Plato's The Allegory of the cave has always made me think about life outside of my little cave. The Basarwa man from the desert of Africa will see things far differently than the man in Oregon.
We're all in our own caves, seeing reality and the stories before us as truth. But, how do we know?
It's become clear to me over the past several months that the things we read and watch are nothing but a reflected light show, entertainment to keep us chained in our caves.. passive, docile, obedient, complacent.
I had my suspicions, of course, but thinking hard about this was warranted.
An example of this would be the 'Government Shutdown' pre-game show we had before the weekend. How many times have they done this? And, how many times have they 'compromised' at the '11th hour'? Bread and circuses, to be sure. We've not advanced past the Roman way of thinking really, have we?
As an example:
Law and Order: STFU and CSI: WTF-EVER have not helped us from our caves, have they? Have they made us better people by watching them? Have they helped us become more than we can be? I'd say the opposite is true. These 'Idiot-Box' shows have enslaved a lot of people, made them 'feel the need' to talk to authorities without a lawyer for any. and. every. single. reason. They've made people into blithering idiots in a lot of ways.
This whole 'Flock Mentality' is going to get a lot of people hurt and/or killed before the proverbial day is done.
Will people ever see the flickering reflections for what they are? Will they ever feel the need to turn around and look behind them, to see the machinery involved in enslaving them? Will they ever walk into the daylight and look at the splendor and truth in sunshine? My hope is yes. Yes they will. But: Probably only as a last resort, and probably many of them kicking and screaming on the way out, as babies who don't want to take baths.
At that point, when everyone wakes up at once, the proverbial 100th monkey, Will things be different? Or will we construct new caves, and watch new and improved lights flicker?
Adapt or Die.
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Will people ever see the flickering reflections for what they are?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't yet. Most probably don't want to.