Slogans

 

Words are stirring, your anger's really burning

You could really use a slogan right now
Eighteen and feeling kinda mean
'Cause you're sick and fuckin' tired of being pushed around and round, up and fucking down
Wanna believe there's an answer?
Well, there's not
And the funny thing about it is
That two hours later, they're just words that you seem to have forgot

Don't think about what's right or wrong
Just leave the thinking to your boss
And do what you're supposed to now

Your heart is pounding, your feet hit the ground
You wanna see some action right now
Feeling strong, gonna right some wrongs
Gonna raise your banner and stand up tall and proud
Don't try to tell me ideology has a thing to do with this
Think you're so much different but you're all on one big fucked up power trip

And I don't really give a shit
What you happen to believe in
Now you can finally begin
To feel like you fit in

Don't ever listen to yourself (listen to yourself)
You'll fuck it up just like you always do (listen to yourself)
Someone will be there to explain your job (listen to yourself)
So do it

Your heart is pounding, your feet hit the ground
You wanna see some action right now
Feeling strong, gonna right some wrongs
Gonna raise your banner and stand up tall and proud
Don't try to tell me ideology has a thing to do with this
Think you're so much different but you're all on one big fucked up power trip

And I don't really give a shit
What you happen to believe in
Manipulated, now you can begin
To feel like you fit in

Good day to the Pepsi Generation, are you getting a Dell, dude? Have it your way. Be an original, just like everyone else.

What can one do in a modern world of pure NPC thinking? No matter where one goes, it is completely inescapable. Now, you might wretch at that overused term, but that is because you know there is some truth to it. We live in screwed up times where everyone has all the answers, so you better pick a team and sign up for the right one lest the bad guys destroy you first. It's all black and white, except when it's grey to assuage doubt on the good guy side. You live in a world of smoke and mirrors operated by clowns stumbling from one disaster to another.

It's enough to lead many to despair and, sure enough, it has done exactly that for an abnormally large amount of people. The western world currently has the highest rates of depression and suicide ever recorded and they get worse every day. This isn't arguable, it's a serious issue. If those in charge were real white hats, this would be the #1 issues on their agenda, but it never is. It always ends up not even mentioned as they come up with new problems to solve. Life is always the last thing they care about. If we weren't inundated with NPC thinking and pointing the finger at each other, perhaps this could be addressed and tackled in the right way, but just like the school shooting epidemic (Of which Columbine was not the first, not that you'd ever know this thanks to the media) we look to scapegoats instead of facing the real problem.

Of course, this is not new, but before the 20th century it seemed at least those in charge had a vested interest in their populace not falling to pieces around them. After all, if your populace isn't happy, who will defend you from your enemies across the border? That notion fell off hard in the century of repetitive genocide and pointing the finger to avoid self-reflection. Now they think of you as machines to be programmed. Get the right script and live the way they tell you? Don't? Well then you probably deserve your life ruined by the mob.

You're either an NPC, of you aren't human anymore. There is no in between on this issue for those who follow the script.

For those unaware, An NPC refers to a non-playable character in a video game, one who goes through programed motions and has nothing to offer anyone outside of what they are guided to do by their programmer. They live of the whims of their betters, which they cannot live or operate without. I should clarify that I don't believe anyone is truly an NPC. Most everyone has NPC behaviors and thoughts, some more than others, and some of them can be healthy and lead to good things (constant routines aren't exactly a bad thing), but for many people they can be a crutch to simply thinking properly. The  danger comes from when those in charge hand down new programming that is destructive to the people it is meant to "help" or "fix" outdated routines.

Not too long ago I was watching a YouTuber discussing the faults in the US police force. They were justified complaints, but eventually as words stumbled, some in the chat started throwing out slogans and the conversation more or less stopped when the juvenile word "Copaganda" showed up. It was at this point that thinking was abandoned, and the dehumanization of NPC thinking and creating enemies reigned over all else. For someone otherwise rather smart, it led to the end of conversation and the ruling of emotion and Us Vs Them over solutions.

Slogans are stopgaps to thinking, they are tools to program NPC thought. The more you use them to "sum up" what you mean, the less you can think things through fully. They work well when advertising products to get phrases to stick in people's minds, but outside of that they exist so that when a specific trigger is hit, the subject abandons thoughts to their programmed terms and follows the routine instead. Slogans are an actual mind killer.

The Brand!

Perhaps the above usage tickled me funny because I had heard that term before in a much dumber context, in real life. Once when discussing underrated films with someone, I brought up the movie Cop Land, which is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the 1990s. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, and many others from the time, it is a surprisingly strong crime film on the difference between Justice Vs Law. The reply was that Cop Land was basically "Copaganda" which was all the explanation I received as to why it is not that well known now. There was no in depth thinking on the plot or themes, just a buzz word meant to mean something to those not programmed to accept a completely made up emotional tag. This term killed thought.

