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Forum Post: In a World of Violence and Oppression, Peace and Freedom are Extremist Views

Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 12, 2011, 11:57 a.m. EST by goodvibespromo (8)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.activistpost.com/2011/12/in-world-of-violence-and-oppression.html#more

What do people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon all have in common? Well, they were all extremists, extremists who wouldn’t hurt a fly. In a world where violence and oppression is the norm, those of us who dare to seek peace and freedom are automatically labeled as dangerous extremists.

I guess this makes some sense, considering that peace and freedom is extremely different from the values that truly direct our civilization at this point. Is this situation just another consequence of the “might makes right” philosophy that taints our society? “Might makes right” is basically another way of saying that the most popular ideas are absolute truth and that whatever those in power do is morally virtuous.

Logically, these ideas go hand in hand. If people believe that authority and popularity are the conditions that define truth and morality, then they are bound to be uncomfortable when someone starts talking about unpopular ideas that lie in opposition of the establishment values.

This discomfort doesn’t change reality though, as Gandhi told us “even in a minority of one, the truth is still the truth”. Something tells me that Gandhi and others like him had plenty of experience in dealing with the same kind of silly rationalizations for violence that a lot of us hear today from State apologists.

Peace and freedom for humankind should be our ultimate ambition, and I challenge you to find a theory on the “meaning of life” that makes more sense than that! It seems anything less is still a work in progress and should be relentlessly improved upon until this quality of existence is achieved. Sadly, we as a species have never been able to collectively understand this, as every generation assumes that their moment in history is the pinnacle of human potential.

Does this sound like the goal of a terrorist to you? Is this a dangerous idea? You might be laughing, but this is a very dangerous idea for some because it threatens their livelihood and source of power.

I’m not going to spend too much time on that small group of goons in this article, as they are covered in detail by many great researchers and highlighted by my work as well. If you haven’t discovered who the illusive “they” are yet, then you should look into the committee of 300, the Bilderberg group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and a process known as Fabian Socialism. These would be some great places to start researching if you’re trying to figure who is behind this mess were all in.

Anyway, let’s get back to the philosophy, shall we? These people that benefit from all of the chaos in the world have different mindsets and beliefs, that they force upon the rest of society. This seems pretty simple and obvious, but it has some very deep and damaging implications. If the things that they are doing are not in everyone’s best interest and they are thrusting their sadistic ideologies on the entire population, then that means that the entire population ends up with a perspective on life that is not in their best interest.

It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to think that this very scenario is taking place all over the world today in the many countries that are gripped by propaganda and oppression. Schools in almost every country are state run and operated as indoctrination centers, thanks to the Prussian education model that was exported around the world from pre-nazi Germany where it was created.

Mostly everywhere the only intellectuals that are given any kind of credibility are forced to stay within politically correct guidelines to prevent them from having any real positive effect on the social consciousness. Every major media outlet across the globe is owned and operated by the very same people that drive the planet’s most despotic governments, so there’s no hope of any politically volatile ideas making their way through those channels either. Even our upbringing in the home is largely guided by cultural norms, philosophies, and stereotypes that have all been carefully crafted to benefit their system.

So if all this is true, can we pinpoint a specific philosophy that might have something to do with the “might makes right” mentality that is exhibited by so many people today? Actually we can, and the name of that philosophy is “Pragmatism”. I’m sure that somewhere along the line you were probably told by some brainwashed college professor that this ideology was the epitome of moral integrity, but like so many other things, your college professor appears wrong about this one too.

By definition, pragmatism stresses “practicality”, and I would argue that it’s the kind of practicality that must be employed when making a decision on whether to give your wallet to a mugger or to take your chances fighting his gun. In this situation a true pragmatist would not only give the mugger their wallet, but they would also disregard any kind of rights violations that were just perpetrated against them.

In an interview with tragedy and hope, world renowned scholar John Taylor Gatto described the implications that pragmatism has had on the relationship between oppressor and the oppressed. Gatto Said “If you now connect pragmatism with the concept of justified sinning, you have an absolute blank check in any situation, to invent truth, invent justice, sacrifice biologically inconsequential people and invent any excuse for doing anything that you want. It seems to me that’s been the driving force in American affairs for a long long time, but interestingly enough it’s been the driving force of an intellectual elite, I believe, through history.” So in other words, people in power use these philosophies to control the minds of the entire human population, in order to justify their crimes and rationalize the abhorrent civilization that they have created.

I personally believe that this philosophy of the collective is one of the fundamental reasons why so many people are uncomfortable with the concepts of peace and liberty. Because these ideas are not approved by those in power, they are unpopular as well. In a pragmatists mind anything that is unpopular and not sanctioned by an authority figure is not even a conceivable notion and is often immediately written off and ignored, or even worse ridiculed.

The sad truth is, some of these people are going to see the light eventually and some of them aren’t. However, we can’t sit around and wait for their help, we need to continue to build a better world while the pragmatists run from reality and worship authority. Don’t worry though, eventually our alternative media, organic markets and noncoercive methods of handling social situations will be more appealing to these fair weathered people, at which point they will do the “practical” thing and become an extremist, just like us.

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5 Comments


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[-] 1 points by ARod1993 (2420) 12 years ago

Pragmatism and practicality do not and should not necessarily refer to the type of sophistry you're describing here. If I were you what I would look at getting involved in the 2012 primaries to try to put in a cohort of representatives in favor of a more robust and progressive tax code, more regulation of big business, and less warfare.

[-] 1 points by TheMaster (63) 12 years ago

"...all we are saying is give me a piece of ass....

[-] 1 points by shadz66 (19985) 12 years ago

IF that's your response to a thoughtful, 'heart-centred' and compassionate post, then here you are an (..x..) and so now see if you can successfully "Master" getting your own head outta yours, Troll-Bot !

Claude Os et Aperi Oculos !!

[-] 1 points by AFarewellToKings (1486) 12 years ago

eventually perhaps, but OWS has the opportunity to really push it. Here in the 2010's with 7 billion people, time isn't on our side. Such a lot of pain on the earth.

https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/