CBrajkovich Ramblings

What in the hell is happening to America? Somewhere along the way, we stepped off the path of righteousness and just keep using our machetes to make a path to wherever the hell we’re heading. Lots of people including myself have problems with the direction that this country is heading. Some feel that we should have never left the 50’s (or maybe that’s the 30s onward), and they have made themselves known in politics around the world and now on our very streets.

A Nazi March in 2017 at UVA (courtesy: Hatewatch)

The war of words is loud, strong, and relentless online and off, with either side calling each other names for not agreeing with them. But lately the words have gained slicing edges that are doing real damage. Our politics is no longer about right or wrong, but about for and against. The words of our forefathers no longer mean anything in our souls, because our hearts don’t beat for the same reasons that our forefathers fought for. I guess that’s what happens when you only care about who wins with no thought about what you’re losing.

A big part of the problem is that this country will not have a public discourse on how we got here. Just like we never did when we were first setting this country up. I’ve been reading excerpts from the Radical Reader by Timothy Patrick McCarthy and John Campbell McMillan. It’s a valuable collection of personal writings from the leaders who made their marks upon this country from its birth to current times. I wish that this book had been available when I was in school as it is critical reading. The words of the original writers ring through with their hearts vibrating loudly for their causes, so that we understand the circumstances that drove them to action. And in the process we get a truer image of our country’s history from all perspectives, and not just for the call of patriotism.

No country has a clean history. Every country has sides that are fighting to be heard. We like to use the term “radical” as a slur, but fail to realize that those who accept this label wear it with pride for their cause. Perhaps if we looked at our leaps in advances in history, then we would realize that radical thoughts and acts are what pushed us forward into the great unknown. Much of what we enjoy today is directly responsible by radical thoughts and acts of our predecessors throughout history.

But as much as we gain, there is also so much to lose when we refuse to engage with thoughts and acts that endanger the greater good. I’ve supported a lot of organizations like the ACLU who stand up for free speech, but somewhere along the way we’ve lost sight of what that exactly means. The world is not just black or white.

It is critical that we be allowed to speak what’s in our hearts, but we also need to take responsibility when those words and actions cause a great harm. We need to talk about the dangers involved with free speech when it is not assisted with the lessons learned from all sides.  The legal world likes to claim that it is truly a blind and fair system, but so many cases over the years have little to do with fairness and more to do with cost. When does the true cost override the calculated costs that drive our current capitalistic world? When does the rule of law admit that is does not have all of the answers because so many participants are left out of the proceedings?

Here's one way to start the conversation (courtesy: teamreboot)

Some things cannot and should not be accepted. Like the first image above which depicts the latest Nazi march in Charlottesville by those who sympathize with white supremacy and all that it stands for. We fought a global war to stop this violent rhetoric, and yet America did not remember the incalculable lesson. Equality does not mean much when there are tiers on which groups must stand that places everyone at different levels. Each new level added means that equality gets further and further away.

If we want to have this conversation, then we need to talk about both sides of the equation and why they are right and wrong. This violence is occurring because someone feels disrespected. But each someone also needs to realize that there are others who experience the disrespect in very divergent ways. Physical and verbal violence leave their marks on everyone, but most especially the victim who receives them. We’ve gone way past saying that everyone deserves a say when someone dies because of the altercation. Death is never the final solution. We should have learned this over and over again in wars at home and abroad. What is it going to take to wake up?

Anyone who advocates hate does so at their own risk. Because whatever you put out there will come back to you, and sometimes it will come back in volumes you never expected. Our leaders of our coumtry, both locally and nationally, have abdicated their positions as representatives for the people.  The conversation cannot be about making a law and expecting others to follow it without finding all risks involved . Each law you make negates the opportunity to fix the problem by applying bandages and tourniquets, but never healing the root cause.

Instead of expecting political and legal solutions, we need to deal with this on a national level with every person involved in the repair. We’ve run out of time to save democracy, because the image above and the actions of all those involved prove that democracy is gone (if it was ever really here). Political participants don’t want to see change, so long as they can beat the drum of their ideology.

But our country and every country out there is about more than ideology. They are about ALL living things, great and small, successfully co-existing and prospering equally. Anything else you hear from the system is just empty words as long as they are not paired with true action that tries to fix each and every problem our society faces.

What are we marching for? I guess it depends on how you see the images above in your own heart and soul.

I know that my soul has been crying out for answers that are nowhere to be seen or heard. Even those people who are fighting for change aren’t engaged as our world needs them to be. Forget about picking a side. The boat is flooding in on both sides and no one seems to be carrying a bucket.

And once again, we are back at the ropes. It seems like this is becoming a yearly (if not more frequent) occurrence, but it’s an important fight to champion. One one side, we have the titans of capitalism who espouse the absolute rightness of free market principles (which don’t even exist in reality). And on the other, we have all users of the Internet and its symbolism as the expression of freedom that we are losing more and more each day at the hands of said capitalistic system.

