Freedom is an Illusion

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

                                                      -Lyrics from the Star Spangled Banner


On my Webster's dictionary app, Freedom is defined as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. (definition 1 a)

Freedom. Liberty. As Americans, we use these words in regular conversation. We live under the delusion that we are a free people. We stand, with our hats off and our hands over our hearts, as they sing the national anthem before every sporting event. We say the pledge of allegiance. In a few weeks, we'll celebrate Independence Day. We talk about how proud we are to be Americans. We talk about the greatness of our nation. And we shame anyone that dares to stop being a mindless fucking robot and speaks any truth to the contrary of the blind patriotism that Americans possess.

I won't do it anymore. I refuse to pretend that we are a free people. I refuse to follow the programming that our government and our news sources feed us.

You see, the problem is that I'm not wired like everyone else. Something went wrong when I was born. The computer in my brain is defective. At some level, I've known this since I was young. Despite the fact that everyone told me to shut up and fall in step, I still question everything. I am restless. I am anxious. And no matter how many people tell me that I'm crazy, I can't stop asking "why?" I can not stop looking for answers.

I read a lot. I'm constantly researching things. Whenever I hear a topic or subject that I don't know the answers to, I have to look them up. This makes me a dangerous person to befriend. I will always strive to find out why you believe the things that you do. This will drive you nuts. My co-workers love me because of this. Yes, that last line is sarcasm.

Lately I've read and researched Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian Psychoanyalst that moved to America to escape the Nazi's. His work inspired progress in several fields of psychology. He is often described as one of the most radical figures in psychiatry.  Wilhelm Reich died in a U.S. prison and over six tons of his research material was burned by order of the court.

I learned of Reich by listening to talks by Robert Anton Wilson. He was an author, poet, psychologist and overall general pervert. He was also a lifelong friend of Timothy Leary. Leary was an American psychologist and writer. He worked at Harvard. He spent time in over 20 different prisons around the world. Why? Because he taught people to "think for yourself and question authority." He was once sentenced to 30 years in prison for possessing a single marijauna joint. Leary also escaped from a minimum security prison, was smuggled into Switzerland and lived as a refugee in several countries before being illegally extradited by our government. Richard Nixon labeled him as the "most dangerous man in America." After his illegal extradition, he was placed in Folsom Prison and given an exorbitant bail. Why? Because the judge in charge of his trial said, "if he was allowed to travel freely, he will speak publicly and spread his ideas." Leary is one of my personal heroes.

I could go on forever stating individual examples of our government acting in a totalitarian manner. Instead, lets look at life in America today.

We have the highest prison population in the world. Our police departments kill more citizens than any other country.

And we allow the wealthy and the religious to run our government. Religion influences our laws on reproduction control, on women's rights to choose, on who can marry, on who can adopt children, on what we can teach in our classrooms. Why? Why do we allow one religion to influence the laws that govern a "free" people?

Why do we allow senators from Arizona to trade off federally protected land that is sacred to Native Americans, to a corporation that used to employ one of those senators? Why do we allow rich people, corporations and foreign interests to donate unlimited money to political candidates? Why do corporations get a pass on paying taxes? Why do we pass laws that harm American workers, but help corporations make larger profits? How the fuck did we wind up being so fucking mediocre?

Fucking corporations making modified plants, to survive ultra poisonous weed killers. Wall Street caring more about making record profits, year after year after year, never caring about killing the middle class. Men and Women working full time jobs for companies with billion dollar profits, yet having to rely on our government to feed and house their families. Students graduating college with tens of thousands of dollars of student loans, and not being able to find jobs. Health insurance companies profiting millions and billions on sick people, while millions go without basic healthcare. Teachers living in poverty. Banks getting bailed out, while thousands lose their homes, foreclosed back to the same banks that admitted to defrauding millions of people. Soldiers shipped overseas to fight senseless, never ending wars. A defense budget that dwarfs education, that dwarfs welfare. Rampant greed. Unprecedented violence. A government that monitors all of our text messages and internet activity.

Call me a radical if you'd like. Call me crazy. But don't call me a robot. I refuse to follow the scheduled programing any longer. Welcome to America; land of the robots, home of millions of apathetic humans.