Guest Post by Todd Hayen
People seem to think that anyone who complains about their “rights” is some sort of crybaby ninny. I hear comments all the time like, “Rights? You already don’t have any rights, why are you so upset about losing any more?” Or quite the opposite, “You don’t know what losing rights is all about, try living a week in North Korea!”
Neither one of these responses shows much intelligence or understanding of our current situation.
The first one is a particularly good example in this regard. Rights are being lost so quickly. When and if we finally wake up to that fact we will realize how much we indeed have already lost.
That still is not a good reason to ignore what is going on.
The second response shows that whoever is saying this doesn’t understand that North Korea is exactly where we are headed. It too is no reason not to be hyper-observant about what is currently happening.
History has clearly shown that if you don’t nip such things in the bud, totalitarianism or any of its oppressive derivatives is bound to eventually creep its way into the culture. We, as a free society, must constantly be aware of the possibility and see the early signs of it.
It is so interesting to me that people in general will slap on the label “paranoid” or better yet, “conspiracy theorist” if a person shows any concern for the abuse of power and possible corruption, no matter how significant, or insignificant, the concern may be. As Jordan Peterson once said:
Systems go terribly out of control when people don’t stop them when they are going mildly out of control.”
Making this stranger yet, we know that people, and lots of them, are still capable of acknowledging and acting against what they perceive as government corruption. This capability was made clearly evident during Donald Trump’s term as US President.
Whether Trump’s entire negative persona as president was fabricated by the press or not (I certainly doubt if all of it was) those on the left still responded as if it was a formidable problem, and of course still do.
As much as I was taken in by media hype at the time, I am still astounded how viciously adamant people were and are that Trump, and the Republican Party that supported him, are the only reason the country is in a tailspin. It all seems rather clear to me that Trump, and all that came with him, was at least in part, an insidious decoy.
So why is this? If the populace can see corruption in one circumstance (the alleged corruption of Trump’s administration and party), why can’t they see it in another (the government corruption we are experiencing now)—and in one that the evidence shows is indeed corrupt? Is this perception entirely caused by the media?—in my humble opinion, very likely so.
I believe that the cliché is true—the press really does control public opinion and public stance.
The press may be one of the roots of the massive weed that got us into this mess, but the press used to be only as powerful as their insistence on reporting the truth.
Now, obviously, it doesn’t matter to them at all if they are reporting the truth. So why is that?
The taproot is not the press, but the people consuming the media’s vomit of “information.” They typically do not know how to scrutinize truth from untruth. In fact, it seems that the distinction between fact and fiction doesn’t even matter.
I have seen situations with friends and family where a very clear evidential truth is finally presented (as is happening quite often now) and they STILL will not cry uncle, “I don’t care if it is true, I am sticking with what I believe.” It is a no-win situation.
Why?
I don’t think there is one answer to that question. But surely one of them is the power of past indoctrination. With regard to the freedom question, I truly believe many people simply do not want to be free.
For one thing, they don’t really know what freedom means, and as simple and facetious as it sounds, as long as they don’t have their video games, pot, porn, and other instant gratifiers taken away, they are as free as they care to be.
Think Brave New World and the prominent drug Soma as Huxley presented it in his joyous dystopia. Soma can take many forms today, and it replaces anything of any true value. It is a drug, just as the drugs we encounter today such as pot and alcohol, but also things we don’t think of as drugs like cell phones, computers, video games, pornography, new cars, fancy shoes and clothes, big houses, partying, sex, affairs, and so on.
Of course I am describing an extreme of the spectrum, but I think you get my point.
So my view is that many people do not care about the sort of freedom you and I would fight to the death to protect. Take freedom of speech. I am an old hippie (well, not exactly, but that is another story). Let’s just say I come from an era when freedom of speech, and the restrictions around it, was all a really big deal.
Free speech was the pillar of American democracy, and even a tiny seemingly insignificant oppression of it was tantamount to plunging a sword into the gut of everything the United States stood for. I still feel this way.
