Monday, April 26, 2010

Love & Fear, Freedom, Might and Right



Demands that certain kinds of people be unable to use public programs to receive certain kinds of medical treatment, or that after serving one's time that felons may not vote, or using anyone's private information by corporate, government or institutional entities for any purpose but especially to discriminate, manipulate, deny access, jobs, housing, benefits, freedoms or rights is like demanding that certain kinds of people be unable to use public roads. 

Public roads and highways are to be used without respect to persons, status, wealth, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, state of employment or unemployment, credit rating. Public roads may be used by anyone regardless of whether they've ever been in jail or not, been to college or not, can carry a tune or not;  regardless of who they voted for or if they voted at all.  Public roads are there for one and all, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, whether you're nice or not, good looking or not, smart or stupid, tall or short, fat or thin, pigeon toed and knock kneed or bowlegged or not, child or adult, whether alone or with others, happy or sad, big or small, naughty or nice, creepy or not, or any other judgmental attempt to marginalize and ostracize people and tear the people apart until they are hate filled and the whole of the country is brought to ruin because of boiling wars of petty self righteous indignation, greed, selfishness and resentments all because we forgot what it means to love freedom more than feeling superior to other people who, quite frankly, we're never superior to.   Public funds are used to benefit the public, all of the public, one and all equally without respect to any personal criteria. 

It needs to be said, apparently, as a reminder, that this is the basic principle of American style freedom.  The real kind of American style freedom, not the phony and strange politically 'correct', totally undermining of real freedom kind that's destroying our real freedom and real justice and real rights today.  The attempts to create officially recognized categories of people who are okay and not okay, acceptable and unacceptable are illegitimate, a disgrace and shameful, and fly in the face of the respect for self and others that freedom, justice and common decency requires.

Shouting down others instead of supporting their right to speak their mind shows contempt for the right to speak your mind without fear of imprisonment or death.  It also shows ignorance and arrogance, neither of which do anyone any good. 

Those who claim to love America but behave like rude, selfish ideologues have brought foreign, ugly destructive values into the American value system and those foreign values are murdering everything we stand for in this country.  They have brought shame, hate, intolerance, discord, dishonor, vicious politicism and ill will into the hearts of the people, and these things are destroying us from the inside out.

We can do what we do out of love
or 
We can do what we do out of fear
but
We need to use reason to get to truth
and
We need truth to be able to have justice
and
We need justice to be able to live in peace and in freedom.

Real freedom is blind. 

It doesn't care who you are or where you've been or how old you are or what your religious beliefs are.  It doesn't measure you by the mistakes you've made in the past or the successes you've achieved. Freedom is based on respect and good will.  Freedom is not won with blood but with respect and good will.

Real freedom is blind.

Real justice is blind. 

Fairness is blind.

Truth is blind.

Honesty is blind.

Courage is blind.

Honor is blind.

These are based on love.


Trust is not blind.

Faith is not blind.

Worship is not blind.

Responsibility is not blind.

These are based on reason.



Cruelty
Treason
Deceit
Dishonesty
Lies
Spreading False Rumors
PR and Spin
Marketing
Usury
Double Standards
Hypocrisy
Injustice
Selfishness
Insults
Refusing to talk out disagreements
Refusing to allow the other to have equal time to give their side
Refusing to hear the other side at all
Refusing to set aside petty differences
Use of force for personal gain
Petty criticism
Sadism
Arrogance
Racism
Sexism
The need to control others
Censorship
Excusing one's self or one's side for wrong doing
Being content with cheating to get what you want
Lying to get away with wrong doing
False pretenses
Omissions and misrepresentations of facts
Betrayal of trust
Disrespect for other people
Blanket judgments of persons or entire groups
Hating the person, not the behavior
Greed
Monopolies of power
Monopolies of ownership
Apathy and indifference to of others
Conceit
Purposely bringing discord and upset into the lives of others

These are based on fear.

These are not based on love or reason.
These and many others are based on unreasonable fear.
Hate and jealousy are made out of fear.
What we fear controls our lives.
What controls us prevents us from being free to do and be what we're capable of.
Fear is a prison, a torturer and a liar. 
Fear is death.
What we fear must be confronted head on.  Confronting first what we fear the most is the most important thing we have to do in our lives.  Confronting what we fear must be our highest daily priority.  Confronting what we fear is the only way to be released from bondage in all of it's various forms, all of them destructive.  Bondage means being controlled by and/or promoting that which is not rooted in love and reason.

If what we say, think and do
is not based on love and reason,
then what is it based on?
And is it legitimate
or is it self excusing our fears,
coddling our own lesser tendencies?

What legitimate reasons exist to deny justice,
to refuse to hear all sides,
to show common courtesy,
to require oneself to have common tolerance,
to show common respect?

Let's never forget that no one among us is perfect.
There is no such thing as someone who has never been wrong,
someone who has never made a mistake,
someone who has never said or done something clumsy, selfish, rude or worse.
No one among us knows that which cannot be known.

So let us dismount our high horses, shall we? 
Let's be more willing to forgive.
Let's look more toward what good can come and
less toward seeking punishment or vengence.
If, that is, we care at all for freedom,
or truth,
or life itself.

And let's get something else straight once and for all.
Might does not make right.
Might makes victors and vanquished.

Many are obsessed with winning and losing.
So obsessed that winning by honest means in a fair fight means nothing.
But what makes winning desirable is the fact that you have proven yourself and that you are truly the better man.
"Winning by any means" is the new goal.
Their fear, insecurity, greed, jealousy, whatever it is, has taken control of them.
They self excuse that which has no excuse.
Their beliefs deny right.  There is no right in might unless the fight is equal and fair.
Otherwise it is only slaughter.  It is only a crime.
Pick on someone your own size.
Let's see you win in a fair fight.
No one is impressed by fools, ideologues, lackeys, thugs or cheaters.

Using overwhelming force against the defenseless
is not winning, it is crime.
Cheating to obtain victory is not winning, it too is crime.

In a moral world it is the obligation of the strong to protect the weak.
In a moral world strength is only used for defense.
When strength is only used for defense, to protect the innocent,
to protect the defenseless,  force and violence are minimized
or eliminated completely.  Overpowering strength need only
show itself to keep peace and ensure justice.

It is when overpowering strength, force, is used to harm the helpless,
to loot and pillage and kill the innocent that peace is eliminated
and justice is crucified on a cross of hypocrisy.

The way superior strength is used, be it in the form of weapons of war
or knowledge, how any greater advantage is used is what defines good and evil.

In a moral world, the belief that might makes right is immoral.
Might has nothing to do with right, only right is right.  Might used
for anything beyond literal self defense or to protect those who need
protection against all forms of aggression and oppression, is wrong.
Yes, overpowering force and violence, be it physical, mental or emotional,
can crush and destroy your competition, your enemies and your human decency
but it cannot and never will make anyone right.

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