By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com
In 1976, some of the families sharing older ancestral lineages in my hometown were asked to march together in our bicentennial parade. Although I was at an age where I found it somewhat embarrassing, I did enjoy waving at my friends and schoolmates along the way. Especially the girls.
Although the Saccharine Seventies manifested as a tarnishing patina on the silver platter of Norman Rockwell’s America, much of the shine still remained then in my hometown; even in the years before Ronald Reagan’s repolishing as the table was set again for his 1984 “Morning in America”commercial.
Ah, the power of television. What began with Elvis and his now iconic gyrating pelvis, later made Richard Milhous Nixon appear as the scowling ogre before Sir John F. Kennedy’s Camelot. Then, the next thing we knew, a former actor had become president, followed by shock and awe warfare, a stained blue dress, hanging chads, and elections predicated upon melanin and genitals. Today, we view Reality TV political press conferences almost as exciting as productions staged by the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Who knew?
Ironically, the film “Network” was also released in 1976. In watching it again recently, what struck me was how well-identified were the seeds of America’s decline – even back then, more than four decades ago. The film starred many Hollywood heavy-hitters including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, and Ned Beatty. It was a critical and commercial success that was, in fact, nominated for ten Oscars and won four. Twenty-four years later, the movie critic Roger Ebert likened the film to “prophecy”.
The narrative described a fictional television network, in the wake of low ratings, degradingly commercializing its once highly-revered news division to appease the corporatacy; and, in that regard, the film actually did predict the future.
In the story, just as audiences were demanding entertainment over information, the news anchor of the network, Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch), had a psychic breakdown of sorts to the point where he began to tell the truth. And, boy, did he ever. As ratings skyrocketed for the network, its corporate overlords were thrilled right up to the point the frazzled news anchor was honest enough to interfere with the avarice of the puppet-masters. This is when Mr. Beale was treated to one of the most epic beatdowns ever seen on film – delivered in a monologue by Ned Beatty playing one of the corporate drones.
Here are the final lines of the monologue:
……We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality – one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock – all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.
– “Network” (1976), Paddy Chayefsky, MGM/United Artists, Release date: November 27, 1976
It’s fascinating to realize that, as a nation, we’ve known this type of fuckery has been occurring for decades and, yet, we’ve been powerless to prevent its progression.
Is it because we didn’t care? Because we thought someone else would step up in our place? Or, because our prosperity had lulled us to sleep?
In the thread of my last article, “It Is What It Is”, a commenter posted this video clip from the 1981 film “My Dinner With Andre”:
That scene began as follows:
…We’re all bored. But has it ever occurred to you, Wally, that the process which creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating unconscious form of brainwashing created by a world totalitarian government based on money? And that all of this is much more dangerous, really, than one thinks? And that it’s not just a question of individual survival, Wally, but that somebody who’s bored is asleep? And somebody who’s asleep will not say no?
- “My Dinner with Andre” (1981), Wallace Shawn, New Yorker Films, Release date: October 11, 1981
In seeing that clip, and since viewing the movie for the first time, I found myself wondering if Wallace Shawn might have seen the movie Network in the years before My Dinner with Andre was released. Because, in Network, the reality television character of Howard Beale stated it thusly:
We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true! But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds. We’re all you know. You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here. You’re beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube. You even think like the tube. This is mass madness. You maniacs. In God’s name, you people are the real thing. We are the illusion. So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of this sentence I am speaking to you now. Turn them off!
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
So, knowing what we knew, we didn’t know what else to do and so instead built ourselves a panopticon from which we can no longer escape.
Why did we do this to ourselves? Or, did we allow it because we were fooled by the inner ring of an evil, even satanic, elite?
Perhaps both.
Did you ever wonder why the Devil in the Garden of Eden didn’t simply forcethe first couple to eat the apple? Perhaps it was for the same reason legends about vampires say the blood-sucking beasts can’t cross the threshold of anyone’s home until they’re invited. Maybe these were written as reminders of how we retain the power to choose even when there are no definitive answers.
Of course humans have Free Will because our decisions, and direction, are determined by choice. It is, for example, how the Hegelian Dialecticprogresses.
There is a quote often exclaimed by sales-managers to their sales teams that says: “We live on yes’s and no’s but die on maybes!” Of course that’s just a way of encouraging salespeople to force decisions from prospects because “no” reveals objections that can be overcome (and turned into yes’s) via information and persuasion. On the other hand, “maybe” is a stall tactic. There is also a gray-area to free will that is often utilized by psychopaths, dictators, rapists, politicians, high-pressure product purveyors, and slingers of shady services: the conception of silence as consent.