I got into one of these typical skirmishes on Facebook with a few very long-time friends. Some of them people who are my age as well and should have the same sentiments regarding freedom of speech as I do.
I played dumb for the most part, and responded to someone who was suggesting that people now boycott Twitter because the “free thinking” Elon Musk was taking over. I asked, “is that because you don’t like Elon Musk, or because you don’t like freedom of speech?”
Someone else then proceeded to give me a primer on Constitutional Law and said something like, “To paraphrase the constitution, ‘Congress shall make no law to restrict the freedom of speech.’ Last time I looked, Twitter was not Congress.” Implying that Twitter was not violating any law that they had to abide by, that only the government of the United States needed to be concerned about the illegality of limiting speech, a private company had nothing to worry about.
Now, I am not going to get into a discussion about any of this, i.e., whether Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al have the right to restrict speech, censor information, or what not. I do think there is an argument here, obviously, but that’s for another time.
What I AM going to comment on is the attitude of my compatriots taking the position of defending Twitter, or whomever, of their current practice to censor, restrict, and otherwise oppress the free exchange of information and opinions. What the hell?
The other oddity is that half a dozen people suddenly pounced on me for suggesting that Twitter had no right to manage their members who had all “signed” agreements of submission to Twitter’s “rules of engagement,” when that isn’t even what I was questioning.
People overall seem very sensitive about this. They are quite happy that these “information sources” are protecting their delicate ears from misinformation.
I hear this sort of thing all of the time—a blatant defense of privately owned companies to do whatever they damn well please… “a restaurant is not taking your rights away if they won’t let you in if you are not vaccinated, it is their right to bar service to anyone who does not meet their standards: ‘no shirt: no service, no vax: no service!!’”
OK, maybe that is true, maybe there are many cases where these companies have full right to do their form of vaccine discrimination, but why are these people defending that? Why aren’t they in an outrage? That, to me, is like defending someone’s right to bar people of color from entering a restaurant.
No one would stand for that, even if the people discriminating were on the right side of the law. It seems unconscionable to me that ANYONE would be on the side of someone, or a private company, who wishes to restrict speech. But that is where we are.
People honestly do not want to be free. They find comfort in being controlled, and having information controlled. With freedom comes responsibility, and today it seems no one is willing to take on any responsibility.
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Small hats. Small hats all the way down.
… in the government — in the media — in control …
The only right now is the 2nd .
Ammo up or be shut up….forever.
A storm is coming.
Seriously. A storm of biblical proportions is coming.
Why can’t enough people see the obvious?
A dumbed down, welfare trough, diversity diluted population.
If the government can take away your rights you don’t have them, you just have privileges. You can scream from the rooftops about “your rights”, but the constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on without force to back it up.
I think that’s what people struggle with, is abandoning the thought that government protects our rights laid out in the constitution when the reality is government is/has actively worked to destroy it since it’s creation. The fed gives two shits about your rights, they just want power and we’re nothing but cattle to them.
I proposed this similar question on another site of do people today really want to be free, given all that’s happened in the last two years. People had their entire lives destroyed, forced into their homes, children’s education destroyed and bodily autonomy destroyed. Yet no protests, riots or call to arms happened.
Things will continue to get worse and life is going to be a lot less comfortable simply because we collectively just shrug our shoulders and move on with ever evil act these people push on us.
There is still enough slack in the system for people to opt out and not participate. Nothing will get better while that is still true. All the people who do have responsibility are able to find freedom for themselves, so why risk it all trying to save the unwilling?
Our population is brain dead and consumed with narcissism. People who cannot critically think, have been brainwashed since birth with propaganda, shunned/ostracized for even asking questions and who have the personal courage of a sheep are never going to do anything to defend this country or human rights. People are more worried about what to have for dinner.
I would give you a hammer because you ‘so nailed it’.
But I already lent it to Paul P.
Unfortunately, the SF cops have it secured it in their evidence room.
Everyone doubts the governent on everything except North Korea. All of a sudden it’s lockstep.
I’d love to live in an ordely, well run, clean and homgeneous nation where everyone speaks the same language, shares the same values and culture, has the same history and customs, and is connected to the earth in some form or another.
