We Can Be Heroes

I don't get sick very often, but when I do, it is invariably a whopper.  This weekend has been marked by a particularly nasty flu.  It started with lung goo, then sneezing fits, then high fever and body aches, then sinus nastiness.  Hopefully, I've reached the other side now, but it was not fun.  What was most interesting to me was the way each phase of the bug was so distinct and seemed to be following a schedule.  There was hardly any overlap, just one part stopped and the next part started.

All of which naturally led me to think about superheroes.  You expected that, right?

Anyway, I've been pondering superheroes while laying in bed moaning in pain and misery.  I've never been a comic book reader and had very little interest in superheroes as a kid, though I've always had a fondness for Batman, because he was human - no super powers, just intellect and a bottomless budget.

The current superhero craze began with Sam Ramey's Spiderman, which came out in 2002, one year after 9/11.  Since then, it has reached a fever pitch with Marvel and DC battling it out at the box office, with Marvel apparently kicking a good bit of ass in that regard.  The fact that the superhero craze started post-9/11 will become important in a moment.

Basically, superheroes are part of a very long tradition of human storytelling that includes the Indian Greek, and Norse myths.  Humans apparently need to believe in god-like creatures that are both protagonists and antagonists.  Humans generally feel so helpless in the face of Universe that we need superhuman beings to explain why bad things happen, and to protect us from the worst of Nature and ourselves.

What I find most disturbing with the current craze is the fact that a great number of the characters are created by the government/military, and that nearly all of them work for the government.  In a subtle way, we are being told that government is so powerful that it is capable of taming even demi-gods.  The message is also that we little people are so helpless that we can only cower in the corner and let the government agents take care of us.

This creates an image of dependency.  Very subtly, we are told that we are incapable of handing our own affairs.  We must submit to the greater wisdom of government and trust that it has everything under control, including all the mutants and demi-gods needed to handle the problems.

The two superheroes I can tolerate, Batman and Ironman, are genius-level humans who are insanely rich.  So far, I am down with it, but then both are portrayed as having become insanely rich via government contracts, developing technology us little people are incapable of handling.  Furthermore, both characters have their government "handlers," such as Commissioner Gordon and Colonel Rhodes.

Why not characters like Dick Tracey, who used a network of street kids to feed him information or set up traps for the bad guys?  Suppose Batman or Ironman empowered these forgotten parts of society by putting them to work and giving them purpose.  Why is government the only "safe" way to utilize superheroes?

The answer is obvious.  We are being programmed to submit to government as being the all-powerful entity that keeps us safe and secure by utilizing its control over superheroes.

I do strange things - which is likely a shock to readers here - like watch superhero movies just to see how the masses behave.  All those extras in the background tell a whole story in themselves.  They are always screaming and panicking and don't have the sense to duck when necessary.  They are all basically helpless sheep that are absolutely dependent on government and superheroes (one and the same really) to save them from just about everything.

So, this is a rather jumbled set of thoughts, which closely follows the state of my brain at the moment.  In any case, if you like superheroes and want to see the origin of many of them, go read the Mahabharata.  My person favorite is Gatotkaca, who is basically the Incredible Hulk, with blue skin and the ability to change size, and who - unlike Superman - gets his power at night rather than during the day.

I apologize for the ramblings.  Hard to think straight at the moment.  Take these thoughts as you will and next time you queue up to see the new Avengers  or X-Men flick, realize that superheroes are very old in our collective culture, but that the current direction is actually training you to turn over your personal power to the all-wise, all-knowing government.  Might change you experience a bit.

Now back to bed.

By the way, the best superhero movie I've ever seen is M. Night Shamalamadingdong's Unbreakable.  It is also the only movie he ever made that is worth sitting through the entire thing.

A Superhero Without Really Trying

"I'm beginning to think I'm invincible," came the first message as I got off the plane.  It was quickly followed by, "I survived Y2K, bird flu, 9/11, rapture 1 & 2, and now the Mayan Apocalypse!"

It was my Canadian bud feeling cocky with a new lease on life.

"Don't forget the planetary alignment of 1982, the swine flu and the Asian Contagion," I shot back.

Indeed, those of us of a certain age can boast that we have survived the End of the World as We Know It so many times now, it's getting rather passe.  I may even stop prepping, since if the end comes in the first half of next year, I won't care because I've dodged the bullet so many times I'm ready to surrender to the next shot fired.

I became a 'prepper' at an early age.  I was still in swaddling clothes when Hurricane Carla tore up Houston in 1961.  Then there were the double hurricanes in the early 70s.  Then Alicia, Rita, Katrina, and a half dozen other big storms.

I've side-stepped tornadoes and water spouts, earthquakes, wild-ass lightning storms, floods, and landslides.  And let's not forget the Munich bombing in 1980, or being shot at on the Afghan/Iran border the day the American hostages were taken when the Shah fell.

