dougabaird@earthlink.net

“The World According to Doctrine” — Martin Luther King Jr Mask

It’s always easiest to claim what people believe when they are no longer around to refute you.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. Forgiveness is not an occasional act: it is an attitude.” — Martin Luther King Jr

If you would honor his life; then honor his beliefs – not the policies of those who make a mockery of his beliefs.

Being much more of a sinner; I sometimes imagine him coming back and not just speaking out – but “bitch-slapping” those who claim that goodness can only be achieved through doing evil.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“The World According to Doctrine” — Lovely Lansing Videogame: “Public Hearing”

It’s a “takers” society – and as the events, policies, and media hype swirl around us: there’s an erosion of individual worth and the “work ethic” – and all ethical conduct.

Rewards come; not from the persistence of hard work – but from the persistence of a fox circling the henhouse. Life is not the opportunity to achieve – but the opportunity to take.

The legitimacy of our government is no longer based on ethics; but on the profitability of its policies. Politicians and experts have swelled their egos to become the deciders:

They are reshaping the world — and some people are just excess population.

If you want to experience the futility of our future: attend a Public Hearing.

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Definition: “Public Hearing”

What fools we are! Our taxes pay for the lawyers that advise our local governments on how to legally minimize or eliminate public participation in the decision making process – and all the new regulatory programs enacted – like Form Based Codes and Nine-Point Plans – remove the public from any authority or oversight; even in the most radical and far reaching policy decisions.

It’s hard to blame the public for being apathetic; when the sole result of attending public hearings is the legitimizing of decisions that are anything but public mandates.

Publicly presenting your thought out and well-documented criticisms; to a Town Board that approves the policy within seconds of your speaking — is like voting in an election with only one candidate.

The sound of one hand clapping? It’s meaningful public participation.

“The World According to Doctrine” — “Everything They Do Is Capitalized”

It was never unusual for billboard egos to hide tiny souls – but these days; it has become the usual. The exploding of the “New World Of Compassion” myth through the treatment of the elderly during the pandemic; did nothing to slow the flow of taking and using that these billboards camouflage — their owner’s sole contribution towards making a better world being: singing and dancing and presenting a “colorful” appearance.

There’s a current media promotion of “Doing Anything To Protect My Family” – and while the actions include robbing, killing, drug dealing, and fraud — respecting the individual worth of others is not on the checklist.

In extrapolating a “dogs in a pit” future: I can dimly glimpse the billboards of those who are pulling the strings of our puppet world – “Evil Recycles; But Stupidity Ends Up In The Garbage.”

It’s Our Epitaph.

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Definition: “Particularly”

Today’s tyranny is so mealy mouthed and pussyfooting that you need to clarify what is actually being said in every policy statement they make. “Particularly” is not used to give emphasis – it’s used to give special status – to create a separate, exclusive category in the hierarchy of righteousness – while at the same time pretending that it is merely expressing a preference.

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Definition: “Political Science”

Science has increasingly viewed the universe from a human perspective – greed, vanity, and arrogance – and “fact-based” science has become the silent partner in a congress of regulatory fraud.

Codifying profitable viewpoints to exclude debate and oversight is an important part of mainstream science in our disintegrating New Millennium world.

But the slow dissolution of our lives isn’t my greatest fear – what happens when the shape a disastrous reality begins to appear through the scientific smokescreen?

If what’s happening now is the result of their palliatives — what will their desperate solutions be like?

“The World According to Doctrine” — Bigoted Billboards: “Don’t do what they say”

The makers of modern social policies want you to associate them with beloved figures of equality and human worth – but not too close an association – not one that allows you to make a comparison.

Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa all believed that the only way to a future of human worth and equality was by never discriminating against others – modern social policy makers claim that discriminating against others is the only path to that future. You can’t follow someone by marching in the opposite direction — but you can carry their likenesses — in the secure knowledge that they can’t speak out.

“The World According to Doctrine” — Plea Bargaining is “Professional Courtesy”

While the victims of murder have no opportunity or ability to lessen their condition – those who kill them can cut a deal to reduce, or even eliminate the consequences of their actions – and the victim’s family is not a party to the plea bargain and has no standing to prevent it.

Giving the victims “the right to offer written input into whether a plea bargaining agreement is proper,” and “making a reasonable effort to provide them the opportunity to comment on the agreement terms”; is as meaningful an action as putting up your hand to stop a lethal bullet.

Professional courtesy generally refers to the etiquette extended between members of the same profession.

It’s a situation that places career criminals and career law enforcement on an equal footing. And the victims?

You’re a victim: get over it!

“The World According to Doctrine” — The New Normal: Obliviousness

There comes a time when you have to do something – even if you don’t know it. “Due diligence” is more than just a legal satisfaction: it’s the price of survival.

Whether it’s “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” or “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – people speak of a hard won wisdom: that we need to take care of business – before the business gets out of hand.

Preparing for the future used to part of the responsibility of adulthood; but in our adolescent society – the importance of immediacy is wrapped up in the testing of boundaries; not whether there’s food for tomorrow.

There is a tsunami of problems that will inundate every shore – and no self-righteous obliviousness can ride that wave.

If we are morphing into a society [and a world] that blames everything on the past; and won’t take responsibility for the future – the time we have left is slipping away.