Rantering

How 'do, folks. This here's yer ol' pal, WoofDoggieDog, kickin' it compassionstyle from the ancient mountaintemples of East Knox VagueAss. We're stayin' dry during the storm and are lookin' forward to a beautiful afternoon of Irish rain and transfiddlefingerin'.

Fear. This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time. It seems that our gut, kneejerk reactions to events are based out of fear, "flight or fight", as I learned some years ago. Case in point, Modern Amerika. Our government fears it's people. Our government fears other nations. Our government fears ways of life that are outside of tradition. Our government fears losing power. In reaction to that fear, they have invaded two nations and are trying to sustain two wars, damging the planet and all peoples. They have borrowed beyond considerable financial means and put our economic backbone to the saws. They are spying on us right now, afraid that we might do some terrorist act, perhaps something as simple as speaking our minds or giving an opinion.

Fear has led us down a dark and unhappy road, one where we cannot be ourselves. A road where it is difficult to build community or consensus, a road that Amerika has not travelled before. Yes, of course, people like Nixon and McCarthy have done their fair share of planting the seeds, but the fruits that have been born are nothing like we've seen before. Companies tracking our every move, trying to direct our lives. Government defining "probable cause" as alive and breathing. Agents of change not within ourselves anymore because we do not know how to act as subjects any more..... this has been taken away from us, and erodes more and more every single day.

This isn't a nation of freedom. It is a nation of empirical, capitalist idealism, forging a nation of debtors and sinners, slaves to economy that fear their neighbors. What we essentially have on our hands is a daft, insidious Crusade. Arabs killing people because they are queer. Japanese murdering whales for meat in the name of science. Sisters strapping bombs to their bodies and getting on Israeli buses. Airline public transport as missle. IRA guns in playgrounds in Londonderry. Fences along country borders. People, It's not just Amerika missing the point, it's the whole planet.

Once we act out of fear, it is hard to slow down, stop, recognise what is happening. While some people in the past dreamt of a future that included world peace, it is becoming evident that we are in fact *not* moving toward world peace, but are instead acting on our fears and figuring out new and more efficient ways to murder, abuse, destroy, hurt, and push our own agendas upon each other. In the name of gods. In the name of fear. In the name of oil. In the name of power.

Folks, societies on planet that is living in fear is not sustainable. Our pshyches will crack under this pressure. Beauty, true compassion, and love are forgotten in the face of fear. Only when we have the ability to stop and honestly assess the future will we be able to see the pain that our actions will mar upon future generations. Maybe then, we will be emboldened to actually do something good for progeny and the planet.