Irony, i-ro-ny: Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.
How many times have you heard some Tea Party nitwit make the claim that President Obama is destroying our “American Way of Life?” It is a constant theme and the drum beat to whatever tune they’re singing. If they open their refrigerator and the milk is sour, it’s President Obama’s fault.
When unemployment was high, that was President Obama’s fault. Now that unemployment numbers have been dropping, well, those independent agencies that report on these matters, are fudging the numbers for him.
How many times have you heard some nitwit Tea Bagger declare, “I want my country back!” When I woke up this morning, I made a point to check on it and apparently it’s still here. Nevertheless, for some reason, they believe that this country has changed… and it’s all Obama’s fault!
A great number of so called Libertarians and Tea Baggers are simply appalled that two people who love each other, regardless of gender can make a lifetime commitment to one another and marry. This seems odd to me because I was under the impression that Libertarians enshrined the philosophy of absolute personal freedom so long as the exercise thereof does not negatively impact another.
“Obama’s coming for your guns!” How many times have you heard that one? Never mind the fact that your gun rights have actually been expanded under President Obama, nevertheless, that one sure gets people up in arms – literally – and hollering about the decimation of our Bill Of Rights.
The Irony? While they’re venting their spleens at President Obama, the United States Supreme Court – the majority appointed by Republican Presidents – has done more to change this nation from the comforting delusion they’ve embraced all their lives.
It wasn’t President Obama who signed an executive order striking down the Defense of Marriage Act which led to Gay people finally being able to marry. That was the U.S. Supreme Court. It wasn’t President Obama who struck down California’s Proposition 8 which took away the legality of marriages between same sex couples. That was the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Land Of The Free?” The Supreme Court has held that police can seize your DNA without you being even charged for a crime. The Supreme Court has held that the police can strip search you if they arrest you for a traffic violation. Perhaps you didn’t have your insurance card with you when you were pulled over?
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Corporations have the same rights as an individual citizen. I’m 56 and this isn’t the America I remember growing up in. Hate the idea of everyone having health care – “Obama Care” – It was the Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court that declared “Obama Care” to be legal and Constitutional.
So, why aren’t the Tea Baggers taking a cue from the Occupy Wall Street Movement and marching on the U.S. Supreme Court? Because the real issue isn’t all the things they claim. Their real issue is, there’s a Black man in the White House. That’s what has really changed in this country and some of them simply have no idea how to deal with this fact.
When your racism blinds you to reality, your behaviours and your actions put your own self-interests at risk.
Emperor Constantine invented Christianity to control his empire. Indeed to understand the Catholic Church, one need simply realize the Roman Empire never went away. It merely became the Catholic Church.
Adolf Hitler was raised a devout Catholic. He later discovered the writings of Martin Luther and used Luther’s hatred of the Jews as an organizing point for Germans to rally around. Thus he used a religious belief system to motivate and mobilize Germany into creating a war machine that threatened the world. Small matter that it cost 6 million Jews and untold other millions of people their lives.
Joseph Stalin was raised Georgian Orthodox. He later became an Atheist and did much to stamp out all religion in Russia. However, with the advent of WWII, he relented and began to support the Russian Orthodox Church calling it “a patriotic institution.” Why? Because it was useful in controlling and organizing the Russian people for their war efforts.
The Popes are the head of what may well be the largest and wealthiest corporation on this planet. They are the new versions of the Roman Emperors. Without the need for fielding an army, they control billions of people all around the planet with the carrot and the stick of heaven and hell. People willingly pay tribute/taxes to them in the form of offerings and donations. The Catholic Church influences all the politics around the globe.
Karl Rove is an Anglican-Episcopalian. He wears his religion rather loosely and in practice is more of an Agnostic… unless playing the religion card for political gain. His extensive use of “wedge issues” in politics was a stroke of diabolical genius. Abortion, Gay rights etc. He successfully duped Christians into focusing on those issues while ignoring the other equally – more important – issues they should have been focused on. Poverty, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and caring for the sick. How exactly can one be against abortion yet support capital punishment and war?
Pat Robertson is a Southern Baptist minister who makes his living doing a rather poor imitation of Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” There is not much difference between his “Word Of Knowledge” shtick and Carson’s Carnack The Magnificent. Nevertheless, he has been successful in not only gaining a following, but exerting political influences on our elections.
What do all these people have in common? They exploit those who subscribe to a Christian belief system for personal and political gain. If a stranger walked up to you on the street and told you that you needed to take $500 dollars across town immediately, what would you do? If you’re like me, you would put some distance between yourself and whomever this person was and – in my case – make certain your gun hand was free and unencumbered.
Why? Because you don’t know them. The very nature of their statement would cause suspicion and red flags to begin to wave. However, if that same person claimed they were delivering a message from your mother or some other loved one, suddenly they would have slipped past the first layer of your mental defenses. You would probably ask, “what’s wrong with my mother?” Perhaps, “what is she doing in town?” Notice you’re no longer questioning the authenticity of the message, you’re beyond that. Your mind is now processing what the problem might be and how to solve it.
Religious belief works in the same way. If a preacher tells a Christian that God wants them to pledge $500 or give $500 or vote Republican, your average Christian does not question the message or the messenger, they focus on how or if they can do what is requested. Let’s go back to the message from your mom example. Suppose your mother had passed several years ago and someone came with the same message? Now you would know they were lying and up to no good. Your system of belief and feelings for your mother cannot be exploited.
This is the problem those in power have with Atheist. Atheist are “free thinkers.” You cannot manipulate them using the levers of a belief system. Your appeal must pass the test of logic. An Atheist is going to apply logic to your message or request. They’re going to actually think about what is being said and come to their own conclusions. Tell a Christian that God will supply all their needs, and you’ll get an “Amen!” Turn around and pass an offering plate telling a Christian that their money is needed to support and further God’s work and they’ll pull out their wallets without ever stopping to ask, “if God can supply all *my* needs, why can’t he supply the financial needs of his own ministry?” See the problem?
I have been watching this welfare debate – now called “entitlements” – for a number of years now. Most often this subject comes up around election time. Of course now that the next election seasons begins almost as soon as the current one ends, there seems to be a steady drumbeat about “welfare” and “entitlements.”
In almost every piece I’ve seen, they always feature Black or Brown faces when talking about welfare. The figures – which I am now convinced they pull right out of the air – are truly staggering. This puzzled me for two reasons. The first is, Black people only make up 13% of our population. Thus if we were receiving all these government handouts, poverty would have been eliminated in the Black community years ago.
The second reason has to do with my own personal life’s experience. My extended family is fairly large. We are spread out all across these United States. I even have relatives living in Alaska. The fact of the matter is, with all the family I know of, I cannot think of one of them that has ever been on welfare! Believe me there have been a few of them who would have qualified at one point or another in their lives.
If being on welfare was the pandemic within the Black community, some would have you believe, how is it that my extended family has existed for all these years unscathed by this ethnic predilection to government handouts? No, I am not saying that there are no Black people on welfare, I’m merely pointing out how odd it is that I don’t personally know any.
