Part IV: A Transmission from the Nebuchadnezzar
Far from the frenzied cacophony of talking heads
The people are waking up
No longer willing to listen to authority
To “experts”
Flailing a bit at times
Straying into conspiracy
But thinking, pondering, exploring, reclaiming our narrative filters.
Power still reigns
On the vast playing fields
Of nations
And multinational corporations
And media narratives
But the people are beginning to tell different stories.
If Power controls the food system
Then we will feed ourselves
Turning abandoned city blocks into gardens
Supporting local farms
Giving freely to friends and neighbors in need
If Power controls the medicine
Then we will care for ourselves
Offering our skills freely and willingly
To those who need them
If Power controls the money
Then we will stop using it
Trading among our communities
Creating local currencies
Building a resilient economy of real exchange
Outside the gates of Wall Street
The people are waking up
And soon, I hope
We will leave the talking heads behind
In a barren and empty dreamworld:
The narrative matrix
A decaying husk
Of distortions and lies
The narrative matrix
No longer in control
Of our stories
Then the people will say
I do not choose to live in a world
Where illness or injury
Leads to lifelong debt
I do not choose to live in a world
Where human beings
Are unhoused
And unfed
And uncared for
I do not choose to live in a world
Where human beings
Are destroyed by bombs
In the name of strategic interests
I do not choose to live in a world
Where our children’s futures
Are sacrificed on the altar
Of profit and progress
I do not choose to live in a world
Where a few human beings live in luxury
While most simply survive
I do not choose to live in a world
Where human beings
Are the only beings
That have a voice
And then the people will ignore the talking heads
And choose a leader
Who is not of Power
Who is not an actor
Who is not a demagogue
But who speaks for the farmworkers and the caregivers
The teachers and the counselors
The cashiers and the carpenters
And the forests and the prairies and the oceans.
And who can say with great conviction
And without caveats
We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all are created equal
That they are endowed with unalienable rights
That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Amidst all of the chaos and confusion
Conflict and conflagration
Gridlock and anger
Fake news and alternative facts
We have the option
To step out of that story
Indeed it may be our only option worth considering
The alternative being descent
Into the sort of dystopian Gotham
Of cinematic imagination
The time has arrived
To awaken
The time has arrived
To escape from the narrative matrix