“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”
Nobody seems to be sure who actually said this quote (and by “nobody” of course I mean The Internet), but it was probably Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk, from the dialogue of his epic production of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and not Edmund Burke, whom it’s normally attributed to.
Quotes and authors aside, it’s one my favorite thoughts, and I think it’s powerfully true.
The other day I watched a documentary called ENDGAME: Blueprint for Global Enslavement, by Alex Jones. It’s a bit long, but definitely presents some very interesting theories, that, I’m afraid, might not be just theories. Essentially it asks the question: Is An International Finance Conspiracy Driving World Events? Of course, according to the film, the answer is a resounding YES. Jones claims the driving force of the planet is an exclusive group of elites called the Bilderberg Group, who are intent on creating some form of “New World Order” by radically downsizing the global population, erasing national sovereignty, manipulating the masses, and instituting an autonomous and essentially all-powerful one-world government.
Now, at first glance this all seems a little too “Left Behind” for my liking, to be honest. Though I’ve only now been on the earth for a quarter-century or so, I’m sure there have been interesting, imaginative folks concocting schemes and dreams of world domination since long before I got here.
I’ve seen my share of Bond movies, too, thankyouverymuch.
But what if? What if it’s even partially true? What then?
The idea of a maleficent world dictatorship seems so crazy, so out there, so “never gonna happen in our lifetime” that it’s easy for us to write it off without even really considering it. (And then there’s always the wonderful deterrent of being labeled a Conspiracy Theorist, which we all know is right up there with people who bark, make various animal noises, chase parked cars and whatnot.) The other trick with considering an idea like this is simply the fact that it’s so BIG. There are so many threads of thought that play into a theory this vast: finance, economy, politics, technology, philosophy, marketing, media, and history — just to name a few. It’s difficult to wrap our minds around any small combination of these topics, much less envisioning all of them merging to form a coherent singular plan.
I’m not yet convinced that the ideas in ENDGAME or Zeitgeist are completely true, but I think they are plausible enough that we should watch them carefully and consider what they have to say.
Anymore, my concern isn’t as much that we, as a human race, will make horrible decisions when faced with tough choices. What worries me is that, because of the effortlessness with which the mainstream media seems to control our population (Election 2008 anyone?), we won’t bother to get an accurate picture of what’s really happening around us and therefore won’t even have the option to make good decisions. If we don’t pay attention, it’s likely that we’ll never have even known the real truth of the situation.
I also fear that our liberties could slowly be eroded to the point that choices will be made for us before we even hear the options.
When it comes down to it, if a group like Bilderberg really is trying to puppetize the human race, the issue is really all about choice, is it not? Our ability to make up our own minds about what we think? Our freedom to make our own decisions?
There is a component in all elitist philosophies that claims that “they” can make decisions for us better than we can for ourselves (and frankly, looking at the stupidity and ignorance of the public, sometimes I wonder if they’re right). But I have to believe that our ability to choose is a big part of what makes us human (a topic I talk more about in my book, blur).
In The Matrix Reloaded there’s a fascinating discussion concerning the notion of “choice” between the Merovingian and our group of heroes:
Merovingian: You are here because you were sent here; you were told to come here, and you obeyed. It is of course, the way of all things. You see there is only one constant, one universal; it is the only real truth: causality… action… reaction; cause and effect.
Morpheus: Everything begins with choice.
Merovingian: No. Wrong. Choice is an illusion, created between those with power…and those without. Look there, at that woman. My God, just look at her. Affecting everyone around her, so obvious, so bourgeois, so boring. Watch, you see, I have sent her a dessert… A very special dessert. I wrote it myself. It starts so simply… Each line of the program creating a new fate, just like poetry. First, a rush; heat. Her heart flutters. You can see it, Neo, yes? She does not understand why; Is it, the wine? No. What is it, then, what is the reason? And soon it does not matter. Soon the why and the reason are gone; and all that matters is the feeling itself.
And this is the nature of the universe. We struggle against it; we fight to deny it, but it is, of course, pretense; it is a lie. Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is: we are completely… out of control.
Causality. There is no escape from it. We are forever slaves to it.
Are we really slaves to the heartless cause and effect of the universe?
Or can we create the future?
Two days ago the Bush administration proposed a massive overhaul of the United States’ financial regulatory system. Does anyone understand why the Fed should have any more power over anything? Oh yes, that’s right — since they’ve done such a fantastic job so far, with the whole Great Depression thing, the endless stock market roller coasters, and presently, one of the most frightening impending recessions of all time. Yes, let’s give them a RAISE.
My goodness; it all just seems so decidedly anti-American. Didn’t we leave England to cast OFF the role of all-encompassing government? Maybe we’re not centralized under a “king” this time around but, holy shit; if we’re not making the brilliant, revolutionary idea of America into some kind of socialist nightmare I don’t know what we’re doing.
These little, noiseless choices are creating our future, whether we can see it now or not. And it’s things like this news about the Fed that really make me wonder if Alex Jones and the Zeitgeist folks aren’t on to something.
For whatever it’s worth, I encourage you to take the time and do some research. If there will be a war fought on American soil, it will most likely be a battle of marketing, fought over finances and economics, and waged for the subjugation of your mind. No bombs will be dropped, but our lives will certainly be lost if we thoughtlessly hand over our freedoms in the name of “homeland security.” We don’t need to be experts in the myriad topics above, but we must pay attention. We must be vigilant, always aware of what it happening around us.
If we are not, we shall have no recourse when our liberties are gone, because it will be us who will have frivolously given them away. Evil will have triumphed, and it will not have been the result of a fight — it will be because we have simply done nothing.
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