Degenerate, polyglot empires teetering on the edge of economic collapse are overrated.
I am glad you got me to take a look at Best Korea. It is impressive that the sat images are such a contrast of hell on earth urbania vs pastoral peace.
All governments are evil, and their goons will turn from fluffy angels into raging demons in a heartbeat if ordered to do so by their government. That said, at least NK’s government isn’t hell-bent on destroying their own people in the name of Satan…yet.
The real elephant in the room is, as usual, the influence — or in NK’s case, non-influence — of the Banksters from Hell. You know how they hate that. We could ask Saddam or Moammar how it went for them when they tried to buck the rider, but…
They have a border, and it is guarded. They are not afraid to show potential invaders they are capable of defending their country, such as with publicized bomb tests. I never read about North Koreans celebrating Pride Month, and I strongly suspect anyone involved in such an attempt would be rapidly vivisected, and not by the government.
My admiration for them is mainly for having the cojones to mind their own business.
If the masses had the intelligence to avoid loaned money and living beyond their means, they could be much more independent. Government couldn’t indulge in malfeasance without all that fiat money.
Are you saying you’d want to live in communist North Korea? It’s the farthest from a bastion of freedom.
I’m sure they’ll take you in if you wanted to move there.
You are missing the point, and besides, if you look at Korea’s history, you might understand why they are the way they are. And I doubt indeed that they would take me in if I wanted to move there.
Korea historically was the Ukraine of its day, sandwiched between two major countries who used “neutral” ground to wage petty cold wars against each other; in this case, Russia and China. The Chinese recognized the importance of Korea to Russia, as a seaport and artery into the Russian mainland. Russia had to defend the Koreans from Chinese aggression many times. And Korean leadership, much like the Japanese, is based upon imperialism: their leaders are considered almost divine. Until recent times, China also followed this tradition.
Thus when the Soviet Union fell, North Korea especially, because of its reliance on the Russians, was pretty much set adrift, and ripe for the Chinese to once more attack. The obvious you-know-who influence of US, South Korea, Japan* and China, and the North Koreans’ rejection of their Communist ideologies, forced NK to completely nationalize just for its own survival. If you doubt anything I have just written, feel free to do your own research, and if you find it in error, please correct me.
Anyway, the original point was, is it so bad to live in a country that actually cares about its people enough to make them do things they might not want to do (aside from killing their futures with pointless wars) in order to protect themselves from others who would tear them apart, while making obscene profits from them while they did so?
Besides, we have no way of knowing whether or not any of these accusations our media makes has a shred of truth to it. Since neither you nor I is there, we have no idea. If they are slandering NK, it is because they want to be left alone by these assholes who already own the other 99% of the world and hate it that they cannot get the other 1%.
* – The Japanese actually are not Communist, but since they capitulated to Perry in 1853 they have simply been willing accomplices, and ultimately cowards for abandoning their own traditions and culture out of fear.
I’m not missing any point. It’s that you’re advocating for a country with a history of human rights violations and are no different from the global tyranny that’s trying to be imposed on us.
And you are trying to defend a country with not only its own history of human rights violations (which continue to this day, like Guantanamo Bay), but one that also turns a blind eye to its allies who are doing the same. Instead of looking at who the finger is being pointed, take a look at whose finger it is.
They are not throwing salt on NK because they want to help them, or liberate them — they just want to own everything and everyone, and NK is chucking them half a peace sign.
What is NK to us? Nothing. But to those who plan on world domination, NK is like Harlequin to the Ticktockman.
I don’t particularly mind that you’re unable to comprehend what you’ve read, but to butress your misunderstanding with precisely the same propaganda that I’ve just ridiculed seems obtuse in extremis.
The government (of NK) also fails to protect the rights of children
Was that supposed to be ironic given the nature of America in the last few years, where instead of protecting children it encourages them to surgically remove perfectly healthy body parts? Or to sit 6 feet away from other children while wearing a mask for a flu that poses zero danger? A nation that is so depraved and degenerate that armed men in masks are standing out in front of a strip club where toddlers are brought in to watch men in g-strings gyrate in their faces?
