Exposing mind-slavers of today

So long as patriotic cant can keep the common man jealous of international controls over his belligerent possibilities, so long will he be the helpless slave of the foreign threat, and 'Peace' remain a mere name for the resting phase between wars."
- H.G. Wells; In The Fourth Year: Anticipations of a World Peace; 1918

"Cant" is stock phrases that have become nonsensical through endless repetition. Many patriotic phrases and mottoes become cant because their creators are unable to think of better catch phrases and mottoes to get the attention of their followers. Cant may be found in any political environment.

The quote, now nearly a century old, seems to explain why so many people around the world fear and hate the USA so much though they know little or nothing about the country or its citizens.

Ignorance thrives in states where patriotism is practised aggressively. Where ignorance lives the minds of people may easily be molded to believe whatever the leaders want them to believe. This usually means that people live in a state of fear because that is the easiest way to keep people under control.

Think about the countries you know of where fear is the dominant emotion experienced by their people. Then look at the political rhetoric spewed by their political leaders and you will find patriotism receiving much more attention than facts or common sense.

Slavery of the body has been illegal for a long time now. Slavery of the mind is with us today because it is more effective than slavery of the body and because it is not illegal. Laws will not eliminate slavery of the mind. Only education will do that.

People do not need to have university degrees to be educated against the evils of patriotism. They simply need to be taught how to recognize patriotic slogans and how to react to them.

While teaching people how to recognize patriotic slogans that enslave the mind, we should continue and teach them how to recognize advertising methods that impoverish them by shackling their pocketbooks.

Peace cannot exist in a state where minds are enslaved any more than it can exist in a state where bodies are enslaved.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to free minds by teaching them how to avoid the mind-slavers.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl