Part Eight: Who Are We, Really?
The vast majority of the people of this country have never deliberately violated the rights of another person. The vast majority of people of the world have never deliberately violated the rights of another person. Most people, after all, are born with loving hearts; they are born able to hear their consciences speak with respect to most matters, and they naturally strive to be good and kind to others. After all, the human drive toward living together in cooperation and peace is ancient and remains the basis of a good person’s values, because it works well, for the benefit of all. Throughout history, though, inherently peaceful humans have had to live with a certain number of oppressors, to which they responded in various ways, depending upon their circumstances. Alas, most of these oppressors disguise themselves as benevolent persons of some higher order having the power to override common sense and tradition, which, of course, is THE dirty trick, the despotic mind trick, which keeps tripping up the good people, over and over and over again.
Some well-meaning people cooperate, they go along to get along and get sucked into the despot’s destructive vortex. Some cooperate to an extent, long enough to keep from being attacked, then run away and, sensibly, try to establish life elsewhere. Some fight back with a form of oppression of their own, perhaps a lesser oppression, but oppression all the same—I do not mean self-defense proportionate to the violation of a human right, but rather the establishment of an alternate existence, seemingly more benign, but yet also built upon purposeful, consistent, persistent violations of the human rights of peaceful people. Corrupt “leaders” and their sycophants do use every weapon in their bagful of dirty despotic tricks, and this “alternate existence” method remains among the most effective for elite groups to stealthily consolidate and expand power.
But some, a few, use their moral force to work toward stopping oppressors without becoming oppressors themselves, because they recognize condoning and initiating acts of coercion and violence towards others ultimately breeds more and perhaps even greater tyranny. In 1906, Mahatma Gandhi, in leading the resistance to the stewardship-demanded registration of the Indian population in South Africa, recognized this principle and named it for the occasion:
‘Thus was born satyagraha (“devotion to truth”), a new technique for redressing wrongs through inviting, rather than inflicting, suffering, for resisting adversaries without rancour and fighting them without violence.
. . . .
[In this resistance,] [h]undreds of Indians chose to sacrifice their livelihood and liberty rather than submit to laws repugnant to their conscience and self-respect. In the final phase of the movement in 1913, hundreds of Indians, including women, went to jail, and thousands of Indian workers who had struck work in the mines bravely faced imprisonment, flogging, and even shooting. It was a terrible ordeal for the Indians, but it was also the worst possible advertisement for the South African [stewardship], which, under pressure from the [stewardships] of Britain and India, accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi on the one hand and the South African statesman Gen. Jan Christian Smuts on the other.
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South Africa had not only prompted Gandhi to evolve a novel technique for political action but also transformed him into a leader of men by freeing him from bonds that make cowards of most men. “Persons in power,” the British Classical scholar Gilbert Murray prophetically wrote about Gandhi in the Hibbert Journal in 1918,
“should be very careful how they deal with a man who cares nothing for sensual pleasure, nothing for riches, nothing for comfort or praise, or promotion, but is simply determined to do what he believes to be right. He is a dangerous and uncomfortable enemy, because his body which you can always conquer gives you so little purchase upon his soul.”’
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mahatma-Gandhi/Resistance-and-results
Given our human natures, to be most effective in the long run, we must allow ourselves the room to become ourselves. While striving to emulate good traits of others is virtuous, we must interact with the world authentically or else live the shallow existence of a perpetual imposter. Thus, our goal would never be to fashion ourselves into a Gandhi-like person, but only to draw from the good principles he espoused and proved effective. The great wonders of human existence comprise a fact good people cherish but may come to take for granted: Each and every person’s daily striving to be a good person contributes to the well-being of others.
As human beings striving to be good and peaceful and productive we create a multiplying force for good which constitutes the genuine source or conservatory force of everything we universally find meaningful and wholesome, everything good people hold dear. The list includes well-nurtured children and other loved ones and friends; caring neighbors and caring for neighbors; a nice home to call one’s own; pets for companionship; a pleasant town or place in the country to call home; a green field to walk in; a peaceful forest to visit; a beautiful mountain to climb; an ocean, river, or lake to swim in; joyous gatherings to join; uplifting and insightful books to read or movies to watch; stimulating friends and fun conversations; delicious food enjoyed in company; numerous hobbies and sports to enjoy or pursue; museums for rediscovering awe and deepening understanding; libraries for browsing and exploring other minds; educational institutions for building knowledge and skills. Of course, the list goes on and on, and it illustrates how each person who participates in this force for good, each person who cherishes goodness, also possesses power, through peaceful action, to confront, resist, and ultimately stop those who would violate human rights by interfering with a person’s ability to fully contribute to and participate in human life.
