Webness

I received a comment (unposted) from a reader today, whose email signature included a link to a Web site. The Web site is a so-called female escort agency. I was blasted with graphic pictures of gigantic naked breasts and bleached smiles. Now, while cyber-pimps and pornographers are often seen as sketchy folk, I appreciated this person's comment. I did wonder why this person was drawn to my rather quiet blog on ethics, politics and practical philosophy. I also wondered if the comment was made by a real person.

I chose to meditate on this during my afternoon walk. I recalled seeing an ad recently for housewives who wanted to make cash working from home. I then researched these schemes and found that these suburban housewives are posting links to pornography sites and offshore casinos through various search-engine advertising programs. Then I wondered how many of these stalwart suburbanites signed petitions against gay marriage or attended yowling Tea Party meetings about family values and getting government out of their health care.

More communication, more information, its all here on the Web. But, what is it achieving? Is it educating? I know it is entertaining at a profit if suburban moms can cash in on porn and gambling. Does that add value to our lives in general? Or does it just make us all a little less accountable, less responsible, less ethical or just plain less caring?

I look across the national landscape as reported in a variety of media. I don't see knowledge, awareness and improved quality in our country. I see terror-phobia, ignorance of how the health care system works, nationalist ego without basis, and a determined, evil movement by some on the Far Right (neo-cons) to undermine the average person to the advantage of the already super-rich.

What can be done about this? There is no Big Answer. We are evolving, and our technology with us. Perhaps one day China, as it takes over the world, will paternalistically guide us back to a more moderate path. Perhaps a Haiti-like apocalypse will wipe the slate clean. Perhaps the U.S. will continue on its Balkanizing descent and become a larger version of Mexico or Colombia. It is obvious to me that technology will not save any of us.

So, while I try to keep abreast of advances in communication and technology, I am very conscious that my touchstone is my daily personal practice. I strive to practice in the virtual world as I do in the real world. That is the best I can do.

Terrorism

Yes, let's wage a war against terror.

Let us wage war against those who teach their children homophobia, sexism, selfishness, materialism, violence, elitism, brutality and hatred, whether they be Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Mormon, atheist or Muslim.

Let us wage a war against those who greedily accumulate wealth from sweat, fear and trepidation of those who actually do the world's labor in the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, or in Africa.

Let us wage war against those who poison our air, our food, our water with irresponsible child-rearing, huge cars, fast food, sewage, and toxins.

In other words, let us wage war against our own human laziness and fear of change. Let each of us become a practicing warrior against materialism, jealousy, indolence, greed, stupidity, gluttony, addiction, prejudice, rudeness, hypocrisy, mindless reproduction and indifference. Let each of us practice looking toward the light of right thought and right living. This practice colors everything with new light. There is no shadow in this practice where terrorism can breed.

Propaganda

The human tendency to denial under stress is natural and impressive. Kubler-Ross researched and documented this thoroughly. Since her death, the pharmacological psychiatric industry has even tried to deny her findings, which would diminish the efficacy and necessity of some of their expensive pills. However, those in power are all too aware of human psychology and how to manipulate it.

Since 2000, the Republican operatives in the US have utilized propaganda to convince the American public that the coup which occurred in the Presidential election of that year was a legitimate democratic process. It is clear now that these same aggressive totalitarians allowed the terrorists to perpetrate the massacre of civilians and government employees in September of 2001 to further their hold on absolute power.

Cynical and power addicted men are capable of their own denial of their evil. They are also prone to project their evil onto those they fear. They fear anyone who threatens their grip on absolute power.

The war in Iraq is a tragic combination of greed for oil resources and that projection of evil onto a society which has been decimated by the US, led by the fascists who began their rule with the coup of 2000. Yes, it is a pathetic, costly, bloody mess. But, it is clear that the leaders of the US are so entrenched in their lust for their illegitimate and abusive control of the American government that they are still trying to propagandize the American people into believing they are doing what is best for Iraq and for the American people. To believe this would be insane. I am happy to see that the vast majority of Americans, when asked, are not insane. They are waking up from their own denial.

To be a free individual, a person must study all he can about the human condition. Freedom is not granted by governments. Freedom is an act of human consciousness. It is a practice.

9-11

He could have mobilized the army to all the seaports, airports and borders.

He could have bombed a trench along the deserted US border with Mexico.

He could have poured billions into hi-tech security devices.

He could have poured billions in educational aid to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan.

He could have poured millions into building internet access in poor nations.

He could have poured billions into food and housing for refugees here and abroad.

He could have poured billions into AIDS drugs and education in Africa.

He could have poured billions into the urban African American communities.

He could have poured billions into health care for all Americans.

He could have poured billions into free college/vocational/technical education for poor Americans.

He could have spared more than 2000 American military lives.

He poured our money into death, destruction, corruption and retribution.

And we, as a nation, let him.

This is the enduring tragedy of 9-11.

Fear

Recent discovery of a plot to kill passengers on commercial aircraft has once again raised panic in the entitled developed world, which is hesitant to demand an immediate stop to the violence in the Middle East where civilians are being killed in considerable numbers daily. The fear is rational and well earned. If your government practices and supports unjustified violence against innocents, isn't it rational to expect retaliation by those who are horrified by this injustice? Of course it is. If you see death as a weapon, as a form of punishment, it is wise to fear it with your whole being.

Violence

Israel is currently invading and bombing Lebanon. Civil war is raging in Iraq and Afghanistan (more quietly there). All over the ailing planet, violence persists. Despite great technological advances in communications and medicine, people are still resorting to primitive means to stake out territory, maintain control, sustain life. Why? The wealthy and privileged all over the planet shrug and say, "It has always been and will always be so." In reality, the wealthy and privileged promote violence to secure their own power and control. They buy and sell weapons. They play sides. They wager in stock markets on the outcomes of violence. This is the greater world-wide evil. In my practice, I avoid violence as best I can. Internal violence and external violence. However, my practice does not preclude self defense or the defense of the defenseless.