War on Terrorism?

The Webster's New World College dictionary (4th Edition) offers definitions of the words terror and terrorism worth noting and pondering, worth comparing to facts involving current, recent and past events. Every American capable of reading the written American English word should certainly read these definitions. This includes lawmakers and law enforcers, military brass and their subordinates. May as well, because this country has been obsessed with our society's interpretation of terrorism and those supporting war to stop attacks on Americans and allies appear ignorant and hypocritical to me in light of this dictionary's definitions of terrorism.

I'm suggesting a source of meaning that is trusted in American universities, public schools and in journalistic circles that's officially used by employees of the Associated Press and Gannett Inc. newspapers. (In fact, both of my Webster's New World College Dictionaries [3rd and 4th Editions] were gifts from reporters/coworkers at a Gannett newspaper.) Maybe, that means the suggested reference is reliable, capable of being used as evidence in the U.S. court of law, or by Congress.

War is terrorism. Campaigns like "Shock and Awe" were acts of terror. Whenever anyone uses brute force and other ugly tactics to intimidate and coerce people to bend to the aggressor's will, these are acts of terror. The proof is in the definitions. I could post the definitions in full here, but I prefer to encourage people to take the initiative of investigating on their own, which is a good way to keep the mind from getting flabby and sluggish, a tendency plaguing Americans today.

I hear fellow Americans say things that I sum up as "But we didn't start the fire," and "We're just fighting fire with fire." Yeah, from people that know little of the relationships and conflicts that led to events where U.S. Embassies were attacked, where Americans were taken hostage (and they weren't ordinary Americans, but worked for Embassies, some of them at official levels), and where American corporate, military and government buildings were attacked.

I've been wondering if what we're told are terror attacks and what we're told are efforts to defeat terrorism, including war, is really a battle between isolated forces and we're just just getting sucked into it, may we be the people of countries allegedly fighting the war on terrorism, or people living in countries accused of being part of George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil."

I wonder how many people are getting sucked in, because I know that it's possible to manipulate people by playing on their phobias. I've known parents that use this tactic and also children. Cops use it, so do covert agents, soldiers, politicians and rulers. It's "psychological warfare" and some people make a wonderful living researching and testing the diverse ways of perfecting this ploy. When victims and potential victims haven't learned to recognize and avoid being played into this mind game, they suffer within. They react, often exactly the way the manipulators want and usually expect.

If we're to find our way out of the cycle involving war and terrorism (if there's a difference between the two), then we ordinary people in America and all other nations need to explore psychological warfare tactics and learn to overcome the weaknesses that make us willing participants like puppets controlled by their masters.

It is not just our fear that they use against us, but other emotions. These people don't give a damn about what we value, like community, family and the basic need to physically survive. We're being set up by a circle of sharks. They don't want us to realize that violent attacks invite violent attacks that will invite even more, unless somebody ends the cycle. They want us to help them to keep the conflicts going, because war causes various reactions that incline us to play into the puppet master's hands, thereby increasing the master's wealth and control.

There should be no war on terrorism, but resistance. To win it, we must become more fluid in thought and emotion to weaken the foundation of everything working against us, including ourselves. We need to learn where we deceive ourselves, where our thoughts, emotions and actions betray us. If we don't, then this world will become more intense, more violent while our basic physical need to survive will also become a hell of a lot harder. Everyone has enemies, but everyone is their worst.

This isn't to single out a specific group of people, either. Regardless of tribe, nation, religion or family line and social position, these basic truths apply to all. Included are presidents, dictators, prime ministers, kings and queens and so forth.

Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are no exception, but neither are George W. Bush and his administration, Prime Minister Tony Blair. These assholes played the masses in some way, or another. These people are guilty for what they've put out into the world, but every person that trusted and cooperated with them is equally guilty. We reap what we so.

We have a lot to learn about our world, the people manipulating it and our respective social structures as much as each others. We need to seriously learn history as its purpose is intended - to learn about the cycles of the human race, which helps us to learn about ourselves, our lives and our world. I caution against learning only from biased sources, including so-called experts and specialists.

I've learned that nobody leads or rules over a country alone. No one gains and holds power without help from others, may the aid come from cohorts and supporters, or from the compliant masses. Once in power, everyone serves whatever machine the leader or ruler relies on to maintain and increase the power and control. To those enjoying lofty positions, every place, person and thing is nothing more than a tool for their own selfish reasons.

Call that machine by any name. I often refer to it as a system created by humans that work at a more evolved level of an ant colony. It's not as sophisticated as our solar system, but it's a lot more complicated than an ant mound. Within a system is the core, the matrix, the center of the queen that feeds life into the system on all levels. It spreads like colonies. Eventually, some colonies battle for dominance and control in their drive to expand.

That's happening in our world. Very few people are aware of this. Some catch on and try to tell the rest, to help awaken them to what's happening. Sometimes, the awakened resort to creative measures to do this, like producers of movies, such as the animation Ants and the Matrix movies, each of which explain in two different ways so much of what I'm saying in this post.

Look at how we keep this system alive. At times when somebody questions this system, or comes up with an idea that will probably help to free us from it, most people resist, because they are programmed into the system. They either don't know it, or they sense what is true, but they've been programmed to be reluctant to learn why and to liberate themselves. They are slaves to the machine that exists and survives because of them.

They are the laborers, tax payers, soldiers, cops, teachers and even journalists. They are scientists, drug manufacturers and inventors. They are also merchants and consumers, philosophers and religious leaders.

See how foolish humans can be? But people can also be wise. It's a matter of choice and we've all got choices to make.

We can turn on the machine, shut it down and dismantle it. We've plenty good reason to do just that, but we cannot accomplish this if we refuse to examine our own inner weaknesses and challenge ourselves to overcome them. We sabotage ourselves and our world when we refuse to face and understand our own inner truths.

Man-made tragedies, sometimes followed by nature's revenge in some age, or another could have been prevented. The only way that fate played a role is when the effects followed the cause and set about a chain reaction.

As for freeing ourselves from cycles by removing ourselves from the manipulations of whatever machine controls our lives, we can then join forces with others to overcome it. Every effort we make to do all this requires exploration to enable us to learn what works and what doesn't and to learn the reasons why. In this, we reverse the tactics that the masters use to control the masses.

Oh, and violence isn't always necessary. The most powerful weapon is the human mind, how the mind gives and receives its contents, for what purpose and to whom.

Consider the cause and effects of how we rebel from being controlled, undermined, and what we perceive as mistreated or neglected by those we allow to be our masters. If we are apparently losing in our efforts, then we need to find different tactics. Perhaps, we can find answers in the past and present as we create future cycles.

We can end all wars if we, the world's masses, come together in friendship, bearing with us gifts of love and respect, honesty and modesty with the desire to become each other's trustworthy friend. Together, we can solve the problems that sometimes lead to major violence, destruction, death and suffering. We are capable of learning together, sharing information to allow this and making a cooperative effort to discover what answers and ideas our growing efforts and knowledge provide us.

Many of us are already taking these measures and our global circle is expanding, reaching parts of the world that seemed unlikely. We are recruiting members that have awakened as we strive to awaken more.

In a sense, we are an unofficial, non-government and global peace department. We are the millions of people that got together, cooperated and established specific dates to hold global protests against the war on Iraq. Our reported numbers are not the total of our true and consistently growing numbers. We welcome people of all nations, because we all need each other to revolt against the system that is destroying our world as it destroys one civilization, after another.