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A Brave New Reality: Changing the Bird Cages of the World PDF Print E-mail
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by Robert Lobitz   
13 December 2011
There are a lot of changes taking place in the world today that are making those who are comfortable with the way things work uncomfortable. The argument you sometimes hear is that when things get disrupted you don't know how things will turn out -- an excuse to keep the status quo.

Among my pursuits and businesses are the caring of birds as protected pets, including via bird cages. It has got me to thinking about humanity and the mind in a fashion that others may never arrive at.

The philosopher Socrates once compared the mind to bird cages. He pondered that perhaps knowledge is like a bird, moving about within the cage and some times when you try and catch it, you end up grabbing the wrong one. When looking at the ideas that we are confronted with everyday it is easy to become complacent in our belief and understanding of how the world works. However, as the brilliant author and historian James Burke points out in his television series The Day the Universe Changed, we are constantly evolving as a society to new understandings and without doing so we will be left behind. This is true whether looking at the sciences, media, government, or even entertainment.

The problem is we often will hold on to the way we do things because it is something we are familiar with and trust. Even though this seems to be a part of human nature, we are beginning to see people crossing all cultures who seem to be willing to accept new information. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, "May you live in interesting times." This is a wish cast upon someone that can be a double-edged sword, and to this point we can see that this truly applies to the world we live in today. We certainly do live in interesting times, to say the least, and right now you are seeing the world groaning with growing pains as we try to adjust to a different version of society.

As we are evolving through these changes we are seeing major shifts as a result of the capabilities made possible with the use of the internet, and the United States seems to be the seed bed for what is taking place around the rest of the world. Technological advancements have made it so we now have the smallest world in history, making it possible to not just communicate in ways that were unimaginable just even a short decade ago, but also instantaneously.

Consider for a moment the Middle East. There are countries and cultures who have been trapped under the power of authoritarian governments for generations. In order for the United States military to address just one of these concerns it took as much as $1 trillion dollars, 4,485 U.S. military casualties, 32,219 U.S. wounded, and over 10 years to overthrow the Iraqi government and help them establish a new "democracy." This was the old way of doing things.

Now consider what is happening around the Middle East using new social media technology and protests. After the Egyptian people had spent 30 years under the oppression of president Hosni Mubarak it took the use of a free U.S. based web service and only 9 months, from the beginning of the uprising until the scheduling of the first parliamentary election voting, for the Egyptian people to remove a tyrant from power and establish a new order.

History is full of examples where society changes in a new and unexpected way, and it sends shockwaves through out the world causing us to adjust our thinking. Burke points out that someone had once mentioned to the philosopher Wittgenstein that the contemporaries during the time of Copernicus must have been really stupid for looking at the sky and thinking that the sun was rotating around the earth. Wittgenstein is believed to have told the observer that this may be true, but he then returned by asking what the sun would have looked like if it had been rotating around the earth? Burke points out that the point of this was that it wouldn't have looked any different, regardless of how the planets were rotating around each other. The change that has occurred is our understanding of how it all worked.

The world is having to adjust to a new technological state, and as we do so we have to also be willing to look at both new and old information in new ways. The establishments that we once knew, media, government, entertainment, and even spiritual beliefs, are all subject to these changes, and only those who are willing to change and evolve into a new understanding will be able to survive. If it means that we must look at how we understand economics, voting, government secrets, who we conduct business with, or offer entertainment, we will have to do so if we want these areas to succeed or be reformed. The revolution came, so it is time to focus on our evolution and clean out the mental bird cages that are our minds. It doesn't matter if we are a part of the 1% or the 99%, for the world is at our fingertips and it is up to us to use the power available to us to do the remarkable. There are no longer limits to what we thought was possible.

* * * * *

Robert Lobitz lives in Southern California.

