A principle needs not a prince
anymore than a crime requires prints

Our lives need not reason
as much as our paths require reflection

Love is a trial and love is a dance
Love is not magic, love is a chance

The end is the means are the end in the end
When friend becomes family and foe becomes friend

[UPDATE: Added some photos and video]

So on Friday night my old friend TJ from Pittsburgh came to visit me in New York. I hadn’t seen him in about six years since we worked at the same company in Youngstown, Ohio. My wife was off visiting a friend in Idaho from Friday thru the following Wednesday. A couple of days before she was supposed to leave I had called my buddy TJ somewhat randomly and ended up spontaneously inviting him to come up for the weekend. I was floored that he actually took me up on the offer (which never seems to happen to me anymore) and arrived late on Friday night.

On Saturday, TJ wanted to go into the city and do some sight seeing. We got on the train and rode from my stop in Queens to City Hall. Sitting across from us the whole way was a very cute black girl carrying a tall bag that looked like it housed a musical instrument of some sort. We get off the train (she stays on) around 2pm, and start wandering around Manhattan. At about 6pm we were walking up Broadway approaching 8th Street, when around the corner came the girl from the train. Now I’ve lived in New York for about 3 years and have had my share of coincidences, so I’m used to letting them slide, but TJ isn’t and doesn’t. He turns around as she passes and says “Hi” and waves. She turns around, smiles and walks over to talk to us. Her name is Debbie and It turns out she was carrying a saber and had just come from fencing practice. This immediately intrigued TJ as he’s a weapons enthusiast and we invite her to walk with us.

We asked what she’s up to and she tells us about this little gathering hosted by Alex Grey, who apparently designed album covers for Tool. Debbie says that people just hang out and talk about history, philosophy and spirituality. If you know me then you know this is my kind of fun. We went to a bar and had a few drinks (she didn’t drink, though), and then shared a cab over to the event (it was on 27th btw 10 & 11 ave).

Outside the building is a huge banner that reads COSM, it’s on the fifth floor and it’s huge. I know what NYC rents are like these days, and this must’ve cost tens of thousands per month (at the beginning of the services they mention that they’ll be moving to bigger digs soon). We walk in, and there’s a girl sitting behind a cash box. We’re asked to pay $10, given purple bracelets, and then ushered into this other room. I’m fairly shocked to see that there’s like 80 other people all sitting on the floor, facing a stage in the corner of the room.

On the stage was a statue, which I’ll just describe from the top down. The top of the head was egg-shaped and made of dozens of eyes, this connected to the rest of the head which had three faces. The right face was feminine, the left was masculine with a beard, the middle was normal, all three shared a set of three eyes. The right half of the chest had a boob and the left hand held a flower, while the right had a pectoral muscle and the right hand pointed to the flower. The legs looked like an eagle’s mixed with a bear, and it had giant furry balls below a penis going into a vagina on its belly. Oh yeah, and the whole room is covered in posters reminiscent of Hellraiser.

TJ was already up at the very front of the crowd by the stage and the girl we were with was waving me up. Just as I sat down, the service got started. It was a mash of neo-religious preaching, with some Allah and some Judaism and some biker poetry, but no Jesus stuff really. The whole ceremony was enough to put me off because of the fact that we’d been tricked into paying a church $10, but it wasn’t until I looked around and realized that only a handful of people were wearing purple bracelets and we were surrounded by a sea of others wearing red. This immediately triggered a memory of the story told by the character Joey in the movie “Melvin Goes to Dinner,” about his getting tricked into going to a self-help seminar, specifically how all the new people were singled out by their name tag color. As soon as the service was over, I leaned over to the guy next to me with a purple bracelet and asked him if he’d ever been to this before, to which he responded “No”. I then immediately leaned over and told TJ “It’s a pyramid-scheme cult, we HAVE to leave now”. After we grabbed the leader and took a picture with him, me and TJ booked it outta there and headed to the nearest bar.

We told the story to the bartender and were cracking up combing over the whole story in our mind. We were struck with paranoia wondering if she’d been following us all day. Why did they sit us right up in front? What would have happened if we stayed? Did everyone there realize they’d been scammed into some sort of by the book pyramid scheme religious racket? Are members of Tool part of this cult?

