natowelch

In order to "save the masses", you must first be able to look them square in
the eye and tell them that they don't know what's best for them. It is
difficult to use the excuse that they are "misinformed" or "ignorant"
anymore, in this day and age of information availability. anyone who really
wanted a neutral or balanced opinion can find one. Intellectual poverty is
not something Americans suffer from for lack of opportunity.

As a result, political messiahs of liberal and conservative bent alike are
required then to assert that people are instead incompetent to govern their
own affairs, and this is the fundamental sin of condescension.

Americans are ruled by industry because *they want to be*. There is dissent,
yes, but it is futile and arrogant to continue to persuade "America" -
meaning a majority of Americans. It is as pointless to preach to those who
will not budge as to the converted.

What then, must the dissenters do? Take the willing, and make an effort to
create communities of solidarity and real power on the smaller scale in which
they find themselves, rather than pining for a day when all people will think
as they do. Don't continue to waste your spirits away in repeated
"educational campaigns" that, with time, yield decreasing returns in
converts, and turn into coercive propaganda. Once the information, the
ideas, and views are in the open, and available to the public, they will
compete on their own merits in the marketplace of ideas rather than the
merits of those who promote them. This is the information age, for crying
out loud. Making one's thoughts available is a trivial exercise.

Decide where you're going, then discover who's coming with you. Never get
the order mixed up. Some of you know who said that (Sean Kennedy, in his
Virus Manifesto). Your decision about the changes you want to make or see
in the world should never be based on persuading a large number of people to
cooperate. You have to recognize who is with you, and make it work with the
resources and connections that you have.

( My suggestions for those of like mind - or should I say, those of mind unlike most: )