DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Divide -- Subdue -- Isolate ... are strategies bent on diminishing our lives. They are not new. They follow historic methods for control of society. Power knew then and until recently understood those tactics had limitations. Now it has changed. Power sustains confidence in their goals because a more formidable tool has been added to their arsenal ... the "Chip." For the moment, they are intoxicated with its potential. They could be in for a rude awakening when they learn the tool is not theirs alone.

Historically, insurrection was put down with obvious force, coming from an obvious source. There was no mistaking the face of power. Not only was the center of power always on display but the consequences of engaging their domain, were equally visible. Not so today. Power’s countenance has become invisible and retaliatory action uncertain. There is one certainty ... the result of their actions are hurting, and callously discounting our existence.

Control, implemented by modern technologies, became more subtle, and vastly enhanced the chicanery of power. This new force targets us from every direction, from government, from corporate, from that entity called power, from combined organizations gathering to create "a new world order."

Deception is a required practice at every level of power. To sustain an appearance of good behavior, congressional committees select a wrong doing they have decided should be investigated. With careful planning -- when and in what form this will be brought before the public is also their decision. Panels of experts are invited to testify before a committee. For the most part, their testimony is solid and, if it touches on social subjects, their portrayal of real problems is accurate and their attempts to suggest remedies sincere. Eventually, the polite committee members thank the panel of experts, adjourn the hearing with a slam of the gavel and the show is over. Reams of resultant documents we have footed the bill for are ceremoniously gathered and unceremoniously squirreled away. If we raise our voices in protest, shout foul, insist there is an absence of results they brazenly repeat the performance and produce the same outcome.

Highly educated experts (specifically knowledgeable in the topic being scrutinized), affluent enough to gain entry into high places, most often wind up being savaged by the system. More often than not, they retreat, lick their wounds and reluctantly toss in the towel. The public, witness to the performance time and time again, are hard put to imagine they could force any better outcome. Frustration abounds. It’s catching and so too is retaliation.

Feeling alone and deserted -- hopelessly flaying at a formless entity -- it would appear our destiny has been wrenched from our control and our dreams bound for oblivion.

Why, how, who, altered our America -- the uncontested leader of the free world and prime advocate for our special kind of freedom? What coalition of greed has altered our vision of the future, a future that will soon be relegated to stories about ... "the glory of the past"?

Government is supposed to be shrinking itself. The will of the people has been made known, and the people have said it should be done. Our head of government (The President) agreed to it. It never happened and never will. The government now has a work force greater than the total of all manufacturing (the essential well paying work place) that enabled workers to sustain the American dream family.

It’s a trend that’s denuding our greatness. It’s a trend congressional investigating committees were warned to be aware of, warned by renowned experts to address and reverse. The trend continues despite the warnings and despite the ruination it is causing in middle class America.

Capitol, pouring into government coffers, will ensure that the people will never become benefactors of power’s prosperity. The obscene rewards of corporate top management became another bogus investigation of congress. How could it ever be called investigating, when it is only a bald faced performance conducted to quell our anger. I’m sure you have figured that out by now.

Our already muffled voices of discontent are being further reduced to a whisper. Power has no desire to be disturbed by clap-trap from our lowly rank. By the time our voices slip into the beltway, they are almost soundless.

As our country keeps slipping away from us, secret gatherings, secret use of information grinds on. Opponents of the corrupted system are quieted without being visually confronted. All power need do is extract insignificant but creatively harmful information from their extensive data banks, leak it and the media will do the job for them. The "Chip" goes on a rampage. If only the beneficial values of the chip were truly used to improve society. If only power’s promise that the chip will create a wonderland for us was partially truthful, we wouldn’t be in this warlike situation.

Not so long ago (twenty to thirty years) workers in an organization communicated directly with each other. Projects were introduced and accomplished in an old fashion way, speaking to each other face to face. We listened, weighed the pros and cons, and arrived at mutually beneficial conclusions What was so wrong with human to human contact? The buck stopped in front of a visible person ... not a chip buried in a machine.

What has happened to a people oriented, sociable environment ... that worked so well in the past. It did bring America to her greatness. The walls have come down. In their place, the room is now divided into a mass of cubicles with new walls just high enough to prevent eye contact with the adjoining worker. Overhead, rows of unfriendly fluorescent lights add to the bleakness. In each cubicle there is a computer, a monitor, and a newly designed computer literate drone. Glaring into the monitor hour after hour, feeding the chip, isolated from one another ... are they the epitome of America’s future. Isolated and bored, with no semblance of worth, they do make mistakes. Sure mistakes are always a part of life, but this time it’s different. The mistake might be a wrong credit entry that becomes firmly implanted in the bowels of a machine. And there it will remain until called upon. The mistaken entry will undoubtedly create a nightmare for an unsuspecting human. Will it ever be corrected? With hard work, diligence, time and money ... maybe. Is this a harbinger of our future ..."The New World Order"?

