Current mood:	blah
Current music:	Macross Plus sndtrk - Voices (Cello Version)
Entry tags:	left, philosophy, politics

The Way of the Sheep
It's been said that you're not supposed to criticize your allies, the right wingers have said it many times in their attacks against France and Germany for not going along with the US in the Iraq quagmire. The conservatives proceeded to give us ideas like "Freedom Fries," "Old Europe," and sending the Statue of Liberty back to the French due to this. The message they want to send being "Don't question us, just do as we say, and ignore anything we do wrong." Or how about something more recent, like Amnesty International finding that the US government has a number of human rights violations going on at Gitmo? The government and right wing response being "How dare you, you're hurting America by pointing this out!" You'll hear liberals applaud France, Germany, other countries, and international organizations for standing up to the US, and I agree with them, but what happens when you flip it on these so called liberals? "Don't question us, agree with us completely, and ignore anything we do wrong, why fight with your allies?" You know what, fuck that.

There's one thing I really dislike, and that's being a hypocrite, I go out of my way to not be one and I thought all leftists strove for the same thing. Jesus Christ was I naive. You see, up until recently I've always hung out on forums where it's been mostly rabid conservatives who I could argue with or moderate forums with every day people who have just a slight interest in politics (i.e. the people the left should be targeting), with one exception, my uncle's forums. On CG's forums we have a band of people interested in discussing the issues and dealing with the nuts and bolts of the country, and if it's your only dose of the left wing you don't appreciate just how abnormal it is from the rest of the left wing... Until you step outside into "leftist" forums.

I've been avoiding places like Democratic Underground and other left leaning forums simply because when I took a look when they first came onto the scene I didn't see a need to post. You see, I'm not a cheerleader, I don't back pat, and I don't reiterate what someone else has said so there's usually not a reason to post on said forums. There's only really been one person I've given a pat on the back for a job well done and that's PeaceTakesCourage, a 14-year old girl with a great sense on setting a mood through music and visuals, check out her flash animations at some point, they're haunting. She has a great talent and I encourage her and her mother to look into film school (they have them for high school students) as she could be a great asset to the left. Anywho, praise and agreement can be dangerous things when that's all you're exposed to in your online microcosm, they inflate egos making people easier to piss off simply through disagreement, they take it personal and believe you're attacking them.

In other words, too much exposure to praise and agreement can create a hive mind mentality within a group, and, just like with bees, if something's amiss in the hive it must be found and dealt with either through assimilation or destruction. Think of the Borg on Star Trek, they kill what won't join the Collective and assimilate what will, getting rid of all individuality and free thought which comes with it, i.e. sheep. Sheep in the back of the flock will follow the rest of the flock right off a cliff so they simply won't be alone. Most people are sheep, doesn't matter if they're left wing or right wing, they're reactionary sheep.

On the flip side there are also shepherd dogs who tell the flock of sheep what to do, some times they bark and some times they take nips at the sheeps' feet to get them to move. The dogs are the leaders of the flock, and they don't care what the sheep think about them just as long as the sheep do as they say, the problem with shepherd dogs though is if you have a bad one they'll lead the flock right off a cliff (Dubya and right wing pundits anyone?). In this case shepherds will shoot the dog in question so it can't hurt his sheep and hurt his profits any longer (big business? Watch out Dubya). Good shepherd dogs though will get the sheep to do what they need to do efficiently and keep the sheep alive and happy (FDR?).

Now here's the problem with the liberal flock, they think they're shepherd dogs, they even wear little doggy outfits and yip rather than bah, but the one thing they can't hide is their mentality. "Hey look out, you're heading for a cliff you fools!" "No we're not! And don't call us fools, we're just like y---AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Too late. If you're truly a shepherd dog you don't have qualms about disrupting the flock from time to time because some times you have to to stop them from running off a cliff. It's easy to spot a faux dog, they usually hate individuality and the disruption of the flock mentality. If you happen to be an honest straight forward individual who disrupts the flock, the rams come out and start head butting you, if that doesn't work they get the shepherd to deal with you.

So who are the most effective shepherd dogs? The same people who everyone bitches about, politicians. They're manipulative and have to be, they know honesty doesn't work because if you're honest the flock will get pissed off with you. Why do the elites think so little of the common man, because the common man's an idiot who likes being lied to and having his ego stroked. He doesn't mind either that you have a knife right below his throat, just keep telling him how nice and cute and smart he is. By the time he realizes he's in danger his throat has already been slit from ear to ear and no matter how much he clings to his neck the blood won't stop and he's dead in a matter of seconds. A dog though, will see the door to the slaughterhouse and start fighting no matter what the shepherd says.

So what are you, sheep or dog?

Oh one more thing, just because you lock horns with a different flock of sheep from time to time doesn't mean you're not a sheep, you're just a different type arguing over who's coat is cuter, horns bigger, and hooves cleaner.