Ashok Dhillon
Jan 15, 20146 min
The long term salvation and prosperity of humanity lies in the empowerment of the ordinary people through knowledge and inclusion, and the ‘self-enlightenment’ of ‘the privileged’ through true benevolence and restraint - it is the only way moving forward. The old order of control through keeping the masses in ignorance, fear and exclusion is slowly crumbling, and those in power are fighting a steadily losing battle to an increasingly aware public. This writing on the wall has been noted by such World leaders as the current Pope and institutions such as the IMF. It’s about time. It is the 21st Century after all.
Since the beginning of time for humanity, ignorance and fear in the political, religious and economic realms, have ruled the average person’s life, and those in power have exploited both those realities to their maximum advantage. Tens of thousands of years later, in the 21st century, things are better but not by much. Looking at the World today, it is shocking to see the dozens of ongoing conflicts in every part of the World, the severe exploitation and misery of the very many, for and by the very few, the increasing gap between the rich and everyone else, and the continuation of the systematic misuse of power and the dissemination of misinformation and falsehoods by those in positions of trust.
This is a new year, yet billions of human beings are living in the same confined spaces of political, religious and economic propaganda that their masters choose to feed them. This propensity to accept what they are told, generation after generation, rather than question age old dogmas, have enslaved the majority for the purposes of the minority in power. This persistent apathy of the public to question authority and accept its dictates when they are obviously against public interest, has left billions fighting desperately to just survive, while a comparatively few live obscenely excessive self-indulgent lives in their very midst, and at their expense.
We are no raving socialists. We simply think that it is high time that the majority of humanity started to question the accepted norms in politics, religion and economics, put aside their differences, and work towards the common good of the majority regardless of race, nationality, ideology, religion and creed. It is the only sustainable way forward for humanity. The alternative is the status quo, which is stagnation, constant conflict and ignorance which only enriches the powerful few and continues to exploit the many, regardless of the country or the continent.
We endorse responsible individual freedom, and capitalism with a conscience, as we have observed first hand socialism and communism to be socio-economic failures as political ideologies and systems, turning the notion of utopian ‘equal’ societies into shamelessly exploited and fearful populations, ruled by the ‘Great Leaders’ and their ruthless and hypocritical bureaucrats. Most monarchies of old could not exploit their subjects as thoroughly as the past and present socialist and communist governments have done, and still do. And while capitalists and the capitalistic system are not free from exploitation, yet their sins pale in comparison to the endless mass misery caused by socialistic and communistic or Dictatorial systems worldwide, and historically.
Justifying the public ownership of national resources and assets for the people’s good, governments and their minions make a mockery of the words ‘the People’s’. For wherever those words appear in the lexicon of governments, one can be assured there is rampant corruption, exploitation and subjugation of the common people. And the national resources are anything but ‘the People’s’, being rather shamelessly exploited by those in power for their own personal benefit.
The most obvious examples of such exploitation in the name of the 'People' are the bastion of socialist and communist ideologies Russia, China, India (the giants) and the smaller but equally committed Cuba and North Korea, among others. These political systems, helped in part by their historic traditions and cultural propensity towards stratified societies, have created vast pools (in India and China the numbers exceed hundreds of millions) of exploited, intimidated, poverty stricken citizens that are still waiting for the mere necessities of life, just to be able to survive on a daily basis, let alone have any real chance at individual power or dignity.
Whatever economic progress, and trickle down wealth, has been created recently by some of these governments (India – China in particular) has been by turning their socialistic and communist economic ideologies and policies towards what they traditionally railed against - the so called exploitive capitalism’s economic ideology, where only a very few were supposed to benefit while the masses starved and suffered. That was the theory anyway. Ironically their own policies produced those results in spades, while the West’s capitalist policies produced the most equal and wealthiest citizens in the World. Additionally, the more these governments introduced the hated capitalistic policies into their economic systems the more their countries and people benefited, materially. Apparently even the most diehard communist country in the World, North Korea, is now considering the liberalizing of their economy, not for the benefit of its people, but to ensure the survival of its ruling class!
Where the people have least benefited in these countries is in the general freedom that comes with the true autonomy of its individual citizens, for therein lies the greatest potential of any country. These governments still hold the vast majority of their people hostage under the ‘the People’s’ banner. The truth is that the more ‘free’ the people are, the more informed they are and the more productive they are, regardless of race, colour, religion or creed. With all their many flaws, the Western democracies, especially America, has shown that to be categorically true. Countries where capital flows are free, individual rights are paramount regardless of race, caste, status and religion, and where cultural expression is freely allowed and accepted, are generally the most productive and wealthy in spite of their many challenges.
On an individual person basis, there is still no comparison between the developed West and the developing East. Even there, there is great irony. The so called East had been ‘developed’ centuries before some of the West, but as the individual freedoms declined in the East and exploitation by the rulers of the day increased the West increasingly went the other way. In Europe the individuals gained greater autonomy from their feudal masters, while in North America individual initiative and freedom itself built the countries. Now, generally speaking, wherever there is the greatest individual freedom there is the greatest wealth, prosperity and knowledge. Where individuals are the most restricted, there is the greatest exploitation, poverty, misery and ignorance (North Korea anyone?).
We consider ourselves as capitalists with a conscience, and pragmatic. We are not blind to the cumulative imbalances in the World today, We consider ourselves as capitalists with a conscience, and pragmatic. We are not blind to the cumulative imbalances in the World today, and the self destructive behaviour of those in power, whether individuals, companies or countries. In the near term these imbalances threaten global stability, and in the longer term, humanity’s future prosperity and survivability.
The old economic wealth creating growth model of ever increasing consumption leading to ever increasing jobs, leading to increasing consumption, and so on, can only continue to work if all the people prosper incrementally and collectively, not just a few, and while doing so have the knowledge and intelligence to preserve the global environment while exploiting it, as it’s the only one we’ve got.
As we look down the road into 2014, we see greater trouble brewing for humanity as countries try and carve out their desperately needed share of the world markets to ensure economic growth and jobs, in the face of increasingly ferocious competition from other countries.
Wars have started for less. In fact most current and historic conflicts are and have been for additional assets and resources. All nations and people know of this and indeed indulge in it. Such conflicts are usually disguised under some noble sounding rally cry of nationalism, liberty and freedom, or religion or race preservation. Very few times are the causes truly just.
Most of humanity goes along with this endless charade and continues to suffer. Therefore it is time to look through the constant misinformation being aimed at the majority (you) and try to empower yourself with independent information gleaned through your own questioning and research. And it’s time to see the commonality in your fellow human beings rather than keep swallowing wholesale, the constant propaganda of all the differences. In striving to work towards the benefit of all rather than a few, will there be the possibility of global economic sustainability.
Misinformation and wilful omission is not only confined to the political and/or the religious fronts, but is present in the daily lives of everyone when being wooed by governments, the financial industry, the drug companies and the medical profession, and everyone else who is in a conflict of interest position when making money by selling you services and/or products that benefit them more than you. In the coming months we will elaborate on each of these areas and attempt to inform you as to what you should be aware of so that you can make more informed decisions regarding your health, wealth and the direction of geo-political economic global trends.
“Knowledge is Power”, therefore it is every person’s responsibility to empower themselves through greater awareness, communication and information. In that quest we are committed to empowering you with unbiased straight talk.