Myths Of Our Economy: "They Live" Is Fiction
The Illuminati. The "all-seeing eye". A cabal of 33th degree Freemasons rules the world. We're invaded by an inter-dimensional alien race of lizards in disguise. And all of them make us believe the Flat Earth is really a sphere...
What politicians say... source: Postard
Since we're all web-dwellers here I think I can safely assume most of you have heard of all of the above. Conspiracy-theories are almost omnipresent on the interwebs, there's no avoiding them. Sometimes they make me giggle, sometimes they make me frown and sometimes they make me laugh out loud (I mean, c'mon flat-earthers... call someone at noon on the other side of the globe you don't believe in and ask them if it's day or night... please...). All but the last one I mentioned could very well be true; I have a quite large imagination, cultivated by years of rigorous training through consumption of an overdose of science-fiction and fantasy books, films and audio-books.
But... I don't really care. Ultimately they all speak of a small minority of the planet's population making the rest of us do their bidding. And to believe just that, no conspiracy theory is needed as this hard fact can be explained by simply following the money. Not conspiracy-theories, but the capitalist market economy explains the absurdly uneven distribution of money and power we see today. If you understand how the game Monopoly works, you already have a basic understanding of capitalism's true goals; everybody is broke and one person owns all at the end of the game. In our real live version we hear and see this in the much discussed 1% that owns the lion's share of the planet's fruits. It's really just a fraction of 1%, but who's counting...
They Live - 1988 film poster. source: filmonpaper.com
Enter the 1988 movie They Live by John Carpenter, in which the earth really is invaded by aliens who secretly rule everything and everyone. The film's protagonist is played by a famous WWF wrestler of the time, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who stated, maybe jokingly, that the film is actually a documentary. Now, I have seen this film multiple times and I'm not joking when I say that the film is not a documentary, but that it does give us a realistic representation of the fact that we are ruled by a powerful elite who control the media, the tv- and the film-industry to bombard us with disinformation to keep us in agreement with their self-serving status-quo.
This is something that's just too hard to swallow for a lot of people; they just can't handle the fact that everything they believed their whole life to be true is actually a big lie. If you believe you live in a democratically ruled country, with a government by the people that works for the people, and dutifully follow the news and read the magazines to make an informed decision when time comes to cast your vote, to make your voice heard, it can be difficult to learn you've been fooled all the time.
What's on the billboards..? source: medium.com
In the movie this is represented by one of the longest one-on-one fist fights to ever grace the silver screen. Our protagonist finds a box of sunglasses that let their wearer see through all the advertisements, magazine headlines and the print on paper money, and reveal the true messages that are communicated through them subliminally: "obey", "consume", "conform", "sleep", "work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours, play 8 hours", and on money, "this is our God". When Piper invites his best friend to wear the glasses, he refuses and tells him that he's mad, that he's seeing things, just like much people in real live do when discarding the truth of their lives being controlled together with the silly conspiracy-theory that came along with that truth. They're rightfully reluctant to admit their whole lives to have been a lie. So Roddi Piper only manages to put the glasses on his friends head after that comically long fight.
Oh, the phrase "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I'm all out of bubblegum" was improvised on set by Piper and was copied by another blond bad-ass m*therfarker by the name of Duke Nukem. Just a little useless trivia there, totally free of charge ;-)
The whole foundation of the market economy is ownership. We have been made to believe that owning a piece of "the pie" is normal. Not only because we think we have to own things to be able to use them, but mainly because without ownership there would be nothing to trade, so no trading. Without trading there would be no competition, without competition there would be no progression, be it in technology or in human capabilities. And without all that we would come to a full stop, or at the very least be reduced to a slow crawl instead of the leaps and bounds we make by competing with one another. Right? This is what most of you believe to be true.
What's in the magazines..? source: youtube.com
Well, I'm afraid it isn't. The equation already fails at the very start, with ownership. That pie you own a piece of is really the planet, immediately reducing our now world-encompassing economy to a literal planet-wide game of Monopoly and it therefore should be a surprise to no one that we have that damn 1% to contend with. If you're of the anarcho-capitalist or voluntarism persuasion: I admire your goals of freedom but you too easily forget that ownership equates to power. I like thought experiments to make things clearer so... Let's say I buy 1 square meter of ground, in the middle of the Brazilian rain-forest, then the truth of me having power won't be clear right away. But let's dig deeper, literally; how deep into the ground does my "ownership" go? Is it all mine, until we reach the planet's core?
And in the other direction: how high does my "ownership" reach? Well, high enough to make airplanes take ridiculous routes because they're not allowed to cross someone's "air space"... sigh... Does it at least begin to dawn on you how ridiculous this is? Let's take it one step further. There are orchids growing on my little square meter of Brazilian jungle. Upon closer inspection it proves to be a very rare species, so rare in fact that it quickly is made famous in newspapers around the world because it is even the very last of it's kind known to be alive on Earth. And I own it. Since I'm the curious type I invite a bunch of scientists to examine the plant and they discover something wonderful: the leaves contain a substance that is the key ingredient for a cure against aids or cancer. How powerful am I now?
