As well as the now famous song, Imagine itself, there are a couple of songs on the album which wouldn't be out of place if released today (with a few name changes here and there). We wait for "some truth" from President Obama, and for once the "power of the people" is clearly on show - if polls are anything to go by.
Clip from the lyrics:
Power to the People and Gimme Some Truth.
I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I'm sick to death of seeing things
From tight-lipped, condescending, mama's little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth now
I've had enough of watching scenes
Of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street
Singing power to the people
Power to the people........etc.
A million workers working for nothing
You better give 'em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town
Singing power to the people
Power to the people.........etc.
I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
How do you treat you own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can free herself
Singing power to the people
The songs say it all.
Most Americans have purchased the changes thrust upon us via our surrender of our constitution for our security and protection. The majority of Americans support drones, the Patriot Act, and the loss of privacy if it increases security; punishing whistle blowers if their actions can be shown to be "illegal"; corporations that pimp politicians; public servants that are the 21st century brand of gestapo; delineation of murder-by-gun or drone as distinct from murder-by-toxic agents or WMD. The vast majority of Americans believe they are players in this game, not yet aware they are the game pieces.
ReplyDelete“There is always a choice."
"You mean I could choose certain death?"
"A choice nevertheless, or perhaps an alternative. You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based.”
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
P.S. - Usually, rebellion occurs when there is little left to lose.
ReplyDeletemike ~ The evidence suggests that the people of the USA are, on the whole, cowardly scaredy cats. I hesitate to make that judgment based on their performance in WW2. That was long ago though.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened on 9/11 was a tragedy of enormous proportions, but it should never have been considered sufficient for what ensued later. Flames of public opinion were (I guess as I wasn't here) fanned by media - they're good at that - and by politicians and weapon-manufacturing corporations who stood to profit greatly from war.
People = game pieces, as you said.
I think more are becoming aware of how the game is played now though, little bit by little bit.
I'm anxious to see how the votes on Syria go this week. Will the result further underline how little the voices of the people count in the USA these days, or will we, in a rare moment, see that if enough of us protest we can actually change/prevent something.
If it's the latter result it would embolden the people in future struggles against the Prez and the government, as well as preventing even more bloodshed by our hands in the ME.
Yes, rebellion would be a last resort when the people finally get the message that they have no say at all, and do not matter one iota to The Powers That Be.
ReplyDeleteditto and double ditto to what you both said , Mike and Twilight.
like sheep to the slaughter, we blindly follow..
Our government is made up of individuals and as individuals we look OUTWARD at others wrong doings versus Inward in an attempt to fix our own.
We rush headlong into others troubles and leave our own mounting problems to multiple while we are focused, elsewhere.
I remember the days when the following excerpt from der Spiegel (English, Sept. 9, 2013) would have caused outrage, but now it's just one of a string of oddities regarding the USA's NSA program.
ReplyDelete"In three consecutive transparencies, the authors [NSA employees] of the presentation draw a comparison with "1984," George Orwell's classic novel about a surveillance state, revealing the agency's current view of smartphones and their users. "Who knew in 1984 that this would be Big Brother …" the authors ask, in reference to a photo of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. And commenting on photos of enthusiastic Apple customers and iPhone users, the NSA writes: "… and the zombies would be paying customers?"
...All the images were apparently taken with smartphones. A photo taken in January 2012 is especially risqué: It shows a former senior government official of a foreign country who, according to the NSA, is relaxing on his couch in front of a TV set and taking pictures of himself -- with his iPhone. To protect the person's privacy, SPIEGEL has chosen not to reveal his name or any other details.
