Change the World; Be Politically Incorrect
The world we live in right now is a complete mess. I often spend a lot of time on my own thinking about how we got into this mess we’re in right now. It’s a god damned tragedy that I have to be here right now trying to live my life when everything around me is just seriously messed up and working against me. And it’s not just working against me, but against all of us, whether you realize it or not, and whether you like to admit it or not. And one of the important reasons why we’re in this mess right now, is because most of our ancestors were basically cowards who only thought about their own short term interests, instead of thinking about what would be good for the long term, not only for themselves but more importantly for their children and grandchildren. Even now when I look around me, I see people behaving like this on a daily basis. People become the biggest hypocrites being politically correct in public, while secretly being aware of the truth but being too afraid to speak out and act in accordance with their conscience. In doing so they’re not only helping to perpetuate this mess we’re in, but are even making the problem a lot worse as time goes on.
In defense of our ancestors, I have to admit that they were up against a system that is fundamentally flawed and specifically designed to work against them on many levels. And they were kept dumb and ignorant on purpose and often didn’t realize how they were being manipulated. And even though we face the same issues today, we have certain advantages that make it easier to fight this system and change the world we live in. One of the important advantages that we have right now that our ancestors didn’t have are technologies such as the Internet, which enables the Global Brain which will accelerate our mental evolution and really enable us to dramatically change the world we live in.
But even with those advantages nothing is going to change if we don’t actively start to tackle all the issues we’re facing in life right now. One of the most important things that we need to do is to start openly talking about all the things that are wrong in life, that are working against us and that make life difficult for us, instead of just accepting things as they are and trying to go along with it. It’s like Steve Jobs said in the video below:
When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. But that’s a very limited life; life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. And the minute that you understand that you can poke life and that something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it, that’s maybe the most important thing: To shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just going to live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. I think that’s very important. And however you learn that, once your learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, because it’s kind of messed up in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHLmIuszMTY
From early childhood we’re being taught that we shouldn’t question things in life too much. We’re being indoctrinated with all kinds of false beliefs, and we’re taught to be obedient to the system and that we should be afraid to think differently. It’s like Michael Moore said:
As a rule, we are instructed from childhood that serious consequences shall arise if we dare to rock the boat. We learn instinctually that it is always better to go along so that we get along. To slip off the assembly line of groupthink means to risk ridicule, rejection, banishment. Being alone sucks, but being alone while you are attacked, smeared, and scorned is about the same as picking up a hot poker and jamming it in your eye. Who in their right mind would want to do that? Especially when conformity to the community offers as its reward acceptance, support, love and the chance to be comfortably numb.
David Icke said the following about this:
We laugh at sheep because sheep just follow the one in front. We humans have out-sheeped the sheep, because at least the sheep need a sheep dog to keep them in line. Humans keep each other in line. And they do it by ridiculing or condemning anyone who commits the crime — and that’s what it’s become — of being different.
But like Steve Jobs said, if we want a broader life we have to be willing to “bash into the walls.” We have to “shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and we’re just going to live in it.” We have to change life and improve it, because “it’s messed up in a lot of ways.” We have to let go of fear, forget about our own short term interests, and we have to start thinking years ahead into the future and try to create a better world for our children. And the only way that we’re really going to be able to change this mess we’re in, is to be politically incorrect a lot of the time — openly challenge all the bullshit that exists around us, point at it and constantly talk about it so that it becomes painfully obvious to everyone. Admitting that all of the issues exist and talking about them is the first step towards finding solutions. And like Michael Moore said, it’s not easy; it takes courage to do this because you’ll be risking a lot and people will often get offended. People don’t like to be reminded of the fact that they’re hypocrites who stay politically correct in public in order to protect their own selfish interests.
Dr. Benjamin Carson, a very famous brain surgeon, said the following during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in the USA in 2013:
I have discovered however in recent years that it’s very difficult to speak to a large group of people these days and not offend someone. […] The PC (Political Correctness) police are out in force at all times. We’ve reached a point where people are afraid to actually talk about what they want to say because somebody might be offended. […] We’ve got to get over this sensitivity. It keeps people from saying what they really believe. […] What we need to do in this PC world is forget about unanimity of speech and unanimity of thought and we need to concentrate on being respectful to those people with whom we disagree. And that’s when I think we begin to make real progress. And one last thing about political correctness – which I think is a horrible thing by the way – I’m very very compassionate and I’m not ever out to offend anyone. But PC is dangerous. Because you see, one of the founding principles of this country was freedom of thought and freedom of expression. And it muzzles people; it puts a muzzle on them. And at the same time it keeps people from discussing important issues while the fabric of this society is being changed. And we cannot fall for that trick. And what we need to do is start talking about things, talking about things that are important. Things that were important in the development of our nation. One of those things was education. […] Here we are at a time in the world – the information age, the age of technology – and yet 30% of people who enter high school in this country do not graduate, 44% of people who start a 4 year college program do not finish it in 4 years. What is that about? Think back to a darker time in our history 200 years ago when slavery was going on. It was illegal to educate a slave, particularly to teach him to read. Why do you think that was? Because when you educate a man, you liberate a man.
And Margaret Heffernan adds to this in an excellent TED presentation:
So how do we have these conversations more easily and more often? Well the university of Delft requires that its Ph.D. students have to submit 5 statements that they’re prepared to defend. It doesn’t really matter what the statements are about; what matters is that the candidates are willing and able to stand up to authority. I think it’s a fantastic system but I think leaving it to Ph.D. candidates is far too few people and way too late in life. I think we need to be teaching these skills to kids and adults at every stage of their development if we want to have thinking organizations and a thinking society. The fact is that most of the biggest catastrophes that we’ve witnessed rarely come from information that is secret or hidden. It comes from information that is freely available and out there but that we are willfully blind to because we can’t handle, don’t want to handle, the conflict that it provokes. But when we dare to break that silence or when we dare to see, and we create conflict, we enable ourselves and the people around us to do our very best thinking. Open information is fantastic, open networks are essential. But the truth won’t set us free until we develop the skills and the habit and the talent and the moral courage to use it. Openness isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.
So what we see here is that if we want to change the world for the better, the only way we’re going to be able to do that is by being politically incorrect; by fearlessly identifying and openly discussing all the important issues we’re facing today, and start looking for solutions. We have to let go of our fears and dare to step off what Michael Moore calls “the assembly line of groupthink.” We have to step out of the herd of sheep if we want to make a difference. We have to forget about our own short term interests and start thinking about our long term interests and especially that of our children.
Like I wrote before:
We all want to achieve things in life. But at the end, you’re going to have to ask yourself: “What personal sacrifices did I have to make to achieve all of this, and were they worth it?” And especially, you’re going to have to ask yourself what sacrifices you had to make in your personal integrity, in your beliefs and basically in the person you believed you were. How much did you have to change, perhaps to be accepted or to be regarded as part of the group, to be able to get what you wanted? And was it worth it?
Is it worth it to be afraid of what you have to lose, give up your personal integrity and stay politically correct in order to protect your interests and to be accepted in a seriously flawed society, while you look on as the world continues to deteriorate? Or would you rather like to be true to yourself, stand behind your beliefs and improve life? We have to take responsibility and clean up as much of this mess as we can right now in order for our children and grandchildren to be able to live in a much better world in the future. If we don’t, they’re going to look back at us one day and see us for the cowards that we were as they struggle to survive in a world that’ll be even more of a mess than it is right now.
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