As illustrated above, solidarity of effort towards goals almost every single human being finds worthwhile and good, magnifies individual powers, creating a force for good greater than the sum of its parts. I am speaking of a culture shared by most of humankind but one so often subverted by despots. This speaks directly to why Propaganda works so hard to divide good people, because if we united in our focus towards upholding our rights to goodness, Propaganda would have no power and oppressors would soon lose theirs.
Propaganda never intends to achieve any good outcome. Her goals only include stealthy and sometimes not-so-stealthy control, exploitation, and manipulation of vast numbers of people in the service of oppressors. By dividing good people into camps based on appearance, ethnicity, gender, race, income, religion, and preferences respecting education, lifestyle, health, and philosophy, Propaganda seeks to demoralize, to conquer, and to destroy. She does this whenever the despots deem it necessary to maintain or increase power over others. Politics, in this sense, “the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a [stewardship],” permeates every aspect of our lives now. We cannot avoid it even when we seek to, because those who gain power also gain the power to affect our lives for good or for ill.
Moreover, those within stewardships, those who possess an unconstrained “will to power,” and those corrupted by greed, constitute a sufficient number to cause overwhelming harm to humanity. We know this but refuse to say it aloud. They form a gang of smiling despots who work behind the scenes to consolidate their own power and wealth and to grow the power and wealth of their corporate and “charitable” foundation cronies; they often use it to hide crimes. Over time, using the power to tax and the power to conscript, they grew our own country into an empire controlling much of the world. Then, allied with other oppressors from around the world, they began using technology to grow a powerful and nearly inescapable machine—the technocratic planetary empire in which we now live and work.
If you doubt me, consider Google Earth and the power it gives an ordinary person with a computer and internet connection to invade the privacy of anyone’s home, including yours. Yes, for now, one can only see the exterior. But still, disturbingly, anyone can recall the patterned curtains hanging in your windows or remember the color of your rain barrel or know the make and model of the car you drive—all without having to present themselves, face to face, in your territory, thus giving you a chance at detecting observations being made by possibly malicious individuals. If Google has granted the ordinary person such powers, consider what power the oppressors have reserved for themselves.
By submitting ourselves to constant immersion in the powerful songs of Propaganda, transmitted far and wide now through media and stewardship agencies, we good and trusting people have been mesmerized into accepting, with little or no resistance, persistent, incremental encroachments into the few remaining freedoms we deluded ourselves into believing even despots considered sacrosanct.
In America, we have a framework called the Bill of Rights, built upon more ancient declarations of rights. This statement of rights inherent but often ignored is only present in the US Constitution thanks to a few of our fairly recent and more stubborn ancestors who deeply understood the significance of human rights for human thriving. Even if they could not find the moral courage themselves to never violate human rights, for which the oppressed of their time and posterity paid a huge price, one cannot deny the good they accomplished despite faults. Their good deed stood the test of time and remains a good deed.
Propaganda has even managed to teach most modern people to view those who acknowledge and openly seek to protect all inalienable human rights as “fringe elements” or “racists,” or “white supremacists,” sometimes even painting freedom and rights enthusiasts as watered-down domestic terrorists. The despots behind Propaganda know inalienable human rights exist as a force for good in the world, a great force when properly applied, one they wish to avoid arousing.
Despotic minds invariably seek to suppress discussion of inalienable human rights, because this reminds ordinary people they do have the power. Discussion of inalienable human rights reminds people they can work together to protect themselves from bullies and villains, without violating the rights of others in the process.
Seventy-four years ago, after a particularly destructive and violent first half of the 20th century, including two world wars and numerous atrocities and human rights crimes resulting in hundreds of millions of premature and horrific deaths, certain leaders from around the world stood up in favor of humankind and in opposition to the despotic minds responsible for organizing decades of destruction. These leaders agreed “to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere,” and so in 1946, the first session of the UN General Assembly adopted an early draft of what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On 10 December 1948, 48 of the then-58 member countries adopted UN Resolution 217 (III) the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Together, representatives of 48 countries endorsed a statement of opposition to the atrocities of previous decades, a statement of resolve for a better future.
The UN Commission on Human Rights drafting committee, formed in 1947, included Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of Franklin D. Roosevelt, as chair and a “driving force” behind the Declaration; however, a number of individuals contributed to its construction. The Declaration, not a treaty but a proclamation without enunciated enforcement mechanisms, long preceded the related treaties built upon the inalienable rights it articulates. Even though the Declaration has significance in jurisprudence, it lacks enforcement mechanisms included in the treaties. The Declaration and related treaties together form the International Bill of Human Rights.
Yet, despite all the public efforts made in the name of protecting human rights, many if not most of the world’s “leaders” seem to have learned nothing from history. Furthermore, few seem resolved to adhere to principles they claim to espouse. The numerous and blatant crimes against humanity committed in the name of public safety during THEVOID crisis attest to this. They do what they will, and we must succumb to their will—or so the despots wish us to believe.
