Although I believe that our current era is, and will continue to be largely defined by the collapse of the many ideologies that have dominated the past century; I also feel that it is important to understand that history does not occur in a vacuum. Even as our past crumbles around us, the future beckons us forward and though we, as individuals may never reach that next hill, our history is what happens in the moments while we're chasing it. Despite the undeniable emptiness of a time in which religion, government, the media and business have all largely failed the societies that helped create them; we may yet remember this moment as a key historical turning point in what we define as human culture. Unfortunately, as with most other turning points in our collective history, our current era is marked by a struggle between deeply ingrained ideas from the past and new, emerging ideas about what it means to be human. For every two steps we take towards a common empathy, there seems to always be someone who's prepared to drag us back one step backward on the path of hate. Understanding this struggle between old and new ideas is important to the modern peasant because, in many ways the tension between them affects virtually every aspect of our lives; even most horrifyingly, our very thoughts.
On one hand, developments in communication and information technologies allow the common peasant a far greater understanding of how truly vast and diverse human culture actually is. While this is certainly a function of easier access to historical records and independent news sources, the real breakthrough has come in our ability to directly communicate with each other as a species across regions, countries and even continents. Armed with cell phones and the internet, many peasants are no longer reliant on government or mass media sources to learn about life in other parts of the world. Through independent films, podcasts, chat rooms and even major social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, everyday people are learning about each other, directly
from each other across communications networks. Although various governments and ideological groups have attempted to monitor and control this type of communication, their efforts have by and large been unsuccessful. At this very moment, technology is still helping people teach each other and the lesson we are learning is that peasants all across the planet have a lot more in common than we'd been lead to believe. Alternately, we continue to live amongst the mental (and spiritual) wreckage of the grand ideologies that dominated and nearly destroyed that culture in the previous century. Despite what now appears to be a growing, worldwide rejection of totalitarianism, imperialism and politically systemic exploitation based on race, class or gender; we are still surrounded, and indeed influenced by the world that these ideas created. Casual racism, sexism and class divisions have replaced institutionalized versions of these ideas in much of the "free" world and there is still a direct effort to define modern conflicts in shockingly nationalist, or religious, rather than economic terms. Old hatreds die hard and as a direct result of the past century, humanity is largely still under the influence of a dangerous, inhumane "us against them" psychology.
Perhaps the most repugnant aspect of this struggle however, is the absurd duality of thought it creates in so many minds today. On a surface level, defined primarily by rational thinking, we can easily see hollow generalizations, assumptions and propaganda about
ourselves for the mental rubbish that they are. I found the image on the left for example after searching for anti-American propaganda on the internet. It is reportedly the work of a North Korean painter and is part of a series that depicts vaguely American soldiers committing numerous atrocities against notably patriotic North Korean peasants. The
series itself is apparently meant to reflect the actions of US troops during the Korean, or "Fatherland Liberation" War from 1950-1953, although for reasons that will become obvious; it is impossible to be completely certain of the artist's intentions. Naturally, to my (reasonably) educated mind this image registers as political propaganda. This is in part because of my familiarity with American culture and history, in part because of my (admittedly restricted) understanding of the North Korean government and in part because the image is so blatantly inflammatory. The artist has made little effort to conceal the message in this work and it's not hard to imagine how this poster is encouraging North Koreans to view the United States, or at least it's military. Even in this blatantly biased image however, there remains a grain of truth; although I have been unable to find evidence to suggest it's institutionalized, it has become common knowledge that abuses by US military forces in places as far flung as Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Libya have led to tremendous loss of largely innocent lives. One does have to question if these abuses would not be described as "war crimes" if they were committed by soldiers of a less influential nation but again, taken as a whole these actions morally outrage Americans and therefore are unlikely be a part of
open military policy in the United States. In short, evil men have done terrible things while wearing a US army uniform but nothing about this poster is going to convince me that Americans want to invade North Korea and execute innocent civilians.
Unfortunately, my ability to see through the above poster is mostly irrelevant because I am not the intended audience the artist is trying to reach. The image is intended for citizens living in a nation that expends a tremendous amount of money and energy to prevent its population from contacting or learning about the outside world. In this nation, it is illegal to own a radio or television that has not been modified the government to receive only state sponsored channels. North Korea remains perhaps the most brutal dictatorship on earth today and
by most accounts available in the "West", it is ruled by a semi-deified "god"
leader who uses terror, violence and food shortages to control virtually every aspect of daily life in the nation. When the above image is placed in the context of fear, oppression and literal ignorance of life outside one's own environment; what stands out as blatant propaganda to you and I, passes for the official story in the absence of anyone capable of refuting it. Although I can only speculate, I would not be shocked if this series of paintings were highly effective in stirring up anti-American sentiment in North Korea. This in turn gives Kim Jong-un greater freedom to continue oppressing his citizens; after all, everyone knows you're better off "with the devil you know" and even if life is harsh under the DPRK government, it's likely preferable to execution and torture at the hands of American soldiers.
I do not mention this to criticize the citizens of North Korea for not doing more to break the veil of ignorance Kim Jong-un maintains around and inside their nation. Nor was my goal to denounce the government of the DPRK for their considerable efforts to maintain said veil; although there exists
plenty of evidence that such a proclamation would be completely justified. The point rather, was simply to exemplify how in a vacuum of knowledge, even the most blatant lies can drastically alter our opinions about the people and indeed, the world around us. While it is easy for us to see generalizations about ourselves for the incomplete information and deceptions they represent, we often simultaneously accept those same generalizations about people or cultures we don't know as both complete and truthful. Through this type of mental manipulation leaders, governments and corporations actively work to alter ideas, markets and behavior at their very roots:
inside of both your conscious and subconscious mind. In this way we can be convinced that we should purchase Coke instead of Pepsi, that we must sacrifice our freedoms to protect our security or that invading other countries is a path to peace. Naturally, the more knowledgeable and connected to the outside world a peasant population is, the more subtle and convincing the lies will need to be. Ultimately however, the recipe is typically some combination of fear, ignorance and disinformation.