On the first day of my Statistics course at the University of Washington, my professor addressed the class and made the following statement which has stayed with me all these years. “Figures lie. Liars figure. Sometimes it is difficult to determine which is doing what.”
What is “welfare?” When you mention the word “welfare” we have been conditioned – inaccurately – to see an unwed Black or minority female with 4 or 5 kids, getting a government check and living in public housing. We have further been indoctrinated to feel that the money she is receiving is coming directly out of our pockets.
How many times when the subject of “welfare” has come up have you pictured in your mind a poor white family living in a trailer park? I suspect, very few ever think of a welfare recipient as being white. Ironically, a welfare recipient is much more likely to be white than any other race.
How many times when the subject of welfare comes up, do you think of military families where the husband is overseas fighting and the wife is at home trying to feed their children and maintain a household in his absence? How many times do you think of large corporations who are receiving billions of taxpayer dollars in the way of Federal subsidies?
It is almost like the ending of “The Wizard of Oz.” “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” Before we tackle the issue of providing for needy families, perhaps we should ask why Oil Companies receive billions of dollars in federal subsidies? Do you think they need it? Maybe we should ask why Koch Industries – the 2nd largest corporation in the United States – is given billions of dollars in taxpayer funded subsidies? While you’re at it, ask why a person can work full time at Walmart and still qualify for federal assistance. Their business plan – successful – involves you and I, the taxpayers, making up the difference in what they ought to be paying their employees. Of course, if you’re not serious about reforming “entitlements” and basically are content to use racial stereotypes to explain away our economic issues, then I suppose the truth really doesn’t matter to you anyway, right?
If you’ve been paying attention over… THE LAST DECADE, we’ve been bombarded with one thing to fear after the other. Remember when all the computers were going to crash and send us back to the stone age? They called it “Y2K.” We bought generators, stored food, prepared for the Apocalypse. Well, at least I did. Yeah, they got me. A lot of merchants got paid though.
9/11 The Fear Of Terrorism
Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. That was certainly an international tragedy! We lost close to 4,000 United States Citizens that day. We saw the “Twin Towers” fall and the Pentagon hit. They used our own air planes against us. Yes, we were angry, but our fear fanned the flame of that anger. Because of our fear and anger, we invaded two countries, one of which had NOTHING to do with the attacks. We’ve lost more lives fighting over there than we lost on “911.” If you count the maimed and wounded, our casualties are easily over 30,000. Yet, in that exact same year, we lost 37,862 people in fatal car accidents. Not one move was made to outlaw automobiles or restrict driving. Why?
Fear is what drives our economy. Fear is why our gasoline prices fluctuate wildly from day to day. Start a rumor about an oil spill or a slow down in production anywhere in the world, and like lemmings going over a cliff, oil speculators will drive the price of gas through the roof. Fear is both expensive and profitable.
When we go to war, large industrial corporations make billions! War is good for their businesses. All of them have full time, paid lobbyist who lobby your representatives. Whom do you think your representatives, represent? You or them?
Political Fear
With the election of our first Black President, there has been the constant drumbeat of fear. I don’t know how white people – those who haven’t gone insane – keep their sanity. “We’re becoming socialist!” Ever hear that? Next time you do, ask the person saying it to define socialism. Bet you almost anything they won’t be able to. Fire departments, police departments, ambulance services and public schools are technically socialism. We seem to have done alright down through the years with these institutions.
Race Fear
Zombie Apocalypse?
Nit wits such as Bill O’Reilly predicted that if George Zimmerman were acquitted, this nation would erupt in race riots. I wonder how many frightened white people got their guns, ammo and hunkered down for that one? We hear terms like “Zombie Apocalypse!” We all know what that means. The Zombies are the inner city urban people – Blacks and other minorities – who are going to come to the suburbs and rural areas to kill white people and take what they’ve got. The NRA sure makes a bunch of money feeding this fear. Gun manufactures make money feeding this fear. Conservative talk radio gets listeners by feeding this fear and their advertisers make money feeding this fear. Buy gold! Buy Silver! Question, what is a gold coin worth? If you’re starving, it is just about worth a single slice of bread.
Because of fear, we allow ourselves to be subjected to invasive searches and body scans whenever we fly and we allow our children to be groped. Why? The rules were rewritten by flight 93 on September 11, 2001. You no longer need to search anyone getting on a plane. If a terrorist pulled out a sub machine gun he’d get beaten to death by the passengers before he could holler “Allah Akbar!”
Police State?
Because of fear we are watching our nation and the nations of the world, turn into “Police States.” Police departments are armed damn near as heavily as army combat units. They have their own armored personnel carriers, helicopters with FLIR and other various weapons systems. They patrol our streets in “Jackboots” with armor and full automatic weapons. Yet, we don’t seem to mind because we’ve deluded ourselves into *believing* that they’re keeping us safe… but who will keep us safe from them?
Rule By Fear
It’s all one big game. The objective is absolute control and subjugation of the population. Consider poor white people during the time of Slavery in the United States. Talk about being had! These poor fools supported the very institution that was keeping them in poverty! The mind control trigger was in convincing them that because of their skin color, they were better than the Slaves. Never mind the fact that they weren’t really living any better. Some were living worse off than the Slaves. On the plantation the Slaves were fed.
They should have joined forces.
Why were these white people poor? They were poor because they were out of work. Who was in a position to hire? The plantation owners of course. However, why should they hire white people whom they’d have to pay a wage, when they could make the Black Slaves do the work for free?
We had a commonality of interest that was derailed by deluding these poor white people to focus on race and skin color. If they’d been smart, they’d of been fighting to free the Slaves. Freed slaves would have meant that the plantation owners would have to hire them and pay them a wage. That money would have made it possible for them to move up the social ladder, and build a better life for them and their own children.
Nothing has changed! You can see poor white people, blinded by racism, wanting to kick all the undocumented workers out of this country under the impression that these people from south of or border are costing them jobs. Many of these people are wearing clothes that they purchased from Walmart. They’re buying groceries to put on their tables, from Walmart. The irony approaches the surreal!
Fear Of Immigrants
Let’s call it what it is.
Hispanic people come to this country, undocumented or not, work here, pay taxes here, buy goods and services here and for the most part, the money stays right here. They contribute to our economy. When you shop at Walmart – we really should call it by its true name, China-Mart – the people manufacturing the products you buy are in China. Many times working in slave conditions. They do not pay taxes here, nor do they support the American economy. They are the cause of American factories and plants closing and our jobs going to China. Big business gets richer and you get poorer. Don’t focus on the *real* problem. Fear people who don’t look exactly like you do. They must be the problem! Not big business. We are gullible and being ruled by a fear that has no merit, but has been fostered and fed to keep us distracted from the real problems. The reality? In the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself!” It is time to dispose of childish fears.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” __Albert Einstein
Sitting around and defining the problem is easy. As a matter of fact, we have an entire cottage industry of pundits who are paid good money to come before us each evening and tell us what we already know. From about 3 pm onward you can turn to almost any Cable news station and listen to these well paid “trained observers.”
