Knowledge is a powerful
thing. In an instant it can transform
our perception of reality and every choice we make from that moment on is
influenced by an evolved awareness. It
can change the core of who we are and open gateways onto paths we never knew
existed. Once such transformative
knowledge makes contact with the mind, it cannot be erased—ignored by force of
will—but never forgotten.
There may have been a time
when the American dream was a tangible and shining possibility, a time when the
majority of U.S. citizens innocently sought their individual piece of that apple
pie ignorant of the price people in other parts of the world were forced to pay
to hoist that dream ever higher. That
time has passed.
In this age of information
overload, the blissful ignorance that fueled America’s pursuit of excess has
been made impossible for all but the most diligently uninformed. Over 100 million Americans use smart phones,
each one connected to a global knowledge base unrivaled in human history. Even the smallest deviation from mainstream
online media opens a Pandora’s box of awareness in terms of the inequality and
injustices hundreds of millions of human beings face beneath the boot heel of
the for profit motive. Of the 100
million smart phone owners, how many are aware to at least some degree that the
technology in their hands is made possible (and affordable) only by a series of
destructive business practices? Even the
ultra-mainstream media outlet CNN consistently reports on an array of labor violations
by companies such as Apple (more specifically, Foxconn Technology Group, one of
Apple's biggest manufacturing partners in China). The links below are only a few of the recent
articles appearing on CNN regarding these abuses:
Long before a single labor
violation takes place in the manufacturing of any electronic device, the
precious minerals needed to produce them are acquired by a much darker, violent
process. As stated on the website www.raisehopeforcongo.org, “The Democratic
Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly
scramble for its vast natural resources. In fact, greed for Congo’s natural
resources has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout
Congo’s tortured history.”
It is difficult to imagine
that any smart phone user at the start of 2013 is blissfully ignorant that
their super device is the product of immense human suffering and environmental
destruction. But, as they say, out of
sight, out of mind… right? Or is it? The human brain is capable of all manner of
self-delusion, whether consciously or subconsciously enacted. After all, more than 50 million Americans
continue to smoke cigarettes despite a relentless campaign to educate the
population regarding their extreme health risk.
I should know, I am one of those people.
The cigarette industry is also ripe with labor and environmental
violations. Do I experience guilt
regarding this undeniable truth?
Absolutely. What is the full
mental impact of such an awareness in the face of my inability to quit, not
only for my own benefit but in opposition to the tobacco industry’s harmful
practices? I have no real way of
knowing. When combined with the literal
tidal wave of other lifestyle luxuries I enjoy as an American that I know
originate in human misery and planetary genocide, is it any wonder I have spent
many years of my life in a state of inconsolable depression?
What has become of us? When did we become so willing to sell out our
fellow human beings for something so trivial as a drag of nicotine or a time
wasting digital App? Are we so deadened
by the rhetoric of the American dream turned nightmare that we are incapable of
standing against the “profit at all costs” mantra that is tearing humanity
apart?
I feel a deep and unrelenting shame when I attempt to grasp the scope of needless human suffering being perpetrated in the name of profit. I am ashamed because I am complicit with the monetary system responsible for it. I am ashamed because I know it is happening and still remain here, nestled in the safety of my American facade, warmed by the glow of my computer screen… one more tainted product wedged like a splinter of culpability in my mind.
I feel a deep and unrelenting shame when I attempt to grasp the scope of needless human suffering being perpetrated in the name of profit. I am ashamed because I am complicit with the monetary system responsible for it. I am ashamed because I know it is happening and still remain here, nestled in the safety of my American facade, warmed by the glow of my computer screen… one more tainted product wedged like a splinter of culpability in my mind.
We are better than this. I am better than this.
A new reality is possible,
but it must be a reality in which the very concept of profit is a foul and detestable
crime against humanity. If we are to
forge a truly civilized world in which prosperity—both for human beings and the
planet—is the primary function of our lives, it must be outside the box of the
monetary based economic system. The Venus Project is the only movement I currently know of that embraces such a
future. I urge you to visit their
website and learn how we can transition to an enlightened civilization in which
the resources of Earth are the common heritage of every human being alive, no
matter where they happen to be born. We
can no longer afford (pun intended) to ignore the extreme inequalities our
current system inspires.
We live in constant fear and
guilt; fear because others might forcibly take what we have callously horded and
reduce our lives to misery as we have done to them… guilt because we know it is
a fate we deserve for our complicity. Ignorance
was never bliss in terms of the American dream—not for those on the flipside of
that dishonest coin—and a joy so much more profound awaits us on the shores of a
long overdue cultural [r]evolution.
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