For those unware, Cop Land is a crime movie about crooked cops who look out for each other at the expense of the people they are supposed to be protecting until one of their victims, a sheriff who is nearly deaf and ruled by these scumbags leads others to bring justice upon the crooked law before them. The scene where he delivers retribution through a fog of feedback because he can't hear them (or their excuses) is one of the most perfect shootouts ever recorded. Cop Land is a film about how Justice supersedes Law, especially when those infallible human beings who are supposed to protect fail in their endeavors to do so. You tell me how a nothing term like "Copaganda" has anything to do with this movie's story or themes. But it did prevent this individual from thinking about anything the movie was actually about and filing it away as bad to dismiss it.

So why do you think the word was made up in the first place? To kill your mind. To prevent nuance or understanding. It is a buzzword, inherently meaningless to anyone not following the script that this term was programmed into. It is worthless.

And before you think any different, it isn't just newer terms that rely on NPC thinking in order to work their magic on you. Think of the plentiful "ist" and "ism" words you know and were taught since youth that are loaded to the point that just hearing them is enough to either ignore people labeled those things, or instantly file them away into a "bad person" category to prevent you from considering anything they say. It is a mind-killer. I'm not sure there is any time in history that is more inundated with this sort of thing than the 20th, and now the 21st century, is.

Before you think otherwise, think of all the art made in all of recorded history. How mush offers different perspectives and alternate thoughts on the way things were? How many might even enjoy the status quo but offer additional takes on it? How many different ways have artists, writers, and poets, attempted to understand God and the world He made in so many different ways that we can't even count them? Why is it now that we can't even indulge in something that isn't a poor facsimile of old things injected with modern NPC thinking?

How many times have you heard "kids won't watch old things" when you know this isn't true? Why is this lie pushed? Why are we destroying the past and warping the words we say because people who hate us tell us to?

Make no mistake, while this sort of issue existed before, it is a far worse problem today than it ever has been before. The people in charge are trying to hurt you, and for no real benefit to anyone, not even them. This was simply not the case before, regardless of how people paid by the current folks in charge want to tell you it is.

"Because I said so" might work with children, but it is not an explanation a proper thinking adult should ever accept. You are not an NPC, you are a person.

They pretend these are rules, but they're not. Rules exist to keep order, not kill you. Don't let it be said that "rules" are the same as slogans. As an example, a Christian does not need to use the "thou shalt not murder" law when talking about why murder is bad in conversation. They can go into great detail without having to repeat one phrase. This can be done simply by exploring the subject and the value of a person and the harm of the wrath that can lead to such situations. It involves talking--discussion. Understanding why things are the way they are. This is how theology and thought works. You explore a subject, see the angles, and come to conclusions and a greater understanding. You do not invent one word responses to sum it up--your thoughts should grow, not shrink. It is never that "Murder is bad because X" but that "Murder is bad because [explanation]." Anything less is an exercise in NPC thought and not giving the subject the respect it actually deserves.

As another angle, let us use the example of a robber who was shot dead by a vigilante at a grocery store. The job of blind justice is to look at the motives and the factors surrounding the skirmish that lead to this situation so that one can come to a conclusion over who was in the right and who was in the wrong. The second you start asking for secondary factors that lead to this such as whether they were "ists" or "phobes" is the second you begin looking for excuses to stop thinking about the issue and finding easy outs. All you want to do at that point is to file it away with easy NPC thinking. You are not giving the situation the serious thought it deserves.

And if you believe any of the above is "political" then guess what? You have just fallen into that trap yourself. 

Think about it rationally. If, for example, watching and laughing at a movie like Rush Hour was not considered political when it came out and became a massive box office success, and people like it just as much now as they did at the time, then who is really telling them it is political and therefore unacceptable now? Who decided such a thing was now "political" and thereby verboten from public discourse and thought? Why are you meant to suddenly agree with something absurd no one believed in over two decades ago? We have not advanced, there is no argument that we are clearly dumber than we were when this movie came out, so why are we pretending different? The only thing that changed was the script you're being programmed with by those who hate you.

If you didn't think up these words or terms to begin with then why are you using them? What is the end goal meant to be in all this? If you stopped using them, stopped believing in their power over you, who would get mad, and why? Why do you care if people who already dislike you will hate you more? You cannot address these questions if your mind is stuck in a programming loop, if you are unable to question your own artificial responses. You aren't a machine, so why do you so badly want to think like one?

This is the beating heart of sloganeering: it is meant to sell you compact thought so that you can avoid thinking about it. This is one of the reasons many actually do think of advertising as evil. You might disagree, but you can easily see how one might come to that very plausible conclusion. Something that prevents thinking is dangerous.

And looking at today, it clearly very much is dangerous.

You wrap up this sort of thinking in modern Brand worship and you have the modern cult of modernity we live in today. Many hated when I pointed this out in The Last Fanatics, but it has been a problem for a long time. You are being molded into a human-shaped automaton made to follow routines and never think about anything.

Where do you think creating a society of people like this will lead? Do you think continuing down this path will make the despair, depression, and suicides go away randomly? At what point do we realize there are better ways, and how do we get there? Well, that's a whole other subject, and not one we can even begin to tackle before we deal with the mess in front of us.

The '20s are going to be rough.

Ironic, but it does prove the point.

