Reminders in an Inspiration

There are very few pieces of art, be they paintings, movies, or songs, that I can say changed my thinking permanently. One of those would have to be the movie "V for Vendetta." When I first heard of this movie, it made me think of the "Dial M for Murder" books. But this movie is nothing like that. It's actually based on a graphic novel. One of the reiterated themes is "people shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

This may be a spoiler for those of you who have not seen the movie.

In this movie, a nuclear war started by America breaks out. A government party called Norsefire came to power. Then, the British government detains all undesirables - gays, activists, etc. The government uses them to engineer a virus. The government then attacks its own people through contaminated water and an outbreak at a school and tube station under the guise of a terrorist attack. Years pass with curfews, government propaganda, surveillance, and corrupt police presence. Everything is done supposedly "for your protection." Finally, after a child is murdered by a policeman, a masked man named V wins people over and gets them to see the truth of their imprisonment.

Spoiler over.

There are people out there who believe the attacks on our country September 11th was not the work of foreign terrorists. I neither espouse nor deny this position. I do, however, keep a healthy dose of caution when listening to the news, other people, or promises of our politicians. I fear indoctrination and mindless repetition of gossip. Only through intelligent discourse and research can we see through the lies and half-truths that people spout.

I get a number of emails from my grandmother detailing how evil our current administration is. Whether you agree with their principles or not, you should be able to back up your claims. In one memorable email, the original writer (it was a forward) cited supposed lines out of the health care bill and wrote their take on it. Things like "line 362, rationing of health care. line 671, creation of death panels." Wishing to be informed, I read the bill. The lines cited had nothing to do with those things listed. The writer was simply trying to win over those who would not do their own research.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the current political climate, there are a few things one can do:

1. Inform yourself by gathering your information from as many sources as possible, from both in and out of the country.
2. Prepare yourself with food, health, and safety needs in case of upheaval - political, economic, natural, or otherwise
3. Research those you for whom you vote. Just because their name has a D or and R next to it does not indicate their true beliefs. And perhaps the right person for the job is an independent. Though, as I've always said, anyone smart enough for the job is smart enough not to run.