Humanity Shares More Commonalities Than Differences - Lets Stop Drawing Lines In The Sand
Dividing our country is a game fostered on us by the ruling class to draw us into a false debate that corrals us into demanding a change from a situation purposely created for just such a reaction. Stop falling for it. The truth is, we don't really have enemies anymore, just the illusion of enemies.
I have been out of the country for 10 years living in Mexico and since I've returned to the United States I have noticed some disturbing trends bent on dividing the people of our country into opposing each other on as many fronts one could imagine.
Perhaps it has always been that way, seeing how we are a country made up of immigrants from all nations, and only my hiatus away from the national dialog for the last decade has made me more aware of the divides fed to us through the media, like a daily dose of poison.
I have traveled this great planet, visiting many cultures, and have yet to encounter any of the horrible people our media ensured me I would encounter there.
When I was in the military in Germany and there were protests against the US because we were bringing Cruise missiles into their country, our commander informed us of some towns that were off- limits to military personnel due to safety concerns.
These were my favorite places to frequent and I disobeyed and went not only to those towns but to the demonstrations against our actions. The Germans knew I was a US soldier and never did I feel threatened by them. On the contrary, I felt welcomed and encouraged to listen to their concerns.
When I went to Chiapas and visited with the Zapatistas, who our media portrayed as terrorists and the entire region as dangerous, I saw only kindness and giving people who had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the possibility of encountering any danger in the area.
When airports blocked all flights from the US to Mexico for three weeks due to a swine flu epidemic that did not exist and was not reported in any other country and just happened to be reported in the US the moment President Obama concluded a meeting with the Mexican President, I realized the media is playing us.
I could go on and on with examples of stories we are told by the press that were complete fictions in reality and it's embarrassing how gullible our population has become, but my point is we are being played for fools.
Why our media jumps at the opportunities to showcase our differences rather than similarities, I'll leave to the political scientists, philosophers, conspiracy theorists and academics to discuss, but let me take this opportunity to remind everyone of our commonality.
We are not each other's enemies and share more commonality than differences. We all love liberty and our children and families. We all love clean air and water and basic human decency. We all want a better future and to live our lives in peace. We all have some profound wisdoms to offer the world and traditions worth cherishing.
Our differences should be celebrated, not turned into battleground issues. Differences is what makes humanity unique and stronger. As an analogy, imagine if only one musical instrument was allowed to be played and all other instruments ridiculed or banned. How boring our music would become. It's only through the different timbres and tones that music delivers such profound experiences to us.
No one disputes this, but our media is painting an entirely different picture that draws us into a debate based on false perceptions and leads us into taking sides on issues that we agree on in principle.
We as humans need to understand that just because the news says something does not make it the truth. I have come to understand that the louder the media says something is true, the more likely it is not the case. They are force feeding us a narrative that is designed to divide us because people are easier to control when they are divided.
Saying people are easier to control when they are divided is not a conspiracy, it's the oldest, proven trick in the world leaders playbook and the only way to counter it is to constantly remind yourself of our similarities, instead of our differences.
I'm very thankful to the Mexican people who showed me only goodwill and kindness in every corner of their country, even as my home government reported false news about their people. They never directed any hate in my direction for the sins of my country and instead celebrated our similarities and differences.
We are the human race and we can work together for the benefit of all, so don't buy the stories you hear on the news. They're designed to misinform and divide us and they are making us sick.
We cannot let that happen, for if it does, our government can justify using violence to contain our unrest. Stop listening to news that divides us further. Spit out the poison they try to feed you and consume what we have in common as humanity. Do this and we will nourish ourselves with an unshakable understanding that we, the people, are all on the same side and only the medias' rhetoric would have you believe otherwise.
There is no enemy, except for the unrest within ourselves.
Thank you @luzcypher, you just reminded me why I am so happy to be part of the #steem community.
It is a unique, diverse and interesting community to be part of.
Very much so!
@luzcypher well written words and an excellent choice of the African proverb.
I think many of us have felt this way. While I did not vocalize it directly, I think part of what has caused the division in this country specifically is the hyphenated american syndrome (African-American, Irish-American, Mexican-American, etc.) and then the further subdivisions along, a host of other things (ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc). This serves to carve all of us up into smaller and smaller groups which are easier to manipulate and control. We have systematically de-funded education for decades and replaced lessons geared to create critical thinkers with standardized testing which promotes no critical thought whatsoever. We attempt to marginalize complex problems into five second soundbytes when a larger, deeper discussion needs to be had.
I think as Americans, we have lost our sense of common heritage and it's what inspired my American Heritage series. What is so unique to our heritage is we are a nation of immigrants and so our heritage is the heritage shared by all immigrants. Every achievement. Every accomplishment. Every freedom. Every dream. All of it. We are all Americans and we all share that heritage all the way back to the founding of the American colonies.
When I look at America now, I see something similar to a person who was once confident and very successful at their trade and somewhere along the way, they had a major mishap. The negative voices of doubt and fear make this person hesitate and doubt their abilities over and over, even though a past track record exists showing they can do it. All this person needs is a taste of success to reinforce their confidence and they can become that all star again.
As long as there is fear, doubt and mistrust between each of us along these bullshit hyphenations and subgroups within subgroups, it acts the same way as the negative voices of doubt and fear within the head of the once great man. Reinforcing that fear and doubt take the power away from us all and serves the interests of those who benefit from it the most, leaving us all a shadow of what we could be.
My hope is we can all begin to understand our American Heritage and begin to look at what is common to us all.
You're exactly correct in saying that part of what has caused division is hyphenation. I'm enforcing my own policies of seeing how similar we all really are and spreading my own propaganda of unity to counteract the divisive forces working against us. We obviously have more in common with each other then we are led to believe and I'm done buying the bullshit they're selling.
Beautiful proverb choice and wonderful insight. We are our own perpetuating enemies indeed.
Agreed, you are quite the traveler, of the world, space, and time. I really enjoy reading the stories of your life. So this is very good input. Thank you for sharing your insight, it has become something I look up to and look forward to.
Thank you for seeing the light.
Nice. I really appreciate this article. Resteemed.
Thanks for resteeming.
if we are all equal we are no longer individuals/
Beautiful article. Thank you for saying this.
Unfortunately, Peace , love and happiness is not very newsworthy." Why don't we manufacture a panic then nobody will have the time to scrutinize what we are really doing"
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Damn, we need that wisdom. The trouble is, we humans tend to like a good battle. Why else would competitive sports be so popular? That drive is almost certainly inbuilt.
But as the competitive-sports point implies, we also have ways of restraining ourselves by compartmentalizing the fighting urge. ("Okay, it's over; let's all shake hands.") Some of those restraints, we've lost along the way (cough)politics(cough).
Funny how politics is becoming more and more of a blood-sport....
Interestingly, the libertarians have an easy answer to the above conundrum: The bigger the government, the more it affects your very life; the more it affects your life, the more deadly serious politicking becomes.
On the other hand, it could be that too many of us have too much time to waste. :)
That drive is built into us, that's exactly how we are being manipulated with fear. We can just as easily condition ourselves to embrace and honor diversity through repeatedly reminding ourselves of our commonalities.