Montreal, March
24, 2004 from: http://spop.addr.com
This is a letter published finally in “Tribune”, but before it was aimed for “The Gazette” (see an additional story below the Tribune’s letter)
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Published
by the Students' Society of
McGill University | Issue Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 |
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mcgill
athletics |
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This letter was sent to The Gazette
columnists:
Montreal, March 11-23, 2004
Dear Gazette columnists,
You the journalists who are allowed to
share your own views with the public on the regular basis, play a special role
in the commercial media. The role could
be compared to the mission of the middle class in our society. We were taught
not long ago it was the middle classes who protected our democracy.
Unfortunately, our democratic system
is facing a crisis and each day seems to bring more restrictions. Do you feel totally free to express what
seems to you socially important, or do you feel required to hide your
conclusions because they are too dangerous?
There are many euphemisms used for
expressing the borders of our real freedom today. This is especially visible among supposedly more privileged
people in higher social positions.
Sorry to remind you of a painful experience, but a few years ago some
more sensitive Gazette journalists experienced a brutal confrontation with the
media owners. This was very similar to
the experience of Czechoslovak intellectuals after the 1968 intervention.
Fortunately our democracy is freer,
with a number of people challenging their “borders of freedom” even when those
in power are throwing their weight around in order to secure their own
interests. There are two separate approaches challenging this: one sensitive to
human values with people like Noam Chomsky, who could colourfully be called
members of the “Intellectual Red Brigade”; and a second one, physically strong
and forming a hard-shelled terrorism, which allows a fast release of the anger
stemming from by old wounds caused by human arrogance. Both approaches are too remote to influence
significantly the majority, so the ruling circles can still sleep comfortably.
However, the existence of intellectual resistance exposing cancerous elements
in our decaying democracy is almost totally ignored in the media, while the
terrorists’ presence is overexposed.
There is no communication between these two poles and all we know is
that their supporters are similarly agitated by the introduced restrictions.
It is impossible to ignore the
limitations to freedom when citizens are trusted less and are treated more like
potential abusers and addicted opportunists who must be carefully watched. This
180 degree switch in direction from the trust that grew so beautifully during
the post-cold-war economic boom was established between one and two decades
ago. It happened well before the
current exploitation of terrorist hysteria by the ruling political
centers. At one point, for example, we
were asked to replace our driving licenses, health care cards or border passes
with new ones including our pictures. Now this it is not enough and the
authorities demand more precise IDs with files attached detailing our lives,
which can be only compared to burning numbers on our arms.
The media exploit the latest
terrorists actions, but all this does is help the introduction of more
restrictions. On top of that, the terrorists are conveniently labeled as the
puppets of a mysterious devilish conspiracy.
Do we need to follow these “official” policies? Let’s try to look at the terrorists as
natural social abscesses expressing, unfortunately in the most horrible way,
some more fundamental problems that have long been germinating in our
societies. In the New Yorker about
three years ago, some respected historians and Bible academics presented their
research tracing similar cases to the present explosion of suicidal attacks
(pun intended). Their conclusions proved that these tragic phenomena of the
last two decades have no historical analogy.
This “explains” official policies demonizing the Al-Qaeda terrorist
network or Saddam Hussein
in Iraq and playing down thousands of suicide victims killed every year around
us. The latter are because of depressions caused by too many self-imposed
stresses in our de facto restrictive democracies. Suicide statistics on this
scale have never been seen before in human history. The annual number of
suicides in Canada matches the total American loss of soldiers in the last 14
years in their wars together with the victims of the terrorist attacks killing
Americans.
Since the capture of Saddam Hussein,
we have seen more bloodshed in Iraq. Surely the same will happen on a wider
scale if Bin Laden is killed. His death
would cause more spontaneous and disintegrated terrorist cells to
emerge—because the ruling circles are too arrogant and profit-oriented to admit
the own guilt in the first place. Their overconfidence combined with a lack of
respect for human dignity explains the present eruption of anger manifested by
violence. Human pride sets a limit to
the amount of manipulation people will suffer.