...The department merely needs to infiltrate the target's computer, with which the smartphone is synchronized, in advance. Under the heading "iPhone capability," the NSA specialists list the kinds of data they can analyze in these cases. The document notes that there are small NSA programs, known as "scripts," that can perform surveillance on 38 different features of the iPhone 3 and 4 operating systems. They include the mapping feature, voicemail and photos, as well as the Google Earth, Facebook and Yahoo Messenger applications."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-on-smartphones-including-the-blackberry-a-921161.html
Watching some of the news channels these last few days, it's been sobering to hear political pundits (both Democrats and Republicans) talking about "what the president needs to do" to convince the American people, members of our government, the UN and leaders of other nations to back his proposal to attack Syria. Politics is a game, and we're *all* chess pieces - including those innocent civilians of Syria (and elsewhere) who will likely be killed or maimed by an attack.
ReplyDeleteMost of us pick our tribe (and our tribal leaders) then align ourselves with our chosen tribe's viewpoint, in the process giving up the greater part of our intellectual, moral and spiritual autonomy. It's not enough to speak the truth from our limited perspective, the greater truth requires our courage, awareness and ability to clearly perceive, often in spite of what we're being told or shown.
Sonny makes an important point about looking inward. If we don't acknowledge and understand our own natures, vulnerabilities and proclivities, how can we ever hope to act wisely and compassionately in dealing with others?
Thanks for all these great contributions y'all!
ReplyDeleteI've just read a piece by David Stockman - a Republican with whom I'd not agree on much else, but his piece at LewRockwell.com is a good one.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/09/david-stockman/imperium-rip/
A couple of paras as taster:
....By the President’s own statements the proposed attack is merely designed to censure the Syrian regime for allegedly visiting one particularly horrific form of violence on its own citizens.
Well, really? After having rained napalm, white phosphorous, bunker-busters, drone missiles and the most violent machinery of conventional warfare ever assembled upon millions of innocent Vietnamese, Cambodians, Serbs, Somalis, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Yemeni, Libyans and countless more, Washington now presupposes to be in the moral sanctions business? That’s downright farcical. Nevertheless, by declaring himself the world’s spanker-in-chief, President Obama has unwittingly precipitated the mother of all clarifying moments.
The screaming strategic truth is that America no longer has any industrial state enemies capable of delivering military harm to its shores: Russia has become a feeble kleptocracy run by a loud-mouthed thief and the communist party oligarchs in China would face a devastating economic collapse within months were it to attack its American markets for sneakers and Apples. So the real question now before Congress recurs: how is it possible that the peace-loving citizens of America, facing no industrial-scale military threat from anywhere on the planet, find themselves in a constant state of war? The answer is that they have been betrayed by the beltway political class which is in thrall to a vast warfare state apparatus that endlessly invents specious reasons for meddling, spying, intervention and occupation...........
As is being said by many, strange bedfellows are emerging.
Even, amazingly, here in OK.(In OKC)
See
http://www.popularresistance.org/opposition-to-intervention-in-syria-strange-bedfellows-in-oklahoma/
Seems the latest news is that
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW — Syria on Monday quickly welcomed a call from Russia, its close ally, to place Syrian chemical arsenals under international control, then destroy them to avert a U.S. strike, but did not offer a time frame or any other specifics.
Apparently Putin has suggested this, which could solve the crisis in the best possible way, if accepted by the US, and President Obama would magically have saved face whichever way one views the issue.
Vee--ry inter-esting.
Well, we made it through Mars square Saturn...the lead-up was dramatic with the Syrian dilemma. Now we are headed into the Mars inconjunct Pluto and trine Uranus phase. Russia's parlance of political sophistication or are there bigger surprises just ahead?
ReplyDeletemike ~ Very little would surprise me, but if something does, let's hope it'll be something at least half-way good.
ReplyDelete;-)
Just done a post on evil and Imagine fits into that very well. Under the guise of good, it in fact urges faithlessness, complete with put-downs for any detractors.
ReplyDeleteJames Higham ~ This post isn't about the song "Imagine", though.
ReplyDeleteI know some people take offence at that song due to the "no heaven" and "no religion" lines. I can be tolerant of their views, and would expect them to be tolerant of those of us who find some good sense in those lyrics.
Intolerance is the beginning of evil is it not?
But, again, this post was not about that song (Imagine).
Will go read yours more carefully later. Evil is too rich for my blood this early in the day.
;-)