I've been in knife fights (I brought a gun...duh), nearly fallen 800 feet off a cliff and almost died from dysentery in Paris.  A little thing like the Mayan calendar ending ain't gonna stop me.

My bud was right...with all the apocalypses we've all survived, I think it's about time to admit we're all either dead and this is what hell looks like, or we're really immortals living out a Highlander existence.  Not sure about the latter.  I need to behead someone first to test the theory.

Here in Jakarta, it kind of seemed like the end of the world.  Beginning Friday evening, there was an epic rain for three days with severe flooding all over the city, leaving everything in gridlock.  As usual, I dodged that one by being 500 km away enjoying a lovely time eating Javanese food and hanging out in the mountains.  I did see Jesus there, but he was already dead, so nothing to fear on that account.  As for Muhammad, Buddha and Shiva, they were all missing in action.

No clouds parting, no stars falling, no whores of Babylon being eaten by dragons while drinking the blood of martyrs.  No seals were broken, no galaxies aligned.  No global coastal events.  And as far as I know, the sea is still blue-green, or at least the part that I flew over today.

The way I figure it, the Earth has been spinning around the Sun, according to best guestimates, for 4.5 BILLION years.  Odds are pretty good that it will go on spinning for another 5 billion or so.  About the worst thing we puny little humans can do is wipe ourselves out, but it won't be the end of the world.  We'll just be some cool bones buried deep in the bowels of the Earth for whatever creatures come after to dig up.

Hell, they'll probably tell themselves that oil comes from our rotting carcasses.  They might even theorize that we were wiped out by a giant meteor with a weird name.  Hopefully, though, they won't have a Mayan calendar to spook themselves with.

Those of us in the 50+ category have now survived at least a half-dozen apocalypses.  It's our job now to teach the younger generation to stop all the BS and start thinking about the future...as in making it better and not always wishing for some deus ex machina to come along and clean up our mess.  It's too easy to give up and hope for a supernatural 'do over'.  The real task is to realize we're on our own and our future is ours to make.  There won't be gods riding in on clouds, or ETs with miracle technology, or whatever dream team you believe in.

As a species, we are rounding adolescence and heading straight for adulthood.  Our parents, whatever we think they are, aren't there to clean up our rooms for us anymore.  It's time we grow up and take responsibility for our own actions.  We can't hide behind mama's skirt forever.  We now know our place in the Universe and it's time we get out there and start making something of ourselves.

Yup, we're all superheroes now.  We've dodged bullets, leaped tall buildings and outrun locomotives.  So, time to download or get off the pot.  We're still here, for better or worse.  Let's, gor God's sake, start focusing on the 'better' part of things.

IronBatSpiderHulk To The Rescue!

Do you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus, the 12th Imam, the Meshiach, benign aliens from Planent 9, or superheroes?

If you answered "yes" to any one of these, then you are a victim of mind control and should proceed immediately to detox your mind.

It's like this, if some group of elite can make you truly believe in some outside force that will show up in a blaze of glory and set everything to rights, then you won't do anything to protest the elites' machinations.  Rather, you will sit idly by fervently praying for your hero to arrive and whisk you away while cleaning house here on Earth.  Whether your hero is a god/man wielding righteous indignation, a benevolent race of extraterrestrials, or a billionaire playboy-turned-philanthropist, all these characters trigger your wait-and-see mode.  That way, you won't get in the way of the ruling class as they enslave and destroy our, as of this moment, only home.

I've never had much use for Karl Marx, but one thing I have always respected was his view and the use of religion to placate the masses and prevent them from taking matters into their own hands.

The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

  --Kart Marx, 1843, Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right from the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher

A careful reading of this quote reveals some profound insights.  He points out that religions are at once foisted on people, while at the same time they are a reaction against cruelty of humanity against itself.  Ultimately, religion rechannels our basic impulse to right wrongs, by short-circuiting that impulse into some future outside justification event.

By buying into these programs, we are rendered inactive, like blowing smoke on bees when robbing the hive.  Regardless of the religious origin of the "righteous revolution," we see it in many secular movements, as well.

The secular versions recast the reformer(s), but the basic storyline is the same: don't take matters into your own hands.  Leave that for the "righteous experts" who are far better equipped to handle these things.  Whether it's Batman or the Avengers, or greys or aryans, or even, as Clif High rightly pointed out in a recent interview on Red Ice Creations, the David Wilcock/Benjamin Fulford scenario of the Yakuze arresting all the banksters, we are powerless lumps of flesh incapable of handling our own affairs.

