"My point is not that people should not try to learn and do what is
right and correct...it is that you CANNOT hold someone responsible for something
that they have no CONTROL over. That is by its very definition, unfair."
right and correct...it is that you CANNOT hold someone responsible for something
that they have no CONTROL over. That is by its very definition, unfair."
You CAN hold someone accountable for not acting locally to build a base from which to control something which is attempting to harm to you, your family, or your community.
Someone who ignores what should be resisted, should get the same attention you'd give someone who wishes to harm you.
Mike R.
Randall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Keith,
My point is not that people should not try to learn and do what is right and
correct...it is that you CANNOT hold someone responsible for something that
they have no CONTROL over. That is by its very definition, unfair. That is
middle ages thinking at best. To be blunt, I generally do not care what
someone from another country thinks of my country when I know that their
country is doing much of the same thing that they complain about my country
doing. They are just being hypocrites--knowingly or unknowingly--and are
usually just ignored.
You say over and over that information has been out there for people to
gleen for years and years. True. However, how many people prior to the
Internet, had the ability to search for and VERIFY information with the ease
of today? 30 years ago, you would have needed access to a well equipped
library with a large microfilm/microfiche archive, the time to browse for
the relevant articles, read and then understand them. I would venture a
guess that most people simply did not have 10 to 20 hours a week to simply
read everything of interest to find something that may not be right in the
world. That is where the "modern" media has done its disservice...the
"help" by condensing this tremendous amount of information into something
digestable to the average person. The PROBLEM as you have pointed out
repeatedly is that there is a BIAS in the spin/digestion that is generally
unhealthy and untrue.
So, when you lambast people for not investigating enough, please temper your
ire with understanding that most people are not by nature researchers. It
takes a special type of person to be able to read, categorize, understand
and verify large amounts of information.
> There surely is no way of knowing something if you don't want to know
> it. The opinion manufacturing industry doesn't really hide things as
> much as render them uninteresting, the eye slides away, the ear goes
> deaf, the attention wanders. It works very well. But not on
> everybody. Not everybody is deaf to the truth, not everybody swallows
> the lies. Why's that? How do some people - many people - manage to
> stay awake and alert and undeceived? That has a bearing on
> complicity, don't you think?
Keep in mind that desire does not always play a key role in knowing
something. Simply put, you do not know what you do not know. You can spend
your entire life learning new things and have no time to DO anything with
that knowledge. This does not excuse everything, but it explains some
things. It is quite true that everyone is not deaf to the truth...hence
this list and the great work you have done in nutruring, maintaining and
helping it grow along with JTF. Let me say "Thanks" right now...it has been
very helpful for me personally, and quite a few people that I have pointed
towards it.
You also say that asking people that are trying to help if their actions are
effective is heartless. I disagree wholeheartedly. If people do not stop
and reassess what they are doing periodically, they risk causing more
problems then they solve. That is the heart of learning and progress.
There are other questions that I would ask you, but would do so off-list.
But, someone who is trying to help, should never mind someone asking them
questions, including "is it working?"
My activities have not been as far-ranging and involved as your's...but I
have spent quite a few years trying to get people to THINK and consider
options to just believing everything they see, hear or read. I can bring up
even more topics ranging from the purely ecomonic, to the environmental and
finally to "conspiracy" related items in this mailing list, but it would be
out of place here. You have done a good job balancing this list, and that
is important.
It is more than ok to ask someone what they are doing with their life. Most
recently, me and my wife have started trying to expand our effort to help
some orphans in Ukraine and Russia. My wife is Ukrainian and she and some
of her family (in Russia and Ukraine) have suffered directly from Chernobyl
explosion and other problems. I do not think that it is helpful to try to
to see who can "out help" other people...nor do I think it is helpful or
polite to blame people for the actions of others.
People have different abilities and capabilities to help...I wish I had more
time, but our 15 month-old son needs our attention as well, and he doesn't
yet (but he will) understand why daddy needs to read for a while and not
play with him. In the end, it is the DESIRE to help that will save us
all...without the desire, nothing else can happen. I know that there will
be at least ONE more person in the world that understands...and he can help
teach others.
--Randall
Charlotte, NC
[snip]
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