"The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism."
-Murray N. Rothbard
This ZeroHedge comment, today, by JamaicaJim, caught my eye and started me thinking:
New Gallup Poll – Americans Consider Government A Much Bigger Problem Than Guns [8]
JamaicaJim [9]Wed, 01/06/2016 - 08:39 | 7004045 [10]
That the US Government is corrupt is not the question. They are.
The questions are;
WHAT CAN THE AVERAGE CITIZEN DO ABOUT IT?
HOW CAN THIS BE STOPPED?
For the life me, I do not have those answers.
THAT is the issue; what can someone do?
In the movie, Wayne's World, Garth and Wayne are lying on the hood of the Mirth Mobile and staring up at the stars. Garth whistles the theme to Star Trek, then he says, "Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone, but I'll probably stay here in Aurora." Many of us are like Garth, wishing to be bold, and maybe even revolutionary.
But the State isn't very worried. They know that we are far too comfortable, and also too afraid. That we will probably stay right where we are.
But some of us may sense that ours is a false comfort, like the turkey in the days before the holiday.
In today’s keynote luncheon at RIMS 2010 [11], Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of The Black Swan, told the story of a turkey who is fed by the farmer every morning for 1,000 days. Eventually the turkey comes to expect that every visit from the farmer means more good food. After all, that’s all that has ever happened so the turkey figures that’s all that can and will ever happen. But then Day 1,001 arrives. It’s two days before Thanksgiving and when the farmer shows up, he is not bearing food, but an ax. The turkey learns very quickly that its expectations were catastrophically off the mark. And now Mr. Turkey is dinner.
For those of us that don't want to be a turkey, and that seek a way out of our false comfort...that want to be bold and revolutionary...we must also find a way to overcome our fear. FEAR. False Evidence Appearing Real. The best way I know to overcome fear is with knowledge. Knowledge allows us to see false evidence as false. Knowledge also allows us to be bold, and to take action, rather than be timid, staying right where we are. Knowledge enables us to be revolutionary.
"A battle of wits was to be fought, and the Boy in Blue was unarmed to-night."
-Abby Buchanan Longstreet
If we want to be a bold, fearless, and an effective revolutionary, then we need to arm ourselves to-night and train for the fight. To that end, please, allow me to suggest this sequential course of action.
hedgeless_horseman's Revolutionary Call to Arms:
- Read Propaganda, by Edward Bernays.
- Read Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.
- Get rid of your television. Preferably, take it to the dump and destroy it in an extreme and violent fashion.
- Read Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Make a commitment to not use mind-altering substances for 90 days. If you fail, go to an AA meeting and restart the 90 days.
- Read The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve - 5th Edition, by G. Edward Griffin.
- Visit a coin dealer and buy some gold or silver Canadian Maple Leafs.
- Read 1984, by George Orwell.
- Make your very own set of Fallacy Flash Cards from the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies [12]
- Hold three fallacious posters accountable on www.zerohedge.com [13] by citing their fallacy.
- Read The Law, by Frédéric Bastiat.
- Make a list of your natural rights.
- Read The Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights.
- Read Animal Farm, by George Orwell.
- Research your two senators and one congressman at https://www.opensecrets.org/ [14] Make a list of their 10 biggest donors, and send the list to your "representative" in an email or letter.
- Read War is a Racket, by Smedley D. Butler.
- Read On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by Dave Grossman.
- Watch the online video of the TED Talk, A radical experiment in empathy [15], by Sam Richards.
- Read Anatomy of the State, by Murray Rothbard.
- Be a volunteer judge at a high school debate.
I pray that many may find the strength and courage to complete this revolutionary training, and to go boldly where no man has gone.
Peace!
