"If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything."--Malcolm X
I've learned to trust less and less "those people" who make no effort to seek the truth behind the ideas, products and beliefs that are thrown out by them to us. Are we fish in a pond waiting for someone to throw them a new bait? Some shiny or smelly or wiggly bait to break the monotony of the ordinary crayfish, the always reliable worm or the bug of the day that is usually on our daily menu?
Now granted, I learned this the hard way. Like a ball-peen hammer to the temple. I've felt the zealot, the draw of the sword of self-righteousness and the ideas (or lack of original ideas--dogma) that can be spawned. How else can we explain so many people sent to the gas chambers, starved to death and rounded up and put on reservations? How about the Inquisitions? God, I was a Republican once. I thought G. Gordon Liddy had all the answers to the countries problems. Remember him? Never heard of him? Hated him? Loved him? I never missed his daily radio shows. I even thought, a couple of times seriously, that the answers to our problems could be solved by the right politicians in the government. And at the time, I meant "right" as in right-wing. I even voted once for a Democrat because he was pro-gun and soon found out that his word on that issue quickly changed upon being elected. Surprise! Imagine not trusting the word of a person. That wasn't how I was raised.
Truly the lightest of people when character matters, similar to pond scum, seem to find a way to float to the top. Now you might think that this may seem kind of harsh, but it constantly shows itself to be true every time one of those empty vessels of a politicians--Senators, Congressmen, and President--open their damn mouths. Their words are a shell game and I think most of the time there is nothing under any of the shells but air--hot air. And what do we do when the shell is lifted up and nothing of substance is there? A collective sigh. It must be like the emperor's new clothes fairytale, the disbelief of it all paralyzes us.
And this isn't just in politics where we are being subjected to downright misinformation. Take for example a resent assertion that was made by the actress Suzanne Sommers regarding her thoughts on a salt ban being floated in New York City (Surprise, only on the east coast). She claims that a simple switch from table salt to sea salt can make a difference in peoples health and, I quote, "sea salt can actually lower blood pressure rather than raise it." Has this "expert" on alternative health ever had a chemistry class. Seriously, does she not know that table salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl) and sea salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl)? Billy Mays couldn't have got me to buy that! She needs to go back to being the bad actress that she was good at and leave medical advice to people that have earned some trust.
Finally, remember P. T. Barnum said that "There's a sucker born every minute." Work hard to avoid the bait and keep the hook out of your mouth and you stand a great chance of staying out of the frying pan. Even Malcolm X ended up in a pool of his own ideological blood. One zealots life ended by another zealot.
I've learned to trust less and less "those people" who make no effort to seek the truth behind the ideas, products and beliefs that are thrown out by them to us. Are we fish in a pond waiting for someone to throw them a new bait? Some shiny or smelly or wiggly bait to break the monotony of the ordinary crayfish, the always reliable worm or the bug of the day that is usually on our daily menu?
Now granted, I learned this the hard way. Like a ball-peen hammer to the temple. I've felt the zealot, the draw of the sword of self-righteousness and the ideas (or lack of original ideas--dogma) that can be spawned. How else can we explain so many people sent to the gas chambers, starved to death and rounded up and put on reservations? How about the Inquisitions? God, I was a Republican once. I thought G. Gordon Liddy had all the answers to the countries problems. Remember him? Never heard of him? Hated him? Loved him? I never missed his daily radio shows. I even thought, a couple of times seriously, that the answers to our problems could be solved by the right politicians in the government. And at the time, I meant "right" as in right-wing. I even voted once for a Democrat because he was pro-gun and soon found out that his word on that issue quickly changed upon being elected. Surprise! Imagine not trusting the word of a person. That wasn't how I was raised.
Truly the lightest of people when character matters, similar to pond scum, seem to find a way to float to the top. Now you might think that this may seem kind of harsh, but it constantly shows itself to be true every time one of those empty vessels of a politicians--Senators, Congressmen, and President--open their damn mouths. Their words are a shell game and I think most of the time there is nothing under any of the shells but air--hot air. And what do we do when the shell is lifted up and nothing of substance is there? A collective sigh. It must be like the emperor's new clothes fairytale, the disbelief of it all paralyzes us.
And this isn't just in politics where we are being subjected to downright misinformation. Take for example a resent assertion that was made by the actress Suzanne Sommers regarding her thoughts on a salt ban being floated in New York City (Surprise, only on the east coast). She claims that a simple switch from table salt to sea salt can make a difference in peoples health and, I quote, "sea salt can actually lower blood pressure rather than raise it." Has this "expert" on alternative health ever had a chemistry class. Seriously, does she not know that table salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl) and sea salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl)? Billy Mays couldn't have got me to buy that! She needs to go back to being the bad actress that she was good at and leave medical advice to people that have earned some trust.
Finally, remember P. T. Barnum said that "There's a sucker born every minute." Work hard to avoid the bait and keep the hook out of your mouth and you stand a great chance of staying out of the frying pan. Even Malcolm X ended up in a pool of his own ideological blood. One zealots life ended by another zealot.
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