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Recharging

Recently, La Sirena asked: Hey Joe, Are you still out there somewhere?

Yes, I’m still out here somewhere :-) Just busy with end-of-year-software cycle deadlines at work, Xmas shopping, and all the seasonal events.

And also taking a break from politics, recharging.

Curiosity killed the cat, so the saying goes. Anyway, a couple of years ago I got interested in all the evil things my country was doing in my name with my tax dollars and my apathetic blessing — not that my country doesn’t do a damn lot of awesome great things, mind you, but, you know, it’s like having the greatest-tasting bowl of soup in the world and the President puts a dead roach in it, only recently there have been a LOT of dead roaches flicked in our bowl of soup. So, to continue the allegory, I decided I would stop being apathetic and start telling people about the roaches in our soup.

And, some people were really glad I pointed out there was a roach in their soup; they had no idea the true nature of the sweet-tasting crap they’d been slurping down.

And others, they were really pissed, but not at the person who put the roach in their soup, but at the person who pointed it out to them. And they wouldn’t look at the roach in their soup, but kept saying it was still the best soup in the world, and there was maybe a split bean that sort of looked like a mashed roach, but believe them, it was NOT a roach, and they kept slurping down their soup and liking it.

As I was saying, curiosity killed the cat, and the deeper I dug into the news…the real news…the correction on page A18 two months after the disinforming front-page headline has become accepted fact…the deeper I dug, the more I got pissed off that most Americans have their heads buried in the sand and don’t give a rat’s behind about the rest of the world, and they’ll lie about it and say they do and give a couple bucks to help the tsunami victims in some island they can’t bother to find on a map, but I’ve found that the majority of Americans have a civility that’s inversely related to the length of the line at the gas pump.

That realization…the real deep-down realization of it…had me a bit disillusioned. And it made me grouchy, and probably not fun to be around.

You know, humans today are born with the same neural and emotional equipment as humans at the advent of recorded history. History does repeat itself. One person can’t really make a difference, unless they’re in the right place at the right time, and if they don’t step up, somebody else will probably fill that spot. So, I’ve been sort of avoiding the news of the evil we’re doing lately…I’m coming around to Barbara Bush’s way of thinking, and wondering why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? Why not pretend everything’s happy. Since things aren’t going to change, maybe I can change myself.

When I was in college, I often grabbed lunch in front of the TV, and for a while my another roommate and I got into watching Days of our Lives. At first it was sort of like, flicking through the channels and going, “Dang, there’s a couple of pretty hot girls on this soap opera…” and the next day, it was like, “…nothing’s on again…let’s check on those two hot girls we ran across yesterday…” and after a couple of days we got hooked.

It was all interesting for a while. Until the same relationship plots started repeating ad infinitum.

Today, America — or most any corporate-run fascist society — works like this:

Our leaders lie so their rich friends can steal more money.
Middle class America sucks it down with StarBucks whipped cream on top.
A few curious folk point out that our leaders stabbed us in the back.
Our leaders’ rich friends say, “Hey, look at Britney! No panties!”
Then, our leaders lie so their rich friends can steal more money.
repeat ad infinitum.

And so, now when somebody gets all excited and says the rotten CIA just destroyed all the tapes they made of torturing people, I have to shrug. It’s business as usual. After all, an FAA manager took a tape filled with flight controller interviews and helped get to the bottom of 9/11 by “crushing the tape with his hand, cutting it into small pieces and depositing the pieces into trash cans around the building.”

Same story. Brain wash. Spin rinse. Repeat the crime.

You know what would be real news? If any of the foxes in the henhouse ever get punished.

So, I am curious as to how it will all turn out, but even that’s not much of a mystery. Once Rome ruled the world. Spain ruled it, too. And then England. And, America. And they all thought they were special. And they WERE each very special, but their empires weren’t immortal. And so, we’ll find a way to tuck our tail between our legs and spin it as victory, and in a hundred years our dollar will be used for TP and the military bases will rust, and some other country will convince everybody that it’s the shining light of the world and then maybe they can be the police and we can get universal health care and get rid of some of the paranoid warmongers.

But, for now, how about a chapter from Eckhart Tolle! :-)

Read More: Recharging, America, empire, Eckhart Tolle

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Recharging”

Indigobusiness says:

Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 11:38 pm

Shoot the messenger, the war has no panties!

Reply
Lynne says:

Friday, December 7, 2007 at 6:52 am

“First of all you have to note, from the public side, that very few Americans actually function as citizens anymore. What I mean by that are people who invest themselves in this country, people who care, who give a damn. Americans are primarily consumers today, and so long as they continue to wrap themselves in the cocoon of comfort, and the system keeps them walking down a road to the perceived path of prosperity, they don’t want to rock the boat. If it doesn’t have a direct impact on their day-to-day existence, they simply don’t care.”—Scott Ritter

Welcome back Joe.

Reply
La Sirena says:

Friday, December 7, 2007 at 10:17 am

Yes!!! I have recently come to the same conclusion myself.

