TheOwnersManual
Dobe Doinat's Owner's Manual
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Choices Of A Generation
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All my life I was told what to do, either by parents or some authority figure, either explicitly or implicitly.
As a young boy it didn't seem like I had a say in anything. Any decision that I made was normally deemed inappropriate, unworkable, ill-advised, incorrect, unfitting, unworthy, or just plain wrong! No wonder I'm known as Dobe Doinat!
What's a boy to do?
Later in life I was constrained (as mentioned earlier) by: {common laws, rules, expected behaviors, codes of conduct, customs, decorum, diplomatic codes, etiquette, formalities, guidelines, manners, protocols, social codes, social procedures, and standard procedures...}. So many choices, so little time!
As I later learned, "we're all created equal, only some of us are equal than others...". Yes, the amount of money, goods or information one owns or controls is equal to the likelihood no contraints upon one's decisions. It is then said you have a free hand, you are given free rein, you might even have immunity from blame!
Most people in my immediate circle of family and friends might agree that I have a great deal of choices in this America we know and love. Some of those choices I can afford. I would make everyone in the world rich and powerful if I could, (through mining the asteroids using solar energy...), but alas! I probably couldn't get them to take a check.
So now, are choices the same thing as rules? I'm not trying to dwell on rules, but if those reading this are honest, I bet you feel pressured to act and react in a certain way because of rules. Maybe it's a fear of the consequences of breaking a certain rule. But that's a choice, right? Criminals choose to take that risk, while most of us are constrained through: {preparation, conditioning, training, breeding, or socialization, whether vow, pledge or promise, or perhaps fear of reprisal, retaliation or revenge...}.
Children have fewer choices than adults (fewer responsibilities as well, but the National Debt will keep them on their toes, right?). The Poor, as a whole, could be said to have a lot fewer choices than the Rich, taken as a whole, wouldn't you agree?
(To even know what certain choices are is considered illegal in parts of America! I'm kidding, really. Ahem.
But really, I have a Right to choose to exercise my Freedom Of Speech. I can say I am against the War in Iraq for instance, and in most nations of the world I would still be allowed to call myself a patriot, (excepting, of course, Fascist nations. Heh heh.). No, really. Ahem.
As a youth in the 1960's, it was de rigueur to discover what the rules were and to contravene them according to one's conscience and inclination. Non-conformity was obligatory. Unorthodoxy was mandatory. Heterodoxy was encouraged. Heresy, commonplace. "Schism Now!", a household phrase. An iconoclastic time.
We counteracted evil, dared to change the status quo, declined to acquiesce, defied our imagined destiny, deserted inherited paradigms, but we differed profusely, disagreed, but agreeably. We evaded detection, we flouted rapid change, ignored the warnings, infringed on reality, and misbehaved rebelliously!
Refuting conformity, heedless of authority, we did not mind. Literally. We objected, we overstepped our bounds, we sought our own new answers to age-old questions. We searched, we tested limits, we picketed, demonstrated, marched and resisted. How revolting!
Later, it became fashionable to make a fortune or two. We jumped on the bandwagon so we wouldn't be left behind. We married, had kids and we changed, most of us. Now, we can't trust anybody over 80! (Just kidding, Mom!)
So what does it mean to me, or to our generation, handing it all off to another generation, soon enough? I for one am ashamed at our common failure to "Keep The Faith"; the ideals we once had versus the world we pass on. (Fortunately, I'm sure I'd be more ashamed to be an evangelical christian, to paint a very two-faced brush with The Law!) Would Jesus read this blog?
We wanted to make the world better but got preempted by ineptitude. Imagine the voting public voting on the question: Are you in favor of being ruled by Corporations and serving the ultimately wealthy few as virtual Emperors, Yes? Or No? Yet that is what we have now, and the full agenda hasn't even been implemented!
I make choices. I choose to survive and vote again. It's just that I would like to have International Oversight. Let's say if an independent body certifies the election as fraud-free, then the People would accept the new President in 2008 as legitimate, but perhaps it is Democracy's Last Stand.
We must not ever use voting machines that are rigged to provide a predetermined outcome nor let the Supreme Court decide to abort the People's Right To Know!
Or is this one more illusion, don't look behind the curtain too closely! Is it staged and must play out like a Passion Play? Must millions suffer while a few swim in pools of blood and money?
See what a slippery slope CHOICES are? Almost as bad as RULES! Argh!
