A Rebel Yell

[numbCruncherParticipant 772]

In 1989, within the space of a few months, Eastern Europe overthrew an ideology that had suffocated it for half a century.

In Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria and Romania, ordinary men finally refused to allow their thoughts to be controlled by a philosophy that had distorted history for decades and silenced all dissent in order to achieve and maintain power.

At its heart the collapse of communism was enabled by a simple, electrifying insight; the revolutionaries realised that their opponents had run out of energy and run out of answers. They realised that the system that had oppressed them was no longer a monolithic, all-powerful giant but a loose collection of broken institutions run by weak human beings who no longer had the power to resist truth and courage.

They realised that the empty phrases and distortions of the ideologues could no longer persuade real people to ignore the evidence of their own eyes.

The touch-paper was lit by a few men who could not be intimidated, and refused to be silenced.

Vaclav Havel, stand up. It is your time again.

http://vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=eseje&val=2_aj_eseje.html&typ=HTM

“If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, it is not surprising the fundamental threat to it is living the truth…”

“Individuals need not believe [these lies], but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence… for this reason, however, they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfil the system, make the system, are the system.”

“Let us now imagine that one day something in [the individual] snaps and he stops putting up slogans merely to ingratiate himself.”

“By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances … [H]e has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted facade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power.”

“He has said that the emperor is naked.”

Live the truth, brothers.

You say "love is a temple, love the higher law" ...You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl. And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt

[Anonymous 24]

numbCruncher wrote:

Live the truth, brothers.

I am trying my best to do just that.

Great post.

[Solo MAN’S WisdomParticipant]

Well said, Cruncher.

When women lead, destruction is the destination. -- Me.

[Tiga KParticipant 1693]

This reminds me of when I hear guys here saying they avoid conflict by telling friends and relatives that they “just haven’t found the right girl” when asked about marriage. I think it is better not to do that. There is nothing to be ashamed of because we have the truth and it is our right to choose the life we wish to lead.

You don’t even have to argue with others. You just tell them “I’m not interested” and leave it at that. If they ask for more, tell them you aren’t interested in discussing the matter.

[Soldier-MedicParticipant 2566]

numbCruncher wrote:

At its heart the collapse of communism was enabled by a simple, electrifying insight; the revolutionaries realized that their opponents had run out of energy and run out of answers

They realized that the system that had oppressed them was no longer a monolithic, all-powerful giant but a loose collection of broken institutions run by weak human beings who no longer had the power to resist truth and courage.

IF we are to accept this statement as the pivotal moment l in which men realize that they have been duped, and that we have to take this moment within the context in which it is recognized.

A moment within which men and women have been force fed a lie and have been given access to the truth through media. At this time it was radio and agents provocateurs.

We have more now. More media but less men willing to shout the truth. Or at least the truth of their experience and invite you to make your own decisions.

Freedom. To point a finger and make an accusation. We don’t lack this courage but lack the motivation.

For us to stand up and say that “you are wrong” is to stand up and point a finger at half of the world’s population and parts of the other half that have offered its labor to the minority that would enslave the other half.

How many Germans were not active Nazis but did nothing when the master race goose stepped its way through Europe?

How many Imams eschew violence but say nothing about the depredations of terrorists?

When will the time of ghosting become the time of cowardice?

I ask these questions and draw these parallels because I think they legitimate questions.

I want to sit at home and enjoy the fruits of my labors without trouble or competition.

I want to be at home and enjoy my sons without a woman trying to baby one of them to maintain some maternal leash.

When will our celebration of freedom no longer be wracked with guilt or laden with the guilt of complicity?

"I asked you a question. I didn't ask you to repeat what the voices in you head are telling you" ~ Me. ........Yes I'm still angry.

[Author]

Posts