Visions of D

There are different analogies that can be made to the modern world. The Matrix is perhaps one of the most apt and popular. But my favorite… the one that has always stuck in my mind… is Leviathan. To me it conjures up simultaneous images of every sort of industrial complex: military-industrial, agricultural-industrial, educational-industrial, medical-industrial. It conjures images of a corporate capitalist system that relies on heavy government favoritism to maintain its dominance. It conjures images of a system that is ultimately destructive and extractive without producing much, if any, real wealth. It makes me think of passive submission and unawareness. It makes me think of clandestine control. And that’s the real issue with Leviathan: inescapability.

Those are issues I care to explore in my real blog, but here I present the idea. And make no mistake; Leviathan does wish to be inescapable. Anytime somebody wants to “opt out” in some fashion, there are suddenly an inordinate amount of laws and regulations. The challenge for those of us living today is to find some form of meaningful work and attempt to rebuild something that has been all but obliterated.

I don’t accept passivity and I don’t accept passive, consumptive culture. My life has been a fight for things that feel like they’re lacking but shouldn’t be. The more self-aware and worldly-aware I become, the more I learn there are reasons for this. Leviathan is taking away.

So whence this Leviathan? It is the vision of D. Not “I have a dream” vision, but “I see dead people” vision. As in… she really did see it. But I am telling you this story third-hand. D is nobody I knew personally. It is simply a story of a friend recounted by localroger as a potent introduction to his article on the history of American education. See the article here, and read especially the two paragraphs on D. I am not so concerned here with the views of John Taylor Gatto (In fact I have yet to read his work). I am just concerned with D and her vision.

And so I make use of it again, as a potent introduction to all the things I wish to share and discuss and perhaps change, or at least provide support and some semblance of escape. May we all have the sanity to see clearly the vision of D but also may we have the fortitude to stand against such a challenge.