Looking up, kind of
Alright, it was the ‘Murica Day holiday on Tuesday, so I didn’t run. Made it to the club run last night which was fun. Got to talk to a new member (sort of) and have fun until I had to run off to get my dad’s car dropped off for some work it needed. The club run did not record on my Garmin for some reason. But today’s run did. My headphones broke this morning, so I had no music and then it was raining on me. So I kind of lost my focus toward the end. Oh well. However, upon returning to my house I had a message from my sister that a large retailer was hiring in my town, so I applied. I have an interview on Tuesday, so we’ll see what happens.
If I can get enough hours and do the things I want to do this will work out well. I know sacrifices will have to be made unfortunately. I did run out and get new headphones too, so I’ll give those a go. I went back to JVC, but bluetooth, the product line has worked well for me in the past, and hopefully these will continue that tradition. Still haven’t been paid for the extra contract I took on at the end of the school year, pretty angry about that. But I will remain patient.
I found myself re-examining my philosophy on freedom, and where it comes from. Because one of the people I was talking with on the club run had an extensive military history, and we ended up talking a little bit about that stuff. I keep returning to the same conclusion though. No matter what the government is, no matter what the rules are, you are only as free as you allow yourself to be. Yes, there may be consequences for your freedom, but that’s just the way it is. I don’t require a government to “protect” my freedoms, I only require my own courage. No government, military, piece of paper, nothing gives any human being freedom save their own willingness to face any consequences. Not that things should always have negative consequences.
That is a different argument though, what should and shouldn’t be allowed to be done without consequence. Governments shouldn’t be in the business of deciding who lives or dies, that’s for certain. Yet still, it’s up to the people to demand justice. Any government not deriving its power from the consent of the people is illegitimate. But who is to say who should be removed by force. If the people refuse to capitulate to the illegitimate government’s demands they will be forced to stop. The problem is too many people are too obedient. Why there aren’t mass protests shutting shit down everywhere at this point amazes me.
Look at all the political arguments across the globe, they’re all the same. How is it possible all governments in the world aren’t doing a damned thing to stop the problems causing so many people to flee their homes and look for safe haven elsewhere, yet at the same time refuse to let in “too many” refugees? How is that possible? How is it possible the economy runs off of exploiting workers all over the world, and yet all governments are refusing to protect their workers from being exploited? Some are working hard to destroy the safeguards won by generations past, others are setting up rules to ensure those safeguards can never be put in place.
So many people are complicit in this system, if they just were to stop force everything to grind to a halt, force their voices to be heard it would all end. Yes, some governments would respond with violence, some people would die. It wouldn’t be all sunshine and lollipops, but it would work. It needs to work. If you look through history it does work. In fact, it is the only thing which ever has. We think of the “Founding Fathers” (for all their major flaws) as “Americans” but they weren’t. They were British. They were citizens of the crown, it was an internal conflict. History is filled with peasant revolts, general strikes, specific strikes, slow-downs, demonstrations, this is how the people have forced the oligarchs to allow them freedom of whatever those people were fighting for. But it’s always followed by the oligarchs finding a way to keep control, either by proxy or directly.
You want to fight for freedom? Go on strike, organize with your coworkers, your neighbors, demand more. There’s no outside force trying to take anything from you, it is all internal. I know what people think, “but what about this country doing this, or that one doing that?” No oligarch anywhere could have ever done anything without the obedience, the capitulation of their population. If you cow the people into not resisting you, then you can do these things. Worse, if you get people to believe that acting externally and punishing other peoples can enrich their lives, you can commit some of the worst crimes humanity is aware of. Refuse to participate, militarily, economically, socially. I don’t watch reality shows, I don’t follow trends, I don’t give a crap about the latest “Rah Rah the world is awesome” music. I decide to fight, in my own small way, every day. Stop participating, stop allowing this to happen.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
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