A Different Kind of Slavery
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning air is still and cool this morning. The chill in the air is not just about the changes in the rotation of the earth, but more about the fear people have of how things might look. I read in the morning New York Times that Democrats are apparently worried that they might look soft on terrorism if they do not support an extension of the eavesdropping laws. I don't wish to argue the merits of this bill, but rather I want to discuss the motivation for supporting it.
Today's world is so much about appearance. We all say this, we all know this, and we all understand just how shallow such a position is, still we succumb. I see this as a reflection in the erosion of character. We have no moral compass but that of public opinion and this, mind you, measured at the lowest possible common denominator.
I see it in daily life as well as in the national news. Appearance is everything and substance? Well, that's for that small fraction of folks who don't care about themselves, we say. They might wear white in October or decide to walk rather than drive or actually think for themselves without due regard to the boob tube and friends. Kooks one and all.
The result is a pandering on all sides of the political isle, at school, at work, and in our own minds. We want so much to appear normal. We want to be liked. We want to be respected. And we think (because we have ample evidence of its truth) that we must behave in accordance with everyone else in order to be accepted. We surrender our inalienable right to invent ourselves.
This is very dangerous in a complex and danger laden world. Our fears drive us. We easily undress for security purposes, we take lie detector tests to gain employment, we agree to drug testing before and after we are hired; we don't ask why...nor do we apparently care all that much. Like little birds we walk in a row all nice and polite into a box marked "ignorance is bliss." Then someone closes the door and its dark inside.
My old friend, Henry, said it this way:
"Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold, wherever a man allows himself to be made a mere thing or a tool, and surrenders his inalienable rights of reason and conscience. Indeed, this slavery is more complete than that which enslaves the body alone.... I never yet met with, or heard of, a judge who was not a slave of this kind, and so the finest and most unfailing weapon of injustice. He fetches a slightly higher price than the black men only because he is a more valuable slave."
H. D. Thoreau
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The morning air is still and cool this morning. The chill in the air is not just about the changes in the rotation of the earth, but more about the fear people have of how things might look. I read in the morning New York Times that Democrats are apparently worried that they might look soft on terrorism if they do not support an extension of the eavesdropping laws. I don't wish to argue the merits of this bill, but rather I want to discuss the motivation for supporting it.
Today's world is so much about appearance. We all say this, we all know this, and we all understand just how shallow such a position is, still we succumb. I see this as a reflection in the erosion of character. We have no moral compass but that of public opinion and this, mind you, measured at the lowest possible common denominator.
I see it in daily life as well as in the national news. Appearance is everything and substance? Well, that's for that small fraction of folks who don't care about themselves, we say. They might wear white in October or decide to walk rather than drive or actually think for themselves without due regard to the boob tube and friends. Kooks one and all.
The result is a pandering on all sides of the political isle, at school, at work, and in our own minds. We want so much to appear normal. We want to be liked. We want to be respected. And we think (because we have ample evidence of its truth) that we must behave in accordance with everyone else in order to be accepted. We surrender our inalienable right to invent ourselves.
This is very dangerous in a complex and danger laden world. Our fears drive us. We easily undress for security purposes, we take lie detector tests to gain employment, we agree to drug testing before and after we are hired; we don't ask why...nor do we apparently care all that much. Like little birds we walk in a row all nice and polite into a box marked "ignorance is bliss." Then someone closes the door and its dark inside.
My old friend, Henry, said it this way:
"Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold, wherever a man allows himself to be made a mere thing or a tool, and surrenders his inalienable rights of reason and conscience. Indeed, this slavery is more complete than that which enslaves the body alone.... I never yet met with, or heard of, a judge who was not a slave of this kind, and so the finest and most unfailing weapon of injustice. He fetches a slightly higher price than the black men only because he is a more valuable slave."
H. D. Thoreau
Be well.