I’ll be writing more about this over the next couple of days as I piece it together and figure out what it means. I highly recommend anyone who’s been in a similar situation to watch the movie “Melvin Goes to Dinner”. This is only one part of the larger story of the movie which is essentially one great conversation between four people.

The nets will shrin​k
while​ wise men quibb​le
The citie​s will sink
as the ice caps dribb​le

The fish shall​ swim
what few there​ are left
The winne​rs shall​ win
while​ the loser​s cry “​Theft​!​”​

We give up our lives​
to endur​e short​er lines​
Alway​s too fearf​ul of knive​s
and too toler​ant of fines​

One day we’​ll look back
on the path that we blaze​d,​
let’​s not regre​t the lack
of an issue​ not raise​d

Being someone who loves to get into political discussions–especially with those that I consider to be on the extremes of issues, I’ve encountered my share of “it all has to come crashing down” attitudes.

On the left, they seem to see unregulated free-market capitalism as this seven headed hydra that has to come crashing down and usher in a new depression so that a new FDR can rise from the ashes to renew the social contract. Some seem to see the flooding of New York ala “Inconvenient Truth” as the wake up call we need, and that things will all simply work themselves out on global warming.

On the right, I have friends who have truly begun to believe that we are seeing the End Times, who may not believe but do receive emails about Obama being the Anti-Christ, global warming is a hoax perpetrated by Al Gore and super-secret scientists to form a One World Government under the oppressive rule of a ruthless Carbon Tax. They see the degradation of morals on TV and in the news and blame all of society, it’s all bad and only God can sweep it away. To them, if New York floods it isn’t because of global warming, but global whoring.

I’m someone who loves to play devil’s advocate, usually from the center, but sometimes part of being an effective contrarian is to adopt the views of your opponent and help them to fully imagine them. So to the lefty whose fetish is a stock market crash, maybe you ought to ponder more how that would come about and what the true ramifications could be. All my other “friends of Jesus” who think that God is about to give us another spanking, maybe you’d better start playing nice with the greens and helping them remain skeptical of “global warming” becoming as impervious to criticism as religion was in the Dark Ages. The point is that if either of you are remotely correct, the best solution to preserving our way of life is to nurture and foster communities.

Extreme Lefties: An economic collapse and ecological disaster may well bring reforms, but only if we don’t have a sizable portion of the religious community who believe that Obama might be a demon and Al Gore a dictator. You have to talk to them and reassure them that you will always be willing to be critical of your own leaders. You must tell them that you have learned from their mistakes with Bush. Be gentle about how you say that, ask them questions about how they feel about Bush. Most decent people will be elated to have the opportunity to admit to their mistake. Tell them that you don’t ever want to make that mistake, but that you can understand how people can become convinced of anything if enough of their piers feel the same way.

Extreme Righties: A little less fear, a little more love, please. Regardless of what the cause of a natural disaster may be or your likelihood of being wafted up to heaven like an angel fart, isn’t the Christlike path one of comfort for all us poor sinners who will have to rebuild the Earth? If there is an Anti-Christ on the rise, shouldn’t we all open our doors and our hearts and prepare to sacrifice more to offer one another comfort during a dark age? And no matter if Al Gore and the scientists are all dirty liars, the poor saps that they’ve deluded into “going green” are still gonna be interested in planting a garden on their front lawns. Why not bring them some lemonade and talk about flowers?

This is a very optimistic and bright letter for me. When I get on my eschatology kick, it’s not about global conspiracies or biblical prophecies, it’s all about the details. Mechanisms that exist such as the PATRIOT ACT, warrantless wiretapping and data mining, and the unitary executive are the things that make my hair stand up on end. Because while I can’t say for sure that the men in charge have nefarious ends in mind, as long as those mechanisms exist, it seems dangerous to never imagine that they can be abused. Because if we go too long without imagining so, someone will come to power who will imagine it for us.

