My OperaPolitics and sex
By NonZionist. Thursday, December 3, 2009 5:35:16 PM
When I grew up, long long ago, talking about sex was taboo, but talking about politics was allowed. Then, about twenty years ago, the situation reversed. Everyone now talks about sex in the most explicit terms -- everyone except me -- and talking about politics has now become taboo. Where sex once had the "allure of the forbidden", now that allure belongs to politics.
Let's be naughty together! Let's violate that taboo! Let's connect, let's talk, let's think -- and see what happens! Oooh! AaaH! Ideas come! Questions arise!
First question: If politics brings people together, as I believe it does, then what is it that stops us from doing politics more often? What prevents us from finding the common ground we share as citizens? What prevents us from celebrating and defending and developing and exploring that common ground? Why do we hide within our private little worlds when we could be changing the larger world together? Where is our courage? our defiance? our desire to do mischief on a larger scale? What has turned us off? What frightens us?
Well, for one thing, politics has become dirty. It's not something that nice people care to do. The big parties have taken over, the professionals have moved in. These days, politics is all tied up with money and spin and lies. It's all about evasion of responsibility and cowardice and cliche. It's a form of prostitution -- selling your soul to the big banks and the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical pushers and the merchants of death. It's about getting people hooked on war and fear.
It's not like it was in the 'sixties! Back then, we thought the world was ours to shape; we thought we could do anything. All we had to do was imagine something to make it real. The sky was the limit. Today -- we can do nothing.
No, wait, that's not true at all. The world is still what we make of it. If our dreams have died, it is because we have let them die. None of this had to be. If the big guys have taken over, it's because the little guys have fallen asleep. What happens if we suddenly wake up? The world becomes ours again! -- and this time, let's keep it!
We sleep because we've been poisoned -- with cynicism, timidity, resignation. We've been entertained to death. But it's not too late to undo the damage. With self-awareness, we can get at the poisons and purge them from our system. If we want to change the world, we must change ourselves first. A rotten body does not make for good sex, and a weak soul does not make for good politics. We must become stronger, wiser, more playful, less inhibited, less fixated, more flexible. Politics is life-and-death, but the minute we take it seriously, we're dead. We play the game because it's fun -- there is joy in struggle, there is pleasure in connection.
Is it possible to break the stranglehold of the big parties, the big corporations and the big media? Can we carve out a place for the human being in this process? Actually, we can. However big the system may be, it's nothing more than a machine. And there are limits to what a machine can do. The big media can run on fumes for only so long. Eventually, they run out of illusions to sell; eventually, the need for content becomes obvious. It is the independent human being that gives life to the system.
Of course, most human beings serve the system; they are part of the machine. Independence means seceding from the system, recovering an independent moral sensibility. It means thinking one's own thoughts, feeling one's own feelings, dreaming one's own dreams, living one's own life. It means finding the courage to disagree with the system. It means refusing to drink the kool-ade when the system tells us that "war is Good", that "torture is Necessary", etc.. To break our servitude to the system, we must learn to serve something larger. That something is our humanity, and, larger still, that something is truth.
What's the worst that can happen to us? The system can accuse us of heresy and burn us at the stake -- or send us to the gulag, or censor us and confine us to the Fringe. Wow, this struggle could become exciting! Sex seems almost tame, in comparison.
What will happen if we refuse to participate in the sport of politics? I fear that a far more vicious sport will take its place. If we disdain civic opportunities for communication, then the void will be filled by religious or ideological fanaticism. Instead of harmless group sex, we get S&M. Instead of pleasant conversations and rallies, we get inquisitions and lynchings and mass terror. One way or another, people will come together. When we compare politics with the alternatives, it does not seem so bad.
Let's be naughty together! Let's violate that taboo! Let's connect, let's talk, let's think -- and see what happens! Oooh! AaaH! Ideas come! Questions arise!
First question: If politics brings people together, as I believe it does, then what is it that stops us from doing politics more often? What prevents us from finding the common ground we share as citizens? What prevents us from celebrating and defending and developing and exploring that common ground? Why do we hide within our private little worlds when we could be changing the larger world together? Where is our courage? our defiance? our desire to do mischief on a larger scale? What has turned us off? What frightens us?
Well, for one thing, politics has become dirty. It's not something that nice people care to do. The big parties have taken over, the professionals have moved in. These days, politics is all tied up with money and spin and lies. It's all about evasion of responsibility and cowardice and cliche. It's a form of prostitution -- selling your soul to the big banks and the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical pushers and the merchants of death. It's about getting people hooked on war and fear.
