All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me to be no other than human inventions, set up to enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. (Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason)
Galileo said things that were plainly true and yet the astronomers of the court did not respect him. They knew of what we now call official truth. They quietly mocked him, as they were on the correct, if not accurate side of truth. These things come to mind as we see the massive cathedrals and palaces – these buildings do not represent faith. They are about power. Who would know about Jesus were those things implanted in our minds as youth? I was afraid to be disrespectful of him a young age, and also knew about the tithe. It was the spoils of war and the tithe that built these buildings. It was power speaking.
I have little run-ins now and then on the blogs, and I hear people speak the words that power put in their brains. The swear allegiance to parties and country. They know about Washington, Jefferson, Jesus and Lincoln. Each party swears the other is dishonest. Each mirrorrs the other.
We are products of power. Our “churches” are the cathedrals of Washington. They are built with the spoils of war and tithing. Both parties believe in the buildings and the ideology they represent. If someone says that ideology is bunk, like Galileo, exile awaits. But we are gentler now. Exile means that we do not advance in our career or do not get appointments. If we are really truthful about our emperor, we are called conspiracy theorists. That is the ultimate insult. The very accusation invites ostracism, perhaps confinement to an apartment for the rest of our lives. Certainly our careers are dead, unless we learn to shut up and look at our shoes and pretend not to know things that we know.
Ellul says tha after WWII, Italy stopped doing propaganda, or at least agitprop. Propaganda can be benign, after all. Agitprop is different – it seeks action, aggression, movement towards the ideas that the state wants us to move to – invade this or that country, hate this or that group.
After the war, religion ceased to important in Italy. Today is Sunday, and the churches are empty. I wonder if the two are connected. The US is swimming in agitprop and fear with police everywhere. Everything and everyone is branded. Metal detectors are as common as hot dog vendors in Times Square. We routinlely have our possessions inspected. We are as religious as any Muslim state. We are also a police state. The trick is to make it appear as though police protect us as they watch our every move. That takes propaganda, in the form of fear; what Mencken called “hobgoblins.”
Italy is peaceful. Police are rare. People do not fear one another. We walk the narrow corridors of Venice and we are not afraid of muggers. There are no guns. I think that this what we become in the absence of agitation propaganda: peaceful, happy people. Italians are well-educated, content. There are no signs of war even as, at US insistence, Italy is part of the NATO attacks on Pakistan and Libya. You’d hardly know it. These people are not at war. They are at peace with themselves and the world.
All in the absence of fear.
Piece of Mindful 
How else could Fred Koch build Stalin’s oil refineries, and then in a blink of an eye form the “libertarian” Birch Society? Power and ideology have less connection than most think. That’s for the powerless. Politicians glide effortlessly from one “principle” to another. The more absolute the rhetoric, the more suspect one should be about the associated symbols and leaders.
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Greetings: Here in N Florida, we’re awaiting “the storm of the century”. I95N has been bumper to bumper with people fleeing north to safety for the past 2 days. Grocery shelves here are empty, picked clean by a panicked populace. 24 hr/day TV coverage showing endless videos of the hurricane and the extensive damage it has caused dominate the airwaves. “Evacuate now!!!” seems to be the rallying cry of the moment. Evacuate to where? The shelters are full, there are no rooms available between here and Tennessee, and it’s just as dangerous on the highway now as it is to ride the storm out. Yet….no one knows exactly where this storm is headed. At first, it looked like we were going to get hit. Now it’s shifted to the west coast. With any luck, it will head out to the Gulf and die there. (We survived Matthew last year; we are staying.) Yes, it’s a dangerous storm. Yes, we need to be ready. But there’s no reason to stampede the herd…and that’s exactly what it appears that those in power are doing. What keeps running through my head is something I’ve read here: “Fear makes people so much easier to control.” and panic makes it even easier. Never waste a good crisis, right? Just thoughts that have been rattling around for the past few days. Thanks for letting me add my 3¢.
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that most people are absolutely obsessed with this hurricane and have been for the past week. There’s no order to the evacuation; it’s chaotic and worse; the survival instinct kicks in and people think only about saving themselves, so they tend to act rashly. It feels like the media almost encourages the chaos – hence the “stampeding the herd” analogy. OK…I’m done now. Really. Thanks.
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