Living in the Land of Irony

Surrounded by an ocean of absurdity, here we sit, living in the land of irony. Yes, I find it ironic that a once Communist nation such as the nation I was born in is freer than America, the self-titled ‘Land of the Free.’

Although we can dispute whether or not it is true bravery to kill someone from a thousand miles away via a drone using a joystick, there is no disputing the fact that once a nation begins killing its own citizens within its own borders the word freedom is now a dead thing, stillborn, and no longer viable.

Perhaps we’re all too busy worshiping the false idol of self, concerned who’s going to win the next Dancing with the Stars, or scrounging under the sofa cushions trying to make our next mortgage payment, to ask some relevant and poignant questions in regards to this latest tear in the already tattered fabric of freedom America enjoyed until recently.

For me, at least, the most important question of all is who decides? Who decides what the criterion is for an American citizen to be targeted for termination on American soil? What are the parameters? Can they be changed, and if so by whom?

One day we’re only targeting terrorists, and the next we’ll be targeting obese people because they’re too much of a drag on healthcare. Or religious people because they’re just too inflexible, and have the tendency to cling to their Bibles instead of giving in and allowing the stream of progress to carry them along into oblivion.

Yes, I know, I can hear the chorus of ‘that can never happen here,’ from the ostrich choir welling up in the ether, but if history has anything to teach us, it’s that man’s worst fears are realized when the majority remains silent in the face of tyranny.

Some of the most damnable lies are being regurgitated once again, and yet another generation is taking the bait, hook, line and sinker.

We all know them. We are hearing the lies being spoken to us every day. From ‘it’s for the greater good,’ to ‘it’s for your own protection,’ to ‘give us absolute power and we promise we won’t abuse it,’ the lies being perpetrated upon us are not new, but they seem to be working just as well as they did in the past.

It’s amazing how readily men surrender their freedoms, how inclined they are to be ruled over, and how willing they are to abandon the notion of liberty just to keep the peace.

Who watches the watchers? Who keeps tabs on the deciders, and does anyone honestly believe, even for an instant that once absolute power is attained it will be relinquished if enough people demand it be so?

If you believe that anyone would relinquish absolute power once they’ve attained it, once they’ve bled, and plotted, and compromised for it, then I’ve got some beachfront property to sell you in Arizona, and I’ll even throw in a lead surfboard as a signing bonus.

Men are susceptible, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The notion that these government sanctioned murders of American citizens on American soil will not be abused, or used in some nefarious ways to reach some nefarious end, is infantile and childish.

There have always been those who sought to advance their own agenda at the expense of others – even if it meant the lives of others – and though we might think ourselves evolved, enlightened, and civilized, deep down, in the dark recesses of the heart, man has not changed one iota over the centuries.

All we’ve really done with the passing of time is become more efficient at taking lives as a species, and learned to delegate the responsibility of bloodshed to third parties who don’t mind it so much if they pay is good enough.

I guess you can’t make a new utopia without cracking a few skulls or killing a few folk after all.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.