Two months ago, I highlighted a powerful video from Warren Pollock in the post: Video of the Day – The Religion of Consumerism. Today, I am highlighting another one of his videos.

While this one is no less interesting, it’s likely to be quite a bit more controversial. He poses questions that philosophers have no doubt pondered from the very first moment human beings came together to organize into centralized political structures.

Namely, what is the responsibility of a citizen in a society in which the majority is ruled by a small minority? By living passively within this system has a citizen de facto given his or her consent to the minority? If so, is that citizen therefore ultimately responsible for the fate of the society as a whole?

Mr. Pollock has some very strong opinions on the matter. While I I wouldn’t have chosen the examples he did (Ferguson and Gaza) to make the point, it is clear what he is trying to do and who he is addressing. He is talking to people who are already awake and aware of the criminality and corruption of the current status quo, and he is trying to spark strong political action within them. He realizes something that I also recognize, which is that while a reasonable percentage of the population is already greatly dissatisfied with the status quo, only a tiny fraction of that minority are actually willing to make the sacrifices needed to usher in a paradigm shift. As a result, those who do make the sacrifices generally become martyrs while their fellow citizens play it safe. As long as everyone plays it safe, nothing changes.

I did not share this video because I agree with the way he presents the argument, but rather because the questions he poses are very important ones. Moreover, I believe that without a doubt “the powers that be” do adhere to this philosophy. They think that any population so apathetic about its collective condition deserves what they get. So they will continue to pillage everything in sight until enough people get together to stop them. Equally important, history does demonstrate that when enough people rebel the status quo always falls.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger