Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine

[Dennis Leahy]

The following is a video posted on YouTube with the simple description:

"A brief and crucial history of the United States"

Not for USA flag-wavers, but a strong dose of medicine for the rest of us.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Xh5eN2fXY

The transcript can be found here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30620.htm (although the transcript is not completely accurate to the spoken word, it is the only place I can find it)

Here's a snippet:

Nightmare and insanity are akin: mysterious and involuntary states that skew and distort objective reality. One wakens from nightmare; from insanity there is no awakening.

Whether Americans live in the one state or the other is the paramount question of this era.

For two hundred years Americans have been indoctrinated with a mythology created, imposed and sustained by a manipulating cabal: the financial elite that built its absolute control on the muscle and blood, ignorance and credulity, of its citizenry. It has now metastasized into the corporate tyranny that owns and controls America.

America began with the invasion of a populated continent and the genocide of its people. Once entrenched, it embraced enslavement of another race.

With those pillars of state in place, it declared itself an independent nation in a testament that proclaimed the equality of all mankind.

In that monumental act of hypocrisy, America’s myth had its genesis.
The title for this post is the theme of the video, taken from a Thoreau quote:

In 1846, Henry David Thoreau, offended to his soul by the injustice of the American government’s invasion of Mexico, protested it and went to jail for his convictions. Later, in his essay On Civil Disobedience, he said this:

“If injustice is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”
For some here, this is preaching to the choir. To others - especially those that need to cling to the concept of the US 'founding fathers' as being something akin to saints, and the Constitution as a holy document, and the US military as sacrosanct - well, this will be a bitter pill. In fact, some will not swallow it - the pill is too bitter, the information presented too far from the "reality" seared into their brains.

My two minor criticisms of this film come first from the overarching meme of wasted money in Afghanistan and Iraq - rather than a focus on the Afghani and Iraqi lives snuffed-out and Afghani and Iraqi lives and infrastructure destroyed. Secondly, my own belief that directly attacking capitalism (sort of the author's proposal) will create an immovable object that will withstand our less-than-irresistible force.

I believe that our best chance is to attack "predatory capitalism" from a different angle than has ever been tried:

Step 2: define a firm dividing line between needs and wants, and allow capitalism to cater to wants. Why? Because (step 1) we need inroads into self-governance. We need to control our own destiny, we cannot do that if we have no control, and we will not gain control if we insist on telling capitalists that we plan to destroy them.

Step 1: We the people need to be on the inside, not outside the castle walls, and I believe we can get there in one brilliant chess move - but NOT if the capitalists (that control governance) see it as a direct attack on capitalism. Once we operate from within the castle walls, we can
(part of Step 2) declaw and defang predatory capitalism down to capitalism. Then we - we the people - reevaluate, and we decide how to deal with capitalism, from a position of power.

Attempting to make changes from outside the castle walls is bitching, complaining, protesting. That won't work. That won't change anything. That won't put us into positions of power within the government.

If this short documentary movie/social and geopolitical commentary does not move you to action, watch it again.

Dennis

[Dennis Leahy]

Did anyone watch the video? I think its pretty powerful, and worth your 23 minute investment.

Dennis

[gooty64]

Yes Dennis this is a must watch/know video.

The problem I see for an American revolution is that 75-90% of Americans are too entrenched, mesmerized, programmed to wake up enough to fight for their lives now.

The American myth paradigm is too hard to break or even look at for the majority of Americans.

Americans have no one to be mad at but themselves and their generations of idiocy over the past 150 years.

A revolution against who? -themselves.

I say watch the video because the truth will set you free and try no to despair...

[gooty64]

K: Yes, that's right. Can the brain - which has been used to time - can it see in that process that there is no end to conflict? See, in the sense of realizing this? Will it realize it under pressure? Certainly not. Will it realize it under coercion, reward or punishment? It will not. It will either resist or escape.
So what is the factor that will make the brain see that the way it has been functioning is not correct? (Let's use that word for the moment.) And what will make it suddenly realize that it is totally
mischievous? What will make it? Certainly not drugs or some kind of chemical.
DB: None of these outward things. K: Then what will make the brain realize this? DB: What do you mean by realize? K: Realize that the path along which the brain has been going
will always be the path of conflict. DB: I think this raises the question that the brain resists such a
realization. K: Of course, of course. Because it has been used to the old
path, for centuries! How will you make the brain realize this fact? If you could make it realize that, conflict is finished.

*above is an except from this thread...


The ending of time by j. Krishnamurti & dr. David bohm
Started by wavydome, Today 06:07

[WhiteFeather]

Watched the first 10 minutes. What have we Americans become? Monsters to say the least. CORPORATE SLOBS. Thanks for finding this Dennis, gonna post it to my Facebook.

[Ilie Pandia]

In all fairness this not addressed only to the US citizens. Yes US is a major player, but that's it. It is not US citizens who benefit from this imperialism.

Even over here in Europe we accept the "news" un-challenged that the great US is on humanitarian mission in the middle East, trying to restore democracy, and protect the planet from the evil "terrorists". We do not unite and stand up for freedom, but cheer along or change the channel.

Who will watch the video without blowing a gasket? Who will dare challenge the Holy Constitution? the founding fathers? the honor of the US military? That would mean to take responsibility for a lot of terrible things that are going on in the world.

"God bless America!" :)

[Mark]

I approve of this msg, generally, with the caveat that, without exactly these things occurring, I submit, very few of us might be where we are, or even alive in the forms we currently possess. I possess the blood of American Indian, African and European. I am, biologically, the sum of my ancestral line, culturally, the sum of American world hegemony and global culture, spiritually, the sum of aboriginal, monotheistic and diestic threads that have suffused the evolution of this nation and the world (plus eternity). I definitely would not be here had anything occurred otherwise. Awakening to the impact of the Past is necessary, which means owning all of the truths implicit in understanding the horrors of the Past, all of them, the genocides, the tyranny, the evil. Owning them and moving past them, consciously casting off the unconscious alignment that we are indoctrinated into and collaborating in the co-creation of a world that will honor the blood, tears, good deeds of our ancestors, while simultaneously atoning for the bad. Both are necessary. As long as we individually participate in family, kin-group, community and society, we are connected to it and bound to it biologically, socially and spiritually.

The American "myth" has only influenced those able to participate in it, those able to blind themselves and their children and their children's children to what they were participating in. Not everyone in America, not everyone in the world. Now that the children, grandchildren, great and great-great-grandchildren of those who thought themselves full citizens of the American Republic no longer benefit by membership and acceptance of the myth, its power is waning. This video is speaking to a very specific audience.

[East Sun]

Did anyone watch the video? I think its pretty powerful, and worth your 23 minute investment.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis,
As with a few videos I watched recently the video stopped near the middle and I could not get it to go any further. In the past I got round it by going to U tube.

Anyway I think Americans should not feel guilty about our history because we were conditioned and lied to (brainwashed). When people are trusting and are fooled it is not their fault. Our govt. was duped also I suspect. We trusted the military and the govt. but they were somehow gotten at to our detriment. There's a lot we don't know regarding that. Some day maybe.

We, as well as other nations were controlled because we trusted or were put in positions where we had no choice but to go to war.

As has been said, the biggest thing to overcome now is to make the entire nation and the world aware of what the reality of our situation is. We are doing that to a degree and that makes me have hope. Life is not that bad after all or it will be great if we can right the wrongs being done in our name.

[Mark]

Anyway I think Americans should not feel guilty about our history because we were conditioned and lied to (brainwashed). When people are trusting and are fooled it is not their fault. Our govt. was duped also I suspect. We trusted the military and the govt. but they were somehow gotten at to our detriment. There's a lot we don't know regarding that. Some day maybe.

