When Will Radical Become The Norm?

When Will Radical Become the Norm?

By Solomon Comissiong
Black Agenda Report
September 29, 2012

Institutional Racism, war, white supremacist values, prison and
military industrial complexes, sexism, and police brutality are all
routine aspects of American society.

These are norms that far too many Americans have come to except
as just that – norms.

Xenophobia, plutocracy, and a society that places profits well
before the interests of human beings are also spot-on descriptors
of America.

Although some Americans may see these things as bad elements
within any society, far too many have accepted them within their
own.

American Exceptionalism is a mental illness predicated on the
delusional idea that America is the "gold standard" for the rest
of the world to follow.

The American Exceptionalism myth has well prepared the public
to overlook their country's numerous flaws – seeing them, in some
warped way, as positive traits.

This destructive way of thinking affects Americans from all walks
of life and political persuasions. Even the so-called American
"progressive," sadly, believes that they represent some kind of
socially liberal fresh air needed to improve society.

Unfortunately, these neo-progressives' ideas are limited just like
the imaginary world they, too, enjoy residing within. The limited
"changes" they are willing to address essentially sustain the overall
status quo.

And those whose ideas are actually seismic, and could improve
humanity, if collectively fought for – are labeled as "radical."

This labeling of many sensible minded individuals plays a significant
role in confusing people who would make excellent social justice
fighters, if only they weren't so mentally programmed.

They have been trained to associate the word "radical" with
something that is automatically negative or impractical, without
ever examining the ideas of those labeled "radical."

This way of thinking is no accident; it is as planned as America's
electoral politics.

Many American minds have been carefully crafted within
laboratories otherwise known as public schools and university
classrooms. They have been indoctrinated to buy into ideas
that are inhumane in nature and celebrate people who were
barbaric.

Naturally when presented with ideas, systems and individuals
antithetical to "The American Way," they are seen as "bad,"
"wrong," or, yes, even "radical."

Those that speak out against the US's insatiable appetite for war
and destruction are conveniently characterized as "radicals" or even
social deviants.

Those who believe these narratives are unaware that their minds
are trapped within an alternate reality where up is down and down
is up.

They are sadly programmed to eschew things that are rooted
in humanity not realizing how they have lost their own sense
of morality.

If more Americans could escape this alternate, yet nefarious,
mental prison, they would start to comprehend how they have
been cleverly trained to fight against their own human interests.

Far too many Americans dwell within a constant state of
government sponsored consternation. Americans have been duped
in to believing that "socialism" is actually something evil that poses
a threat to their society.

Many foolishly fail to realize that a more socialist society would
bring them, and their loved ones, things like a true universal
healthcare system, free or extremely low cost tertiary education,
and affordable housing for all, to name a few benefits of life within
a truly socialist society.

Instead of embracing positive aspects of a more socialist society
Americans blissfully suffer under a regime predicated on raw
rugged exploitation.

Americans embrace capitalism while, at the same time, a great
many fail to truly understand this unforgiving economic system.

If most fail to understand capitalism, it should be of no surprise
that even more lack any understanding of socialism; they have
been well trained not to.

Americans eat whatever psychological poison is fed to them by
the corporate media and government, alike. American citizens
have methodically been taught to believe they reside within the
world's most free and open "democratic” society.

They have heard these lies hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times.

Those devoid of critical thinking skills quickly believe false
narratives if they are repeated often enough. This strict, yet
implicit, propaganda is virtually ubiquitous, which makes it
all the more effective.

Training the American mind to believe that the US is a "gold
standard" for all other societies to mimic also trains the same
mind not to ask for things that should be seen as human rights.

This is why, despite the fact that over 40,000 Americans die
each year simply because they lack health insurance, a socialized
healthcare system is seen as an "entitlement" that would break the
US federal budget.

And those who press for a single-payer socialized healthcare
system are deemed "radical."

Those advocating for things like socialized healthcare and
free tertiary education are "radical," evil socialists who
want to eviscerate Americans’ so-called "liberties."

The socially engineered American mind does not see the spending
of a trillion dollars a year on the military as something that breaks
the budget or robs them of their opportunity to obtain quality
healthcare for all.

Somehow it is justified to spend over a trillion dollars a year on
things like imperialist wars, which murder countless innocent
civilians from other countries.

