Encouraging Shepherds

We are at war, but our weapons are not as their weapons.

All men and women can embrace the shepherd’s call of adulthood. The actions and internal motivations and mechanisms differ between the sexes, but the outcome is basically the same goal of bringing divine justice to life on the earth. Yes, it’s the same thing as encouraging folks to act like adults, but those words tend come with baggage wholly inappropriate to the image we need to paint. We aren’t encouraging Western adulthood, but something more universal and eternal.

In the Network Age, the starting point is recognizing that the vast majority of humanity in any given context is a clueless herd of sheep wandering and lost. If you lack the instinct to shepherd, then you can’t be classed as an adult. Shepherds are not cattle drivers. We lead by calling out to those who will hear, all the while knowing a large number of the rest are likely to follow along because they can’t think of anything else to do. We can extend only so much protection as they permit, and steel our hearts to watch people die needlessly. As always, the ANE position is that murder is evil but death itself is not; death is just a circumstance.

So we promote truth in the sense of uncovering secrets. As always, the definition of “secret” is anything hidden that affects others, that is quite justly their business to know. Whether the sheeple will act, and act sanely, on the knowledge is not the question. Divine justice insists they have free access so they can choose. Our power to act is limited, but this is the driving force of our existence.

We who represent the rising Network Civilization are at war with the West. We intend to crush the West and vanquish our enemies and bring in a new golden age. That was sarcasm. With full cynicism we recognize it will be golden for only a precious few; it’s a long-running joke among those morally aware. What we actually intend to do is jump on the bandwagon of where God is at work, and whether or not we find it pleasant to our tastes is not the point. With full prophetic seriousness I warn you: The Network Age is the future for mankind, and it won’t be stopped by all the pitiful efforts of government thugs to prevent it. Their time is passing quickly.

But the nature of our warfare is the essence of what has conquered every other civilization of the past: human awareness. There is something deeply true and ineffable behind it, but the methods and goals for which our human minds are equipped focus on uncovering truth. It’s not the agitation and demonstrations, nor the discrete combat of weapons and bloodshed, but the battle of simply blabber-mouthing things the plutocrats try to keep hidden. Pull out the facts; analyze and characterize at will. Plunder their vast stores of information and scatter it to the mindless crowds. How the crowds react is not really our concern, though we can predict things somewhat. All the political agitation we’ve seen in our lifetimes is partly due to revelations. That’s our part.

With full cynicism we know that from within the same evil system will come a false opposition to sponsor the biggest and best agitation and warfare, pretending to oppose the “other side” that is “evil.” They pretend to represent the people, but they are driving them, not leading them. Two or more wings of the same bird; the flight plan never changes. From outside that system we recognize the random response of sheeple. You can drive them briefly before their attention is deflected and they scatter. Cattle may fight drovers, but sheeple simply lose interest and stop paying attention. The people are not cattle, and this is why political activity is so pointless unless you are directly related to the sheep in some way that the sheep will recognize. This is a strong parable.

So our warfare as Netisans (Network Partisans) is simply revealing. We search for truth we can recognize and share it as best we know. Step back a moment and recognize what is actually happening. It’s not as if we all need to synchronize our content. It’s not about the content; that’s merely our individual frame of reference. That’s how we organize our participation in the much larger task. Your part is to tell the truth as best you understand it, and as best you can pass it on. This alone is by far the most powerful warfare of all against our enemies.

Our single greatest weapon is shouting from the housetops what we dig up from the trove of secrecy kept by those currently in power.