You Are Not Guilty!

(Neil's Note: While searching through my archives, I came across this one, dated October 27th, 2009, which hadn't been published before. I thought it would fit very well as one of the "starters" for the new blog.)

My friend, you are today bombarded by accusations designed to make you feel guilty. All around you, again and again, the politicians and media accuse you of things like: (tick all those applicable to you):

• Producing waste
  
• Damaging the environment
  
• Using energy
  
• Wasting natural resources
  
• Failing to recycle
  
• Emitting carbon dioxide, so causing dangerous global warming
  
• Endangering species
  
• Taking part in greedy, grasping business
  
• Being successful through your own efforts
  
• Being well-off while others are poor
  
• Being selfish
  
• Being unnatural
  
• Being naturally bad
  
• Not giving to charity
  
• Spending on what you want
  
• Driving a car (or, worse, an SUV)
  
• Eating meat
  
• Not eating enough fruit or veg
  
• Being fat
  
• Drinking alcohol
  
• Smoking
  
• Flying in aeroplanes
  
• Causing Hurricane Katrina
  
• Being sceptical about environmentalism
  
• Exploiting people in the third world
  
• Having ancestors who were “colonialists”
  

And that’s before you’ve done anything that might in some places have been declared, or might in future be declared, to be “illegal”. Such as:

• Taking drugs
  
• Enjoying pornography
  
• Going to a prostitute
  
• Hunting foxes
  
• Failing to vote for politicians
  
• Driving too fast
  
• Using incandescent light-bulbs
  
• Being a one-man business
  
• Downloading something from the Internet that might be “copyright”
  

But there’s more. The guilt-trippers bombard you with guilt for just about anything. For example: wars, pollution, poverty, the decay of society. Over-population, stress, not caring about future generations. Even though you have no, or almost no, control over any of these things. How can you possibly be guilty for anything you could never have controlled, or even influenced?

Now, my friend, you’re an honest, truthful human being. Yes? You make your contribution to the economy. You take responsibility for what you do. You don’t use or support aggressive violence. You don’t support political agendas designed to harm innocent people. Yes? Why, then, are you being treated as if you were guilty? Why are you bombarded by messages trying to make you accept guilt? Something’s wrong here.

My friend, I have news for you. You’re being had.

But I have better news for you too, You are not alone.

Your friends – and I am one – see through the lies and deceits of those that want to be our political masters. And what we see, and you will soon see – if you do not already – is this:

You are not guilty!