Elysium. The Hunger Games. Equals ... Fine Features I Must Say, But What Were We Digesting?

Opening point: This will not contain detailed plot discussions. I will assume you have seen all three movies.

Opening suggestion: Come in having watched all three movies. Simple enough

I'll tell what you are digesting while watching the trio of Elysium, The Hunger Games and Equals. Tasty portions of your future. I would say you should wake the f$%k up, but most of you won't. Your actual ignorance, your willful ignorance, lack of thoughtful time, lack of worldly experience, lack of "productive" advanced education, lack of common sense, lack of necessary critical thinking, your trust of the media, your mistrust of the media, your epic levels of narcissism... or the combo platter of these priors mentioned, put you in that position. Back when I was a little tyke and saw wild movies like Logan's Run, Rollerball and Phantasm, the plots and atmospheres seemed so over the top and unattainable during any time stamp in our lifetimes. It was the equivalent of seeing a sasquatch or unicorn. That could never happen. When I watched Elysium, Hunger Games and Equals, I definitely saw an easily attainable society, the way things are presently headed, the way people are thinking (or not thinking one could also say), what is being permitted, what is being controlled and the ones steering the ships. (Ok, you can pull Phantasm out of the dialogue at this point. Throwing out some wit, although I do hope you were paying attention. I did love that movie. That's no lie. Maybe some of you don't know it, and that would be sad. Last gasp of humor before the upcoming head slaps). Let's start by running through the films du jour. They all take us into the future, of course

Elysium drops us into the year 2154, and they have some serious AI all up in your face, along with a very finite class differential of the haves and have-nots. Corporatocracy is running the world and there is zero ability of the regular citizens to legally defend themselves (yes, we're talking guns my friends). Lastly, there exists no legitimate media to impartially inform their world of any fair and productive information. This all taking place while the Earth is greatly deteriorating. Take away the alternate space station scenario, housing the elites outside of Earth ... put them in specifically guarded and groomed areas of civilization instead ... and what have I said that you can't slowly see either happening, shifting, increasing or being consistently lobbied in our reality?

Now we have The Hunger Games. This is consistently described as "futuristic" or a "dystopian future". It displays an immediate world made up of 13 districts (let's call them cities inside a country) with no freedom of speech/expression against the government, barred from any formal weaponry as defense, the elites completely separated from the lower-level population and once again, no legitimate media to impartially inform humanity of the rightful news. Take away the children fighting to the death scenario, and what have I said that you can't slowly see either happening, shifting, increasing or being consistently lobbied in our reality?

Time for the triple-shot movie closer! Isn't this exciting? Now entering the field, the court, the rink, the pitch, the ring, the course, the rodeo chute or the dinner table, we have Equals. Yep, it's officially futuristic and dystopian in depiction and nature. What disturbing portrayals, imagery and discourse emerged from this piece of art, attempting to display the mega-antiseptic utopia? For starters, 100% complete government control over your entire everyday wants and needs. Removed from daily life would be freedom of speech but even more so, freedom of expression. This is to the point of extreme suppression of emotion. Toss in one nasty dose of group-think that rises to the level of what we define as mob mentality. You have the privilege of going about your days being concerned if your own citizens will report you to the authorities for possible misdeeds, feeling it's their required duty for the masters. In the mix, there is the looming threat of forced "correctional" medication upon anyone, for a "supposed" syndrome determined by the government powers that be. Also, there are no rights or capability to physically defend oneself. Oh, and hey, here it comes around the corner again... that's right, no legitimate media to impartially inform the public of anything outside of their human programming. Let's just re-name this movie applying the words "mental torture" somewhere in the finality. Take away the complete suppression of emotion, and what have I said that you can't slowly see either happening, shifting, increasing or being consistently lobbied in our reality?

