GIVE US BARABBAS, GIVE US BARABBAS, GIVE US BARABBAS

Last edited Thu Jun 7, 2012, 09:38 AM - Edit history (2)

When evil wins the vote in America, such as, but not limited to, Scott Walkers victory in Wisconsin, or the United States Supreme Court giving George Bush the White House, and let's not forget Citizens United, it’s a dark day for the human race, and I am reminded of an ancient story.

Whether it is a story of fact or fiction doesn’t really matter, because there is within it, a metaphor that I believe has a lot to do with a part of psychology that is as true today, as it was when the story was first written.

I did a little editing and changed a certain name in the story, as a matter of interpretation, but I’m sure people who have read it before will recognize it, and I’m hoping it will give the open-minded reader a little something to think about, before accusing me of some kind of heresy or being crazy.

The mind of the masses can be poisoned in such a way, that they will unknowingly empower evils that will invariably turn their lives into a living hell; and the people through out history, have never failed to fall into the trap!

Two thousand years ago, there was a liberal man whose character could be called the perfect example of Conscience, and because I believe this story is more about Conscience than it is about any man in particular, I will speak of Conscience as if it were a man named “Conscience”.

GIVE US BARBAROUS
Two thousand years ago Conscience was charged with the heinous crime of being too compassionate towards everyone he met, and he was always talking about how important it was for people to listen to their own conscience, and to be kind and compassionate towards one another. And it was said that he fed the hungry, healed the sick, made blind people see, and some claim that he even raised the dead.

Now that sounds like some really cool stuff, and yes some people believe it really happened, and some don’t. Regardless of what people may or may not believe, there is without a doubt, people who believe that Conscience was guilty of doing so many good deeds that it made the administrators of morality look like bloodthirsty pompous greedy thugs and hypocrites dressed up in fancy suits and golden chains. More specifically, their religious and moral values made the devil look like a saint. In today’s world, I guess we would call this particular brand of moral practitioner words like; republicans, conservatives, right-wingers, religious fundamentalist, or just plane assholes. The fact is that not much has changed in two thousand years, and the assholes of today hate Conscience just as much as their ancient ancestors did!

Anyhow, back to the story... It seems as though the so-called moral leaders, for some reason, feared Conscience, maybe it was because the people were starting to believe and follow their own conscience, and not the asshole so called moral leaders. So for the sake of their own survival and lust for power, the moral leaders demanded that the Governor of the region arrest and execute Conscience before his following got to big. At which time the people would all most likely turn into liberals and start demanding socialist things like human rights, collective bargaining, entitlements, and yes, free pornography.

So the governor did as the moral leaders asked, and arrested Conscience. And after talking it over with some of his friends, he decided that Conscience did nothing wrong and should be set free. Of course, this pissed off the moral leader’s big time, so much so that they demanded that Conscience be executed or they were going to have a big tea party and take over the government, at which time they would put in a governor that would do away with Conscience once and for all. Now go figure, it sounds as if the ancient assholes of the past, knew as much about democracy as do the modern day contemporary assholes of today.

Anyhow, the governor, wanting to avoid an uprising of the people, also did not want to execute an innocent man, so he decided to let the people decide the fate of Conscience.
And being somewhat of just and honest man himself, he wanted Conscience to be set free. So he devised a plan!

It seems that the governor also had in his custody, a soon to be executed prisoner named Barabbas. This Barabbas just happened to be an infamous psychopath, but most people just knew him as a bloodthirsty serial killer who was guilty of murdering and destroying the lives of many innocent people; i.e. family, friends, neighbors, dogs, you name it, he killed it. So it’s obvious that no one in his or her right mind would ever question the execution of such a depraved monster, and the idea of setting him free would be an insanely horrendous act in itself.

So the plan the governor came up with was in accordance with some religious holiday or tradition, at which time a condemned prisoner is supposed to be set free. And the plan was simply to let the people choose who would be set free, Conscience or the blood-crazed Barabbas, who is actually the antitheses and hatred of Conscience. Knowing this, I think it’s easy to say that psychopaths like Barabbas deserve to be called what they really are, and that would be “The Anti-Conscience”.

Believing that everything would work out for the best, the governor gave the people a chance to choose between the innocent and guilty, the right and wrong, the good and the evil, Conscience and Anti-Conscience. And the governor proclaimed that if the people made the wrong choice, it would be the people’s doings, and not his, and he would be absolved of any guilt or wrongdoing.

And when the day came for the people to choose, the skillful prodding and lies of right wing religious assholes had paid off; they had poisoned the minds of the people. And like a roaring lynch mob they all yelled in unison, “GIVE US BARABBAS, GIVE US BARABBAS, GIVE US BARABBAS, and that was the day evil prevailed, and a liberal named conscience was executed.

Now the moral / metaphor of the story is this… Every time the people are given a choice between someone who has a conscience, and someone who is anti-conscience. And their minds have been poisoned to the point evil wins, history is repeating itself, and the little thing that the people never learn, is that Barabbas is not one, he is many, and he has many names, and he does not only wants to be the governor, he wants to be the king of the world.