Internet Tolls will become common without Net Neutrality (courtesy: Imgur)

In a fair fight, it would be principles against profit, but this has not been anywhere near a fair fight when the so-called titans of free market have their hands up the skirt of the system that defines what we citizens are allowed to do and have. How do you trust rules, laws, and agendas when their writings are full of loopholes resulting in the decimation of all that we hold dear? So, once again we have to fight for a free Internet that no longer resembles what it was created for, but has become so much more for all of humanity.

The Internet is not a reflection of the real world, but it is the world as it would exist without the interventions of those who seek order above all. Good or bad, it is what brings dreams into reality for so many people around the world, and without a free Internet, there would be no innovation. Innovation requires the minds of everyone and not just the free market itself. Creations are born from the fires of inspiration and not the hollow bellies of the profit machines.

We all have voices, and yet some of our voices are not heard over others who claim prominence simply because they paid for it. If paid voices are given more value to non-paid voices, then how can we claim a democratic system when the inequality is obvious by the available content?

I write because it is part of who I am. I choose not to allow advertising simply because it will change or even suppress my voice. Like it or not, the payer has expectations for the revenue. Their agenda gets precedence over my own thoughts because that is what a free market means to our current state of economics. But that is not what free market actually is. When another authority (say money) dictates what I can or cannot write about, then the market is no longer free from intervention. A free market means that anything can come into reality and its life will be dictated on whether it is liked and wanted by others. Even a single person supporting something gives it the ability to exist for others. While I write to express and clarify myself to both me and others, I have the freedom simply because I am not engaging in the market via its accepted rules. While I may not have exposure, I have existence which is all that I need at the moment.

In Internet terms, Net Neutrality is the free market of the digital content creators and not just the power of the ISPs. Both are needed in order for the Internet to exist, and one will wither without the other. The ISPs have captured the system and are trying to undo the ruling of the last FCC decision for Title II that said that the Internet is a public utility that will allow all content to move freely without interference.

It is a fight that is as old as money, as we are all supposed to have a voice that can be heard without preferential treatment. Now that makes it hard to hear all voices, but it also allows it all to stay out there so that we will hopefully find the one we want (and many more we never knew we needed). The new FCC under Pai is aiming to dismantle the freedom that was guaranteed under the previous administration, and only one member spoke for the wishes of the people.

The fight is also embroiling Congress simply because everything is about politics, and no longer about the principles that we fought for in the past: equality, transparency, freedom, opportunity for all – you know all of the things that brought our nation into being as well as the Internet to mature into. Until we realize that life is more than the rule of law, everything will have to fought for because those free market supporters are now trying to sell everything as though it is theirs to sell. This is not the decision for Congress alone to make, much less the FCC panel or the titans of capitalism. This belongs to us all because we all made it into what it has become. It is bigger than the system. It is a reflection of humanity.

We’re so scared of the ugly that we don’t remember that it is just as necessary in order to recognize the beauty that also exists in the eye of the beholder. It’s the duality of life that allows us to learn and grow into proper humans who recognize that everything is about more than themselves. And that seems to be something that those in governance  and power have chosen to forget as they go about the daily rituals of upholding all that exists at the expense of what could be. Order must prevail, even if our system falls in the process, because a few got what they want at the expense of the rest. Or because a civilized citizenry cannot abide by chaos (or so they like to remind us on a daily basis). Kind of like the fight we’re having over every other aspect of our lives as shown in the daily news cycle, mainstream and fringe included.

So, here we go once again, until we all get involved to stop the daily vacillation that profit fans.

• Learn more about the fight for Net Neutrality at Fight for the Future’s Day of Action page.
• The latest about Net Neutrality at the Guardian: The open Internet is at Stake; Here’s Why Net Neutrality Matters
• Why this fight is on: Net Neutrality Goes Down In Flames as FCC Votes to Kill Title II Rules
• Read EFF’s take and its coverage on Net Neutrality

edit: and I forgot to add the most important message to pass along:

or normal, or whatever you want to be...on a free Internet

When you only seek a side which is close to your truth, are you really seeing, hearing, or even contemplating anything other? Can all of these people who don’t agree with you really be wrong, and only you right? And must you see this as a personal assault against your point of view (which is personal to you, even if others identify with you)?

Truth can hamper real progress when it’s not the whole truth.

Compromise doesn’t mean that others do it, but not you. Compromise means that everyone gives a little to be as fair to as many as can be done. So much in this world misses this point, and we are living the results everywhere. Acceptance without question is not compromise, unless that acceptance has been won after everyone has been heard. That’s the point so many are making that’s not being heard.

Here’s another truth that won’t hamper:

We all have work to do, so shouldn’t we actually try doing it together? After all, this is our collective lives that are being affected, and not some simple game as the system like to portray itself. There’s much more at stake than just winning or losing. We’ve keep missing the point that humanity has always had more than two sides.

– thanks to Umair Haque for continuing to share his perspective to bring truth into the realm of reality.