I ask you to question everything I write. Question all you read, and hear, and sometimes even see. Approach this world with a curiosity. Is it possible, or not?
All of us are under the reaches of influence. We have thoughts, and feelings, and impulses. And those are impacted, swayed, and directed, many times, by the world around us. Especially, when we have doubts about our own convictions, and values.
What are some of the biggest values we should have, as humans?
Well, in my estimation, we should value other human life. Respect it, cherish it, and do good work, to better it. As one, and as a whole. Collectively. AKC. Act Kindly, and Compassionately.
Unfortunately, minds can be molded like putty. Thoughts can be shaped by strong voices, telling us what to think and what to do. I have seen this to be true.
Talk Radio is a perfect format for this. I believe it is similar to a form of brainwashing. One way or the other. Currently, it takes two paths. The Far Right, and the Far Left. The Talk Jocks repeat the same things, over and over and over again. Convincingly, and often without facts. And the ear on the other side of the speaker, presses closer, and closer. Drinking in every drop. It washes the brain of all rationality.
I think the Talk Crack should be outlawed. But we live in America, where our Rights afford us such luxuries, as Free Speech, and Freedom of Expression. With mixed emotions, I am thankful for this.
Janis Joplin once said, “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you got.”
And in Hamlet, Polonius gives his son some parting advice: “This above all: to thine own self be true”
It amazes me, saddens me, when I hear of people committing crimes of prejudice and discrimination against others. On any level. I see it on the news. I see it in my own life. The crimes may be physical, mental, emotional. But they occur. They exist. And the perpetrators often believe they are acting righteously. Ridding the world of the ones that are not like themselves.
I can only reason that the assailants have been guided into thinking this way. Be it Talk Radio, Religion, Parental Guidance, or any other venue.
“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.” ― Emma Goldman
Not a one of us was born with a hardened heart. We simply enter into this world, looking for someone to love us and help us.
That is how our very first thoughts work.
Yes. We start out thinking for ourselves. I just wish we would keep this up.
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“Inner guidance is heard like soft music in the night by those who have learned to listen.”
― Vernon Howard
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“Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.”
― Michael Crichton, State of Fear
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“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
― Audre Lorde, Our Dead Behind Us: Poems
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