And about a month or two ago, my brilliant mother and I were discussing how probably our days as an international superpower are coming to a close — see all of the historical examples you gave — and how nice it would be to focus on things like healthcare and education and not having to have wars and military excursions all of the time.

Nice to hear from you. You write so well.

Reply
Brent says:

Friday, December 7, 2007 at 3:20 pm

Keep on recharging the batteries. The world needs a person who points out that there are dead roaches in our soup. There are so few of them out there, but they can continue to point out the bugs until you are ready. So recharge and remember not to come back until you are ready to get back into the fight. After all, some of the bravest people are those who know that they cannot win against the power, but still fight to win.

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pelmo says:

Friday, December 7, 2007 at 10:16 pm

When Oprah gets more air time, then all the presidential candidates put together, for her endorsment of a candidate; then we deserve whatever happens, for allowing it. It is sad that only a handfull of us know what is going on, and most important care about it.

Reply
Matt McClure says:

Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 8:11 pm

HI Joe,
I went through the same cycle a couple years ago, in my own way. I caught the 9/11 bug, started researching constantly, started a podcast about it (911 news), dove deeper into the world of shadow politics, the shadow of everything I learned in school, all the while marvelling at what was said on the nightly news; its like the delivery of a nightly dose of mind-numbing medicine to the masses via there ‘Tube’ (it is a tube, isn’t it? A Feeding tube for the masses). I’m amazed at the number of commercials for medicine. IT’s so blatant, I can’t believe the world doesn’t see it! Every night it’s, FEAR-FEAR-FEAR-(break to commercial)-is something wrong? take this medicine…are you feeling sad? depressed? Worthless? Do you have something wrong physically? take this medicine too…(back to program) FEAR-FEAR-FEAR-FEAR-(commercial break)-are you experiencing anxiety? Tell your doctor you want this medicine -(back to program) FEAR VIOLENCE UNCERTAINTY- FEAR VILOENCE UNCERTAINTY, CRAZY CONSPIRACY THEORISTS-FEAR-FEAR-FEAR. (break to commercial)……..The evening news is amazing…..and people voluntarily submit themselves to this mindwashing process! That’s what’s so weird about it! It’s voluntary! Ah…but I digress…

I eventually got so deep and wide into the world of secret societies and back room dealings and CIA origins and bloodlines, exopolotics, etc.. that I came full circle. I started reading Acharya S. and Jan Irvin and Jordan Maxwell, and learning about the fact that there’s nothing new under the sun. Then realized that I was incubating cynicism. The wrongdoings and ingenious plots constantly unfolding before our eyes is such a stupendous and AWEful carnival show that it became a stimulant, and I began to neglect my self and my dreams in the name of some feeling of self-righeousness I got everytime I read about evil politicians. I decided to lay off, I quit doing the podcast, and now I just keep my eye on the world, occasionally visiting prisonplanet, 911blogger, maybe give out copies of Zeitgeist, remind folks in simple caveman language: “TV Bad, Outdoors good. TV Bad, books good. TV bad, friends good. TV Bad, family good.”
As you said, the pattern, once you see it, is pretty obvious, and every headline is predictable as a bad sitcom and transparent like glass.

I definitly feel I’ve found balance, now.
Anyway, keep up the good work, whatever you decide to focus your energies on.

Reply
Lynne says:

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 6:56 am

Good place to recharge (everyone) is cute overload
We frequently need to reminded of the good in the world. I know I do.

Reply
Jodi says:

Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 2:41 pm

Hey Baby!
I miss you!!! Sorry our leaders are getting you down. If you ever really want to get pissed off, you could always go to Florida during the Red Tide, and listen to a bunch of System Engineers talk about Cradle. That is enough to make anyone’s brain go numb and forget about all the selfishness in the world.

Reply
James says:

Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 6:15 pm

“but, you know, it’s like having the greatest-tasting bowl of soup in the world and the President puts a dead roach in it,” Sooooooo TRUE!!!! Great example.

I think you’re right on the fall of America as a super power but I am really cynical and I think that some other country will invade us once we are no longer strong. Hopefully not.

Reply
Jodi says:

Friday, December 14, 2007 at 2:45 am

p.s.

Nobody says “Hey look at Britney” better than Britney herself.

Reply
Xman says:

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 8:16 am

Geez, Joe!
As usual, you put into words what I can’t say well myself…but my gut feels, real well. I’m sure this is the same for more and more Americans.
There will always be rats in our soup and those who put them there, but hopefully, there will always be people like you ( a Mongoose) who loves chasing down rats. You provide a forum for all use Mongooses, to get smarter and stay healthy…and keep doing the good work of chasing rats and helping others see the rats in their soup.
I would think a version of your post would be welcome in a whole lot of editiorial pages across America.

Reply
JoeC says:

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 7:20 am

Thanks for the comps and commiseration, everybody. You’ve all got some excellent thoughts, and I think IndigoBusiness has hit on what will become the catch phrase we will remember the decade of the 2000s by: The War Has No Panties!!! :-) That’s still cracking me up…T-shirts and bumper stickers need to be made, if only to enjoy the confused looks they evoke.

Reply

Recharging

12 Responses to “Recharging”

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