friday the thirteenth

fear. 
more security. 
less freedom. 
more fear. 
more security. 
less freedom. 
more fear. 
more security. 
less freedom. 
more fear. 
more security. 
less freedom. 
more fear. 
more security. 
less freedom. 
more fear...

more controls will never solve the problems 
caused by a profound lack of freedom. 
it never did work that way, never will.


making more war won't ever bring peace to this planet

i don't care who started it
it doesn't matter who did it
if they use the fear it created 
to sell us all more war


when the voice of authority talks about peace
what they mean is submission 
(we won't have to beat you up if you'd just do what we say)
which is why war is a game everybody loses

death cult, infinite 
self-destruct sequence, 
never gets to zero 
just starts back up again. 
revolution is just spin. 
we know since it had 
a definite beginning, 
it can end. just like that. 
that is what hope means. 
they want us to keep it inside 
the box where it doesn't fit.


they'd never know 
if peace could work 
if they never tried it. 
not an authorized option
so it's too scary. 
peace doesn't count 
so they can't try it. 
if they never try it, 
they can't know if it would work....


can't seem to put it in words how it feels

to live in a world where war rages on
the loss of some lives are mourned
young men trained to kill are heros
and all you people do about it is pray
as if the god of war cares about you
more than the ones you call enemy
because you have status and wealth
or the right color skin on your face

when prophecy fails

had a wonderful dream
but it isn't fair
somebody kept their promise
and i know you can't count on that

the sound of minds slamming shut (or, cognitive dissonance) revisited

law is a violent institution,
and we expect it to protect us from violence.
("war is peace")
how is that supposed to work?

maybe, if our society is so terribly violent (it is)
and if we want that to change (do we?),
we might need to address the issue in a different way.

from the DOJ:

We define domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.

why should that definition not also apply to institutions of societal control?

sometimes a douchebag is just a douchebag

everybody deserves to be treated with kindness and respect. and when they aren't, it is perfectly reasonable for them to be unhappy about it. happiness is not a reward for only thinking good thoughts, and the lack of happiness is not a punishment for being the wrong kind of person. nobody asks to be mistreated. nobody wants to be mistreated. nobody goes out hoping to be raped or to come down with chronic illness. stop blaming the victims. bad things happen to good people all the time. it's not their fault.

plato was a douchebag, too:
"We won't allow poets to say that the punished are made wretched and that it was a god who made them so. But we will allow them to say that bad people are wretched because they are in need of punishment and that, in paying the penalty, they are benefited by the gods."

mind manipulations, again

divisive rhetoric serves one purpose, to keep us fighting each other instead of the institutions of oppression.

exodus

spiritual wisdom isn't for sale
you can't just pick it up in the gift shop at the luxury spa resort
no matter how much you paid to hear the guru talk at you
you can't just slap the words "native american" on it
and give it some elevated status
that the native americans themselves
never had

friendstacy
(copy/pasted from facebook)

friendstacy on groupthink (again)

democracy is not freedom. it is majority rule. and the majority are idiots who agree to let the few rule over the rest of us, so we get a republic instead. which is even further from freedom than anyone cares to think about. but you know, people talk that smack. and they will say anything they think you want to hear except the truth. because bullshit sells and truth by definition is free. and freedom is the last thing they want to happen. it scares them terribly.

a story

story from a cherokee friend
as close as i can get it to his telling


so let me tell you
this story i heard
a long time ago
there was this boy...

to get to the fertile river valley
where the good hunting grounds were,
he had to cross some mountains.

along the way he came across a snake
the boy saw that the snake was struggling
and gave him some of his water
he was a big strong boy
and had brought more than enough
for himself and to share

the snake gratefully drank the water
and when he was feeling refreshed
he asked the boy if he might carry him
"you can just sit me on top of your backpack
i am not very big and you are very strong"

they boy hesitated but did not object
he carefully picked up the snake
gently placed him on top of his pack
and the two continued their journey
together

it wasn't so long before they reached the other side
where the river flows and the good hunting can be found
as the boy was helping the snake to the ground
suddenly and without warning
the snake struck and bit him on the leg

as the boy lay there in agony
he asked the snake why did he do that
after the journey and friendship they had shared

"because i'm a snake,  that's what snakes do"

revolution is just spin

that is what grouping people up is for, to make war. that is why i've always been an anarchist (except if you ask the group calling themselves that, they would say i'm not one of them, either).

