Milking Blood

“Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action.” -- Malcoolm X


I have six LPs of Malcolm X 's speeches, that came out in Detroit. But I do not have a turntable now. Some of the speeches are covered in books, or on old films on youtube. Others are not, including one that went into detail about how what one processes information influences one's behaviors. So I'm going from memory, many years later, and late on a windy night.

Malcolm noted that if someone is attempting to steal something of value from you, by human nature you will fight. He used the example of if someone came up with a pair of pliers, trying to yank your teeth out, you would fight. It is only when a dentist injects novocaine that you will sit quietly while he pulls out your teeth.

He said that too many people were unaware that a non-dentist was pulling their teeth out. As Malcolm could do so well to illustrate a point, he said they were sitting around smiling, while blood was dripping down their chins. Since we can be confident that Mr. X was not suggesting that those seeking to steal their rights from them had literally been dosed with novocaine, I'll suggest that he was speaking of social novocaine.

In the context of today, I will suggest that there are not only types of social nonocaine that numb feelings, but others that inject fear and anger, as well as others that vause hopelessness and helplessness. Let's consider each of these types.

The legal drug alcohol can be used responsibly, but it is often abused. One reason people abuse alcohol is to numb themselves to avoid the often unpleasant aspects of life. It is likely that we all know someone who does this, and possible that we have done so at some stage of our life.

We also have seen a rise in the abuse of meth. This creates changes in philosophy, thought patterns, attitudes, and behaviors in individuals. Even in my tiny home town, which I drive through every so often, each night a group of homeless people hooked on meth come out. They search the dumpsters behind businesses, and some break into houses to steal. I am not unsympathetic to the situations they are in. I talk with some of them. They have no teeth to steal.

There is also a significant amount of "pain-killers" being abused in American society. These include oxycodone, oxycontin, fentanyl, and heroin. Neal Young's song "The Needle and the Damage Done" sounds differently to me today, than when he first released it. I was tempted to tell of some examples involving family members and friends when I started this paragraph, but they are too raw.

Those that sell alcohol, meth, or various pain-killers do so for profits. Purdue and the Sackler family were not concerned with how people were harmed. Those bringing in fentanyl and heroin are not doing so to enrich America, only to enrich themselves while damaging citizens of our country. For this is their nature, and the essence of their making money off of peddling social novocaine.

This brings us to the production and distribution of the social novocaine that social scientists refer to as "the media." Lengthy exposure to Fox News and the like has created changes in the philosophy, thought patterns, attitudes, and behaviors of iys audience. It does not kill their pain, of course. It injects fears, which festers into hate, and is the sibling of the defendant's calls for his followers to be violent. Indeed, the defendant is not the only one seeking to collect money by peddling social novocaine.

We need to pay attention to the fact that other media sources target Democrats and other human beings. They intend to keep you glued to your television, computer, and/or cell phone for as many hours per day as possible. It might be something as exciting as "Breaking News" that reports that President Biden is old, or any of an array of things of similar value. One of the most poison is the "new" poll that suggests the defendant is likely to be elected for a second term in November. This to to put the shadow of hopeless and helpless in your mind, to create a sit-down inaction on your part.

Healthy people consume some media, exactly as responsible drinkers consume safe amounts of alcohol. They stay informed, but know that overdosing on the media's social novocaine is self-defeating. That it leads to thinking the sky is falling because the media isn't "fair," or some poll scares them. Instead, they do things like going for a walk to clear their minds. Maybe a walk in nature. Or a walk to the nearest Democratic Party headquarters.