HOW I'VE SURVIVED FASCISM SO FAR

 

 

 

Power Animal?

 

 

 

 

   As I was hiking through the forest, I noticed a metallic object glittering in the humus. I reached down and pulled a pendulum out from the pine needles. I once read that pendulums can answer yes/no questions that clarify the future, the present, and the past. You can program the pendulum to spin clockwise if the answer is "yes" and counter-clockwise if the answer is "no." First, I asked the pendulum, "Was I destined to find you here in the forest?" The pendulum spun around clockwise--indicating that the answer is "yes."
  I suddenly felt the back of my neck tingle a bit--as though a stealthy predator like a mountain lion was watching me from the distance. I took out my pendulum and asked it if a mountain lion was watching me. The pendulum spun clockwise. "Yes, uh-oh!" Then I asked the pendulum if I was going to encounter the mountain lion at some point in the near future. Again, "yes." I unbuttoned my buck knife and kept hiking. I only had to take a few steps before I spotted a mountain lion nearby. It was about to pounce on a squirrel, so I took out my buck knife and slowly backed away from it. When I could no longer see the wildcat, I galloped away from it.t
  When I eventually felt safe, I started thinking about the pendulum. "Does the pendulum know the future? Dumb question," I thought. "More likely, the pendulum is expressing my soul, which apparently knows far more than my limited senses can perceive." Suddenly I had another idea. I asked the pendulum, "Was the mountain lion one of my power animals in a previous life?" The pendulum spun clockwise. "Yes! That must be how I could sense the mountain lion! This is so cool!" I exclaimed as I looked over my shoulder.

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Thief

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   After awhile as I continued hiking, I suddenly knew without a doubt that someone was breaking into my car, which was parked about a mile away on the hillside, about five hundred feet above the foothill valley that I was exploring. I pulled out my pendulum and asked, "Can my soul see far away or was this break-in destined to happen?" The pendulum didn't spin. "Okay, wait. I just asked two questions." I tried again. "Is a thief breaking into my car?" Yes. "Was this break-in destined to happen?" Again, yes. "Wow, okay." I pondered for a few moments and suddenly blurted out, "Does all time exist at once?" Yes. "Is that how my soul can know so much about the past and the present and the future?" Again, yes. I concluded that we as human beings with limited physical senses in a 3D world can only perceive the present moment, but the soul from its perspective can perceive other times and other dimensions. Then, despite the significance of that idea, I plopped down on a rock and lamented about all the evil in the world for about fifteen minutes. Then I rushed back to my car. Sure enough, some idiot had broken the window on the passenger side and had opened the glove box. My only consolation was that he left empty handed. Boy was I pissed off as the freezing cold air swirled through the passenger compartment as I was driving home on the freeway. At one point, though, it suddenly occurred to me that the soul can transcend space and time--something that had never occurred to me before.

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Underclass

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   A few weeks later, after I had gotten the window replaced, I returned to the foothills. Not far from the road, I encountered a poor family resting together on the hillside. The father pleaded, "Please, do you have any food that you can share with us? We just started working in a packing plant not far from here, but we haven't eaten in a while." I took out a box of granola bars from my backpack, the only food I had, and handed it to him.
  The family thanked me profusely. As I continued on my way, a strange thought occurred to me. "In our society, the obscenely rich need to maintain a permanent underclass, yet the people in power have deported most, if not all, of the brown and black people, which means that white people--many who had supported the dictator--are now becoming members of the permanent underclass." I took out my pendulum and asked, "Did the racist oligarchs and plutocrats and kleptocrats plan all along to deport people of color and maintain a permanent underclass of white people?" Answer: yes. "Wow," I thought to myself. "My pendulum can even answer complicated social and economic questions! Apparently my soul isn't stupid."

