The Puppet Master

“This narrative is an extensively dissected and detailed explanation of a short, and admittedly, flippant response I gave to the post mentioned in the 1^st paragraph below.  My original response to the post was, “Wow, you really need to take the blinders off and remove the head-phones.”  The original post needed a more elaborate response but very few are willing to read a response that extends beyond the boundaries of a bumper sticker. So, here it is, all 1400 words of it.  It is not likely the author of the original post will read it; they unfriended me not long ago.”

I read a post not long ago marinating the belief that bigotry is out of control and regulates our everyday lives.  You could smell the smoldering hatred from that post; much like the lingering stench of wet ash after putting out a fire by peeing on it.  It went on to enlighten the deplorable illiterates that people were better off 100 years ago and bigotry is in us all and growing exponentially with acceptable glee.  The post went on to say, “…and our country will die because of it.”

I agree with some of what the author wrote in the post, but not as the author intended.  I believe it is an orchestrated and efficiently marketed sort of new bigotry that is growing exponentially and yes, with some, gleefully.  There is written history that, without objection through even a casual glance, shows that 100 years ago it was much worse than it is now for women, for minorities, for children and the elderly (of any color or gender), and even our pets.  So, the premise of the original post is beyond bogus and is in fact a fabricated lie that has but one purpose—to fuel the new bigotry.  The utter oddity of believing such a statement seems to give the believer a sense of grandiose morality that places them on higher ground; minions of lower stature gazing up with admiration and desire.

We have made great strides, learned from our mistakes, bettered ourselves, and intertwined into ourselves the desire to do better, to treat each other better regardless of internal and external differences—knowing full well we will often fail in big and small ways.  However, even the failures, if taken at true value, can be a learning experience to impress upon us the consequences of our actions; consequences to ourselves, our families, our neighbors, coworkers and especially strangers—that is if we take the time to embrace the courage needed to apply the lesson learned.  I can tell you stories where I was dismissed without cause because I retired from uniform as a high-ranking Sergeant with decades of experience rather than an Officer.  “You were never an Officer so how could your opinion possibly matter when compared to one who did retire as an Officer?”  Is that not bigotry?

Everyone, regardless of profession or position, color, race or nationality, gender, or age has been dismissed because of who or what they are—or are not.  If you seek the truth you already know all this.  Anyone with any level of compassion, self-respect, or even the slightest respect for all humanity (not just their hand-picked parcel) knows this already.  Those with true purpose, compassion, and self-respect are not now, nor will they ever be the audience the puppet master will be able to manipulate, so long as they stay vigilant; those who lack any such attribute can be manipulated and made to believe that the 100+ years of progress never happened and things are worse now than before; therein lies the new bigotry.  If you cannot be manipulated, you must be discredited.  Is this not systemic bigotry?

As individuals, many of us see what’s happening and recognize it by sight and smell; as a society we are blind and willfully ignorant of the manipulation—as a society we are being played.  You have a PHD, I have a GED; does that make you better than me?  Does it really?  There is bigotry in us all, just like there is anger, envy and jealousy; deny that and you lie to yourself; deny that and by default, in your own mind, that makes you better than anyone else—is that not bigotry?

We all know the story of the two wolves who fight inside us all; which one do we feed?  Divide us, convince us we cannot trust the other, persuade us to hate without reason, persuade me to hate the person who does not hate the same people you do, and we feed the bigotry that is in all of us (regardless of color, race, or gender) and as a society we will turn on each other like rabid dogs and we will crumble and fall.  I will apologize for my faults, but the condition of my birth is not something I feel compelled to apologize for.  Nor would I expect an apology from others for their conditions of birth.  Is one gender better or worse than the other, is one nationality or race better or worse than another?  Is a rich person better than a poor person—is an under-educated person better than an educated one?  Pick any two diametric scenarios and apply the question.

We all have faults, some more than others.  If you were to focus on only my faults or were I to focus on yours, we would eventually despise each other.  Even if society suddenly lost all bigotry, all hate, all anger, and every form of jealousy and envy there would remain the scattered individual who find these harsh attributes tantalizing and will embrace and implement them for personal gain, for the excitement, and for no other reason than it makes them feel important; like the bully we all dealt with on the proverbial playground. Short side road here, if you did not deal with the “bully” then chances are you were the bully and you may, subconsciously of course, be one of those scattered individuals. Just a thought worth pondering.

It’s easy to get caught up in the back-and-forth trashing from behind a computer screen and justify it as our right to be heard or our right to defend our opinion; and both platforms are true.  We do have a right to be heard and we do have the right to defend our opinion, but we have taken these “rights” to a new level.  We now believe it is our right to trash and hate those who do not share in and defend our opinion.  And some even go so far as to seek out others with opposing opinions so they can spew this self-righteous hatred—it is their jihad.  “You disagree with my opinion so you are obviously misguided and deserve to be silenced!”  Is this not bigotry?  This is manipulation from the puppet master whose ability to portray hate and lies as moral truth far surpasses the abilities of Joseph Goebbels.  “Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs.”  He’s doing it again but we are too arrogant, too educated, and far too sophisticated to believe we can be manipulated.  How dare anyone think such antics can be applied in this day and age?  Is that not bigotry?  At least Joseph Goebbels stood in the open and did not hide his actions or intentions.  Today’s puppet master hides in the shadows and speaks through manicured puppets.

“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” Joseph Goebbels

If building a team, we must seek out and engage the differences in order to gain every advantage.  If everyone on our team is the same, how can we possibly have all the bases covered?  How can we observe and act upon threats if all the vantage points are not manned?  Is the U.S. not a team on a global scale? Can any team that discards a member for unwarranted reasons stand against an adversary? What about a Corporation? Is it not a finely tuned team? What happens when you discount a team member because you care not for their politics or religious views? The puppet master has convinced many to see our differences as faults and has used that as a wedge to divide.  I totally agree with one aspect of the original post—we will die from this newly marketed bigotry.

I refuse to cower to the puppet master—but it requires a daily commitment.