As Marx so eloquently states, we see the evil and suffering caused by injustice, but we are indoctrinated to believe that we can not capable of fighting such things.  Instead, we turn to outside forces who will come someday to vanquish the foes, avenge the downtrodden and set things right once again.  In a sense, this is opium to ease the pain of our inaction and impotence.

In many ways, Marxism and its spawn spring from an impulse to stop the suffering of humanity, but even Marx is derailed by his reliance on some organization to inflict change from above.  In fact, history shows us that any organization, no matter what motivates it, can be perverted to serve the elite power structure.

Whether it's Tea Parties or Occupiers, socialists or capitalists, christians or muslims, all group efforts can and are ultimately suborned to the cause of those who would subjugate humanity.  Without fail, all are infiltrated and redirected, while at the same time the members continue to believe that they are doing right.  In every case, the groups are placated by small and meaningless concessions from on high, and so feel that they have succeeded in the midst of their failure.

There is only one sure way to completely vanquish the forces of evil and secure justice for all.  It comes down to complete and personal responsibility for one's actions, and allowing everyone to do as they please within the confines of their bodies and property.

The first and deadliest fallacy of any group effort is that the group knows what's best for all others.  In the end, all groups believe that theirs is the only way to find peace and justice, and proceed to ram it down everyone else's throats.  In doing so, the group feels justified though they have simply traded places with the previous bad guys.

The only possible way to fix things is for everyone to pursue enlightenment in whatever way works best for them within the confines of self and home, and leave everyone else the hell alone.  Any system of law, no matter how wonderful and divine its apparent revelation, involves forcing someone somewhere at gun point to adhere to that system.  And since all use of force in inherently immoral, then all governments and systems of law are immoral is they have one single person who is forced to follow.

Marx, like so many others before and since, sought to replace one set of elites with another.  No matter how benevolent the new elite seem, at some point they will seek force to control others, and so devolve into the enemy of free choice and justice.

As Roger Daltry famously warbled, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." 

Anything which subverts the quest of the individual to be left alone and to pursue his or her own course is opium for the masses.  By passing the responsibility off to some outside savior, we hand over our own wills to create our own paradise.  If we create something good, then others will want to join.  But if they are forced to follow, then the leader is no better than any other elite throughout history.

Most importantly, we need to stop allowing others to stop our natural impulse for freedom by promising us pie in the sky saviors who will never materialize, and will simply continue to evolve as old ones fade away.

John Dalberg-Acton told us that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  He failed to mention that there is one power that is incorruptible, and that is power over Self.  If we limit ourselves to conquering our Selves, there is no room for corruption, since we are prevented from forcing others into our world.

Just to prove that you are now cured of mind control, watch this snippet of a nightly newscast.  If it no longer has power over you, then you will see the truth behind it...

 

Or we can depend on billionaire playboys popping up to rescue us, but frankly looking at Bill Gates doesn't inspire hope.

Power Is A Put-On

In the past few years, there has been a virtual tidal wave of superhero movies.  I confess to enjoying them.  I particularly like Batman.  Always have.  I like that he doesn't have super-powers.  I like Iron Man for the same reason.

But superhero movies and comic books teach us something.  They implant strong symbolic messages deep in our psyches.  In fact, one really enjoyable film is M. Night Shyamalan's 'Unbreakable,' with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.  It gets into a lot of the meta-types and symbols in comincs.

There's something in particular that I notice about the comics.  Superheros have one particular weakness that no one ever talks about.  They have one thing that can stop them cold, but none of the bad guys ever figure it out.  And it's pretty much the same weakness in every one of them, with few exceptions.

They all need a uniform.

Think about it.  Superman has his tights.  Batman has his armor.  Iron Man has his suit.  Thor, Captain America, Spider Man...you name it.  Without their signature clothes, they are completely powerless.  If they ever use civilian clothes, and they are forced to use their power, they almost always cover it up with clumsiness and bungling.

Of course, they tell us that no one can exercise power without government support.  Batman works with Commissioner Gordon of the police.  Iron Man has his military-industrial complex support group.  Even Superman works with and supports US federal hegimony throughout the world.  But in every case, they can not project power without their uniform.

Even in 'Unbreakable,' the Willis character is a security guard with a uniform, and when he starts to realize his superpowers, he dons yet another uniform (a cape substitute using a pancho-brilliant).  Once the character begins to realize his own innate power, he resorts to projecting it through a uniform.

In fact, the only superhero I can think of who doesn't use a uniform is the Hulk.  He is a rather interesting character.  His power comes from inside himself, and when he projects it, he loses his clothes, not changes them.  He is hunted and hounded by government and military, rather than controlled, or at least in cahouts with them.  There are many layers to the Hulk that I find compelling.  However, in the end, his power comes from an accident in a government lab, and his father was a government scientist, as is Bruce Banner.  So not entirely free.

The X-Men, which involve human mutations that find themselves with great powers start to break the mold of government control, but they still have uniforms.