The ruling spheres are decreasing
their chances for their own spiritual development when they focus too much on
power—which is very addictive. As a
result, we see many sick minds among powerful rulers, or rather among the
people really controlling the political scenes from behind by money. With the
present countless “combat conditions”, methodically introduced by the arrogant
profit masters, the more marginalized nations and individual people are
cornered like rats. People more
sensitive about human dignity can only see two extreme alternatives: to live
their whole life on literal or metaphoric deserts (to feel at least free); or
always to be exploited workers. The
latter can only afford to live in the most polluted slums, eating the cheapest
GM food made after introducing mammals or reptile genes into plants or stuffing
animals with dangerous medications. What is really depressing is the mental
pollution of our constantly “globalized minds” by media-promoted materialism. Over a decade ago, it took about one or two
years for the small Tamil separatist groups to prepare psychologically the
suicide bombers operating in India.
Now, “volunteers” around the world just wait in line for hidden “Anger
Centers”. They need a maximum of two
weeks’ technical training before spreading the bad news about the neglected
millions who rightfully resent the humiliation by Money, Manipulation and the
obsessive run for More.
Forget the media pictures of the
aftermath of a bomb in some exotic country. What about North American victims
of consumerism and pushy competition who kill their co-workers before taking
the own lives? How many more are
waiting in the wings? And what about school-age kids who were able to kill
themselves after taking the lives of others?
What about a growing violence inside families and the polarization of
our society, which feels more and more checked and marginalized?
Is the manipulated majority allowed to
search for “the root cause” of this, and can the corporate journalists print
such reflections without omitting the key factors? Surely not, as even the higher-ranking editors cannot present
meaningful conclusions, and the editorial pages instead of provoking are just
boring fillers. The media omit to mention that global violence represents only
an external layer of the very heavy internal load so many people carry. The
last 10 or 20 years have seen our “Propaganda & Politics System Ltd”
exploring the lowest human denominators in greed and selfishness, instead of
encouraging higher aspirations. This propaganda system motivates people to work
harder and more competitively, but its by-product is egotism and aggression.
The propaganda tool of the “pleasure trap” is safe enough in our prosperous
economy, but dangerous elsewhere.
Instead of ridiculing terrorists for
their “religious justifications”, we should try and understand that their
religious fundamentalism is an attempt to shield themselves from and to
challenge the arrogant concentration of power controlled by the selfish
financial spheres. Unfortunately, the strongest financial
circles and the politicians who slavishly support them are getting better and
better at exploiting both the media and the public's willingness to be
entertained. The media should kick against this and allow more space in their
pages for the publication of the public’s own concerns—however controversial.
Let potential terrorists see that all life scenarios can be played out safely
in the mind and do not have to be played out in the reality of physical
violence. We all have only life.
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So I am asking you, the middle class
in the powerful mass-media, to see if my attached letter (“Trust or check?”) in
trust-check.rtf can be published. I think my considerations can provoke deeper
discussion. I am asking for your direct or anonymous (you can send your remarks
via the ad hoc free public e-mail addresses) help in editing this text – and
you can add some reflections from this letter to the enclosed “Trust or check?”
text. If you care it would be my
pleasure to add your name (or your assumed one, if this help is going to be
anonymous) what would add additional symbolism that only by working together we
can create richer texts. Someone at the
Gazette offered to publish it as a letter after reducing its size to about 400
words. Probably it is my mistake not to take this offer, but I am still hoping
to use the Opinion section, where longer texts are permitted.
There are some rather hazy rules about
using this page in your paper, and so I venture to propose that the Gazette’s
editors create a separate page so the public can present longer opinions. For example, editorials about the Israeli/ Palestine conflict
from the point of view of the main opponents could be taken from the Opinion
sector and published there, alongside readers’ thoughts on our social system,
education, politics, etc. The page could be entitled: “Seen from the ground”.
Please let me know what
you think of this suggestion. Then I will know how best to publicize the issues
above, which are so important to me.
Regards,
Slawomir Poplawski
P.S. Please look at my aimed opinion
text in the attached trust-check.rtf
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“Trust or check?”
It was refreshing to see “The Gazette”
publishing recently more profound concerns from the public about our political
life. Mr. Richard Smith does not want
to see religion influencing politics and is concerned about the election of
Rev. Darryl Gray (Letters, Feb. 17). At the same time, Mr. James Hanna
(Letters, Feb. 20) almost prays for more religious-minded people in public
life.
These are opposite
opinions, but jointly reflect a diminishing trust in our politicians. This
phenomenon is too serious to be ignored.
