I have been a 'die-hard metal fan', as
they call the kind of folks that bang their heads at the thrashing
beat of drums and screeching sounds of guitars, a guy who, like all
the other die-hard metal fans, used to say, “I don't give a shit
what people think. I really couldn't care less.”
Well, I was lying.
Of course I cared! That's the whole
point of being a die-hard metal fan. You yearn to be other than the
others, you want to show off your freedom to all those sheeple out
there who don't dare to bleat. You want to be seen.
So I was lying; I did care, and I was
wrong about my perceived liberty, too, as I know now. Being different, as well, is not the desirable thing I thought it was. There are no sheeple. Or rather, all of us are sheeple, the lifestock of the 1%, and each living being deserves getting cared about in kinder ways than rejection as an 'other'.
Caring is the point of being an
activist. Because, if you didn't give a damn you wouldn't be out
there risking your reputation, your job, or, for some of you, even
your life. Yes, you want to make a difference, physically. And then
you want for that difference to take roots in the collective
consciousness, you want for it to persist and have a lasting impact;
you wish for people to finally wake up to what you can see so
clearly.
Yet, to get to the point where you can
see so clearly what most others don't, you must have significantly
reduced caring about mainstream opinions, and that means, you let go
of wanting to be an acknowledged, highly valued member of society.
Because the very moment you start to deviate from their kind of truth
you are on your way out.
From this perspective, a quote from one
of Richard Bach's novels makes a lot of sense:
"Well, what's wrong with losing ninety percent of my audience? What's wrong with losing ALL my audience? I know what I know and I talk what I talk! And if that's wrong then that's just too bad." --Richard Bach
In
the end, as
an author, you
are writing for the sake of truth as such. You are writing
in support of those who already understand the truth you tell, the
ones who need support with staying strong and sane in an ocean of
falsehood.
You are writing for the ones you care about. You
are writing for whom and what you love.
Hell,
does it make a difference! It makes an infinitely greater difference
than voting for the right guy or buying from a green shop.
So let's care. Let's care a lot! Let's
care about our friends and neighbours, about the toads, the grass,
the cockroaches, the sky, and the creek. Let's care about truth.
Truth is not depending on a democratic
majority, or anybody else but its speaker at all. Let truth be told, no
matter what. You don't know what else to say. A certain way along the
path, you cannot stand anything but the truth; no matter how small
the deviation, you cringe under the slightest of falsehoods, and you
would rather be dead than contributing to the big lie that is our
culture. This is how much you care.
You'd rather be dead.
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