Aaron Brown
What do they all have in common? None of them ever offer solutions. None of them lay out a plan of action. None of them set in place the mechanisms to execute that plan. The ones who do, don’t seem to last long. Remember Aaron Brown of CNN? Each night he kept before his viewing public, the case of a missing 4 year old girl. The problem? Unlike Elizabeth Smart or Natalie Holloway, this little girl was Black. Not surprisingly Aaron’s tenure at CNN was limited and he is no longer there.
Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann is another example. Keith built MSNBC. He gave it the ratings it now enjoys… although they’re now falling after his departure. To attempt to portray Keith as volatile and difficult to work with is a smoke screen. Keith is Keith. He was not and is not an unknown quantity. There was nothing Keith did that even began to approach some of the antics of his competitors like Bill O’Reilly. Here’s what I believe was the problem. Keith started and funded – from his own pocket, along with donations – “Free Clinics.” He looked at the problem of working people not being able to afford healthcare and got with medical professionals to bring “Free Clinics” to depressed urban areas wherein people could come in and see doctors for free.
At these clinics, some people were actually transported to the hospital by ambulance. One such case was a gentleman who’s blood pressure was so high, he was in imminent danger of having a stroke. Keith identified a problem. Created a solution and managed that solution and now he’s gone. Both Aaron Brown and Keith Olbermann moved from being trained observers to actually fixing the problems they saw.
What if it were you?
Think of it this way. If you were in an automobile accident on the Freeway, and a news crew rolled up, jumped out, set up cameras and began reporting on the accident without rendering you aid, how would you feel? We’ve become a nation of voyeurs, watching the world come down around our ears, hoping someone will do something about it before it’s too late. Well, that someone is you.
Target Acquisition
I would be no better than any of the pundits you listen to each night if all I did was to describe and define the problem. Truth be told, you could probably do a pretty good job of that yourself. In Part I of “Zimmerman Acquittal – Lessons Learned,” I gave compelling evidence that minorities and Black people in particular are under an orchestrated, coordinated attack by a powerful Cabal, who’s views for the future look surprisingly similar to the old “Antebellum South.”
If you happen to be white and are reading this, you should be concerned too. Unless you were a rich, plantation owner, the only comfort you had back then was to tell yourself, “at least I’m not a slave!” There was not a lot of difference between a “Slave shack” and the dilapidated, run down shacks poor white people lived in. The facts were, they had more in common with the Slaves than they did with the wealthy aristocracy.
In order to fight back, I have identified 4 areas/targets we should all focus on.
STEP
Social
Technological
Economic
Political
At this point, you’re probably saying, “really? Is that all you’ve got? This is not news!” Often truths are hidden in plain sight. The objective is to so desensitize you, you ignore them. Once cloaked by ignorance, the solution becomes unobtainable. Let’s de-cloak these and perhaps see them from a different perspective.
Social
Everyone has an idea what is meant by targeting the problem from a social perspective. Indeed, that is part of the problem. There is no coordination of effort. No cohesive methodology and only a nebulous criteria for determining success and progress. Small victories are exaggerated and used as pacification. Many are deluded into thinking they’ve accomplished something and the collective energy level drops back to normal. The result is that nothing really changes.
The “Occupy Movement” is an excellent example of this. A lot of “sit-ins”, a lot of media coverage. People got arrested and subjected to pepper spray, with cameras rolling, but what if anything has truly changed? The collective energy was harnessed, assembled but ultimately released without being focused in the manner that would have created the change we all sought.
Wall Street Occupied
What would have happened if all those people, many of whom spent quite a bit of money on travel, had donated to a collective “war-chest,” hired a top flight law firm to file law suit after law suit to jam the courts and bury them in paper work? Hell! Hire several law firms! Imagine what an army of investigators would have uncovered. Imagine what an army of litigators might have done. Do you realize that a mortgage company must have the original“promissory note” the mortgagee signed? Not a copy but the original. If you don’t have the original note, no money is owed. With all the bundling of mortgages and shipping them all around the world, how many promissory notes do you suppose were lost? Imagine the impact of several million people learning, not only could their homes not be foreclosed on, but they could live there in perpetuity free and clear!
Technological
Knowledge is power! We live in a technology based society. We went from an agrarian based society, where our economy was dependent on farming and agricultural production, to the “Industrial Revolution.” Industry led to the creation of technology and now we’re in what we call, “The Information Age.” In order to effectively wield power in the “Information Age” you must understand the technology it is based on.
Make no mistake, knowledge is the ultimate wealth. Knowledge leads to power. Power equals control. Right now there is a network of cameras all across this nation that photograph the license plates of vehicles. You cannot leave your home without your movements being tracked. Why? Equally important is, how much do you believe this system – paid for by you, me and other taxpayers – costs? With data mining programs you can hit a button and create a comprehensive profile of almost anyone. If I know where you’re going, where you’re going to be, I own you.
If you do not understand the technology, you have no concept of the peril or how to defend yourself from that peril.
Economic
There is no such thing as a free lunch. We all know this, if not intellectually, viscerally. Anything of value has a cost associated with it. Yes, there may be some things that require our financial support, however there may also be some things from which we need to withdraw our financial support. Consider Walmart for example. For every job Walmart creates, 1.5 jobs are lost. Because we’re not seeing the arterial spray and only a drip, drip, drip, we ignore the fact we’re being bled to death. It is the height of insanity to bring the rope to our own hanging.
Economically, we need to realize that when we spend our money with companies who’s leadership does not share our focus, some portion of those dollars wind up supporting the very political aims that are devastating this nation and ourcommunities in particular.
Fortunately, there are a lot of things we can do to turn the tables. It starts by “Teaching Our Dollars Some Sense.”
Political
Politics is the battleground. Not only are “all politics local” they begin in the home. Politics is not a spectators sport! There are no bleachers from which you can watch in safety. You’re out on the field whether you realize it or not. You are a player, a piece in a game of chess. You may start out as a pawn, but if you make it to the “end zone” you can become extremely powerful.
We talk about the 3 branches of government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial – but all 3 branches have their local equivalents. We have been led to believe that we are merely passengers on a bus with the destination, speed and route controlled by others. In point of fact, we can take over the bus. Most elections are decided before the first vote is cast. The people in charge of your local community have a lot to say about where and how your tax dollars are spent. They also have a lot to say about whom provides the services you come to rely on.
Take the price of gas. Right now you can drive across town and see gas station after gas station all selling gas at the same price. Not that far back in our history, we would call that “Price Fixing” and someone would be going to jail. Why is no one being investigated and prosecuted? That has a lot to do with the bought and paid for people who currently occupy the positions who could bring such a case to trial. How is it that Shell, BP, Marathon and others are all selling gas for the same price? If they’re all getting it from the same place, then they’re engaging false advertising. It would be like taking generic “Corn Flakes” and putting them in a “Kellogg’s” box.
