I think I finally get it

[Ogre]

So, for ages now (okay, a decade or so), I've been trying to figure out people. I've really felt like I'm living in the matrix, without all the cool powers. I try to point out how we absolutely have NO freedom in this country today, but people just laugh. I point out that the emperor has no clothes, but only a few people (like those here) seem to get it. I've really been trying to understand why so many people will deny the obvious when I point it out to them.

One of my favorites is when I explain that we have zero actual freedom in this country to do anything. I challenge people to name one thing someone can DO (thoughts don't count) without either having to ask permission from the government, or violating some government law. For some reason, people seem to always talk about going to the bathroom, but when I explain that their toilet only flushes with government regulations, government water, and at a government-approved location; AND that if they don't use a toilet, they're violating various EPA regulations, they just sort of wander away and ignore me after that (I'm hoping I at least am planting a seed there).

But this past weekend, as a military veteran, I went to a Memorial Day ceremony. At one point the speaker mentioned something about the "Land of the Free" and I almost laughed out loud -- and that's when I think I got it. We were at a national cemetery. There are thousands of bodies buried there. There were a couple hundred people at the ceremony -- and all knew someone in the military, or in the graveyard. There were men there in their 70s and 80s who had spent their life in the military. There were uniforms with all sorts of medals. There were injured in wheelchairs and military coats and hats. That's when it hit me -- these people simply will not accept that there isn't freedom in this country because so many dedicated their lives for freedom, and so many died for freedom. And if they were to admit that there is no freedom in America today, then not only was their time and life wasted, so was so many others.

The old lady whose husband served in Korea and Vietnam and died from injuries years later, would never admit that what he did was for a country where there is no freedom. The retired Army Sergeant, whose entire life is and was wrapped up in the military would never admit that he spent his life fighting for a freedom that doesn't exist. And when you look out over the thousands of war dead, who wants to yell out, "You people died for nothing, because we have no freedom here today!"

Even if it is true.

And now, with even more dying and getting injured in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places around the world -- for freedom -- we will have a whole additional generation of people who will say, "Yes, your father/mother/cousin gave up his life so we could have freedom" -- even if we don't. It's all an illusion, but its so strong, people won't admit its there.

I don't know what to do about it, but at least I think I understand the strong denial and the fingers pointing to me as a lunatic for wanting freedom.

[jeremy2141]

And don't forget the ones that were drafted and forced into fighting for other's supposed freedom and were killed or maimed in the process.

[KBCraig]

Every time I hear someone talk about thanking veterans "for keeping us free!", I don't know whether to laugh, or cry.

No Iraqi or Afghan ever tried to limit my freedom of speech -- but the U.S. government has.
No Viet Cong ever kicked down American doors in the middle of the night -- but American police have.
No Korean soldier ever took my money at gunpoint -- but the government does every time I work or shop or make a house payment.

The U.S. foreign policy and military presence overseas actually increases the danger to Americans.  Despite the jingoistic rhetoric about how "they hate us because we're free", the only people who have attacked us have done so because we stationed our troops where they weren't welcome, and poked our nose into other people's business. (That's as true for Pearl Harbor as it is for 9/11.)

[MaineShark]

So, for ages now (okay, a decade or so), I've been trying to figure out people. I've really felt like I'm living in the matrix, without all the cool powers.

You didn't get any cool powers?

Back to being serious...

It's not just the military.  It's the whole population.

If they can get you to obey often enough, and particularly in things you would not otherwise do if asked (and more particularly, in things which you would otherwise actively oppose), they have you for life, most likely.

If you conspired with them to harm your neighbor, you either have to support the idea that the State makes it okay, or admit that you harmed an innocent person.   Most don't have the integrity to face that level of self-realization, so they become blind supporters of the State.  Else, they would have to take responsibility for all the evil they've done at the State's behalf.

But it goes deeper than that.  The more they can get you to just obey without question, the more it becomes cemented into your mind.  The big acts are the blocks, but the countless little acts of obedience are the mortar that hold the wall together.  Even among those who can admit they were defrauded into committing evil acts, few can face up to the idea that, day in and day out, they've been the State's lapdog.

Obedience is key.  And often blind obedience to trivial dictates serves as much purpose as anything else.  Looked-at with an understanding of the psychology behind it, the behavior of the Statists suddenly makes sense.  They probably don't really even understand why they do what they do, and demand what they demand; they just know that demanding obedience is important).  The real origins of the technique are lost in antiquity, but it was common among barbarians to immediately "blood" conscript troops by having them massacre some innocent villagers at the next stop after they had been conscripted.  Conscripts therefore became loyal subordinates, rather than face up to the atrocity they had committed.  After a little while, obedience just becomes habit.

Joe

[Russell Kanning]

not obeying the government .... suddenly opens many eyes ... including your own

[AntonLee]

The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.

--Muhammad Ali

[Walker]

Freedom of choice is now a slick marketing tool often used to sell food, the favorite hobby of people in the U.S.

[Ogre]

Now I just have to figure out what worked for me -- what got me to open my eyes. After all, I was in the military myself for 5 years. So you'd think I'd be able to figure out how to open people's eyes on this. I know a part of me wants to be part of the military tradition that defended freedom. And no, I don't like that I never really defended freedom. But I felt like I did. I thought I did. I know I didn't. I wish I could figure out how to convince more people without just being dismissed as a lunatic.

[Ogre]

Good points. In general, that's what I'd like to do. I want to (and will) just live free and be left alone. However, today, in this country, that is more and more not an option. So I am going to live free, and await the time I will be jailed for it. In the meantime, I figure if I can convince a few more to join me in living free, that's just a little less power to the state.