"I Never Do This, but . . ."

I see people on Instagram (the only anti-social media platform that I use) announcing, "I never do this, but I just had to speak-out about . . ." – not unlike the cowardly snitch at work, who, finding him/herself emboldened by a consensus against a co-worker, says, "I didn't want to say anything, but . . ." – which means, "I was dying to say something, but didn't want to seem like a snitch." The point being made in the "speaking-out" or "speaking-up" on social media is hardly anything disruptively novel; it echoes what's already bouncing around the interior periphery of the walled garden. When some celebrity "takes a stand" on something, it's just image-fortifying virtue-signaling, since we should all know by now that celebrities don't do anything publicly without following orders or asking permission. One sees, alternately, people posting, "I know that I shouldn't be posting political views on my commercial account, but . . .," as though apologizing to themselves in advance for having alienated potential and current customers. When one responds contrarily, one gets a posted reply, announcing to the world, "I have to let you know that I have removed your comment, because (I cannot possibly argue with it in a logical manner)."

It is without advance mitigation of remorse that I present to you the following things that I have written to people:

Voting goes only so far, and leads to the same general area of limited possibility. I myself have trouble justifying the archaic, broken and rigged two-party system (with other parties relegated to the “third party” ghetto). The choice is always ultimately between Coke and Pepsi. Political parties are readily-corruptible consolidations of power. The parameters of political discourse are contrived and controlled. It is now more than ever about who’s going to assert the most control over the people, when it should be the other way around.

– and –

The semiotics of politics has become convoluted, just as the world has changed while people have failed to notice. Most people don’t know what the word “fascism” means; especially those using it most. There is a reason why no politician is seriously addressing the AI threat, and it’s not that they’re ignorant of it. The Herd can be corralled into bitching online about Congress’s failure (refusal) to pass another stimulus bill, rather than either mass-marching on the Capitol or recognizing that the solution is to reverse the conditions which created mass joblessness, bankruptcies and evictions.

It’s too convenient to blame things on, or assign something to, one “side” or the other – it not only keeps us all distracted from the identity and nature of our common enemy, it also places the blame on someone besides ourselves. The American public is so starstruck-stupid that they can’t see through obvious bullshit and identify giveaway traits of nefarious character. The American public is acculturated to disenfranchisement from those who supposedly represent “us.” The American public can’t even agree upon who that “us” is.

That sums-up my political views. Some people might want to put them in this or that box; others might want to put this or that frame around it. When the public gets smart enough to detect the mental games and semantic tricks being played upon them, then we should begin to see better governance. The problem is that, since birth, "we" are too conditioned to accepting cognitively-limiting discourse and celebrity-worship to stick-up for ourselves or to know what's truly in our better interest. Elected and unelected officials do bad things; outrage is expressed in the Media; no punishment comes upon the officials. "We" sit back and watch it all, without any sense of how to seize the reins of our collective destiny, despite that the deftly-crafted Constitution provides for it. TPTB use the Media to rub our noses in their shit on our carpet. "The way it is" is expected and accepted to suffice for the way that things are.