stevec
30th December 2006, 05:47
How people understand the past determines who they blame in the present.
In general, everybody is intent on improving their world at the expense of someone else. The poor want the wealth of the rich, the powerless want the power of the powerful, the unsaved want the redemptive power of the overlords. The bottom of the hierarchy wants to take over the top of the hierarchy, but does that change things or just change positions? It seems that the hierarchy endures, regardless of who is in power. The capitalists, nazis, communists, monarchists and jihadists have all enjoved a victory over the recent years, and all re-created the structure that they allegedly overthrew. Faces changed, alliances changed, but the structure of society remained. Bush, for example, wants to create a new Iraqi army to "control" the population, yet his justification for invading was that the old Iraqi army had too much control over the population.
What is going on? Why does doublethink and the status quo always seem to be the victor? Why doesn't the promise of revolution ever materialize? Washington, for example, overthrew the King and kept his slaves. His definition of Liberty stopped at his front door. He would allow noone to enter and noone to leave. If Washington was a hypocrite, yet many people think of him as a hero, it follows that these same people would be hypocrites, too. People can believe a lie and not know it is a lie.
The question then is, "Why don't they recognize their own lies?" and "How do people come to be taught lies?"
And to answer that question, I think I have an explanation, which you can watch here:
Big History (http://www.behappyandfree.com/pdf/BigHistory.mov)
HOW you think is as important as WHAT you think.
In general, everybody is intent on improving their world at the expense of someone else. The poor want the wealth of the rich, the powerless want the power of the powerful, the unsaved want the redemptive power of the overlords. The bottom of the hierarchy wants to take over the top of the hierarchy, but does that change things or just change positions? It seems that the hierarchy endures, regardless of who is in power. The capitalists, nazis, communists, monarchists and jihadists have all enjoved a victory over the recent years, and all re-created the structure that they allegedly overthrew. Faces changed, alliances changed, but the structure of society remained. Bush, for example, wants to create a new Iraqi army to "control" the population, yet his justification for invading was that the old Iraqi army had too much control over the population.
What is going on? Why does doublethink and the status quo always seem to be the victor? Why doesn't the promise of revolution ever materialize? Washington, for example, overthrew the King and kept his slaves. His definition of Liberty stopped at his front door. He would allow noone to enter and noone to leave. If Washington was a hypocrite, yet many people think of him as a hero, it follows that these same people would be hypocrites, too. People can believe a lie and not know it is a lie.
The question then is, "Why don't they recognize their own lies?" and "How do people come to be taught lies?"
And to answer that question, I think I have an explanation, which you can watch here:
Big History (http://www.behappyandfree.com/pdf/BigHistory.mov)
HOW you think is as important as WHAT you think.