“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
What's in a word, a term, or a simple phrase? A whole lot more than first may appear on the surface! Words have the ability to stir men's hearts - they are used by leaders to sway the masses to their will. Two pieces of legislation that attracted much criticism were the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. Very few lawmakers appreciated the full ramifications of either, yet almost no one dared vote against them - for fear of being labeled unpatriotic or failing to support national defense. Admit to people that the system strips away basic rights, in favor of a mountain of often petty laws - and that their pockets can be legally picked to pay for often wasteful expenditure and they will revolt. Tell them that they are really free by virtue of living under a democracy and they will instead rejoice!
Imagine for the moment that you lived in the middle of the 19th century when slavery was still legal! Now imagine that the slave-owner (your master) announced one day that slavery was now abolished - but that since there was no place else to go you were all welcome to stay and work on the plantation. That from henceforth all those who stayed would be able to elect their new masters, who would then decide upon how much needed to be taken from your wages to support the running of the plantation. That any 'free man' who was found to break the master's rules was to be severely punished - brutally whipped or placed in 'lock-up'. Are you free because you can now participate in electing your abuser? Are you free because you can now earn wages which can be reduced according to the master's whim?
The compelling video below confronts us all with a stark look at what today still passes for freedom - but is really no more than an institutionalized form of slavery, even as the masses remain unaware! The parallels with today's reality are glaringly obvious - including the gleeful cheering of the masses whenever their fellow 'slave' is caught for breaking the rules and is severely punished by the master. Like today - the slaves on Jones Plantation also are in a blissful state of delusion that they are free!
So, are we freer than slaves of 150+ years ago because we live and work on a democratic plantation, or - are we more enslaved than they were, because unlike them we have lost our thirst for freedom? Are we free when we cheer on the State for doing a good job when they lock away fellow citizens for exercising their human rights to engage in an activity that harms no one else, but which offends our personal code of ethics - or, are we in a delusion, awaiting the time when our turn inevitably comes?
Have we now become a nation of weaklings - surrendering our inborn spirit of initiative and freedom to masters who promise to deliver us from every evil known to man once we agree to be good slaves? In our more lucid moments, do we take time to reflect on how unrealistic that assumption actually is?
The reality is that those trying to enslave others to their own ethical standards by force of mob rule, or, as we call it today - democracy - can only succeed in the end in completely enslaving themselves! We have been duped into participating in our own enslavement and call it freedom - wake up, folks!
The Great Myth of the Welfare State
Recently by Jack D. Douglas: The U.S. War Against the World
The Great Myth of the Welfare State and all of the lesser myths and lies on which it was built are now being totally confounded by the harsh realities of human nature and finance and economic life and politics built on human nature. Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Mixed Economies, Democratic Fascism, and all the other brands of this Great Myth of the Welfare State are rapidly imploding. The utopian ideologists of all stripes of this insane and fierce certitude of impending heaven on earth are completely confused and in a state of total denial and are trying every wild-eyed scheme they can to revive the dying Great Myth.
Ignorant armies of ideology are striking out against everyone they assume has threatened their Great Myth of heaven on earth created by endless paper-money debts and spending and consumption and dreaming and illusion.
They dream in desperate ignorance and ideological certitude of reviving their Great Myth and will stop at nothing to try to bring it back to life to stalk the earth once again with huge bubbles of paper money and debts that cannot be paid and the inevitable Busts and Depressions and the final Great Global Crisis it produces.
The enraged mobs of True Believers are becoming more and more murderous toward realists and anyone who dares to tell them the truth. Like all totalitarians, they are trying desperately to banish reality and replace it with their utopian dreams, illusions, and lies.
They will fail in the end and finally reconcile themselves bitterly to realities built on human nature. Only then will it be possible to rebuild realistic foundations for a workable, livable society and once again, begin the long and tortured trek of human beings to slowly, step by step, improve our world and lives and inner selves.
May 9, 2012Jack D. Douglas [send him mail] is a retired professor of sociology from the University of California at San Diego. He has published widely on all major aspects of human beings, most notably The Myth of the Welfare State.Copyright © 2012 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.The Best of Jack D. Douglas
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