While exact numbers and divisions of responsibility may be debatable, we must acknowledge persistent violations of human rights, into and especially in the present day, even by governments claiming to be dedicated to upholding them. And even though good people vastly outnumber bad, despots remain effective at deluding good people into believing they have little or no ability to affect the power dynamic, and thus the despots get their way, again and again and again. Most recently the despots have succeeded by using Propaganda to promote fear and by using “public health and safety” to create a neat cover for their crimes.
Defending, protecting, and upholding human rights harms no one but it does diminish the power of oppressors, which is why they keep Propaganda so busy making it seem as though “Freedom” must be an ugly, subversive activity designed to destroy life as we know it. The despots even exaggerate or manufacture terrorist threats to keep people frightened, submissive, and approving of encroachments in the name of safety, not to mention exaggerating the impact of viral pathogens.
You will likely not wish to believe me and may once again find reason, beyond boredom to close this pamphlet and trash it, but evidence abounds: Stewardship officials and patricians obscured and continue to obscure the truth surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. Moreover, certain policy makers had at the ready the USA Patriot Act which faced little opposition from Congress owing to the “emergency” situation. This Act expanded the power of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to violate the privacy of Americans, among other human rights, in numerous respects.
Many who approved the Act believed the expanded powers would be temporary and felt reassured by the requirement for periodic reauthorization. However, most of these measures remained in place through the USA Freedom Act passed in 2015, replacing the original legislation while ostensibly curtailing the mass warrantless surveillance revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. This year, in early 2020, Congress permitted three key provisions of the Act to expire, including heavily criticized Section 215. However, experts believe exceptions built into the legislation as well as law-enforcement related surveillance exceptions enable continued operations without sufficient restraint or oversight, and they urge Congress to impose meaningful reforms protecting human rights.
The THEVOID crisis we face today, worldwide, has been and will continue to be used as an excuse to extend the despotic powers, under cover of “law,” of stewardships and corporate cronies to invade our persons and our property and otherwise violate our human rights, as they have been doing. Furthermore, now, because the despots have succeeded in changing people’s behavior by intimidating them into following emergency rules for so long, the oppressors and their cronies, along with constituents, have had time to develop vested interests in maintaining the new powers and the new behaviors. With each passing day lived under despotism, it becomes more and more difficult to return to life as we knew it. This happened soon after 9/11/2001 with respect to airports and the TSA and stewardship “registration” of citizens, including biometric information.
Much has changed through recent emergency legislation enacted here and in other countries, most of it passing under the radar. Many of these changes will not be apparent to most until it affects them personally. The economy has adjusted to new demands, some flowing from the corruption. However, even more has changed psychologically, with many becoming fearful and reliant on “authority” to an unprecedented extent.
Returning to a semblance of normal life and society will require expansive solidarity with people from all over the world and from various belief systems. Returning will require many to cast aside their fears in favor of living. Returning will require putting differences behind us in favor of a bright future. Great numbers of good people can bond for the cause of freedom, for human rights. I feel it in my bones. I believe it with all my heart.
As of this moment, many good people of the world continue, effectively, allowing themselves to be virtually imprisoned without a hearing, without taking a stand, and the “sentence” keeps growing harsher and lengthening, with no clear end in sight. Murderers sometimes receive better treatment than the society of good people, including due process of law, which many have been denied in so many encroachments and now throughout a series of violations.
A vast majority of the world’s population, all fine and good people, now inhabit a massive high-technology penal colony from which there is no escape, with its web of controls growing vaster and more complex by the second. Nothing will change for the better until enough of us understand and accept reality. Nothing will change for the better until we all stop our ears with wax and get busy defending human rights rather than being lured away by the sirens’ songs.
We must all assert ourselves as leaders toward a freer and more peaceful existence for all, not a utopia in any sense, but step by step, incrementally moving in the direction of good. Because everyone who shares a kindred spirit can participate and because participation, no matter how small, leads us toward our goal, we can succeed. By leading through the good example of our actions and our thoughts, we can show others a way out, and this becomes in itself a form of fulfillment and a way of enjoying what may be an exceedingly long journey lasting far beyond our lifetimes.
Really, the journey began long ago, for as long as the ideals of autonomy and freedom have existed, even if only as intuitions in minds and hearts. Perhaps, maybe, we have merely fallen into a ravine, from which we can climb out by working together. Thus, we who find ourselves compelled by the urgency of our circumstances to renew the call for a more compassionate way of living and working together, while having to deal with the inevitability of despots, carry on the work of the good people who came before, many of whom made sacrifices unimaginable to us.
Let us honor their efforts by not giving up on ourselves.
This is the work of happiness.
Kindred spirits, please share this far and wide.
The Work of Happiness 