In fact, when I first saw this graphic [see below] it was such a shock to my mind that I had to take a few minutes to reorient myself once again to reality as it is versus reality as it is projected on to us.
Here’s the graphic from the survey which asked Americans [both Democrat/Republican, Christian/Muslim, Atheist/Deist, Black/White, Male/Female, etc.] to rank how much they valued the following fundamental rights:
What shifted my paradigm was realizing that we, as Americans, are actually more in agreement than our media suggests we are.
We are not as divided as they want us to believe.
But, WHY do they want us to believe we are so divided? Why is it so important that we remain divided into our Left/Right, Progressive/Liberal, Blue/Red, Christian/Non-Christian, Black/White, Male/Female, boxes?
Because as long as we’re divided against each other, the less likely we are to realize who is pulling the strings and benefitting from our divisions.
Here’s another graphic that a friend shared with me over the weekend as we were discussing this very topic.
This is reality, my friends. The rich are richer than ever. The poor are more poor than ever, and their numbers are increasing.
That’s a mind-boggling disparity between the bottom 40 percent of American Households and the Top 1 percent, isn’t it?
Just take some time to really think about this before they distract you with outrage, or get you upset at “those other people” who did this, or said that, or believe something you don’t believe.
Look at it. I mean…really…LOOK at it. Now, think about what it means.
I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you’re not in the Top 1 percent bracket. You’re probably [like most of us] in the Bottom 40 percent. Just look at how tiny that little line is compared to the massive block on the right.
Is that fair?
Is that what reality should look like?
Is that what America is all about?
Is the American Dream only for a very tiny handful of Americans and the vast majority of us are left to fight over the scraps?
Apparently, so.
This is also why our politicians spend so much time solving problems that are mostly imaginary and saving us all from dangers that are completely benign.
For example, Tennessee passed a Bill protecting its citizens from the fictional evils of Chemtrails last week, and then passed a Bill outlawing Vaccine Lettuce [which also does not actually exist].
It’s why State Governors pass laws protecting citizens from the deadly threat of Drag Queen Story Time which has claimed the lives of exactly zero children, and harmed exactly no one while ignoring all the very real dangers of Gun Violence [the #1 killer of children in America], and doing nothing about America’s Mental Health Crisis, or the Homeless problem, or anything else that most Americans actually WANT their leaders to do something about.
Because, as my friend said to me over the weekend, if they actually solved all of those real problems, we might have enough time to realize that only one percent of Americans control more wealth than the entire “Middle Class” [which is quickly becoming a vanishing category].
The truth is, the American economy is inching closer and closer to that of a Third World Country where a tiny few people control the wealth and everyone else is at the bottom in poverty.
How many people do you know who work more than one job? Or more than two?
How many people do you know who buy their groceries on the credit card every week?
How many people do you know who are so deep in debt they’ve given up ever paying everything off?
Maybe that’s you.
Maybe that’s most of us.
So…don’t fall for the bullshit. We are not as divided as they say.
We have more in common than anyone wants you to believe.
But, there are a handful of people with most of the money and all of the political power who want desperately to keep us fighting one another.
They desperately need us to keep playing the Us/Them game.
They need us to keep focused on the White/Black, Gay/Straight, Republican/Democrat, Christian/Non-Christian, [fill in the blank], divisions.
Because as long as we’re raging against the machine we’ll never stop to focus on who built this machine.
This machine doesn’t work for us. It doesn’t work for you.
It exists to make a very few people extremely [and I do mean “extremely”] wealthy at your expense.
As of 2023, there were 735 Billionaires in the US. That may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that there are 333 Million people in America.
So, we vastly outnumber those with the Top 1 percent of the wealth.
Here’s a crazy idea…maybe they should pay more taxes than we do?
Maybe those on the bottom 40 percent shouldn’t be the ones bearing the lion’s share of the taxation burden in this nation?
Because the reality is that the extreme wealth of a few creates extreme suffering for the many.
People on both sides of the Us/Them game get eaten up by the machine.
Black, White, Yellow, Brown and Red people suffer from poverty.
Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Atheists are all the victims of the economic disparity.
Men and Women, Gay and Straight, Trans and Queer people are all chewed up and spit out by wealth inequity.
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Progressives and Conservatives alike know what it’s like to struggle to pay their bills.
Every single one of us knows the pain of economic warfare.
That’s why they want to keep us fighting one another over imaginary divisions: so we don’t stop and notice who’s really turning the screws on us.
But, I can hear some of you right now saying: “Keith, aren’t you still playing the “Us/Them” game by making the Top 1 Percent into another “Them” group that we can demonize and scapegoat? Seems like you’re falling into your own trap, dude.”
Hmmm…that’s a great point. Maybe I am still caught playing the Us/Them game. Those Billionaires all share in our Divine Unity. They are all one with the rest of humanity, right? So, what’s the big deal?
Well, maybe the big deal is that the handful of people in the Billionaire class have forgotten that shared Divinity and shared Humanity between us. They’ve allowed the love of money to cloud their vision and deceive their minds.
What if the answer is to try to show those ultra-wealthy One-Percenters the truth: that they are One with the rest of us, and that their extreme wealth is harming people who are the same as they are.
What if there was a way to open their eyes to the reality of how much their hoarding of money is hurting them when it hurts us?
What if they could feel what we feel? What if they could awaken to the truth of how their abundance creates extreme suffering for their own flesh and blood?
But, then again, maybe it’s easier to just keep playing their game.
Why rock the boat? Why fight the system?
They have all the wealth and all of the political power. What can we do about it?
Let’s get back to our Us/Them games.
At least we can distract ourselves while the machine chews us up and spits us out the other side.
We’ll always have Netflix and Diet Coke and McDonalds and, oh look, they’re building a new Buc-ee’s down the road!
Maybe that’s why everyone’s afraid of being “Woke.” It’s just too terrifying to open your eyes and see reality as it truly is.
Let’s just take the blue pill and go back to sleep again.
**
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and co-hosts the Apostates Anonymous podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
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