Those Conditioned by Ignorance and Fear Freely Choose to be Docile, Compliant and Obedient

We all have free will. Whether we're born into privilege or poverty, feast or famine, we all end up worm food. Along the way we make a million little choices, each choice leads to another and another. Along the way we learn from the results of choices past so as to make better choices, according to what we each value as better. So then our choices are determined by our values, as our values evolve so do our choices which in turn informs how our values will evolve and what our next choices will be.

External forces like culture and climate can appear to limit the scope of our choices but never the freedom to choose. We are each of us where we are in this life as a result of the choices we've made up until now and each of us will be in the future where our present choices lead us. As Chris Hedges points out in his recent essay 'The Careerists' the greatest events of human history are  made possible by individuals who do the little chores that make vast, complicated systems a reality. We, through our individual choices, either carry out the minute tasks that allow complicated systems of exploitation and death be - or not. We have the freedom at every turn to be docile, compliant and obedient - or not.

Exercising free will happens between one's ears and is only constrained by an individual's values and worldview. Therefore manipulation of information and the emotional context it's viewed in is imperative for any type of culture to control the individual choices being made by its members from moment to moment. Why do many people 'freely' choose to continue to participate in a game like globalized capitalism that is so obviously not in their best interests? Ignorance. Why do many others, who have turned on to the 'truth' about their plight still choose to continue to participate, to be docile, compliant and obedient? Fear.

Ignorance can be overcome by information only after an individual is emotionally able to overcome fear enough to allow that information through the intricate veil defending his/her present worldview. Facts, like how the rich have trillions of dollars hidden in offshore tax havens - enough to solve many of the problems causing their plight, have no effect, even on those struggling to survive, until they are ready for them. The richer a person becomes the less empathy they have for others. But we all have choices and chances to exercise our free will. Choices and chances to overcome the ignorance and fear, to live emphatically and co-operatively.

There are great co-op solutions big and small, urban and rural being chosen in this wide world as an alternative to the limited future offered by the right-wing scum. That, the world of co-operative living choices, is what the next few posts here at The Mud Report will tune into.