Silence of the lambs by Ken LaRive
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We are now, for all intent and purpose a socialistic state, in spite of the warnings. Is there any chance of turning back? Not without the fight of your life! What it would take is to organize, but...
Amazing, but even in this final hour, when both parties supposedly came together to “bale out” America, there was millions between the pages of pork spending. What a cold slap in the face. It indicates just how stupid they think we are. Are we?
Most likely just a few will stand up. You and I are indeed an easy mark. Just a glimmer of hope and we will collectively sit on our fat asses and watch the next ball game while drinking copious amounts of beer and scratch our beer-nuts. Oh yea, we’ll talk about politics during half time and figure we did our part.
Twenty percent of America disappeared in one week and we sit back without a squeak. We worked our fingers to the bone day in and day out our whole lives; our ancestors died and sacrificed to give us this amazing gift, America, and we piss it away to those who know only how to take, while our borders are flooded by millions unchecked with demands of payment by default. We’ll pay, because we are collective cowards, fat lambs just rip for the picking. We talk and talk about the biased press, corruption in government, but we buy the paper anyway, for the clippings to save 25 cents, sports, or to scan the death notices. Truth eludes us where agendas rewrite history, and bogus lies are promoted so cleverly we think it to be an original thought.
Silence of the lambs by Ken LaRive 01022008
Writing and photography for small Louisiana newspapers has been a passion of mine for more than 11 years. With 451 published so far, taking about a half day each to compete, it seems a significant effort. Not only was it time consuming, but it was done on moments borrowed or stolen. You see, I had a real paying job. What is more precious than time? I could have otherwise spent it selfishly, like making more money, or completing another ‘honey-do’ job, but instead I tried to do something good for America, to bring truth to light.
At times I thought the effort was appreciated and that a difference was made, by an email, a letter from a reader or my editor, or a person I met on the street. Those compliments filled me, motivated me to continue, and to try harder.
I found a lot of stumbling blocks in this industry, and I tried to circumvent them as best I could. Not being paid was a real stumbling block, as it became apparent that sometimes this was significant to the person I submitted to. My cause was not theirs, my situation not their own, nor did I have anyone to answer to. I was never invited to any newspaper Christmas party.
The business seemed to be a harsh environment with a lot of layoffs, transfers and deadlines. I watched good people sabotaged, disenchanted, disenfranchised, and burned out, punished at times by people I considered to have mediocre talent calling the shots. But more was going on between the pages, the true motivation of this business, which took me a lot of time to realize.
There is a true mindset in the publishing business, and it goes from the center of the publication to the very heart of the person reading it. I found that a very heavy responsibility to bear, and I took it seriously. You see, I had no agenda but truth. And with no boss under someone’s thumb I was completely independent. I felt no obligation to the publication but to make facts known. It was difficult, with a wide variety of walls, but I pressed onward over and over again, until I was finally blackballed four months ago. McCarthyism, propaganda, agendas, and yellow journalism are alive and well in America? I’m blackballed, and indeed, I’m not the only one.
So how could this happen to a writer who wants only to promote truth? You would think that would be an asset in our American system, where free thought thrives, and truth is sought to be precious. I studied the utopian systems in Professor Tungate’s class at Loyola called ‘Mass Communications’, and though I found it difficult, with only a low B as grade, I took what I learned to heart. It seemed to me that truth would be the primary spirit, an engine fueled by truth, but I assure you these models do not exist in the real world.
At first, for the young ones, I saw honesty and sincerity as they went out as new journalists. Green behind the ears they set upon a utopin path, one taught by well meaning optimistic teachers. I saw the change. It was quite evident in their faces., as soon it became evident to them that survival depended on something far more base. Their childlike optimism was replaced by something akin to fear and disillusionment. No one wants to admit fear, but the years of school, the unfulfilled dream, worked itself into the muscles of their heart and it was reflected in the lines on their faces. In most cases it was their responsibilities was the true catalyst to stimulate and manages the business at the front line, their desk. Sure, I saw those who tried to retain deep inside a semblance of right and wrong, but it was well guarded and hidden, and with time faded. After all, there is a lot a stake. They have a significant amount of time invested, a family to raise, insurance needs for failing health, and a barrage of other responsibilities that weigh heavy. They have also seen first hand what has happened to others who decided to stand on a principle not viewed by peers, and they now work in distribution or out of the business completely. Nothing wrong with those two options, but a writer who is silenced is such a travesty; it is indeed beyond words, a true and rather pitiable paradox in a country where freedom is so freely described. It isn’t that a person is right all the time, but that he has a right to try.
Ron Paul said: "The most basic principle to being a free American is the notion that we as individuals are responsible for our own lives and decisions. We do not have the right to rob our neighbors to make up for our mistakes, neither does our neighbor have any right to tell us how to live, so long as we aren’t infringing on their rights. Freedom to make bad decisions is inherent in the freedom to make good ones. If we are only free to make good decisions, we are not really free."