The real insidious part of this type of thought-crafting however, is the way it exploits, magnifies and indeed relies on our own natural psychological tendencies as human beings. Man is at once a rational and a fearful animal; we constantly strive to classify, comprehend and contain the world around us, but this search is usually tainted by an instinctual fear of the unknown. This fear often leads us to ignore our own lack of knowledge about others or worse, project what little knowledge we
do have to encompass complex situations, beliefs or even societies in their entirety. Furthermore, our own vanity (particularly in the west) combines with our need to understand and our inherent fear of the unknown, to lead
most people to assume they have a pretty solid grasp of virtually every topic presented to them; an idea that is clearly ludicrous on its face. Into this deadly mixture you can add toxic remnants of the age of ideologies like nationalism, racial superiority/inferiority and religious doctrine designed to highlight our differences and obscure our similarities. Remember folks, these are not the machinations of our evil overlords I'm discussing here; this is simply a look at the breeding ground into which generalizations, suggestions and outright lies can be injected to manufacture ideas and control behavior. Like a camera that's always recording, our brains actively seek to fill gaps in our understanding of the world around us with
any information available to us until such a time as better or contradictory information presents itself. Examined in this context, it becomes much easier to understand how readily peasant populations can be convinced to adopt and even embrace ideas, policies and conflicts that are simply
not in their best interests. We instinctively feel pride and communion with that which we know and understand. Alternatively we fear and reject the unknown or that which is alien. Therefore, it becomes fairly easy to manipulate a population by casting "desirable" ideas and policies in the light of knowledge, while simultaneously depicting your enemies or opponents entirely in contrast to that which is familiar to the people you wish to influence. Although we are literally surrounded with examples of this phenomenon in our daily lives, perhaps the best illustration of this principle in action can be found in the US government's successful campaign to justify (temporarily) a never-ending war on terror. By exploiting outrage over the 9/11 attacks, fear of nuclear proliferation and general ignorance of Muslim culture in the largely Christian nation, the government was able to convince
even noted anti-war activists to support policies (for a time) that included invasion, extensive surveillance programs and a terrifying
expansion of government powers; virtually overnight in what is ostensibly, a "free and democratic" country.
Once we understand the ways in which governments, corporations and our leaders use fear, ignorance and generalizations to manipulate our opinions and manufacture justification for policies that
actively harm the peasantry; the question then becomes: how can we prevent ourselves from being manipulated this way? This is also a particularly difficult query because as we've previously discussed, this thought-crafting actually takes root on a
subconscious level, affecting our ideas and emotions even before we are aware of them. I would love to tell you that there is an easy answer, but the truth is that the solution is both complicated and demanding of those who would enact it. You see; the only way out of this trap is to examine both your own thoughts and every scrap of information presented to you with a critical eye before making up your own mind. You must be at once open to new ideas and yet vigilant against those who would reduce your thoughts to "us against them" squabbles. You will by necessity be required to seek knowledge about your fellow man from others, but you must simultaneously be wary of those who would seek to motivate you with lies and half-truths designed to elicit an emotional response. Your emotions have value, but never forget that a man who asks you to think only with your heart is likely doing so because he knows your mind would reject the ideas he's presenting to you. Knowledge, empathy and understanding must become both your weapons and your armor; a healthy dose of skepticism wouldn't hurt either. Do not ever assume that just because information is coming from your government, the media or some other "official" source that it is accurate; remember large organizations have agendas too, and you can be damn sure that whoever paid the piper will see their goals will be reflected in his tune. Read, watch, listen and if you can, ask regular people with first hand knowledge what they
really think is going on. Formulate your own opinions from multiple sources, not the least of which should be your own rational mind and judgments. Embrace truth and contest lies openly; shout in the street when the Emperor dares to show his bare ass in public. Reject generalizations and stereotypes, cast them against the infinite complexity of your own life and expose them for the shoddy lies they are. Most importantly, accept and cherish humanity over concepts, ideologies and communal pride.
The simple truth folks, is that I don't have all of the answers and while I'm striving every day to live with my eyes wide open, the sheer amount of filth, lies and pollution in the information stream remains a constant obstacle. What I do know is that my life actually has very little to do with the actions of leaders, governments and corporations in my nation. I am not consulted on government policy, I have no say in who my church praises or criticizes and I don't benefit in any tangible way when war or diplomacy secures a sweetheart deal for large businesses from my nation. At the end of the day, my life is primary about surviving and earning enough money to provide for myself and family; maybe with a little cheddar on the side so I can enjoy a luxury or two. Unless I'm being
told to care, I don't spend any time thinking about how citizens in far away nations perceive me and if the truth is to be told, I don't think those citizens think about it much either. No, the reality is that I have a lot more in common with the average Iraqi just trying to eke out a living than I ever will with any of my leaders. Furthermore, from a purely factual standpoint it is also true that the various leaders of my nation have more in common with Adlof Hitler than they ever will with me. Before you dismiss that statement as pure hyperbole, please be reminded that I have never held office, worked with captains of industry to control an economy or waged a war; can Stephen Harper, Barrack Obama or David Cameron claim the same?
Generally speaking, that's fucking terrifying.
- Savannah Nix
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