Awareness
Is Overrated
By Mickey Z.
12 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
"Analysis brings no curative powers in its train; it merely
makes us conscious of the existence of an evil, which, oddly enough,
is consciousness."
-Henry Miller
Everywhere I hear about the need
to raise "awareness." So much so, that awareness and consciousness
appear to have become the goals: ends in and of themselves. If only
we were conscious of "what's going in Darfur" or aware of
how "prevalent cancer has become" or whatever else we need
to recognize, it seems most folks would be mighty satisfied.
My question: When exactly does all this goddamned awareness translate
into productive action and tangible change?
"I expected to die," Black Panther Huey Newton said back in
the day. "At no time before the trial did I expect to escape with
my life. Yet being executed in the gas chamber did not necessarily mean
defeat. It could be one more step to bring the community to a higher
level of consciousness."
Was Huey right? Would his death have done anything more than create
another t-shirt icon, another excuse for Sean Penn to take out a full-page
ad in The New York Times? Che Guevara, Ken Saro Wiwa, Fred Hampton,
Rachel Corrie, Sacco and Vanzetti, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Leonard
Peltier, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mumia abu-Jamal, Tookie Williams, Brad Will-the
list grows and grows...as does the homicidal/suicidal human culture
that we cannot or will not change. We've raised our consciousness to
such a high level that we proudly own hybrids and use only recycled
toilet paper. But what are the results?
We're aware of global warming and its causes, factory farms, war crimes,
environmental degradation, political corruption, fixed elections, the
health care crisis...blah, blah, blah. We know about it. We talk about
it. We write about it. We complain about it. We hold meetings, talks,
seminars, and classes about it. We march about it. We make signs about
it. Nothing
changes.
Lesson #1: Awareness is overrated
Lesson
#2: The current patterns of dissent in America are long overdue for
re-evaluation and overhaul. The powers-that-be have long ago figured
out how to either marginalize or co-opt dissent. Until our tactics evolve,
we are accomplices to the perpetual global crime we call civilization.
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
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