- sorry if this whole ramble seems a bit wishy washy or disjointed or anything, considering the imaculate precision of everything else I do HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA - I've been a bit off my oats the last couple days, as they say somewhere I used to be, about a small situation that happened at the day job (ongoing actually for awhile, but came to a head a few days ago...) - one of those things that just won't get out of my head and I keep thinking about, much as I just want to leave it behind - one of the things about my character such as it is I don't really care for - but it's all part of the package.....

- and maybe just an excuse for avoiding looking at and dealing with a somewhat deeper, and considerably more important, malaise.....

Mr friends and compatriots and fellow rebels-bandits-outlaws-malcontents-conspiracy-theorists whatever the fuck. We face the major problem (not a secret or great revelation here! - just an intro, stating the case) that while WE believe the governments of our world (primarily the American, but of which most of the rest are sycophants to one degree or another, certainly the Canadian governments since Mulroney to a larger degree than most, to the great fucking endless embarrassment of many of us...) are essentially little different than a huge Mafia organization out for their own wealth and power no matter what they have to do to the rest of us to maintain that power, many if not most of our fellow citizens believe that these selfsame governments are, actually, generally honest and good fellows all, fairly elected in "the best darn democratic system on earth", generally doing their goshdarn best for the good of us all in difficult circumstances, such as economies that are beyond their control, damned evil freedom-hating, violence-loving "others" in the world, sneaky, lying insurgents at home who want nothing more than to destroy democracy and the Great American Way (yea, that'd be, or at least include, us in the 51st state as it now exists, generally speaking), and so on. And while there may be just the tiniest bit of sarcasm or exaggeration there (just can't stop myself!) it's generally pretty much the case, it seems.

And as long as there are shall we say for the sake of argument 50-100 of these "things are ok for fuck's sake! Quit complainin!" people for every 1 of us "no they're fucking NOT ok!!" gang, and the entire system of government propaganda and media is doing their level best to ensure that the former continue believing the lies, then we are not going to have a lot of success, at least insofar as change can only come about legally through getting control of the government through the current electoral process - the last 10-20 years is a pretty clear indicator of how the winds are blowing - even after the great fights (here in Canada at least) over the FTA and NAFTA, and their implementation by minority "majority" and/or lying governments (or both), most of the people of the country now believe that NAFTA has been a pretty good success, on balance, and don't find much to complain about with the FTAA (most of them don't know a hell of a lot about it, to be sure - but that doesn't worry them much either - the government and media are keeping it pretty much secret, and they don't mind that much either - which facts are also pretty exemplarific of our problems....). A conversation I had with a person whose intelligence I do respect last year (upper middle class successful in Canada) led to the revelation that they at least "thought my heart was in the right place" with my ongoing attempt to encourage people to get involved with changing some things around here - patronising in the worst sort of way (but not intentionally insulting - if you see what I mean - the person actually believed that things were maybe not perfect, but certainly ok, etc, no great need to get too upset - but was accepting my right to disagree....).

I am not sure how much good our writing and websites such as this one are doing - preaching to the converted is the old saying that covers the situation - it does have its uses, of course, in terms of support and solidarity, and spreading new info rapidly, and I do enjoy my ranting and venting of the anger I feel at what is happening to my country and world (and, of course, the future implications of the direction we are heading and how that is going to affect my life and the lives of pretty much everyone else) - but I rather suspect it is doing very little good in terms of creating a larger consensus (MUCH larger is what we need before any change is going to really realistically happen) around us that we ALL better get involved or we're heading down the same road as Germany in the 1930s or the Titanic or something, and that troubles me - I do not write and rant merely to please myself, but with the aim of contributing to change here, and that does not seem to be happening (and no nothing has changed over the last year, I've been outside of the box for going on 40 years now and watching and learning and participating in many ways, except I suppose for the worse, but it has been long since I have had this chance to express myself in public, insofar as this small effort is read, as the Canadian media have refused to print my words for years now, so it was an exciting and invigorating thing for a few months to do this, getting my chops back as it were - but the reality is also ever-present, and honesty about that apparent futility, as I examine my life at the beginning of yet another year, as I usually do, now that the years are going by so very fast). And none of that means burnout or quitting - that will happen the day I die (maybe!!!! - if I do open my eyes and find consciousness after that mortal event, I am sure there will be something to bitch at wherever I am as well!!!) - it simply means I continue to look for new ways to reach out to people, hopeless as it all may seem - my fear is that most people will simply NOT react to what is happening, for all sorts of reasons, until they are forced to, as in the knock on the good Rev. Neimuller's door in the middle of the night, by which time it is far, far too late.

