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Tag(s): American Facism; American Peoples Congress; Americans-Things American; Capitalism; Class; Congress; Corporations; Democratic; Dollar; Economic; (more...) Free Press; Freedom; Freedom Of The Press; Freedoms; George; History; Hitler; Ignorance; International; Internet; Internet; Laws; Living; Media; Neo-cons; Newspapers; OpEdNews; People; Politics; Population; Real; Religion; Republican; Voting; Wake (less...)
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November 30, 2007 at 12:32:25

America Is Not Free

by ibrahim turner (Posted by ibrahim turner) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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What is the meaning of this title? What is freedom anyway?

I could begin by listing all the heinous crimes and misdemeanors of George Bush and Dick Cheney, and all the Neo-cons writing Strategic Policies and advising the President that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, and that it would be a ‘cakewalk. Many have listed them ad infinitum on OpEdNews – some advocating this or that ‘answer to the crisis of Democracy’ in the United States. Impeachment – holding the Democrats’ feet to the fire and so on, to no apparent avail.

Many of these ‘solutions’ call on galvanizing the population of Americans to ‘wake up’ and ‘do something’. Like voting for Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul. Or organizing a ‘boycott’ of the international corporations to ‘bring them to their knees’ and force a compromise with said corporations – nothing hurts them more than attacking their ‘bottom line.’ Or, like Code Pink, occupying Senators offices and reading the Constitution until they are arrested.

What nearly everyone, both negative and positive writers, seem unable to grasp, although a few have mentioned the lack of interest of the general population in doing anything, is that, due to the dumbing down of the pernicious TV and newspapers, the American public is not only ill informed, but positively embrace their ignorance of their country and the larger world.

There is a saying that may have originated in the UK and says it all – “I’m alright Jack’. As long as I have a job, a home, a car and food on the table, then politics, like religion, is almost taboo in the general populace. Oh I nearly forgot, as long as I have the latest gadget/iPod/100 inch TV to watch ‘American Idol’ and the like, then don’t bother me with politics. In the run up to the election season, which by the way, seems to be the longest in the history of the world, there is a blitzkrieg of negative and positive ads bombarding the airwaves in order to ‘elect’ the corporate choice of candidates on both sides of the aisle’.

This is a quite universal condition. It is a particular mindset. It also permeates the online community as they rail against the ongoing and latest Bush signing statements or the Democratic spinelessness. Some of course, think that the Democrats are part of the problem, being tied to the Corporations just like the Republicans, making the ‘lesser of two evils’ the voting choice of ordinary people.

How did this come about? Has it arisen recently or has it been building for some time? What if it is inherently a human ‘group’ and ‘individual’ condition?

Many philosophers and gurus, including Jesus, advocated that we ‘Wake and Watch’, as in the garden of Gethsemane. Many have said that people are asleep. Behaviorists think that people are conditioned, act like robots but have the illusion of being whole, one person, with opinions that he or she has thought out, come to after due consideration, and are rational human beings.

If the gurus are to be believed, that is so far from the truth as the moon is from the earth. We do not make our own decisions – it may ‘seem’ like it – but can you honestly say that society, your family and friends have had absolutely no influence on your opinions, say since you were 10 years old? The Jesuits had a saying, “give me a boy before he is seven and I’ll give you the man”. What does that really mean? Does it mean that what you learn before you are seven will shape you and put you on a certain path, and that everything you learn after seven will not have the same effect?

America has a certain ‘mindset’ that eschews revolution even though it is quoted in the Constitution as necessary from time to time. France seems to have another mindset, where taking to the streets is almost a way of life, perhaps because of the storming of the Bastille. Oh how I wish Americans had a bit of the Bastille spirit! Even Britain has a history, what with Guy Fawks and the ‘Gunpowder plot’ and the overthrow of the Monarchy by Oliver Cromwell. The history of European countries have, without a comprehensive survey, had their ‘fascist’ times, with the Mussolini in Italy, The ‘Spanish War’ bringing Franco, and of course Germany with Hitler. This is outside of the eastern European countries going ‘communist’ under the yoke of the U.S.S.R.

So what was the ‘mindset’ of these various peoples at the time? Were they all deluded, coerced by illusions of nationalism, communism, capitalism or what? Do people have illusions? What about the ‘American Dream’, where ‘it is said’ anyone can become the President of the United States of America?

A moment’s refection will bring one to the conclusion that unless you have a few million dollars that is patently false. Is it really the ‘land of the free and home of the brave’? Or are Americans just like the rest of us – usually browbeaten into being economic slaves of the ruling class, which today are the CEOs of the transnational corporations?

They control the media, and there is a bill in Congress right now that, if passed, will extend their hold over the media even further. Why do they want more control? Is it because they know what works for ‘them’ - and they want more of it? They know how to manipulate public opinion; how to manage the information that you are allowed to see as ‘news’ conditioning you in many pernicious ways with an army of ‘writers’ and ‘pundits’ who feed the ‘message’ to the public for a predetermined result – namely, the continuation of the status quo.

All of the laws that have been passed by the Bush Administration has been a gradual, incremental, step-by-step, plan to keep you all distracted, while the powers to enact a police state, have been stealthily enacted. The process is almost complete.

What the Internet bloggers and writers have is an avenue of information that is unique in history, giving the opportunity for people to get information without the screen of the main stream media bias. But it is under attack, both with ‘trolls’ spreading misinformation and working from a not-so-hidden agenda to influence opinion. And there are moves in Congress to ‘regulate’ the Internet too.

