Intent on keeping citizens dependent?

Cat · #1 08/03/05, 07:19 PM

I recently had a conversation with a friend and we got on the subject of self-sufficiency and the various things that happen in the US that keep and encourage people to become/remain dependent on big business/corporate America/ etc. Self-sufficiency, it seems, is the enemy. Do you agree that this is true and in what ways do you see it happening in the area in which you live as well as across the nation?

norris · #2 08/03/05, 07:38 PM

Yes, dependency on both the government and corporations. Dependent serfs are easier to boss around.

pcdreams · #3 08/03/05, 09:10 PM

wow I though this was obvious..

Lets see... schools teach that any other system besides capitalism won't work, any other system is wrong and evil and "against GOD" (I thought church and state were suppose to be seperate, oh never mind sorry just thinking for myself again)..

then they lie about the founders of the country by saying how patriotic they were blah blah blah. Later (if you go to college ,which they hate) you will learn that the founders were nothing more than thieves looking out for their interest.

then they tell you "you can have anything you want if you work hard enough". HA!! They forgot to mention that you get paid pennies on the dollar and may need 12 jobs just to pay rent.

oh I better not forget. Farmers are nothing more than idiots who don't contribute anything to society. Their just backwoods wannabes. So they'd have you believe

Then they dictate what is attractive, fat, ugly, but then make the nutritional food cost twice what the junk food does.

And people wonder why there are so many nutcases and wackjobs.

I got news!! Many would have you think that us freethinkers are the nutjobs, I guess only time will tell. But I can tell you that we may be the first to die. Why? because we'll be the resistance while the rest of the country stands by and lulls itself into oblivion.

Cat · #4 08/03/05, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcdreams

wow I though this was obvious..

Obvious to some, perhaps. I tend to think those of us that would visit a forum such as this might be more in tune with this subject, but when discussing it with my friend she thought I was a nut! Of course, she buys candy for her kids because it's cheaper than vegetables and whole foods. Then, she complains that her children won't listen and misbehave constantly!

She does not even think of self-sufficiency let alone try to attain it. In fact, I'm certain had I not mentioned it she may not have known that self-sufficiency is something that anyone might want to work towards.

I am nowhere near 'self-sufficient' but I am a whole lot closer than most people I know!

pcdreams · #5 08/03/05, 10:03 PM

that was my point. They keep people so tied up with other stuff, and so ignorant about everything they don't even have a clue.

Mary in MO · #6 08/03/05, 10:55 PM

We are enslaved to the "easies" we've become accustomed to. Think of the changes in the past 30 years. When my kids were born, I was newly married and there were no cell phones, people still cooked from scratch but were starting to get away from it and a host of other things. I was a homesteader type then too so I never really had to make any adjustments.

DH and I went to Sam's to purchase 2 carts overflowing of our food storage items, we purchase in bulk a couple of times a year. You should have seen the looks on people's faces. You would have thought we were slime

Not to mention we don't do cell phones, don't do movies, I bought a microwave a year or so back (1st one). I still use a manual can opener. You know the drill. The point is, as long as you're dependent on them for your sustenance you'll never be free.

Wage-slavery. It's been around for a long, long time. Mortgages, car payments, credit cards, newest electronic gadgets etc... the more you buy into it, the longer they own you. You are forced to keep the job you have to afford to pay for the level of insanity you bought into. You have to.

Mary

palani · #7 08/03/05, 11:06 PM

The enemies are the belligerents in the current conflict. If you structure your life not to be classified a belligerent the system can and will ignore you. Case in point are the Amish and Mennonite sects.

Self-sufficiency is not an issue that either side will take exception to. Honor, dishonor and neutrality are key to remaining independent of the conflict. All belligerents do eventually go away once the quiet war is settled.

pcdreams · #8 08/04/05, 12:22 AM

so basically what your saying is if we sit back and take all their crap, they will ignore us..

but don't you think theres going to be a stir (at least of some of us homesteaders) as more and more rights are removed. I mean I don't think many of us are willing to let all freedoms be removed.

and how do you propose flying under the radar with taxes? I don't think they'll let that fly..

Laura · #9 08/04/05, 02:41 AM

This wonderful song explains fully how *THEY* keep us dependent. YOu can listen to it here under Cow Pie Nation http://www.danalyons.com/listen/

TV GOD

by Dana Lyons, copyright 1990

After I was born I went home to watch my TV

Everyone was nice and their smiles were so sparkily

I watched what made them happy and I watched what made them cry

I learned about toys and candy my Mommy should buy

CHORUS:
And the TV God watches over me

Opens up my eyes, shows me how to see

All around the world, every night and day on my TV

Teaches how to love, teaches what is real

Tells what life is of, tells me how to feel

All I need to know I can find and see on my TV

Soon I was a teenager and I knew just how to dress
I learned to use deodorant so I would always smell my best
I got myself a part time job to buy the things I needed to have
And the payments on my supercharged Camaro really aren't so bad

Everybody be careful, everybody be,

Be very careful, keep watching your TV

There are people who are laughing with a wink or a nod

There are people who are questioning our great TV God

Everybody be careful, everybody be

Be very careful, stay tuned to your TV

There are phonies who are talking

There are wasters who read

There are people here who do not even own a TV!

Everybody be careful! Oh everybody be careful!

