Caveat: The phrase “they” is going to be used many times throughout this post. It is meant to serve as a placeholder, and can be substituted by any individual or group that fits the criteria described in the first few paragraphs. It is representative of a strategy, a set of behaviors that naturally extend from specific, core values that can be present from the most local, personal level, to the national and global levels. In all likelihood, you probably have someone that embodies these characteristics in your workplace, i.e., a painfully average individual that, while relatively poor in body and spirit, parrots the rhetoric of the rarefied elite that run the global economy, and hence, the world.
The purpose of any group that desires to maintain power over a large population is to convince the average citizen that he or she is somehow different from everyone else, that others do not have the same desires, fears and dreams that you do, that other groups within your culture, or citizens from other countries, are somehow fundamentally different than you and your people.
They promote the idea that people are inherently untrustworthy and selfish, and that your primary instinct should be to lookout for yourself and your interests. Better yet, why build strong, cohesive communities, when you can lock yourself away in your insipid home, and put your faith in corporations that are willing to do their best to take all the pain and sacrifice that characterizes real life away, all so you can feel safe and content in their facsimile of reality?
They appeal to the worst in human nature. Whether the issue is race, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religious/political affiliation, they know that you will fear that which you do not understand, that which you do not know or have experience with. They seek to divide and conquer, and while the myopic and ill-informed are busy fighting amongst themselves over illusory distinctions, they consolidate their power as they pillage the common wealth of the people.
The Internet, by its very nature, is diametrically opposed to these tactics and values. A decentralized, global network that connects individuals in unparalleled ways and engenders understanding, empathy, transparency and edification is making business as usual very difficult, if not impossible. The only things holding back genuine, global change are the most intractable forces I have ever encountered: indolence and apathy.
Our global community is coming to a turning point. The common people of the world, particularly those in well-developed western countries, will have an important choice to make. We can no longer claim ignorance from a lack of information or exposure. Many of us have grown up surrounded by diverse cultures and have had Internet access for the majority of our lives. The world has been at our fingertips, the curtain has been pulled back, and we can see the world and its people for what it is.
Do you think the color of someone’s skin or the texture of their hair really matters? Do you think that if someone is gay or bisexual, that there existence is going to have some personal, detrimental effect on your life? Do you really think it matters if someone believes in Jesus, or Allah, or reincarnation, or nothing at all? These are all arbitrary distinctions whose import are promulgated by people that do not believe in anything other than unfettered avarice, with the aim of weakening and subjugating the masses.
If science and technology have shown us anything, it is that no matter who we are or where we are from, we have much more in common with other people than we do apart. Yet, those in power don’t want you to ruminate on this fact. They don’t want you to empathize with others or to sympathize with their cause.
They don’t want you to recognize that we are simply one species out of millions that happens to think it is in charge of a tiny blue dot spinning at 1000 mph suspended in the middle of nothingness, whose existence could end, or at the very least, be fundamentally altered, at a moments notice, as it has repeatedly been in the past, and will undoubtedly be again in the future. They don’t want you thinking about these issues because it would make pursuit of their interests that much harder, that much more difficult to accomplish.
This is why the Internet is such an important revolutionary force. It enables the creation of more citizens that share this ideology. The people are starting to wake up, and business as usual is not good enough anymore.
So, you have a choice. You can embrace the inexorable change that is coming, and attempt to help in the creation of a more just, egalitarian global community, or you can languish in indolence and apathy, and through your inaction, tangentially support systems and policies that have failed us and our societies time and time again. Are you ready for Revolution 2.0?
Source Youtube
Images via The Big Picture, CNN, Minimalisti
