Tread Not The Path Of Least Restraint

while we're on the subject, i suppose im immediately anti-draft. yeah. im a draft age dude, hell, its my ass most likely. and no, im not going to go to some dry desert with camel spiders with teeth the size of forks just waiting to take a chunk out of me in order ot shoot up some guy in a truck who is probably out there for the same reason i would be: yeah, i dont know either. apparently bush and his hoodlums have, officially (accoridng to "two independant studies" that posted results on yahoo mail news headlines thingie), lied something like 987 times. i mean, they actually went thru and COUNTED every contradictory statement that was made, so who KNOWS why it started and i think im pretty far from actually caring at this point, so long as bullets are flying and shells and pinging and bodies are hitting the ground, it doesnt actually matter why, does it....

but that was a tangent.

tricky thing is that while its really easy for me to sit around an say im anti draft, its alot harder to be so self assured (and remember kids, this is ususally a sign you don't know shit about shit) when im sititng here thinking that such a draft would probably end the whole damn war pretty much ASAP. and i actually want that.

so theres a whole lotta crap and blah and yadda that should be inserted between these two paragraphs, but i dont think anyone enjoys reading a political argument excpet maybe my previous history teacher and my dad. so im just gonna leave it out, but somewhere in there, the argument leads to a pretty unsettling and maybe unfittingly pessimistic end. and thats where ill start.

so back in the 60s it was so damn easy to stand for something. just burn the draft card, be in a march or something, there were political outlets at every friggin street corner, and the bonus was that they actually DID something (for proof, see: end of the vietnam war). and thats greatly opposed to now, when we all actually feel like idiots standing for what we stand for becuase nothing you do will ever make one slightest bit of difference ever. its just the way machine works. remove power from the public = the goverment can do whatever the hell it wants. welcome to USA 2008. if youre not from here, i reccommend you go back to wherver you came from.

ok, so our hands are not getting cut off for dessenting, but what good does dessenting actually do? even now, when im 21, and even when im 41, it had and always will be just like high school, where the poeple who had a point just got laughed at and ridiculed until they shut their mouths. thing is, those high school kids who ridiculed almost had a point, becuase seriously....if you actually do stand for something, you might as well just give it up becuase it wont make the slightest bit of difference. thats probably how someone wanted it. you can write a letter to your congressman....

i guess if take dissention power from a public, they first protest, then realize the futility of protesting, and then shut the hell up. and i bet if you waited long enough, the tables would actually turn. people would find it easier to just give in and go with the path of least resistance. clever, if you want to stay in power. sneaky too, becuase you can make it look like a democracy at the same time: hold elections, have marches, have board meetings or whatever. but none of it will ever make the slightest difference. money will pass hands, and secrets will be whispered and enough mud will be slung to cover up any honesty involved in the situation. someone will always have their way.

so this is where its frustrating. becuase i can stand here and be anti war to the bone. i can scream and rant and shout and put up flyers, but ya know what? it doesnt actually do anything. it doesnt, becuase theres nothing i can do. the power of dissention has been removed from my hands. and this is serious trouble, i mean you can sit there and say your pro war, anti war, whatever, and nothing matters. its so damn hard to actualy stand for anything, not just war, but ANYTHING in this country, that its actually easier and more practical to be apathetic. to just not give a damn. and when no one cares, the powers that be can do whatever the hell they want.
i kinda think someone wanted it to be that way.

its actually getting to the point where it really is stupid to stand for anything. it really is getting to that point. and then what happens?

so while im immidiatly anti draft, theres no way for me to actually BE anti draft. theres no way to actually BE anything other than apathetic, and ot really just not have an opinion at all. to pretend the idea of draft never even exists. the list of things i can stand for is all superficial crap. i can sti here and say im anti this or pro that till im blue in the face but i wont actually be anything other than words, and anyone who knows me knows i hate talk more than anything. *shrug*. and theres not a thing i can do about it. atleast i can stand for being sober. if theres one thing i can stand for at all, its that. maybe thats the reason i do it.

or hey, how about the civil rights movement? yes we all know thar racism i alive and well, and but i mean the martin luther king days, when, again, people stood for their shit. thats what was cool about MLK, i mean, i dont think he actually convinced anyone of anything. i think he just made people stand for what they believe in, and actually DO something about it. i mean, even the poeple who were against equal rights were up in arms, so thats where i base my theroy from. its like he set the country on fire, everyone. he forced everyone to believe in something and to fight for something, regardless of that that was. THAT is what our contry needs.

becuase weve got like 300 million people lying around this country, and each one of them beefs it out with someone else over their beliefs. so youve got 150 million battles being fought, and with numbers like that, they just hold each other in check. a win and cancelled by a loss. but get someone like MLK on the scene, and everyone bonds together. and suddenly youve got all the people on sides, and theres only one battle being fought, and when that is over, there will be only one result. thats what we need.

whatever. apathy is really easy....

but in the words of dark traquility, "Tread not the path of least restraint"