A Manifesto for a Sane World
Get off Facebook. It has destroyed truth, corroded society, and degraded our intelligence while enriching a single misanthropic person to inconceivable wealth and power.
Quit Twitter. It serves no purpose now other than to elevate the ego of one dangerously corrupt and self-obsessed human being.
Watch no cable news. Never set eyes on Fox. Subscribe to a newspaper, if you can still find one, but not any newspaper. These days the Washington Post is the standard of excellence and independence.
Protest with your mouth, your feet and your dollars. Open your eyes. Get out of your chair.
Realize that every moment spent scrolling, clicking and typing into your device amounts to silence. Silence is doom.
Know enough to be afraid. Without fear, there is no courage.
Have no hope. Hope is a slogan that will divert your attention from the reality at hand.
Believe nothing. Investigate for yourself. Search the internet the way you used to. Look for evidence, not false assurances. The truth is always the simplest and most obvious thing in the world.
Be sane. A sane mind creates a sane world.
If you need a friend, contact me via my website. Send me a message asking for my mailing address and then write to me. I will respond.
Originally published on Nov. 26, 2016.
Protest with your mouth, and your feet and your dollars. Yes. Yes. Yes!
Comment by Jane Duross — November 26, 2016 @ 12:42 pm
Such a great list, Karen!
Comment by Julie Kenward — November 27, 2016 @ 7:28 am
Thank you, Karen. So much rich and loamy soil here. But is there a danger with “othering” even someone who terrifies us so much? In the months leading up to the election I did metta meditation often, and he was who I brought to mind as the person most troubling to my soul. It was difficult before he won; after, it’s been grueling, almost impossible. But that tells me how very necessary it is — not as a way to excuse or allow, but as a way to soften and expand my heart even more for the urgent and important work ahead. Bowing. ~Stephen
Comment by Stephen — November 27, 2016 @ 7:48 am
True, what a powerful teaching can be found in Trump, who reminds us that all is vanity, even our spiritual striving. And in seeing that, we can begin to do a little good by making a little less of ourselves.
Comment by Karen Maezen Miller — November 27, 2016 @ 8:42 am
I wholeheartedly agree. Personally I read The Guardian. But todays world, I thought things were really very bad, but it turns out they are even worse than that. I have no solutions -aside from keeping myself in check- and to be honest I am losing hope that there actually are any solutions.
Comment by Simone — November 27, 2016 @ 10:03 pm
This is good. Since election night, my family has had such a difficult time even thinking about a trump win. My children are 25 and 27 years old and are very fearful for their future–it is a very scary time for Americans!
Comment by Bridgette Dennis — November 29, 2016 @ 5:45 pm
Steps 1 – 3. easy for those of us who have never used FB or Twitter and who don’t watch cable news (but have mourned Gwen Ifill’s death with many tears). Step 4. yep, lots of lifelong experience with this. Husband routinely reminds me he will not bail me out of jail. Step 5 . . . see Steps 1-3. Step 6. The tremendous difficulty is knowing enough without adding too much more as well as the protective impulse to avoid what is most painful (all articles about present and real climate change impacts). 7. Thank you for permission! 8. Another tough one. So easy to glue my eyeballs to opinion columns in the New York Times and and essays in The New Yorker and lose the trail of my own thoughts. 9. Have to sit first.
Comment by Laura — November 30, 2016 @ 7:13 pm
Hi.. I am attracted to your words…
Comment by Diane Delmonico — December 2, 2016 @ 11:37 am
Thank you. I’d noticed you were gone from facebook and I’ve missed you. Today I realized I don’t need to use FB as a bridge to you; I could come here, straight to the source. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that.
I’m focusing most of my energy on trying to be kinder and do more good in the world. But there are days the fear hits hard and I just want to hibernate at home with my family…and never leave the house. It’s definitely worse on the days I visit social media.
Your advice is spot on (as always) and gets right to the heart of it. Thank you. <3
Comment by Shawne Taylor — December 11, 2016 @ 2:15 pm
I posted a comment here earlier, and on another post, but they’re both gone now. Not sure why?
But I want to say thank you for this wonderful post. I noticed you had left FB, and missed your words, then I realized I could come here, right to the source.
I’ve been focusing on being kinder and trying to do more good in the world. But some days the fear hits hard. Usually it’s worse when I’ve been on social media. So your advice is spot on (as usual). Thank you. <3
Comment by Shawne — December 11, 2016 @ 3:14 pm
And now the original post is showing up again. I’m sorry for the double comments!
Comment by Shawne — December 11, 2016 @ 3:15 pm