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For awhile, after I first heard the Timothy Leary quote "Think for yourself, question authority" at the start of the live version of the Tool song "Third Eye", it became something of a mantra for me. I've been a big fan of Tool since the 90's and have seen them in concert a half dozen or so times, and their music has made a big impact on my life, especially Maynard James Keenan's lyrics.
I've always liked rebellious, in-your-face rock and metal bands. Still, one unfortunate thing I've noticed is that the bulk of those rebellious rockers of old have completely knuckled under to the bunkus media narratives being churned out by propaganda outfits. Granted, most artists and creatives in our culture are lefties... hell, I was a leftist at one point myself, before I took a look at the landscape of our time and realized that what the Left was doing just wasn't working. That was before our current level of dysfunction hit its stride and liberal governments flipped into censorious autocracies hell-bent on making people involuntarily submit to medical testing.
I occasionally lurk on a few Reddit forums, never at length, but enough to see that the Tool fans gathered in subforums there have a very dim view of anyone who thinks for themselves enough to actually question our political and institutional authorities. Most of my personal peer group, most of whom are at least casual Tool fans as well, have also done a 180 and are enthusiastically embracing groupthink and conformity.
I'm now officially on the wrong side of 40, and growing up for me was a long process. Maybe there was a bit of the puer aeternus archetype within me until recently... I didn't get a formal education or have kids until much later in life than most people do. I think it took witnessing this societal turn to finally make me finish the process of growing up. Part of that process has been learning to see people more as they are, rather than as they proclaim themselves to be. That includes friends and family who claimed to be in favor of free speech, freedom of thought, and bodily autonomy, who turned out to be in favor of exactly none of those when they felt threatened by people who tried to exercise those rights.
I'm not really sure where the members of Tool stand on forcible vaccination, censorship, and authoritarianism these days. I haven't really looked into it, because I'm not sure I want to know. I guess it doesn't really matter. I got the message they were sending back in the day. I try to live it now, because I still think it's important.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
I've always liked rebellious, in-your-face rock and metal bands. Still, one unfortunate thing I've noticed is that the bulk of those rebellious rockers of old have completely knuckled under to the bunkus media narratives being churned out by propaganda outfits. Granted, most artists and creatives in our culture are lefties... hell, I was a leftist at one point myself, before I took a look at the landscape of our time and realized that what the Left was doing just wasn't working. That was before our current level of dysfunction hit its stride and liberal governments flipped into censorious autocracies hell-bent on making people involuntarily submit to medical testing.
I occasionally lurk on a few Reddit forums, never at length, but enough to see that the Tool fans gathered in subforums there have a very dim view of anyone who thinks for themselves enough to actually question our political and institutional authorities. Most of my personal peer group, most of whom are at least casual Tool fans as well, have also done a 180 and are enthusiastically embracing groupthink and conformity.
I'm now officially on the wrong side of 40, and growing up for me was a long process. Maybe there was a bit of the puer aeternus archetype within me until recently... I didn't get a formal education or have kids until much later in life than most people do. I think it took witnessing this societal turn to finally make me finish the process of growing up. Part of that process has been learning to see people more as they are, rather than as they proclaim themselves to be. That includes friends and family who claimed to be in favor of free speech, freedom of thought, and bodily autonomy, who turned out to be in favor of exactly none of those when they felt threatened by people who tried to exercise those rights.
I'm not really sure where the members of Tool stand on forcible vaccination, censorship, and authoritarianism these days. I haven't really looked into it, because I'm not sure I want to know. I guess it doesn't really matter. I got the message they were sending back in the day. I try to live it now, because I still think it's important.
Think for yourself. Question authority.