This is not considered a radically evil action put in place by
radically evil politicians.

The two-headed corporate party dictatorship (Democrats &
Republicans) recently held their political conventions in
Tampa Bay, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina, respectively.

For those who have somehow found a way to break away from the
American system of indoctrination it was a most depressing sight.

It was a human sea of sheep-like people who have bought in
to the hypnotic political rhetoric fed to them.

It mattered not that the political food they were swallowing was
filled with empty calories, and much like eating a box of doughnuts,
it was superficially "sweet" yet devoid of substance – and ultimately
harmful.

Most of the convention goers were going there to willingly be
led by their political shepherds.

These people, like many Democrats and Republicans, have been
trained to base political merit on fancy conventions replete with
amoral politicians and their well-crafted speeches.

It matters little whether the speeches are hollow and ultimately
baseless.

Much of the American voting populace are attracted to shiny
trinkets that distract them from tangible actions necessary
toward building a better society.

For instance, every four years since 2000, the Democrats roll out
their political Godfather, Bill Clinton, to use his forked tongue as
a tool to galvanize an already sycophantic base of voters/zombies.

These folks are ready and willing to vote for whomever
the Democratic Party places in from of them, just like
their Republican counterparts, regardless of what they say.

Facts anchored to their destructive policies matter little – they
often refuse see their political masters' polices as destructive.

They have, in essence, been trained to look no further than
the shiny surface.

This is why politicians like Bill Clinton and his buddy, Barack
Obama, can say whatever they like, to tens of millions of their
“supporters.”

Watching Democratic convention goers while Clinton and Obama
gave their speeches was similar to witnessing members of a cult
as they hang on to every word spit forth by their leader.

And for this African/black writer, it was especially depressing to
see other African/black people buy into the rubbish being fed to
them without realizing that as long as they blindly support this
political party they will see no tangible or progressive changes in
their/our communities' living conditions.

Bill Clinton is a man who, while president, endorsed a number
of actions that negatively impacted the African/black community.

He expanded the building of prisons far beyond that of the
radically evil Ronald Reagan.

Clinton made sure that black and brown communities were heavily
policed and remained within a perpetual police state via his "tough
on crime" polices.

And Clinton, like his chum Barack Obama, used military force
to attack Africa, not only in Somalia but also in Sudan when he
bombed a vital pharmaceutical plant.

Bill Clinton is only a mythological friend to African/black people
where he exists within the minds of those who are hopelessly
obsequious to their Democratic Party puppeteers.

Bill Clinton is a man filled with a laundry list of evil deeds that he
voluntarily committed, such as executing a mentally challenged
African/black man while he was governor of Arkansas.

When you see scores of African/black people cheering Clinton
on, as if they are at a sporting event, you must then realize that
you dwell in a society that considers talk of eviscerating white
supremacy and institutional racism as somehow "radical."

Clinton and Obama have convinced people of color that they
give a damn about them, despite the fact that their policies
are antithetical to their interests.

America is like a manufactured zoo habitat, created by white
supremacist Euro-Americans, capitalist elites, and imperialist
warmongers (to name a few of the menagerie of the wretched).

The American habitat is replete with distractions methodically
positioned to, not only control the natives thinking, but also to
maintain a status quo that is deleterious for the entire planet.

Among these distractions is the baseless rhetoric spewing from
the mouths of white liberals and conservatives, as well as from
black operatives like Michael Eric Dyson and Al Sharpton.

Dyson and Sharpton work for the interests of the white liberals
that write their checks.

You can rest assured that if the likes of these two characters were
working in the interests of people of color, or real progressive
change, they would not be paraded across TV airwaves controlled
by corporate media like MSNBC (Comcast/General Electric).

Black commentators like them are paid rather well to euphemize,
downplay and flat out not mention issues impacting Black/African
America.

Malcolm X had a term for individuals like these: "House Negros."

Their job is not only to keep black/African people from thinking
comprehensively about certain issues; it is to help funnel people
of color in to the Democratic Party's traps.

All these roads (traps) lead to the status quo.

Ideas and plans that would lead people of color towards necessary
collective organization geared at social justice, equality, and
liberation, are deemed "radical" and are, therefore, to be "feared."

Socially radical ideas and actions are needed to rearrange this
society in to one that facilitates justice, equality, and peace.