You know how I came around on North Korea? Observation. I watched about 15 or 20 western based anti-NK propaganda films.
Like this-
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1546653/
What did I learn? That despite the director’s intent on mocking and demeaning the NK people and their form of society, it wound up looking wholesome, cultured, orderly, and decidely not oppressive. They had to use subterfuge and lies in order to gain access so they could tell us a story that was obviously manufactured togive a flase impression. Who does that?
I don’t wish to live in North Korea because I am not Korean. I’m surprised you had to stoop to that level of rhetoric to try and make your well-worn point.
I believe that all people have a right to self-determination, that different behaviors and norms are not universal, but specific to a people and a place. Gloablism is a cancer that erodes and debases in order to profit a few at the expense of the multitudes and does it by demoralizing and frightening people to the point of complete and abject surrender.
Butyou believe what you like.
I just want to be left the fuck alone.
Where do find that nirvana?
I don’t know if you can find it in the after life. But nirvana do not exist in this world.
I would suggest The Overlook Hotel. I’ve heard that one can procure a job there as a caretaker in the longish off-season. Although, a Mr. J. Torrence had some difficulty staying warm.
The place can be seen here:
This seems to presume that at some point in the past someone managed to “nip such things in the bud”. Anyone aware of such happening?
From what I have seen and read, while it might take as step back occasionally, government become increasingly totalitarian until their destruction.
Pretty much.
The ‘nipping in the bud’ requires considerable intestinal fortitude and the spilling of inestimable blood.
As the government makes examples of dissenters, those in government must be made examples of.
Re: Nicolae Ceaușescu, Benito Mussolini, et. al.
Only bodies of their peers hanging from gallows as public spectacle will tamp down the aspirations of politicians.
Alas, the intestinal fortitude is sorely lacking in the US.
The shit is cyclical always has been always will be.
There is quite a bit of blurring the lines between Unalienable Rights vs inalienable rights. I know, and most here, know where to stand.
Hu is the god of suphism.
At least one old dictionary defines human as a monster.
Human also means belonging to Man but not Man.
A servant is referred to as man……”My Man will get your bags.”
So, “Human” lies in the fictional realm of “Legal”
Only fictional “Legal” entities can have “Rights”
“Rights” are a concept of “Men”.
There are no “Rights” in Nature.
Just ask the rabbit as it is chased down by the wolf.
We have to define our words better.
We were taught little to nothing in the Government school system.
My rights haven’t been taken until the come personally and physically take them. You all give up your rights way to easy. There is where the problem lies.
Was this written by AI?
Canada has gone full Nazi.
Too bad they gave up their good guns…..
Just like the ponce Aussies.
Yep, almost all of Earth’s government bodies had start taking ppl’s guns a few years before the Covid hoax, also while pumping up “vaccine awareness”. Disarming your population before fucking em up bigly seem to be their favorite tactic.
CA,
Really makes one wonder, huh?
“American immigration to Canada dates back as far as the Revolutionary War, when approximately 100,000 Americans fled north. The majority of this total were colonists loyal to the crown, and their arrival north of the border led to massive changes to the social, cultural and political landscape of Canada for generations to follow.”
Many people do not know that part of history, or any history.
A major civil war also went on during the Revolutionary War.
Don’t fly.
Its real – Vaccines were never required to fly, at least domestically. That article is retarded.
Newsflash. You only have the Rights you are willing to fight for, die for and most importantly
KILL FOR. Because there is ALWAYS people who want to take your Rights away from you.
And they will NEVER quit, NEVER go away, NEVER cease being your enemy as long as they
breath. Your job is to stop them from ever breathing again.
God gave us all His rights.
Will you mock Him and give the up meekly?
I shall not.
Ammo up, or grab the ankles.
1930s “covid” video.
https://www.roxytube.com/embed/kRW3lsGd85Q5vSz
Without rights, we are all government slaves.
If you can’t see communism on your front step you are lost.