Barring sprouting horns and a tail on live TV, I’m going to vote for Obama this fall. I’m not saying that I don’t wish I could vote for Nader, but there just aren’t enough other people for that to happen. I can imagine a lot of things, but I don’t see a way of Ralph becoming president in our current system. Since I will be putting my good name behind the O man, I want all my friends and enemies on the right to know that by voting for him I will be holding his feet to the fire and urging every decent American to do the same. We need to write letters, talk to our friends, and rebuild our local communities, no matter who wins.

Everyone believes in Jesus
Whether they believe it or not
He came here to please us,
not remind us that hell is hot.

He’s not so fond of the cross,
wishing we could go without.
But we demanded his loss,
I wish he could have gone without.

But Earth was so fun,
He had to come back.
For some time in the sun.
And to lie on his back.

He’s been in disguise
keeping his enemies at bay.
One day their lies
will see the light of day.

But for the time being,
the J-man will chill.
For someone all seeing,
loves watching free will.

All of these fuckups are YOURS
YOU clean up the mess
you CRY over the milk

I was a TOOL
of your collective,
unconscious incompetence

enough great moments
to fill a million DVDs
but WHAT is a DVD?

I am paper
I am ink
I am timeless

What good are these words

this text made of beams
shadows and light
and everything right
but made of nothing it seems

What use is this poem

when it cloaks what it means
daytime for twilight
covering the nightlight
there is no end for these means

For writing these words
or singing these songs
For painting and panting
With Lovers

What Good Are These Words

They are the servants who please
no quarrel or quibble,
not a squeak or a squibble,
Everyday they wait on their knees

This is some old home movie footage I have had captured for a long time. I don’t know who the people are, and I did not splice anything together. That being said, I find the original footage matches up with this song and especially the lyrics perfectly. If you’re tuned to the right frequency, that is.

We Hate This City
by Handsome Furs

Woke up with blankets in buildings with jaws
Stuck to the sheets, clammy with noon
We wish for night time, a darkening screen
Open the heart, just a machine

Oh, there was home
Oh, there was home

This one is vicious, a sinister lean
We haunted the staircase where small ghosts have been
Weening that heaven was stretched out and wide
Into the sky
Into the sky

Oh, there was home
Oh, there was home

Oh, life is long and hollow
Oh, life is long and hollow

Oh, life is long and hollow
Oh, life is long and hollow

We hate this city, filled its drone
We hate this city, filled its drone
We hate this city, filled its drone
We hate this city, filled its drone

So black out million screens
And wire up the floor
Baby we can get you anything you want, any time you want
But you won’t know what it’s for

So black out a million dreams
And wire up all the floors
Baby we can get you anything you want, any time you want
But you won’t know what it’s for

I responded to this questionnaire on David Brin’s website last night and just wanted to share my answers with any readers with whom I’m lucky enough to commune. If you’d like to see the context in which most of this was formed, I highly recommend you take the time to answer these questions yourself. I was very illuminated and delighted to see that I had such concise and immediate responses to these issues and think that anyone else will to. (I have added the questions that prompted responses in bold where context may be necessary)

How do you feel wisdom is acheived?

• I believe humans knew a natural idyllic condition at some point in the past, from which we fell because of bad, inappropriate or sinful choices, thus reducing our net wisdom. (The Look Back View.)
• I consider such tales mythological. Wisdom is cumulative and anything resembling a human utopia can only be achieved in the future, through incremental improvements in knowledge or merit. (The Look Forward View.)

Can you provide convincing evidence to support your point of view?

I actually believe in a hybrid of the two choices.

I do believe that wisdom is the cumulative knowledge of human beings, and that progress has been and will always be a chaotic and incremental process. As I have read over various accounts of history and begun to recognize patterns in all forms of societies. The most glaringly obvious and alarming of these patterns is our society’s tendency to shift from being very open to being very closed.