In my next installment – “The Treatment Plan” – I will expand on the STEP acronym and give specific plans of attack. Yes, you can do something about this. Sometimes we just need a road map. No, I don’t advocate expending a lot of energy marching and demonstrating. Those are just pressure relief valves that do not accomplish much and allow us to relapse into the somnambulistic state so many of us exist in. If you’re having a nightmare, the best thing you can do is to wake up. The alarm clock is ringing. It’s time to rise.
Stay Tuned For “Zimmerman Acquittal – Lessons Learned (Part III)” The Treatment Plan.
We are at war! We are not at war against all white people. Thankfully, the vast majority of white people are enlightened and committed to the same goals as we are. They are committed to creating a better world, a better life for their children and grandchildren, opportunity to grow and become the best they can be. If it were not for these white people – of all ages and economic brackets – coming out and voting in mass, we would not have elected President Obama. I have not forgotten – nor should you – that white people marched with Dr. King, had fire hoses and police dogs turned on them and some were even murdered for the cause. The following is an older white man expressing his outrage over the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. (Warning – strong language and probably not suitable for work)
Merely because there has not been an official declaration of war, doesn’t mean you are not in a fight for your very existence nor does it mean that the higher principles this nation aspired to when it was founded are not under attack. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred before a war was officially declared. The men and women who died that day are not any less dead because of this fact. There was not an official declaration of war prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
“As long as we play by these bullshit rules and the killer doesn’t, we’re gonna lose!” _Marion Cobretti (Cobra – Sylvester Stallone)
Rules Of Engagement
The war that is being waged has been going on for thousands of years. It is about the wealthy maintaining power over the poor. You no doubt are familiar with the term “chivalry?” Most people upon hearing that word have visions of Knights in shining armour riding forth on their trusty steeds doing good for those less fortunate, rescuing damsels in distress and slaying dragons. The reality was quite different.
First, remember that all the royal families were related. They were cousins. The King of England – or Queen – was related to the monarchs of France, Russia, Germany, Spain and Denmark. One big extended family controlling the world. They all had the same problem, namely peasant population control. Too much prosperity and the peasant population grew too fast. Most wars were to decrease the peasant populations. Hence the rules of Chivalry. Under Chivalry, a peasant could not strike or touch a nobleman or his horse.
When they lined up for battle, guess how they lined up. The Knights always lined up opposite the peasants on both sides. They would ride into them and mow them down. If a peasant struck a Knight or his horse, they would pause the battle and execute the peasant. Things didn’t change until the advent of the English Long Bow. Archers could strike from a distance and it was impossible to determine which archer had fired the arrow sticking out of a Knight’s chest. If you go back and study history, you will find that there was quite an uproar about the unfairness and lack of chivalry of this tactic.
This mentality has carried over to this day. Snipers are both loved and hated on the battlefield. Why? Because they target officers. Back during the revolutionary war, Officers were the favorite targets of Colonial sharpshooters. It was considered unsportsmanlike. Generals and officers used to be at the front of their lines commanding their troops into battle from horseback in perfect safety. War became real when the peasantry began fighting back. It is time we began fighting back again.
“According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Individuals of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.”
As is always the case, the officers claim to be in fear for their lives. In the video you can see a compliant subject who puts his hands up, then two officers manhandle him face down on the hard concrete floor. One is sitting astride his back the other is kneeling on his neck and shoulders. Imagine two grown men sitting on you like that. Could you breathe? You might begin to squirm to relieve the pressure. Now ask yourself, why is it that Black people always decide to resist once there are two or more Cops on top of them and they’re being handcuffed? If you were going to resist, would you wait until then to make your move? Or would you put up a fight when you had a better chance of success? Zimmerman’s defense was the same defense used by these officers and every other officer who uses lethal force.
Police Academy
“I was in fear for my life and the safety of others.” This is a phrase they hammer into all Cops at the law enforcement academy. Why? How do you measure fear? How do you prove that a person is not in fear? Notice, by focusing on the issue of whether or not a person is in fear and whether or not that fear is justified, just as in the Zimmerman trial, we ignore the choices and actions of that person leading up to the confrontation. Was he afraid or not? He was dealing with a Black male. Black males are scary! Get a predominately white jury and they find it very easy to imagine a fear that may not have actually existed. So immersed do they become in their imagining this spectre of fear, caused by interaction with a Black male, their latent racism causes them to forget the facts. If you invade my home at night, unannounced and uninvited, you should be afraid… be very afraid. However, let us not forget, that it was you who placed your life at peril.
The War On Drugs Is A War On Black People
“The study, which was published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, controlled for variables like socioeconomic status because rates of severe drug problems tend to be greater amongst the poor. Despite this, Native American youth fared worst, with 15% having a substance use disorder, compared to 9.2% for people of mixed racial heritage, 9.0% for whites, 7.7% for Hispanics, 5% for African Americans and 3.5% for Asians and Pacific Islanders.”
When you view these statistics, it is important to bear in mind that Black people are only 13% of the population. White people compose over 70% of the population. So when you see that 5% of Black people are involved with narcotics, remember that’s 5% of the 13%. Yet we make up 60% of the prison population and the large majority are there for narcotics crimes. Roughly, this means that law enforcement officers have to walk past 6.3 white drug users to arrest the 1 Black user. Is there any wonder why we’re losing the war on drugs? This isn’t by accident, this is by design.
Rolling Back The Clock
If you need further proof that minorities and Black people in particular are under attack, consider the ridiculous lines at the polls. Governments cut the number of voting machines in minority districts and shortened the times that voting could occur. Meanwhile in the predominately white suburbs, there were plenty of voting machines. Just recently, after watching all of this, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Although there has not nor will there be a “formal declaration of war,” ask yourself what they would do differently? They’re jailing us, murdering us and doing everything within their power to roll this nation back to the 30’s and 40’s.
If you find this objectionable and wonder what to do about it or what can be done about it, stay tuned for Part II wherein I offer a prescription.
There is only one Race on this planet… The human Race.
The Evolution Of Race
With the mapping of the human genome, the myth of race or ethnicity has been laid bare. Despite our outward appearances which are merely the result of the evolutionary process of adaptation to the climates of geographic location, there is no such thing as Race. We are all the same species. Our parts are interchangeable, thus should we need a heart or lung transplant, a Black, White, Asian is not limited to a donor from their same “Race.” Why? Because really, there is no such thing as race. Dr. Nina Jablonski gives an excellent presentation on this subject at a “TED Talks” presentation.
This is well worth the viewing and I will be referring back to it a bit later.
Define Race
This question is rarely if ever asked. Everyone simply assumes they know the answer. The reality is, in our culture, race is totally based on skin color. Skin color is entirely based on the geographic location humans evolved. Think about it. You can see evolution at work every year. In the summer, you get darker. Whether you’re “Black,” “White,” “Asian” or any other arbitrary ethnic genotype. In the winter, you lighten back up. These changes occur over the space of a few days or weeks at most.