What I mean by the title “America Is Not Free” is that all of our learned responses and opinions based on upbringing which fed us the illusions that afflict us all, is that we take our opinions and illusions with us when we sit down to read OpEdNews, to see what the dastardly George Bush and the Neocons have in store for America and the larger world.

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6 comments

Anti war, x-Democrat now Independent, violated US laws to help victims of US wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, raised several Nicaraguan children after war, still support some. They named me Papahoward...and Pocopelo (little hair) I support Dennis Kucinich; he has all the best ideas.
Francis HowardAnti war, x-Democrat now Independent, violated US laws to help victims of US wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, raised several Nicaraguan children after war, still support some. They named me Papahoward...and Pocopelo (little hair) I support Dennis Kucinich; he has all the best ideas.

Said it all

There's nothing I can add to these facts of American life.

by Francis Howard (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 10:17:11 AM

Hater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired
John HanksHater of Nazis above all. Hobbies include activism, military model building, military history, exciting and vital conversation with retired crooks. Retired

Forget informing and converting

Put signs in your car windows that say: Republicans Return to Their Vomit / Bush did 911 to Steal Trillions / Nazis, Crooks, Republicans - All the Same.

They ambushed us and threw us in a sack where they can beat the crap out of us. Charge both ways with short pithy truths.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1377 comments) on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 10:34:48 AM

SW Texas ultra-liberal
john riggsSW Texas ultra-liberal

Ibrahim wins a cigar

Boy you really pegged it dude. I feel it is not illusion but delusion. I always wondered how the beast would persuade people to take the mark, only he doesnt have to, they have taken it willingly. When GHWB announced "it is a big idea, a new world order" the idiots in congress applauded ! Can you believe it? The dummies are already marked, not with an outward tatoo or a chip, but in the forehead, in the mind. Political correctness IS the mark of the beast and the foolish take it willingly. Take for instance the 911 hoax. The poor dupes that bought into the farce will battle to the death rather than consider the mountain of physical and eyewitness evidence that exposes the poorly executed psyop.

And after the elections the sheep will go directly to the mind control media to see the pre-arranged outcome. It is a traumatic and painful experience to suddenly find all that you believed was true was a lie. Many know something is amiss but are scared to have the rug pulled out from under them. These we call the voluntary ignorant. It was with many tears and suffering that I separated myself from the mainstream school of thought and belief. Those who "sleep the sleep of death" are in for a rude awakening but the sooner the better.

by john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 440 comments) on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 10:36:31 AM

Conservative prolife anti-death penalty tree hugger. Believe that less government is good government, government cannot solve anyone's personal problems, the government taking money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people is a crime, and that people should take responsibility for their own lives.
Mad JayhawkConservative prolife anti-death penalty tree hugger. Believe that less government is good government, government cannot solve anyone's personal problems, the government taking money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people is a crime, and that people should take responsibility for their own lives.

But

"A moment’s refection will bring one to the conclusion that unless you have a few million dollars that is patently false."

Patently? The Clintons had virtually no money in the bank and did not even own a house when they moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Mrs Clinton even had to dirty her hands selling cattle futures, one of her only successes in life, to raise some cash, probably for Chelsea's braces or a prom dress. The Carters were not that much better off I believe. Of course, we all know that the Clintons cashed in with huge bookdeals, speaking contracts, and roledexs full of rich benefactors' names and left the White House with their pockets plumb full of cash and their U-Haul full of OUR furniture. A true American success story.

Sure it takes money to run for President, but it takes more than that as Perot and lots of others have proven. Looking at the candidates for both parties this year I think the system is working pretty well and we have good candidates over all from both parties.

The sad fact of life is that our representative government from top to bottom consists of people who either have the time (lawyers, real estate people, insurance people, ) or the money (which gives them the time) to run for and participate in office. There are some professional politicians like the Clintons who spend their entire professional lives living off the government but most people do not because they do not have the money or the time or drive to do so.

by Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 399 comments) on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 10:59:00 AM

Media

You are correct about the media. Corporate control of it has been terrible for this country. How much control the corporate bosses actually have over their news organizations is debatable however. I don't know. Knowing most organizations, they demand a profit from each division and if they do not get it consistently they will make changes. I guess corporations that own news organizations could allow them to operate in the red to satisfy some ideological goal but, from my experience, I doubt that they would allow that over the long haul.

Right now if you look at most news outlets with the exception of FOX they are losing viewers and readers at a huge rate. This is not good. I don't know if it is because of the content, the biases, or the fact that people do not trust media anymore. I don't trust any of them. That is good. If I don't trust them I do my own research. Just look at the recent Harvard study that came out and see how biased the media is. That is bad for the country no matter who they are biased towards. We need an honest, unbiased, investigative media that keeps all the politicans (not just the ones from one party) and corporations honest.

A famous highly biased talk show host taught a lot of people not to trust the MSM and that is good. Too many people listened to people like Dan Rather and believed every word he said when in fact he was slanting the news to fit his ideological agenda as do most network anchors. Until the talk show host pointed out how Rather and others was doing it and why he was doing it I had no idea. I trusted Uncle Dan and Uncle Howard. My mom thought that they were gods. A whole lot of people were taught to distrust Dan and company and the view of America they were selling. Unless you know how to watch the news and the people who bring it to you you are nothing but a sheep.

How to end corporate control of the media? Simple. End gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is at the root of most of our problems with government/corporate partnerships that are designed to screw us over. In fact gerrymandering is the root of all congressional evil. If gerrymandering cannot be ended then term limits is the next best solution. Get the SOBs out of there. People like DeLay and Murtha are bad for this country.

by Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 399 comments) on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 11:29:46 AM