I made the mistake of looking at Facebook earlier today. I probably shouldn’t have. I saw way too many posts and videos of the LACK of freedom here in the USA. This country that we say is the “land of the free and the home of the brave”.
Where are they? All those free and brave people? Why aren’t they standing up against the horrible abuses of our constitutional rights that happen every day? Abuses we’ve ALL suffered since 9-11 gave the powers that be the excuse they needed to trick us into giving up our most valuable resources. We gave up our freedom. For tricks and LIES.
All I see is a bunch of thugs in uniform, running around like they own the place. They work for US, not the other way around! They’ve been harassing the hell out of people who are NOT doing any harm to anyone. These thugs spend all their time and energy on this sort of shit and then expect us to show respect and be grateful to them. It honestly makes me want to puke.
Seriously. Last week, while I was driving to work up at SanJac, KPFT was reading George Orwell’s 1984 on the radio. I don’t know how many of you have read it. I have read it a couple of times now. It would hope it is still required reading in school (but if it is, no one has paid a lick of attention to it).
I was crying. I felt shriveled up inside. I was hurting. Sad and angry and frustrated and humongously pissed off!
ALL of the things Orwell wrote about in that book ARE happening. Right here! Right now!
In fact, the real truth is that things are already much, much worse than George Orwell ever dreamed when he wrote that book. Yeah, really! Orwell’s Big Brother only watched you through the TV screen. You could find ways around it.
OUR big brothers (NSA, TSA, etc, etc), are watching your every move! They may not watch you through the TV screen (but then again, they may), but they keep track of every phone call, every email, every dollar you earn, every dollar you spend, your complete medical history, everywhere you go, and on and on and on and on.
And just like in the book, the vast majority of the people around me just go on with their lives. They continue to ignore the reality. They ALLOW the sick, power-hungry, vicious bastards to get away with it! Many of them are cheering it on. 🙁
WTF is wrong with these people?
Just like in the book, we are at continuous war. Who are we fighting this year? Does it matter? Nope. They’ll manipulate the news and the truth until nothing really matters any more. Nobody cares. And it goes on.
People ask, how can you argue about loss of freedom when our national security is at stake? It’s not, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? The powers that be have convinced enough of us to trade away our freedom for their promises of security. Shame on us for falling for it!
WOW! I never, ever, thought it would actually come to this the first time I read that book.
Like Winston, all I can do is cry, and try my very best to find some small hidey hole to keep a tiny bit of freedom for myself.
Happy 4th of July. 🙁
I agree that many things are not right in our society now. However, I think it is crucial to not allow feelings of helplessness and depression to take us over because that makes us ineffective. The power of the people will always be greater than the people in power. But if we let ourselves get confused or discouraged and give up, then we give up the very power that makes it possible for us to win back our rational society. I write a lot of letters to my elected officials and I sign a lot of petitions about issues I care about. If ever you are feeling helpless, gather your power together in your two hands and weild it by taking action. Identify an issue and write or phone or join or whatever works for you. It is the 4th of July and we have a LOT going for us. We are so lucky. I will close this missive with a quote by William Faulkner: We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” Happy happy 4th of July and God Bless America!
Hi Sabrina, thanks for your comments!
I agree, we need to stand together and fight. Believe me, I do. I write letters, I call, I petition, I go to support court cases, I send money (when I have any), and I blog!
I try my best to inform other people and TRY to motivate them to CARE.
Yes, you’re right, the power of the people IS always greater, but only if the people work together! ONLY if they are fighting the RIGHT battles and not chasing after windmills!
I belong to a group, we meet every Tuesday. We are all very concerned But even so, we all have differing priorities and so we accomplish very little because we can’t FOCUS. There are SO MANY things wrong. Attacks from every direction.
Our food, our water, our money, education, unconstitutional wars, health care, gun rights, out of control cops, etc, etc, etc. Which ones can you concentrate on? Where can you start that will make the most use of the very tiny resources that you have?
I agree with the quote, but can you REALLY practice freedom when you’re locked in a jail cell? Some say you can. Sorry, but I disagree.
There are WAY too many people locked up in jail cells in this supposed ‘land of the free’. The rest of us ‘self-censor’ because we don’t want to wind up there. So, even tho we aren’t in that jail cell (yet), we’re still not even close to being free in reality.
I want my (REAL) freedom back!