Reading time: 3,747 words, 8 pages, 9 to 15 minutes.

I am proud to be an individual. It seems there aren’t many of us left.

I’m beginning to wonder how many people can rightfully call themselves individuals. After all, we live in a society where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up. So how unique are most people?

The answer is “not very”. Why do I think so? Let me tell you about my recent on-line match-making adventure.

Being a life-long bachelor, I’ve been toying with the idea of getting married when I retire. The way I see it, retirement should still have challenges to help keep one’s mind sharp. I’ve seen too many minds wither and die in retirement and I don’t intend to be one of them. And, what could be more challenging than marriage?

As a bachelor, the one thing I really miss in a personal relationship (and I’ve had more than I can remember) is having someone to act as a sounding-board; someone I could bounce ideas off, give me a second opinion and yank me back to earth when one of my ideas gets too preposterous.

So I registered with two on-line match-making services; Match.com which I felt was somewhat pedestrian and eHarmony which I thought had a better class of people. I tried to be brutally honest in setting up my profile because that would determine the kind of responses I’d get and the profiles these services would send me to review. I was very selective in the type of woman I was looking for; age 45 to 65, university degree, no kids, non-religious, a wide geographical area so as not to be limiting, etc.

Between the two services, they sent me an average of about 15 profiles a day to examine. After a couple weeks, I became quite proficient in reading between the lines. After all, people try to show their best side so I learned to see below the surface. Often, what was important was left unsaid.

Example: one said she prefers to dress casual for both work and play. Reality: she’s a slob. Example: her weight is “above average”. Reality: she’s fat. Example: no pictures of her even though both services stress the importance of posting pictures. Reality: she’s a fat, ugly slob. See what I mean about reading between the lines? Hey, I never said it was pretty.

Another example: she says she has no kids. Reality: in one of her pictures, she’s standing between two young men and the caption reads. “My two sons”. Reality: She has two sons but no kids – WTF? So what else is she lying about?

After six months reviewing about 2,700 profiles, I came to several startling conclusions:

1) They were all very articulate (university types) and very capable in describing themselves, their desires, expectations, demands and requirements. However, not one of them – I repeat; NOT ONE said anything about what they would bring to a relationship. It was all gimme, gimme, gimme. Not a single one out of 2,700 even mentioned anything about any sacrifice or compromise they might consider to help make a relationship work. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by my fellow, self-absorbed, sold-out Baby-Boom generation. Fie on them!

2) They were all the same. They were all very conventional. Sure, they had some personality differences and a few different hobbies and interests but there were no individual characters. There was not one that stood out as being different or eccentric or quirky or kooky or individual or capable of thinking for themselves. Maybe they were hiding it from view but, as I said, I became quite proficient in reading between the lines. I didn’t detect any unique characters between the lines nor in their hobbies and interests or life experiences.

Another fellow I know was also doing the on-line match-making thing. He emailed me a link to the only profile he found that was unusual. She was unabashedly, shamelessly unique and eccentric; what one would call a “real character”. Unfortunately she lived far away. However, she was but one in more than 5,000 in total for both of us. How sad is that?

That I found only one unique individual in 5,000 demonstrates the death of the individual. We have become insects in a hive-mind collective. We are the Borg of Star Trek fame. We don’t have to worry about a Zombie Apocalypse; it’s already here. We have become what John Rappoport calls a “coagulated mass melted down into a cosmic glob of androidal harmony.”

Words can be dangerous. There is no such thing as ‘Society’. It is a word that should be restricted to sociologists for their discussions amongst themselves. It is short-hand for a group of people sharing a common geography, political structure and culture, etc. so they can convey that concept in just one word rather than a whole paragraph.

Words themselves are just symbols. They don’t exist in reality. They’re representations of reality. For instance the word “rock’ represents a hard, dense object. Drop a hard dense object on your toes and it hurts. Drop the word “rock” – well you can’t really do that can you? So, a word is just a short-cut for the real thing. Other words that represent concepts are now two steps or deviations from reality because they are symbols of symbols. That makes them even more dangerous and subject to manipulation and misinterpretation.

The word “society” is a dangerous concept subject to misuse and misinterpretation. It is a symbol of other symbols such as “person” or “individual”. A symbol of a symbol is so far removed from reality that it becomes largely useless and very dangerously misleading. And yet we bandy about these dangerously useless symbols and then wonder why they get us into so much trouble.