What would happen if you/your family lived for generation after generation closer to the equator where the amount of sun you received was like a perpetual summer? Your family would grow darker and darker with each successive generation. Again, you see this process begin each summer. By the same token, if you were dark skinned and you/your family moved to northern Europe, over successive generations, your family would lose skin pigment and grow lighter. Why? Because you would be receiving less UV radiation from the Sun. This is because of the oblique angle the Sun’s rays strike the surface of the Earth in the northern latitudes. This is not theory, it is scientific fact.
Even the classic European features are adapted to living in a cold environment. Where it is hot, you want your nose to be wider to take in more oxygen. However, where it is colder, a narrow nose is more efficient to pre-warm the air you inhale. Most of the heat in your body is lost, dissipated through your head. More surface area is more efficient. Broad nose, thicker lips, curly hair helps to protect you from the heat of the Sun and dissipate the heat. In a colder climate, straight hair helps to form an insulating layer to keep heat in. Thin lips provide less surface area for heat loss.
Moving to a different location does not change your race. Over generations you may adapt to your environment – it’s what humans do – but you are still the same race you always were. Human.
Justifying Racism
The primary cause for the very notion of Races comes from people who were historically, anthropologically and archaeologically ignorant, attempting to understand Jewish mythology and take it as historical fact. You may want to read that again. What they fail to understand when reading Biblical accounts, is that the Bible was talking about families and tribes of people. Indeed, “family” and “tribe” are distinctions without a difference.
If you believe the Genesis myth, how many races of man did God create? When did he create a new race of man? At what point did this happen? The Garden of Eden story is what we call a “choke point.” Supposedly, the only two human beings on this planet were Adam and Eve. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were of one flesh. Thus, no other Races were created in the Garden, fair to say? The next “choke point” recorded in the Bible is the “Great Flood of Noah.”
The Great Flood Myth
Without going into all the reasons why this never happened, suffice it to say, prior to Cable News Networks allowing you to have a global perspective on events, if you look out your door and all you see is water, as far as you’re concerned, the entire world is flooded. The point is, following the Flood, there are supposedly only 8 human survivors. Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. If there had been any other “Races” that sprang up by magic, there were none after the flood. So again, there was only one Race on this planet.
A cottage industry has sprung up with people writing books and creating DVDs on the subject of the Nephilim. This comes from a passage in the 6th Chapter of the book of Genesis. It is an interesting story. According to these Biblical researchers, this story implies that humans were interbreeding with alien – or demonic – beings and it is this corruption of the human bloodline which causes God to send the flood to cleanse the Earth. According to the story, the Nephilim were giants. They were more than human with super human abilities.
In their narratives, they explain all the megalithic structures by pointing to these Nephilim. The Great pyramids and the pyramids around the world are all works of the Nephilim according to these researchers. They sell a lot of books, give a lot of speeches and make a lot of money. They also tie up all historical loose ends quite neatly. One might overlook the fact that the only places where these Nephilim built all these megalithic constructions were where Black and Brown people lived. The not so subtle implications are that people of color couldn’t possibly have possessed a technology that White people cannot duplicate or figure out today! So, to preserve the White psyche, it is much more attractive to theorize that space aliens or demonic beings and their hybrid offspring did these great works. Ironically, they rarely ever reference Stonehenge in their conjecturing. Why? Because that megalithic site is in Europe. Those White people were simply clever!
David and Goliath. But I thought all the giants died in the flood?
What everyone seems to miss is, there were giants after the flood! Since the Bible says that all living flesh was destroyed by the flood except for that which was on Noah’s ark, where did these giants come from? If God was trying to destroy the Nephilim and their hybrid offspring, what a waste! It really makes God out to be incompetent! All that death and destruction and he still did not achieve his ends.
Noah’s Three Sons
In Genesis 10, yet another place people like to point to and declare this is where the various races come from, we are told that each of Noah’s sons became the fathers of various nations. Japheth was the father of the Gentiles. Shem was the father of the Shemitic or Semitic peoples and Ham was the father of the African people. There are two things that are important to note. The first is, Noah’s sons were all of the same race. So, you’ve got a problem saying that their offspring who would all be cousins in the same family, suddenly became different races. The second glaring problem is, they left out quite a few ethnic groups that we recognize as races today. Whom was the father of the Asians? How about the Native American people?
Of course, at the time this myth was put together, these people were unknown. There are a few often overlooked other points such as, the descendants of Ham – Black People – are notGentiles. Only the descendants of Japheth – Europeans – are Gentiles. Ever hear of the Ashkenazi Jews? Ashkenaz was a descendant of Japheth and thus a Gentile. Thus, an Ashkenazi Jew is something of an Oxymoron. I may explore this little problem in a future article.
So we have three sons from the same father, same bloodline, same race – human – supposedly being the progenitors of all the different arbitrary racial distinctions we make today. In a word, nonsense!Everyone present on the planet at this mythical point in time was of the same “Race.” My parents had 3 sons and 1 daughter. We all have different personalities, different interests and different abilities. We are all the same “Race.” We have the same parents and we are of one family.
What about skin color? At the time of Noah, everyone had Black skin. There were no White people on the planet. If you need to, read that again. This is not theory, this is scientifically proven fact. If we place the “Great Flood” in time, based on the lifespans – generations – listed in your Bible, mankind had not yet left northern Africa and the Mediterranean. This means their skin was still adapted to high UV light. White skin would not develop until mankind spread into the northern regions of the planet. Thus, Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth and their descendants were all Black skinned people.
Kemet The Land Of The Blacks
You are probably more familiar with the Greek name for Kemet, “Egypt.” Kemet is very important to human history. First let me dispel some popular myths. Back in the 70’s when President Carter was brokering a lasting peace between then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli President, Menachem Begin, they had all met in Egypt and President Sadat was giving them a tour of the Pyramids of Giza. As they’re walking along, President Begin looks up at the Pyramids and remarks, “these remind me of the suffering of my people.” At which, President Sadat turned to him and informed him, “your people didn’t have a damn thing to do with these!”
President Sadat was of course correct. Based on the Bible and the Torah’s representation of time, the Pyramids were built long before Abraham the Jewish patriarch was born. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into all the proofs that show that the whole Hebrew bondage in Egypt and the Exodus story is a myth. Nevertheless, suffice it to say, at any conceivable placement in time for Moses and the Hebrews being in Egypt, the Egyptians were a Black African people. The first European presence in Egypt came about when Alexander the Greek conquered Egypt.
Why is this important. It is important for two reasons. Let’s explore the first. Remember the story of Joseph being sold into bondage in Egypt. This is the whole “Joseph and his technicolor dream coat story.” Joseph has these dreams. His brothers become jealous and plot to get rid of him. He winds up in Egypt and rises to become second only to the Pharaoh.