Now that these films just purged their inner selves on us, let me ask some basics. Ever read an American history book? Ever read a world history book? Ever study any history... or psychology, civics, political science, sociology, economics or socio-economics? Ever just perform a solid analysis of your past and the environment that's surrounded you during your time on Earth? Simple concepts such as choices and consequences, cause and effect, probability and outcome, yin and yang, etc.? Well, if you did AND you did a bang-up job with the tasks at hand, you should be able to interpret what has been going on around you, from both a localized and worldly perspective. Issues that include culture(s), politics, sociology, mass psychology and one of the most crucial life-evolutions called desensitization. We'll get back to that soon enough.

THE HISTORY PARAGRAPH IN BOLD (Important: Refer back to the History Paragraph as you read the material beyond)

History has shown us that human beings in power are wired to be corrupt when going unchecked. Take note of the tried-and-true saying, from the old-timey British historian, Lord Acton, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." History has additionally provided that "there are no safeguards in human nature. We're wired to overreach. Look at human history" (Footnote: Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra in "Limitless"). History coming from Winston Churchill in one line ... “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ... yes, I know it's revised from decades earlier. Several years ago, a high-level CIA operative or director once stated on the record that the #1 way to break down a society is to have them lose complete trust in their media. Apologies for not knowing the exact representative, but the information is trustworthy, and I stand by it. Now we can combine that brief historical gauntlet with these movies and our future. Right on!

For roughly the past 7-8 years, some of the biggest forms of social communication in the world we call social media, including Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok have been consistently removing dissenting opinions (to one side of the discussion, party of the government and specific elites). In addition to that, they have also been secretly blocking friends and followers of individuals, organizations and businesses (with dissenting opinions to one side of the discussion, party of the government and specific elites). There is a plethora of indisputable evidence in addition to physical piles of proof, so let's not waste time being disingenuous. I think we can call this the removal of freedom of speech/expression. Yeah, that would be appropriate in any rule book.

One could say that for the past 100+ years, the international monetary system has been completely controlled by a handful of people, but what we've witnessed for decades is massive corporate control over the comings, goings and abilities to utilize our money. How our humankind spends it, invests it keeps it and determines its value is almost definitively controlled by four entitles: Black Rock, State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, and FMR. It could be stated in high confidence that no legal money moves anywhere in most of the world without them directly or indirectly influencing it. With so much financial authority concentrated in so little corporate airspace, they control everything from our governments (yes, plural) to our daily social lives. It stretches that far. Let's call this massive corporate control.

Sure, the functional gun control debate and actions have technically been in existence for almost 90 years, but the subject has been heightened to a heart pounding level over the past 20 years. "Take away assault weapons" they say. By the way, there is no such thing as an assault weapon. That is an ambiguous term, and they want that ambiguity for future use, future leverage. Anyway, there is a continuous aggressive push for this, and it would include all semi-automatic weapons. Over half the guns in the U.S alone are semi-automatic, including most handguns. That would be a jaw-dropping situation. The title of this sucker should obviously be gun control, but let's put it out there as GUN CONTROL.

Here we have something quick, but appropriate, and it's the topic of AI - Artificial Intelligence. You no longer hear about it. You are now seeing it. It's going to land in both the free market and government, and guess what? ... they will all be programmed by the elites. That would be the individuals with all the power and money and POWER. You think that will be an issue? Nah! This one is easy. It's labeled artificial intelligence.

Time for the big boy, and here it comes, drumroll please ...... THE NETWORK MEDIA PRESS! Ahh, one part of our world that has deteriorated into ratings over journalism and truth. This vital corner of our existence has shown itself to be brutally biased, and unquestionably entrenched in a one-sided or one-party direction. This press, which houses journalists, is supposed to act in the best interests of the public as gatekeepers of truth vs. corruption. Hell, they don't even have to throw out viable information or real statistics anymore. Who will research? Who will know? For good reason, the overall trust in the press is at its lowest in history. Here we have deteriorating network media press.

