On the Illusion of Power and the Use of Projection in Political Language
A country is only a concept describing a landmass and I'm getting pretty sick of people speaking about them as if they thoughts, desires, feelings etc. Leaders use these vague concepts like nationalism and religion (even football teams and the likes there are easily hundreds of examples) and imbue these vague concepts with human traits which in truth are their own desires projected. 'Britain' (even the concept which that describes is increasingly vague, all the better for the politicians to exploit) isn't afraid of anything, it doesn't want anything because it's just the rock underneath England and possibly Scotland, Wales, some of Ireland, maybe a few 'colonies'. Only when people speak about it in the way of "Britain wants to leave the EU" for example they don't mean that the rock underneath wants to move away from the larger rock that makes up Europe, they mean that they themselves want that. No-one cares very much what some bloke wants however but if they project that desire on to a large enough conceptual canvas people who identify with the concept will then identify with said desire and assume that, what's good for the concept must also be good for those that identify with that concept. It's smoke and mirrors, misdirection. We need to stop viewing the world in terms of these great intangible concepts because they invariably have little or no substance behind them. Those who oppose the dominant system are just as guilty of this constantly calling for people to 'wake up' or 'rise up' when what is needed is a proper analysis of the situation, a breakdown of specific issues and plans to rectify them. It seems to me that this would be the default method of a self-ruled people and it is only because we are ruled by the few that this Wizard of Oz effect ever came in to being. Humanity as a whole has been lead astray by a few devious individuals over recent decades and centuries perhaps the earliest form of this method of control being 'the divine right of kings' (a method in which, rather than claiming your own right to act as king, you claim that God said you should be king, and if God says so then who are we to question it?) We are now in what is already being referred to as 'the information age' and as the saying goes, knowledge is power. The smoke is being blown away and the mirrors exposed, revealing not great and powerful wizards pulling the strings but snivelling little con-men. It is no great shame to be fooled by a grand illusion, indeed that is the whole point of any illusion but to be shown the strings and smoke and mirrors for the simple stage effects that they are and to go on being conned by the type of bumbling fool who states "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." that shows a state of wilful ignorance. Of course it is no mean feat to challenge an existing power structure (regardless of how illusive it's power may be) but it is a necessary task and to quote Laozi from the Tao Te Ching "Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
A country is only a concept describing a landmass and I'm getting pretty sick of people speaking about them as if they thoughts, desires, feelings etc. Leaders use these vague concepts like nationalism and religion (even football teams and the likes there are easily hundreds of examples) and imbue these vague concepts with human traits which in truth are their own desires projected. 'Britain' (even the concept which that describes is increasingly vague, all the better for the politicians to exploit) isn't afraid of anything, it doesn't want anything because it's just the rock underneath England and possibly Scotland, Wales, some of Ireland, maybe a few 'colonies'. Only when people speak about it in the way of "Britain wants to leave the EU" for example they don't mean that the rock underneath wants to move away from the larger rock that makes up Europe, they mean that they themselves want that. No-one cares very much what some bloke wants however but if they project that desire on to a large enough conceptual canvas people who identify with the concept will then identify with said desire and assume that, what's good for the concept must also be good for those that identify with that concept. It's smoke and mirrors, misdirection. We need to stop viewing the world in terms of these great intangible concepts because they invariably have little or no substance behind them. Those who oppose the dominant system are just as guilty of this constantly calling for people to 'wake up' or 'rise up' when what is needed is a proper analysis of the situation, a breakdown of specific issues and plans to rectify them. It seems to me that this would be the default method of a self-ruled people and it is only because we are ruled by the few that this Wizard of Oz effect ever came in to being. Humanity as a whole has been lead astray by a few devious individuals over recent decades and centuries perhaps the earliest form of this method of control being 'the divine right of kings' (a method in which, rather than claiming your own right to act as king, you claim that God said you should be king, and if God says so then who are we to question it?) We are now in what is already being referred to as 'the information age' and as the saying goes, knowledge is power. The smoke is being blown away and the mirrors exposed, revealing not great and powerful wizards pulling the strings but snivelling little con-men. It is no great shame to be fooled by a grand illusion, indeed that is the whole point of any illusion but to be shown the strings and smoke and mirrors for the simple stage effects that they are and to go on being conned by the type of bumbling fool who states "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." that shows a state of wilful ignorance. Of course it is no mean feat to challenge an existing power structure (regardless of how illusive it's power may be) but it is a necessary task and to quote Laozi from the Tao Te Ching "Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"