by LJ Frank
Language. It changes during social and political upheaval. The “voices” of power and money are seductive, narcissistic, and unethical. Another paradigm shift unfolds as blood drips on the floor. Art and music are affected and the abstractness of what is and what is not has an existential quality. Reality and truth appear up for grabs at times. Doubt becomes pervasive. The label Cynic is reshaped and dangles from a philosophical umbilical cord…and the womb that gave birth closes.
That which may have been fashionable in the 18th century appears as a tattered cloth of ideals today – among other things, founded by property owners and freedom of (from) religion and away from monarchy with single shot muskets on hand to safeguard the home and speech with responsibility for the integrity of the whole.
The Age of Reason (1794) was not well received by everyone as Thomas Paine, the radical pamphleteer argued against slavery, and sought a voice for women and children on some level though his life suggested a stew of ideas typical of intellects, male or female. The politics of the moment are never without polarized thinking, albeit Paine’s observation ~ my own mind is my own church…and Ben Franklin warned him about spitting in the wind. Individuals had a mind of their own but the crowd was not as openminded as him when influenced by their “faith”. Religion, capitalism, possession and power and a diverse assortment of issues have been vocal dancing partners as noted in the Federalist and Antifederalist speeches in the 1780’s.
War, genocide, mass killings and assassinations are not new, particularly for rulers, to the aggressive human spirit that seems to inevitably return to its animal roots forsaking the ancient admonition found in most tribes ~ do unto others what you have them do unto you. And thinking of the ruling class with soldiers as pawns, the death of affirmative action doesn’t appear to apply to military schools.
To publicly discriminate is a popular past time as the thieves have gathered under the tent of inerrancy and the act of Providence…and making the world safe for the national security of wealth and power. The carnal desire for possession and control of others above all else is not worthy of being in the same paragraph as the celebration of enlightenment.
Celebrityhood is glorified – aren’t you happy for me, look at what I am doing with your money and your purchases of things you really didn’t need but had to be persuaded, I am richer and enjoying the fruits of my greed – you too can be one of us – sort of.
Let them eat cake.
And what of the hobbled with disability, crying in their own urine for want of love and the alleys and hallways hued by the effects of Big Pharma though heads turn away looking at the confident toned bodies marketed as happiness.
Why is education tied to money? Who are these corporate people who snicker at the impoverished with no sense or care of their hypocrisy sipping whiskey in the Boardroom…etcetera…. et al.
And a chorus of mocking is heard…is it the sound of Laughter at the Foot of the Cross – anyone can be Jesus Christ for a day or so the social satirist on the temple steps implies….and spilling seed is a hobby for the lobbyists on the bodies of the classless. What shall we sell…that people don’t need for being humane?
Alas! The Supreme Court of the United States grins and grifts in benevolence as moral responsibility is on a cruise dining on food that can be seen on pay per view as the nation of spectators is now on digital…. a drug without peer pressure. And the number of paywalls increase for information and knowledge that is seldom free.
And the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus of democracy was/is ever leaking and increasingly giving rise to the rebirth of doubt and the Cynic.