So, let's rehash the universal foundations of our movies here: Elysium, The Hunger Games and Equals. Between all three societies, we have the removal of ... 1) free speech/expression ... 2) guns as a means of the basic population's self-defense, and ... 3) fair and impartial media press/journalism. We also have a nice recipe of corporations not just pulling the strings of the government, but owning them. In addition, we observe the elites knowingly and unknowingly taunting the non-elites from up in their untouchable perches. Parachute drop our favorite new topic called artificial intelligence, controlled and operated by corporations, government and those darn elites, and we've completed the circle. I have one question. Do you see or feel where I am coming from, or do you need a Cracker Jack decoder ring?

The universe can say, "ya' know, this type of stuff has been going on for years, and we're still ok." The difference is now everybody can see IT and hear IT and SHOULD see IT and hear IT. Transparency is at its most maximum level. The government, big business and the elites establish their side and lay the hammer down on the lower-level opposition. The hammer can be hard, as in, go here and go there or do this or do that ... or else. The soft hammer is completely psychological, like a nice slow brainwashing. With the brainwashing, it involves our term from earlier, and that is desensitization. Desensitization has existed since the beginning of time in every facet of our lives. (Definition: the process of causing someone to experience something, usually an emotion or a pain, less strongly than before). Desensitization is the cause of countless modifications in our civilization. Examples: Starting with just the U.S., why have we seen women in thong bikinis since the 1990s, but not in the 1970s? We've had bikinis since the 1940s, but why not the full thong action? Why has mixed martial arts been sanctioned (and recently popular) since the mid-1990s, but not in the 1980s? Boxing has existed since the 1600s, but why was a more extreme fighting style not commercially supported? The late 1970s brought on the emergence of slasher films in the horror genre. What brought that on and where were they before then? Who do we think wore the first pair of sweatpants on an airplane, because that certainly wasn't going on in the 1950s. Lastly, there is the subject of legalized abortion in the 1970s. No explanation needed there ... We go back to the D word, desensitization. I have some news for us. That government, big business and elites we recently spoke of ... they absolutely count on the D word and utilize it to manipulate YOU! Heyyyy, why would we care about a little gun access change, or a little bias in the media, or silencing certain opinions (justifiably according to your commanders) that don't favor your own? It's all just a little bit, right? Well, until we further desensitize you later, again and again.... and then poof! We arrive on the inside of our three movies.

It's fascinating that every credible poll in existence shows that at least 75% or more of U.S. citizens do not trust all three branches of government. Still, a great deal of them vote to have more government in their lives. It's also fascinating that every credible poll in existence displays a significant majority of U.S. citizens not trusting network news media, but an abundance of them blindly follow their information with no debate whatsoever. As a society we've allowed big business to muscle the government, or maybe we secretly never had a choice. Either way, bad news for the little people. Drip drip drip... it's the D word comin' back at ya. You just expect this behavior from your rulers at this point and accept it. No problem! It's the epic "frog in the pot of boiling water". You've heard it.

Remember that utopia can't be achieved. That's why they had to come up with a word to describe that state of being. Think about it. But the powers at the top will always pitch that dream at you. They can make everything perfect for you and yours, of course. Just follow their vision of control, step by step. You want corporations, the government and the elites to own your life 100%? Combine the impending increase in globalization with a war ... an economic meltdown (sounds familiar) ... or even a pandemic (oh yeah!) ... and the takeover goes into overdrive. Memories anyone?

Sure, the culture in this column got political, but they go hand-in-hand. It's unavoidable. After banging repeatedly back and forth on many pieces of information here, it comes down to this. Communication used to occur in many forms from many directions, and it was more difficult to influence or control from the apex of the "ruling mountain". It's presently been homogenized down to pure technology and the internet. Now THAT they can completely control, and they do. Who would "they" be? THE ELITES ... and they're coming faster and harder than ever before. They arrive in all forms, prepared to tell you what to do make you do what they want.

Elysium. The Hunger Games. Equals. Watch them again. Which character will you be?