The most insidious tool in the hands of the mental slave-master is not control or ownership of public media, but knowledge of human behavioral science, without which the tedium of controlling the narrative output of information streams would be a hit or miss probability. The key is to pre-program the mind to accept or refuse select types of information – to create information taboos and prejudices that force individuals themselves to make the editorial choices that promote the slave master’s interest. Self determination is usurped through purchase of sovereign will, which once attained, includes intellect (always a prisoner of will) as an additional bonus. To purchase will, fear is most effective, and the currency of preference, though promise can be equally acceptable.
The unbroken will still possesses authority of narrative; the unbought mind is naturally open and curious. The curiosity test (how the mind instinctively responds to new information…and what attitudes are generated by data conflict) is the surest give away of a mental slave, regardless of the degree of intellectual development; and indeed, as once divulged to me by a particularly obnoxious Englishman ‘under his waters’ – educating slaves is proving a far more enlightened strategy than keeping them illiterate.
Religious masters trading in fear and political masters dealing in promise is certainly preferable to the other way round, so generally speaking, Black servitude has improved with the passage of time, and with the more enlightened approach just mentioned allowing for slaves with status and salaries; the question is understandably asked, ‘What more is there to strive for?’ by those for whom full freedom seems more threat than promise, or at least an unwelcome additional burden – (Now I have to think for myself too?)
I’m drawn by religious and political leaders wise enough to remain contextually current but unbeholden to the other ‘powers that be’ (besides themselves). Controversy cannot always be avoided, neither is there necessarily any shame upon those who don’t. Progress is sometimes purchased by the most polarizing of figures. The middle ground can sometimes be cowards’ refuge.
Emancipation Day, Aug 1 has become for us at Caribbean Christian Leadership Network focal point for conversation on the contours of mental emancipation and the dismantling of the colonial legacy that would align us with the worldview of previously mentioned inebriated English imp.
Pulpit and podium are amenable both to spellbinding and spell-breaking, but all too often, (except when backs are pressed to the wall by some Nebuchadnezerian edict to bow down when you hear the music) justice and truth leak from these reservoirs rather than roll down like a mighty stream. We seek to build a come-let’s-reason-together community. Join us, will you?
You can use the time to catch up with the conversation thus far.
Aug 1, 2019
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YeKengalé 