The trouble with the word “society” is we begin to believe it. Once we believe nonsense we are on the road to perdition; a road that leads to collectivization, propaganda and brain-washing.

Show me a society and I’ll show you a bunch of individuals. Or, at least, once upon a time society was a bunch of individuals. Now, society is a bunch of like-minded insects. Having lost our individuality, we become just a herd of sheep destined to be fleeced and led to the slaughter.

Granted, humans are social creatures. We may like to go alone for a walk but we hate to stand alone in our opinions. And, therein lies our downfall. The collective is the path of least resistance; the easy way out. Always be leery of the path of least resistance because it’s usually the worst choice in the long run.

There was a time, when we lived in caves, where belonging to a group increased our chances of survival. We are the offspring of ‘social’ ancestors. Those of our forebears who shunned the group, had less chance to survive and pass on their anti-social genes.

However, that was then; this is now. Today, with 7 billion people on this planet, we have the knowledge, technology and history to get beyond group-think to empower and enrich our individual selves. Instead, we have forgotten our history and allowed our monkey brains to use technology to destroy individuality by subsuming individuals into the televised Borg mind.

Today, there are many forces trying to destroy individuality. The most powerful are:
1) religion
2) the military-industrial-financial complex.
3) governments

Religion is a guilt-producing control business. That’s why they invented heaven and hell; to reward those who follow their rules and frighten those who don’t. The Church doesn’t want people to grow up because they can’t control grown-ups. “Ye must be like children to enter the kingdom of god.” That’s why god is called ‘the Father’. That’s why they talk about being ‘reborn’ because it keeps us children. We don’t need to be born again, we need to grow up and accept our responsibilities as individuals.

The problem isn’t that we are born in sin; the problem is we need to figure out how to be fully human and independent individuals in a world that would otherwise turn us into sheep led by some so-called ‘shepherd’ whose livelihood depends on our donations.

The function of the Christ is not to rescue the sinners but to empower us to be more deeply human; to find our individuality as humans, not sheep. Salvation is an enhancement of our humanity and the growth of individuality; it’s NOT a function of any church or dogma.

Why do you think the Church made suicide a mortal sin? The longer you’re alive, the longer they can extract part of your hard-earned pay. Once you’re dead, their cash flow stops. Why do you think the Catholic Church forbids birth control? The more babies you make, the more sheep they can fleece.

The loss of individuality is tragic because the authorities can manipulate herds of sheep more easily than critically thinking individuals. We go to war, not because we want to but because we are manipulated into it.

I weep for today’s younger generations; countless iGadgets plugged into the Unity that demands a share-and-care sacrifice. Don’t they know that those who preach sacrifice, those whose hands are out to receive the sacrifice are the ones who benefit from their giving? Don’t they know that those who preach sacrifice never sacrifice themselves? Don’t they know that those who preach sacrifice are the ones to gain what the sacrificial sheep surrender?

That’s why I loathe Socialism. Although it became intellectually fashionable a little more than a century ago, it is based on a warped tradition going back many millennia that equates morality with self-sacrifice. That’s why we are taught that altruism is good and individuality is bad. John Rappoport says. “the individual is characterized as: lone, outsider, selfish, greedy, inhumane, petty. Turn him into an exile, excommunicated from the great body of humanity.”

He reveals the propaganda; what he calls the ‘psy-op’ and you have to admit it SOUNDS wonderful, “We can no longer afford the luxury of thinking of ourselves as individuals. The stakes are too high. Finally, we must all come together and realize our presence on this planet is a shared experience. The decimation of our resources, through hatred and divisive behavior, the denial of love and community, the cold greed and excessive profit-making, the whole range of social and political injustices—all this can ultimately be laid at the door of the individual who refuses to join the rest of humanity…”

Like I said it sounds wonderful until you realize it advocates the death of the individual and the rise of the hive-mind collective. As John says, “And once that happens, the collective, managed by Globalist princes, will have a clear path to the control of Earth, at the expense of the rest of us. And the cruelties we now witness will pale in comparison to what is in store for us.” That’s also why I hate shallow intellectuals because so many of them have fallen for this shit.