Aside from the simple fact that I have the power to refuse anyone acces to my square meter of ground, which gives birth to the need for heavy regulations and lawmaking, I now am ruler over life and death for countless people and I know they'll be willing to pay almost anything for access to my ground. Ownership has given me power. Unlimited power, to quote Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars Episode III...
This is the world we have let "them" make for us while "they" keep us asleep with dreams of joining their ranks some day and fantasies of nation-states that need protection from our young sons and daughters who are instead sent to strange places to kill unknown people to ensure the continued growth of an economy that serves a vast minority of earthlings. The orchid-monopoly I described in my thought experiment is real; there are monopolies in all major industries, including the entertainment industry and most notable in banking and the issuance of money.
We really need to pull a mental switch, wake up from the constant bombardment of disinformation targeted at our minds from all angles. Ask yourself, why do you believe something ridiculous like competition is better than cooperating. Competition is now our biggest hindrance for true progression. I still remember how hard I laughed at a Ford commercial from around 2000 or 2001, where one of the first self-parking cars was presented as something new. Please. We launched rockets with little self-guiding robots called "rovers" to Mars in the seventies... New for us that technology, not new per se. New for us because 2000 was the moment the markets decided we could afford and use that technology. New operating systems for computers are released only if and when copies of previous versions have made enough profits. We can make panty-hoses that never tear, but the scientists who developed the unbreakable nylons were sent back by the owners of the factories with words like "do you want us to go broke? customers will buy these once only and never come back! make us something they have to replace every month, or better yet, after one night out!" Ever heard of the "light-bulb conspiracy"? Look it up, but forget the "conspiracy" part and wear Roddi's sunglasses. It's the economy, stupid!
Livermore's Centennial Light Bulb. source: Wikipedia
Evidence suggests that the bulb has hung in at least four locations. It was originally hung in 1901 in a hose cart house on L Street, then moved to a garage in downtown Livermore used by the fire and police departments. When the fire department consolidated, it was moved again to a newly constructed City Hall that housed the unified departments.
Its unusual longevity was first noticed in 1972 by reporter Mike Dunstan. After weeks of interviewing people who had lived in Livermore all their lives, he wrote "Light Bulb May Be World's Oldest", published in the Tri-Valley Herald. Dunstan contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and General Electric, who all confirmed it as the longest-lasting bulb known in existence. The article came to the attention of Charles Kuralt of the CBS-TV program On the Road with Charles Kuralt.
In 1976, the fire department moved to Fire Station #6 with the bulb; the bulb socket's cord was severed for fear that unscrewing the bulb could damage it. It was deprived of electricity for only 22 minutes during the transfer, which was made in a specially designed box and with full firetruck escort. An electrician was on hand to install the bulb into the new fire station's emergency generator. Ripley's Believe It Or Not stated that the short delay would not mar the bulb's continuous burning record. Since that move, the bulb has run continuously on an uninterruptible power supply; previously it had only been off the grid for short periods of time (e.g. a week in 1937 for a renovation and the odd power outage). In 2001, the bulb's 100th birthday was celebrated with a community barbecue and live music.
source: Wikipedia - Centennial Light
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"Competition is now our biggest hindrance for true progression."
Yes and yes and slap that table like Meg Ryan.
I've never heard of that lightbulb. What a doozie. A perfect illustration for what you're talking about. Thanks for this happifying post. A good thing to read on a sunny cold Friday afternoon with the anticipation of the weekend and a break in feeling awful for me.
So many of our problems are really just problems of configuration.
You make me blush... you make me laugh... :-)
But yes: that was a great movie to!
Thanks for a wonderful reaction, @sue-stevenson ;-)
Great writing. They Live is an incredible movie. Its some kind of psychedelic fascism, they over stimulate our lizard brains, telling us happiness can be found in possesions. So although yes, those at the top take advanatage of base instinct, it is up to the people to change the world by realizing these illusions you write about so eloquently. Your posts are a step in the right direction. Thanks.
Thanks so much, @soundwavesphoton! It is up to us, you're right... Not easy to do though; it's easy for me to say and theorize about how I think we should change our perspectives, but it's a lot harder to actually "be the change you believe in." We should support each other doing it, and that's where little communities like @helpies come in play: you and all others I've met there are on the right track, you're all an example for me to strife for.
So, thank you @soundwavesphoton, for reading and commenting on this post; I really do appreciate that a bunch! :-)
Hope the local video store has a copy of THEY Live :)
I buy old appliances, clothes, gadgets, etc because they do work and continue to work, just like that lightbulb :)
Have to admit it took two new toasters before I found one from the fifties that will really burn the toast if I want it to. And, my blender was $5 and can chop through anything! I know, I know, consuming, but not as much.
Thank you @kimberlylane! Not only for showing interest and responding, but also for sharing how you cope with all this focus on consumption. I also stopped buying new stuff all the time and keep using the same things as long as possible. I think this is very good and sound advice, so thanks for adding that to the conversation!
And yes: I do hope you get the chance to watch They Live, not spectacular like the audio-visual fests we've been spoiled with in recent years, but a cult-classic with a message that's even more important now then when the movie was made.