A
Russian motto says: "Trust and believe people, but check them." It dates from long ago in a simple, feudal
society controlled by a privileged few. Now, the “trust and believe” has
gone and only the “check them” remains.
People
are checked constantly everyday, especially we in the most developed countries,
with files acting as a substitute for trust, and more power has been invested
in these files since the latest hysterical security concerns.
In the past, the selfish aristocracy
was at least God-fearing, and thus their pestiferous aspects were easier to
accept by the vulnerable masses. Today, the powers at the top believe in
something that eliminates a priori humanistic values, contributing to
the greatest number, proportionately, of suicides known in history.
Furthermore,
these narrow circles of power, who are the main beneficiaries of globalization,
increasingly want to play a role similar to that of the old feudal aristocracy.
They have long been influenced by their worship of the “3M trinity”: Money,
Manipulation and the desire to have More of everything. This
trinity is now reaching everyone’s minds, rich and poor, so that the latter are
easier to control, thereby converting the traditionally antagonistic relations
between the rulers and the ruled into the friendlier dynamic of masters and
their followers. What the followers do not know fully is that those who already
have riches are gaining more as they acquire more power, and the followers are
being poisoned with envy, which is treated as a virtue motivating people to
work harder. It makes many richer, but erodes traditional religions, which
endorse dialectally different values from a very addictive “consumerist life
philosophy”. In fact many people from
the religious establishment are not immune and can be easily targeted as the
enslaved materialistic or pleasure monsters.
This erosion allows the corporate media to continue their consistent
total attack against all religions, and their defence of the 3Ms. In this situation it is probably safer to
support Mr. Smith approach and treat Mr. Hanna’s view as too idealistic today
when hypocrites outnumber the true believers.
This
is a simplified description of our modern society where people hurt themselves
and their families and friends after being indoctrinated with a go-getting
mentality. It makes them difficult to
be spontaneous and socially active. It
makes them more like separately caged animals, afraid of the have-nots and very
afraid to risk losing something while fighting for more respect or independence.
The ruling circles love societies motivated in this way as people become very
predictable in their activities. Their consistent indoctrination and
manipulation become an easily-achieved objective once the monopolized corporate
media and puppet governments lend a hand.
Right now, the true rulers do not need strong police and concentration
camps to maintain their dominant position; but they will when encountered with
even the slightest active resistance to their globalized interests.
This explains why people are unwilling to
say, “Trust and believe people”.
However, let’s not give up. Let’s use this beautiful motto in a slightly
modified version: “Trust and believe our feudal lords, political leaders
and CEOs—but check them.”
Only a constant push to check our leaders
can galvanize people. They need to examine the ethics associated with “the 3M
religion”, involving constant promotion of unrestrained consumerism, while
ignoring the world’s physical limitations (e.g. diminishing resources) and the
spread of pollution. The new heroes of this aggressive materialism are rewarded
with eulogies about their “successes” in the media. This prevents people from
seeing anything spiritual, because they are fed by the mass media and their
lowest denominator—profit.
At the same time,
the ruling us worthies are trying to impose a monopolistic and autocratic
control over our legislatures or political bodies. As a result we are rapidly losing democratic roots. Also, in this post-Enron era, our notion of trust
dilutes what accelerates many other parasitic "developments"
reflecting the world.
However, let Mr. Smith and Mr. Hanna, as well as others,
not give up their search for better social solutions due to difference of
opinions. Instead, let them unite in
unmasking the real enemy hindering their natural instinct to trust others. It
is an enemy spoiling the quality of life even in the best country on the
planet—as Canada was recently declared to be.
We must reintroduce the notion of trust into
people’s lives. At least let's give it a try.