So why is NPC thinking so prevalent today? Many factors. People aren't all easily definable by terms and cliques, much as they wish they were. Simplifying things tends to make them easier to process and understand. Why be John Smith when you can be Anarcho-Communist Freedom Fighter & Ally To Women & Nearly Extinct Blobfish The World Over instead? That's a lot of shiny buzzwords to slap on yourself to fashion a personality around, and it is a lot easier to show off and impress others without having to actually do anything. But ultimately, it's garbage. Nothing.

Being an automaton is easy and therefore preferable to many, but you will never really be one. Your mind and soul will fight you the entire way, hence the miserable state of many today, banging their heads against walls in an attempt to find out what is wrong with them and why they cannot achieve happiness. There is no guaranteed way to be happy, but it certainly will never come from following a script that exists to kill your very thoughts.

It also should be mentioned that thinking you are better than others is a very good enticement to be the best NPC on the block. This should not be ignored as a possible factor for this nonsense continuing. Keeping up with Joneses and the fear of isolation are also good motivators for preferring sloganeering over thinking. Being original, like everyone else. Think, but only in the correct way. You are trained in contradictions.

At the end of the day, it more or less comes down to the fear of alienation and exclusion, one of the biggest problems currently threatening the western world. If we rage and posture hard enough, maybe we will be the last ones to suffer the slings and arrows of the NPC mob programmed to beat you back in line. Essentially, this is a problem we create for ourselves out of fear and uncertainty with the world. No one wants to be alone, not even introverts. If there is a chance we can feel like we belong, we will take it. Not a soul alive is above this, no matter the propaganda telling you that you're a rebel individual who can live as island that is, ironically, just like everyone else. 

This entire trap is quite devious, and it doesn't help that all our supposedly trustful institutions indulge in these contradictions gleefully. Libraries don't teach thought, they carry books that teach the NPC script and refuse to carry those that don't. Big chain bookstores are the same. These do not sell, leading them to ruin, but it doesn't matter. The routine comes before logic. Schools don't teach thought, they teach NPC programming patterns for you to rely on and avoid thinking of the bigger picture. Your job is the same: they value falling in line and doing whatever HR wants of you, even if it is humiliating. There is a reason the modern age has been called Clown World by many.

The people you meet on the street are not a title or cliché, even if they badly want to be one--they are human beings with complex thoughts and emotions, souls made in the image of the One True God, and they have greater worth than any of the trinkets, ideologies, or fads, this world has to offer. You are not a number or a conglomeration of terms. You are a person, and you will only fully feel normal when you think like one. This is what everyone needs to hear.

You are capable of so much more than what you are programmed to be, and this is what makes Clown World particularly frustrating to many. This is an embarrassment. We are capable of greater things than what the 20th century spat out. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before we realize that. Until then, we can only keep speaking the truth, not what we are told is truth.

The lyrics at the top of this post were written back in 1991 or so. It's been over three decades since then and yet they remain true even as their writer went through so many changes himself, including coming to faith in Jesus Christ. He was able to do so because he tried not to let NPC thinking steer his ship and eventually ended up there of his own volition after many years struggling. You never know where life will take you, but it can only take you there if you seek it out to begin with. We don't live in a world that rewards such things, but maybe that is the point. Who can really know?

If there is one thing that might hopefully change as we realize the errors of the previous century it will be our reliance on simplified, condensed thinking to avoid having to operate as a human being. You are not an automaton, you can drive yourself insane trying to be one, but you will never escape your humanity under the layers of scripts and programming. Now is the time to embrace your humanity, and become who you were always meant to become. It's never too late.

Let me leave you with the final and title track from the above album, one of my favorites. While the earlier song was about understanding slogans and NPC-like thought processes, this is one about getting yourself out of them and accepting things for what they really are. Break out of clichés and find the truth obscured by the mud pit of modern life. There is a reason this album is looked at as a genre classic and still holds up well today.

Find yourself something higher, better than what you are being sold. You would be surprised what you can find if you're just willing to look.

Just be careful of what you consume. Who knows what they put in the water these days?

Time gets wasted every day
I watch the minutes tick away
My brain is melting like a chocolate ice cream bar
Like characters on my TV
These people look like maggots to me
And I wonder what the hell is wrong with me

Milk-fed little beauty queen
She's straight out of a magazine
She sits beside me breathing different air than me
The perfect generation sees
That I'm infected with disease
And everything just crumbles and there's nothing left

If I wanna do something right
I gotta do it myself or someone else'll fuck it up
It isn't all black and white
And now it's time to stop and figure out reality
No one knows what they're talking about
If what they're talking don't make any sense to me
I gotta figure it out
'Cause I don't want something to believe in

If I wanna do something right
I gotta do it myself or someone else'll fuck it up
It isn't all black and white
And now it's time to stop and figure out reality
No one knows what they're talking about
If what they're talking don't make any sense to me
I gotta figure it out
'Cause I don't need something to believe in

My brain hurts, my brain hurts
My brain hurts today!

Learn how the original NPCs destroyed adventure stories in the controversial Last Fanatics!