- I cannot say for sure, but I expect a large part of the problem we face is simple ignorance - and I say that not in a derogatory but simply a factual sense - I suspect a large number, probably a majority, of Canadians (no need to even speak of the notoriously clueless majority of Americans who rely on Fox and the National Enquirer for their "news", you expect it from them anymore (it would be funny if it weren't such a tragic commentary on the current human condition the number of Americans who still believe Canada is the north pole and we all live in igloos with candles and drive snowmobiles around throwing spears at polar bears all year....), but I am still disappointed to have to acknowledge this naivete about the way the world really works and is working in Canada in Canadians), have next to no fucking idea at all of what is actually happening around the world, or even in our own country, in any more than the most cursory sense - and thus their care for such things is even less - if it doesn't affect them pretty much directly, and in ways they clearly see - well, there are just too many things going on in their day-to-day lives to deal with to pay attention to what is happening halfway or further around the world. It's a darn shame about people dying in Africa from AIDS or because they have no food or something - but if I don't get to work now my kids are going to be hungry too, and THAT is what I am thinking about. etc and etc and etc. And of course the "media" is a major part of the problem, which is what this website, and I think many others, have been started in hopes of doing something about - but first we have to somehow get a lot more people paying attention, and again that is the problem when they rely on the mainstream media as they always have, and of course one of the central messages of the mainstream media is that the people can rely on the mainstream and lowbudget websites can by definition be nothing more than entertaining conspiracy theories to whatever extent they disagree with "The Truth" as promulgated by the corporate Bay St Liars and their serfs and minions in the government and press....

- there is indeed a tide in the affairs of us all (I think I have noted this before... - one of those many wonderful and beautiful things we are denied all knowledge of except for the faint shadow images dancing on the wall by being tied down in the back of the fucking cave from the day we are born, and beat back and beat back if we dare to protest, to demand a fucking life....) - even as I think these thoughts and write these words, I find this on the net - The Myth of Democracy by Paul Harris, a very good writer RM archive copy- it's a bit of a long piece (maybe not in words but in truth...) and I won't even bother to try to summarize it - but have a read, and then think to yourself what a REAL democracy would be like, with pieces like this not confined to relatively low-readership internet sites, but available to EVERY Canadian on the newsstands they pass every day to ponder and discuss, rather than headlines about LOWER TAXES or MICHAEL FUCKING JACKSON!!!

Oh hell - one quote - ".....Democracy doesn’t really have much to do with counting votes; its legitimacy resides in the citizenry and their expression of collective will. We have slowly fallen into the error of worshipping and defending the ‘truths’ of public management and corporatism instead of encouraging the evocation of real choice and real public debate. The citizenry has largely silenced itself and made itself meaningless....."

The citizenry has silenced itself - that pretty much sums it up, what's gone wrong in our "democracies" - we, or most of us, have simply acceded power - much as the frog in the pot accedes its life as the water is slowly boiled. Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head in Canada (yet!) and telling them what to say or not to say - the capitulation to the television god-idols and chains forged with needless, useless consumer toys and credit cards and mortgages has been pretty much a voluntary thing - anyone is or has been free to stand up and say, or shout "WAIT JUST A FUCKING MINUTE!!! HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM TO BELIEVE ALL THIS SHIT!!!! I WANT MY FUCKING LIFE!!!!" - and yet so very, very few do (okay, if more than 3 or 4 do this together these days, they're probably going to attract some unwanted serious and probably violent attention from people masquerading as Darth Vader stormtroopers anymore...) - it is, one must acknowledge, a difficult trap to avoid, since we are steered there by all available sources we look to for guidance from the earliest days of our cognizant lives, including our parents, who have already, in most cases, succumbed to the two-faced false god..... And now the move is definitely on, under the excuse of the farcical but nonetheless deadly serious "War on Terror" to corral those few of us who have retained the freedom to think and courage to speak (what sort of "color code" do you suppose one who writes like this and talks endlessly about "conspiracy theories" is likely to get from the "Special Secret Security Terrorist Police" (Air travellers face screening - Canadian program aims at terrorist `risk scoring' system HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA) the next time I fly to Canada? HAHAHAHAHAAAA? - we shall see.....). But the paths of denial are well-ingrained in the populace, and to even say such words is to attract the scornful accusation of "conspiracy theorist" if the person is kind, or "complete fucking wacko" if less so - and even, for a certain percent of the "citizens" a little physical sort of "attitude adjustment" is not unknown. And like the good Rev. Neimuller, their denial will endure until the knock comes on their own door.

