Hey, it's been a long time since i've posted or even visited this site...I guess the reason i'm back is because i'm seeking more meaningful community...and now that I'm in the Portland area...I ought to get in touch with actual human beings, ay?!

Yeah, so i'll probably check you PDXers out soon!

Anyway, without reading the other threads, i'm going to just jump rite in and ask that pointed question, WHO GETS TO DECIDE? (And invite your input; because i'm going to vent a little here tonite, and i may not have *it* all figured out!)

That's what all of this boils down to, you know, right? It's not that complicated, really.

Those who usually "get to decide" are those whom we're collectively programmed to trust in; some call them "authority", me, i like the phrase "formal authority" because that speaks more clearly. Those whom are allied with the status quo, to be even more precise, tho those whom are supposedly challenging the status quo (to "reform" it) may *also* be part of the problem (depending on how we look; i.e. do we want to see the long history of the game of "reform" and how the Status Quo plays "reformers"? Or are we going to make the same mistakes our formothers made --believing in piecemeal reform games only to learn at the end of our lives that they get systematically outflanked...?).

Those whom are willing to play along (often not even aware themselves, it seems) with the war-oriented society we live in are all part of this Status Quo. Basically, a Wizard of Oz-type set-up. Really. Tho I think "the Wizards of Is" says it more thoughtfully.

You read "too much" like me, you read about the "Ivory Tower" psychology and the history of colonizer mentality (at home and abroad), and you start to see a bigger picture. You start to see that we, the "masses" are SUPPOSED TO remain subordinated, ineffectual, and blindly trusting in those who systematically exploit and utilize our trust (for the interests they serve and that's why they get paid so well...) as their ilk exploit and utilize any other objectified group or living form.

Recall the cynical term "human resources", for a moment...

And as long as we accept our positions the way we've been programmed, as long as we let these formalized, chain-of-command specialists (who're all subordinated to the whims of the state, by the way) "help" us, as long as we believe we can reach the hearts of these ideologically-challenged folks individually (instead of collectively), we're going to be run over like every other group. We're going to be played, as street folks say.

Why?

Because that's how the big picture game comes out if you prioritize the time to actually study the phenomenon.

With 3000 years of history to get to the severe forms of alienation we're now being forced to deal with. A "chain-of-command" method (with psychological specialists only just one more specialist arm of the "social" services...(get the metaphor?). A martial mind-set gotten out of hand, starting in a time when martial methods and ways of perceiving the world (and others, including oneself) were apparently "the only way" to deal with intensities coming down upon unprepared (?) communities.

With little time to prepare defenses, possibly, what might we expect?

Anyone familiar with these ideas? What's your take? Some have said invasions by other human groups. Me, i wonder about groups of folks displaced by calamitous events, say the meteor that hit and devastated a large area of Russia...Whatever the original cause, the effects have been "arting themselves" for 3000 years.

And the way i'm learning to look at all of this is that how these formal authorities follow their orders tells a lot about their "best"; they "art" themselves with these half-boiled alienated beliefs of theirs!

I MEAN THE VERY IDEA of REDUCING one's fellow human beings down into all these reductions, where "our brains" (and so on) are objectified and our humanity ignored! Look at the art that is their lives, the lives of these people who think and act in this way towards us, themselves, and especially their own offspring!

But "reformers" and other challengers want us all to STOP this art by falling back on the inherent dualisms of "politics" and "political response"! Why? Because such a method supposedly "works"! But look at where we are! If 3000 years of "reforms" worked, we would have long been liberated!

Oh, but we've supposedly avoided "the worst", right? Uh-huh... But the problem with politics is that it is a method that perpetuates alienation! It is a method which keeps us divided in various camps! It is a method which perpetuates war!

Empathy, much less my own idea of "radical empathy" is not "expedient" in politics. Why psychological cops (therapists, doctors, etc.) behave and believe the way they do in their systematic way is not supposed to be "important"; why? Because we, the mobilized, are supposed to only mobilize; we're not "capable" of doing the things that our "leaders" tell us we "have to" do.

That's how political activists are trained to think! Some are "capable" (namely those whom "can lead" --in Orwellian ways-- and also follow orders from their "superiors" well enough are "capable") and those like we who rebel (in our myriad flailings or semi-articulate musings) are "incapable" and had better follow along and not be "disruptive".

Sound familiar? The microcosm of our single issue truth can REALLY be applied across the spectrum when you see the underlying metaphor/poetics of our situation!!!

But then we find ourselves alone... And what does this really mean? Do we give ourselves permission to build meaningful community together, or do we fall back on our programming and beat ourselves up inside our heads and then make the mistake of being deeply tooled into externalizing such self-hatred upon others (like our kids)?

So please think about all this for awhile. Let it sink in. It might take awhile to soak in...that's okay...i guess...

Any questions?