Go Right to the New 'Zine! Ever since its creation almost three years ago, I have kept the informatrix
relatively free of direct and linear political commentary, choosing instead to simply encourage visitors to the site to keep thinking, and above all, to Search for Answers. However, the current batch of memetic/viral trends in the political/economic sectors of the information environment are too potentially virulent and toxic to approach with neutrality. At least that's how I see it. To be more specific,while participating in a 1986 televised debate on the issue of rock lyrics and censorship, the late American sociologist and composer Frank Zappa, predicted the approach of a "Fascist Theocracy." (do you want "Out of Here right Now!?")Out NowThis Page is Part ofChanging LINKS Click here for More Fun!
Frank is no longer with us now, when perhaps we need him most. His prophecy is coming true.
The Manufacture and Evolution of Culturally Acceptable Hate-Objects
The "Way Things Are," with regard to the existence of "political authority" continues to enjoy widespread acceptance and apathy. There is no need to rule by force, when those in power realise that a populace consumed by hatred and fear will practically demand to be ruled, and will happily surrender even the last vestigial traces of their rights, for the dream of comfort and security. History shows for the most part that societies who have traded basic freedoms for the illusion of comfort and safety have ended up losing both. When the climate of authority-permissiveness is present, there is little in the way of protection available from the threat of authority itself.
Watching the world as I do, more or less cocooned and encapsulated before this screen, I can't help but notice the amount of hate and fear in the air, and how eager certain individuals and groups are to spread it. Creating "out groups" and "enemies" has been proven to be effective as a means of creating group cohesion. (See Dr. M. Scott Peck's analysis of the My Lai massacre in People of the Lie for a detailed examination of this phenomenon)
At this point in history, it is nearly impossible for any given individual not to be a "hate object" for someone, somewhere.
Phenomena such as the anti-immigrant hysteria fired by former "nobodies" like neophyte demagogue Tom Tancredo, or the bizzarre mixture of rabid homphobia and neophobic anti-americanism of Pastor Phelps and the "God Hates Fags" group, the rational and sophisticated arguments of "minister" Farrakhan that lead to the conclusion that Jews are descendended from the devil, and the unnarestable sociopaths we refer to as leaders, who martyr the young, gullible and willing to the coldly cynical consolidation and increase of their own power
have corrupted the informational fabric of reality.
Here in America, for the time being we still enjoy the fruition of the drems of our "Founding Fathers," who somehow, without having any idea of the world that would develop, set forth principles that at least in theory allow for no one's humanity to be denied.
The modern world will not go away. Those who kill in the name of medieval superstitions cannot turn the tide. But among the modernists are those that would bring about the demise of the American Dream, playing on these primitive reactions. Fear of the "others", obsessing about what other people are doing with their private parts, and judging human beings by neither the content of their character nor the actual nature of their behavior, choosing instead the contents of their urine to determine their worth, are a few of the control systems employed, by the "control addicts". In all of this, the most disturbing trend is the resurgence of the "people as property" concept.
I personally have so many labels at this point that I have lost count. But the one that has brought me the most hardship is the "addict" label. We are the new witches, heretics, and jews, and "treatment" and "corrections" is the new inquisition. While much of the civilised world struggles to find rational and humane approaches to the public health hazards caused by irresponsible drug use, anti drug and anti-addict hysteria in America shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
(do you want "Out of Here right Now!?")Out NowThis Page is Part ofChanging LINKS Click here for More Fun!