Even the bad guys have uniforms.  As it was so well put in 'The Dark Knight,' in a throw-away line, they wear war-paint.  They use uniforms to project and signify their power.  Even the musical themes change when the uniform comes out.  The scenes in 'Spider Man,' where his love/hate relationship with his powers are symbolically centered around the uniform.

Why do cops, soldiers and TSA goons all have uniforms?  Because we are trained to see those types of clothing as powerful.  A cop without his uniform is just another meat-head in khakis and t-shirt, just like the rest of us.  But stick him in a uniform, and he will shoot, taser and berate us by virtue of the power in his uniform.

Take a high-school dropout with little or no prospects, and who operates on barely more than automatic cognitive function.  Indoctrinate him and give him a decent paycheck and bennies, and slap a uniform on him, and you have abusive brutes.  They feel like superheroes in their nifty little tights and ID cards.  Sew a couple of patches and a flag on them, and watch out!  They have power and purpose by virtue of their togs.

Oh, and if you get the least little out of hand, they run to 'Uncle' and cry like you stuck them with a hot iron.  Then 'Uncle' comes along and beats you into submission.  If need be, 'Unicle' drags you in front of yet another uniform, a black robe animates by yet another powerless weasel, for further processing.  And the black robe uniform likes us to think that it is the highest authority, with unlimited power over life and death.

When it comes down to it, all government is, is a vast warehouse full of uniforms by which puppeteers can project power and control over the masses.  We are trained, even by things as seemingly innocuous as comics, that uniforms mean power.  Those pieces of cloth, cut and colored in a certain pattern, and placed on callous troglydites, transform normal, everyday people like us into powerful heroes defending truth, justice and the American Way.  The somewhat humerous part is that the uniform animators are even more clueless about abstract concepts like truth and justice, than the average Joe.

As for the American Way, well shucks, anyone can drop bombs and torture.  Just has a certain 'authority' to it  if the person holding the live wires to your genitals has a uniform.

Even the uniforms come in ranking levels of power.  Just put some nifty logos, pins and baubles on them, and you you have increasing layers of authority.  "I have more power than you because I have this little pin on my collar and this little stripe on my sleeve."

'Men In Black' make quite a tadoo out of uniforms.  In fact, it is the black suit that 'authorizes' them to be initiated into the inner circle.  Will Smith obtains occult information and experiences a new level of existance by simply putting on a uniform.

We are trained from birth that uniforms contain power, and convey that power onto the person wearing it.  When you are young and watch your dad kow-tow to uniforms, you learn.  When you read (hahaha!) the comics or watch the movies, you see that uniforms allow us to project power.  When you join the junior sports league, you can't play without a uniform.  When someone asked you what you wanted to be, you probably rattled off some occupation with a uniform.  I wanted  to be an astronaut, because I liked the bulky white uniforms.

The westerns were the superhero movies of yesteryear.  The good guy's uniform had a white hat and a tin star, while the bad guy's uniform was black and didn't have jewelry.  But if your uniform was buckskins and feathers, you were the ultimate baddy...or a comic drunk, if you watched F-Troop.

'Hogan's Heroes' was a comedy of uniforms.  The whole show revolved around uniforms.  All the characters had distinctive uniforms that told us something about who they are and how much power they have.

Our training is so deep that it is very hard to uninstall.  Think about it any time you confront a uniform.  What was the first feeling, not thought, you had when you saw the uniform.  Coming from Houston, I fear cop uniforms, because those uniforms killed a lot of people and beat the rest to pulp.

Uniforms are neither good nor bad, in themselves.  The important thing is becoming cognizant of how we respond to them, and how they are used to control us.  It one of the deepest and most pernicious forms of mind control today.  And it's so bleeding simple, that it's almost laughable.

It's everywhere you look, on the streets, on TeeVee, in the movies, everyone is parading uniforms as projections of power.  Without, those people are nothing.  They are just regular folks, taking out the trash and mowing the lawn.

Put a uniform on them, and everything changes.  Now they can molest you, violate your most personal liberties, and even main and kill you, all with impunity.  They have 'authority' by virtue of their clothes.

That's it.  Just clothes.

Why does Superman never fly without his uniform?  Why does Spider Man never spin a web without the official togs?  Why is Bruce Wayne just a rich, spoiled playboy until he dons the armor?

It used to be, when I was young, that officials in uniforms were outranked in every way by civilians.  Seems that has fallen by the wayside these days.

"You'll dress only in attire specially sanctioned by MiB special services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you. From now on you'll have no identifying marks of any kind. You'll not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly. You don't exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence your native tongue. You're no longer part of the System. You're above the System. Over it. Beyond it. We're "them." We're "they." We are the Men in Black."  - Zed