Here is the point you need to pay attention to. Famine was in the land and Jacob – Israel – sent his sons into Egypt to purchase grain for the family to eat. The brothers had to present themselves before Joseph to buy grain. They did not recognize him standing alongside the other African Egyptians. Had Hebrews been light skinned or fair of complexion, Joseph would have stood out like a sore thumb standing beside the other Black skinned African people. If nothing else, it would have caused his brothers to scrutinize him closely and I’m certain that recognition would have set in.
The next story I want to direct your attention to concerns the story of Moses and the Exodus. If you will recall the whole “burning bush” affair, God sends Moses back to Pharaoh with the message to let his people go. Moses asks why would Pharaoh believe him and God gives Moses several signs. One of those signs was for him to put his hand into his shirt, pull it out and it would become all white and leprous. Think about that for a moment. A White man putting his hand in his shirt and pulling out a white hand wouldn’t really cause much sensation. The Bible specifically says that his hand turned leprous as snow. In other words, white. Clearly Moses wasn’t White to begin with. In fact, nobody in the area was White.
Tribalism Not Racism
Charlton Heston as Moses
One of our biggest problems with understanding ancient texts, whether it be the Bible, the Torah, Sanskrit you name it, is that everything we read, we filter through the lens of modern understanding and prejudices. Most people when they think of ancient Egypt, are visualizing a Cecil B. DeMill fantasy. Yul Brenner as Pharaoh and Charlton Heston as Moses. The movie, “The Ten Commandments” was so divorced from reality, they might as well have begun it with, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
Back then, no one had any concept of what we now call Race. Since everyone had the same skin color, what was important was where you lived and or which family you belonged to. Conflicts arose over resources. Water, land to grow crops, access roads etc. If you lived in Egypt, you were considered Egyptian. If you lived in Babylon, you were Babylonian. If you lived in the land of Canaan, you were a Canaanite. Where you lived determined the style of your clothes, your armaments and your accent. If you were dressed like a Greek and either spoke Greek or spoke with a Greek accent, you were considered a Greek. Skin color was never an issue.
4 – 5% may not seem like a lot, but when you have 1.1 billion pieces of DNA, and when just one piece can determine your eye color, you can have quite a few instructions contained in that 4 – 5%.
The Geography Of Skin Color
What color is your skin? Which latitude did your ancestors come from?
The simple fact is, human beings need vitamin D to live. The further north or south you go on the surface of the Earth, the more oblique the angle of the rays of the Sun. You do not require the protection of Melanin. You need as much sunlight penetrating the layers of your skin as possible to create that vital vitamin D. Thus, we see that the further one goes into these upper northern and lower southern latitudes, the lighter their skin becomes. It is a human adaptation, not a change in race.
The sad truth? If all people of color suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth, leaving only white people, there would be a new definition of race. Blond haired, blue eyed white people would become the models of perfection and they’d begin discriminating against their dark haired and dark eyed counter parts. How do we know this? It has already been done in the United States of America. As each new ethnic group immigrated into the United States, they were at the bottom of the social order. They discriminated against the Irish, and the Italians when they first arrived, even though both the people doing the discriminating and the victims of this discrimination consider themselves to be white.
Religion and Discrimination
Pope Nicholas V
It is a fact that the Bible has been used to condone and justify some of the most horrific genocides in human history. In almost every instance, the victims were people of dark complexion. The holocaust of the African Slave trade was started by the Catholic church. In 1452 Pope Nicholas V penned his “Papal Bull” known as the “Dum Diversas.”
“”We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property […] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.”
For the first time in recorded human history, perpetual slavery was created. For the first time in recorded human history, a baby could be born into slavery, grow up a slave and die a slave having never known freedom. During the period that the African Slave trade was in progress, 100,000,000 million Africans were murdered before they ever made it to the auction blocks. This doesn’t include the 100s of millions who survived to be sold into slavery and live out their lives in misery.
Hitler amongst his other delusions, used as a justification for creating the Jewish holocaust, the notion that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. Many Christian nations – the Catholic Church included – were content to look the other way. You can get away with quite a bit, if you use the Bible to justify whatever it is you’re trying to do. The irony is, Hitler looked more like the people he was murdering than his idea of the ideal genotype of blond hair and blue eyes.
Why We Identify With A Racial Group
The delusion of racial typing confers upon certain groups by accident of birth, the presumption of traits and abilities that one neither has to earn nor achieve. Thus, Jews are good with money, Blacks are good athletes, Asians are smart in school and so on. This even carries over into human sexuality. There are myths about white, women, Black women, Asian women, indeed women of all nationalities that are just that… MYTHS! The same should be said for males.
Thus, we limit the human race by embracing these delusions which cause us to squander the most valuable resource on this planet… the human resource! We don’t fund inner city schools because those students are minority students. The mind that may contain the cure for cancer or the solution to a faster than light drive, allowing us to leave this solar system, never gets developed because of racism. We simply can no longer afford racism. Our continued survival depends on the realization that there is only one race on this planet and that race is the Human Race!
Germany didn’t wake up one fine morning to discover they were under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler. It was a gradual process. Hitler *seemed* quite sane with the best interests of Germany at heart. Hitler’s first act upon coming to power was not to open death camps. That came later. His was a subtle dance of seduction. Rarely does great evil spring upon a people full blown. It begins as a little cloud in the sky. The weather is beautiful a few days before a hurricane.
We are at a fork in the road. Fortunately, we have the advantage of being able to look at history. I personally do not believe in coincident. Everything that happens is the result of cause and effect. Often the *cause*is plotted and planned in dimly lit, cigar smoke filled rooms. The *effect* is designed to take you by surprise.
We need to decide what type of society we’re going to become. Those who are enlightened and evolved, care little about the ethnic designation of those in charge, we care only about their integrity and competence. We recognize the mutual commonality of humanity. We all share the same needs. Safety, opportunity, a clean environment and being able to educate our children such that each successive generation will surpass the last. We also care about the welfare of our fellowmen. We understand that as a society we are no richer than the poorest amongst us. For us to prosper, we all must prosper together.
Unfortunately, there exists a dark cabal who are more concerned with securing and maintaining power for those of their own ethnic designation. For them, power and control is the objective. If you’ve been paying attention, you can see them sliding the pieces in place to set up a society that does not represent the lofty goals, hopes and dreams of the majority of U.S. Citizens. Rather than pass a Jobs Bill to put people back to work rebuilding our infrastructure, they’d rather take another meaningless vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act which will provide health care for children and poor families. Rather than fund our system of education, they’d rather give away billions in subsides to oil companies that don’t need them.
Though we cannot see the wind, we can mark its passage by the leaves it blows and the grass it bends. Thus it is by looking at the areas receiving their most ardent focus, we can determine their true motives. Look. Pay attention and connect the dots.