Ignorance is never an excuse. As a vet of foreign wars, I can say that I was young and didn't know when I signed on the dotted line, but then again, I did, to a certain extent, even at 19 years old. Everybody does. Everybody knows when something is right and when something is wrong, unless they are psychopaths, and even they know the rules. All Americans know that something isn't right, and all Americans have known that since the inception of this nation. The only ones who could pretend they didn't know were those who didn't have to deal with the ugliness directly, or those whose mentalities considered death and destruction to be right and proper. There is a place for all things in this world, but guilt has its place when it is earned, unless one is following that middle path and lets go of the benefits of society as well as its ills. Then you can be guilt-free. But if you're benefiting in this society, no matter what you look like or where you come from, you are responsible for its ills as well as its benefits. Our ancestors may have been ignorant of some things but they, for the most part, were not stupid. Trusting in the devil or the deep blue sea will get you in trouble every time.

[CivilDawn]

A brief and crucial history indeed. This guy covers a LOT of relevant material. Not for nothing but I am interested by your ideas regarding the dismissal of predatory capitalism, replaced by a need-based format. Sounds like a solid theory, I wonder if it would hold up in practice? Great thread, sir.

[gaiagirl]

Yes Dennis, watched and posted to my Facebook . . . this was also posted on a Facebook site/group I belong to called Mathematekoi: a small group of individuals from around the globe, growing daily, and attempting to wake folks up by educating them on the facts, many of which are expressed so well in this video. The main motivating factor at Mathematekoi is to assamble a group who are interested in not only providing "friction" but are also on board with promoting a Meritocracy based society.

If anyone is interested in joining this round-table discussion and sharing of ideas, please join us on Facebook . . . I honestly have lost track of how FB allows folks to be added to groups but I know that you can be added by another member to this one so if you are interested, you can friend me and I can add you if you are having trouble joining: just search for Lee Anne Novick Musante.

You are a main source of info for me Dennis, much gratitude to you for all of your hard work.

[Dennis Leahy]

I approve of this msg, generally, with the caveat that, without exactly these things occurring, I submit, very few of us might be where we are, or even alive in the forms we currently possess. I possess the blood of American Indian, African and European. I am, biologically, the sum of my ancestral line, culturally, the sum of American world hegemony and global culture, spiritually, the sum of aboriginal, monotheistic and diestic threads that have suffused the evolution of this nation and the world (plus eternity). I definitely would not be here had anything occurred otherwise. ...Hi Rahkyt,

Do you believe in or remember an immortal soul? (If not, my comments fall apart.) Your body, the "avatar you drive" is the bloodlines and genetic mixes; you are (your soul is), the originally created soul with the accumulation of experiences and learning in spirit form and in incarnated forms.

In a way it's a minor point to argue, because in each incarnation, the body and circumstances of that lifetime certainly have an impact on your soul's development. But I guess I want to underscore that in a big way, like individual strands of fiber composing a rope - even a rope with tangles and knots - you are more the rope than the strands, so you would be here even if some circumstances would have been different.

Maybe I'm reading between the lines too much, but I was reading acceptance, and that video to me is a call to action which would not imply acceptance.

Otherwise, I could simply thank my oppressors for providing me a hellish surrounding and circumstance as experience for soul growth, and I feel from the marrow of the bones of my avatar that I need to focus on usurping the oppressors, overturning the meme of oppression as normalcy, and experience benevolence and abundance with my human and non-human co-inhabitants of Earth.


The American "myth" has only influenced those able to participate in it, ...I would submit that the American myth has influenced and affected every living creature, every human, and Gaia - whether or not the entity consciously participated in the belief in or perpetuation of the myth. The influence and effects of the American myth are sort of like the effects of a huge hurricane - or maybe more like the giant storm on Jupiter.

Dennis

[lyubomir]

The most interesting way is that people fight for their rights on the most basic way. And on this way they receive the same ...

"For every action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction) reaction force" , Newton

In some cases the opposite power is much more bigger and powerful, but the power depends on the result of its use. If every man has in himself the power of the most powerful weapon what will happen then? .... .... .... I think that there are much more intelligent ways to fight for your rights and life.

It's very strange that in all our history people fight against other people ... and of all them want the same thing... both sides think why they think on this way?

You can learn lots of the book of Lao Tzu "Art of war" - it could not be used exactly only for 'the war', they are described very good techniques and understandings to use if you have an opponent... and the most important thing is to know very well your 'enemy'.

