Say nothing, or speak out and suffer for it.

At a recent meeting I made some comments about some things. Vague, I know, but it's enough to know. Sufficeth to say my words were twisted and quite cruelly turned back on me. As I was reading in another place, why was I surprised. Why am I surprised when what I say, or ask, is twisted. Everyone's are. Which is why people say nothing. Which is why I find myself more and more "out there" saying and asking and getting "beaten" for it. Why do I speak when all the "wise" people keep their mouths shut?
And if you are a devotee, thus runs the plot tension of a whole stack of West Wing episodes: Bartlett knows what should be said, but is advised he can't. Then at the last minute a way is found that he can, and all is good. In other words, we know this stuff should be said, and feel good when it is on TV, so what is stopping people talking intelligently in the public domain? As Prime Minister Rudd showed yesterday is the Apology to Aboriginal people and his saying "Sorry", why can we not in our small ways - speak the truth?

In my University days I was a reader of the works of Herbert Marcuse. I have a copy of Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man" that the inside cover says I bought in May 1973. I think Marcuse's analysis in that book is really good. He writes that there are basically three ways that the dominant powers push people down - flatten them into nicely manageable one-dimensional beings. All three ways are lies, and they run like this:

The first lie: "Things are too big and complicated for you to be able to change them. Things have gone too far to change anyway."

The second lie: "If you do try to change things, you'll be risking all you've got - your own status and position and financial security."

The third lie: "And if you still persist in taking these big topics on, and are prepared to pay the cost, people will just laugh at you."

These are the main reasons why people simply don't do anything: it'll cost me, it's too big, people will laugh. And I regret that the people who manage those lies, even in the areas in which I work, are beginning to wear me down.