Silk Road forums

Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: raynardine on January 26, 2013, 06:51 am

Title: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: raynardine on January 26, 2013, 06:51 am
http://www.countthecosts.org/seven-costs/undermining-human-rights

I find the government abhorrent at its face, being an organization of coertion and force by definition, however, a government which uses high-sounding moral pretenses and pretexts for destroying private property, detaining and imprisoning children, destroying families and homes, and imposing itself into every aspect of life, forcing all men, women, and children to pay tribute to them or suffer the consequences even worse than the strict definition of government.

In the specific aspect of "The War on Drugs," I find some telling evidence that this supposed "saving us from ourselves" that the governments of the world perform, supposedly on our behalf, and certainly with our hard-won tax money, is actually used to spread misinformation, propaganda, cultural warfare, psychological warfare against both foreign and domestic powers, and obviously is used as a tool to enforce cultural mores and norms from the high elite onto an unwitting and unwilling people.

I am not so naive and guileless and young to pretend that it would be possible to overthrow our oppressors, or even to correctly identify those who oppress us, though evidence of multi-billion dollar wealth is a strong indicator in my humble opinion.

Those of our elite guard their power, of which multi-billion dollar wealth is but an indicator, for their power is not measured purely in any single currency.

Our oppressors are not noble people, as they pretend, they are human, as we are, however, to maintain that kind of wealth, while billions upon billions of people die of starvation and disease and warfare, one can safely assume a certain level of callousness among them.

Silk Road may not bring total ruin to those responsible for our plights, however, it is a symbol of strength that we can use mathematics and some measure of solidarity to provide relief to those in pain, relief to those in need to pursue their quests of education and self-betterment.

Silk Road may not be everything it needs to be, but it is enough.

And we can build it up to be more.

I have seen the fnords, and the machinations of the few against the many.

I have seen Big Brother for who he really is, not some do-gooder who watches over us for our own good.

No, like with everything else, the government is just yet another tool of the elites to crush us beneath their iron-shod feet.

The War on Drugs is merely another tool by which the elites can excuse the treatment of their inferiors like unwanted dogs, shooting and killing human beings by the thousands every month.

For people only wish to be happy, and as the world is a cruel and sad place, people turn to Science to save them from suffering, from their superiors who turn from them without kindness. People, who have little else to hope for, turn to Chemistry to provide relief.

Alchemy of the Mind, sometimes I see it, the dance of neurotransmitters, of dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, and the interplay betwixt various and sundery organs within the human body.

We Engineers use our Wit and Cunning to solve all manner of perplexing problems, and when stricken with a profound suffering and prolonged and unshakable despair, we turn to our Art like with any other matter, and turn our minds to solving the puzzle.

And so, we find chemistry to be the key to gaining control over our own bodies, a dangerous and powerful Art.

So unlocked, we gain control over ourselves, taking that control from our power-hungry elites, and so strike them with terror of losing their control over us.

As we, The People, are such filthy unwashed heathens, unloved by God and Country, and apparently unredeemable in any fashion, they resort to psychological and cultural warfare at all levels of state to barely contain us.

For contain us they do, as we, The People, are a threat to them and their comfortable lifestyles.

For if a certain threshold of People begin to gain wisdom, responsibility over our own actions, knowledge, current and timely information, land and natural resources, capital in the classic sense, wealth in real sense, and the ability to exercise all those forms of power in dark times, we will have no need of elites, for we would make them irrelevant.

And our Masters do not wish to be irrelevant, and will do anything to stop us.

I am too old, too cynical and jaded to truly believe I will live to see our Masters overthrown in any real sense, but I do hope to teach my children one day to be responsible, powerful, and wise individuals, who will speak with great passion, and terrify those who would enslave mankind.

I harbor a very small hope, a hope for the future of my children, who may one day become great men and women of their time.

We will see.

I do not know what the future holds, but it has to be better than this.

I apologize for the dissertation.
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: Blerbadoo on January 26, 2013, 08:04 am
Thank you for posting, it was an interesting read. I agree with the overall sentiment. Hopefully this post flows as well as yours.

I see many people calling for change and movements around the world fighting for it. I always find myself asking what needs to change and how do we change it. People also need to ponder the consequences of the changes they wish to implement. It was very easy, for example, for Marx to write down that the Proletariat needs to overcome the Bourgeoisie. How exactly does that occur though, and what happens after? The government and the elite are the problem? Do we fight them from within the system or from outside of it? The system is biased and corrupt and any change would come extremely slow. Look how long it takes us to figure out issues like marijuana legalization and Gay Marriage.... These issues, in my mind, have obvious solutions and are such trivial problems compared to the suffering we see in the world.