Because less than three percent of you people read books. Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers. Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn’t come out of this tube. This tube is the Gospel. The ultimate revelation! This tube can make or break Presidents, Popes, Prime Ministers. This tube is the most awesome, god-damn force in the whole godless world. And woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people.
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
Have you ever wondered why there has been no widespread public outrage at the revelations of former National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden? And the very fact Snowden was allowed to surface on the grid in the first place – what did that reveal about him? Because, just as the internet began to go viral some buildings fell in New York City and the next thing we knew, we were getting fondled by blue smurfs at airports and our personal communications surveilled around the clock.
All of that progression, as if by voting, manifested as a result of implied consent.
Next, they’re coming for the guns and we’ll all watch it on television like a cinematic plot unfolding.
So where is the resistance to these Orwellian deceptions?
In the eight days following Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential Election win, this blogger wrote a series of three (3) articles based upon Charles Dicken’s literary classic, “A Tale of Two Cities” and drew some comparisons between our modern times with Dickens’ major themes of “duality, revolution, and resurrection” against the backdrop of the burgeoning warfare between the aristocratic class and those of the peasants during the French Revolution.
In the third installment, I mentioned how the conservative talk-radio host, Michael Savage, said Trump reminded him of the movie “Samson and Delilah” from the 1950s. That inspired me to write these words (in my 3rd installment entitled “The Good, the Guilty and the Guillotine”):
Think about it. Maybe Trump did come to take down the twin pillars of the Republican and Democratic party system. After all, Trump, like Samson, does seem to draw strength from his hair, has used a donkey jawbone (i.e. from the mouths of Democrat party donkeys) to slay his enemies, has taken a stand against foreign control of his nation, has a quick temper, exacts revenge on his opponents and enjoys beautiful women.
When the Trumpster descended the escalator in 2015, he split the Republican Party in two with his statements on immigration. In so doing, he rallied enough patriotic Americans to overcome their pessimism to secure an Electoral College win the next year. Indeed, the New York Don became President of the United States while being outspent two to one, against a rabidly hostile media, in opposition to colluding officials in the United States’ FBI, DoJ, and State Department; plus, with zero support from all Democrats and a significant percentage of Republicans.
Stable genius, much?
So, you listen to me. Listen to me! Television is not the truth. Television’s a god-damned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We’re in the boredom-killing business. So if you want the Truth, go to God! Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves! Because that’s the only place you’re ever gonna find any real truth. But, man, you’re never gonna get any truth from us. We’ll tell you anything you wanna hear. We lie like hell. We’ll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer and that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker’s house. And no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don’t worry. Just look at your watch. At the end of the hour, he’s gonna win. We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear.
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
Now, with his latest attacks on the Odd Squad, the Donald did what Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi could not do. He unified the Democratic Party. But just not in the way Pelosi would have preferred. Additionally, as an extra bonus, the president once again drew clear lines of separation between his administration and the ever-kneeling Republi-cucks.
It all seems so familiar, no?
Do these morons have any idea how bad they are being trolled? I think not. It’s because they believe they’re seeing a reality TV star. And we are.
There are those of us who believe the daily narratives are complete fiction and it’s all for show. We consider all of the actors, and most of the audience, to be fake news. Whether or not we are correct remains to be seen. Regardless, suspension of disbelief reigns in a reality TV universe. It’s a ratings blowout but with real consequences for those in the audience – forever watching while being watched.
I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
We know things are bad — worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’
Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD!
…You’ve got to say: ‘I’m a human being, god-dammit! My life has value!’ So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell: I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
There can be no doubt the 2020 Presidential Election will be a key moment in American history. In the event the world economy crashes before then, Trump’s trade policies and tax cuts will be blamed. But even in that scenario, the president may find a way to deflect the blame to where it rightfully belongs: upon the backs of the bankers who blew the bubbles in the first place. By then the socialists will be foaming at the mouth even more severely than now and its possible Trump may win again as the default choice of the mushy-minded independent voters in key states.
Or it could be our porous southern border turns Texas blue and Trump goes down in flames, his orange hair on fire.
In any scenario, perilous times will be upon us. This is because neither side will accept the results of the next election. Surely, the ANTIFA crowd will be rioting in the streets in the event of a Trump win. And, if Trump loses and contests the results over illegal immigration, vote fraud, or any other reason, the rioting of the collectivists will be even worse.
On the other hand, if Trump loses and another (relatively) peaceful transfer of power occurs, it will be a mere matter of weeks before the socialist shit-storm delivers legislative hell on earth.
