Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Always fight the government's lies

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 12, 2023)




Are you concerned or angry that the Chinese government has a social control app on practically every cell phone and it is used by most American teenagers-- and others-- every day? Me too. The clock is tick-tocking and the damage is being done.

If you believed a Chinese spy (or bioweapon) balloon was the bigger threat you haven't been paying attention.

But a government ban isn't the way to address the matter.

Are you upset that government schools-- usually inaccurately called "public schools"-- have become major purveyors of leftist indoctrination along with traditional nationalistic indoctrination? So am I. You're missing the mark if you think government can, or will, fix this problem. Government doesn't see it as a problem but as an opportunity. Or a duty!

If you imagine some governments are on your side while realizing the rest of them are not, you have blind spots.

Government won't save you from propaganda. It has no incentive to do so. You are telling it you are fine with this as long as you keep voting and being a source of money and labor to keep it running.

You are responsible for your own safety and security, including keeping yourself safe from dangerous propaganda. You can try to outsource these responsibilities, but this can never truly work. No one can be as responsible for you as you can. Not even if you pay them to do the job.

You can't even really protect your own children from these things. People who want to damage them with propaganda, and who have the opportunity to do so, are always going to be out there. They may disguise their harm as education, entertainment, or compassion so it's uncomfortable to oppose them. It's important to do so anyway.

The best you can do is to try to give your kids the mental tools to see the brainwashing for what it is; to overcome it if they've been infected-- although this is harder. How they use those tools is entirely up to them. No, I don't like this, either. It's part of the package of being a fully-functional adult human being. Some will get there; some won't. You've got to give them the chance.

Never stop countering the lies they will be told from every direction. Silence in the face of lies is nearly as bad as telling the lies yourself. Don't participate in the brainwashing. The future depends on you.
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I couldn't do this without your support.

Leave bad ideas in the past


When I encounter someone who's advocating for a really bad idea, and I object, they often categorize my objection as fighting against the future. Opposing progress.

If you know me-- and those who've been reading my blog for a few years should-- you know I don't mind actual progress. I embrace it and want to see it happen. I am excited for Mars colonies, innovative energy sources, cyborg implants for those who need them to enjoy life due to a body that doesn't work well, and all sorts of other things. I've benefitted from medical advancements, without which I would have died long ago.

I think technology and the future can be great. If you don't fall into the trap of imagining that everything that comes along and gets some people excited is an improvement.

Backward ideas (like anti-gun rules, slavery, one-world governments, "identity politics", etc.) aren't progress. Standing against those sorts of bad ideas isn't expressing a fear of the future. It is a recognition that individual liberty is more important than anything else. 

Bad ideas belong in the past, not in the future. Advocating for them isn't a way to show how enlightened you are-- quite the opposite.

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And a HUGE thanks to all those who already have.