On this way its like a circle, the next solution is based on practices popular in the previous way of ruling countries and people. This should be changed to have a change.

This post is very good!

Best wishes to all of us,

Lyubomir

[Mark]

Do you believe in or remember an immortal soul? (If not, my comments fall apart.)

I do.


Your body, the "avatar you drive" is the bloodlines and genetic mixes; you are (your soul is), the originally created soul with the accumulation of experiences and learning in spirit form and in incarnated forms.

I understand this as well.


In a way it's a minor point to argue, because in each incarnation, the body and circumstances of that lifetime certainly have an impact on your soul's development. But I guess I want to underscore that in a big way, like individual strands of fiber composing a rope - even a rope with tangles and knots - you are more the rope than the strands, so you would be here even if some circumstances would have been different.

Even a body is energy, the physical form of anything is just a resonance around an idea, word/intonation, concept or mode of BEing moving slower and appearing more solid than other types of energy. This understanding of reality is implicit in all that I write. Your final point is why I wrote:


I am, biologically, the sum of my ancestral line, culturally, the sum of American world hegemony and global culture, spiritually, the sum of aboriginal, monotheistic and diestic threads that have suffused the evolution of this nation and the world (plus eternity).

The caveats, "biologically" and (plus eternity) encompassing other energetic expressions, i.e. reincarnation, star-seeds, walk-ins, etc.


Maybe I'm reading between the lines too much, but I was reading acceptance, and that video to me is a call to action which would not imply acceptance.

Oh, I listened to it as a call to action as well. But a call to action for a certain sub-set of people, those not included being excepted by virtue of their inclusion within one of the "oppressed" groups mentioned at the beginnings of the video and also by fore-knowledge of the "nature of the beast", i.e. the nature of this system and this country from its inception till the present moment. If you listen to it very carefully, you will notice who is excluded and who is included in that call to action. But first, you have to recognize certain cultural memes that are almost invisible in the ubiquitous nature of their acceptance of universality of inclusion when, in fact, by their very nature, they are exclusive. As I stated originally as well, I approve of this msg "generally", given the inherent bias it represents, which I wouldn't expect the majority of those who listen to it to even notice as I am trained and inclined to.


Otherwise, I could simply thank my oppressors for providing me a hellish surrounding and circumstance as experience for soul growth, and I feel from the marrow of the bones of my avatar that I need to focus on usurping the oppressors, overturning the meme of oppression as normalcy, and experience benevolence and abundance with my human and non-human co-inhabitants of Earth.

A worthy life goal. I just wrote on that whole thank the oppressors thing (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?41348-The-Will-to-Act-The-nature-of-the-trichotomy&p=435258#post435258). Perhaps it is not necessary to thank anyone for manifesting what must be.


I would submit that the American myth has influenced and affected every living creature, every human, and Gaia - whether or not the entity consciously participated in the belief in or perpetuation of the myth. The influence and effects of the American myth are sort of like the effects of a huge hurricane - or maybe more like the giant storm on Jupiter.

Granted. That is indeed so. Bless. :)

[Dennis Leahy]

... I am interested by your ideas regarding the dismissal of predatory capitalism, replaced by a need-based format. Sounds like a solid theory, I wonder if it would hold up in practice? Great thread, sir.
Hi CivilDawn,

If you click on the link in my signature, you'll get to a website that contains The Reset Button document. A Path to Blended Ideologies (starting on page 8) and Needs -vs. - Wants (starting on page 10) was my attempt to explain the concept. I am actually heavily revising the document now, including these sections.

There is such a knee-jerk reaction to the term "socialism" that it is very difficult to envision getting through to the average person* that has accepted the demonification of that word that we already have a blended ideology with both capitalistic ("me"/greed) and socialistic ("us"/share) ideologies. What we currently have as a mix of the blended ideologies is way out-of-whack, diseased, leaning far too much toward greed. But any move away from greed is a move toward socialism, and that is very difficult to propose to those brainwashed into believing the "greed is good", "free-market economy" BS, and worse, trying to say "socialism" without conjuring notions of the totalitarian regimes that deliberately misused the word socialism, such as the USSR, may not be possible.

