You don't have to go down any rabbit hole to experience up is down, right is left, backwards is forwards. Just one day awake is enough, more than enough, to see how twisted certain aspects of society are, to see that it's always been thus. It's just that now we live in the The Age of Manipulation so many of us believe, or have believed, in the sanitized Hallmark Greeting card narratives that we grew up with about politics, religion, entertainment and Life itself. When you awaken, it is a shock to see that none of these things are really what they've been portrayed, and in fact many of the people involved - "leaders" - are actually doing the exact opposite of what they're preaching.
For instance, emblazoned on many cop cars are the words "to protect and serve." In mainstream America, you grow up believing those words, this concept that police are there to protect you. Until a cop in Cleveland kills a 12-year-old like Tamir Rice for carrying a toy gun or officials strip search children in a Philadelphia courthouse or until they arrest a 90-year-old man for serving food to the homeless on a Fort Lauderdale beach. In a few months, those same Florida beaches will be the scene for Spring Break. It's okay for teenagers, some not much older than children, to drink themselves into oblivion day after day, but not okay for a human being to show compassion to the most needy and helpless among us. Protecting and serving whom exactly?
Then we have The Grand Master of American Family Life Bill Cosby. Sixteen women are now accusing him of rape, with some as young as 15 when the alleged assault occurred. Cosby who always had a quip as the patriarch of the Huxtable family was mute in a recent NPR interview when questioned in oh-so-courteous tones about the alleged sexual assaults. The man made millions off "The Cosby Show," which manipulated and brain-washed a generation into thinking he was a decent, sweet, family man. Is it any surprise that he recently received a standing ovation? Despite decades of out-of-court settlements to women none of it troubled NBC who had been planning Cosby's relaunch. Network execs only cancelled after yet another allegation was met with stone-cold silence.
In the same week as the number of Cosby allegations grew, barely a day went by in the UK press without a story about the Westminster child abuse ring. Don't expect the US press to pick up this story. We wouldn't want anything to overshadow Prince William's NYC visit! Plus we had the premiere of Amy Berg's documentary "An Open Secret," which doesn't hold back on naming TV and film directors accused of child sexual abuse. What a surprise 'Variety' reports the film's unlikely to get distribution. Of course. It's a little harder for execs and politicians to manipulate us once we're aware of the hypocrisy between how they live and what they're peddling Huxtable-style. Instead of blindly peering through the looking-glass, it's more rewarding, even essential, to build up and trust in our own authority, our own individual powers of discernment.
For instance, emblazoned on many cop cars are the words "to protect and serve." In mainstream America, you grow up believing those words, this concept that police are there to protect you. Until a cop in Cleveland kills a 12-year-old like Tamir Rice for carrying a toy gun or officials strip search children in a Philadelphia courthouse or until they arrest a 90-year-old man for serving food to the homeless on a Fort Lauderdale beach. In a few months, those same Florida beaches will be the scene for Spring Break. It's okay for teenagers, some not much older than children, to drink themselves into oblivion day after day, but not okay for a human being to show compassion to the most needy and helpless among us. Protecting and serving whom exactly?
Then we have The Grand Master of American Family Life Bill Cosby. Sixteen women are now accusing him of rape, with some as young as 15 when the alleged assault occurred. Cosby who always had a quip as the patriarch of the Huxtable family was mute in a recent NPR interview when questioned in oh-so-courteous tones about the alleged sexual assaults. The man made millions off "The Cosby Show," which manipulated and brain-washed a generation into thinking he was a decent, sweet, family man. Is it any surprise that he recently received a standing ovation? Despite decades of out-of-court settlements to women none of it troubled NBC who had been planning Cosby's relaunch. Network execs only cancelled after yet another allegation was met with stone-cold silence.
In the same week as the number of Cosby allegations grew, barely a day went by in the UK press without a story about the Westminster child abuse ring. Don't expect the US press to pick up this story. We wouldn't want anything to overshadow Prince William's NYC visit! Plus we had the premiere of Amy Berg's documentary "An Open Secret," which doesn't hold back on naming TV and film directors accused of child sexual abuse. What a surprise 'Variety' reports the film's unlikely to get distribution. Of course. It's a little harder for execs and politicians to manipulate us once we're aware of the hypocrisy between how they live and what they're peddling Huxtable-style. Instead of blindly peering through the looking-glass, it's more rewarding, even essential, to build up and trust in our own authority, our own individual powers of discernment.
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