Pritchett's Anti-Matrix Manifesto
by Robert L. Pritchett
In the pre-Matrix world long ago, I once used to plant trees
for Weyerhauser. On our tree-planting team was a long-haired freaky-people,
drug-addle-brained person, who sincerely believed that mortality was a
make-believe world and we were in a dream-state. One day, perhaps we would
choose to wake up. I have woken up from a deep, disturbed slumber.
In my most recent government IT support job, I worked with
the kindest, gentlest young-adult ÒgirlÓ, who fit the stereotypical
ever-seemingly-studious, geeky-looking, rather rotund, incredibly intelligent,
voluptuous lady, (who wore too-short, too-tight blouses, that also showed a
mile-wide butt-crack when she worked under desks, as stereotypical geek). She
was successfully reducing her weight. She could not fathom a world without
constant, plugged-in, always-on texting, social-networking or World of
Warcraft. She lived the Matrix, living in a fantasy world of make-believe. She
is of the supposedly liberated, ÒconnectedÓ generation. She apparently enjoyed
the constant intrusions on our Blackberries, as we were constantly being
inundated with unnecessary IT busy-body email alerts. So let me apologize now
ahead of time for giving you an unforgettable image of this wonderful lady. She
did me no wrong.
I woke up very recently, really early one morning, realizing
I no longer wanted to buy into the multi-media matrix of interactive TV,
iPodish ear-jacked, exclude-all, IÕm-listening/watching-this-donÕt-bother-me
world and Internet-at-all-costs, artificial ÒcommunicationsÓ, virtual reality
Òpromise of unlimited wealthÓ environment that ÒweÓ created over the last 70 or
so years.
Maybe the Neo-Luddites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Luddism
werenÕt wrong. We really can have too much technology at our fingertips. High
Tech was intended to do good, but it has been compromised to do evil. I believe
in good and evil. I prefer good over evil. I have done my best to not encourage
evil.
- I gave
up my iPhone and Blackberry. I choose not to be wirelessly tracked and
GPSed or electrosmoggedly dosed. I refuse to be wireless. It adversely
affects my health.
- I will
not be a Òcouch potatoÓ. I will turn off the TV. I choose not to be
programmed and put into a REM state in front of what used to be called the
boob tube.
- I am
shutting down my websites. The online activities take up way too much of
whatever time I have left on earth. Thus, I choose not to do online games,
social network, create more YouTube videos, or ÒaffiliateÓ. We were not
born to ÒbrowseÓ. Nor do I intend for the government or corporations to
find a problem with what IÕve written and shut it down for me. Watch what
will happen when the Òkill switchÓ is activated to shut down the Internet.
It wonÕt be pretty.
- I will
eliminate email from my life. Most precious to me are real handwritten
letters from those I love. They will withstand the test of time. Emails do
not. Think ÒEphemeral InformationÓ.
- I
choose to exist without the ÒbenefitÓ of the high-tech computer
environment. Remember what life was like Before Computers (BC)? Farming was not such a bad life to
live.
- I
refused to be media ÒcontrolledÓ. Always, always question about who
benefits from statist-controlled disinformation and never accept it
blindly. Avoid Orwellian pretzels.
- I
refuse to be sucked into the falsehoods and fantasies of The Matrix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix, The Cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cell, eXistenZ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXistenZ, Dark City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_(1998_film)
or Inception
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception_(film).
- I will
not chase down any more rabbit-holes. No political ÒpartiesÓ or
participation in partisan food fights. I have always been a free man. I
will always be a freeman. I am a Constitutionalist (believing in a
Constitutional Republic and that the united States Constitution was
established by inspired men) and I desire to hold onto my God-given
freedom and liberty.
- I will
eat healthy. Nothing is as satisfying as eating what was produced at home.
I choose instead to spend more time in the garden, growing fruits and
vegetables. I do not intend to continue to stroke the egos of human fruits
and vegetables.
- I will
Òget outÓ more. I choose to do real-time face-to-face visits with friends
and family, visit the sick and the afflicted, give rest to the weary and
make a positive difference in the real lives of those around me. There is
no substitute for eye-to-eye and hand-to-hand contact.
- I will
spend more time with live music and less with entertainment centers. Live
music is best. And I mean real music. Not the kind that destroys hearing
and numbs the mind.
- I will
give a lending ear to my wife and children. There is no time like the
present.
- I will
maintain and keep an eye single to the glory of God. After all, I do have
to answer to Him for my actions on earth. I doubt He is too happy with how
we/I have spent our/my time on earth. I will work as if everything
depended on me (it does) and pray as if everything depended on God (it
does), while there is yet time.
Will you wake up too?
Other Manifestos
The ClueTrain Manifesto
http://www.cluetrain.com/
Joseph Andrew Stack Manifesto
http://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-andrew-stacks-insane-manifesto-2010-2
A TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party Manifesto
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/tea-party-manifesto.html
Manifesto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto
The Matrix Philosophy
http://fragments.consc.net/djc/2005/02/matrix_philosop.html
