are you stuck on stupid ... ?

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coup d'etat : a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially
: the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group

Twenty First Century Americans who still believe their government operates the way it is "s'posed to" are comatose.


During a press conference about hurricane Katrina, when things got a little too hot for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Lieutenant General Russel L. Honore took the microphone.

As reporters continued to ask questions about the previous hurricane, Rita, General Honore interrupted:

"You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We're moving forward."

The very next question came from a male reporter:

"General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though it did not happen last time..."

Honore replied:

"You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question...
Let's talk about the future. Rita is happening."


Today, in a broader sense, I have come to define "stuck on stupid" as those Americans who continue to live in the past, as if nothing has changed in the way their own government operates.

Nothing is at it used to be.

America is not Camelot, this is not " the city on the shining hill"

Nothing has been the same for The People of the United States of America ...

Since THE Coup d'etat of November 22, 1963

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what makes "good television" ... ?

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Television is inherently boring.

Have you ever watched a televised conversation between two people sitting talking with each other ?

The camera does not move, you see both faces - could you stay awake ?

Even with good speakers, you have to somehow dampen or block out other sounds - another person talking beside you, street noise, a dog barking, etc.

Otherwise, you miss part of the conversation, and the *meaning* of the conversation can get lost - unless you can "rewind"

In real life, in real time, you can ask a person to repeat what they said, but with television, either you get it or you miss it.


Imagine watching a waterfall on a television screen for an hour - could you stay awake ?

What if, while you are watching the water falling, suddenly a boat appears and glides over the edge into the air and down ...

Now your attention is focused and you are wide awake - the *unexpected* has happened !

That is what gets our (human) attention ... and that is what makes *good television*


Yet even what happens to the boat, and to the people in it, does not hold our attention for long - not "on television"

Soon, you are right back to watching water fall, or watching two people talking ... and soon you are asleep.

Your body was already inactive - only vision and hearing at work, and your conscious mind "shut off" having given up trying to process a constant series of tiny bursts of light which enter the eye three times as fast as the conscious mind can process them.

Boring, so you either sleep, or turn off the set and do something *real*


How often have you heard someone say, "Let's relax and watch TV" ... ?

What is considered by television producers as *good television* is a stream of technical effects which keep our attention.

Camera focuses on a face, switches to another face, pulls back so both faces are seen, then the image shifts to another room, printed words are imposed over the image, then you are "outside" followed by a scene of people who are on their way to see the people in the previous scenes ... and there is a pause for a "word from the sponsor"

Images with no aura, removed from context of time and space, events and persons reduced to the same "essence" as commodities, "action" we can do nothing about because it is not real, not here, not now.

Maddening, stressful, never sure what is coming next - the "unusual" and unexpected teasing us to "stay tuned" - illusion necessary to overcome what is boring by itself, technical tricks are used 10 or 12 times each minute to keep our attention focused on what is presented on the set, and we wonder why our children are hyperactive and have short attention spans ... and why we do not feel "relaxed" and why we are short-tempered when we have to be around other people.

Or do we already know, somewhere deep in our subconscious ... ?

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what is the true cost of our actions ...

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A quote from THE CORPORATION [5/23] Case Histories:

"Our civilization is not flying because it's not built according to the laws of aerodynamics for civilizations that would fly. Of course the ground is still a long way away, but some people have seen that ground rushing up sooner than the rest of us - the visionary has seen it and has told us it's coming. ... Every living system of earth is in decline; every life support system of earth is in decline ... and these together constitute the biosphere. The biosphere that supports and nurtures all of life, and not just our life, but perhaps 30 million other species that share this planet with us."

... expresses very well what I want to say myself.

"Intergenerational Tyranny"


The ground is not so far away as it may seem - not so far as we have become used to thinking.

Some people simply stop listening when I talk of these things, and they must also stop listening to others too, since I am not saying much that has not been said already by others more experienced and more knowledgeable than myself.

How long CAN we continue to live so easily as though none of this were happening, as though unborn generations will not have to pay a severe price for our "comforts" today ?

The answer, it seems, is that we can continue doing what we are doing until it kills us.


Some folks want to hear only "positive" talk, and I am one of them
... but to do or say no more weighs on my conscience.

I have no desire to selectively demonize anything or anyone, but I think we all have an obligation to focus on what is wrong - not to be or to seem negative, but to improve things, to correct what is wrong, and most of all, to SURVIVE - for life itself to survive.

Somehow we have to learn how to talk and communicate in ways which engage others in our personal spheres, setting fire to apathy in a loving way.

Yes, our economy depends on "consumerism" and corporations do and provide some very good things, yet the sum total of it all is that system is destroying our planet.

We cannot build cars for the head of household of every family on earth to drive, nor can we build highways on which all of them may drive - not because we are incapable of the task, but because there is not room enough, because of what doing so would deprive us.

We can grow food enough for 7 billion human beings to eat and do it sustainably, but at what expense to other species, the loss of which again deprives us of more than we gain ?

We can convert food crops to alcohol to power our vehicles, but who decides which of us do not get to eat as a result ?


We have to stop quibbling over individual processes and their "cost vs benefit" and whether we are "inhibiting progress"

We have to change the way we think about the very core principles underlying those processes - learn how to calculate *true cost* in every case, and proceed with only what is sustainable - not sustainable for humans, but for the earth on which humans depend.

It is a matter of life or death.

Playlist: The Corporation (complete, chapters 1 to 23)
- http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87

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true meaning of Memorial Day ...

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- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO5tPf9LUC4

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Don't stand by my grave

Don't stand by my grave and weep,
For I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint in the snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
In the soft blush of the morning light
I am the swift bird in flight.
Don't stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there,
I did not die.

Unknown Native American Author

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Last Goodbye - Revised Version

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKyfhJx-DU

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now is forever ...

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The truth of what is happening in our country, to our country, to our world ...

Must be recognized.

Must be confessed ...

Must be admitted, and it must be dealt with straightforward.

Those responsible must be held accountable, now and always.

Every minute of every day, now and for as long as it takes to change, to right ...

To make our country, our world, our lives, whole again.

To find once more the beacon of promise our nation once was to the world.

If ever it can be so again, we must act - not fail in any way

Without delay.

YOU, as a human being KNOW right from wrong.

Stand up for RIGHT, knock down what is wrong whenever it appears.

That is something you can do - something you must do.

Not for yourself - for your children, your granchildren, and for theirs.

For all that is theirs.

Forever

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