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Wonderful writing. However, it did not deliver what was promised. The solution is not dancing in the streets and playing instruments (which I already do on occasion ;-) No, the reality is "we" (whatever that is) must alter public opinion on a massive scale. To me, most "environmentalists" set out with the best of intentions but wind up actually accomplishing little. Clean a beach or stream here or there, mount a comparatively-lame campaign to do some worthwhile project -- while the world crumbles under the weight of too many people. I'm 70 and the population of the US has more than doubled in my lifetime from 138,397,345 to 312,838,000 making the US the third most populous country in the world -- which has already crashed through 6,987,256,153 (January 2012). And the entire world is becoming a consumer-based society based on us; the US. So start here folks. Quit having so many kids and buy less useless stuff. If you really want to make a difference, join an organization that has a record of suing large rapacious corporations into submission. Give 'em Hell! I know from whence I speak.
scott foster
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Why does the author keep linking to a crappy bird cage site? One can only guess.
jpm1680
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Mark Twain once said only politicians and people with tapeworms should use the word "we." Um, suppose we put a mirror in a bird cage. Some birds would likely strike at their own image; but our reality is all done with mirrors and it gets more like malice in wonderland, every 24 hours. (in memory of those who never see actual sunlight and couldn't be expected to "have a nice DAY. see also the Midwestern US apocalypse underground survivor's village under construction with survivor spaces available for a mere $25,000, but going fast. Look for folks with a fast internet connection and aluminum foil on the windows.) I admit I love bicycle lanes paved, but the road to hell is paved.
James Doherty
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Scott Foster's post above says it all. The "greenest" thing we can do is NOT have children. I'm in my 60's and when I was born, the global population was 2.5 billion thanks to mandated pregnancy. Now it's past 7 billion. More consumers are needed to fuel the global economy to further enrich th 1% and so women's uteruses must be kept in maximum industrialized production thanks to anti choice religious and government mandates.

So women must TAKE back control of their child bearing by learning and teaching MENSTRUAL EXTRACTION which avoids dealing with a religious and political arena controlled by the capitalist patriarchy.



Please share this with at least 3 women and it will go viral!
Menstrual extraction (ME) is a process by which menstrual blood is removed from the uterus using an airtight, hand-operated suction device to eliminate inconveniently-timed periods (in cases of going camping, athletic events, etc.
It can also be used for low-risk early abortions (up to 7 weeks) without anesthetics and a greatly decreased risk of infection. It removes the fertilized egg soon after the first missed period.
ME is often an outpatient procedure, sometimes performed at home by a trained medical professional. Most patients said it’s far more comfortable and less painful than standard abortion procedure.

The most common device used is called a Del-Em. The cannula is inserted into the uterus through the undilated cervix. A syringe, with a one-way bypass valve prevents air from entering the uterus, which can be fatal. It creates the suction necessary to evacuate the interior of the uterus. The material collects in an airtight glass jar.

In a very few cases, a second extraction process must be performed if the abortion was not completed the first time. The procedure should be performed by a trained medical professional. However, with proper training, women who aren’t medical professionals can also be taught to safely perform ME in self-help groups. ME should never be attempted alone. Materials used to construct a Del-Em device are easily obtainable through a laboratory or chemistry scientific catalogue or are common items (a jar, aquarium tubing, etc)

Resources
www.sisterzeus.com Sister Zeus’ site is a HUGE resource for women’s reproductive rights and health issues. To find a self-help group of women trained to safely do ME, Sister Zeus suggests checking with midwives, feminist health centers, fertility counselors and local feminists. Finding a self-help group is difficult since ME is barely legal since ME can be used when not pregnant. Groups may be found by word of mouth
Sister Zeus will help you find women in your area to start a self-help group and learn safe ME. http://www.sisterzeus.com/StateList.html
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it All information kept confidential.

•A woman’s Book of Choices, Abortion, Menstrual Extraction RU-486 by Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. “There is power in these pages, more power than any law can give us,” said Barbara Ehrenreich. It includes a list of books about abortion herbs (Misuse of herbs can be dangerous so always consult a sympathetic midwife-herbalist), how to safely perform ME, (safe up to 7 weeks into pregnancy) and how to make a Del-Em device from cheap common items.

IMPORTANT NOTE! There are three mistakes (on pages 116, 142 and 241) that say “TWO way bypass valve” As can be seen on the diagram on p 143, it’s a ONE way bypass valve)!

•A New View of a Woman’s Body by the Federation of Feminist Women’s health Centers. It’s difficult to find but full of high-quality information to help you understand your body. Contains information Sister Zeus found nowhere else. •A Difficult Decision-A compassionate Book About Abortion by Joy Gardener

• Planned Parenthood Ph: 1-800-230-PLAN www.plannedparenthood.org
Birth control can stabilize the human population on our overburdened planet and help save Nature from being overrun by humanity.• The population increased more since 1950 than during the previous four million years. Decreasing food supplies indicate Earth’s ability to feed humanity began diminishing in 1994. (WorldWatch Institute). • Ninety million babies are born each year. The UN Population Foundation found that 80 million births are either ill timed or unintended.
Utopia Bold
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