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Dirt and Ashes after Fire

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   As I was hiking, I unexpectedly discovered that instead of renewing the forest, a wildfire had totally incinerated a large section of it. Nothing but dirt and ash remained. I took out my pendulum and asked, "Did global warming cause the total destruction of this forest?" Answer: yes. Then I asked, "Did corporate billionaires cause global warming by disseminating disinformation and buying off corrupt politicians with huge campaign contributions? Are oil companies and corrupt politicians putting the entire planet at risk?" Answer: yes, each time.

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King of Skulls

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   Before the dictator was elected president, I had predicted that he would soon be impeached--then, to stay in power, he would invoke the insurrection act and establish martial law. People refused to listen to me. Nobody believed that it would get that bad. I asked the pendulum, "Is the dictator going to invoke the insurrection act and use the military to control the opposition?" Yes. "Is the supreme court going to allow the dictator to invoke the insurrection act even though no rebellion or insurrection or invasion is occurring anywhere in the country?" Yes. "Are soldiers going to shoot peaceful protesters." Yes. "Is the supreme court going to allow the dictator and his minions to get away with murder?" Yes.
  "Yikes!" I blurted out.

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Oligarchic Ruler

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   I continued to ask the pendulum questions. "Are oligarchs and kleptocrats and corporate billionaires actually ruling the country, not the dictator?" Yes. "Have the super-rich been planning to overthrow democracy for decades?" Yes. "Did the super-rich find handmaidens loyal to them and have them appointed or elected to positions of power to establish and maintain their authoritarian rule?" Yes. The pendulum confirmed what I had suspected for decades.

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Dictator Curious

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   I couldn't help but ask more questions. "Did oligarchs and plutocrats in this country work with oligarchs and plutocrats in other countries to establish global authoritarian rule?" Yes. "Are they planning to maintain control through ruthless autocratic measures--such as sending dissidents to concentration camps or murdering them?" Yes.

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Salute of the Republican Fascists

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   I continued, "Do autocrats now have total control of one of the two polical parties in this country?" Yes. "Do they control a majority of justices on the supreme court." Yes. "Is this autocratic attempt to overthrow democracy an act of treason?" Yes. "Would the Founding Fathers of this country have considered the attempt to overthrow our representative republic an act of treason?" Yes.
  I muttered, "If only Republicans in congress would do something to stop these traitors."

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Trolling the Constitution

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   I just had to ask more questions. "Are the super-rich autocrats planning to tear up the constitution?" Yes. "Can federal judges stop them?" No. "Will the supreme court stop them?" No. "Will Republicans in congress at some point act to stop them?" No.

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Civil War

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   "Okay," I continued. "Will the attempt to overthrow democracy result in violence?" Yes. "Will the right-wing cause most of the violence?" Yes. "Will the right-wing try to put-down protests through violence?" Yes.

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Icy Paramilitary

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   I continued, "Will the paramility forces detain dissidents and people who are not Christian and people of color and gays and transgender people and homeless people and anyone who is extremely poor or different from them and send them to concentration camps without due process--even though they are citizens of this country?" Yes.

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Detaining a Christian Refugee

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   "Will paramilitary forces arrest people of Christian faith--who are following the teachings of Christ to love one another and welcome the stranger--simply because the Christians are protesting the anti-Christian cruelty and lies and lawlessness of the people in power?" I asked. Answer: Yes.

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Hanging a Traitor Upside-Down in the Public Square

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   Then I asked, "Will people who are fighting for justice and equality and liberty be executed in public--to stop rebellion and enforce authoritarian order through fear?" Yes.

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Can Anyone Escape the Drones?

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   Kind of afraid of the answer, I asked this question, "Will the fascists resort to extrajudicial execution without due process--and murder members of the opposition with drones and missiles?" Yes.

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Another Real Insurrection

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   "This is getting super-depressing. I wish I hadn't found this pendulum," I thought, but I asked another question anyway. "Will the fascists try to incite other insurrections or even try to cause a civil war if they begin to lose power?" Yes.

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Justice: Libra

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   One more question, "Will the traitors and fascists and autocrats receive justice for their criminal behavior at some point?" Yes.