The Pattern Within

I didn’t choose this mind. I didn’t choose this body, this time, this place, or the things that shaped me. Every “choice” I make is just the next domino falling in a line that started long before I was born.

Determinism is a beautiful and tragic thing. Beautiful because every thought, every feeling, every connection is part of a perfect, inevitable pattern. Tragic because it means none of it was ever truly mine to choose.

So no, I don’t believe in free will.

But I do believe in meaning. I believe in momentum. I believe that even if I was always going to end up here, I can still make something out of it, something honest, something that leaves a mark, something that feels like me.

Maybe that’s all there ever was to choose.

Do Not Question

I remember all the lies I was told growing up.

I remember when I was told the United States defeated the Nazis in World War II, only to discover that the Soviets already had them on the ropes and would have defeated them soon anyway.

They lied to me by omission when I was never told that the United States helped move major Nazis into this country to use in our military and space programs. It’s almost like the leaders of the United States didn’t have as much of a problem with Nazi ideology as they claimed. They saw it as a way to get a leap on the Soviets and keep capitalism from being destroyed.

They lied to me again when I was taught about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, without mentioning that Japan was already about to surrender. One of the reasons those bombs were dropped on two civilian cities was to show force to the Soviets, which started the atomic arms race we still face today. Another reason was to justify the massive cost of the Manhattan Project.

I was also lied to about healthcare. We are the only developed country in the world without universal healthcare. We don’t have the money because we have to pay the billionaires, the Wall Street bailouts, and the bloated military that is the size of the next 10 nations combined.

Why? The simplest question of all. Money. That’s what it all comes down to.

On this Veteran’s Day, I ask you to question why you can't question. In this country, you can't ask why wars were fought without being labeled Un-American. That’s what propaganda has done to us.

If you’re not asking why, you’re just following. You’d rather stay a sheep in the herd than step outside it and see the truth because that truth is too painful to recognize, too painful to process.

When I say this country goes to war for resources and imperialism, that’s not a slight at the soldiers. They had their reasons. Most didn’t know what the wars were really about.

There’s a reason they never teach you anything real about socialism or communism in high school other than “it’s bad” and “it doesn’t work”.

But if it’s so bad and doesn’t work, why doesn’t the United States just let those countries fail on their own? Why send covert operations and troops to overthrow their governments?

Gee, that’s a mystery. It’s almost like they do work. When the American people see it working, they’ll demand more from their own government, the same one that treats soldiers as pawns in a machine of war for the rich.

Socialism, in simple terms, means workers control the factories instead of the rich. It means workers control the resources instead of the rich.

Now do you see why they want you to hate it? “Socialism” isn’t when the government does stuff. That’s what you’ve been trained to believe because if you actually knew what it meant, you would be all for it. Our capitalist overlords can never let that happen.

Think about that. Think about all the American soldiers who were sent to fight against socialism and communism when those systems could have given them a better life, if only they had known what the words truly meant. It’s tragic.

Wait until you learn how this whole system is built on debt that’s designed never to be fully repaid. Wait until you learn that the Federal Reserve isn’t even a fully public institution. It creates money out of nothing and earns interest that we, the taxpayers, ultimately cover.

It sounds insane, right? Well, that’s the truth.

www.shockingthesystem.com