I figure it doesn't matter if I personally can envision a social structure without capitalism, it won't go anywhere. I figure the best we can realistically do is to swing the ratio back towards socialism. So, I try in my writing to underscore those things that are socialist (like libraries, road maintenance, fire departments) that do not conjure images of Stalin's face.

Dennis

*(average US citizen, really, as that document is really geared toward a plan to specifically change the US)

[Dennis Leahy]

Yes Dennis, watched and posted to my Facebook . . . this was also posted on a Facebook site/group I belong to called Mathematekoi: a small group of individuals from around the globe, growing daily, and attempting to wake folks up by educating them on the facts, many of which are expressed so well in this video. The main motivating factor at Mathematekoi is to assamble a group who are interested in not only providing "friction" but are also on board with promoting a Meritocracy based society.

If anyone is interested in joining this round-table discussion and sharing of ideas, please join us on Facebook . . . I honestly have lost track of how FB allows folks to be added to groups but I know that you can be added by another member to this one so if you are interested, you can friend me and I can add you if you are having trouble joining: just search for Lee Anne Novick Musante.

You are a main source of info for me Dennis, much gratitude to you for all of your hard work.
Hi Lee Anne,

I think I am a good thief - stealing ideas from many sources. Not so sure I qualify as a "source", but enjoy being a conduit and sometimes I use pieces and parts of snippets from the brilliant people I read, blend and synthesize, and sometimes add something - like an amateur jazz musician wannabee throwing in a riff here and there.

I was unable to find either your group or you on Facebook. Maybe the NSA doesn't want us to connect? :~) Please look me up and see if you can find and friend me.

Dennis

[spiritguide]

Dennis,

Thanks for the thread! The video is a good tool to change perceptions as to what it is all about. We need a worldwide consensus that PEACE and CARING is a decent path to sanity. IMHO

:peace:

Lou

[Dennis Leahy]

In all fairness this not addressed only to the US citizens. Yes US is a major player, but that's it. It is not US citizens who benefit from this imperialism.

Even over here in Europe we accept the "news" un-challenged that the great US is on humanitarian mission in the middle East, trying to restore democracy, and protect the planet from the evil "terrorists". We do not unite and stand up for freedom, but cheer along or change the channel.

Who will watch the video without blowing a gasket? Who will dare challenge the Holy Constitution? the founding fathers? the honor of the US military? That would mean to take responsibility for a lot of terrible things that are going on in the world.

"God bless America!" :)
Yes, for me the adage, "think globally; act locally" was a good way to see the connections and the structural tiers - in both directions. (Meaning that acting locally does make a difference globally.) It was also a way to address the sense of impotence of a single human trying to fight the global powers.

The US is a big player on the world stage - certainly the biggest player in militarism and modern imperialism, and the US probably has hatched the most corporations that have metastasized into "trans-national"/global entities. Why, the US government even calls those entities "persons." I'm not sure if the top tier of world finance is really centered within the US or any individual country for that matter, but the US certainly hosts most of the financial mega-monsters on the planet. So, knowing this, I know that, within the US, "acting nationally" (rather than just acting locally) should have a profound influence on the entire world (a lot faster and a lot more profound that anything I could ever do locally - call me impatient.)

That's why I sat and pondered (and then wrote) about exactly what would need to be done at the national (US) level for citizens to gain control of the government.

God bless Gaia and every cell of living matter rooted, crawling, swimming, flying and walking on Her. :)

Dennis

[lcotler]

If YouTube stutters while watching "Let Your Life Be a Friction to Stop the Machine", then go here: http://vimeo.com/37413389

Do we have Dennis to thank for bringing this video here and stimulating some very intelligent people?

ClassWarFilms

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Whitefeather, if you appreciated this video, you might like the novel, "In the Beginning the Dance", by Lanny Cotler, one of the ClassWarFilms makers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615497527

[jorr lundstrom]

You dont have to honour an agreement, you didnt participate in making.
Of course you may, if you dont honour your own life and freedom.

Watching the video in the OP is like watching the sea, its huge
and you can only see the surface.

Ty Dennis


Jorr