Understanding the importance of ideas to movement, we must beware of the resolving of empowering words from the political vocabulary by those in power. As the words slip from memory, so to do the struggle around those issues. If we are not careful, democracy itself will slip from our collective memories.

As time develops, language changes to serve the advancing society. If the given society is oppressive, than many words that have empowering concepts attached to them disappear. You will feel it when you see something wrong and try to articulate it. The words are not there. They used to be. But with time, they drop out and we forget them. Too powerful of weapons to let go of.

One main weakness with the state of leadership in modern times is the theater of it all. When a “Leader” (to be defined later) has an issue, he or she will call a press conference. This is a major componant of the oppression of people through leadership.

A press conference is a small, fictional movie. It is written, scripted and given a time and place for the performance. In some cases, you need advance tickets (press pass). To make matters worse, the leader usually has no contact with the person or issue they are speaking on and will generally, leave their nice home, go to the theater (press conference) perform, and return to their nice home.

No work, no organizing, no discussion with the party or parties involved. All too often, the people represented catch retaliation because the leader talks, but does not protect.

Over the next few post we will be looking at the concept of leadership. I believe we have allowed this whole notion of power relationships, leaders and constituency, to become warped.

A few questions need to be addressed; First, what is a leader? Second, do we have any? And, third, do we need any. All of this and more will be addressed in upcoming posts.

During election time, we have grown accustomed to judging candidates by whether or not they use negative campaigning.  I don’t believe that is a real issue in the realm power.  Power is not about right and wrong.  It is not about morals.  It is about dominance.  When you are involved in issues of life and death, there is only power. There is only the law of the jungle.

I think that we have to look at the question of reality in terms of what we percieve as opposed to what is.  In other words, we act on what we believe to be reality.  As a result, we look for results that are supportive of our perception of what we consider real.

If we look at the advancement in science, we will see that we survived and even thrived based on wrong perceptions.  Given that, it appears that reality is what we believe it to be, not what it actually is in terms of universal laws.

Another example is in order; Scientists have long searched for reality in Einstein’s and Newton’s equations.  Yet, we find ourselves returning to “we just don’t know how things work.”

Reality is what you believe it to be.  You can go through life never knowing that a brutal, unjust law was being waged during your lifetime. To you, your reality is a peaceful prosperous world.  To others, reality is Armageddon.  Both realities are correct.

The whole notion of racism has occupied untold hours of struggle and billions of dollars in allocations to address it.  This is a goose chase.  The phenomenon called racism is not an entity on it’s own.  It is a symptom of powerlessness among people of color.  Once we realize that and set our sights on building political and economic power, the struggle against “racism” will diminish in proportion to our gains.People do not make change; power and programs do!! 

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a noise? Let’s put this question in new millennium terms: If you see a person on television, does that person really exist?I will argue that person does not exist. Let us look at the obvious, but overlooked, first part of our brains registering of the person in question: Our eyes see a person on television. The person can be any size, and in fact usually varies in size, depending on a camera angle.

So from the beginning we are dealing with a phenomena that is impossible for a person, i.e. varying size! That alone says the person-no matter who it looks like- can not possible exist.Then who exactly is this representation? It is just that, a representation.

Unfortunately, we look to images that are not real, that are pure manipulations, and say they are leaders. The problem with this is we do not know what these images really stand for or who they really serve! This set up is a powerful undermining force to democracy and should be done away with!  In other words, if there were no television, who would be leading your community or state? How much more democratic would the election process be if not for t.v.? If you want to serve my community, come to my community! Get on a train like the politician of old!

We are trapped in an unreal world (t.v.). Our leaders are people we do not know, that are not real. In short, reality has been warped. If it is not on television, it does not exist. If it is on tv, then it may or may not exist, but it can be used as reality to attain a certain results from the people, like sheep running to and fro, depending on where the owners put the food!

In the course of studying philosophy, I remember my frustration when trying to understand the writings of some of the icons. Hours of reading and re-reading. In retrospect, I believe it was hours of wasted time. I blame both the writer and those in the educational establishment for this.

Anything of value should be easily understood by as many people as possible. Of course, some people have less than average education. But those of average understanding should be able to digest and apply the principles of the author. Too many Philosophers spent too much time dazzling scholars, instead of writing in a useful style that could be applied by the majority of the downtrodden.

The role of the writer is to be understood! The role of the Philosophical writer is to be understood and provide clear direction to moving closer to liberation. People pick up the pen in the first place to communicate. What is the point of writing if you are not communicating? Another tenet of Liberation Philosophy should be clarity. It should be written for the oppressed, not the scholar. The goal is power. Power equals “freedom and equality.” Do not forget the necessary redefining of terms (freedom and equality) that is a part of Liberation Philosophy.

A focus on Philosophy for young people could go a long way toward bringing peace and prosperity to any nation. Understanding the relationship between society and the place of young people in it reveals the urgency and benefits.

Any society that allows the young to run rampant will find itself overwhelmed with serious social defects.

It is therefore crucial to teach the young, discipline them, so that they grow into responsible caretakers of their nation, not a social bane. We don’t want them abdicating by chasing after fleeting material objects (or by allowing the oppressor to cast woman as an object either).

Take back the responsibility of the teacher of the young. Teach our children to be future leaders not drains on community resources. In the end, it comes down to philosophy.