This is a piece I found from August, 2008, that Aphorista wrote. I really liked it and just wanted to re-post it. She screamed this during the Georgian attack on S. Ossetia...


COMMENTARY: Shout NO to WAR! Stop the INSANITY! Who started this Russian-Georgian-Ossetian conflict? Does it really matter? I can tell you this, with certainty, it was not the bulk of the people of Russia, nor was it the bulk of the people of Georgia, nor was it the bulk of people of Ossetia who wanted and started this conflict. It is the very few who call themselves leaders, elite from the rest, that bomb and starve the rest of us, or send our brothers and sisters away to become killers. The warring in this world of ours is increasing everyday. When will the people of all of these warring nations scream "NO!" loudly enough for the warring leaders to listen? It is time to make our own demands. We cannot continue to participate in a system of such death and destruction. I cannot even begin to speak to the Russian people, or the Georgian and Ossetian people, perhaps they have seen this warring coming on for a long time, just as the people in this nation are now watching the build-up to a war against Iran. All I can say is, there is more than enough that the American population must demand of the US government in terms of change, and there likewise appears to me, from my very limited perspective into Russian-Georgian-Ossetian affairs, to be more than enough that must be demanded of those governments by their peoples as well. Although, the United States does clearly take the cake when it comes to most wrongdoing.

We the people, of the world, must unite to stop these wars. The warmongers simply cannot do it without us. If we refuse to participate, they immediately become impotent. Protesting is a start; embarrassing them and forcing them to put their political careers on the line is a start. But it is direct action, and direct non-action, REFUSAL to participate in our own enslavement and the killing of human beings, that is the only truly effective method. It is that sort of action that I believe is the required level of action to enact any real change.

Yes, the first step is education, or rather, depropagandization. It is not that American people are stupid for not having seen this coming; it is not that the American people are so dumb that we do not have the capacity understand what is really going on. It is that most of us, as individuals, have allowed ourselves become so propagandized, so comfortable with the state of affairs as they are presented to us by the almost-utterly-united media-government complex, that we are willing adopt a laissez faire attitude, even when our own best judgment conflicts with it. But I believe We Can Change. But one must be willing to re-evaluate almost everything that he has come to believe over the course of his life that has been fed to him by the religious, governmental, and perhaps most of all, corporate institutions.

At least that's my story, and perhaps it is similar to yours. For me it is a constant battle for the truth. Now I'm more fully coming to understand how the truth can be utterly obscured by dogmatic frameworks of thought: religious beliefs of all varieties; patriotism and unquestioned trust in one's government; unquestioned trust in science and technology; or the belief that these world mega-corporations are just the result of really successful, but perfectly legal and right, entrepreneurial business. All of these fallacies have, at times in my life, blinded me from seeing truth that was right in front of my face. I feel like for the first time, though I read him first 10 years ago, that I truly understand Descartes' method, if not his conclusions. As opposed to beginning my thinking from basis points that I already have determined to be "true," I should always begin thinking with the fullest skepticism that I am able to muster. And this is most important when those foundations are buried deep, such as, "There is a God," and "My government is basically Good." To question foundations is not the same as discarding them, but once one begins questioning them with a fully skeptical attitude and honesty, one may be surprised by what is discarded and also by what is not discarded. Knowledge based on any authority other than OUR OWN will always lead us astray, just as self-developed dogmas can do the same damage. Minds open to all possibility, but accepting very few, if any, things as absolute, are the minds that are best prepared to seek out the truth, and best prepared to act on it.

But on to part 2, beyond educating ourselves we must take action (now!) to at least slow the appalling death count due to warring and economic enslavement. I cannot give recommendations for others, but there are many tactics, and each of us should use our own creativity, our own free being, to find out what it is about each of us as individuals that can do something to effect this change. For some it is writing and "digg"-ing, trying to literally bombard the internet, with so much information that even the individuals who are most blinded to truth by propagandization cannot help but come across alternative perspectives. For others, it may be a much more homegrown approach, trying to develop one's community into a more self-sustaining group that can live beyond the collapse of the imperialistic system. For others, it is constant letter-righting to the editors of major publications, to their city councilmen, and to their representatives in state and local government, urging them to do the right thing, and more importantly, forcing their wrongdoing into the public eye by copying those letters to everyone. For others, it may be union and strike leadership, helping the rest of us reduce our dependency on the corporate system, the corporate system which is killing on our behalf. And for those working in military, industrial, governmental complexes that they judge to be doing wrong, I hope their goal is to GET OUT if they cannot do something substantive to stop the killing from within the system NOW.

All of these approaches are necessary, and there are INFINITELY more that can and MUST be added to the list. Each free person no doubt has a unique way of communicating and acting that can aid the cause of peace. But they all add up to, as I see it, two basic parts: education and action. And both of these essentially boil down into this mantra for me: FREE DIALOG AND REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR OWN ENSLAVEMENT AND THE KILLING AND ENSLAVING OF OTHERS...that is, BEING FREELY, ALL WAYS, ALL THE TIME! Human beings are free. Yes, it is hard to act freely after living a life of what you thought was freedom, but was actually enslavement. But it is possible because we are already free--we just must uncover that freedom that is buried under our own propagandization. I hope I am living proof. I strive to be free. I strive everyday to question more, be more skeptical, and in the process discern a little more truth, and behave in my full capacity as a being of choice. Being free can be intimidating, but it is absolutely necessary. Please join us in fighting for liberty under the law, and freedom in our lives. Do what you determine is right!