they got a universalist pope a hundred years too late

science doesn't have to agree with the bible upon penalty of death anymore and adam and eve isn't the only creation story ever told. try wrapping your head around other ways of looking at the world, it might just blow your mind.

a round dylan

cheat 'til you win
make new rules
change the story
as you go along
don't get caught
deny everything

(something is happening)
what's a sweetheart like you
(but you don't know what it is)
doin' in a place like this?
(do you, mister jones?)

and the words that are used
(my pathway led)
to get the ship confused
(by confusion boats)
will not be understood
(mutiny from stern to bow)
as they're spoken
(but i was so much older then)

divide and conquer (remix)

they always tell you
"question authority!"
(so long as it isn't theirs)

both sides 

are being played

against each other

same as it ever was

****

divide and conquer (sept 2013)

driving divisive rhetoric home
with emotional mindwash
so nobody will notice
political agenda at the wheel
...
"you are either with us or you are against us"
how dare you not join the party! heretic!
off with her head!

scars, a work in progress

i had to tell myself first
it isn't your fault,
what they did to you
that's where it starts
blame churns and boils
cauterizes the wound
then it washes away
with the pain and hurt

consent

i don't believe in opting out. i believe the default answer should be no unless you specifically say yes.

it's about respecting boundaries...

the lack of such respect is why some people talk about society in terms of it being a culture of rape. but not the yes-people, they hate it when you do that, when you say no.

i reject atheism on the same grounds that i reject religion: it just doesn't work for me.

i reject the notion that some thoughts and feelings are bad. i think that is just some whacked out control trip, to make us feel like there's something wrong with us that we need them (some religion or guru or self-help expert or doctor or head shrinker) to fix for us.

i reject the notions that we should ever accept what causes us pain and that pain makes us stronger or better somehow.

and i reject the notion that anybody knows what is best/good for anyone but themselves.

on earth day and every other day, i do believe that all land is sacred and divine. i believe that when you cause harm to the planet, you are hurting all of us, and this pain is what tells us something is wrong. to ignore or deny it only enables the abuse to continue.

hand-me-down blues

government can't possibly solve the problems that it creates. you can't have a small ruling class without oppression. that is how it was designed. corruption is inherent to the system. the only thing different now than when plato laid it all out for us is that we no longer think of that oppression and corruption as something that is good for us, so now they deny the nature of the beast, try to hide it.

big brother's little sister

first shoe landed with a thud and
everyone will act so surprised
like we've never been played
this same way before
when the other shoe falls
...
we don't need a better candidate
a prettier shoe for jackbooted thugs
to stand on our necks with
and blame us for what they do
because the people voted
giving all their power away
along with the right to say no
no!  no fucking more!  no no no
you are only allowed an obedient
yes
yes we can
pick from the options
and call it a choice

revenge blames
calls for justice
demands punishment
creates more war
solves nothing

sometimes i cry (revisited)

they medicate children like me
they poke them and prod them
call it science, or worse, helping
you think the kids don't notice
when parents loudly demand
kindness, understanding, respect
while they ridicule the adults
who were born the same way?

...
more and more people are overly sensitive
to an increasingly toxic environment
and they want to fix us, instead

i wrote a poem about that
those words on paper
steal the land and claim
ownership over life itself
nobody wanted to see
what the mirror doesn't show
don't waste our time, we're busy

these things do matter, they do make a difference.

the earth is sacred, without her we would not exist, but she is not mother. mothers die. the earth will still be here even if we kill off everything that lives on it. you don't tame the wildness, you destroy it. you destroy it out of lack of respect for the sanctity of the earth. you are taught to fear that which should be held sacred and your mind slams shut at the thought that you might be responsible for what you have done.

football is a celebration of aggression, domination, and war. so how appropriate that the players would enjoy a board game during their time off that glorifies dominance over the earth? it's not a harmless game. #catan

green eggs and ham

incendiary divisive rhetoric
benefits only the state
if people stop listening
...***censored***...
invent a new bad guy
for the people to hate

anarchy is not an ism

to define freedom negates it. and then they call that negative freedom something else, anything except what it really is, control.

freedom is the only logical solution to all of the problems that control creates, but they say freedom doesn't count as a solution, because you aren't telling people what to do!!!