I make this point to ease you into the idea that Karl Marx had a few good points. I'm fully aware of the trouble here (Marxism, boogadah) and I'm certainly no Communist myself. I'm fully aware of communism's tendency to empower psychopaths who think exterminating the literate is the way to utopia, and that life under Marxist regimes that aren't quite genocidal is still boring as hell. I'm not asking you to be a Marxist. You and I are both independent minds free to judge any individual point of a supposedly all-encompassing philosophy on its merit. There are people who think public schools are a bad idea just because Karl Marx thought it was a good idea. Surely you're not one of those silly bastards. You're a 'Mr. Heartland' reader, the very cream of intellectual froth.
Karl Marx thought that public schools are a good idea, and they are. Another good idea he had was that religion was a shell game for delusional optimists. So I told a little church spaghetti story to illustrate that point.
I'm sure that you, intellectual froth that you are, have heard the phrase "false consciousness" before. To put it simply, the instillation of "false consciousness" (through media, bad faith education, and especially religion) is the means by which the ruling class (No need to be a Marxist to admit that there is one) convinces the common people that their interests are one and the same. It's been noticed that one of the most effective means of leading common people to support the current power structure is to convince some large segment of the common population that they themselves are privileged members of that power structure because of something inherent about themselves. This is where we meet our old friends race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender roles, and oh yes don't forget religion. I love how religion always shows up at the party.
So who are the members of our own society that have been suckered in this manner? White male Christians of course! Who the hell else? You knew where I was leading you on this all along didn't you you frothy son of a bitch?
This is well-worn territory I know. I mean I do feel rather lazy for being yet another person covering this ground yet again. Yet the fact is that, just that there are a few silly bastards who think public schools are communist just because Karl Marx liked them, so must anyone who recognizes a false consciousness in society necessarily be Communist. I mean it does betray a certain lack of faith in society doesn't it. A lack of faith in this Godly/God fatherly/father that was put here just for you because holy father Amerigod loves you so much Joshua and he just wants you to follow the rules so someday you can be on TV and have a really big car and eat at Denny's anytime you want. Why do you like making daddy cry Joshua? Are you a faggot? Is being a real man too much for you?
Let us be reminded again that we or free to take or leave individual points of grand ideologies as we please. It is nothing but simple observation and common sense to recognize that false consciousness is real. Many of my fellow Nebraskans loudly boast the praises of Midwestern work ethic and frugality. There are even those among us who sincerely believe that we are the ones propping up the state of California instead of vice-versa. Isn't that funny? Right now you might be asking yourself if everyone but you and me is a moron . I know that's something I ask myself obsessively, except I don't ask about you. The answer to the question is yes and no. Our neighbors aren't morons per se. What they are is chemically altered, high on the idea of a mirror-image God and delusions of holding semi-autonomous fiefs in a mighty scrubland empire.
If all that was a little too purple for you, than just consider the above photo of Uncle Teddy. Ted Nugent is a sixty year-old man who thinks dressing in a sleeveless Confederate shirt, Old Glory guitar, and a motherfucking camo hat is a perfectly normal and dignified way of expressing his innermost beliefs. Draw your own conclusions.
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