Brutally Honest Rant - 09/20/06

Brutally Honest Audio Rant: On Individuality and Freedom
Audio Transcripts
09/20/06

[Start Program]

(Computer – Introduction)
(Music intro – "American Idiot Remix" – by Green Day and David Matthews 2)

Good evening, and welcome to this week’s Brutally Honest Rant. I’m David Matthews 2, writer of the weekly online column Brutally Honest.

This morning I was informed that this week (Sept. 17-23) is National Unmarried and Singles Week. That, of course, caught me completely by surprise; as I’m sure it did for the 89 MILLION other taxpaying Americans who are single and/or otherwise unmarried.

89 MILLION! That’s a sizable chunk of the populace.

And yet, don’t expect any "public service messages" or any kind of "public awareness" programs to be created for this demographic like you would for any of these other "dedicated weeks" or "dedicated months" that get created by the government. In fact I’m actually surprised that someone even BOTHERED to designate a single week for single and unmarried people. It probably got agreed to in one of those stupid pork-laden budget compromises just so they could also designate the National Argyle Socks and Loose String Week.

I say that because we live in a world where people like me are not supposed to exist!

I’m serious! Individuality is pretty much considered an out-and-out OBSCENITY in collectivist mindsets! You’re not supposed to be an individual! You’re supposed to be a part of any given number of collectivist groups, whether you want to be in one or not.

We spend the first 18 years of our lives… more or less… dedicated to asserting our own independence. We learn to stand and walk and talk and socialize and to live outside of the influence of our parents and to figure out who and what we are. We want to break free from the influence of our parents – especially when our parents don’t want to give that up – to make our own decisions and decide how we’re going to define ourselves and what we’re going to do with our lives.

And yet all the while we are continuously getting BOMBARDED with this subtle message that YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE an individual!

Let’s take a look at school. It doesn’t take long before you’re indoctrinated into certain groups, certain cliques, and teachers and school administrators put you on certain "educational tracks" to determine what kind of a future you should have. Of course they don’t bother telling you that unless you tell them that you want to go to college and they have already determined that you’re not "worthy" of that course of action.

If you’re a loner, though, you’re quickly marginalized by the others. You don’t "fit in". You’re not part of the group, and you’re made an easy target by others to show that loners have no place in society. You gotta join in some sort of group, even if you don’t "fit in". Because that is more important. Your sense of self doesn’t matter; it’s about fitting into that group.

What do you want to do with your life? Well that comes secondary to the things that you can DO outside of school. Boy Scouts? Girl Scouts? Debate club? Sports? Oh, ESPECIALLY sports! In fact, if you’re not an athlete, then you’re ENCOURAGED to become… oh, you know I’ve gotta say it… an athletic supporter. (Rimshot.) You gotta support the team! You gotta rally them on! You gotta show up at their games! That is what is REALLY important! Community spirit! Taking part in something that is far GREATER than you ever could be with your pesky little INDIVIDUAL life!

You go through school and then you’re told that you have to make something of yourself. And you’ve got to do so QUICKLY! You’ve got bills to pay and people to impress! PLUS you gotta get MARRIED! Because you’re NOBODY unless you’re married! And I’m not just talking about the women. Guys also get this pressure, although not as blatantly. Gotta get married… then once you get married, then you gotta make babies. Again, you’re not SOMEBODY until you’re a parent!

And let’s not forget some of the OTHER collectivist influences creeping into your life.

Religion is without a doubt the biggest collectivist force in the world today! Religion teaches you that how you live YOUR life is secondary to what YOU do to for the cause of that religion! Some religious beliefs, much to their credit, actually do try to help you, but some of the others… you know, the ones that are hypersensitive to criticism, TV images, magazines, strip clubs, and cartoons… are committed to indoctrinating you and brainwashing you to their cause. YOU are not important. You have to dedicate yourself to bringing OTHERS into the fold. You HAVE to help convert people and help change the world to this GLORIOUS vision of theirs, because if you don’t do that - even if you live that good and decent life that they tell you to do - then you won’t make it to that promised reward in the hereafter! YOU are irrelevant. It’s what you do in THEIR name that matters!

Your workplace is sometimes also getting involved with your personal life as well. You see, tacked in there with your health and dental benefits and your 401K program is a little subtle push for whatever pet charity cause your employer is sponsoring. And they’ll come up with ingenious ways to get you to give up some of your time and money for this pet cause. Plus they’ll also throw in a few additional workplace clauses about the things that you do on your own time… because it’s NOT about you anymore! As far as they are concerned, you’re a part of the company 24-7!

Now at this point, guess what? There IS no individuality! You’re not an individual anymore! You’re a spouse! You’re a parent! You’re a member of whatever workplace you’re in. You’re a member of whatever workplace after-work group activity you get talked into. You’re a member of your local religious group.

Now if you’re wondering where this is heading… I want you to consider the ever-growing attitudes surrounding freedom in society. In the past few years, there has been an ever-increasing belief that we have "too many" freedoms. You know… the very things that supposedly make America so great!

OH YES, we have "free speech". We just can’t use it if it "offends" certain people. We can’t use it to question our elected grifters and shysters in government, because that’s considered "treason". We can’t use it to express ourselves, because that might be considered "indecent" or "obscene".

There is no such thing as privacy anymore. Certainly not after 9/11, but this kind of attitude has been cooking for quite some time. Everything that you say or do or watch or read or buy is under SOMEONE’S self-appointed scrutiny! Your life is showing up on someone’s database. Processed and tracked, profiled and calculated and predicted right down to how many strokes it takes for you to brush your teeth in the morning.

There is no such thing as property rights anymore! The things that you earn or own or make or possess can be taken away from you at ANY TIME without your consent, and often without any kind of compensation. Your house, your car, your money… they ALL can be taken away from you for various reasons. And to add insult to injury, YOUR NEIGHBORS now have veto power over what goes on in your home through covenant agreements and zoning regulations! You’re not just responsible for YOUR house and YOUR yard… you’re now held accountable for the whole damned NEIGHBORHOOD!

And there’s NOTHING AT ALL that you can do about any of it! You know why? Because it’s all done for that "greater good". You see… YOUR problems are irrelevant! They’re INDIVIDUAL problems!

Think about it, folks! All five rights in the First Amendment can be rendered null and void at any time in the name of "public safety" or "public decency" or "property values" or "public safety". The Fourth and Fifth Amendments have been intentionally, deliberately, and systematically rendered null and void in the name of "public safety" and the "public interest".

And the masses… the people who supposedly GIVE consent to the things that our government does... allow this because they have absolutely ZERO appreciation of freedom! You know why?

Because they have absolutely ZERO appreciation of individuality!

They can’t understand individuality, because it has been effectively and systematically demonized in society! Religion, schools, friends, family, work… they’ve all built up this idea that YOU as an individual are IRRELEVANT! It’s the GROUP that matters! It’s the ONLY thing that matters. And if it means taking everything that you have away and throwing you down a deep hole and burying you alive for the sake of the group, then so be it! That’s the attitude! That’s the mentality that has been developed over the years.

Worse yet, there is no appreciation of personal responsibility anymore. You know why? Because there is no sense of PERSON to be held responsible! It’s all a group activity now. It’s not your fault. You’re just following the crowd, or following orders, or doing what your faith tells you to do. If you get into trouble, then it’s because of some sort of drinking or drug problem, which is easily blamed on the community or "the lifestyle". And besides, aren’t there supposed to be people looking out for you? Schools, church, your neighbors, the police? Aren’t THEY supposed to be your brother’s keeper? That’s what the groupthink tells you that they’re there for!

Suddenly the idea of a collectivist state right out of our nightmares seems pretty realistic. The very Orwellian state that people said would NEVER EVER happen comes into being, and nobody raises an eyebrow about it… as long as you don’t CALL it "Orwellian". After all, that might OFFEND the collectivists!

Let’s get brutally honest here… freedom is an INDIVIDUAL concept! You can’t give freedom to a group while depriving it on an INDIVIDUAL level. And it’s really very easy for people to willfully give up freedom when they have no real means of appreciating it on an individual level. If they can’t appreciate it, then it’s considered excessive.

The people who sought after, developed, and defended freedom in America were INDIVIDUALS. They may not be saints… they certainly were FAR from being perfect… but they knew that REAL freedom – not to mention a sense of REAL personal responsibility – comes from an appreciation of the SELF, not of the masses.

What really bothers me is that the President of the United States can go before the United Nations with his dufus grin and proclaim that America is this great bastion of "freedom". And the Texas dufus can say it with a smile on his face because he knows that "freedom" really doesn’t exist in America anymore. It’s become just another political buzzword… a casualty in the great struggle for collectivist thinking.

(Computer – some appropriate clips… but as always you gotta listen to them!)

(Fade Music In – "Who am I" by Peace Orchestra)

In wrapping up my little rant on individuality, I must point out that this is not a liberal or a conservative thing. Both sides are equally guilty of the overall groupthink mentality that has been developed over the years.

What is needed is not to finger-point as to which dictatorial political group is responsible for this, but rather to look at the least-common denominators in this equation. YOU. Yourself. What are you? Who are you? Take away the job, the church, the groups, the family life… just bring it down to YOU as a single, solitary individual. Is there anything left of YOU that remain? What is that you can tell people that DEFINES you as an individual?

That’s the real challenge. That is what takes away the blandness of society and gives your life REAL meaning and REAL purpose. It’s not about what you are a part of… it’s to figure out who YOU are. And once you do that, the rest of society falls into place.

(Pause)

Brutally Honest is a Get Brutal production, all opinions expressed are those of the commentator, and may or may not be shared by the online provider. This is David Matthews 2 saying good night, and I’ll speak with you soon!

(Fade out)

(Computer – Ending/"End of Recording")

[End of program]
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