America reigns as one of the most unequal and socially unjust
societies on earth.

America does not only commit injustices within its own stolen
and manufactured borders, the US exports terror, injustice,
and plunder.

These words are only deemed "radical" or "a shock" to those who
have, unfortunately, spent their entire lives within the illusionary
house built for them by the state.

This is the only housing the US government is willing to socialize.

A government that voluntarily places itself within a constant
state of war should be been deemed radically nefarious.

Sane and humane societies reject war and global plunder. Most
Americans seem to embrace, or at the very least, accept it. They
reside in the smallest of "worlds."

Americans have allowed themselves to accept whatever poisonous
narrative is mentally fed to them by their butcher-like government.

Many Americans have bought into the idea that there are
"humanitarian wars" that "their" government engages in.
And those are the wars the easily fooled support.

Facts and innocent lives from other countries matter little.

The name of the game in American society is superficiality, which
is why the political candidates that spend the most money usually
win the elections.

Americans are generally not interested in studying the fine
print that comes on the labeling of their favorite candidates.

Like toddlers, many American voters are attracted to whatever
"shiny" trinkets are presented to them each election cycle.

Barack Obama was one of those new "shiny trinkets" that masses
of Americans gobbled up without any regard to what they were
politically devouring.

Within their politically manufactured world, they were doing
something of social significance – they were "change agents,"
just like the man they hoped to elect in 2008, Barack Obama.

It really didn't matter what he said or how he voted while in senate.

His support of things like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA), and expanding America's imperialist war in Afghanistan was
not even an afterthought.

They conveniently forgot the fact that they opposed those
types of draconian and anti-democratic policies during the
criminal Bush/Cheney reign of terror.

And now that Barack Obama is president, a war-mongering
president, these faithful Democratic Party cheerleaders have
decided to make excuses for their president's reprehensible
policies and actions.

Obama starts a war with a North African nation (Libya)
under false pretenses, and they say, "he had to do it."

He orchestrates more drone attacks than George Bush could have
ever wished for and Obama's supporters defend his monstrous
actions without pause.

Obama supporters have even found ways to create excuses for
his deceptive signing of the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA), something that makes the Patriot Act pale in comparison.

Obama signs anti-worker Free Trade Agreements and deports
more than one million people – once again – "he had to do it!"

In a virtual world created by white liberals and conservatives,
alike, "leaders" like Barack Obama are seen as "progressive."

Their actions, no matter how despicable and destructive, are
not only tolerated, they are embraced.

And within this same world black political snake-oil
salesmen/women like Michael Eric Dyson, Melissa Harris-Perry
and Al Sharpton are anointed "black leaders" and "progressives."

However, those who reject the status quo are labeled as
"radical" or "anti-American."

If opposing imperialist wars, white supremacy, capitalism,
institutional racism, and all forms of injustice, make one
"anti-American", you may include this author within that
rubric.

If America were a more humane society, truly centered on equality,
justice, and peace, these actions would never be seen as "radical"
they would be the norm.

Those who truly want to make this world a better place have their
work cut out for them.

Nevertheless, the work must be done – humanity depends on it.

America may be a country with an abundance of social potential;
however, it continues to fail miserably at achieving that potential,
if it is even trying at all.

Many Americans, due to government-sponsored social engineering,
only see the world they are allowed to see.

They don't see the brilliant lessons to be learned outside of
America's manufactured borders and they certainly don't see
the beautiful society (and world) they, and future generations,
could dwell in.

It is imperative that those of us who see these things continue
to speak out as loudly as we possibly can.

We need to continue to organize as hard and diligently as we can.

We must never accept injustice in any form, no matter what the
person looks like that is delivering it.

Reject the "boxes" the corporate political parties try to place us
within. Create open spaces free of walls and inhumane restrictions.

We need to reorganize and create a new and more just society –
one where the term "radical" is applied to those who support wars,
imperialism, institutional racism, sexism, white supremacy, plunder
and injustice (in general).

Those are the social regressive radicals.

We all need to do work that is meaningful and conducive to being
labeled (not by ourselves but by others) as socially progressive "radicals."

Hopefully, one day actions deemed "socially progressive" and
"radical" will be considered the norm.



Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author,
and the host of the Your World News media collective
(www.yourworldnews.org).

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norm