So then do we fight from outside the system? Is the internet the answer? True freedom seems to be emerging. SR is a start, Anon might be another yet do they convince the average citizen?

I guess what I want is for people to sit down and discuss what they want to see and how they will go about actualizing their plans.
The majority needs to be convinced that change needs to happen. They seem quite happy in being complacent as long as they have a TV, computer, etc.

I have spent some time wracking my brain on what to do. The only solution that I ever come to is education. Without it people don't even see the issues and they sure don't seem to have the tools to deal with these issues. The will needs to be there to educate oneself. How does one get that will? Perhaps it is through those with open eyes. Is it our job to slowly distribute the red pill to those who are ready?


I see the steps as this: Educate, Open the Mind, burn the money, ??? and finally, of course, profit ;P
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: raynardine on January 26, 2013, 09:21 am
Thank you for posting, it was an interesting read. I agree with the overall sentiment. Hopefully this post flows as well as yours.

Thank you for reading it and even responding! I wrote it on a whim, and didn't actually expect anyone to read through it. I appreciate it.

I see many people calling for change and movements around the world fighting for it. I always find myself asking what needs to change and how do we change it. People also need to ponder the consequences of the changes they wish to implement. It was very easy, for example, for Marx to write down that the Proletariat needs to overcome the Bourgeoisie. How exactly does that occur though, and what happens after? The government and the elite are the problem? Do we fight them from within the system or from outside of it? The system is biased and corrupt and any change would come extremely slow. Look how long it takes us to figure out issues like marijuana legalization and Gay Marriage.... These issues, in my mind, have obvious solutions and are such trivial problems compared to the suffering we see in the world.

Many good questions. Only some of those do I actually have decent answers for, honestly.

So then do we fight from outside the system? Is the internet the answer? True freedom seems to be emerging. SR is a start, Anon might be another yet do they convince the average citizen?

I feel that only a pure, safe, and absolutely open, frank, and honest forum, such as this, will provide the complete no-holds-barred discussion necessary to educate.

The schools are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

The schools are in truth an Orwellian machine to indoctrinate and to teach only one thing: That learning is suffering. Discovery is Drudgery.

What we need is a True Antischool.

What that means is a Free and Wild Self-Education Center in Onionland or something like it.

I am unsure Dread Pirate Roberts would be willing to host something like that, but if not, I'd be happy to host my own instance if SMF (SimpleMachines Forum is free and open source software, anyone can host it, if they were motivated enough to do so).

I have wanted to host something along the lines of Anarchy University for a long, long, long time. Since I was a very small child.

Such a project would be 100% Open Educational Materials, with a Free School model of teach and be taught.

Lesson plans would be based on Free and Open Source Software, over 100% anonymous channels of communication, using media that was 100% Open Culture, Open Access, licensed with Creative Commons or Open Game License, and similar.

The professors would all do basic lessons because they love what they teach, and accept payment via a tutoring system, in order to build laboratories research centers, and to fund research, they'd crowdsource anonymously over Tor. (Which means we need a crowdsourcing solution with Tor and Bitcoin, anyone interested in such a business opportunity?)

I'm confident people could spare some bitcoin for a good cause.

For example, I don't think anyone on Silk Road would begrudge sparing a few coins to fund the next Alexander Shulgin to invent even more powerful and profound psychedelics. I think highly of all of you.

It would mean our children could enjoy learning and discovery again, because the professors would enjoy professing, and teachers would be answerable to nobody.

We would use ratings and review systems, possibly a karma system, or similar means to eliminate excessive abuse, especially regarding real children, but I think such a pseudonymous education system is not only entirely possible, economically feasible, but vitally necessary for the future of our culture, our people, and our species.

I guess what I want is for people to sit down and discuss what they want to see and how they will go about actualizing their plans.
The majority needs to be convinced that change needs to happen. They seem quite happy in being complacent as long as they have a TV, computer, etc.

I think we have a slim, but fighting chance.

I have spent some time wracking my brain on what to do. The only solution that I ever come to is education.

I could not agree more.

Without it people don't even see the issues and they sure don't seem to have the tools to deal with these issues. The will needs to be there to educate oneself. How does one get that will? Perhaps it is through those with open eyes. Is it our job to slowly distribute the red pill to those who are ready?

I would argue that every human being is born with that will, and it is systematically beaten out of every child who suffers through the public education system.

I see the steps as this: Educate, Open the Mind, burn the money, ??? and finally, of course, profit ;P

I would burn every form of fiat currency, especially any controlled by the enemy elite.

