by Aaron Colter
Occupy Wall Street has gone from a overzealous cry in a somewhat posh Canadian produced magazine to a genuine movement that has emerged as reaffirmation of civil disobedience in this country as quickly as it has become an international brand embodying the best and worst of American pop-culture.
The last time I wrote about Occupy Wall Street, protestors had only been camped out for five days; since then the camps have be removed after becoming established in cities around the world. And while the original, loose-collective approach to the movement was an advantage, it’s time to move to phase two of Project Mayhem.
There’s no reason to abandon the basic principals of anarchy that can lead to consensus at the General Assemblies, allow for committees to focus on certain aspects according to individual desire, or the intelligent manner in which a leaderless movement is free from scapegoating tactics. Like Tyler says, “You determine your level of involvement.”
Despite my tongue-in-cheek references, it’s nearly shocking the way that life seems to be imitating art. Or, at least movies based on that art. Both Fight Club and V for Vendetta have become evolved symbols of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and in the same manner that Libyan rebels adopted the former royal flag of their country, the origin doesn’t matter as much as the spirit.
If the Egyptian revolution is indeed the inspiration for what drove a movement here in America, then we should also take note of their continuing struggle – overthrowing one leader in exchange for brutal military rule. Violence responding to violence doesn’t seem to work out very well in modern revolutions, not in Greece, not in South East Asia, and not in America. There are many reasons why a violent revolution can fail, just as there are many reasons why a non-violent movement can fail.
In either case, there must be some sense of optimism and humanitarian unity or else there is no revolution at all, only our own self-fulling Apocalypse.
If you are reading this, you are being tuned into the frequency of #EtherSec. If it wasn’t clear before, Anonymous is merely a common identifier for people who believe the current structure of our global society should be drastically altered to improve conditions for all. A group of people under this banner have decided to engage in the next evolutionary action, one that doesn’t take place in the streets, but rather in minds.
#EtherSec is difficult to describe, much like the larger Anonymous movement, because with no leadership, individuals move in different directions. There have been four initial releases connected to #EtherSec, but how long those links will be active remains to be seen, and no doubt more have popped-up over time as more join the idea.
The basic premise of the movement is that the quantum reality of our universe is partially affected in a very real way by our thoughts. The emergence of social media technology has caused an exponential increase in people to empathize with one another on the global level as we approach December 21st, 2012.
And that’s where things start to go off the deep end. You’re going to need a bigger bong.
How much of #EtherSec related content is pushed out by a select number of people, or more likely a loose band of several people, is unsure. Still, the basic notion of the movement hinges on a sort of spiritual power within the individual, and that within each of us lies the ability to shape reality in the context of our collective imagination.
Confused? It’s okay. The premise of this movement seems to lie within pop-science of movies like What The #%@$ Do We Know?, Love, Reality, and The Time of Transition, The Awakening, and more – a loose knowledge of string-theory, and the optimistic anchor that we are in control of our future and our various realities of the multiverse.
Now, how much of this should by taken seriously is up to the reader, to you. If humanity can manage to keep its collective shit together for long enough, there indeed may come a time when a singularity happens for some of the human race. Whether or not this comes about as a blossoming of empathy on the mental level across every conscious being on the planet Earth this year, or rather at a point in which the capacity of technology begins to exceed the physical structure of our organic bodies to create a new form of humanity for the select, privileged few in the future remains to be seen. We are in The Fourth World War.
Recently, Alan Moore – the creator of V for Vendetta along with David Lloyd – was interviewed backstage in England after a conference on the notion of reality. It’s fitting that the mind who helped create a character, loosely based on a violent zealot, that was then transformed into a movie hero, and twisted into a symbol of individual freedom on a global level is on the same wave as the #EtherSec crew.
Good news though, the best way to get on board with all the new changes is drugs! But, before you get ready to lace up your matching Nike hightops and drink the Kool-Aid, there are some things you should consider. To start, the more you watch and listen to the different opinions, instructions, and guidelines, the more #EtherSec starts to sound like a religion. And when I say religion, I mean a cult. All religions are cults in one way or another, in that they force a person to believe in a set of conditions, but some cults are worse in that they inspired people to hurt themselves and others.
How far is the leep from #EtherSec to B’hai to Scientology to whatever the fuck this is?
And it’s important to realize that whenever there is money to be made, someone will attempt to profit off beliefs.
Perhaps this spiritual evolution of the Occupy and Anonymous movement was inevitable. As people began to be evicted on a coordinated level across the country from public spaces, and as more low-level hacktivists are picked up by the FBI, the most likely place for the energy to flow was inward.
#EtherSec’s most basic flaw, as others have pointed out, is that at least some of the communications suggest perceived dark forces, that those in power are actively working against those of us who are aware of these quantum level connections exponentially woven through shared ideas. The truth, in my opinion (subjective, obviously), is that we’re holding ourselves back as a species. There are not dark forces, only ignorance and people turned into oppressive tools by a series of unjust systems we ourselves created and uphold. One of the most horrifying things we can acknowledge within ourselves is the potential for unlimited devastation. The flip side is that we also have the potential for infinite creation.
The central problem with #Ethersec and any “Quantum Protest” is that many outside of true believers probably don’t see their actions as affecting this reality. And no matter what people may claim, saying that truly believing in something is the essence of that system’s power, and that if you don’t then it doesn’t work, isn’t a viable solution to the problems at hand.
Still, as we come full-circle (after all, life itself can seem an infinite loop), as Adbusters release their 100th issue, that issue is dedicated to the spiritual insurgency of people around the world. Ideas spread like electricity.
For this global revolution to survive, we must remain positive. Ours should be a happy rebellion, one of dancing and art; not naive, but ultimately optimistic. If we can’t rejoice in our transformation as a society, then what are we struggling to achieve? And if #EtherSec, or any other movement, can help individuals retain their optimism and keep alive the idea that together the world can be radically transformed for the better, then it is probably a positive movement.
Remember, a spiritual transformation is an individual movement. Don’t believe outright – research, test, come to your own conclusions. Be skeptical. All Gods are false gods, even ourselves. Think like a scientist, love like a monk. We all have to find our way, but we’re still all in this together. One relatively tiny blue dot in the vastness of space. We must thrive together, or die alone.
#F29 – Disrupt ALEC corporations.
5.19.12 – Occupy the G8 & NATO summit in Chicago.
Stay safe. Stay strong.
