One piece of advice that my father gave me when I was young was that “You can't choose your family but you can choose your friends.”
Those words of advice were much needed for someone like me, who was a “bad kid” and had to sit at a different lunch table. The types of friends I made there didn't come from the loving home that I had. They didn't have the economic resources that my parents worked so hard for which made any mistake or accident more devastating. One thing that I noticed though was that what was important in my house wasn't so important or even thought of in the homes of my less fortunate friends. This is when I realized that the reality that I lived in and what was important to me wasn't a universal thing, in fact, I was different than most kids, not just the “bad” ones I hung out with.
My folks held experiences and making memories in very high importance. They sacrificed a lot to make sure that we as a family got to travel and see things together. Trying different foods was and still is a favorite pastime of mine. From different types of seafood to specialty desserts I loved and still do love trying new things but there are other people in my life who have never had ranch on pizza. It's astounding.
I bring silly things like this up today to show how little differences in the culture you grow up in or exist in can shape what's important to you and what drives you to do certain things. Marketing executives figured out a long time ago with the help of people like Edward Bernays and the concept of V.A.L.S. (Values and Lifestyles) that people like me and my folks are “Experiencers”.
When I learned that there was already a category for people that act and make decisions based on what I do it really made me take a step back and consider again what most would call free will. How could someone like me, who seemed to have it all figured out in life, that material possessions mean little and moments in life mean more that the choices that I made may not necessarily have been my own as an individual but just a symptom of the behavior of a particular kind of group that is easily identifiable and therefore manipulated.
It was a shock to find out that my choices in life were consisting of what was prepared or curated for me. Not just by marketing executives but also my parents. Fortunately for me my Dad is a fan of the band The Who and I grew up with the song “Won't Get Fooled Again” and the infamous line “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
The mistakes my parents generation made in trusting the government, the media, and banks were an echo of previous generations mistakes carried out in song. It was a warning to the true believers in whatever cause what human nature and hierarchies due to the human mind. Leave it to The Who to ask “Who really is in charge?”
Are we doomed to make these same mistakes over and over again by choosing people to represent us in government?
Will they not, because of their nature, their observable patterns of behavior, that can be modeled, manipulated, and just simply corrupted because people have been studying their type of mindset for hundreds if not thousands of years?
The thing that brought me back to understanding and valuing free will (and shoutout to my Mom for taking me to see Rush) was that I didn't decide to land where I did on this cultural chess board. Even if I was molded and shaped to be a certain type of person that the little variances from the lessons learned and passed down to me by the greatest people in my life, my parents, could create a moment where I have the choice to select a different option than one that's been handed me. I can question the offering and the authority it comes from. I can find others that defy the patterns of normal political behavior and make friends with them and we can urge people to start the game over and to put the damn pieces where they belong!
It's never A vs B, Black vs White. If you choose the other there can be infinite choices. Some seem impossible but man learned to fly, carry my voice to you through the air right now, and through our limited scope as a species, people that choose to do the outside choice and walk the other path will re-invent how the rest of the patterns of people's behavior will flow into eternity.
Now make your choice.
Excellent work sir and to bring Bernays into the discussion is where he needs to be right now. Even at the root of the NAZIs and the off kilter looking banners of the Marxist Regimes you will find the V.A.L.S.! Excellent work!
Thank you for bringing the question to the floor for a vote sir! "Mr. President, South Carolina, calls the question!"
"I can find others that defy the patterns of normal political behavior and make friends with them and we can urge people to start the game over and to put the damn pieces where they belong!"
"Some seem impossible but man learned to fly, carry my voice to you through the air right now, and through our limited scope as a species, people that choose to do the outside choice and walk the other path will re-invent how the rest of the patterns of people's behavior will flow into eternity.
Now make your choice."
Could not have said it better myself!
Yours in liberty,
Vince