I never realized then, how fortunate I was to pay my own my way through university by working my summers underground in the hard rock mines up north. I realized later I shouldn’t have envied my buddies who spent their summers in the city with cushy but low-paying jobs as life guards or waiting tables, and enjoying their beach parties and rock concerts. Instead, my education was incredibly well balanced. Intellectually, I did 7 ½ months of book learning followed by 4 ½ months of physical labor deep underground.

I graduated after three years while many friends struggled years longer doing part-time jobs during their school year. As I was awarded the gold medal for Political Science, my professors were disappointed that I didn’t go on to graduate school. However, I had had enough of book learning and I was eager to set forth into the real world. If I could drill, load, blast and haul tons of muck every day, I could do anything.

The grim reality of physical labor had shown me the limits of the intellectual life and its pseudo-philosophers. It grounded and balanced me and gave me the fortitude to face the future. It also gave me a tremendous bullshit detector. There’s no bullshit underground. It’s too dangerous for pretense. It’s just too real and anyone who tries to bluff his working partners is sternly dealt with. I learned that it matters not what I say but what I do. Talk is cheap. Only action is real. You could say my individuality was forged in the bowels of the earth.

An independent individual can spot the collective by its actions and either oppose or avoid it. The individual doesn’t try to “harmonize the world”. That’s just another word for globalization: the ultimate collective. Instead, the individual knows there are an infinite number of worlds. He doesn’t believe “we are all in this together” because the individual knows that’s just plugging into the matrix.

What Howard Beale said in the 1976 film, Network about Amerika applies everywhere in the West, “What is finished is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom and flourishing of every individual in it. It’s the individual that’s finished. It’s the single, solitary human being that’s finished. It’s every single one of you out there that’s finished. Because this is no longer a nation of independent individuals. It’s a nation of some two hundred odd million transistorized, deodorized, whiter-than-white, steel-belted bodies, totally unnecessary as human beings and as replaceable as piston rods.”

If you’re an independent individual, the collective hates you because they fear you. Your individuality and ability to stand on your own two feet makes a mockery of their pathetic existence. They know it but they’ll never admit it. And, they’ll try to bring you down to their level of mediocrity and sameness. Harmony, my ass!

It is difficult being an individual when so many people are plugged into the matrix. As individuals, this is our struggle: finding the balance between being true to ourselves and being too “other”. Each one of us has to find and strike our own balance. It is your responsibility as an individual. It’s why I Am an Anarchist It’s also why I’m not surprised so many YouTube videos linked in my posts no longer work; they’ve been pulled or “no longer exist.” Too subversive!

In this complex world, we are encouraged to become specialists. This complex world needs specialists. We all sometimes need specialists. However, that’s no reason to become one. Specialists serve the collective which is why they are well regarded and well paid.

The downside of specialization is the risk of obsolescence. The makers of buggy whips no longer have jobs since automobiles replaced the horse and buggy. Early automakers were craftsmen handcrafting exquisite and expensive works of art for the wealthy. Then Henry Ford used mass production techniques to lower the price and complexity of automobiles. The Model T was affordable and could be had in any color as long as it was black. Specialized craftsmen were soon out of work.

Regarding specialization, Robert Heinlein said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

“Specialization is for insects.”

Destroying individuality makes it easier for them to carry out their sinister mission of control, conquest and mental enslavement. They do their insidious worst with a number of tools; the most obvious being the entertainment industry and the public indoctrination education system.

The entertainment industry, is designed to numb and brainwash our minds with propaganda. Even my pet ‘guy flics’, mindless action movies are rife with propaganda. Here’s just one example where IlluminatiWatcher dissects the latest Superman movie, Man of Steel to find some insidious parallels with Christianity.

– Before his father sends the infant Superman off to Earth baby Moses-style, he tells his wife that, like Jesus, “He’ll be a god to them.”

– While not a miraculous birth as such, Superman’s father claims that his son is the first “natural” birth in centuries because all other Krypton children are genetically engineered.

– Superman jumps from General Zod’s ship and hovers in the sky with his arms out-stretched like the crucifix in one of several Christ-like images in the movie.

– Superman says he is 33, “a not-too-subtle reference to the same age as Jesus Christ when he was crucified.”

– He is more than willing to sacrifice himself so he surrenders to save humanity from annihilation.

– “When things get tough, Clark Kent seeks advice from a priest. Visible in the background is a large painting of Jesus so you can see [Superman] and Christ side-by-side.”

– “Superman is a non-violent being … always opting to keep the peace.”

