Ignorance in America and around the world certainly is at the center of where we find ourselves today. The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining momentum and recognition, but many of the people that could benefit the most from OWS's direction, either do not care enough or enjoy their total lack of knowledge or awareness. Many times I have asked, when are we going to wake up and start to demand fairness in education? When will we ask the wealthiest to guarantee economic equality? When will we confront the unevenness in access to health care? When will the people that are elected, to work for the average person, be held accountable for the disproportionate resources that are available for the elite and corporations and are denied to the poorest of America's citizens?
When I have questioned people about the OWS, the usual response is that they have heard something about it. They shrug and then want to move away from the subject. The other response I seem to hear frequently is that the people that support this movement and the people participating in it, are envious. Envious, please! They are missing the point, that the wealthiest people, or at least the largest percentage of the wealthiest people, have exploited the free market concept to amass huge fortunes and are unwilling to pay a share for the betterment and advancement of the rest of society. I, for one am not envious! I want fairness and a sense from those at the top, they have a responsibility to give back some of the fortune, to support our infrastructure and maintain a high degree of life in the United States.
This morning, I listened to Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, on Morning Joe. He related a meeting he had with a CEO of a large, American based company. This CEO, who was not identified, stated that he did not care about the local economy, since they were international. They did not have to worry about the people either in their neighborhoods or the country, because they could not control how much money his corporation made and the bonuses or salaries paid to him and his team. They are in over 130 different countries and would do what ever they wanted. This is the direction that corporate America is going.
The American citizens and the citizens of the world, need to listen. They need to quit dismissing the problems as something they cannot control. They need to awaken to a new world order, that places the needs of the average citizen above the greed of a few. We all need to be aware and do our own work to learn what is happening around us. We need to shed the yoke of ignorance and all of us become leaders.
Malcolm X once proclaimed, " If you're not careful, the newspaper will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."
Remember who controls the press and media. We must stop the ignorance.
