Modern carrots and sharp sticks

(I'll be short) I understand why most people make the choice of ignoring reality and why they remain silent in the face of injustice, it's easy. Just let yourself controlled by the minds of others and protected by the bodies of others, no need to struggle, just have fun and enjoy the ride, you have one life, why waste it with hard work and deep thinking when you can surrender to happiness. Of course, there are some things you have to give up on, like liberty, independence, individuality... yourself. It's easy for one man or a small group to control the actions of many mindless and coward people, carrots and sticks work very well and those who understand how to use this simple concept hold one of the keys to "persuade" the many and also one of the antidotes to protect against "the few".

Carrots symbolize our desires, the things towards which we want to go while the sticks are our fears. Religious people in the Abrahamic traditions have one main carrot, to say so, and that is Heaven while the main fear is Hell. Atheists also have their equivalents, don't be fooled that just because they think of themselves as  "non-ignorant" (non-religious) they are enlightened. People of the world started to place money somewhere in the heavens instead of angels and God. Economy is a new form of religion when you think that Hell is the absence of wealth and Heaven the abundance of it, the American Dream, or any other dreams out there are large and tasty carrots. The war between good and bad (or good and evil) takes place at every supermarket, at every bank and nobody can escape the omnipotent power of money.

I don't know if someone imposes on us these two elements (from which we run, to which we want to go) or we do the job ourselves, but once we know our desires and fears we are one step closer to our independence, this of course, if we have the courage. We need to know ourselves, something that religion and philosophy have been screaming at us for millennia, yet few listen. The maps which can lead us  towards freedom are not hidden, we can find them in the tools of our enslavement. Why so few listen is the main question of this article. Democracy is suicide if the ones that vote are manipulated by the ones being voted (or, why not, by someone higher than them), the voice of the people is the voice of the media amplified by thousands of times.

I do hope that this article will motivate at least one more to become active in any way he/she can, be it music, writing, art, activism, politics or, why not, even the military. Do not support the army, do not support religious extremists and atheism, do not tolerate ignorance in your family and in your neighborhood, if you want to change the world into a better world be an example, don't be a hypocrite. Get involved into projects that help people, if you are in a wealthy suburb get your neighbors to help those in need, if you can write then write, if you can sing then motivate people through music, if you are in a poor country then find ways to produce something, to do something, learn new skills, be active, don't waste your time watching stupid shows on TV or killing your neurons with alcohol at the local pub from morning till  sunset while criticizing politicians and bankers. They only take advantage of your ignorance and you are the only one to blame if you are in the mud, get up and stand tall.