There, beyond the lens of people who stand between the drying inks, is the institution. Weather it be mega-conglomerates, or even at times an Independent, most weigh the bottom line heaver than any balance of truth. A paper’s primary focus is to survive, just as the managing editor on the front line. CPA in pin-striped suits press buttons, pushes agendas, promote, motivate, coerce, repress, manipulate, and control all in their domain for the almighty buck. That’s their job. Truth is not promoted if it doesn’t pay.
Right and wrong is blurred by what can be legally accepted, and a thought can be justified, dignified, warranted, easily defended and vindicated by bogus facts. It is more than an agenda for survival, but also to promote. To them, if you put it to words in a way where it is believed and accepted, if it makes money it becomes Truth. Morality makes no play in it. Look to the masses. Who are we? What have we become? It is a widespred and promoted belief in the newspaper industry that the primary people who read the paper have the educated mentality of a sixth grader. That is what they think of us, and I see now how they can believe that! People think on a mass level that if it is printed it is True. No way would it be possible to get away with leaving out or instilling a vital element of information to promote an agenda. No way! That would be wrong! But this is common and accepted practice in this business.
More to be said is the distinct possibility that the masses don’t want to know the truth. Not only would they not know it if they saw it, but they don’t want to be made to feel uncomfortable in any manner. Must admit, Truth does sometime have a way of upsetting people, and God knows they might cancel the paper if they became disconcerted. People are reluctant to change, and that goes double for a brainwashed someone who didn’t do their own homework. They would fight to the death then admit they were duped.
Newspapermen would mostly scoff at the idea that the readership is grossly needed anyway, because they know that readership does not in itself make or break a paper, advertisement does. The price of the paper most probably doesn’t pay the ink and paper, much less the spectacular salaries of their employers. I’m indeed being facetious. It is notable that they are very underpaid for the amount of effort and education they have. No, if you want to change a paper, make an effect, or a permanent mark on them, quit advertising. Yep, it’s that simple. Subscriber numbers are used to sell advertising, so those numbers do have meaning to, however, how would a person who wants to advertise know if those numbers are correct? They don’t. One has to trust that the little sales girl was told the correct number to tell you. Kind of a catch 22, isn’t it?
If I write about our moral obligation to slow down on Camellia, or promote the BSA, I have only a short wait and I’ll see my picture and text. Anything of substance like our Louisiana representatives trying to do business with Fidel Castro, Drugs in our University, black on white crime in relation to Jena, Israel as a catalyst for war, or even a story about the man who did more for Louisiana Education than anyone else, who invented the POPS program, are never published. I lost both parents to Katrina, and watched what transpired, and I know who was at fault. My first hand opinion was thought to be too biased.
Questions go unanswered by phone calls and email, and so it seems that the bulk of ones work is meaningless or disregarded, if even a fraction of it is associated with some form of taboo, taboos designed to discredit anyone and anything that doesn’t fit, or threatens their safe point of view. It should be their job to tell the news, not interpret it. Promoting an agenda is opposed to a free press, and thwarting opposing ideas is the epitome of slavery of the will. It seems to be an easy thing to do, and runs unchecked, because both the populous and our own government haven’t the gumption and intestinal fortitude to stand up to it. Why? Because they have an agenda too! The Truth is left out not only because few care to know, or just too afraid to know, but that they can get away with it!
I tried to make a difference. I attempted to bring to light what I saw in my travels, how other people lived, and how similar we all are. I tried to show the true reason we are about to go to war, how our leaders are outright lying to us, how the world thinks, and how they view us. I offered solutions based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. I tried to show that most answers are easily found based on the premise that righteousness comes from doing what is right, and that right is based on unselfish love. I told this to people who would vote for a man who would promote abortions because of the promise for a menial paycheck, or tax advantage because they are too lazy to compete on a level playing field. They know so little about history and the world they would choose Socialism, if indeed they even knew what that concept ment. They would give up their freedoms, their very souls, they would sacrifice the lives of hard working people as a parasite, without pride, without honor, and without it seems, a simplance of hope. What a concept? So clear, so concise, but so out of vogue... so unpromotable, so unlucrative!
What if someone knew the real reason we are going to war, and wants to explain how to get out of it? What if someone knew the real reason we are paying high gas prices, and how to stop it. Or why Louisiana has so much corruption, why Jindal can’t stop it, and what can be done? What if it was just laid on the table why black men are so weak-natured, irresponsible, and unresponsive to change, when books like ‘Tally’s Corner’, and ‘Black is me’ were studied forty years ago, along with 1984, which is hardly remembered today. Silenced? Why? What if solutions were at hand, but the media silenced it?
