. The Capitalist must make profit no matter
what. Individually, most of us have not arrived at the level of moral
commitment
necessary to participate in the U.S. Constitution as it was originally
intended. Those among us who would be racists will not permit equality.
Those who would force the concepts of their god on us will not allow a
woman freedom of choice. Those who control the wealth will not allow
all
Americans to be prosperous. These people will not believe on Karma.
They
will not accept the responsibility for their actions or the
consequences
of those actions. They don't care about the world they leave their
children.
If it will have food, or fresh water to drink, or even air that is good
to breathe. They are selfish; they live only for the immediacy of their
own needs. Which brings us back to the first thought. How do we get bad
people to be good? Most of these individuals would rather die than see
their agenda's put to rest. This is why the U.S. Constitution can not
be
realized for the principle's it dared to uphold.
In order for the U.S. Constitution to be fully realized in
America,
we must individually embark upon a road of hardship. We must make the
choice
to walk away from the racist in our lives. We must allow women the
right
to their own choices. We must walk away from oppression in our own
country.
This will not be easy. The racist, the industrialist, and the sexist
are
all one in the same. They are evil. Evil will not make the rational
choice
to be good. It derives its power from being evil, and we all fear
losing
what power we have. But we cannot be uninvolved. This does affect us
all;
we can all see the level to which evil is rising in our country. The
problem
with evil is it never has enough? It must always have more. It will not
stop until all of our lives are laying in ruin. All of our homes will
be
wrecked, we will despise each other, and we will oppress each other
more
so than we already do. The level of hostility we show towards each
other,
as strangers will increase. We are already fighting for food, and
resources,
like dogs under our Masters table. This is humiliating and
dehumanizing.
We are systematically being reduced and isolated, pitted against each
other,
when we are not each other's enemy. The enemy is anyone who cannot
abide
by the constitution in its purest form. With integrity and respect for
all people.
Unfortunately, at this point in American history, we are all
being held
hostage. We don't grow our own food, we don't produce our own power,
and
we don't own our own shelter. We are ridiculously in debt to the Lord
(banking
industrialist). This distracting consumer frenzy we've been driven to
is
destroying our planet, which is making it harder for all of us to
survive.
This is not an easy situation to address. The enemy would rather die
than
lose, and it will win in any form of chaos that ensues. But if we make
the choice within ourselves to change we can prevail. Do you work for a
company that makes a good environmentally safe product? Do you work for
a company that pays you a real living wage? Do you work for a company
that
produces weapons of war? Less of those will definitely help the future
be more peaceful. Do you know racists? When you agree with them you
support
them. Do you seek to deny women the right to control their own bodies?
You don't have that right, no matter what you think god wants. Women
are
free to make their own choices, just like you and me. Choose to let
others
live their lives. As much as we identify the issues of the day with
persons
and entities outside of ourselves, we are as much the source. We must
endeavor
to look within, and set ourselves on the right track. If we set
ourselves
thusly, we will make different decisions, and those decisions will help
change America into what we believe we think it should be. We already
do
this. But look at what we've made. We can make something else.
It is our fault, after all. Do you work for a company that
produces
weapons of war? Do you want to see your children killed by the weapons
you produce? Do you work for a Pharmaceutical company who only interest
is in having Americans be completely dependent upon drugs? Which is why
these companies spend lots of money lobbying to keep natural processes
of healing out of mainstream reach. Do you work for an Oil company that
has bought up the patents for cheap solar power, just so that it can
continue
to have a monopoly on power? Do you work for a media outlet that
purposefully
controls what information the American people are exposed to? Or one
that
tells blatant lies? Do you work in the Banking industry, our most
corrupt
and evil business concept? Are you a racist Law Enforcement officer
with
no morals? Do you but products made by slave labor in developing
nations?
Nations who are still developing because in order to keep the cost of
resources
low, western industrialists have consistently invested money and
weapons
to keep these communities from succeeding. We are all enmeshed in this
pattern of corruption. It is destroying our planet. It is destroying
the
definition of humanity we all aspire to. The evidence isn't hiding from
us; we just refuse to look at it, because we don't know what to do
about
it. A start would be to speak up. A second would be to only give your
energy
to concepts that promote life and sustainability for the future. Which
means you need to do your homework. Understanding you can't always
trust
info from America's mainstream media. Their job is to confuse the truth
and convince you of the lie. You must become involved in your local
community
and learn to accept its diversity. We must begin to discuss what is
required
for all of us to survive. Not just a select few. We can make better
choices,
more of us are doing so everyday. Our little lifeboat in space is
getting
fuller. If it sinks we all drown. Make good choices!
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