Every movie that comes out of Hollywood is rife with such propaganda.

TV is even worse. Do you still rely on TV for the news? Here’s an example of TV news from one of my previous posts complements of RT’s “Brainwash Update”.

I cringe when someone asks, “Did you watch…(whatever)?” Obviously they’re talking about TV aka the ‘boob tube’ aka the ‘idiot box’. I bite my tongue to avoid replying, “No, I don’t watch. I DO. I’m too busy living my own life that I don’t have the time or inclination to watch someone else’s life”

There are two kinds of people: those who do and those who watch. There are two kinds of people: winners and losers. There are two kinds of people: those who live their lives the way they want; unfettered and unconcerned about anyone else’s opinion and there are those who watch and gossip and tremble in fear of the individual’s “otherness” because it reminds them what cowards they have allowed themselves to become. The first group are individuals. The second group are hive-minded losers. And, unfortunately, they’re taking over by dint of sheer numbers. As Charles Bukowski once said, “Stupidity has the utmost persistence.”

Governments’ most powerful tool for destroying the individual and brainwashing the collective is the public indoctrination education system. It stifles curiosity and destroys our innate love of learning until we are dumbed-down into brainless breeders, cannon fodder for the military’s endless wars and just barely educated enough to run and repair the machinery. I know because I’ve been in both the public and private education systems. I learned as much in one year of private school as ten years of public school.

The so-called education system does its work by encouraging uniformity and discouraging individuality. It aims for a common level of mediocrity. It educates us only enough so we can operate our masters’ computers and machinery, fend for ourselves well enough to breed more insects for the hive and to fight and die in wars whose sole purpose is the amusement and enrichment of the ultra-wealthy.

I used to hate history. Correction: I hated the way it was taught in school especially Canadian history which was dull and lifeless. The texts were designed and vetted by characterless committees to remove any trace of passion or humanity. They were designed to be stored in short-term memory long enough to write the exams and then forgotten.

One day, I came across a Canada history text book commissioned by Labatt’s and written by the humorist Stephen Leacock (a trained historian). I was amazed! I was floored by what I read. Passage after passage of otherwise boring Canadian history came colorfully alive with real people doing exciting things that helped build a country.

Apparently Labatt’s had offered the text to the public education system but they had flatly refused it because it was commissioned by a beer company. Besides, it was so exciting the pansies probably wet their pants.

The authorities hate individuals because dealing with individuals is like herding cats. Individuals who can think for themselves are harder to fool and manipulate and swindle. They ask tough questions. They trust no one. I salute the Gen Xers & Millennials; they give me hope despite their shiny tech gadgets that all is not yet lost. Everything the authorities do is to encourage assimilation and discourage individualism. Their job is made easier with a mindless mass media dragging everything down to a common level of mediocrity with their ‘Bernaysian’ propaganda.

I quote John Rappoport again: “The individual, the Self, isn’t just a little different or moderately different or quite different. The individual is a revolution all his own, a living breathing revolution … He knows freedom is real, and he doesn’t have the slightest interest in interfering with another’s freedom.”

In any case, I haven’t entirely given up on the idea of marriage in retirement. I’m just not holding my breath. It would take one hell of an individual for me to sacrifice my freedom and independence. I will not, however subsume individuality in a dictatorship; immersed in a swamp of cloned, conventional sisterhood. I’m not one to park my balls in my wife’s purse.

Besides, I’m not a joiner. I’m an individual. I’ve learned to think for myself and doubt everything I’m told until I verify it for myself. I’ve learned to stand on my own two feet and look after myself. I cook, I clean, I shop, I do the laundry and I raise my middle finger to the hive-minded collective. Would I give that up? We’ll see.

I’m reminded of the ancient Chinese curse; “may you live in interesting times.” So for all you ladies of Match.com and eHarmony, I fear you’ll get who you deserve and you’ll be sadly disappointed because you demand far more than you’re worth. What you get may be what you deserve, not what you want.

Independent individuals are in a constant war with the collective. Whatever meager benefits there are for joining the collective are greatly outweighed by the excitement, exhilaration and dangers of the singular journey.

When I’m finally overcome by either entropy or the smothering, mindless collective, the world will never know what has passed; the demise of this individual; the one-of-kind; the Omega man.

It will have been one helluva journey! And, no one will know except me and the universe with which I danced my life away.

Gerold
June 16, 2013

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