- and another piece I came across whilst pondering this situation this week - Curse of the well informed by one Jan Lundberg (the whole site is well worth some time with, lot of good stuff) - a quote again - "....Only about two per cent of the U.S. population is estimated to be aware and active in social and political matters (beyond just voting). The rest of the population can be considered scary and/or scared, as in being susceptible to blatant propaganda on the need to bomb some nation that isn’t even threatening the homeland. In a related defeat for the people, consciousness of rights is fading. In June 2001, a poll by the Freedom Forum found that 39% of the people felt that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees; a year earlier the figure was 22%....."

Lundberg does make an interesting point though, one to keep in mind - "....How do the disaffected dissidents live? On the whole, well, and much better, thank you, than the more materially comfortable and richer citizens who question little about society and civilisation. Feeling alive has a greater payback short-term and down the line than merely having lots of fancy clothes and several different brands of dessert in the freezer...." - I find this to be true on the whole - awareness is better than non-awareness, even in a dire situation - when I travel in the circles of the 90% I am often struck by a general lack of joie de vivre, of actual engagement in the day to day things that should be enjoyable for all, simple things like preparing and eating good food, meaningful talk about meaningful things, or even a simple stroll at the end of the day - oh, there's great amounts of laughter and whatnot in Walmart Ameri-anada, but most of it seems very forced and less-than-real - "the "lifestyle pages" on tv or the favorite mag say we should do *this* for a good life, and by golly we're doing it! - look at how much fun we're having - just look!! hahaha..." and so on. One could be wrong, of course. But one doesn't actually think so... - don't we all know someone who appeared to be on top of the very fucking world - until the day they were found with a self-inflicted bullet in the brain???

... and one major reason for all this: "....Urban collectives are groupings of activists or conscious people who are likely not to have a television in their house. ..." HAHAHAHAHAAAA - you wanna believe it!

Oh well enough of that shit HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA - the future is undoubtedly unfolding as it should, as some guy called Desiderata said once (I KNOW it's the name of the piece - just joking!!!! fuck) - and either we the true Democracy lovers and practitioners, conspiracy theorists that we are, shall prevail - or the berserkers and fascists and their mute servants will win the day, and the race of man shall vanish from the planet in either a final shattering blaze of "nucular glory" or a much more banal and terrible mass starvation, after the Nero-like psychotic rulers finish poisoning the earth and waters to an extent where they can no longer provide sustenance to so many (and the rulers find that all their billions of credits in the banks and bars of gold and silver cannot be eaten!!!!, and they themselves have no fucking clue whatsoever about how to grow their own food!!!) - the planet will survive, although perhaps mostly uninhabitable for a few tens of thousands of years, but life will endure, and return - hopefully in a more intelligent form, at some time in the future.

Sad way to end though.

- The Manifesto of a Modern Canadian (as written by the government and mainstream media and absorbed unknowingly and unquestioningly into the brains of most Canadians with their daily tv and peer pressure from childhood, and defended with great vigour against those who question it) -

1. Yea verily I will believe what my great elected representatives tell me concerning such things as "Free Trade" and globalisation and Missile Shield Defence, for such people are surely honest and would not lie to me - our system would not let them do this, and our Ethics Councilors and Great Democratic Media would surely expose any such foolishness. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
2. When I read things on the Internet that contradict what my Great Leaders and the Mainstream Media say, I will laugh disparagingly and label them all Conspiracy Theories hahaha - They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
3. I will assuredly NOT think for myself, for this road leads only to conflict and despair and getting beat on the head and pepper sprayed, which are surely unpleasant consequences of such folly - no matter what apparent nonsense my leaders are telling me (i.e. "they hate us because we are free" or "the most important issue facing us is the National Debt") I will bow down before their great wisdom, for to disagree is the path of despair and conspiracy, which my noble government would surely not be guilty of. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
4. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
5. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
6. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.
7. They tell me so on TV and I Do Believe.