I also do believe in mythological explanations of wisdom and truth for the same reasons as I mentioned above. I have realized that many of the modern day and ancient mythologies when looked at from a fresh perspective seem to indicate the exact same pattern of events. Every story and every song seems to harmonize towards the same themes as those I have established with my rational mind. On a very personal level, since becoming aware of the truth that is buried in these perpetual myths, I find it very hard to divorce these mythical patterns from my own past and my everyday life. In a very real way, this awareness has caused me to feel a much deeper connections to the people who have influenced my life, regardless of whether or not I physically know them. I recognize patterns in art, movies and music now that I never did before, all of which seem to be expressing the same theme: do not submit.

Are members of our present culture subjected to propaganda? What kind?

I have had personal experience with what I believe to be the holy trinity of propaganda outlets in our society, public/private education, corporate marketing, and a healthy dose of religion. For me, religion was the easiest to shed, as it simply did not relate to my life. Everything was about recitation and memorizing dates. School didn’t get much of a chance to propagandize me much beyond the whole “square peg in a round hole” aspect of being a creative, inquisitive kid (also called ADD). The deepest hole I’ve seen by far is the corporate propaganda. It exists as almost a multi-headed beast. Not only do they produce external propaganda that gives a false impression to the public, many also seem to sinisterly insulate themselves from internal criticism by subtly propagandizing their workforce–often by divided into competing teams.

All I see are systems that seem to condition people into submission. To a certain extent, it has become avery alienating sensation. These systems seem to cause people to be conditioned only to obey their “in” group and totally ignore anyone from the outside who questions the leaders of their group. I see them as systems that control through an unconscious paranoia, a fear is cultivated by making people feel isolated and restrains them from sharing their truest feelings with others. A system that values secrets over truth.

Name 5 popular modern films in which these propaganda messages have been promoted
Carnivale
The Arrival
Twelve Monkeys
The Island
Waking Life
Minority Report

Which of the following best describes how and why you arrived at your present set of political opinions and political agenda?

• Logical appraisal of the evidence.
• Inherent qualities of my nature, character or intelligence.
• The effects of propaganda or upbringing.
• Pursuit of my agenda may result in personal advantage.

Now answer the same question about why your political opponents hold the opinions/agendas they do.

• Logical appraisal of the evidence.
• Inherent qualities of my nature, character or intelligence.
• The effects of propaganda or upbringing.
• Pursuit of my agenda may result in personal advantage.

Do you think your opponents would agree with the way you answered just now? How do you think they would respond, if asked the very same questions about their own beliefs… and yours

I cannot know what my opponents would say until after I have expressed my own views. I tend to get into very heated and passionate discussions that try to dissect either my position or theirs and find common ground. It is never as important for me to be right as it is for me to be honest when I feel there’s a component missing from either my argument or my opponents. In most cases, I tend to be the one who wants to debate socio-political issues endlessly. I find nothing more engaging.

How often have your political or other discussions with your allies actually focused on the distant goal? What is that goal?

Talk to everyone I can. Tell them to speak up about their fears and criticisms and urge others to do likewise. Everyone I’ve reached out to has taken the time to respond in some way. Often inviting me to expand the conversation, or in some cases fill out questionairres.

Do you have a clear image of the future society all your efforts are aimed at achieving? Describe your program for getting there.

They should always yield to the best interests of the people they were originally designed to serve. We occupy these systems, and we have the power and the obligation to make them work in our favor.

How have you verified that your “allies” have the same destination in mind?
The public feels largely powerless over all of these issues. It is sad that we are all trapped in the belly of the machines we built to serve us.

What are the attributes of these four social innovations — Democracy, Science, the Justice System, Free Markets?

All except for free markets are systems based on documented evidence and serve a necessary role in maintaining honest cooperation towards the common good. Free markets has, in my mind, become purely ideological, and not based on any coherent system. It seems to be the only system that is free from accountability.

Do you believe in evolution? Are humans still at least somewhat part of the animal kingdom?
We are absolutely part of nature. An apartment building is no different than a beehive. To a large extent, humans seem to be just as susceptible to conditioning to authority as dogs are. The perversity of human kind right now is that we have forgotten we are a part of nature’s systems.

Many in our industrialized world seem to think that the world is a play thing, a game that simply involves collecting trinkets and throwing them away.
There is much wisdom to be gained from restoring a connection to the natural world in general, and not merely a detached cataloging of places and dates.

