It’s been said that the greatest enemy of democracy is corruption. And when the very idea of democracy has been corrupted; we are without compass on a dangerous path.
Once more we must win through what we thought was behind us.
Evil recycles,
Doug Baird, Cornithaca County, September 25, 2023
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJXGKDCF/
Next month? Next year? It’s coming! You can feel it in the air. It’s not smoke from Canadian wildfires that’s fogging the air and keeping people indoors. It’s a Doctrine of privilege and hate.
More bumper stickers; less space. More of your thoughts – no text added. Does thinking increase or reduce stress? It adds some stress of course — but it helps to remove that “Oh, My God!” moment — and increases your lifespan.
The very word “greater” is emblematic of the reversal of the 1960’s vision of equality for all. Everyone and everything is now categorized and treated differently: according to the dictatorial vision of a government that refuses to answer the questions of citizens; or acknowledge their individual worth.
Important. There, I said it. “Important” is the slide-to-the-side avoidance of openly announcing the corruption and cronyism at the heart of our government’s decision making process. “They are important because . . .” And while Tompkins County’s corporations, institutions, and selected groups are Important – Cornell is IMPORTANT.
But how can they get away with this “methodology of muchness”?
There is no room here for even a discussion of “Urban Colonialism” and its practices – but I’ll give you one example: Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice is mapped to Census Tracts; but Census Tracts are mapped to population: so, in rural areas, these tracts are very large. Large enough to contain the rezoned lakefront homes of Cornell’s affluent elite – and the rural poor living in a trailer park miles away. [By “trailer park” I mean a row of single-wides in a field with a dirt road.] It’s an urban methodology that blends away rural poverty and marginalization into non-existence — and it’s an important tool in Urban Colonialism’s expansion.
I wanted to get this out for the Labor Day weekend – before school starts up for the fall. It’s based on the “Obey! OK?” Cornithaca County warning sign – and played: 1, 2-3, 4, 5-6, 7, 8-9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14-15, 16, 17.
The finished page will include a suitable doctrinal rhyme, of course. Maybe something like: “One is for the doctrine that protects you — Two is for you doubly to take care — Three is for the sign that you’re conspiring — Four is for the footsteps on the stair . . .”
Everything must be passed for suitability. The pretense of caring has never been more artificial than in the post-recent-Pandemic days. It’s almost as if what we used to consider humanity has been reimagined in its most Darwinian and mechanistic terms. Compassion is a tool for acquiring; and empathy is a fable for the reality impaired. Art, music, and literature are no longer a means of creation; but of replication – a mechanism covered with human skins. One Thought – One Taught – One Voice – One Choice. One — and then none. “Under New Management” and “Going Out of Business” in a single generation.
Education has become a clerical job: and all the bureaucracy has come along with it. No more fellow students saying: “You got a hard teacher!” – everybody grades the same, everybody teaches the same, every student is taught to conform. Even “diversity” is limited to that which conforms to a strict definition and even more restrictive categorization. We’ve created a society of Skinner Box kids; where thinking “out of the box” is strictly “off the shelf.” How can you meet the challenges of the future when you can’t even meet the challenges of the present? In a pass/fail reality – we’ll just have to do the last millennium all over again. “Bring out your dead.”
Tompkins County’s Progressive government has progressed beyond democracy and representation — to a flat-out dictatorship. Citizens get to attend “Public Hearings” – where they get to hear what will happen; and submit comments – that are filed and stored and then discarded to make room for more comments. Take it or leave it; there’s nothing you can do about it. “Questions? . . . We’ve had trouble with you before. . .
It’s all stonewalling and pushback when rural residents try to implement traffic control measures. The same County that enforces a maximum speed limit of 30 mph on all roads traveling through the City of Ithaca; refuses to post any limits in their County-controlled rural roads. And in spite of the accidents and entreaties of residents: they have refused to patrol these roads – encouraging an ever-increasing flood of reckless workers, students, and commercial vehicles who know they’ll never get a ticket. Even with documented evidence of the most blatant disregard of law and human life – the have never once acknowledged that there is a problem. They sit there like stone-faced judges in a wall of indifference. They covet our land — without us. Urban Colonialism.
Like a circular saw with a sinus headache: you squeeze your eyes shut in reflex – but it makes no difference. Today’s aggressive insistence on doctrinal thinking is not just a buzz in the background – it’s a tool that can cut off your . . . lifestyle. So, if you can’t get to the switch — pull the plug!