Are We Learning Yet?

I do hope so.

Often, to know where we are going, we need to know where we've been. The wise amongst you will know that there is nothing new under the sun. We treat each other atrociously. Acts of barbarity and unimagined cruelty have been the norm since we stood erect.

That, of course, is bad enough, but when we learn that we have been bamboozled by the greedy, the corrupt, and the downright criminal, it sticks in the craw. When we learn that there really is no such thing as justice, and that the whole thing is a wheeze to extract your money, it's time to do one of two things: learn the rules of the game (for that is all it is), or give up and go with the flow. Be a good cash cow. Stay in your field, and do exactly what they want you to do. The choice was always yours to make.

I didn't like history much as a child. It was mostly dull, with dozens of even duller dates to remember for when you were tested on the subject. I wish I had paid more attention. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, as the old saying goes. Now that I am no longer a child, I can do something about my lack of attention at school. I can begin afresh. I can start learning history now, before they (TPTB) rewrite it to suit themselves.

I can think of no finer way to learn than to listen to the words of Alan Wilson. He is known as a "controversial historian", which is probably why I like hearing his version of past events. His agenda, if he has one, is to tell us what he has learnt over the years. He seems to have avoided the standard school-issue textbooks and gone directly to the source. Those thousands of dusty tomes, preserved in museums and libraries up and down the land. He knows that people like me (and possibly you) will never trawl these annals for the truth. Largely because we don't have the time. We are being taught/steered into shorter sentences. If Twitter is a guide, those who cannot condense their thoughts into 140 characters or less are dinosaurs. Texting is another way of butchering our language. Vowels are removed, it takes far too long to insert them into the words they belong in.

Alan speaks, for almost three hours, on the true history of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales. Although he has a sheaf of notes, I don't think he refers to them. An incredible feat, and a sign that here is a man who has our history running through his veins. He has some fascinating/shocking/disturbing things to say so I suggest you break up the sessions so that it takes residence in your head.



I now believe we are entering into a new phase. All around me I see signs that the slumbering giant is rousing. The Arab Spring, whilst it may be engineered, causes people (whether intended by the engineers or not) to take a fresh look at their own governments, their own treatment, their own surveillance, their own control. "They are incomparable" you will no doubt tell me, but I don't really think they are. A despot is a despot is a despot. Just because ours wears fine suits, has millions (of his own?) in the bank, and has had a "superior" education, is he (and his familiars) not capable of tyranny? 

I contend that he is. I contend that he is no better or worse than Stalin or Mugabe. To me, it's just a question of subtelty. A tyrant with finesse? Why not? He may not have slaughtered 20 million of his kinsmen, or (yet) started to print billion pound notes that will buy only a loaf of bread, but I deeply suspect that that will happen, if we stay on the course we are on now. The world is in an unholy mess, and you don't need to be a genius to know it. Stay the course, or change direction. It's a stark choice. Actually, there is no choice, not really.

The only one with the power to alter that trajectory is, unfortunately, you. I say unfortunately because you really don't want to do anything. You don't want to stand out. You don't want to draw attention to yourself. You don't want to rock any boats. It's partly fear, partly conditioning, and partly because it may well affect your ability to feed, clothe and house your families. They can make life difficult. They can ensure that you are penniless. They can intervene with your employers. They can take your freedom, and they can take your life.

And yet, I am living proof that they may also choose to ignore random, or planned, acts of rebellion. Three years on, and I have yet to see the inside of a gaol, a courtroom, or even a police interview room. I have done that thing which annoys them the most: I have withheld monies that they were certain were heading their way. Did it take the mind of a master criminal? No. Did it require acts of supreme bravery? No. Was I in harms way at any time? No. Do I feel better for it? Absofuckinglutely.

The more I learn, the more fights I want to pick. I want, and I really do mean want, to distress and distrain them in all possible ways. But even your humble and slightly thick author knows that he has to learn how to defeat them at their own game. Here's an example for you. When these bewigged peeps yell "Contempt!" at you in court, you will know how to respond. The knowledge we need is all around us. It isn't hidden, it isn't arcane (although it may be writ funny) and it is not beyond the wit of someone with a functioning braincell. Again, I offer myself as proof of this.

One thing I know for sure: people are getting as mad as hell and I don't think they are going to take it any more.

Not when they know how they are being manipulated, conned, watched, robbed, and brainwashed into thinking that this, life in 21st century Britain, is right, fair or normal.

It isn't.

But until you decide that it isn't, they will be content for you to fool yourself for another thousand years.

Your own rebellion begins with a simple little word:

No.

What are you waiting for?

CR.