What is the number one enemy of freedom?

It is not corrupt politicians who want it take it away. Nor it is corrupt corporations who want to take it away.

It is not the fault of any single political policy put into play by anybody in power.

It is the belief that the people are powerless. It is the lack of a "can do" attitude. It is the endless downward spiral of hopelessness that people are spiraling into as the state of the world seems to be getting worse with each passing day.

People in the US have the power to take the power back. The only things hindering them are the belief that everything is completely out of their hands, the belief that it is not their responsibility to, and the belief that we're all screwed so why bother - which are all completely false beliefs.

Too bad that way too many of them would rather watch television and whine about their problems as if that was going to help anything.

Inactivity of the citizenship - that's what people should really be afraid of.

Think about THAT little nugget of amateur political commentary for a few moments.

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Comments

PuroFreak

This is probably the best political post ever made on this board. Thank you for this. It has inspired much thought.

plaidbanana1

I agree completely. That is why over the last year an a half I have become politicaly active. But I do know what you're saying. A lot of people that I talk to think they have no voice. Some have raised their voice to be heard and I applaude them for it. It also scares me that some would rather be oppressed and have no opinion.

kaworuchan

plaidbanana1:
It also scares me that some would rather be oppressed and have no opinion.

I do not know what situation is worse. The people who choose to have no opinion, or the people who form their opinions solely based on what they watch on television or read in the mass media (and NOT based on their experiences in the real world).

I love the US, so I really do hate to admit this opinion of mine - too many of the citizens really do need to get out more. They need to turn off the cable TV and create opinions formed by the experiences in the world around them. I learned a lot of things about the world ever since I started going out into the community and seeing the world around me how it really is. You can't get that kind of information and experience from any of the major news outlets out there.

Theedge

Ignorance of how things work is a huge problem. If for instance you are for or against something in your town, and want to speak before the council, PREPARE! Research the project, see what other towns have done, read the city codes that pertain to the subject matter. It's not enough just to like or dislike a project, and it's sad on how often this is the dertermining factor in our "leaders" decisions. I've seen them trample city and county codes and disregard the comprehensive plan when it suits their needs. I'm actually pretty outspoken in our town. But I prepare a statement, read it, and then sit down. People might agree or disagree with me, but I'd like to think they respect that I'm thoughtful.

Kamelyon

Thank you.

kaworuchan

Theedge:
Ignorance of how things work is a huge problem. If for instance you are for or against something in your town, and want to speak before the council, PREPARE! Research the project, see what other towns have done, read the city codes that pertain to the subject matter. It's not enough just to like or dislike a project, and it's sad on how often this is the dertermining factor in our "leaders" decisions. I've seen them trample city and county codes and disregard the comprehensive plan when it suits their needs.

Amen, man. Amen. It goes along with my point - when people rely on the mass media as the source of all information that shapes their opinions, it is no wonder why so many people tend to feel so hopeless these days.

I may be a bit naive about these things, I may not know what I am talking about all of the time, but I seriously believe that the whole atmosphere of despair and increasing hopelessness in the US is the result of a culture of laziness. Nothing would make me happier to see more people getting involved in politics and having informed viewpoints about what they are going for - and yes, that includes the people with political views contrary to my own. I actually respect a person who actually does something to further a cause I disagree with more than a person who agrees with my political views but does nothing about it.

bacon.jay

kaworuchan:
plaidbanana1:
It also scares me that some would rather be oppressed and have no opinion.
I do not know what situation is worse. The people who choose to have no opinion, or the people who form their opinions solely based on what they watch on television or read in the mass media (and NOT based on their experiences in the real world)......

And it's not just news programs and documentative visual media either... i know lots of people that actually think that what comes out of hollywood nowadays is not fiction, but reality!!! How scary is that?

And the worst part about that is, the directors, writers, and producers are actually trying to make these movies and tv shows believable, in order to influence the populace!

A perfect example of this, and probably the most infamous, would be in 1953 when Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast H.G. Welles novel War of the Worlds.

cabinetmaker

bacon.jay:
And the worst part about that is, the directors, writers, and producers are actually trying to make these movies and tv shows believable, in order to influence the populace!

A perfect example of this, and probably the most infamous, would be in 1953 when Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast H.G. Welles novel War of the Worlds.

Or any Michael Moore film...

Luko

so now we have a question, is inactivity or ignorance the biggest threat to freedom? Without being able to cite the numbers to back it up and too lazy to look on google (holy ***, how bad is that), I would dare say that there were lots and lots of first-time voters who helped elect Obama...sorry the sorry mess that GWB created got people off their asses to help vote in someone else who is creating/exacerbating sorry messes left and right.

kaworuchan

Inactivity breeds ignorance.

If more people got off their asses and actually DID something for the communities they live in, they might actually start to learn about the way the world works.

These days, most people do not even leave the house to vote. They sit in their armchairs, with their armchair politics, fill out the absentee ballot, mail it in. They get their daily doses of misinformation sitting in their armchairs while watching television, or reading a newspaper or magazine. Such inactivity shuts them off from the rest of the world, and ignorance is the result of that.

martymcg43

our so called democracy.

Luko

kaworuchan:
Inactivity breeds ignorance. If more people got off their asses and actually DID something for the communities they live in, they might actually start to learn about the way the world works. These days, most people do not even leave the house to vote. They sit in their armchairs, with their armchair politics, fill out the absentee ballot, mail it in. They get their daily doses of misinformation sitting in their armchairs while watching television, or reading a newspaper or magazine. Such inactivity shuts them off from the rest of the world, and ignorance is the result of that.

I took "inactivity" to mean at the polling booth...but you mean in a much more global sense...

Not sure I completely agree with your premise, but I see where you're coming from. I hardly think watching TV or reading newspapers/magazines breeds ignorance (by watching TV I don't mean American Idol or Survivor). Not doing those things certainly can breed ignorance. But I also agree with you that it couldn't hurt for me people to be engaged in their communities.

PuroFreak

I'm pretty certain that it is a scientific fact that watching Survivor or American Idol either one, kills brain cells at an extremely high rate...

bacon.jay

Luko:
.......there were lots and lots of first-time voters who helped elect Obama...sorry the sorry mess that GWB created got people off their asses to help vote in someone else who is creating/exacerbating sorry messes left and right.

There is an article in the most recent issue of Cigar Magazine about the new federal tobacco regs and how obama relates to it. Pure hypocrisy, to say the least.

kaworuchan

Luko, you're right.

I should have made myself more clear. I am really not against people reading newspapers or watching news networks. What I really am against is people that are using them as their only source of information as to what is going on around them, which is something too many people do. They read the headlines, and a lot of them tend to form the opinions of the person writing the articles instead of doing actual research on their own, and instead of trying to form their own opinions on the matter.

So, that is where I stand on this.

bforrester

Is the biggest threat not just the apathetic attitudes of the citizens of this great country? Find something you believe in and stand up for it.