I’m Playing A Game: Society vs. Attachment

I’m playing a game:

The card I’ve drawn says I’m Government – I have a Society and to win the game I have to figure out how I can keep my society from being fulfilled, mainly emotionally (because that affects everything else so that’s the one I need to zero in on).

My opponent is Attachment.

There are other cards and pieces I can use to advance throughout the game.

 CRITICAL: I NEED MONEY TO WIN.  LOTS OF MONEY.

So, here’s what’s on my game pad so far:

What if, for some reason, I as a government didn’t want a generation of attached children?

If I were the most powerful nation in the world, what would I do to protect my wealth and position?

What lengths would I go to, if I had the ability to control the minds of my citizens?

And the power to go to unfathomable lengths?

Would I let everyone grow their own, clean food?

No, because maybe then they wouldn’t need expensive drugs and doctors and health insurance and hospitals and machines and specialties.

Would I allow children to be educated at home, amongst those who care for them?

No, because maybe then they wouldn’t need expensive buses and school buildings and school boards and school supplies and furniture and teachers’ salaries and policy meetings and taxes and initiatives.

Would I stand by as they delighted in what was easily available to them; what occurs naturally or what they themselves can create?

No, because maybe then they wouldn’t need expensive televisions or cellular phones or video games or movies or DVDs or professional sports or arenas.

Would I dictate that everyone be treated equally, regardless of gender or color or age or ethnicity or whoever they are?

No, because maybe then there’d be too much time for them to think.  And they’d probably realize their power over themselves.

Would I encourage families to build strong emotional connections, and to spend quality, quantity time together?

No, because strong families are the blueprint of a strong, independent society – and I would not want my Society to be independent of me.

Okay, so that’s what I wouldn’t want in my Society.  They can’t know they’re more powerful than I am (even if I know it).

So what is it that I would want?

If my aim was to keep myself on top and I needed a massive workforce; and I had that workforce at my disposal:

I’d need a way to influence them at all times, without being overbearing; preferably while affording them pleasure.

I’d want them to feel free.

I’d want them to feel they can make choices; that they have some of the most gracious liberties afforded their species.

I’d want them to feel superior.

I’d want them to work just enough to further my agenda but not in a way that empowered them to think independently of my needs.

I’d want to constantly supply them with something frivolous to chase; it’s important they’re distracted from what matters.

I’d want them to take their lives seriously during the time they were in service to me; but I wouldn’t encourage them to deny themselves what they desire, even at the risk of losing their lives.

I’d want them to hate each other, fiercely.

I’d want to give them idols (any) to worship.

I’d want them to be destructively self-absorbed.

I’d want them to make money the focal point of their lives – and I’d want money to be necessary for everything they do.

And most importantly,

I’d be smart enough to find a way to destroy them while they were young.

That’s it right there, that’s the integral part of my plan.

Get them while they’re children – hell, before they’re even born, start working on them.

Do that for a couple generations and the rest is handled by them.

Because by then they’re too far gone and don’t remember when

They.

Had.

Power.

How would I do it, though?

That’s where I get stumped.

Because if I’m just one person or let’s say, even hundreds, or thousands, right?

And I’m hundreds or thousands in a nation of hundreds of millions, and I am really no better or worse or different than the rest of the people in my country,

Why would they follow me?

Why would they follow me?

Probably I’d have to trick them.

Especially if I knew there was really nothing I could provide them, which they couldn’t provide themselves.

Oh, that’s it –

I’d have to create something for them to need.

Okay, so that’s where the Money comes in.

Alright but, because of the way the planet is designed, they don’t need Money to live and eat and enjoy themselves, right?

Hm, unless I claimed what was free and charged for it.

I’m going to take what exists in nature (it’s truly astonishing, the skillfulness of the design), and tell them I own it, and when they should be trying to find the documents that prove my ownership (I don’t have any; there were none in the game); I’ll have to use a distraction to keep them from getting close.

And once I “own” everything I can sell it back to them, at a price they’ll never be able to afford.

No, no, this is even better – I’ll charge them to NOT own it!

Ha!  Genius!  Make them think it’s attainable when really, it never is!

I’ll charge them to live on land that’s not mine, but I’ll never let them actually own it!

Talk about stripping someone of worth and power, huh?