This reprehensible work environment has been exported to family life as well. Turn-key children, a dilemma that is costing all of society, are a direct result of how "the greed of power" supersedes responsibility to society. It is the result of an economic imbalance inflicted on us, not a desire for mom to desert her role in the family. Just as parents were accepting costly day care as a make-do alternative, and were at low ebb, parental influence was about to diminish even more. Children were being introduced to mother’s replacement ... "the computer." This was another step toward total family destruction. During a childs most impressionable years, from pre-school on, the necessity for human interactive learning ... is in the process of being replaced and administered by an insensitive chip. It is incapable of looking into the eyes of a child to show love and it is incapable of hugging a child to show approval. I guess that’s the way they want it? Do we?

The essential bonding between parent and child is being eradicated. Who in their right mind will deny that. What comfort can exist between an impressionable child, and a machine without mind, emotion or human values? The qualified teacher our children were once entrusted to, has become a computer literate, computer dedicated, power influenced ... "controller." The children are doomed, the teacher is a trapped conversion of power. The games go on.

As the division of our society gains speed, as the bridge to the future comes into view, our America is fading into the past. Our social progress has been stymied, our economic future is in chaos. The engineers who spend their lives totally obsessed with improving the chip have no idea of the destruction they are involved with. They can’t be made to understand, they are no longer oriented to our world. They are citizens of a cyber-world, dedicated to creating ... smaller, better, faster "Chips."

Contradiction is the order of our times. Bush, our "educational President," and the entourage that parroted his intentions, were masters of illusion, not practitioners of beneficial implementation. They promised better educational programs. What did we get as a result? The computer? Education by machine? Yet another education program of questionable value was proposed ... "trade schools." At the rate manufacturing is departing from America, what in the world did they have in mind. When degreed graduates are experiencing difficulty finding a rewarding home for their skills -- laborers have given up hopes of finding family supporting jobs with their skills -- welfare recipients are about to flood the market with no skills ... what are the graduates from a trade school to be successful at? Are we witnessing the melt down of "the American dream"?

Once before, the world witnessed a shut down of free will. It was recorded in history as the dark ages. Not until the power that was, realized it was shooting itself in the foot (losing money), did the doors to the future open once again. The obvious is, if you were the last person on earth, master of all you surveyed ... what are you really. Without a vibrant society, power rules over nothing. Exploit the entire world, in the end you exploit yourself.

As our society grows fatigued, boarding a treadmill taking them further along the "Push Hamburger Highway" ... alternate routes are being exhausted. For too many the future is looking blacker than past dark ages.

Quietly and effectively the factories of power are using the very same tools they are selling us ... against us. The computer with its Pentium processor and Windows software are only as effective as the data bases that will allow entry ... lawful entry. What then is power’s advantage? Their privileged data bases ... of course.

There should be no timidity when relating to the double edged possibilities in an erroneously pictured "mystical world of the chip." A new word, "hacker," entered our vocabulary. In short order the word was associated with the criminalization of those who entered the world of power illegally. On the other hand, when power enters our privacy to gather and sell the data, they are considered to be doing it legally. Engaging in tit for tat will not be allowed. When you come down to it, can it be called anything else. Governments and industry are doing it to each other. They know a good tool when they see it and are not squeamish about how they use it.

"Strategic Information Warfare" -- A New Face Of War by Roger C. Molander, Andrew S. Riddle, Peter A. Wilson. The report summarizes research done by RAND for the office of Assistant Secretary of State (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence). The study was undertaken in recognition that future U.S. national security strategy is likely to be profoundly affected by the ongoing rapid evolution of cyberspace, the global information structure.

The report should be of special interest to those who are exploring the effect of information revolution warfare. Information warfare represents a rapidly evolving yet imperceptibly defined field for defense planners and policy makers. Current potential U.S. adversaries, are looking to exploit evolving global information, infrastructure, and associated technologies. Unlike traditional weapons, technologies information based techniques do not require huge financial resources. Information expertise and access to targeted networks are the only prerequisites.

If you own a computer and are on line, you must know that at various times of the year, the word goes out to protect or shut down ... because an international virus may destroy your data.

While the "chip elitists" scramble for advantage ... the no less "chip empowered" public can engage in IW (information warfare) for our purpose. An intelligent plan can get us off our knees and bring power down on theirs.

[ click here for chapter sixteen ]

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