This Essay May Be Banned

2007-08-31T20:25:00Z

Let’s try an experiment…you and I. If you can do so without serious withdrawal, please turn off all technology for as long as it takes to read this. Forget about the fact that we are in a specific field and consider an interesting proposition. Instead of another network-specific newsletter, what if a guy like me could write something actually profound? And what if you read it and found it so important that you decided to send it to everyone you know. And since we are fantasizing here, what if all your friends passed it on because they believed it was worthy of everyone’s attention. And what if millions of our fellow human beings read the letter and found the ideas compelling. Could that one letter cause people to think and act? Could we save a few billion lives a year and change the world? Perhaps, if certain rules were followed.

First, there should be zero economic interests or the letter would be self-serving. That’s easy. This letter is never to be copyrighted and anybody can use it for free so long as they never sell it, profit from it or change it. No one will ever make a penny no matter how many folks read it. Second, the information should be 100% accurate and rational. Finally, the letter would have to be so compelling that people would be willing to drop everything long enough to read it and recommend it.

I think I’m going to take a shot at that because I have several thousand readers and it may be my only hope, as a critical thinking author, to make a little contribution. Of course you get to be the judge and the jury but I think I can give you some evidence that demands a verdict. I’m an incurable optimist but I have this nagging feeling that civilization may not be moving in the best possible direction. Fortunately, it would be reasonably simple to change our course if everyone agreed to do so. Throughout recorded history those in power have always insisted that change is complicated and that only a handful of very important elites should be trusted to make decisions for the rest of civilization. But only we the people can mandate change.

If I had the cash, I would construct a huge building somewhere in the Midwestern U.S. called the Museum of Unlearned Lessons. Every room would be filled with archives from each period of recorded human history for the purpose of teaching schoolchildren exactly what happens when those in power decide to repeat past mistakes in order to retain their power. Whether people of science, the application of which is technology, or people of religion, the application of which is dogma, every person in power has succeeded in leading his or her civilization into a vortex of suffering and mediocrity. History offers no exception. I’m not going to waste your time writing about obvious stuff from High School History. You already know about The Roman Empire, The Dark Ages, The Reformation, The Enlightenment, and most recently the Great World Wars. History has truly repeated itself over and over with devastating consequences.

Along the way, we have made some fabulous gains: longer, healthier lives, a steadier supply of food, better shelter and higher intelligence. Of course that only applies to a few of us. Most people alive today on our planet have never owned a light bulb or consumed one glass of clean drinking water. In fact, during the time it takes you to read this essay, 115 children will die of diarrhea in 3rd world countries. Let’s not forget that. But let’s also not dwell on that quite yet. Here’s what’s up.

For the first time in recorded history, science and religion have formed quite a profitable alliance with the sole objective of converting the masses from a society of critical thinkers into a stepford world of complacent adolescent-type consumers. Moral decisions are out, strategic decisions are in. If you think I’m kidding, do a search on Codex because in a very few months, you will not be able to find any vitamins or supplements available anywhere in any reasonable doses. If you like the fact that in just two decades the U.S. has gone from the number one creditor nation to the number one debtor nation on planet earth, you’ll absolutely love Codex. Check it out. Preventative health is out; big Pharma is in. Either complain in writing to your elected representative or kiss your supplements goodbye.

And what’s up with lobbyists? There are eighty-seven lobbyists for every senator and that profession is nothing but legalized bribery. Let’s get them all out of Washington D.C. by electing people who agree to do so. Lobbying should be illegal. You know it, I know it and they know it. So let’s stop it.

And while we’re on the subject, where are all the farmers, doctors, teachers, homemakers, and welders who should be serving in government? They can’t afford to compete against lawyer/fundraisers. Lawyers now occupy and control all three branches of government. Thomas Paine wrote that if any one profession ever gained control of even two branches of government there would be anarchy. The U.S. isn’t yet engaged in full blown anarchy, but I can tell you about a twenty square block area in East LA where caucasians can’t go without being mugged or murdered in broad daylight. In fact, every big city has a similar death zone. This one is a no-brainer folks. For the next two election cycles, we simply elect people from all walks of life except the legal profession. That’s a simple way to return to representative government and I’m betting a side benefit will soon be a huge decline in frivolous law suits. I’m just agreeing with one of the people who drafted the U.S. Constitution. No one profession should monopolize all three branches of government.

What’s up with all the no-bid, no-audit contracts to rebuild cities that we tear down in wars. Tired of your tax dollars being wasted on horrible overcharges by Haliburton? Hey. Let’s wipe out no-bid contracts. Last time I checked, no-bid contracts for our tax dollar projects were unethical. Am I missing something here? Again, we are in control if we choose to be.

