What’s even worse is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Imagine living on a planet where everybody had their basic needs met: it might seem beyond our gasp, but our species has both the potential and the resources to create this type of existence. However, we need to change as human beings, from the inside out, in order for this to happen. We also have to tackle the monopoly of the corporations and the big banks, who use our elected officials as puppets and as entertainment; we must take away their control over our world.
While we struggle with this conditioned servitude, we are also brainwashed on a daily basis through mass marketing. Corporations today literally dictate what we think we want and need. They control our thoughts and desires, and as a result we continue to consume and they continue to expand, through globalization, at an alarming rate. They wield a tremendous amount of power; they can essentially program us like robots.
And the programs they create do not merely motivate and perpetuate our desire for material wealth, but also govern our perception of what is happening on our planet. This has been going on for decades, and represents one significant reason why our planet is in such a desperate condition. Why do we all desire the same things? Why are these ‘things’ seen as symbols of necessity and success? Why do we need to consume more and more, and why do some feel like outsiders when they cannot (or will not) do so?
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
– Edward Bernays (“the father of public relations”), Propaganda, 1928
Is this what we’ve really become? A race of people wanting things? Whether it’s a house, a car, or other material goods, our desire for ‘stuff’ has consumed our lives to the point where we have stopped paying attention to the planet, and what’s actually happening to it. As a result, we have become collectively ignorant, without any clue of what’s going on behind the scenes and little desire to know, because that would force us to accept uncomfortable truths — and perhaps even step outside our comfort zones and change.
“There are essentially only two drugs that Western civilization tolerates: Caffeine from Monday to Friday to energize you enough to make you a productive member of society, and alcohol from Friday to Monday to keep you too stupid to figure out the prison that you are living in.”
– Bill Hicks
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/05/11/if-this-video-doesnt-wake-you-up-make-you-think-nothing-else-will/