Tuesday, April 22, 2014

there are no rights or freedoms: there is only power...,


howtosavetheworld | I have, of late, had a falling out with many of my fellow ‘progressives’, similar I suppose to that of Paul Kingsnorth, who is being savaged by Naomi Klein and others for giving up on the environmental movement and non-local activism, and by humanists for losing faith in our species’ capacity for innovation and change.

I should say at the outset that I agree that our political and economic and legal and educational and social systems are dreadful, unfair, teetering, and totally inadequate to our needs. I agree that this is a world of horrific inequality, inequitable and unjust privilege, massive suffering, and outrageous patriarchy. I agree that corporatism and corruption and propagandist media are rampant and destructive and destabilizing. I agree that militarized police and torture prisons and drone killing and massive global surveillance are repugnant and a fundamental threat to our personal safety and security and the very principles upon which our nations are founded.

And I fully acknowledge that the fact I’m white, male, boomer generation and relatively wealthy provides me with enormous privilege compared to others, including relative freedom of movement, freedom from fear of harrassment and assault, and greater social, political and economic opportunity.
But when I hear arguments that “we need” to stand up for our ‘inherent’ rights and freedoms, and wrest ‘control’ of the levers of power from the obscenely wealthy elite, and denounce and protest injustice and inequality, and acknowledge and renounce our role as privileged oppressors, as the first steps to a true social revolution in and political and economic reform, leading, somehow, to a radical redistribution of wealth and power, and a more just society, I am reduced to despair.

I used to believe people, and perhaps some other creatures, had ‘rights’ and ‘freedoms’. I believed that someone was in control. I believed there were answers to the predicaments we face.

But now I realize that there are no rights or freedoms. The concept of rights and freedoms is a sop that the rich and powerful of this world use to appease the fury and frustration of the poor and disenfranchised. The ‘granting’ of rights and freedoms means nothing, because they can be and are taken away whenever those in power choose to do so, and are simply ignored when they interfere with the exercise of power or accumulation of wealth by those who allowed them to be granted.

21 comments:

umbrarchist said...

Exactly!

You have the power of speech. If someone puts a gun to your head and tells you not to say certain things they have only inhibited your use of power.

If they take the gun away they have not given you freedom they have only ceased inhibiting your power.

CNu said...

and when they pull that trigger?

6 billion too many of you deuterostems swarming the planet as is....,

woodensplinter said...

zz-top?

CNu said...

rotflmbao..., I wondered when somebody else would crack wise on all those big wahabist beards going on with the domestic terrorists (oops, I mean private "militia" men)

Vic78 said...

I read this thinking 'wtf is this guy talking about?' Then I saw it was the Neocon Post letting one of their hacks do his thing. What the fuck is a sovereign citizen? Sounds like an oxymoron. I thought people gave up on that after Wesley Snipes went down.

John Kurman said...

You know, Sam Adams - one of these type of guys' heroes - would have called for all of them to be hung by neck until dead, just as he suggested happen to the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion. Difference is, the members of the Whiskey Rebellion were not deadbeats and freeloading welfare queens like Bundy and his ilk are...

BigDonOne said...

FWIW, there is a doctrine in property law called "Adverse Possession"...e.g., you accept an incorrect boundary or use of your property for [Seven years in Washington State] then perpetrator is legally entitled to continue. If Bundy family's cattle were allowed to graze on that land without objection for 100+ years, then that's a slam-dunk gov't's Tuff_S.....

CNu said...

lol, uh-oh! BD bustin out the zz-top lookalike states-rights sharia...., now which private militia imam did you crib this hot garbage from? Look, if you're going to challenge property law, please try and challenge it intelligently http://www.salon.com/2014/04/21/cliven_bundy_got_one_thing_right_his_claim_is_absurd_but_challenging_property_law_is_not/

CNu said...

rotflmbao...., now driving enough traffic that google yanks folks youtube ghetto passes for copyright infringement

umbrarchist said...

When they pull the trigger it takes away the power of speech and everything else. Dead slaves are so productive.

ken said...

Looks like Washington state is 10 years, and you have to use the land exclusively without any challenge, and to top it off, public land can never be adversely possessed.


http://ruzumna.com/archives/the-basics-of-the-doctrine-of-adverse-possession

CNu said...

lol, still mad about my boy John calling these crusty, non future-oriented peckerwoods zz-top....,

CNu said...

we're in the era of peak-soil. all those glossy and corpulent aggregations of rich nutrients ripe for a revitalizing return to the soil...,

Makheru Bradley said...

The Feds drew first blood, then backed down when armed reinforcements arrived.

http://nydn.us/1ie3Zyq

BigDonOne said...

Translation -- Patriots....

DD said...

peak-soil?! I LOLed a little.

CNu said...

https://www.google.com/#q=peak+soil

Dale Asberry said...

Absolutely. One of the primary interests in biochar is it's ability to build soil in just a few years rather than thousands. As for CNu's recommendation, I think human bodies are a bit too wet for good biochar feedstock, but, maybe dessicated in an efficient manner would make a great feedstock!

CNu said...

and don't forget all that glistening tallow that'll come available for soap and candles...., and fine parchment quality leather for luxurious accessorizing.

Dale Asberry said...

Do you mean this tallow? ;-)

John Kurman said...

Solar concentrators might work. At the very least, they'd make the fatties blow up real good, which might be worth a holiday in February.

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