Slawomir
Poplawski
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This was a letter sent before to one of your co-worker – I assume that after reading it you can understand better how some readers see ….. Montreal, March 8th, 2004 Dear M. …, Following our conversation from last Friday I am informing you that a big advertisement announcing, in advance, an article about Mr. Vladimir Donat was published in “The Gazette” on February 24, 2004 (pageA8). I am quite astonished to hear that this story so loudly promoted by your daily is unknown for you. Do not take me wrong, but I see too often in The Gazette’s opinion section pre-selected texts from a certain category of people. The readers of the opinion page are quite often patronized by notables from some important organization and by the media-trusted journalists. Sometimes controversial activists are also presented, but only after being too noisy to be ignored. It makes it easier to portray them in the context as scary extremists rather than influencing the majority in our carefully monitored society by the financial circles globalizing this world. Immigrants are good to be photographed as the posing clowns, and their opinions are carefully “processed” by your journalists who know better what to write about “the cheap labour” living in Canada. It seems that these journalists also know better the immigrants’ thoughts, objectives and dreams. This is exactly the way of using Mr. Donovan’s name from the former Czechoslovakia ten days ago by your Gazette for cheap materialistic propaganda that is so loved by this “GM democracy”. Please feel free to use any interpretation for my coined phrase. It can be: Genetically Modified, Generally Manipulated or simply compared to the General Motors’s production line that also needs a very special “democracy” among the workers. The immigrants in this country, where the richest own the media and dictate their own opinions above others, are only liked when doing the all requested jobs for less. The immigrants are also supposed to know their place and be self-disciplined to keep the own opinions to themselves. Your editors are very keen to publish only shallow “success stories” about aliens. The story about the one buying a home and learning two languages after more than a decade of being in Canada seems to be ideal. This decent person (Mr. Donat) is used in a happy ending tale for the poor immigrants – to motivate them for work harder for less. Is it disappointing or normal for you, M. …, to find out that this article is not offering later “Mr. Donat’s perspective” about many things as being advertised so loudly before to lure readers into this communist style “cheap propaganda happy story”? Is it possible for you to accept on your opinion page someone renting a cheap apartment in Montreal’s Point St.-Charles after 17 years of being in Canada and willing to express a less than enthusiastic opinion about our global reality? On top of that, this person is not focused on “the Money problems” or artificial political games induced and controlled by the strongest financial spheres, which are used together to keep similarly pre-occupied the minds of the majority. Can we compare it to a controlled hunger that was aimed to paralyse the free spirit of prisoners in the concentration camps not too long ago? This author is also trying to talk about some higher values that are quietly disappearing from our Canadian life. In his interpretation these changes are proportional to the successes in a promotion of the “3Ms religion”. Anyway, did you ever publish an opinion piece coming from the Polish ethnic group? You, M. .., were quite honest by admitting last Friday (after my remarks about the very positive reaction of many people reading this text) that in my aimed opinion piece I am trying to say a lot. Is it really wrong, and am I not allowed to present more holistic views, or is the manipulated society not supposed to be provoked toward ethical and religious reflections, which can awake more their free spirits paralysed by the promoted consumerism? Now, I feel more convinced of having important points in my text. They can be interesting for the readers and I will try to prove it in a more innovative way after your unfair treatment of my text until now. You kept me in suspense for two weeks with only an “explanation” of not having time to read my text and perhaps finally saying that it is too late to publish my opinion. I do not consider as heartfelt your vague remarks about my poor English without providing any example. Is it the standard way of the monopolized media to intimidate not truly liked/respected readers? I am sure that the other readers can tolerate easily this certainly true factor when seeing my genuine effort, as a relatively new immigrant, trying to express his very own observations/perspective in the most condensed way. Some will probably like it as having an extra ethnic flavour. Are you really so sure, M. …, that my English is too poor for the daily paper that uses a lot of slang and is also addressed to immigrants? Our “fresh” immigrant population is about 20% and it is time to also respect our different opinions – even if expressed in our “pidgin” English. So far I have not heard from you your precise remarks evaluating my text? I am sorry to say it so directly, but I see your editors as more servicing the emerging system of monopolistic power and less our common social values. This polarizing and dividing people system of power is self-serving with the corporate media trying as much as possible to shape the majority’s opinion. We do not live in a progressive democracy with a growing number of decent people deeply respecting the conscience of others and their human rights. Instead, we see too many manipulators of our human souls. One of them was your former super-boss Mr. Black. Do you really have more decent people deciding about key well-paid jobs in the media now? What are the criteria used to determine the media’s political correctness and who determines this fine line? In my opinion it is the journalists themselves and it probably makes some of them more catholic than the pope. Regards, Slawomir Poplawski (slavekpop@yahoo.com) P.S. Sorry for the sarcastic tone in my letter but it is the fruit of your certain treatment of my person. I hope to see from you today your final written decision about my text as mentioned by you last Friday.Enclosed is once more my text in Tr-opinion.doc.