"WE ARE ALL HOSTAGES"
Meria Heller
http://www.Meria.net
9/6/04
The recent hostage situation in Russia touched a lot of hearts. Many people lost their lives including over one hundred and fifty children. The outpouring of sympathy and outrage worldwide is wonderful. However, they are not the only hostages being held against their will by madmen. Today, we are all hostages.
Take a little trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay and it is easy to see who the hostages are. They are inside cages and being tortured like animals. To look at the makeshift Guantanamo on the Hudson during the Republican National Convention, another 1700 citizens exercising their rights were held hostage. Palestinians are held hostage by a huge wall erected for nothing less than genocide. Israeli's are hostages in their heavily guarded cities. The people of Darfur are held hostage by maniacal forces intent on genocide. The list goes on and on worldwide.
However, this isn't what I had in mind when the thought "we are all hostages" came to me, prompting this article. I thought of all the ways we each are held hostage on a daily basis by everything surrounding us. We are currently hostages of FEAR. Fear is shoved at us twenty four hours a day, seven days a week by the "free" press. It's free speech and freedom of the press provided you own the press. How many people are afraid to venture forth in their daily lives because they are hostages of fear? How many won't travel because they are hostages of both fear and anti-American sentiment created by a government that now holds the entire world hostage?
We are hostages of political parties that claim to be separate, yet neither respects the plight of the average working American. As workers we are all held hostage by a corrupt corporate process which systematically weakened our resolve to enjoy our work and be proud of our work. Of course you could consider yourself either a corporate slave or a hostage, the choice is yours. With 45 million Americans without health care, Medicare premiums going up 17%, benefits going or gone, overtime pay gone as of August 23rd thanks to the elitist in power, wars without end, an impending draft, we are hostages of a system hell bent on destroying all of us.
We are hostages of "weapons of mass destruction". Nuclear disasters — deliberate or accidental; nuclear waste on the merry-go-round around the country; biochemical weapons developed in American laboratories; pharmaceutical company blackmail; poisons in our food, water and air.
Hostages that want to fly have to clear a no-fly list. Hostages that cannot freely congregate in the streets. Hostages that cannot wear a tee shirt or bumper sticker against the leading Hostage Taker called our President without fear of serious reprisal.
In two months all the hostages will have the forced choice to either vote for Elitist Skull & Bones, Secret society, secret agenda — George Bush or John Kerry. We will all be hostages of computers that will count the votes whichever way they are programmed or hacked. We will then become hostages of "eternal war" for dominion as Iran gets targeted by the enemies of life on Earth. Our children will become hostages in a country that never did anything to us, and once they arrive there, they will become further hostages long after their tour of duty is over.
Let's look at our daily lives and some of the things that hold us hostage:
1. Our system of education — history according to the latest liar or victor.
2. Our religious system — hostages to a violent God
3. Our tax system — hostages to an illegal entity called the I.R.S.
4. Our police state — hostages to the USA Patriot Acts 1 & 2
5. Our buying power — hostages to cheap products from hostage labor in foreign countries through "big box" stores
6. Our voting power — hostages to the one party system of hypocrisy which serves only the rich and corporate interests
7. Our energy use — hostages to Oil Company profiteers; energy profiteers with no hope for free energy or renewable energy.
8. Our safety — hostages to the hatred of millions due to our horrific foreign policy and Empire.
If we were to really sit down and take a few minutes to realize the controls that are part of our daily lives and everything we do, we'd realize that we are NOT free. We are hostages. Hostages of a world gone bad, systems that no longer function, and a dishonesty that goes beyond the pale from the top of government to the very food we eat. Freedom has become a word without meaning. We are not free. We are not free to buy American made products. They no longer exist. We are not free to protest or speak freely which used to be a right under the Bill of Rights and Constitution. We are not free to question the "State" without fear of reprisal. We are no longer free in our homes as the Patriot Act has stripped us of the right of privacy. We are not free to purchase food that is clearly labeled "non-GMO" or labels giving us the country of origin. We are not free to vote for a people's candidate, as only the rich can apply for the CEO of all CEO jobs — the U.S. Presidency. We are not free to say NO to war, or sending our children to kill other people's children. We are not free to question the price of gas or food. We are not free to demand a decent living wage. We are not free when 45 million of us cannot see a doctor. We are not free when our seniors eat cat food. We are not free while one single person or Veteran is homeless in the street. I'm sure with a bit of imagination, you could come up with hundreds of more instances that prove we are hostages.
We hear that the U.S. is bringing "freedom" and "democracy" to Afghanistan, Iraq and next Iran. That is not true. Those people are hostages. Hostages of our troops and hostages of puppet regimes we put in place to control them. Heck, our troops are hostages of the madman, Rumsfeld. The people are becoming hostages of American television, American journalism, American fat-foods, etc. Here in America we are hostages of Zionist threats, spies and controls. Hostages of the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, Federal Reserve and FTAA. We are hostages of warmongering neo-cons hell bent on their religious views and goal of Armageddon. Our Constitution is hostage to Ashcroft and the Supreme Injustices.
When you hear of a hostage situation anywhere in the world, remember that you too are a hostage. Whether it is a hostage of your own programming or beliefs, or all of the above, recognize it. Without recognizing it, you will stay a hostage. Freedom cannot exist anywhere unless it exists everywhere. It is time for the hostages of the world to unite and shake off the controllers who dictate our lives in subliminal and not so subliminal ways.
Recognize the power Corporations have over you, your life, your money and your government. Stop supporting them. Support locally owned stores, restaurants and banks. Stop supporting those who imprison you through their seductive television ads and magazines. Wake up. Break the chains that bind you. Don't follow blindly as people vote once more for "the lesser of two evils". Remember, its HE who counts the votes that counts. Demand true representation. Demand accountability and transparency from your government. Demand your rights as a worker in America, a senior or child in America. Our government is mowing over rights and benefits that have been in place for almost fifty years. As long as silence comes from the hostages, nothing will change. The hostages need to bend down, rip the chains off their ankles, take the gag out of their mouths and take back what is truly theirs and god-given — FREEDOM.
Meria Heller, Producer & Host of The Meria Heller Show, in it's fifth year on the net http://www.meria.net/ and WARL1320am, R.I., author of "The Awakening of An American, How My Country Broke My Heart".
"Meria is the best weapon of Mass instruction we have."
- Greg Palast
My book "Awakening of An American, How My Country Broke My Heart" is now available. Order your autographed copy by email today! Support Media that supports YOU! click here.
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"Terrorism is the war of the poor and war is the terrorism of the rich."
- Peter Ustinov
See also:
During School Siege, Russia Took Captives in Chechnya
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/090804F.shtml
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