Fear

Thomas Hobbes's theory of fear, boiled down, is that the power of a government is not only a source of fear, but it's tool. But what if fear is lost? What becomes of the government then? Revolution?

Here in the US there are nightly protests in over 170 cities because several grand juries have failed to indict police officers when there was certainly enough evidence. In the US system, an indictment simply means there may be attributable guilt. Putting aside the Ferguson fiasco, in NYC the coroner labeled the death of Eric Garner a homicide. And still the grand jury did not indict.

Black persons are 21x more likely to be shot than whites. This is not a coincidence. Minorities in the US have never enjoyed the freedoms of white persons. By not indicting police officers, the government increases the fear, hence the control. It makes people more distrustful of the justice system. Makes white persons dependent on the divide. Fear.

Except that fear is crumbling. These protests are not violent, but could turn that way very quickly. If it does what then?

Curiously the President, and even Congress, have been mostly mute. Its as though they realize that their hold on the reigns of fear are now tenuous. The protests grow. The government is taking the wait and see stance, because it is a proven tactic. Ignore the problem long enough and the media will too. That is the fear they use now to maintain control.

On the dangerous trail to dystopia

No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.

Adam Smith

 Just tonight, the major television networks refused, refused, to interrupt their broadcast for fifteen minutes so that the President could give a speech about illegal immigrants. They did not refuse for moral reasons but financial ones as November is a ratings sweep. Nielsen points would not be traded so that the President could explain that his next actions were to keep families together while Congress continues it's self-imposed gridlock. Neither side of Congress wants to deal with this issue, because if illegal immigrants are granted a path to citizenship, then the businesses that own the politicians would be forced to pay not only a living wage to these humans, but taxes as well.

And the headlines coming out of Ferguson, MO are being ignored. Worse, when they are not there is bitter division. When did peaceful protest become such a horrible thing? Yes, there has been violence, but the majority of it has come from those meant to protect. Humans have become expendable.

I find it interesting the people have read the Hunger Games and seen the movies, yet are clearly unable to see that that dystopian horror is not a dream, yet a reality that the United States is slipping into. The division between rich and poor grows at an alarming rate, yet few are bothered by it. Worse many view the ones most affected by the divide with increasing disdain, just as they view the protesters in Ferguson.

The cyclical nature of history has taught us nothing. This is the Roman Empire again. This is Nazi Germany again. This is the Soviet Union again. Google wants to build it's own cities. And still the people do not rise up against it. They are still "sheeple". They do not realize that these businesses are fearful of them finding a voice. One book had the power to make McDonald's start to faulter. Imagine what a hundred million voices could accomplish? But will it happen?

There must come a point where even the most fastidious of sheeple realizes that the politician one votes for really does not give a damn about them. That to affect political change one must have an affect on the profits of the corporations that control the politicians. That is the only way change can happen. Only way.

Sometimes a long pause is necessary

It's been a few years now since I've updated here. Sometimes life gets in the way. Got married, moved, changed jobs. But I am back and the philosophy will flow again. How often? I am shooting for weekly. We shall see.