Hey Everyone!! :-)
I've got a little more of Alyce's adventure to share with you, today! Enjoy! :-)
Excerpt from Answers From Alyce:
"Well, to understand you first need to realize that the people you're talking about are the most powerful individuals in our country. They've been elected or appointed to positions in the highest levels of our government and most of them are also extremely rich, which is another and often more potent form of power than what they gain through their governmental offices. They've gotten to where they are through our current system. The system we have now, as unjust and corrupt as it is, is what has allowed them to attain their current lofty positions. So, why would they want to change it?"
"Logically, there would seem little reason for them to want change," agreed Squid-boy. "But why do they not just say so, rather than engaging in all this senseless noise?" He waved at the now muted display with his tentacles.
"Because, though these are the most powerful individuals in our society, they aren't as powerful as regular people when all those people unite behind a common purpose. The last thing the people running our government want is for regular people to start working together to effect real change. So, this noise," I gestured at the display, "is an effort to misdirect, distract, mislead, and sow enough dissention to keep regular people from working together to change things. Because, if We, The People, ever do get our act together and unite in organized, non-violent civil disobedience to achieve the changes we need, no collection of politicians and billionaires will be able to stand against us. And they'll," I waved at the furiously shouting miniatures, "do everything they can think of to keep that from happening."
"But you have elections!" Squid-boy exclaimed. "You choose the people you put into these positions."
I shrugged. "We've been over this, sugar. Yes, we have elections. But there are so many corrupting influences in those elections, the people who might actually work to change things rarely stand much of a chance of winning."
"And your media really just stands by and allows this," Yax pointed at the controlled chaos they were using to represent our government, "to continue without informing your people of the confidence game being played on them?"
"Well, you have to remember, sugar, the biggest media companies are owned by the same millionaires and billionaires who pay off our politicians. So, why would they want to expose their own scam? And the people they hire to report the news are also quite wealthy…"
"And so also invested in maintaining the status quo."
"Yep. Generally, the largest media corporations try very hard to focus on form over substance and to sidetrack people's attention with irrelevancies, rumors, and sensational nonsense. That way, most people are kept too distracted to pay attention to the fact that most of the people running our government are screwing them over."
"But, at some point, the effects of such corruption must be felt by regular people. Why don't they act then?"
I pointed back at the exhibit. "That's what the blame game is for. So, when people get angry that they're being treated unfairly, instead of working together to change things, they'll fight over who is to blame. The politicians blame their political opponents or make scapegoats out of powerless minority groups, and regular people pick sides rather than uniting. And the large media corporations, rather than providing people with facts and evidence so that they can determine who is telling the truth, for the most part just repeat what each side has said and calls it even."
"But that makes no sense when what people on different sides of an issue say contradict each other," observed Squid-boy. "They can't both be telling the truth. You're people have to know that."
I nodded. "Of course. But which side is right, or are all sides wrong? Is one side telling the truth and the other side lying or are they both lying and the truth is something else? What does the evidence support? What are the facts of the matter? What kind of back-story is involved in the situation? The large media corporations are strangely reluctant to provide that information. And if all most of the media does is repeat what each side says, or at most report what each side says and imply that the truth is somewhere in the middle without any providing any evidence to support that conclusion, what are people supposed to believe? When most of the media is either hopelessly biased in favor of maintaining the power structure or more concerned with being neutral than objective, it's hard for people to find out what's true unless they have the time and energy to do a lot of research for themselves. And, as we've already discussed, an abundance of excess time and energy are luxuries that most regular Americans don't own."
"And so the deception works," said Yax.
I shrugged. "I honestly don't think most people are deceived, but they are definitely distracted. Absent facts and evidence, people tend to pick the side that fits the best with their preconceived ideas and personal biases. Which means instead of uniting to fight for the changes we all need, people argue and fight with each other."
"And nothing changes," observed Squid-boy.
Now Out:
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