because, trolls

...the issue is that a man is only as good as his word, and our government has made breaking their word official policy. this must be addressed. nobody is talking about taking anything away from the conquerors, only that they make good on their promises. if the treaties signed by representatives of the government are meaningless, we must also question their claim to authority. are these the kind of people we want making laws and deciding for us what is right and what is wrong?

what kind of government tear gasses their own citizens? do they not serve us? we know who they serve, and it's not us.

#reruns

no matter who gets s/elected

to play the role

they are selling us more war

which rich old white guy 

represents me 

or anything i stand for 

or believe in? 

the nazi or the vampire? 

how about none of the above?

the greater good is like the lesser evil, it doesn't really exist

the words "common good" (greater good) were co-opted by the republic from the very start. it means that which is good for the state, assuming the state is good for the people, which it is not and never was, except for the few who stand to profit from the making of laws. even plato decided it wasn't really a good idea, after the republic was written, and after they killed his teacher.

i said "ow!" and they told me to shut up

(because, #reruns ...again)

i find it impossible to believe that government will ever be able to solve the problems that its existence creates. it's not about hurting your feelings, it's about being lied to for too long.

when we believe lies, it not only hurts ourselves, but it hurts everyone else who hears those lies when we repeat them.

and they repeat those same lies, not knowing how much it hurts, and pretty soon you have fabricated public opinion. mass media only speeds up the process.

i said "ow!" and they told me to shut up, they would rather believe the lies than admit how much they have contributed to perpetuating the pain.

you are responsible for the words you use that hurt. accusing me of hurting you by pointing that out is not fair, but it is symptomatic of the abuses we have all endured living in this society that is based upon control rather than on any kind of real freedom.

now tell me again about this imaginary good government that is gonna come save us from the bad government. do you think i haven't already heard it a thousand times before?

"but this time it's different" .... yeah, we heard that before, too.

friendstacy, november, 2011

denial rules the world

new age brainwash
forgiveness and light
the torture never ends
good positive thinking
and blame the victim
you know, for good measure

question

if you remove all the fallacies from the news, if you remove the divisive rhetoric and the emotional triggers, and the attempts to tell people what to think, is there anything left?

propaganda 101

when it's about divisive rhetoric it's not about facts,
it's about emotional manipulation.
it's about creating an image of the bad guys
to scare us into joining the group to fight the evil.
it's about twisting the facts and presenting them in such a way
that truth and knowledge is no longer a part of the equation.
it's about stirring the shit and keeping us fighting each other
instead of working together to solve the problems.
don't call it facts.
if any of it were truly factual
they wouldn't be telling us what to think,
they wouldn't be hiding information
that might lead some to disagree
with what they want us to think.
if it were true, they wouldn't be so afraid
of anyone doing any thinking for themselves.

question authority!

if you never question authority
how would you know if they're shooting you straight?

and if they were shooting you straight
why would they mind being questioned?

off with her head!

they want to believe so badly that the system might actually work if we just elect the right person for the job, unaware that their belief is the only thing propping up the whole house of cards.

another revolution?

it's all the same script,
same roles we've seen acted out a hundred times before.
follow the leader never did get us very far.

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

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."

copy/paste here

rational discourse doesn't rely upon emotional triggers and red herrings and ad hominem attacks and appeals to authority. such fallacies are all signs of persuasive/divisive rhetoric instead. bullies who are like that want you to fight back, because violence is the only thing they understand.

********

the wardens live in the same prison as the rest of us, they just get special status and privileges denied to others... tricks people into thinking the game can be won.
(hashtag panopticon)

the only thing the rulers were born with that the rest of us don't have is money
(friendstacy on the divine right of kings)

*********

who is going to want to take the energy to try to explain something you have already decided you don't want to know and closed your mind to the possibility? it's like running face first into a brick wall. no fun.

strawman

lemme see
if i get this straight
you borrow something
an idea, but just a part
maybe steal it instead
twist it all around
then ridicule
the absurdity
of the train wreck
you made of something
you never understood
in the first place

there's a name for that