And another thought. We could provide health insurance for every citizen in America if every U.S. corporation were forced to pay their fair taxes. A huge percent of profitable U.S. corporations only pay from 0% - 5% in taxes because of stupid loopholes. Do you suppose we could elect a President this time who promises to close corporation loopholes and collect fair taxes in order to fund universal health care? And while we’re at it, how about if we all agree to pay a 1 cent tax on every cup of coffee. That amount alone would provide free prescription medicine to all Americans living below the poverty line. What do you say? Are you in?

And here’s a fabulous idea. While Bill and Melinda Gates are unselfishly looking for an AIDS cure, why aren’t they focused on something they can already solve. Over half a billion children die each year in 3rd world countries from diarrhea and there’s already a cure. It’s called Rota Teq and it’s an oral vaccine that’s already been approved. For a tiny fraction of The Gates and Clintons charitable foundation cash, over a thousand kids a day could be saved, beginning right now. At $187.50 for a series of the 3 doses necessary, the only kids who need it, can’t afford it. What’s up with that? I’ll let you speculate. But whatever the reason, I’ll bet you if enough people sent letters to Hillary Clinton and Bill Gates about this easy way to spare half a billion kids a year from a horribly miserable death, something would get done. I’d like to see Larry King dedicate just one show to this issue instead of focusing primarily on celebrities who shave their heads or attempt suicide. Get this information to enough people and Gates and Clinton will have no choice but to respond.

And by the way folks, there is no wiggle room or exit strategy here for Gates or Clinton. Diarrhea is a miserable cause of death, half a billion kids die from it each year, the cure exits, it has been approved and the cost to Gates and Clinton would be relatively tiny. This is one of those issues which cannot be rationalized away by P.R. experts. But it won’t even be considered unless you and I bring it to the attention of the masses. And just so you’ll know…this isn’t a Yarnell concept. I learned it from the man who consults governments all over the world on democratization, citizenship, culture and education. He is Benjamin Barker, Distinguished Senior Fellow in New York City and Kekst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland. If you want to learn more, read his marvelous new book “Consumed.”

These changes aren’t complicated and you and I can influence the outcome. It all begins with awareness, so pass this letter on.

These are just a handful of strategies for directional shift, but they are a good start. The problem is urgency. By most calculations, we will be domesticated into full-blown consumer adolescents in under fifteen years. Until today, those in power have never had any tools as addictive and manipulative as wireless technology. Television was a great start because it led to widespread clinical obesity in under half a century. No human condition results in the need for more drugs and more exercise items than those caused by the 3-5 hours a day Americans spend in front of television. Fatness has been one heck of a growth industry. No diet has ever worked but there are currently 30,000 from which to choose.

But now, people are actually tethered to wireless feed-drip devices of irrelevant minutiae wherever they go, making the newest technology portable and much more addictive. So addictive, that hardcore users actually risk their lives trying to drive cars and talk which is statistically nearly as deadly as drunk driving. Every few minutes some innocent family dies somewhere in North America because of wireless technology. Some real hard core folks actually walk around with prosthetic cell ears so they need not even exercise their arms to answer calls.

How did this all happen? Why do adults wear and carry prosthetic devices and place themselves on “voluntary call” 24/7, so that they can be interrupted no matter what they are doing? When monkeys or men see something happen, mirror neurons create a subtle brain reward that is nearly identical to the activity of the other primate. It’s called monkey see, monkey do and it’s the very phenomenon that forces others in a room to yawn if one person does.

Here’s the problem. If everyone remains hopelessly addicted to adolescent behavior like texting, surfing and answering cell phones, people in power stay in power and corporations keep making huge profits. The elite hope that until right before the crash, the masses will be too focused on techno-toys to realize that no one is flying this plane. When it does crash they’ll be living in gated communities well out of your reach.

If I read dozens of books a month by experts from business, science and technology but 90% of all Americans read less than one book a year, that doesn’t make me smarter. But it does make me more well read. Folks, great thinkers are all saying the same thing including the chief Accountant for the United States Government Accountability Office to the Congress. We’re hooped because in about fifteen years there will be no middle class. A handful of us will be ultra-rich and the vast majority, will be very poor.

Over and over, I’ve told you that we are in the perfect industry for immediate wealth creation. But what about everyone else? They need to know this stuff and they need to immediately begin to take action. That’s why I wrote this essay, and I hope you will feel the need to forward it to as many people as possible. If they listen to www.15yearsleft.com, that information will educate them even further.