What's next, Dobe? LAWS? OPTIONS? Oh, boy.
As a young boy it didn't seem like I had a say in anything. Any decision that I made was normally deemed inappropriate, unworkable, ill-advised, incorrect, unfitting, unworthy, or just plain wrong! No wonder I'm known as Dobe Doinat!
What's a boy to do?
Later in life I was constrained (as mentioned earlier) by: {common laws, rules, expected behaviors, codes of conduct, customs, decorum, diplomatic codes, etiquette, formalities, guidelines, manners, protocols, social codes, social procedures, and standard procedures...}. So many choices, so little time!
As I later learned, "we're all created equal, only some of us are equal than others...". Yes, the amount of money, goods or information one owns or controls is equal to the likelihood no contraints upon one's decisions. It is then said you have a free hand, you are given free rein, you might even have immunity from blame!
Most people in my immediate circle of family and friends might agree that I have a great deal of choices in this America we know and love. Some of those choices I can afford. I would make everyone in the world rich and powerful if I could, (through mining the asteroids using solar energy...), but alas! I probably couldn't get them to take a check.
So now, are choices the same thing as rules? I'm not trying to dwell on rules, but if those reading this are honest, I bet you feel pressured to act and react in a certain way because of rules. Maybe it's a fear of the consequences of breaking a certain rule. But that's a choice, right? Criminals choose to take that risk, while most of us are constrained through: {preparation, conditioning, training, breeding, or socialization, whether vow, pledge or promise, or perhaps fear of reprisal, retaliation or revenge...}.
Children have fewer choices than adults (fewer responsibilities as well, but the National Debt will keep them on their toes, right?). The Poor, as a whole, could be said to have a lot fewer choices than the Rich, taken as a whole, wouldn't you agree?
(To even know what certain choices are is considered illegal in parts of America! I'm kidding, really. Ahem.
But really, I have a Right to choose to exercise my Freedom Of Speech. I can say I am against the War in Iraq for instance, and in most nations of the world I would still be allowed to call myself a patriot, (excepting, of course, Fascist nations. Heh heh.). No, really. Ahem.
As a youth in the 1960's, it was de rigueur to discover what the rules were and to contravene them according to one's conscience and inclination. Non-conformity was obligatory. Unorthodoxy was mandatory. Heterodoxy was encouraged. Heresy, commonplace. "Schism Now!", a household phrase. An iconoclastic time.
We counteracted evil, dared to change the status quo, declined to acquiesce, defied our imagined destiny, deserted inherited paradigms, but we differed profusely, disagreed, but agreeably. We evaded detection, we flouted rapid change, ignored the warnings, infringed on reality, and misbehaved rebelliously!
Refuting conformity, heedless of authority, we did not mind. Literally. We objected, we overstepped our bounds, we sought our own new answers to age-old questions. We searched, we tested limits, we picketed, demonstrated, marched and resisted. How revolting!
Later, it became fashionable to make a fortune or two. We jumped on the bandwagon so we wouldn't be left behind. We married, had kids and we changed, most of us. Now, we can't trust anybody over 80! (Just kidding, Mom!)
So what does it mean to me, or to our generation, handing it all off to another generation, soon enough? I for one am ashamed at our common failure to "Keep The Faith"; the ideals we once had versus the world we pass on. (Fortunately, I'm sure I'd be more ashamed to be an evangelical christian, to paint a very two-faced brush with The Law!) Would Jesus read this blog?
We wanted to make the world better but got preempted by ineptitude. Imagine the voting public voting on the question: Are you in favor of being ruled by Corporations and serving the ultimately wealthy few as virtual Emperors, Yes? Or No? Yet that is what we have now, and the full agenda hasn't even been implemented!
I make choices. I choose to survive and vote again. It's just that I would like to have International Oversight. Let's say if an independent body certifies the election as fraud-free, then the People would accept the new President in 2008 as legitimate, but perhaps it is Democracy's Last Stand.
We must not ever use voting machines that are rigged to provide a predetermined outcome nor let the Supreme Court decide to abort the People's Right To Know!
Or is this one more illusion, don't look behind the curtain too closely! Is it staged and must play out like a Passion Play? Must millions suffer while a few swim in pools of blood and money?
See what a slippery slope CHOICES are? Almost as bad as RULES! Argh!
What's next, Dobe? LAWS? OPTIONS? Oh, boy.
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