szyrk | 12 points
Do You Hear The People Sing is not what I expected to be listening to in the closing months of 2016
Posting this may be utterly pointless, or too sentimental, or too verbose, or just run-of-the-mill stupid, so take it for whatever it's worth.
I thought this year would leave me more cynical than I've ever been, with even less trust in other people than I've previously had, feeling not only lost and out-of-place but as though there were no better alternative, alienated from even some of my close friends/family, tired, confused, isolated, and with even my hitherto stable faith in art and philosophy more shaken than I could admit to myself. This last month or so, though, has changed that. It seems absurd to say that an online investigation into pizza and pedophilia could do anything but make things worse, which, I suppose, it in many ways has, but it's also given me this weird, grim, but kind of exhilarating sense of vindication. It has something to do with seeing society concern itself with fundamental ethical/epistemological issues, and take them seriously. It has something to do with recognizing that I hadn't taken those issues anywhere near as seriously as I thought I had or as I ought to do. It has something to do with seeing people treat truth as not only real but worth pursuing for itself. It has something to do with seeing actual, even if baffling and often misguided, change. It has something to do with honesty, as backward as it seems to talk about honesty in this so-called "post-factual" year. But the internet has become maybe the most honest form of human expression yet, I think. It's a record of all our lies, inane questions, horrifying inclinations, layers of superficiality, loneliness, stupidity, actual, habitual and willful evil, but also of whatever amount of good it is we've done. It gives me an inkling of compassion for and understanding of other people. Typically I can either disdain people in general because I feel oh-so far above them, or disdain people in general out of spite for their being so much better than me; this is a nice reminder that there is an alternative perspective. If that makes any sense.
More to the point, seeing how relentlessly and thoughtfully people on here are digging into this issue is completely incredible, despite the missteps. Regardless of what the truth really is, this investigation is fully worthwhile. The goal is the truth, whatever that is, and the more certain we are of it, the better. Aristotle wrote entire books just to define the terms he would use in discussing the most basic metaphysical ideas, and he was absolutely right to do so. If it turns out, at the end of the day, that you can say with absolute certainty that the Podestas/Clintons/etc./whatever are actually the most virtuous and unrelated-to-pedophelia people on earth, and that you're willing to spend an entire week detailing exactly why that is the case, that'll be a good thing.
I'll leave you with a selection from good old Les Miserables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYb9sRLUDyM
huktheavenged | 1 points
pizzzagate has had the opposite effect on me......my self maintance has failed and i don't value this life anymore. see that WITCH/performance artist in major magazines has broken something in me.
szyrk | 2 points
I mean, that's the reaction I would have expected from myself. Although I will admit that my self-maintance has also gone downhill. And there's plenty of despair/confusion/etc. mingled with whatever weird hope it is I feel. But I don't know. Maybe it's just that I've always loved the thought of fighting the impossible but good fight, and this in some ways seems like that.
I was just talking with a friend though about her. I'm against all censorship, there are few things I hate more than people valuing or devaluing a work of art based on its supposed moral worth, I tend to gravitate toward the avant-garde and the unpleasant in art, but still, to me she crosses a line. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by that, but there's just something about her work that goes too far.
huktheavenged | 1 points
that hope you feel is that no one can be an atheist after see the Devil.....you can see her master standing behind her.
kealanm1 | 1 points
I think this post is both appropriate and fitting of this sub. We need to reflect and take stock every now and then to make sure we still know who we are.
Is it still me in here? Digesting so much, sifting through the thousand lies to find the one truth. Anger .. frustration .. apathy .. and start again.
Sometimes I think il go deaf if I don't remember to get out of the echo chamber and take a break.
Even the professionals have huge support systems to decompress from this and they are forced to take breaks, all we have is each other. Thank you op.
cpokwdwhsam | 2 points | Nov 22 2016 15:58:53
I'd like to second this. I entered this year expecting to see the death rattle of society. Perhaps that feeling was what the powers at be wanted me/us to feel. Yet here I am in November, I've listened to Do You Hear the People Sing almost daily for months now. I see countless people waking up to the actualities of our world. I've watched as friends and family of every type start to slowly question the status quo. I've been "that conspiracy guy" for years, and my friends and family have been cool with my ramblings. However, over the course of the year so many have started to voice concerns to me about this conspiracy or that. The collective consciousness has reached a tipping point. Misinformation reached a level that has endangered out survival as a species. The world at large is singing it's discontent, and I see it in new ways for new places every day. These changes are not an accident. This "song" is not happenstance. Rejoice and add your voice to the choir of truth that's rising. Listen to the people sing and take heart. Sing with us all. The tuatha'an are rising.
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szyrk | 3 points | Nov 22 2016 16:20:09
I've never wanted to be that guy in the street waving flags and proclaiming revolution. In fact I've always kind of detested that guy. But there is now a distinct possibility I will become that guy.
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cpokwdwhsam | 2 points | Nov 22 2016 16:29:16
I feel you. Just live by example. Be constantly mindful of what your actions and words mean to others and to yourself. Simply live as an example of how you want the world to be. Listen to your friends and family. Talk to them about what you see and feel in the world. The man waving flags in the street is intentionally being marginalized. Your power to affect change lies closest to home. Be an example, and try and explain why you want to be to those around you. You might be surprised at how far those ripples start to reach.
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