This latest kerfuffle involving Paul Deen and the ubiquitous “N-Word” is a study in hypocrisy. Our feigned outrage over an old white lady from the deep South admitting during a deposition that at some point in her life, she’d referred to a Black person as a nigger, pushes the bounds of my patience to its point of breaking! Really??? The attorney might as well have asked her if she’d ever farted?
Lets be real for a moment. Is there any white person born and raised in the United States of America who can truthfully say, they’ve never in their entire life uttered the word “nigger?” If a white person reading this can truthfully make this claim, please send me an e-mail. I would dearly like to talk to you and learn the details of your upbringing.
Don’t get me wrong. In my youth, I integrated sever all white schools out on the west coast. It was my policy to beat the ass of any white person who called me a nigger. I once chased one little white boy six blocks, dragged him back out of his house and whipped his ass right in front of his mother and screaming sister. It is a word that should not be used.
Since then, I’ve had several white people who felt comfortable enough with me to ask the question so near and dear to most of their hearts. To wit: “We hear Black people using that word… why can’t we?” My response? “You can… However, if I have one of my blackouts and come to stomping on your neck… you will forgive me won’t you?” That usually settles the matter.
All of this having been said, the facts of the matter are these. Mrs. Deen comes from an era and a geographic location where she was raised around people, and by people for whom that type of terminology was the norm. Who was going to sit her down in her youth and teach her that referring to Black people in that manner was wrong? Is how a child is raised the child’s fault or the parents fault? I do give Mrs. Deen credit for becoming more aware of right, wrong and what is acceptable in a civilized, multicultural society.
Eclipsing The Real Issue
The reason Paula Deen was being deposed had to do with a discrimination law suit involving an employee of color who has alleged racist behavior and abuse. Did it happen? I have no idea. However, I’ve been around the block enough times to know that just because someone alleges something in a law suit, doesn’t make it so. That is why we have trials and the presentation of evidence. Conversely, merely because someone uses the word “Y’all,” speaks with a southern drawl and admits to having used the word “nigger” in the past, doesn’t mean that they’ve treated an employee in a discriminatory manner. Let’s wait for the trial.
A Study In Hypocrisy
As of today, the Food Network has fired Paula Deen because she told the truth under oath and answered a question which might not have been allowed in open court for being overly broad and irrelevant. The rules for depositions are a lot more flexible. In court the only way an attorney could ask such a question would be if Paula Deen stated that she didn’t use that word. Then the question of whether or not she had ever used that word would become relevant.
Suppose the same question were posed to the attorney who asked it? What would he or she have said? Suppose that question were posed to the judge? What would she or he say? If every white person who has ever used the word nigger – in life – were taken off the air tomorrow, we’d be watching a blank screen and listening to a test tone.
Addendum
When use of the “N-Word,” becomes the litmus test for racism, then ardent racist like Rush Limbaugh can claim to be non-racist because no one has yet to come forward to out him for having said it. White people who are comfortable with their separatist attitudes – many don’t realize they have them – are quick to seize on use of the “N-Word” as being the litmus test. “So long as I don’t say that word, I’m not a racist!” Thus they can support all manner of racist positions. The President is Kenyan. He wasn’t born here. He’s un-American, our economic woes are due to minorities on welfare… on and on.
Paula Deen – bless her soul – simply doesn’t get it. In truth, because of her history and upbringing, she may well be incapable of ever getting it. She’s not the problem. You can see her coming from a “Y’all” away. The problem is the corporate bigwigs that run corporations like the Food Network. They’re racist to their core. When Paula Deen started talking about the beauty of an “Old Southern Wedding” served by Black people dressed as Slaves, they should have cut ties with her back then. They might have said that her views were inconsistent with the audience they were trying to build and attract. They did not. They were comfortable chalking it up to her eccentricities. Why? Because for them, the litmus test for racism is use of the “N-Word.”
A white banker doesn’t have to call a black person applying for a loan a “nigger.” All he has to do is make sure he gets his loan at a higher interest rate. An insurance company doesn’t have to call a Black person a “nigger,” all they have to do is determine where minority communities are located and designate those areas for higher insurance rates. The company a Black person works for doesn’t have to call them a “nigger.” All they have to do is pay them less than the white person working beside them doing the exact same job. When we allow use of the “N-Word” to become the litmus test for racism, we are deluding ourselves about reality and the way the world works.
“Before you can get someone saved, you must first get them lost.”
The entire Christian message, hinges on the doctrine of “Original Sin.” If you’ve ever been “buttonholed” by some Christian on the street engaging in what they call, “witnessing,” within the first moments of your encounter, they started out by quoting one of several passages from their Bible – Scriptures – pointing out that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Death is too easy. You’ve got to suffer forever.
The next step in their parade, is to convince you of just how terrible and serious this is. Whether you know it or not, there’s this “all powerful being” just waiting to squash you like a bug, turn you into asbestos and then throw you into a fire that burns for all eternity… but he loves you! I admit the cognitive dissonance is a bit much, but for their program to work, it is necessary that you hold these two mutually exclusive positions in your mind.
It gets worse. Suppose you’re living a perfectly good life… even by their rather flexible standards. You’re not a liar or a cheat. You’re paying your taxes. You donate to charities. You’re volunteering perhaps mentoring youth or caring for seniors. Not to worry, they’ve got a cake baked just for you. They’ll tell you all these things don’t matter. You’re a sinner not because of anything you’ve done. You’re a sinner because of what Adam did! Say what? Yes, Adam!
There’s your problem! It was Mayhem!
It all goes back to that fateful day in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took a bite from some fruit they were not supposed to eat. Of course, you had nothing to do with that. However, God whom really, really loves you… and evidently hates you at the same time, can hardly wait to burn you for all eternity, not because of something you did, but because of something Adam is supposed to have done. Did I mention? God is also just and righteous! Don’t try and make any sense of of this because there is none. You’ll see why as we continue.
Fall Of Man Or Ascent Of Man?
Let’s suppose temporarily, for the sake of discussion that there actually was a Garden of Eden. The problem is, all of these events would have occurred thousands of years before the development of writing. Thus the story – if it occurred – would of been handed down via word of mouth generation after generation after generation. If you’ve ever played the “Telephone Game,” you know that after one or two people, the original message becomes garbled. Now multiply that by numerous generations and you get my point.
We have no way of knowing what if anything was said, to whom and by whom. We have no way of knowing what was done or not done by any of the players. Was it a fruit that was eaten or was the talking Serpent really a phallic symbol and the forbidden fruit sex? We do not know. Just because a large number of people believe something doesn’t make it true. At one time, the majority of the world’s population believed that the Earth was flat and that the Sun orbited the Earth. They were wrong.
Oft times back then, stories were told not so much to give a factual account of history, but rather to convey a principle or a moral from generation to generation. The minute details of the story were inconsequential. The important information was encoded into the story at much higher level.
The Ascent of Man?