Bitcoin and Gold I'd preserve, because that isn't money as most people think of it.
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: raynardine on January 26, 2013, 10:40 am
I would argue that the diametric opposite of the War on Drugs (pure unadulterated class/culture warfare based on unapologetic political propaganda) is not, exactly, Harm Reduction, but Anti-School and Open Educational Resources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-schooling_activism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources

The opposite of State propaganda is true education.
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: DeadRa7 on January 30, 2013, 05:27 am
The video link you posted was somewhat boring and mundane, however your post was enlightening and inspiring ray-thank you for sharing your thoughts and views, I find that mine are closely related, however you were able to put them into words that I would otherwise be unable to formulate.  +1 to you, sir.

Adding on to what you said, the main reason I distrust the government are just the horrible lies that have came out of Washington D.C. and other centers of power in the United States, particularly one's that were passed down onto the people by the Bush administration during his presidency of 2000-2008.  To be perfectly honest, the zeitgeist series of movies and my independent research conducted after I was enlightened by the information contained was shocking.  I am ready for a real change in society, although something very serious is going to have to happen for this to happen-hopefully it's not going to be too late when this happens.

So in the meantime, I try to do what I can to achieve a level of freedom from the bullshit laws that govern our beings-although this comes at a high price; constant paranoia of when the door is going to get kicked in, who may be tapping my telephone/internet service, and others of the sort.  I have taken very careful precautions to ensure that I am as safe as possible, however even when I decide to retire, that fear has and will always be there.  Being taken away from my loved ones and friends and destroying a possible future I have set out for myself to achieve are a lot to gamble on, however I feel that oppression is way worse. 

I am happy to say that I remain optimistic that people as a whole will finally wise up and stop being lemmings of our government system-I realize there has to be some sort of social control, but I feel that it could be done at a much more reduced rate than we currently use.

I digress, just some thoughts I had while smoking some of DarkExpresso's wonderful purp-thanks for listening (reading?)
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: raynardine on January 30, 2013, 06:04 am
The video link you posted was somewhat boring and mundane, however your post was enlightening and inspiring ray-thank you for sharing your thoughts and views, I find that mine are closely related, however you were able to put them into words that I would otherwise be unable to formulate.  +1 to you, sir.

I appreciate it!

Adding on to what you said, the main reason I distrust the government are just the horrible lies that have came out of Washington D.C. and other centers of power in the United States, particularly one's that were passed down onto the people by the Bush administration during his presidency of 2000-2008.  To be perfectly honest, the zeitgeist series of movies and my independent research conducted after I was enlightened by the information contained was shocking.  I am ready for a real change in society, although something very serious is going to have to happen for this to happen-hopefully it's not going to be too late when this happens.

Although the Zeitgeist movies were not factually correct about everything, they are very provocative for thought, and I can appreciate them if only for that.

Something does need to be done, and I especially liked the end of the third movie, where everyone, including a small girlchild, threw the useless worthless papermoney back into the bankers faces, and walked away, free men, women, and children.

So in the meantime, I try to do what I can to achieve a level of freedom from the bullshit laws that govern our beings-although this comes at a high price; constant paranoia of when the door is going to get kicked in, who may be tapping my telephone/internet service, and others of the sort.  I have taken very careful precautions to ensure that I am as safe as possible, however even when I decide to retire, that fear has and will always be there.  Being taken away from my loved ones and friends and destroying a possible future I have set out for myself to achieve are a lot to gamble on, however I feel that oppression is way worse.

I agree. Being free and miserable is way better off than a "contented" slave.

I am happy to say that I remain optimistic that people as a whole will finally wise up and stop being lemmings of our government system-I realize there has to be some sort of social control, but I feel that it could be done at a much more reduced rate than we currently use.

I never said that society or civilization was a bad thing, I just don't think we have any use for a bunch of Big Damn Heros with guns constantly extorting us for "taxes."

At least with a system of private cooperative defense agencies, elaborate direct democracy among coop members, and extremely minimal local municipal city-states (which are only states de facto, not officially), you can choose between hundreds of mini-states, so any that mistreat you quickly lose revenue, and they nearly always get caught do to competition between city-states, a vast and powerful information and decentralized citizen journalist network, etc.

I digress, just some thoughts I had while smoking some of DarkExpresso's wonderful purp-thanks for listening (reading?)

Thanks for responding!
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: murungu on January 30, 2013, 09:37 am
Code: [Select]
The net will change everything, and it will be over within a generation.
But may take a generation more to 'legislate' for that seismic shift in public perception.

Meanwhile, I ruminate on the possibility that a war might be waged with drugs. Whereby the enemy are incapacitated with massive doses of some euphoriant and the opponents just walk in before the mass-high wears off.

 ;D
Title: Re: The Costs of the War on Drugs
Post by: raynardine on January 31, 2013, 07:12 am
Meanwhile, I ruminate on the possibility that a war might be waged with drugs.

It would be hilarious to shoot enemy troops with tranq darts full of LSD and MDMA.