Responsible Citizens
The most backwards words I've ever heard a so-called proud American say is, "America, love it or leave it." Such words seem to claim that to utilize your freedom is disrespectful to those who claim you have freedom. It reminds me of how an organization who claims to be guided by the principles of anonymity would make their first requirement that of introducing oneself.
How would a nation who claims to be guided by the principles of democracy and freedom be an example of the effectiveness of these principals to other nations?
When a dissident becomes a leader and then doesn't encourage independent thought and expression among their followers, they are not just fighting amongst those whom they claim ruled in a way that they needed to liberate themselves and others from, they are then waging war against themselves as well as waging war against those principals for which their followers chose them in the first place.
If industries such as psychiatry and behavior modification become overly focused on profits and show that they are willing to prey on peoples fear rather than promoting their strengths, then these industries are threats to the liberty and freedom of everyone.
I was born in a small town in the mountains of the southern part of the United States. The year was 1963. There was quite a revolution going on and I was born into the middle of it. It was a time that conformity needed to be challenged and it was.
I have studied for 45 years about how this revolution effected people. Since so many people who sought liberty during this time made mistakes about how to achieve liberation, anyone who didn't seek to find their own way became confined to a prison that was quite similar to those who clung to the ideals of conformity.
The resistance to this revolution was very strong and many conformists were quite fearful. Today we live in a different time but the fear of those who see nonconformists as a threat are still very loud, and this fear is being preyed on today by many industries who are willing to accept the temporary benefits that accompany the deception of a swollen market.
While fear has always been very marketable, it is not an aspiration that people are drawn toward but rather a prison where people without aspirations end up.
Psychiatry has always used fear as their primary method of promotion.
Just like the politics and religions it supports, psychiatry makes a fearful spectacle of anyone who resists the agenda that the promoters of psychiatry preach.
I remember 1980 as the time when I really saw the leaders in the United States become very absolute about their direction of becoming governed by a single political party that would promote the falsehood of how their description of personal responsibility would create liberty for everyone. There still has not been enough resistance to this false agenda.
The view of these political leaders had very close ties with those views of the industry of psychiatry in much the same way as the views of psychologist Abraham Maslow promoted the New Deal plan of the president at that time, Franklin Delanore Roosevelt.
No irresponsible leader has ever inspired a responsible form of government. The fear that results from irresponsible leadership has more to do with the acts of a dictator rather than the courage that comes from the inspiration of a liberater.
Since there is no separating personal responsibility from societal responsibility, when people try to promote one at the expense of the other, the result is the lack of responsibility.
The most widely used recreational drug in the U.S. today is reported to be the same as the most widely prescribed psychotropic medication for children who are descibed as having "behavioral problems." At the same time more and more methadone users are being excluded from the same system that provided it to them in the first place.
Nicotine is described as being as addictive as heroin, and yet cigarettes are seen as a conveinient thing to tax because it's unhealthy and people don't need them.
Why do you think that 11% of U.S. military veterans are homeless? Also remember that those were are given cigarettes and taught to "Smoke em if you got em" have insult added to injury when windfall profits never reach the bottom but those taxes sure do.
If torture is being used by every nation that is at war, how do you think the U.S. military creates endurance amongst it's soldiers who they think might tell important information if they are taken prisoner? The same way that every other nation does it. The soldiers are tested by being given those tortures they might receive.
While modern psychiatrist report that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is at its worst amongst military veterans now, the aid to these veterans is reported to be worse than ever.
When prohibition ended and the FDA was created, which drugs were put on the list as being illeagal and why? LSD 25 when it was first created was not illeagal. It was first tested on U.S. soldiers, mental patients, and, you guessed it; it was one of the first treaments used to try to do what they claimed would, "cure autism".
When the NAMI worked to get the bill passed to make it so that parents would be allowed to demand their sons and daughters (at any age) who had a diagnosis of mental illness could be placed in a mental institution (against the patients will) based on nothing more than the parents say so....All I could say is "don't". You bet I got attacked for that, but even if I could have argued my point, I wasn't allowed to by the parents.
So, whats a citizen to do about autism? You know that there is no such thing as autistic services - but what about autism services? Saying that your child has a treatable, and/or curable "disorder" and calling that disorder autism will get you milage points right now, but you won't like where that train takes you. Nor will you ever be able to afford the consequences. That is guaranteed.
A culture that accepts difference is the only real guarantee any of us has.
So, how radical am I going to be about what I say? As radical as I want to be (I might teach Dennis Rodman a thing or two about how to be radical), until they don't let me speak anymore.
To those who say, "America, love it or leave it." I say, "Liberty, use it or lose it."
8 Comments:
Excellent points here, Ed; there's a lot for your readers to think about.
I particularly like this line:
While fear has always been very marketable, it is not an aspiration that people are drawn toward but rather a prison where people without aspirations end up.
Good post Ed. I dont think those parents have not considered the future consequences or even the present effects of their actions, because of fear.
Thanks ABFH,
A common theme that I meant in this post was that so many of these people, organizations, etc., claim that they are actually promoting courage rather than fear when that is not at all what their actions reflect.
I think that it is outrageous that this cure autism campaign is claiming that it is courageous to eliminate the differences that scare them so.
Thanks Amanda,
I think you are right. Fear seems to blind people from what they are doing to themselves or others even when they are getting an imediate reaction to the harm they are causing people.
Wow. What a lot of food for thought. I like your last line especially.
I get that point about people being described as brave when they are not. I have seen descriptions of 'brave' doctors standing against the establishment in their quest to cure autism, and parents described as 'ballsy' (Horrid word) for harping on about their 'recovered' children.
But the point is, the establishment want to rid the world of autism too, just using more scientifically valid methods. That's scary, more so than the DAN docs with their fringe, unproven quackery.
Yes Sharon,
Thanks. I think that is the point.
I think that people who are in power that are fearful are going to do what ever they want until people who are not fearful stop them.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Benjamin Franklin. It's something along the lines of "Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security." (and forgive me if that's paraphrased a bit.) For this country to have gotten to a place where dissent is considered UNpatriotic is unconscionable to me.
Great post. Thanks.
Thanks, BostonPobble,
That's a great quote!
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