What is finished is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom and flourishing of every individual in it. It’s the individual that’s finished. It’s the single, solitary human being that’s finished. It’s every single one of you out there that’s finished. Because this is no longer a nation of independent individuals. It’s a nation of some two hundred odd million transistorized, deodorized, whiter-than-white, steel-belted bodies, totally unnecessary as human beings and as replaceable as piston rods.
Well, the time has come to say is ‘dehumanization’ such a bad word?’ Whether it’s good or bad, that’s what is so. The whole world is becoming humanoid, creatures that look human but aren’t. The whole world, not just us. We’re just the most advanced country, so we’re getting there first. The whole world’s people are becoming mass-produced, programmed, numbered, insensate things.
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
So what should be the response of patriotic Americans?
In an article entitled “Destiny Looms: Choose Your Way or it Drags You”, this blogger listed three (3) responses to tyranny as was demonstrated in the (gasp!) Bible’s Old and New Testaments. These were:
1.) Barabbas the Fighter – Who lived and died by the sword like a flea dreaming of defeating a barbaric behemothic beast.
2.) Judas the Sell-out – Who was the Patron Saint of “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em & Make a Little Money Besides”
3.) Daniel in Babylon – Who remained a loyal subject of the government, but only until the government tried to regulate his relations with his God. Then, he chose to obey the higher law instead of man’s law.
As mentioned in the article and according to the Bible’s New Testament, the early Christian disciples chose door # 3, according to Acts 5:29.
And speaking of the Book of Acts, I was at a recent church service where a young layman on staff there preached, specifically, on Acts chapter 12 which describes the Apostle Peter’s miraculous escape from a prison operated by a Hebrew governor named Herod (i.e. technically Herod the Third).
The young man began by informing the congregation that the book was titled in some Bibles as “Acts of the Apostles” but that the “acts” therein were, primarily, performed by the Almighty. He described how Herod had taken the Apostle Peter prisoner and all the other disciples could do was “gather and pray” (Acts 12:5). Beyond that, they were powerless. Next, an angel appeared in Peter’s prison cell and woke the apostle from a deep sleep before directing the tired apostle in a similar manner as a parent preparing a child for school:
And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
– Acts 12: 7-8
According to the next verses, the angel put the guards to sleep and Peter walked out of the prison like a sleepwalker awakening from a bad dream. And by the end of the teaching, the church layman drew these three (3) conclusions:
1.) Satanic opposition will continue
2.) People must continue gathering in fellowship and prayer and service
3.) But Christians must allow God to do the heavy lifting
My private takeaway, however, was a little more down to earth and it went like this:
One thing that Muslims, globalists, and leftists have in common is that they all want control of the world. In addition, it’s a fact that many Christians will not kill their ideological enemies because they would rather enter the kingdom beyond this world without blood on their hands. This means the former groups will inherit the earth just as they have made great progress over the past several decades. Until, that is, God installs the meek in His own time, of course.
It is also true that many, if not most, patriotic Americans consider themselves Christians – and if God is bringing judgement upon any nation, those who would try to prevent that judgement might as well point their high-powered rifles into the air against the Almighty himself.
You’re television incarnate, Diana: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split seconds and instant replays. You’re madness, Diana. Virulent madness. And everything you touch dies with you. But not me. Not as long as I can feel pleasure, and pain… and love.
– “Network”, (1976), MGM/United Artists
Today, in perfect dialectical fashion, many on the left consider the cadre of deep state criminals as Defenders of the Republic against Donald the Usurper. This is, after all, what they have seen on their screens. It means they will most likely view any deep state prosecutions as a fascist purge and they will not go gentle into that good night. No way, because they have pledged allegiance to the Open Borders of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under Political Correctness, indivisible, with free transgender surgeries and abortions for all.
The question remaining, then, is whether or not the patriotic Christians will choose to love and embrace their enemies, or shoot and stab them; as well the Christian brethren who now pine for heavenly globalism on earth.
Jesus told his disciples in Luke 22:36 to sell their garments and buy swords. Then, in verse 38, he said two swords were enough for 11 men.
In Ecclesiastes 3:8 it says there is “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace”.
So what time is it, Christians? Because the Left rises like Robespierre and there are those on the Right who desire to clean house like Hitler who, paradoxically, led a party of Socialists whose Brownshirts looked a lot like ANTIFA does today.
So which side will cross the “Blood Meridian” first?
Personally, as I wrote to one of my online friends recently – I’ve come to believe that love is all that matters. I’m less afraid when I love because I can hold onto it no matter what happens. Even unto the end of things.
But, first and foremost, I love my family and friends and all that that entails.
Confusing times.