Manfred,
Are we ever on the same wavelength!
That is precisely my view and it is what I've tried to tell my children for years. The great enslavement is ignorance and dependence on the powers that be.
That theme permeates my NOWHERE MAN.
In CONFIDENT THINKING, I have a small segment where I address the difference between "rights and privileges": education isn't a right; it is a privilege.
In so many ways, I've tried to show my children that by being in debt, by purchasing beyond their means, by being conspicuous consumers, they make themselves counterdependent on the Establishment for their total well being, slaves to the state.
The people with the power have always been the educated, the ones who did not necessarily invent the tools but who control the tools with their expertise. They see to that.
The drone of television, the Internet, the constant cell phone in your ear, the BlackBerry in your hand or iPod have become mainly toys of distraction to keep the natives off balance and easily controlled. They think they are independent when they are anything but.
Yes, these are great tools, but what are people talking about walking everywhere with either a cell phone or a Walkman in their ear? Or why is Google up 90 percent in profits this quarter? People have a new narcotic, "surfacing the Internet," and can waste a way their time, sometimes for hours, just browsing.
My children think I'm too serious, too much a fuddy dud, too focused on my mania to get these words out before by thinking machine dies.
And it is all because I know the game being played on my kind, people who come in at the bottom of the food chain, and are content to stay there as long as they have their cigarettes, beers, drugs, fancy cars, and a few dances on the side to keep them in some kind of dependence, fueling national economy in mainly waste products.
Excess is bad only because it represents waste, and waste puts us little people in jeopardy, and more easily controlled by the powers-that-be.
One of my correspondents says that it is good that I write or I would go mad. That is a way of not taking me seriously or pondering what I am trying to say, implying I am only saying it because, indeed, I am mad.
I am not important. But the vehicle of my expression is through my own empiricism. Author Philip Kerr sings my sentiment when he says, "To be empirical is to be guided by experience, not by sophists, charlatans, priests, and demagogues."
That is my point and has always been my point. What is important, it seems to me, is to see that we are willingly cooperating with the corporate Pied Pipers as they march us over the cliff and into the sea. Well, my role is to say, "Hey, little people, oblivion is just beyond. Is that what you want?"
One final note to illustrate my point. Bill Moyer of National Public Television had a show on TV recently about the Internet. We invented it but are losing the race because other countries, especially Europe and the Far East have digitized it independent of the phone companies at a reasonable cost with fast and sophisticated imagery and easy access that is not available in the US. And why?
The phone companies promised to invest in this technology in the 1990s, and didn't. Now, they want to charge us for its construction, then charge us again as subscribers for using it, while at the same time maintaining total control of the process. It is as Bill Moyer put it making the Information Highway a toll road instead of a free accessible Interstate Highway.
People will pay it. The phone companies know this. Because people are addicted to their toys and they will sacrifice food, clothing, shelter and health to see that they have them.
My children know that I go to great lengths never to pay top dollar for anything; that I try to think ahead to avoid that disadvantage. I don't have a lot of credit cards because I know if you are late ONE TIME on any one of them, everyone one of them across the board jacks up the interest rate and you cannot do a thing about it.
No, I didn't become educated to flatter myself that I am special, or that I am "one of them." Or that because I have a couple dollars I should spend them on things they say are important and I see that they are not. I educated myself to defend myself against them, recognizing that I am still a little people but they don't own me much as they continue to try.
Be always well, and God Bless You, my dear friend,
Jim
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Forwarded Message:
Date: 10/20/2006 1:02:16 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: Manfred Fiedler, Germany
Dear Jim,
The facts about schooling in the past are very inpressive compared with today.
Sometimes one could get suspicious it could be by ourpose that the governments and industry keeps the intelligence level low, to get uncomplicated followers and cheap workers.
Manfred
Background: This process started when I was looking for some material and made a request for help. I contacted the Clinton Public Library in Clinton, Iowa and was given access almost immediately to the material. This was my memo to advise them of this fact.
Friends:
As you know, I am writing this book called CONFIDENT THINKING and I was just writing about the dumbing down of American society, when I wanted to reference this work that I saw a few years ago, and know I have in my study somewhere. Well, I have not been able to continue, contacting all of you, and then rummaged again through manuscripts and archives to no avail. I finally decided to contact the Clinton Public Library, and its Root Cellar where archives are kept. Sure enough, I was given assistance posthaste, and now I can continue.
Thank you for your desire to help. I contacted Fran Buelow in the Root Cellar, and she was able to help me immediately. In fact, she faxed the two pages to me in minutes after we talked. Can't get much better than that. So, I have the information and it is impressive. Small wonder our hometown has such a rich tradition. Be always well,
Jim
PS In case you are wondering, the classical course for high school students at Clinton High at the turn of the century (1900 - 1905) included German, Latin, mathematics, four years of English, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, physiography, botany and zoology. Between 1910 - 1915, manual training, domestic science, a commercial course, music, and public speaking were added. Sporadically (the article's word) additions included agriculture, journalism, art and mechanical drawing. There were no electives. AND THESE WERE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!
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