Independence

How do you fight the same battle... over and over...? 

new place... same battle; new time... same battle;

how do you overcome the same opponents...? 

every place... it's the same opponents; every time... it's the same opponents;

how do you prevail... with the same people... on your side and against...?

there and then... the same people; here and now... the same people;

...when every war is the war to end all wars?

Independence

Why do you believe your side is telling the truth... and the side that opposes you is lying? Is it really because your side professes the same values as you? Is it really because your side affirms the same beliefs as you?

Is it really because you are commanded to obey divine laws that govern all lives that ever were, all lives that ever are, all lives that ever will be?

Is it really because you are loyal to a people?

Is it really... honorable? ...or noble? to trust your side... and to mistrust the side that is not yours? Is it really... moral? ...or right? to obey... a divinity? ...or its followers who are human? ...or its extremists who justify their harms and their cruelties... as swords in the hands of divine will?

Or is this a smokescreen? A clever thing. A cute thing. A warm sugary blanket. That covers the truth?

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There is a deceit...

in saying "it is really so"

and

there is a dishonesty... 

in listening to "it is really so" and not hearing the lie pretending to be real. 

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Do I in fact disbelieve... that shared values and beliefs, unify? that mandates are the backbone of religious observation and practice? that to be a member of a people, to belong, inspires patriotic fidelity? that morality alone divides unjust acts from righteous ones?

Yes. 

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Because saying a thing, doesn't make a thing so;

and saying a lie, doesn't make a lie real;

and to listen to a thing being said and hear it made so;

and to listen to a lie being said and hear it made real;

is:

neither being just

nor being fair 

nor being kind 

nor being generous.

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Yet here we are.

Saying shared values and beliefs, unify. Saying mandates are the backbone of religious observation and practice. Saying being a member of a people, belonging, inspires patriotic fidelity. Saying morality alone divides unjust acts from righteous ones.

Because

why not? 

vibes trump proof anyway; 

the appearance of unity; the affectation of piety; the presumption of loyalty; the plausibility of legitimacy; matters!

...not reality.

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Indeed here we are. 

Listening to deceivers and their deceits and hearing their simulated unity; their false piety; their illusory loyalty; their veneered legitimacy; not as smokescreens for wrongdoers and their wrongdoing! 

And

why not? 

vibes trump proof anyway;

and a warm sugary blanket that covers the truth is really... real;

...right?

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How do you know what is really happening... is existential? ...a threat to your way of life and all that matters you? ...a peril that demands a maximal war?

How do you know a lie pretending to be real is... really as real as reality?

How do you know... your enemy?

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Tyrants and their tyrannies, despots and their despotism, exploiters and their exploitation know what is really happening... is not existential; ...not a threat to your way of life and all that matters to you; ...not a peril that demands a maximal war.

Tyrants and their tyrannies, despots and their despotism, exploiters and their exploitation know a lie pretending to be real is... not as real as reality.

Tyrants and their tyrannies, despots and their despotism, exploiters and their exploitation know... their enemy; for lies and liars know... their enemy

is not you who believe the side that opposes you is lying; not you who are commanded to obey divine laws; not you who are loyal and honorable and moral; not you who deceitfully say "this is really so";

nor you who are dishonestly just and fair and kind and generous and listen to lies and liars and hear not smokescreens and clever things and cute things and warm sugary blankets that cover the truth.

If... their enemy is your enemy

who and what are you really fighting for?

More or

Like Hell's a Paradise

Tyrants and their tyrannies, despots and their despotism, exploiters and their exploitation are swallowing the world whole...

while all of us under their sharpies and their gavels are compulsively over-sharing on platforms and gossiping about strangers with our neighbors and numbly swallowing deliriously grim content from newsfluencers...

as if torpidity is natural;

as if not caring one whit is a fine way to live;

as if refusing a moral duty to rise against the theft of our power to oppose tyranny and despotism and exploitation is smart;

as if it is a waste to reason, to witness, to defy abuses of power... but it is a profound comfort! to revel in witless nonsense and it is a joyous pleasure! to indulge in self-serving socialization and it is a sacrosanct privilege! to be as cruel and as harmful as tyrants and their tyrannies, despots and their despotism, exploiters and their exploitation...

for God willing:

as their wrongdoers and wrongdoing are ours... 

so shall their ill gains be! 

M

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Further Reading

You and I and the Truth (May 23, 2025, tvfs)

M