The Covenant of the Willfully Ignorant

This originally began as a response to a comment arising from this article by Chris George on this g+ share. I felt the response was getting a little long winded for a comment on g+, so I brought it here to finish.

Chris said:

If you are not prepared to stand up to those who would take away our liberty, as who you are, then they have already won. As soon as you are AFRAID of them, they have won. This is what they are counting on.

What they are not counting on is an informed and enraged populace who aren't going to take it anymore.

I don't think the protesters protecting their anonymity are afraid of the tear gas, batons, and possible detainment and torture as much as they are afraid of populace not waking up and becoming enraged. And while the Occupy Movement is the best hope for social change I've seen in my lifetime, the level of public awareness and anger still makes that a legitimate fear. 

The Willfully Ignorant

The American people are willfully ignorant because things aren't bad enough for THEM yet. They haven't felt the downward slide we're all on enough to shatter their false belief that everything will eventually be okay. They honestly believe if they keep doing what they've always done everything will eventually be okay.

The general populace is afraid to face the truth of the situation, that there is a THEM. They don't want to believe in a plutocracy that feeds off the rest of society to live like gods, and they certainly don't want to believe in a plutocracy that would carelessly destroy the planet in pursuit of that lifestyle. 

What makes it such a tragedy when you ask yourself, "Why aren't they willing to fight for the betterment of everyone? Everyone includes them!" and think it through to the most logical answer. The tragedy is that when you really 'boil it down to the bone,' the reason we're in this mess isn't corporate greed - it's selfishness of the general populace.

When you show them evidence that the "Successful people, the super rich" are heartless evil bastards, they don't want to believe it. They look away or believe the first excuse someone feeds them. 

Oh, it's okay those Americans got peppersprayed in the face - they were trespassing on private property! Everything's normal, they were breaking the law. I'm not a law breaker so I won't get peppersprayed in the face. I think I'll go watch Obama yell at foreign governments for denying it's citizens free speech, doop-de-doo.

Oh, it's okay that all those other Americans had to pay 3 times what I did to buy their house, they didn't have to. It was their mistake. Surely the banks didn't conspire to inflate the prices of homes to make more money off the interest on the loans people take to pursue their happiness. The government wouldn't allow that sort of conspiracy. If it did, there would be a problem.

If there was a problem I wouldn't just sit here watching football and let it happen. I'm a good person. I'm a patriot. I vote. No, if there was a problem I'd definitely do something about it....so there must not be a problem. If I tried to do something about it, I might lose my job. If I lose my job I might lose my house. I'm sure glad there isn't a problem.

Things will get better, we just have to get some of those damn Republicans out of congress. We need more democrats in there, like our representative ole what's his face. I don't remember his name, but I saw him on a commercial during that reality show back in '08. Yeah, he's up there fighting for the little guy and those damn Republicans are blocking his every move.

What? Of course I know ole what's his face took a bunch of campaign donations. I even sent him $3 myself. I'm paying him with my taxes AND I sent him $3, surely he's fighting for what I believe in. Shh, shh, the games going into overtime.

Oh sure he took campaign donations from that company, the owners of that company have a right to support a candidate. It doesn't make a difference they gave him $3,000,000 and I gave him $3 - he's looking out for both of us. He values the little guy, he's a liberal! He'll do what's right - if only we can get those damn Republicans out of there. Everything's fine - or it will get better after the election. If things get bad I'll do something about it, but everything's fine. I'm still in my house aren't I?

Let's be realistic

We're probably going to have to hit 30-40% unemployment before those Americans wake up, so I'm not going to hold it against anyone (who not only sees the truth but puts themselves in danger to rage against the truth) for wanting to remain anonymous at this point. It could take another 2-3 years before things get that bad - and that's a long time to be breathing tear gas, risking nerve damage to your hands from over zealous police zip tying. 

Especially considering the passage of the NDAA. How long do you REALLY think it's going to be before Fox News uncovers ties between the protesters and Al Qaeda? The protesters are on the front lines. They are the pawns in the class war. They're taking the batons to the head trying to wake up enough people to make a difference, and the people they're trying to wake up are more likely to know the names of yellow cartoon characters with four fingers than they are to know the name of their congressional representatives.

They have every right to be afraid - and if that means that THEY have already won, then THEY have already won. They've been winning for decades. Should we the people that see the truth just roll over and try to go back to sleep? 

THEY are the ones that broke 

The Covenant

Everyone born in America after WWII was raised under an unspoken covenant: I'll work for you, I'll pay my taxes, I'll tow the line. In return, you can get as rich as you want and as powerful as you want. You'll have to screw me a little bit at every turn to do it, but that's okay. Just keep me entertained and just the tip.

But no. THEY weren't satisfied with just the tip. They slowly and steadily worked it in and started screwing us a little bit harder. Finally, we're so screwed that some of us are starting to wake up. But they've already won, they're already screwing us. If we keep behaving maybe they'll add some lube. Maybe.
(By the way, if I was part of the plutocracy or the 1% or whatever you want to call them - I would add some lube. I'd legalize marijuana)
To close: How DARE you call protesters wanting to remain anonymous cowards when most of America is too afraid to get off of the couch?

The wisest among us have been trying to tell us this for quite some time.

But don't worry kids, it's just a ride.