What would it feel like to always be an alien resident, even in your “own” country?

Probably pretty hopeless.

And where there’s no hope, there’s despair.

And where there’s despair, there’s a Society wanting anyone to offer up any distraction.

They won’t want to think about the truth.

I smile just to imagine it (I’m really getting into this Government role).

I can probably keep this cycle going for a while.

Born.

Grow.

Work.

Consume.

Die.

Oh, but not before producing new members of the Workforce, of course.

But why would they fight for ownership and toil for it until they die; instead of just taking over and sharing it fairly and peacefully?

Okay, so that’s where all the Distractions could again be useful.

Remember, this is a game, I have cards I can play – I’m Government.

Alright so for Distractions I’ll play the Racism Card; the Sexism Card; the Misogyny Card, definitely the Childism Card, the Hunger Card, the National Pride Card, the –

Oh yay, this game has a Hate What Is Natural Card.

Just in time too, because this game has hundreds of Distractions.

Okay so I’ll just play the Hate What Is Natural Card – if I use this, then everyone in my society is too caught up in inconsequential technicalities, to notice what I’m doing.

The Hate What Is Natural Card causes confusion – check this: I can get them to hate THEMSELVES!

I’m gonna win this game.

The way I watch my Society, in the game, it’s like looking at a map, and my view is panned out.

I can see all my citizens at once from my position above the game board; and it totally appears that there are 300 million versions of the same person walking around my country.

I don’t want them to see that, ever.

Wouldn’t it be funny if I made them think they’re all like, way different from each other, and I made them hate each other over petty details?

Like skin color?

Or age?

Or income?

Or ability?

Ha!  When really, they have no idea how they are EXACTLY THE SAME!

Man, you don’t even really need to be intelligent to win this game.

Just vicious.

Just vile.

Just hateful.

Just low.

Inhuman.

I need to be inhuman.

I can be that.  I have to, if I want the Money.

And I need the Money if I want to stay in control.

That’s the object of the game, for me, Governemnt.

So if they hated what is natural, it’d open up lots of doors for me.

This could render them perpetually unsatisfied.

And there – I’d have the opportunity to give them something to chase,

Something to covet,

Something to dedicate their lives to pursing.

Oh, there’s an Animalistic Consumerism Card.

And we’re back at Money.

Alright I need to regroup, I’m confusing myself.

I’ve formed a strategy: I am going to distract and manipulate my Society until they have very little love or desire for who they naturally are as a people.

But what will that do?  How will that bring in the Money?

Well if they want nothing to do with what is natural,

I can synthesize new life for them.

It will make them dependent upon me, because I will have given them Money to chase after, and they will follow because I will allow them to obtain great prizes if they have Money.

We’re not talking teddy bears here – think of anything a human being would want; I’m going to provide it to my Society.

For a price.

The more they want, the more they must pay.

Panem et circenses.

Bread and circuses.

If they loathe themselves they will always look outward for fulfillment.

They will look to me,

And I will do whatever I find is necessary, to assure that they remain empty inside.

I do not want them to figure my strategy out; it’s actually pretty transparent if they’re not being distracted.

Consumerism and hatred and confusion will only go so far.

People will start to figure me out.

I have to figure out a way to absorb them.

I need them to be devoted to me.

I need them to understand that these are privileges: the right to hate each other, the right to waste away while chasing a piece of paper that couldn’t survive a kitchen sink.

They have to feel they deserve to be able to do this to themselves.

So I’m going to need more than mere Distractions.

I have to make them feel my cycle is normal.

But how will I make them feel it’s normal?

Surely their natural inclinations will tell them it’s not, and they may attempt an uprising.

I have to deaden their instincts.

I need to be discreet about it though; more than discreet – I need to be completely duplicitous.

I have to make sure that in case any of them catch on, those few will be such a small minority that it won’t matter.

Hm, and now I see why Attachment is my opponent.

I’ll get back to that.

How can I control what they think and feel and desire and do, without them feeling controlled?

I’d need to infiltrate their minds and hearts.

But they have to enjoy it.

They have to welcome it.

The have to demand it.

I’ll make it feel spectacular.

I’ll simulate the feelings they could naturally experience through living naturally.

I’ll intensify them to a level humans didn’t know they wanted.

