Guy Fawkes' Day ramblings

"Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot..."

This nursery rhyme has its origins in the early 17th century plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London. It is also a theme in the recent movie "V for Vendetta" which describes a drama around a latter-day version of such a plot. The movie is based on the graphic novel of the same name, but is watered-down from the original story thus making the ideas in the central theme accessable to the majority of the public.

And how... The producer overemphasises the idea of revolution as a trendy pastime, rather than depicting it accurately as the natural response of freethinking citizens oppressed by a brutal dictatorship. Fortunately, the movie does bring into discussion how the sheeple have to be influenced by mass media and crude psychological devices before they will consider thinking and acting outside the boxes created for them. What is it about a crowd of humans that makes its members inhibit their intellectual processes and reduce their standards?

"Many people would die sooner than think. In fact, they do."
-- Bertrand Russell

When companies have legal personalities that are not subject to natural death, and are multi-national, their interests most naturally do not run parallel to those of any of the societies in which they are based. An example: the Murdoch media empire stifles all original thinking in reporting, and creates and maintains the social and cultural context of the daily lives of millions of people, to further its interests. In that sense it's an example of a malignant cancer, like any organised religious system: it arises from a natural function of the host society, something goes wrong, and eventually it takes over control of the resources of the host and influences the host's behaviour.

I have heard it said that "you can't trust the blogosphere or any of the alternative news sources, since they are not companies or subject to control to ensure that their reporting is accurate." However, this attitude presumes that companies function in a responsible and mature fashion within the rule of law, which is a complete fallacy: sociological and economical studies have shown that companies have the social personalities of psychopathic 13-year-olds. It also presumes that control is by definition (and in the balance) beneficial to the interests of the society, which is just as fallacious.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."
-- Gil Scott-Heron

To those who would trust the official channels of communication, I say: look where the money trail leads. And most of this information you will not have access to via official channels, and if you do, it will be "sanitized" for public consumption. The mainstream media is an intellectual brothel; the MSM will tell you anything to further its interests (namely, to make money, and to continue doing so). News from the MSM is no more valid than information obtained under torture of a victim, and is similarly tailored to meet the expectations of the audience.

To those who approve of censorship so that "we reduce the chances of our being offended": who watches the watchmen? We overrate the importance of the serenity of our mental moral state; we think that happiness in itself is the desirable end state of all human endeavours and activities, while it is instead merely a way to provide feedback for our approach to life. We also refuse to take responsibility for our actions by being exposed to visual footage depicting the results of our way of living.

In contrast, alternative media sources publish news which will guarantee their growth and increase their reputation: pride and self-interest ("someone has to do it") are major motivators of those people who contribute their resources. (Some alternative or underground media sites do generate revenue from merchandising by branding their news and exploiting the "revolution is trendy" factor.) It is important to note that the majority of such projects or sites is accessable free of charge as long as the information is respected by the viewer as being subject to "fair use" legal provisions.

"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract
our attention from serious things. They are improved means
to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too
easy to arrive at."
-- H.D. Thoreau, Walden, ca. 1850

And this, I think, is what motivates the individual sheeperson to ignore the signs of the times. We worry about our immediate satisfaction, and the consumerist needs which have been carefully fed to us since birth, by our parents (who are trapped in the mainstream culture), the media, and school system. There used to be an aristocratic class which served as the conscience of the society. The so-called elite of today are the corporate owners; the rest are serfs.
The "educated classes" have no place in the corporate world vision, since they would cause original thinking to fester, inhibit rapacious economic growth, and interfere with the never-ending state of war. Example: one of the main players, the USA, has been involved in more than 130 military interventions from 1890 to 1999; it is also the largest exporter of weapons - more than the next top 14 countries combined.

"Tell them and they will forget.
Show them and they might remember.
Involve them and they will understand."
-- CONFUCIUS

As is shown in the movie "V", we have no-one to blame for the current state of affairs but ourselves. Every atrocity against others and themselves occurs with the silent consent of the majority of the disinterested and complacent population. We see the cluster bombs exploding, the white phosphorous burning, the depleted uranium munitions poisoning, and think "that's terrible...I hope someone is doing something about that." And then we forget about it, since it doesn't affect us immediately.

When people decide "enough is enough" and use violent means to achieve their goals, this leads to conflict with the government of the day. When is it considered treason to doubt your government? And why is treason considered to be inherently vile? Does it depend on your motives and convictions? Openly standing up for an idea has its merits at the appropriate times, but if you are going to do it, you must have a base on which you ground your decision to go over to action. Some people consider their patriotic emotions sufficient, while some trust the voices in their heads. I regard a diverse intake of information as the only way to ensure that you can make balanced decisions. In retrospect and with near 20-20 hindsight, blowing up the Houses of Parliament was most likely not the best way for Guy Fawkes to influence matters of the day in his favour.

"Your best? Losers always whine about their best.
Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen."
-- From "The Rock"

However, if he had succeeded, he would be a hero or a saint today. If George Washington had failed in his revolution, he would have been demonized. If Lenin and Stalin had not succeeded in exterminating as many of their countrymen as they did, they would have been dismissed as mere despots by their contemporaries. The winner writes history; Hitler knew this when he wrote in Mein Kampf, "Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong..."

The only way to cut through this Gordian Knot is to improve education systems, so that critical thinking is fostered in children from an early age. Similarly, the desire to continually improve oneself should be instilled in children, so that the current cesspool of intellectual laziness can be drained. The silliness of "My best is good enough" should be replaced by "I can do better than this."

This is not a goal of which the achievement can be measured easily, which makes it inconvenient and hence unfeasible from the bureaucratic perspective, which usually dominates thinking in organizations. If we cannot manage our societies when conditions are optimal, how will we cope when global climate change really gets into its stride? Humans perform extraordinary feats in difficult situations and are really good at surviving as a species. However, groups of humans tend to adopt bureaucratic ways, so I fully expect a cousin of the KT-extinction event meteorite to wipe out a species which simply couldn't get its act together.

In the meantime, we fight the good fight against willful stupidity, because the alternative is unacceptable.