What politically relevant things, if any, can we learn from fields like mammalian ethology, psychopharmacology, anthropology, and the historical behavior of real human tribes?
As someone who feels that ADD is a gross mischaracterization of what i consider to be a highly advantageous set of traits, I feel the entire field of psychopharmacology needs critical scrutiny. Especially treatments that involve long term drug usage with questionable results but reliable side effects.

How are the four social attributes listed above different?
It’s hard for me to think of a time when human achievement did not come with an equal amount of human tragedy. The arguments that led to American independence stand out in my mind as a great achievement of transcendence, but a somewhat flawed execution. I’d like to believe that we could have had a smarter, less bloody revolution if the mood had been right for it.

Are there any historical examples of a successful society that embraced Widespread and open criticism?

The problem with criticism lies in when it is applied carelessly and without regard to maintaining closeness and improving that which is being criticized. For instance a society that is highly polarized, but free to criticize, may end up just screaming at each other across a void of actual understanding.

We as a society must remember to be inviting of dissenting views and critical opinion, and most of all eccentricity. It is through diversity, not conformity, that our species will find it’s purest being and highest achievements.

I has often seemed apparent to me that if one is truly following the path to personal satisfaction, it will always guarantee wealth and happiness. The problem lies in navigating a world that severely limits us in having our own unique path, which we all must take in order to arrive at our destination.

If the world were the way I see it, we would all be free to live and learn and only be led by our inquisitive and playful natures. No individuals should feel shame for any act that does not involve oppression of any kind. In my bible, oppression is the only sin there is, no matter how noble the cause.

An open society that is truly guided by the principles of freedom would not be so easily seduced by the false aphrodisiacs of safety and order that are the standard prescriptions of domineering leaders. The trick is getting our society to open up, one person at a time, before either of those rears its ugly head again.

Democracy represents an evolution of consciousness. It may have taken a long time, but eventually we figured out that the guys on top are just as clueless and fallible as the rest of us. That is the left, our shared belief in true equality. Unfortunately, it is a belief that must navigate the muddy waters of change. Luckily for us the stream seem to be getting clearer as we reach the end of this evolution.

Anarchy is a fantasy. As long as there have been more than two human beings on the planet, we are social creatures. Being social requires us agree that we need to work together to better ourselves. While this is a noble and pure endeavor, many people can be misguided about how they achieve their betterment. This is where the free markets cannot be more free than individual liberties. Freedom does require a social contract, but that contract must be devised in a way that is dynamic, transparent, and most importantly reactive to change. Most important of all, the social contract must restrain individual oppression most of all. Too many of the rules in our society seem to punish all of us according to what the very worst of us are capable. Such a system seems intentionally designed to cause us to see the worst in each other.

Over the long run, what are the fundamental prerequisites for nurturing a growing state of freedom and wisdom for all human beings? (Please write a list.)

Honesty
Compassion
Shamelessness
Patience
Humor
Experimentation
Forgiveness

The environmental preconditioning seems to be the prevalent method of the world we live in. People seem very comfortable to believing that everything is as it should be and ever was and are very reluctant to invite any challenge to this belief.

The best way to undo this conditioning is by simply illuminating others to our own concerns. As profoundly and personally as possible, and always in a manner that is attempting to create commonalities. Focusing on our differences has gotten us nowhere. We all share the same stories, but have been told repeatedly that we live in a far more divided world than I am willing to believe.

The most important thing to remember when combating a bad idea is to truly “hate the sin and not the sinner”. Of course, in this case the sin is that most people have been completely and utterly led astray without knowing it. They have been barked at and yelled at all their lives and many think that there’s simply no common ground with their “enemies”. When an opponent’s viewpoint is considered, internalized, and respectfully criticized, it can only enrich both parties. To those who are resistant to this change, there can be no forcing them to understand, only patience will bring it about.
Never. The truth, while painful will always set us free.