Why would you have a taboo about mentioning what percentage of Jews are in the 350 who run this country, and why isn’t there one Muslim? This is America after all, with liberty and justice for all? Why can’t we know out front how secularism is destroying the moral fabric that made us great, even from the founding father Deists who promoted Christ? Why can’t we talk about the true reason we are so divided politically in this country when the average Joe are all middle of the road politically. Why can’t we talk about yellow journalism, subliminal advertising, and agenda promotion without right and wrong considered, or meanings of life based on agape love and not hormones? How twisted are we that we would use sex to sell nearly everything, then have the gall to separate hundreds of children without due process from families who choose to separate and not participate in that disgusting process? Double standards are promoted because it sells! It becomes so twisted, so complicated, that Truth is buried and hidden from view. Something they like, indeed.
Concepts like: A One World Order, the difference between a Secular and religious Jew, the similarities of religion and our basic similar needs, American tax expenditure around the world, the true reason abortions are so promoted and prevalent, the death of Christianity and the rise of both Islam and Secularism taking its place in Europe, the downfall of the EURO and their rapid unchecked inflation, our devalued dollar on the international market, the ACLU’s agenda and who and why is it impacting American hard won values, unchecked illegal aliens in a land where 90 percent of the populous disfavor it. Why did we go into Iraq? Who gave us false Intel about weapon’s of mass destruction? Who bombed the WTC and why? What were Waco and its impact on our civil liberties? Where today children can be taken from their parents without due process, as the media promotes it with words like compound and cult? Why are we about to go to war, a world war? What is Secular Zion, and how do they influence American politics? Who actually runs America, we the people? Who are we today? What have we become? We accept the fact that 80 percent of children are now born out of wedlock, that drugs and immorality is ramped, that we are noted to be the nicest but most ignorant industrialized country on the planet, and that our unbelievable money making machine called ‘the American Middle Class” actually makes the world go round with what is taxed, and that we consume 25 percent or more of all raw materials on the planet.
Just think what we could accomplish if we stuck together, if we had a leader with vision, if we had gumption, as so it was said even in Roman times: “One does not know what he truly possesses until it is lost.” What power does America have unrealized when we are known to be the least educated in the world? I see children in Honk Kong reading Chinese on one page and English on another while their mother cooks pieces of bread in an open fire under high-rise skyscrapers wrapped in bamboo scaffolding!
Well, folks, I’m a bit at a loss as to what to do next. Might seem that I have bitten the dust, and surely I have lost quite enough sleep about it. Surely don’t want to go out thinking I made no difference, that the effort was in vein. Seems evident in retrospect that the effort was just a tiny effort to what needs to be done to wake up a dying land... I remember the time we all stood together to stop the disgusting gansta-rap in Circuit City. All they play now is Disney, and even though even Disney is now perverted, I saw what could be done when we all stood together.
Accountability, responsibility, duty, honor, obligation, are forgotten concepts that only a handful still hold as the rock for Truth. And of those precious few, only a few have the time, energy, or inclination to promote what in their heart is known to have an ultimate meaning. It seems that mostly I talked to walls, and gave some people good practice with their delete button. Even a well thought-of person in my community sends me emails where one out of five turns out to be bogus BS. No matter how many times I send it back to him corrected, he still does not check to make sure of accuracy before forwarding another, and makes no comment on my effort to correct him. He wants to be known to care, his attempts to make a difference, but just like most folks, he wants to trust the system, a system that no longer exists. But then how do you explain that a cause is already lost if it is based on lies, promoted by lies. Even the teachings of Jesus would fail if based on lies!
Since the under-the-cover discussions by several, but not all, local publications, I can no longer get the time day from them. I have been approached by several publications from both England and Indian Newspapers, after my inquiries, of course, and just a touch of negativity toward America would insure this. To me, after reading their publications at 33,000 feet, I see that even though they show the opposite side of our liberal media, it is still biased in its primary design. Possibly only one opinion out of fifty is pro-America. Since our media no longer represents a free press, I am hard pressed to see any difference between them, and these most disconcerting International ones.
And so, though being told to shut up hurts deep, a fighter from the interiors of New Orleans learned to pick his battles. I can see no solution but to withdraw from this mode, and to finally submit to the powers who threaten the very freedoms and rights my ancestors died to promote and defend. To me, the fight seems lost to a medium unwilling to show Truth, but the proof seems evident from a different perspective, and the real reason this country is in danger... To me, of the 82 people this has been sent to by email, possibly one in ten will have finished it, and even fewer will understand its ramifications, consequences, or truly care. Shortly, all that I have aspired to do and my effort to find and promote Truth will be forgotten. It will be covered by metaphorical fertilizer that stimulates the bottom line to bloom. In that garden, there can be no place for a flower that points and indicates the weeds and parasites that choke it, nor could I be content to reflect the clouded sky above by playing their game.
The fight for Truth will continue, of that I am certain, where might for right will attempt to stymie every war, and light every heart. There is hope in that, unfortunately, one seldom knows what he has until it is lost...
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