#3: Impossible Enlightenment...?

Relative to our lifespans, our civilization is old, and our society holds on to some traditions very strongly. Many American laws and rights (and inequalities) are written by followers of a book older then the founding of our continent, which is about the exploits of a man older then that. Our last Age of Enlightenment was caused by science, and irresistible proof that what the general people thought, was wrong and here is why and how. That branched off to more Enlightened thinking and it spread to all of modern (at the time) civilization because people could not refuse the truth, the proof. 

Matthew Taylor believes our next Enlightenment must come from humans changing the way we think, becoming more Empathetic. One part of me things it is Impossible without something dramatic. In our world we choose our facts, what we want to believe. We are manipulated from the beginning of grade school to listen, obey, go to college, work, buy. Our school systems is an archaic system. It does not fit our society and it does not help as much as it should. Ken Robinson talks about what is wrong with the school system and this is why I think it is impossible. School is a factory, a business, it constantly pumps out more mindless drones then intellectuals. The people with the money, and the power to change the system won't because it threatens their power. They manipulate people by waving religion and tradition which hinder us from growing and becoming more empathetic and enlightened. They use the schools to keep us entrenched in this mindset, and the schools can't do anything because they get money from the government which wants us to be mindless.

One part of me thinks the impossible, another can see a possibility no matter how slim. This possibility is because of the previous Enlightenment. These intellectuals a handful that started it, propelled our civilization forward through all the opposition. And most of these people never met, in our world now intellectuals can meet, gather, talk, share, grow and spread the word of enlightenment. They have a much larger army to face to bring this knowledge to people, to people who have been conditioned, controlled. But we did it before. We can do it again. 

#2: More thoughts aren't our own?!?

Douglas Rushkoff wrote something I have never read before. He spilled all the beans on how advertisers manipulate us. How our thoughts aren't our own, and he even used the same tactics they use and explained how and why.

Do we even have free will anymore? Rushkoff seems to think we can fight this, we can fight the people who scientifically design ways to get us to act and do things a certain way. I am having a harder time believing because by the middle of the page I was sure I would be able to resist, and fight these thoughts that are not mine. But that is exactly what Rushkoff wanted from me. He explained how he set me up to succumb to exactly what he warned me about, by himself. 

By now I'm sure most of you have seen Inception(2010). a great film but we find out that implanting thoughts and ideas in our heads is not as hard as the movie set it out to be. A floor plan, paint colors, even a button (or lack of a button) can sway and manipulate us. Perhaps maybe not as deep as the film, but a lot easier by comparison. 

Besides feeling betrayed that Rushkoff manipulated me in his story, I cant fault him. He has been doing a huge public service in trying to educate the public on how to keep out thoughts our own. His manipulation only served as a very sophisticated example to show how easy is in this day and age to impress on us, to control us. 

I caution all my readers to please. Retain your thoughts and learn how to defend yourself because they are always out there, hunting us.

#1: Our thoughts aren't our own?

One thing caught my attention when reading Michael Ryan's Theory for Beginners.Its how people can manipulate the thoughts of others by conditioning them to think of certain events, feelings, thoughts with just a word. Ryan mentions the word terrorism and how Americans have a very racist connotation with the word, and that the world of Islam is just as diverse as our own world.

This gets me to think about other things, such as how people use the term fat, ugly, right, wrong, sexy, smart, dumb and just about anything else. Most of these things are opinions. If someone finds someone attractive or if someone is "fat" to one person another person might not consider them in that way. But where do we get our opinions from. It can be assumed based on my own personal experience and what I am exposed to on a daily bases that my opinions are not my own, at least it didn't start that way.

We are bombarded with information at a young age. McDonalds, Toys, Walmart, Mickey Mouse, Barbie, Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman, sex, romance, vampires. This all leads to us thinking a certain way. Believing that skinny is sexy, man marries woman, don't go to jail, you will get raped, life sucks, need money, always money. Ryan mentioned money and the value we put on it. But who place the value there for us? For me it was my parents. I seen a McDonalds Commercial, I wanted McDonalds, I tell my parents, they say no money. I wanted the new toy, no money. I wanted this and that because other kids had this and that, because the TV told me Ill be cool with those light up sneakers, that happy people ate at McDonalds.

Eventually you grow out of it right? You finally have sex, and the first time is always awkward, you didn't know what you were doing no matter how much porn prepared you for. You realize that is not what happened on TV. You realize you were lied to, you were conditioned. You were born to grow up, go to school, work,  go to college, work, get a better job, work, get a family, work, have kids, work, go to Disney World, work, buy McDonalds for your kids, work. Some of us might make it to that glorious 1% who runs the country but even that I'm sure, is a carrot on a stick we will never get.

Now what if we never realize, what if you continue to believe the things the media wants you to believe, that two people don't deserve the same rights as you because the bible says so. That its okay to be close minded and judgmental and vain and impose your opinions that weren't yours to being with on others. Then you vote for, or run for office with these same ideals and you gain the support of the rest of the close minded, conditioned, ignorant america and you don't do your job in helping the rest of the country. You just hold us back from growing and evolving.

Ryan explained how the word terrorism has been conditioned to us. Almost immediately after 9/11 the word terrorism conditioned to the public. Imagine what type of conditioning you have to see through and break with a lifetime or a childhood of propaganda.