"Give me anything but another year in exile..."
I resent this individualism which has been overshadowing me for so many years; to what avail if someone is exceptional? It is only as a result of the people around that person in question, only a result of a good climate and positive influences in that life. Is that not intuitive to all and sundry? Is it not more that obvious that we are a species that develops better with mutual understanding and equality between all? I feel like I have been exiled from my humanity sometimes. I feel like I am expected to contribute successfully to society, though I am sincerely opposed to it from beginning to finish. I see all its contradictions, its dead ends, and the people who clutch on to it though they cannot see how it is responsible for so much suffering and ignorance.
Now, let me quote Noam Chomsky in his essay On Resistance written in the context of the Vietnam War:
"I doubt that they appreciate the extent, or the importance, of the dissipation of creative energies and growing disaffection among young people who are sickened by the violence and deceit that they see in the exercise of American power. Further disruption in these areas, then, might seem to them a negligible cost...
"... If we can rid ourselves of the naive belief that we are somehow different and more pure- a belief held by the British, the French, the Japanese, in their moments of imperial glory- then we will be able honestly to face the truth in this observation. One can only hope that we will face this truth before too many innocents, on all sides, suffer and die.
"Finally, I think there are certain principles that I think must be stressed as we try to build effective opposition to this and future wars. We must not, I believe, thoughtlessly urge others to commit civil disobedience, and we must be careful not to construct situations in which young people find themselves induced, perhaps in violation of their basic convictions, to commit civil disobedience. Resistance must be freely undertaken. I also hope, more sincerely than I know how to say, that it will create bonds of friendship and mutual trust that will support and strengthen those who are sure to suffer."
- Noam Chomsky, "On Resistance" in "The Essential Chomsky" (Bodley Head), p74
I am no longer sure whether I will refrain from civil disobedience in the future. I have a growing distrust in our government and recent events uncovered in the Metropolitan Police Force with reported breaches of trust in undercover police operations makes me sincerely dubious regarding the future, thus inclined to oppose such lamentable deviations from civic responsibility. I consider such actions as those taken by David Cameron of recent as abominable: the claim of reponsibility for cutting bonuses in private banking was not his suggestion- he opposed it; during his diplomatic excursion to Egypt was accompanied by weapons and defence salespeople (and I do not for a moment consider these figures significant or important to diplomacy; they are positively reprehensible capitalist figures); and if one considers the new conservative ambitions to privatise and sub-contract such public institutions as health care and the police force, one ought to be dismayed. This is not democratic, and that is an incontrovertible fact. Privatisation and a continuation of the current status quo are not possibilities unless our country prefers terminal disintegration, which is what will happen if we allow such progress to continue.
I am currently finishing a philosophical stage in my life. I suppose philosophy will appear again in future, but it will not occupy all my time as it does now. I have a pantheistic/ humanist world view and it does not allow for any one to suffer. That is the ideal, and for too long have we allowed our figures of authority condone subjugation, intentional political subversion, and manipulation in investment and world trade to happen. I have a new proposal which I will probably write and publish on-line on Sunday evening.
Now, let me quote Noam Chomsky in his essay On Resistance written in the context of the Vietnam War:
"I doubt that they appreciate the extent, or the importance, of the dissipation of creative energies and growing disaffection among young people who are sickened by the violence and deceit that they see in the exercise of American power. Further disruption in these areas, then, might seem to them a negligible cost...
"... If we can rid ourselves of the naive belief that we are somehow different and more pure- a belief held by the British, the French, the Japanese, in their moments of imperial glory- then we will be able honestly to face the truth in this observation. One can only hope that we will face this truth before too many innocents, on all sides, suffer and die.
"Finally, I think there are certain principles that I think must be stressed as we try to build effective opposition to this and future wars. We must not, I believe, thoughtlessly urge others to commit civil disobedience, and we must be careful not to construct situations in which young people find themselves induced, perhaps in violation of their basic convictions, to commit civil disobedience. Resistance must be freely undertaken. I also hope, more sincerely than I know how to say, that it will create bonds of friendship and mutual trust that will support and strengthen those who are sure to suffer."
- Noam Chomsky, "On Resistance" in "The Essential Chomsky" (Bodley Head), p74
I am no longer sure whether I will refrain from civil disobedience in the future. I have a growing distrust in our government and recent events uncovered in the Metropolitan Police Force with reported breaches of trust in undercover police operations makes me sincerely dubious regarding the future, thus inclined to oppose such lamentable deviations from civic responsibility. I consider such actions as those taken by David Cameron of recent as abominable: the claim of reponsibility for cutting bonuses in private banking was not his suggestion- he opposed it; during his diplomatic excursion to Egypt was accompanied by weapons and defence salespeople (and I do not for a moment consider these figures significant or important to diplomacy; they are positively reprehensible capitalist figures); and if one considers the new conservative ambitions to privatise and sub-contract such public institutions as health care and the police force, one ought to be dismayed. This is not democratic, and that is an incontrovertible fact. Privatisation and a continuation of the current status quo are not possibilities unless our country prefers terminal disintegration, which is what will happen if we allow such progress to continue.
I am currently finishing a philosophical stage in my life. I suppose philosophy will appear again in future, but it will not occupy all my time as it does now. I have a pantheistic/ humanist world view and it does not allow for any one to suffer. That is the ideal, and for too long have we allowed our figures of authority condone subjugation, intentional political subversion, and manipulation in investment and world trade to happen. I have a new proposal which I will probably write and publish on-line on Sunday evening.
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