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United States of Apathy

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Ethan Indigo Smith
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By Ethan Indigo Smith

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

"Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty five percent would rather die than think." ~ Thomas Edison

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853 falling off
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To examine the world today, politically and socially, is complex task. There are indeed so many complexities to the postmodern world that it is as if the more you learn, the less sure you become. It's difficult to define exactly what postmodern even is.

The best way to analyze problems in order to find solutions is to simplify their dynamics. If we were to boil down the problems of the social and political problems of the world today we would find that there are some consistencies in what at first might seem like disconnected concoctions.

One of the main shared qualities is perhaps the tendency to for people act either as exploiters in pursuit of gaining control or, in contrast, are apathetic to exploiters. These behaviors - being exploitative or being apathetic to exploitation - are nearly never spontaneous but have been instituted into our societal systems. Indeed these modes may be so deeply engrained that we mistake them as being 'natural', and they go unnoticed. But an honest look at our present -- the steering of our perceptions through media and tightening of laws regarding the sharing of information on subjects that might shake apathy - reveals that there exists a tendency among those at the top of our societal pyramid to limit our sensitivity to our own exploitation at the bottom of the pyramid.

It is surely not a natural tendency to be so exploitative, or to be so tolerant of exploitation. But today, there have never before been so many people so apathetic to to the exploitation going on around them, and the evil perpetuated against humanity has never been so extensive. Such unprecedented extremes can only be achieved by inches; by careful manipulation.

The Five Percenters

"There is natural ignorance and there is artificial ignorance. I should say at the present moment the artificial ignorance is at about eighty-five percent." ~ Ezra Pound

The Nation of Gods and Earths is a community organization that began in New York City. The group, distinct from Nation of Islam, was founded by Clarence 13X, a member of Malcolm X's N.O.I. congregation, before Clarence and then Malcolm left the N.O.I. The Nation of Gods and Earths, or Five Percenters, numerically theorized the pyramid system in the same manner as Edison and Ezra.

The theory is that 85% of people are lost. The 85% are easily misled and manipulated and die without knowing who they really are. The 10% are the exploiters of the poor and lost, the 85%. The 10% are responsible for and benefit from societal manipulation. And then there are the 5% - those who attempt to do the right thing and free the minds of the 85% from life under the thumb of the 10%.

The relationship between these natural roles within an exploited society can best be understood through the adage of the Wise Monkeys. This set of four is most often seen as a set of three, but there are indeed four parts. The Wise Monkeys are commonly known as Hear No evil, See No Evil and Speak No Evil. These are reactions, born out of fear. The fourth monkey is Fear No Evil, and he holds his dantien or lower abdominal region, the area of the body from which all actions root, as the Asian cultures that originally used the monkey allegory believe.

http://wakeup-world.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/4-wise-monkeys-speak-see-hear-fear-no-evil1.jpg

The 85% are described as blind and deaf to evil, and are like the monkeys with hands over eyes and ears. The 10% are referred to as the rich slave makers of the poor, and are like the monkey covering its mouth, holding the secrets of evil. And the rare 5% are known as the poor righteous teachers, or fear no evil, the fourth monkey. Fear No Evil does not take action or reaction in fear. In fact he is depicted in a meditative position. Symbolizing truth, the antithesis of evil, he exists without fear; fear of outsiders, fear of alternative perspective or lifestyles, fear of the truth, fear of what reality may be seen, heard or spoken.

Tricked to Do Evil

Perhaps this approximation of 85-10-5 has always been about constant in pyramidal/oligarchical societies. Perhaps there have always been around 10% who are slave makers, 85% who are oblivious and apathetic to their own bondage, and the 5% who seek to instigate consciousness among the 85% so that the 10% don't kill us all.

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Ethan Indigo Smith Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter Page       Linked In Page       Instagram Page

Ethan was raised in Maine, Manhattan, and Mendocino, California. Ethan has traveled the world and has been employed as a Private Detective, a dishwasher, a valet, a snowboard instructor and always a poet. Ethan Indigo Smith (more...)
 

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