Oh everybody be careful!

Everything I know about my country I learned on TV
The man on the screen tells me who is our enemy
They say that we are free and we must fight to be number one
So when the army calls I'll grab my TV, my car, and my gun

RAINING RECORDS, PO BOX 2627, BELLINGHAM, WA 98227 USA
www.danalyons.com

pcdreams · #10 08/04/05, 08:13 AM

Ohhh I like it. To true to true. Thank you for posting it

I also like the "I would go anywhere to fight for oil to lubricate the red, white, and blue"

**Terri** · #11 08/04/05, 08:30 AM

I disagree with most.

It isn't the corporations or the government who want us to be dependant, it is the majority of private citizens!

After all, if you have just one job and never have to do anything else, isn't life simpler?

And, if you cannot AFFORD to pay someone else to do the work, isn'nt that what credit is for?

Why, think of it, after 8 hours of your job, you can sit beside the apartment pool and flirt! Yes? At least until the bubble bursts and you declare bankruptcy! But, until then life will be VERY good!

As near as I can tell, to obtain that lifestyle is the dream of most of American citizens.

In fact, if it wouldn't be so VERY boring, I might like it myself!

Alas, I do NOT like to be bored, and so I will can my pears, tend my bees, and raise my kids, and retire with money in the bank.

Cosmic · #12 08/04/05, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ÇåThëRîñè

I recently had a conversation with a friend and we got on the subject of self-sufficiency and the various things that happen in the US that keep and encourage people to become/remain dependent on big business/corporate America/ etc. Self-sufficiency, it seems, is the enemy. Do you agree that this is true and in what ways do you see it happening in the area in which you live as well as across the nation?

Yes, I love being very dependent on both Big Business and Big Government. They are very attentive and watch me a lot. Want to know all about my smallest habits. Great sex life too. Both screw me a lot, sometimes more than once a day.

Does this self-sufficiency stuff mean the BB&BG will no longer love me?????

pcdreams · #13 08/04/05, 08:51 AM

Right on Cosmic. And the bad thing is they don't even have the decency to take you to dinner or use lube

Sabrina · #14 08/04/05, 09:24 AM

I agree with Mary that it is about the "easies". Everyone wants things to be easy. Many kids go to college so they can get the easiest job that pays the most money.

People don't care about what's right...they care about what's easy.

That's why it's so easy to get the average citizen to go along with things. We give up our freedoms voluntarily. Most of us can be bought quite cheaply.

Sabrina

pcdreams · #15 08/04/05, 09:29 AM

and thats the problem

palani · #16 08/04/05, 09:54 AM

response to pcdreams

"so basically what your saying is if we sit back and take all their crap, they will ignore us.."

Funny I don't recall having said this.

"but don't you think theres going to be a stir (at least of some of us homesteaders) as more and more rights are removed. I mean I don't think many of us are willing to let all freedoms be removed."

What I think belongs to me unless I am willing to share my thoughts.

"and how do you propose flying under the radar with taxes? I don't think they'll let that fly.."

Are you implying that taxes interfere somehow with self-sufficiency? To me self-sufficiency means living within your means. Income minus taxes equals means. If your lifestyle does not fit within this equation you will find yourself overextending your credit sources and you are no longer self-sufficient.

pcdreams · #17 08/04/05, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palani

If you structure your life not to be classified a belligerent the system can and will ignore you. Case in point are the Amish and Mennonite sects.

then if thats not what your saying then what does the statement mean?

"but don't you think theres going to be a stir (at least of some of us homesteaders) as more and more rights are removed. I mean I don't think many of us are willing to let all freedoms be removed."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PALANI

What I think belongs to me unless I am willing to share my thoughts.

You lost me on this one

oh come on. We all know about "living within your means". but that in no way corresponds to taxation. There is simply no way to know what your property tax rate will be. When you buy property you find out. when you build you know it will go up (But not how much) nor how often they will decide to revise it.

sullen · #18 08/04/05, 10:35 AM

TERRI! You must know my husband! He would be content to do just that. I have started to wonder if "dependency" is grounds for divorce, before I have no money left.

I think you should play them before they play you.

DutchessR · #19 08/04/05, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ÇåThëRîñè

keep and encourage people to become/remain dependent on big business/corporate America/ etc. Self-sufficiency, it seems, is the enemy. Do you agree that this is true and in what ways do you see it happening in the area in which you live as well as across the nation?

I suppose it depends on whether you view 'corporate America' to be a monolothic entity or not. A corporation or business is just a collection of individuals, and those individuals do not go to work every day with the express purpose of squelching self-sufficiency. Rather, they are engaging in their own brand of self-sufficiency, i.e. independence from the government.

If corporations do oppose self-sufficiency, it is only symbolic--specialization is the realm of the corporation; generalization is the realm of the homesteader/farmer/etc. The products produced by corporations require thousands of people working on a small set of goals, while homesteaders are relatively few people engaged in many goals. Neither actively opposes one another, they are just different. One could interpret the availablity of corporate products as being 'against' self-sufficiency, but the corporation can no more force you to buy their product than you can force the corporation onto the farm.

palani · #20 08/04/05, 11:13 AM

pcdreams

Are willing to do a little research? If so, then look up the 13th amendment and answer the question "under what conditions does the US government find slavery acceptable".

All of your other questions hinge on this one.