It's not like it was in the 'sixties! Back then, we thought the world was ours to shape; we thought we could do anything. All we had to do was imagine something to make it real. The sky was the limit. Today -- we can do nothing.
No, wait, that's not true at all. The world is still what we make of it. If our dreams have died, it is because we have let them die. None of this had to be. If the big guys have taken over, it's because the little guys have fallen asleep. What happens if we suddenly wake up? The world becomes ours again! -- and this time, let's keep it!
We sleep because we've been poisoned -- with cynicism, timidity, resignation. We've been entertained to death. But it's not too late to undo the damage. With self-awareness, we can get at the poisons and purge them from our system. If we want to change the world, we must change ourselves first. A rotten body does not make for good sex, and a weak soul does not make for good politics. We must become stronger, wiser, more playful, less inhibited, less fixated, more flexible. Politics is life-and-death, but the minute we take it seriously, we're dead. We play the game because it's fun -- there is joy in struggle, there is pleasure in connection.
Is it possible to break the stranglehold of the big parties, the big corporations and the big media? Can we carve out a place for the human being in this process? Actually, we can. However big the system may be, it's nothing more than a machine. And there are limits to what a machine can do. The big media can run on fumes for only so long. Eventually, they run out of illusions to sell; eventually, the need for content becomes obvious. It is the independent human being that gives life to the system.
Of course, most human beings serve the system; they are part of the machine. Independence means seceding from the system, recovering an independent moral sensibility. It means thinking one's own thoughts, feeling one's own feelings, dreaming one's own dreams, living one's own life. It means finding the courage to disagree with the system. It means refusing to drink the kool-ade when the system tells us that "war is Good", that "torture is Necessary", etc.. To break our servitude to the system, we must learn to serve something larger. That something is our humanity, and, larger still, that something is truth.
What's the worst that can happen to us? The system can accuse us of heresy and burn us at the stake -- or send us to the gulag, or censor us and confine us to the Fringe. Wow, this struggle could become exciting! Sex seems almost tame, in comparison.
What will happen if we refuse to participate in the sport of politics? I fear that a far more vicious sport will take its place. If we disdain civic opportunities for communication, then the void will be filled by religious or ideological fanaticism. Instead of harmless group sex, we get S&M. Instead of pleasant conversations and rallies, we get inquisitions and lynchings and mass terror. One way or another, people will come together. When we compare politics with the alternatives, it does not seem so bad.
(100%)
helpdeskian # Thursday, December 3, 2009 7:51:38 PM
I think that political talks dont happen anymore because of political incorrectness. the left and right are so polarized. if you try to talk about a liberal political view point the most adical liberal views are thrown in your face to prove that your side is bad. If you have a conservative viewpoint the most radical conservative views are thrown at you. there is purposely no middle ground.
I guess we will just let bilderberg continue to do its thing. hope you dont mind me adding you. your writing sparked my interest.
NonZionist # Thursday, December 3, 2009 9:42:33 PM
I wholeheartedly agree. The artificial conflict between "Left" and "Right" is one of the many forms "divide and rule" takes in our society. The significant dimension is vertical -- the top of the pyramid versus the middle and the bottom, but we on the bottom are blind to that, as long as we can be kept fighting each other over non-issues.
But it goes deeper than that. The WILL to communicate is absent, these days. Look at this site, for example. The technology is terrific -- we can even create our own forums! The problem is, few of us have anything to say to anybody besides ourselves. 95% of the blogs are self-obsessed. The main concern is this or that heavy-metal band. Photographs and movies have taken the place of words. Maybe we have a very young audience here.
People do not seem to understand that communication involves reaching out and reciprocity. It involves more than just talking to oneself. When we receive messages, it is polite to respond intelligently and at length: A cursory reply is not enough to keep the communication alive.
Apparently these basics of communication are not taught in school. We learn them out of necessity. And the political situation in the world provides that ncessity, that goad: Either we learn how to speak and organize, or we get stepped on by the Bilderbergers -- the Wall Street blood-suckers.
It would help here if we had a common language -- this site is like the tower of Babel! However, I just did a blog search for "English" and found people eager to learn English -- this is encouraging.
Best wishes! Hope to hear from you again. You'll find more articles at my personal site, and I in turn will visit your site.