Mind control has always been an interesting topic, particularly of science fiction and insane evil doctors who want to rule the world. World domination and control. All derived from insecurity matched with power.
It’s the stuff of slave-making, of course, because the final bastion of human individuality—that last point of human self-defense—is held within our minds. What we think and believe is who we are as human beings.
Before we concede our minds to the media-crazed NFL mashup, let us re-examine the human nature of “protest” to catch ourselves from descending into a state of group confusion—confusion being one step away from rational wisdom and one step closer to foolish delusion. [1]
- A man’s body can be commanded, but not his heart or mind. I can make my daughters to sit quietly at the dinner table, but I cannot make them respect me. A king can make a man kneel, but cannot make the man revere him. The government can conscript the soldier to kill the enemy, but it cannot make the soldier love to kill. [2]
- In a related article, Why I Never Promised to Love My Wife, [*2], we examined the essence of love, admiration, respect and similar attributes that are gifts, which, by their very nature, must be volunteered and cannot be commanded. Only a fool tries to legislate love, such as it is said, “A king who makes rules he cannot enforce is a fool.” Or, as Epictetus said in the Enchiridion: “Of things, some are in our power, and others not. Remember, then, if you mistake the things which are in the power of others to be in your power, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will blame both gods and men.” [3, 4] The same concept is neatly stated in the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” [5]
- A country cannot legislate love, a parent cannot legislate love, and the NFL cannot legislate love. No one can legislate love. And, to try to legislate love, so says the wise Epictetus, will cause hinderances, lamentations, and disturbances. [*3] Worse yet, poor hapless fools will not even know why this disharmony and mean state of existence has occurred.
- There is nothing worse than a fool, except perhaps a group of fools. Each fool pulling the other downhill until they are all in a ditch, dirty, and in a mean state of existence.
- Thoughts and beliefs cannot be commanded. Actions can be commanded, provided that there is power. Thoughts and actions can be adduced by persuasion, in one form or another, which is, in part, the result of effective leadership. [6, 7]
- When power commands action from a person that is contrary to that person’s belief system, that misalignment will cause the person to become frustrated. That frustration will grow into begrudgement. That begrudgement will grow into anger. And that anger will grow into hate. The point at which frustration, begrudgement, anger, or hate, as the case may be, will manifest is simply a matter of a person’s character, constitution and the circumstantial context. But, sooner or later, it will manifest. [8] As Dale Carnegie famously said, “A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.“
- The manifestation of frustration, begrudgement, anger, or hate if it is so, takes many forms. Revolutions, and to a lesser extent, protests. Frustrated protests are seeds of revolution.
- Protests are part of the American culture. It is part of our controlled release of frustration. It is supposed to be the usage of frustration as cause for the greater good, before it grows into begrudgement, anger and hate. Peaceful protests should be welcomed like the pressure release of a pressure cooker. And, the person who peacefully and respectfully protests is like a blessing from God. To effect change in a peaceful way. A respectful protest is not to be disdained, it is to be worshiped.
- The status quo tends to disdain a protest, which is because it is judged in the moment, as we saw in a related article. [9] If you don’t believe me, just ask some of the now-revered agents of protest, Socrates, Jesus of Nazareth, Abraham Lincoln, Mahtama Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others throughout time. Social despise and death for them all in their own time.
- If any country, since the beginning of time, stood for the proposition to endure the right of peaceful protest, it is the United States of America. [10] We Americans are supposed to welcome the challenge, because we are not insecure. Sticks and stones. Our system is strong, and, if we can’t take the hit, no one can. Moreover, we welcome the challenge because we are not fools.
The NFL players are paid for athletic ability in a game. No one (probably) wishes to watch a team of old philosophers play American football. We ask athletes for their skill. Football players play football, and are paid a lot of money to play football, because that is what we have voted for with our commercial dollars. The virtue of a football player is to play football; that is why he is there. Beautiful, if not poetic, athletic skill.
We cannot force football players to love, respect or admire the United States of America, the Flag, the National Anthem, their coach, their teammates, or anything else for that matter. If they want to protest, then they will protest. The protest will grow or it will fade, in due course.
Take the knee if that’s your position, because, when you stand for America, it’s voluntary, and it means something, as your voluntary gift.
No gift is beautiful when forced, but only in its free presentation.
It is a strange vision, if we should see it clearly. Other countries force standing and honorifics, and it’s all a superficial show without substance; it’s a hypocrisy of a clean cup only on the outside. [12]
Stand for America if you mean it, otherwise, please take a knee, please take a knee. I can stand and you and kneel, each of us respecting a contrary opinion.
Sure, by application of power, the NFL can make the players stand with their hands over their hearts. Such as it is for labor law, also called “the law of master-servant,” the NFL, such as a master, can force and shackle the acts, but it simply cannot force minds. It is incompetent to do so.
But, let us be wise and practical, and let us think ahead to play the game out, that, fully played, the NFL cannot win.
If the NFL forces the players put their hands over their hearts and to sing the National Anthem, the players will simply just cross their fingers in protest. Do you see it?
The news media craze will then simply devolve into a debate over whose fingers were really broken or crossed in protest. So say the announcers:
“Did you see that, Chris? Did you? His finger seemed to cross over the other during the Anthem in protest.” “I don’t know, Joe, I think his finger was injured in Week 3, which is causing it to go askew. Let’s call in our finger expert for a ruling on this issue. …”
And, the confusion of trying to control the uncontrollable feeds on itself, as we have recently seen, causing even more hinderances, lamentations, and disturbances, now with people arguing over the argument. Talk about taking your eye off the ball.
Indeed, even if not a protest by crossed fingers, then closed eyes, or looking down, or scratching something here or there; there is simply no way ultimately to enforce the rule in essence or to prove an infraction. Shall the NFL regulate, gather evidence, and enforce the anti-protest rule in the form of no permitted scratching from claimed jock-itch?
We know that frustration, begrudgement, anger and hate will manifest, sooner or later, one way or the other, with some manifestations more overt than others. But, it is much more than the NFL, it is a principle of human nature manifesting, one way or another, trying to control conscience within a free-thinking society.
If someone does not enjoy a stay at a Trump hotel, did President Trump say, “Stay somewhere else!“? No. “Listen to the customer. Let’s improve, let’s get it right, and let’s earn their love and patronage.” One dissatisfied patron turns to two, and two to four. And we know what happens when we fail to listen to our patrons.
Love of country. Free and voluntary love. That is the goal, and it takes preparation, effort and execution. Earn the players off of their knees. Touchdown.
[1] I Am Not Brainwashed, And Neither Are You. Maybe. But I Might be Wrong. [#GRZ_165]
[2] I Never Promised to Love My Wife, or All About Oaths [#GRZ_39]
[3] Epictetus. On the Tranquil Flow of Life. – Abridgment Series [#GRZ_17]
[4] Seneca. On the Misfortune of Good Men. Abridgment Series [#GRZ_18]
[9] Going It Alone – Business of Aesop™ No. 21. – Two Travelers and the Purse [#GRZ_25]
[11] “Do I Look Like a Christian?” Or, The Gift of “Happy Holidays” – Stand for America® [#GRZ_51]
[12] ONE®: The Unified Gospel of Jesus, Divine Version [Second Edition] Published [#GRZ_59]
Stand for America® is a series of publications intersecting philosophy and traditional American values.
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The statements or opinions made in this article are solely the author’s own and not representative of any institution regarding which the author is affiliated.
© 2017 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mind-control-protests-goal-gregg-zegarelli-esq-