There will be such an over-abundance of pleasure they won’t want to question its source.

I’ll make them think they need it.

I’d poison them all.

In my synthesized world, everything is imitation.

Medicine.

Fragrance.

Sunshine.

Water.

Grass.

Trees.

Animals.

Vegetation.

Meat.

Entertainment.

These are all things that I’d have to replicate and convince my Society to crave.

I’d have to make them shiny,

Loud,

Neon,

Irresistable.

I’d use nature as my blueprint,

But I’d convince my Society that my realm is better than nature.

They’d clamor for it;

Kill for it;

Suffer through it and convince themselves they’re happy.

And I’d poison it all.

The medicine,

The fragrance,

The sunshine,

The water,

The grass,

The trees,

The animals,

The vegetation,

The meat,

The entertainment.

The very air they breathe.

It’d have to be a poison so quiet that they wouldn’t know they’ve been affected until after it’s a part of their makeup.

I’d put toxins everywhere and I’d tell them they’re safe for consumption.

They won’t question me too much.

Bread and circuses –

They’ll be preoccupied.

The food they eat would have to be toxic enough to destroy and alter their minds and health.

The water they drink would have to be filthy, because they need water to live.

I could poison their crops and animals and sicken them all.

I could create all sorts of products and convince my Society they need them; and I could lace them with chemicals.

Cleaning products.

Plastics.

Toys.

Perfumes.

Lotions.

Infant care products.

Supplements (to replace what I couldn’t replicate in my “food”.)

The possibilities are endless.

And since I’ve played the Animalistic Consumerism Card,

They’d want it all.

I’d make sure of it.

This brings me back to my original notion:

I’d be smart enough to find a way to destroy them while they were young.

Enter my opponent, Attachment Parenting, Conscious Parenting, Natural Parenting…

Call it what you will – it’s direct opposition.

I’d have to get to the people in my Society while they were young.

I’d need to train them to accept being stripped of worth and power, early on.

I’d have to disrupt their development while their brains were growing.

I’d have to redirect their synapses.

I’d need to cause acute brain damage before they begin their work for me.

I’d need them to never know what could be.

I’d have to normalize the separation of children from their caregivers, allowing for my ideals to be ingrained.

I’d have to scandalize the naturalness of some of the most physically and emotionally beneficial practices, for the whole health of human children:

Breastfeeding, bonding, empathy, patience, unconditional love, acceptance.

I’d have to teach them to breed hatred and cold-heartedness.

I’d have to break the children.

Money is the answer.

Keeping them all on the wheel.

They will need to work,

So they will need to send their children away.

They will grow weary.

They will come to regard their youth as a nuisance;

They won’t recall that there was a time when children and adults lived peacefully together.

Their children, and the expenses that come with them, will be a burden to them.

The desire of the adults to attain their own pleasures will rob them of the attention they need to provide the children with.

There will be no time for family bonding – that would not further my plan.

I need them to feel busy,

And I will offer them the antidote to being overwhelmed:

Feed your children my poisoned food; it tastes better and it’s quicker, and it costs less.

Drop your children off at my daycares and after-school programs; you need to work.

Leave your children with strange adults; adults who were once children, deprived of what they needed and now only able to share their pain, by hurting other children.

When your children disrespect you, disrespect them back; do not show them a better way, do not let them be healthy.

Worry only after yourself; you have too much to do.  Other parents must suffer alone and so must their children.

I only need them to work,

I do not need them to be happy.

I do not want the children to feel secure.

I do not want them to realize their power.

I need them to believe in me.

If I can achieve this I won’t need to worry about the adults.

These children will become adults.

Hurt, angry, embittered, lonely, scared, insecure, emotionally impotent, stifled, confused, mocked, silenced, rejected, selfish.

Unloved.

And unloving.

But they won’t know it.

And they’ll stay on the wheel.

Born.

Grow.

Work.

Consume.

Die.

Wow.

That’s dark, but this is the game, right?

The only way for me to prevail is at the expense of my Society.

And the best way to destroy my Society is to get them while they’re young.

And the prime way for me to convince my Society to sacrifice its young is to make it feel good.

I have to think more, I’m sure there’s a lot more I could probably be doing.

Ha, actions so depraved I can’t yet imagine them.

From what I have so far though, I’m well ahead of the game.

I win.