No more Vitriol. No more Hashtags. Only Consciousness.
In today’s world, we are assaulted with information in many forms. Televisions, phones and radios overflow into our minds as we subconsciously process it as truth. The great Greek philosopher, Socrates, once said, “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” That is not to say that we shouldn’t pursue truth to the highest extent, but rather that we should always seek to question information presented to us as part of the everlasting pursuit of truth.
In the wake of the tragic events that occurred in Baton Rouge, St. Paul and Dallas, two distinct sides hijacked the public narrative: Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. It is not the purpose of this piece to go into detail on the platforms of these groups — we are all too familiar with this already.
In the pursuit of truth, let’s explore a few trends that seem to follow any event in which an agent of government assaults and kills a minority.
Vitriol.
Time and time again people of every race, color and creed go at each other’s throats in an all out internet trench war to prove who has the moral high ground and who has the right to receive recognition and privilege from our governing entities. In the midst of all this chaos, what exactly is government doing to solve any issues that are at hand when it comes to occurrences like Baton Rouge and St. Paul? Nothing. Instead we are subjected to story lines that perpetuate an us versus them narrative by the media which only serves to increase the tension in our country. That may be good for ratings but it is not what will solve our problems.
Hashtags.
Speaking of not solving problems, the hashtag (#) is probably the one character on our keyboards that defines our generation as a society today. The hashtag gives us the power to access millions of people’s thoughts on certain matters all over the world. Big media outlets all flood our phones, getting talking heads to fill our minds with what they want us to think; you see an image and you perceive it as reality. That reality becomes truth. When we as human beings see something as truth, we safeguard it until our dying breath. We see death. We see blood. We see hysteria. Once we see all this, we turn to government for the solution.
Why do we say that media blinds us from government truths, yet when things like this happen we turn to these exact media outlets for information and opinion, and then turn to government when we could be taking a step back and thinking for ourselves?
Consciousness.
My goal here is not to tell you why things are happening the way that they are with absolute confidence. This is my best effort to try and provide a different perspective.
In Dallas, police officers flood the streets because over thirty gunshots were heard, while two officers were also shot dead with about ten wounded. This was during a protest in relation to police officers killing two black men in two different cities, and a handful of suspects that killed two police officers.
If you take anything away from this piece, let it be this: don’t play the media’s game. While we bicker and fight about who is to blame, we are allowing an ever-encroaching leviathan to come right to our doorstep. Indiscriminate Martial Law.
Government and media want us so divided that we lose hope in ourselves and ultimately become okay with shifting responsibility to people in S.W.A.T. trucks to keep the peace in the streets. While some may brand this as “peace,” I see it as an excuse to treat all of us like mindless vassals who need to constantly be guided so that we don’t harm one another.
I have a greater hope in humanity. I believe we are capable of doing what is right. I leave it up to us as conscious human beings to begin the patchwork that will be the eventual healing of our cities, nation and world. Government and mass media cannot love, nor will it ever love. Only we as human beings can begin this massive shift of consciousness away from talking heads on a screen, and ultimately to the voice in our hearts and minds that so longs to bring good into the world.
“In our world, there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement … There will be no loyalty except loyalty to the Party. But always there will be the intoxication of power. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who’s helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: don’t let it happen. It depends on you.” — George Orwell