The ideas and themes I have written on are all quite “new” to me. I have been reading and expanding my understanding of the world through a very serpentine journey. It is only recently that I have discovered how easily I can talk about these issues an see the root causes of so many of the world’s ills. This ease seems to feed itself, pushing me to write more and reach out to others more and see if they’re on the same wavelength. So far the responses I have gotten are highly encouraging, and I look forward to opening more doors and finding more connections with the time I have left.

Addendum
While I do agree that most people can see some of the propaganda that surrounds them and often derive a sense of superiority by doing so, I feel only empathy. I do not consider myself in any way more enlightened than other people, I was merely fortunate enough to be free to follow my interests. It was in doing so that I came to your lecture, which in turn led me to seek out other information, but most importantly helped me to see how simple our problems are to correct. It sounds totally hokey and simplistic and trite, but I really do SEE the answer is merely talking to everyone whenever you can.

The trick is learning to speak everyone’s language in order to find commonality, then helping them to merely enunciate the various ways in which they have been individually oppressed. This can applies to liberals, conservatives, genX’rs, genY’rs, and certainly the upcoming GenZ.

So I feel that I have gone from internalizing this “Hey!”, to externalization by saying “Hi!” to everyone I can. And I’m not only extending this courtesy to my fellow travelers such as yourself, but I am also working very hard to reach out to strangers. The key I’m finding is to really listen and realize that nobody’s wrong, and that there will never be one BIG answer that illuminates everyone.

For me, it all goes back to something that you said in Evaluating Horizons. The only way to fix this problem is by love and understanding. Invite others into your house, create empathy, and spread understanding. It is a solution rooted in diversity and reconnection with one another. The greatest injustice that industrial society has committed against each of us as individuals is to breed isolation.

This is a very personal crusade for me, as I feel I must struggle against the part of me that is inclined to think it is somehow improper for me to initiate and maintain a dialogue like this with total strangers. What I am learning is that this reticence to reach out to people who have actually had a positive impact on my life may be merely a social restraint.

If I am to believe my own eyes now, the mere fact that some people have gone out of their way to express gratitude to me for saying the things I’m saying leads me to believe I was right to follow my heart and see what the evidence presents after I act.

[This is an open source sort-of work in progress which I'll be adding to continually as my thoughts crystallize through other discussions. I'll take any critiques, but realize that my phrasing and argumentation is still very much in draft form. This post is heavily influenced by the documentary, The Corporation (below), Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians, and David Brin's lecture on dealing with accelerating change in a burgeoning technocracy Evaluating Horizons, as well as my own personal experience in and about the corporatocracy. I would highly encourage anyone who agrees or disagrees with me to join in the conversation and point out where I you feel I'm wrong or right.]

I think the danger of many top-down corporate structures is that too many of them shut out criticism from the people at the bottom who do the actual work. Many are organized as to be essentially a web of disconnected bureaucracies, each with a top-down hierarchy. In a very real way, they can often resemble an oppressive government, or a poorly functioning democracy where power is never honestly criticized from within and dissent is consistently discouraged. As an interactive designer/programmer in the advertising industry, I’ve been mostly tertiary to this decision making process, but I have on occasion seen how the authoritarian nature of some corporate mechanisms can be harmful on a number of levels.

First and foremost, I’m quite simply someone who hates to do something that I find to be illogical or pointless, or the worst reason of all “because I say so”. Over the years, though, I’ve conditioned myself to know what battles to fight in order to maintain a career and “go along to get along”, but my battles usually consisted of merely having to “make the logo bigger”, change this button from blue to red, etc–nothing I’ve ever “gone to the mat” over.

But now that I’ve been on my own freelancing for the past year, this self-conditioning process looks more and more like collective insanity to me.

For instance, a old college friend of mine is now a data-analyst for a major pharmaceutical company. On many occasions he has casually explained how his job is essentially to participate in a highly sophisticated system of targeted payola aimed at getting doctors to prescribe his company’s drug. Never once does it occur to him that his drug may be less effective than his competitors and that it is (in my opinion, at least) fairly amoral for such an aggressive system of coercion of professional medical opinions to be implemented at all. Unfortunately, it’s all about his “team”, not the positive or negative effects of his job or the results of his company’s success upon society.

