I have always had a problem with conspiracy
theories. In part I guess because the person alleging to be the victim of a
conspiracy is usually labouring under an exaggerated sense of his or her own
importance. Big corporations (insert conglomerate of choice here) is not
worried about what one person (or 1,000) might be saying about them, unless
those people happen to be shareholders. Great stuff for movie plots... but people
are not blocking your computer signals, reading your mail or cutting your brake
line. Big business/Governments operate under a “stick & stones policy”, unless you have hard
evidence, you are no threat. As the court of public opinion starts to sway, so
adapts the corporation into whatever is the new acceptable norm; the auto
industry is one shining example.
That is not to imply that the activists of this world (I include myself) are impotent in their efforts. We should continue to rail against injustice and greed, doing so sheds a little light of knowledge into the world and with awareness comes eventual change. For example when one person decides to protest animal cruelty by eating only happy meats, she will naturally share what she has learned with those around her. This prompts her mother to pay 2x as much for chicken breasts because only a painfully deformed chicken could have produced the breasts that were on sale. So get informed do not blindly follow media (social or otherwise) become a seeker of truth, then share the truth with anyone who will listen. Keep your mind open to opposing views, they may have a perspective you had not yet considered; or at least provide you with insight as to where they are coming from. Always keep your EYES on the PRIZE… by that I simply mean focus on the result you want. Worry less about being right or getting recognition, instead of angrily demanding someone STOP “whatever”….work on a collaboration to get things done. Our egos may like to cling to an us against them mentality… the reality is that approach does NOT bring results. Instead of rallies and expensive advertizing and petitioning government to “Ban the Seal Hunt” it would be more effective to put your resources into establishing economic alternative for Newfoundland & Labrador. If your group wants to end the use of leg-hold traps… then it is for you to purchase cruelty free traps and swap them out with trappers; whom you have taken the time to educate regarding the proposed option. The second problem I have with conspiracy theories, is that it endows the alleged perpetrator with intelligence and organizational skills far beyond what I am willing to give them credit for. Most of these things come about by way of ignorance and apathy, usually rooted in GREED. A Native gentleman (about my age) was telling us how the white men (Indian Affairs) delivered rations to the reservations when he was a boy. The processed flour and sugars and other contents were designed to make the Indians sick with diabetes, heart disease etc. In truth these were the foods that we grew up on and the idiots at Indian Affairs simply did not know it would be harmful to the Natives. The Americans air lifted tons of pork to a barricaded city during a civil war several years ago… not bothering to find out that the population they were trying to help was Muslim. My thought was “Dumb Asses” but a conspiracy theorist would have said the US was allied with the other side and was trying to force them to give-up their immortal souls or die.
So my friends … we are all stuck on this rock together, it is for each us to live in the world as we want it to be NOT as it is. Take responsibility and be the change you want to see in the world. We must teach others with our example as well as our words. Treat everyone with kindness and respect; we are all just doing the best we can in any given moment. So my activist friends, step out of the shadow of fear... Speak freely, speak loudly but always speak the truth.
That is not to imply that the activists of this world (I include myself) are impotent in their efforts. We should continue to rail against injustice and greed, doing so sheds a little light of knowledge into the world and with awareness comes eventual change. For example when one person decides to protest animal cruelty by eating only happy meats, she will naturally share what she has learned with those around her. This prompts her mother to pay 2x as much for chicken breasts because only a painfully deformed chicken could have produced the breasts that were on sale. So get informed do not blindly follow media (social or otherwise) become a seeker of truth, then share the truth with anyone who will listen. Keep your mind open to opposing views, they may have a perspective you had not yet considered; or at least provide you with insight as to where they are coming from. Always keep your EYES on the PRIZE… by that I simply mean focus on the result you want. Worry less about being right or getting recognition, instead of angrily demanding someone STOP “whatever”….work on a collaboration to get things done. Our egos may like to cling to an us against them mentality… the reality is that approach does NOT bring results. Instead of rallies and expensive advertizing and petitioning government to “Ban the Seal Hunt” it would be more effective to put your resources into establishing economic alternative for Newfoundland & Labrador. If your group wants to end the use of leg-hold traps… then it is for you to purchase cruelty free traps and swap them out with trappers; whom you have taken the time to educate regarding the proposed option. The second problem I have with conspiracy theories, is that it endows the alleged perpetrator with intelligence and organizational skills far beyond what I am willing to give them credit for. Most of these things come about by way of ignorance and apathy, usually rooted in GREED. A Native gentleman (about my age) was telling us how the white men (Indian Affairs) delivered rations to the reservations when he was a boy. The processed flour and sugars and other contents were designed to make the Indians sick with diabetes, heart disease etc. In truth these were the foods that we grew up on and the idiots at Indian Affairs simply did not know it would be harmful to the Natives. The Americans air lifted tons of pork to a barricaded city during a civil war several years ago… not bothering to find out that the population they were trying to help was Muslim. My thought was “Dumb Asses” but a conspiracy theorist would have said the US was allied with the other side and was trying to force them to give-up their immortal souls or die.
So my friends … we are all stuck on this rock together, it is for each us to live in the world as we want it to be NOT as it is. Take responsibility and be the change you want to see in the world. We must teach others with our example as well as our words. Treat everyone with kindness and respect; we are all just doing the best we can in any given moment. So my activist friends, step out of the shadow of fear... Speak freely, speak loudly but always speak the truth.
