Ignorance is bliss.

I was reading an issue of an "independent" magazine called DOSE a few days ago, while I was waiting for the bus. I noticed an article in this so called "independent" Magazine about people who are "Making the world a better place". The particular story I focused on involved a young girl who learned about the holocaust against the Jewish people during the second world war. Apparently this event truly touched her, and inspired her to do her part to make sure that such a thing never happened again.

So what did she do in her own way to help prevent this fascist genocide from ever happening again? Did she join/form an anti-war group? No. Did she write critical letters to the American government, or any other government supplying military might to the war on terror? No. Did she picket against Canadian neo-Nazi organizations? No.

So what was her contribution to make the world a better place, and resisting fascism?

She wrote to Canadian troops occupying Afghanistan.

Wait a minute! What does the un-just invasion of Afghanistan have to do with the holocaust?
What do our forces stripping a sovereign nation of it's liberties have to do with millions being killed by a fascist government? What is the connection?

More importantly, why is a magazine reporting this story? Especially an "independent" Magazine.

A few days later, I was reading a copy of the Edmonton SUN . Someone wrote the following article to the editorials section:

"Could all of the anti-war protesters try protesting in Iraq or Afghanistan where the war is actually going on? Or are you all too comfortable in your homes that were won through the hard work and effort of Canadian, American and British troops?- Al Boschman"
Edmonton Sun, March 23, 2006

What exactly does the unprovoked Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have to do with Canadians living in warm homes? In what war were these homes won, exactly? Certainly not Iraq and Afghanistan. Does this loud individual really believe that our troops are defending Canada by invading sovereign countries? Does he honestly believe that Afghanistan posed a military threat to Canada, or that Iraq posed a military threat to America?

These are the typical Braying Jack-Ass, pro war opinions I encounter all the time, especially now after the recent protests against wars of Imperialist aggression. Now I certainly understand how the mainstream population of so many nations could be duped into going to war in the first place. I also understand why our "impartial" media , including our "independent" media sources, are publishing these opinions. They are spreading these ideas, spreading these notions in a very subversive way.

As I have said before, the political right-wing are masters of the art of propaganda. Granted that with a marginallized population who has no idea what is going on the world, and usually doesn't care, it isn't very hard to propagate the official line. Still, their excuses and justifications for imperialist war are so ridiculous and easily disproven, and yet overwhelmingly accepted by the general population. In this war of aggression in Afghanistan that Canada is caught up in, now our Canadian media is publishing articles trying to provide a basis for our occupation. I found the personal anecdote of the naive little girl that draws an absurd connection between the people of Afghanistan and the Nazi party of the third Reich to be incredibly idiotic, and yet frustratingly acceptable to a population that believes in the principal of "peace keeping".

When people are un-informed and mis-informed, it provides a spawning ground in the mind for ignorant opinions, like the one expressed by the man in the Edmonton Sun.

I am reminded of a quote from George Orwells 1984:
"They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was expected of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening"

Information and the truth are the keys to revolution. When the veil is finally lifted from the eyes of the sleeping masses, they will inevitably react with anger. At this time, a new society will be born. And so I publish my journal online with some regularity, hoping that these dissident thoughts of mine will fall upon receptive ears....