(they don't know they're like that)

empowering those who have historically been oppressed isn't a threat to anything but your status as Superior to them. get off yer high horse and practice some humanity, for a change.

what are you so afraid of?

hypocrisy

i'm not sure i follow
how you think it's okay
to berate people for buying
the wrong strawberries
on your child slavery iphone
wearing your sweatshop clothes

dominance talk

why does it surprise me when people's minds slam shut, like they always do?  and why do i always feel like the bad guy whether i back down from the fight or not?  why can't they see it's a game nobody ever wins?  none of the options being presented to us represent any kind of real decision, nor any kind of real change.  and yeah, b'gawd, i did double space after my periods.  because it reads better that way.  maybe we all just need to pause a little bit longer...

we were so close to coming out of the dark alley, they felt a need to knock us all over the heads and drag us back in it. if voting equals good government, explain why there isn't one. argh. they can't possibly believe the stuff they spew.

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.

celebrating Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

how convenient it must be to forget how much you always hate on christians when you quote MLK, leave off the reverend part and call him a doctor instead. your mindsplit is showing, check your programming.

*****

"A final problem that mankind must solve in order to survive in the world house that we have inherited is finding an alternative to war and human destruction. Recent events have vividly reminded us that nations are not reducing but rather increasing their arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. The best brains in the highly developed nations of the world are devoted to military technology. The proliferation of nuclear weapons has not been halted, in spite of the limited-test-ban treaty.
In this day of man’s highest technical achievement, in this day of dazzling discovery, of novel opportunities, loftier dignities and fuller freedoms for all, there is no excuse for the kind of blind craving for power and resources that provoked the wars of previous generations. There is no need to fight for food and land. Science has provided us with adequate means of survival and transportation, which make it possible to enjoy the fullness of this great earth. The question now is, do we have the morality and courage required to live together as brothers and not be afraid?"
last part from The World House, 1967

just because

voting is like being forced at gunpoint to choose which rope you want hung with. the courts are just another special interest group, and the game is cheat 'til you win. they don't represent me.

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