Constitutionally, the power of American democracy lies in the hands of its people. Unfortunately, if no one lifts a finger except to text message and we allow ourselves to elect people based on scripted, contrived, sophomoric U-tube debates, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the coming nightmare. This country, as Michael LeGault points out in his brilliant book “Think,” “…needs a new generation of leaders, diplomats and citizens trained in the arts of critical engagement, debate and argumentation. Critical thinking is a prerequisite for the continued prosperity of America.”

Call me old fashioned but I’d like to see a new group of political leaders with enough decency to demand public disclosure about stuff like genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). Now that biotech companies are churning out GMO corn, potatoes and wheat without any idea how they might mutate several generations down the line, I’d like to be able to make the choice between normal bread and Frankenloaf.

I’m not saying we should stop researching GMO’s. I’m saying we should start. Genes don’t usually produce the specific protein for which they are coded. In other words, a gene from a benign bacterium like Bacillus Thuringiensis, which is now being spliced into our potatoes to kill spiders, could easily give rise to multiple variants of the intended protein and morph into food that is toxic to humans. That’s why Monsanto is so desperately trying to prevent farmers from collecting seeds from GMO crops. They aren’t worried about protecting their patents, they fear the liability of a 3rd generation potato that kills people.

They don’t have any idea what those potatoes might mutate into, but they sure don’t want to face the multiple law suits that would be filed after a GMO catastrophe.

Not one of our current Presidential Candidates has said anything significant about GMOs and that bugs me. I’m a little more concerned about all the scientists who believe that one GMO could wipe out humanity than I am about the candidates’ positions on Jesus and gays. CNN can spend a month covering the DNA testing to discover who impregnated Anna Nicole Smith, but evidently the genetic future of humanity relative to biotech roll-outs of mutated vegetables, warrants zero airtime. Is it just me, or do you smell the same stench?

And while we’re on the unpopular subject of secret mutations, I’ll bet you didn’t know that science has combined the dubious sport of hunting with cloning. I have good friends who love to shoot animals with high powered rifles and call it sport. That’s fine. That’s their business. But I’m a little concerned about the fact that in May of 2003 Texas A&M cloned an adult white tailed deer with huge antlers that was killed on a Texas game farm where hunters pay up to twenty thousand dollars to kill well-endowed (antler wise) white tailed dear. They named their clone Dewey and when he reaches sexual maturity he’ll be put to work as a stud deer so his semen can be sold to other game farms. You probably heard about Dolly the sheep. But I’ll bet you didn’t know that genetically altered monster-antlered deer are coming soon to a hunting field near you. And I won’t lie to you when I say that I wouldn’t complain about catching a Volkswagen-sized rainbow trout if Texas AM can figure out how to pull that off.

Let’s review. We can save half a billion kids each year beginning immediately by persuading Clinton and Gates to fund the diarrhea vaccine Rota Teq. No more lawyers should be elected to any office for eight years. A one cent voluntary tax on all coffee could be used solely to fund prescription medication for indigents. Corporate tax enforcement and the immediate illegalization of all lobbying should occur. The elimination of all no-bid government contracts and public disclosure of all genetically modified vegetables and cloned animals should be disclosed to the public. We can get those things done, surely. And it’s a great start.

One word of warning. Should this information find a wide readership, angry experts retained by those in power will be immediately trotted out to dispute my opinions and discredit me. Lawyers especially will be enraged, as will biotech firms. They’ll really go ballistic if people threaten to act. But this time, we the people can actually make a difference. If you felt impotent when the “Dream Team” led to O.J.’s acquittal it’s because you were. If you felt impotent when the Presidents of the largest tobacco companies put their hands on Bibles and swore to the U.S. Congress that tobacco is not addictive, it’s because you were. If you felt impotent when the supreme court appointed our last President in spite of the fact that the people elected his opponent, you were. But informed people need never again feel impotent. For the “pen is mightier than the sword” as a great person once decreed. But wireless communication is significantly mightier than any tool in history for the immediate circulation of ideas whose time have come.

I would like to end this letter with a special note of gratitude to the brilliant author Arthur Kroker who is Canada Research Chair in Technology, Culture and Theory at the University of Victoria. While the ideas in this essay are solely my own and in no way reflect the positions or opinions of Dr. Kroker, he took the time during a recent telephone visit to encourage me to use technology to share my concerns, rather than merely suppressing them.

So, now that I’ve done so, I can march into the future with a clear focus on my personal area of expertise: Networking. Thanks for your participation in democracy and free speech. We are truly blessed to have been born into a society which grants us the liberty to speak our true feelings with absolutely no fear of retribution especially at a time when most other poor souls on other continents remain unwitting participants among huddled masses yearning to be free.

Thanks for your attention. Now please pass this information forward or turn your cell phone back on and pretend you never read this essay. Have a nice day.

By Mark Yarnell

The Yarnell Report

This Essay May Be Banned