Thus, someone enlightened hearing the story of the events in the Garden of Eden, might actually find a record of the ascension of human development. We began as gathers. Hence the Garden setting. We were naked and subsisted by picking fruit off trees and eating berries. What’s the next thing that happened after eating the forbidden fruit? We realize our nakedness and God kills animals to make skins so we can clothe our nakedness. Hence, we go from eating nuts and berries to hunting and eating meat.
Abel represents the next step. He represents our nomadic herdsman period. Just as today, in various parts of the world, people live off and follow their herds. The Laplanders survive off their reindeer herds. In Africa there are tribes that follow their herds of cattle. The problem with the nomadic lifestyle, although enjoyable, it precludes real technological progress. You cannot build cities if you have to pick up and follow your herd to the next greener pasture.
Cain was a farmer. Farming is hard work. However, through farming, harvesting and storing food, you now have the possibility to subsist in one location. You don’t have to live in tents and be ready to move at a moment’s notice. You can build long lasting structures. You can develop and build a specialized society. People can learn to work metal. People have time to develop a system of education. Thus, as Cain slew his brother Abel, so too did farming put an end to the nomadic lifestyle based on following the herd. All this information is encoded into the first few chapters of Genesis. It is not written on the lines but between the lines.
Original Sin – Mind Control Through Mythology
The real sin in the story of the Garden of Eden is the insulting depiction of God. I have a two year old granddaughter. If I left a cocked and loaded handgun lying on the coffee table and left the room… even if I told her not to touch it in the most unambiguous and emphatic terms possible, when she picked it up, as she surely would, whom would be responsible when the gun went off? Me or her?
In for a penny, in for a pound! Most Christians at this point will want to ascribe to Adam knowledge and abilities that are not in evidence. Had Adam ever seen anything die? Did Adam have any idea what death was? Telling Adam that he would surely die might not have meant much.
Then there’s this whole “Good and Evil” problem. Prior to eating the fruit, Adam had no concept of Good or Evil. Hence, he wouldn’t have known that God is good and equally important, he wouldn’t have known that the Serpent and what the Serpent was telling him was evil. Adam, according to the Christian theological position, was in a state of perfect innocence. If you saw a snake in a tree, you’d back off immediately. If that snake began talking to you, Bible stories notwithstanding, you’d run like Hell! Why? Because you would know it wasn’t natural. Neither Adam nor Eve possessed those innate survival instincts or inhibitions. They were like innocent two year-olds in the bodies of adults.
This could end poorly!
This brings us to the next point. If God knows all things and knows the “end from the beginning…” and If God is all places, then God would have to have known that the Serpent was in the playpen. What parent would put his baby in a playpen, then watch as a venomous cobra wound it’s way through the bars? Furthermore, what parent would then punish his child for getting bit? The entire story begins to fall apart… unless of course God is not all powerful and not all knowing and not omnipresent.
This brings us to yet another “sticky wicket.” What if it was all God’s plan to begin with? Possible. However, now you have God punishing mankind for going along with his plan. See the problem?
Passing Down Sin
Remember, the entirety of Christian theology depends upon everyone being born a “sinner” because of what Adam did. Of course if Christians actually would read their Bibles, they would see that this is false.
[KJV] Ezekiel 18:20
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
There you have it! This passage right here is the death knell for the Doctrine of Original Sin. You don’t inherit the sins of your father and that of course means, you cannot inherit the sin of Adam.
Nowhere in Jesus’ recorded words in the Gospels, does he ever say or imply that his mission is to right the wrong and undo what Adam did. Nowhere! In fact the name “Adam” only appears one place in the Gospels. Luke 3:38 gives the genealogy of Jesus tracing all the way back to Adam. If Jesus’ entire mission, the reason he came to Earth was to be the ultimate sacrifice and die to fix the original sin of Adam, you’d think he might have mentioned it. That would be a pretty important point for him to overlook mentioning it. Surely he would have shared his mission, his purpose with his Disciples… at least one of them. Perhaps Peter?
The entire doctrine of “original sin” comes from Paul. Paul never met Jesus, was never taught by Jesus and quite frankly, not to put too fine a point on things… Paul was a liar and a false Apostle. If you doubt this, read Revelation 2:1-2. Then ask yourself if you know of anyone other than Paul claiming to be the Apostle to the Ephesian Church.
Mind Control
Despite what you’ve seen in science fiction movies or in the performances of Stage Hypnotists, mind control is actually a lot more subtle than what you may have been led to believe. It all begins by planting suggestions and building on those suggestions. For instance, right now your nose is itching. We are all susceptible to suggestions to varying degrees. Nose not itching? Give it a minute. It will. By telling you what I’m doing I’m letting you off the hook. This is just in fun. It doesn’t matter if your nose itches are not. The more you fight it the more annoying the itch will become. The human mind is a marvel.
Try this, next time you’re in a group, clear your throat loudly and then count how many people begin clearing their throats as well. This also works with yawns. Yawns are extremely contagious. These are simple things you can have fun testing. However, what about our core beliefs? It turns out that we are even more susceptible to manipulation when someone accesses a button we’ve already developed a preconditioned response to.
This is one of the reasons I have asked, “how can you judge someone who was raised in an Islamic, Buddhist or even a Pagan home?” We are born with a blank slate. Our parents begin writing on that slate from the moment of our birth. As children we have yet to develop the analytical skills that allow us to determine what is reality. This is when the indoctrination begins. The foundation upon which the rest of our life is built, is laid in our childhood. If you’ve been raised in the “West,” more like than not you’ve been indoctrinated to have a predisposition to believe in Christianity.
What happens when someone begins pushing these buttons? You’ve already been raised to believe that the Bible is the “Word of God.” You’ve been taught not to doubt or question. If they come to you and begin quoting or referencing certain Bible passages, you’re predisposed to give what they’re saying more weight. Naked human beings who didn’t know they were naked? Talking snakes? Forbidden fruit? Under normal circumstances, you’d ask someone what they’d been smoking! However, because of the triggers planted in your youth, you’re predisposed to believe whatever is written in the Bible. If someone tells you you’re “lost,” you’re “lost!” It’s just that easy.
[KJV] Mark 2:17
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance
Here you have it! According to Jesus, noteveryone is a sinner. Some people are righteous. When a proselytizer approaches you to “witness” to you. They never leave it with your accepting Jesus as your personal saviour and accepting his substitutionary death for your sins. Fellowship is the flip side of the salvation coin. Now you need to join a Church… their Church! You will quickly discover there is more to your salvation than merely accepting Jesus. There’s paying tithes – 10% of your income – and giving in the offerings. Matter of fact, if you don’t pay your tithes, you’ll discover that your salvation might not be assured. Yes, it seems heaven has its price too.
So, whom are you going to believe? The recorded words of Jesus or someone who has a financial interest in your joining their Church? The doctrine of Original Sin is Mind Control Through Mythology. Churches have become huge corporate interests who profit from your belief in their message. Everything is designed to control your mind. From the Church building, to the music to the message. It is designed to not only lead you to the altar, but to open your wallet. You need to be aware of whom is pushing your buttons and why.