I deliberately chose “amoral” and let me explain why. The people who are contributing to this destructive system, like my college friend, are not necessarily “immoral”. To me that word means that you know what the right thing is, but you do the opposite deliberately. My faith in humanity is not so shaken as to believe that even a super majority of the people working in corporations and other social institutions are immoral. That would be too painful a world to imagine living in.

I choose to believe that they are merely misguided by people whom they, reasonably or not, consider to be an authority. This creates the means for one bad decision to go VERY FAR, often to fruition, and all because no one had the means or the motivation to say “NO”. It is our job to provide them with the motivation and remind them that they have the means to stand up and put an end to this madness.

We are seeing examples of this now with Scott McClellan stepping forward, and even in great Britain, somewhat reasonable people are displaying the courage it takes to admit they were wrong and vocally challenge the people they previously considered an authority. Stop and think for a moment how hard that can be if it took you a LONG time to realize that you’d been led astray by people you trusted dearly. People like your own parents, or perhaps a church you belonged to, or perhaps even a spouse who steered you towards believing a lie. People who loved you, and whom you loved back dearly. Imagine they all were following the same lie and encouraging you to join in. Should this ever happen to you and you are fortunate enough to see the truth, it will be your job to stand up and say, “Sorry, this goes too far. I have to go with the evidence.”

Many people like these were simply never exposed to the process of questioning authority fully, never given enough chances to practice the art of criticizing their leaders. It is part of the conditioning of submission that we all are subjected to, at least those of you who endured a school system, public or private. I was diagnosed with ADD in the fourth grade, but believe I was just bored and suffer from a powerful compulsion to be free to follow my interests. This led to many many clashes with authority figures with whom I disagreed or was the victim of their dislike towards class clowns. It took me a while to learn how to form an argument and gain the respect I needed to make it in the world and continue my own education once free from the confines of arbitrary assignments that ignored the roots of my arguments.

So back to my point of using amoral. I have been given the gift of understanding the value of criticism in my life by certain authority figures who invited and valued criticism. Some have not been so lucky. They are either paralyzed from offering it to their authority figures, and often these people become very disinclined to accept it from anyone outside of their in group. It is the out-group’s job to refine our criticisms so that they are accepted. And it is important to offer these criticisms with love. I can love an immoral person even if that love is hated, but I can change an amoral one by creating understanding.

As I mentioned above and in other posts, I’ve been acutely aware of my personal relationship to authority figures and a keen observer others’ ever since reading Bob Altemeyer’s long-term psychological study of authoritarian tendencies, The Authoritarians (available as a free pdf). In a super-small nutshell, we all must struggle against our desire to grant certain authorities unquestionable fealty. Authority can be defined as just about anything, a parent, an idea, a religious leader, hell a can of soup. It’s been one of the most enlightening reads I’ve had in my ongoing struggle to understand our ongoing struggles, and most everyone I’ve recommended the book to has tended to agree it changed the way they see the people they perceive to be their opponents. Ironically, the book has become my authority on the value of questioning authority, especially of my in-group.

So while I do agree with the fundamental critiques contained in the film “The Corporation”, I would not necessarily personify them as BEING insane, but rather they are systems which tend to condition people to not question authority. This often leads to people working against their own interest without ever fully realizing it. This is largely accomplished by the mere fact that most large corporations prevent honest and pointed criticism at the bottom from rising to the failing leadership at the top (something that most people would call democracy).

They seem to forget that unions exist merely to get the bosses to sit at a table listen. It’s only their fevered egos that require us to amass such great numbers just to attain their presence, but usually not their respect. I don’t know why this is, other than some people just didn’t have the experiences necessary to understand the value of and invite criticism. When someone says you suck, just see it as an opportunity to either improve, or justify your actions when questioned. Don’t just tell them to shut up.

Perhaps a good regulation would simply be for every employee to be required by law to read independent analysis of their corporation’s behavior. I do believe that we can all only be expected rise to the level of our awareness. Unfortunately, many corporations take an active roll in propagandizing from within and to without.