The State Of Mankind Address

By John Altmann

As Thomas Paine once famously said when the American Revolution was against the ropes by

the tyranny of the English Crown, “These are the times that try men's souls.” I believe this quote

encompasses our current state of affairs perfectly. We are dealing with a government whose corruption

knows no bounds. It preaches freedom for the common man and in that same breath restricts him to a

two party system. These two parties are not Republican and Democrat but rather, a musket in the mouth

or a knife to the back. In the minds of our leaders they assert not that all men were created equal but

that some men are more equal than others. We have an economy that is in shambles because our

currency has become meaningless and would be better relegated to serve alongside firewood. Men and

women investing so many years of their livelihood for the promise of future financial security when

they would need it most now find themselves severed from that dream and have now found

companionship with uncertainty and it is a most arduous relationship. We are waging wars whose

foundation is a pipe dream. Democracy was once an idea that carried with it a great fervor of pride and

hope, it has since been reduced by our tyrants to a mere propaganda tool to send the brave and idealistic

to their grave. While they spill their blood on the soil of another here at home I see my brethren ripping

each others throats out in conflicts of ideology. The Christian burns at the stake the homosexual and the

Atheist in turn, strangles the Christian with his very entrails. Meanwhile a deeper dichotomy is being

created by the conflict of political affiliations. There are indeed those who enjoy living with the musket

in their mouth or the knife in the back unaware of their own enslavement. The worst offense these eyes

have seen however is something most detestable. The decline of our very species from a rational and

intelligent race whose faculties were capable of compassion and empathy to something on par with

beasts in the field. Our ire is raised more when a store runs out of Apple iPhones than when a bill such

as NDAA finds its way through Congress. I have seen people revert to a primitive state with great

violence trampling their brethren to acquire a pair of sneakers simply because they are Air Jordans.

Such consumerism at the price of depravity will be our undoing. Our social evolution is deteriorating

and our tyrant knows it. His is the shark that smells our blood being spilled and he grins for he never

had to lift a finger. Our nation whether the people believe it or not is going through an existential crisis.

The once proud land that made such proclamations as: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all

men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that

among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”, “Give me your tired, your poor, your

huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”, and "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing

invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right,

it is their duty, to throw off such Government.” We have forsaken these very sentiments and with that

came the renunciation of our very identity. I once believed that the true nature of existence was that

there was no nature to speak of. It was a state of consciousness that was utterly meaningless because no

matter the wealth one accumulated or the poverty one was stricken with, no matter the diseases one

cured or the illnesses one found themselves afflicted, that death was the common thread and equalizer

of all man. While I still echo the very last sentiment of my revelation I realize that I had made a most

egregious error. Man alone as well as the collective force of Mankind has one great destiny awaiting it.

That destiny is the very preservation and progression of our race and the land we inhabit. Right now we

are in a state of bondage not just thanks to our oppressive Masters whose greasy handshakes and shark

smiles leave us repulsed but also thanks to our ignorance of one another as well as our sense of

entitlement to be self indulgent. We no longer communicate with each other as brothers and sisters. On

this great planet of ours resides well over six billion other planets forged by the minds of Earth's

inhabitants each of which only has a population of one. That one being the planet's very creator

themselves. For a lack of poetic speech, we are a self absorbed species. When we are roaming crowded

streets and we bump into the shoulder of another, we respond with a cold indifference. Let us rewind

moments such as these and play them back and when we bump our brother's shoulder again do not

walk away from him nor let him elude you. Stop him and with a great compassion look him in the eyes

and understand him. Know that he too has a pulse that is strong with convictions and ideas and let him

know that he is not alone. For when I speak of crowded streets I mean not those of New York or

California fame. I speak of the roads of humanity and ideology. When the Atheist has a collision with

the Protestant the Protestant should not answer the Atheist with vile curses of Hell and damnation nor

should the Atheist answer the Protestant with mockery of an over inflated imagination. Such dialogues

produce no capital and the bill that gets footed from such talk is bedlam and blood. I myself am a

devout Atheist who sees God as a hindrance to any and all institutions of intellect. I see God as an

oppressor of Reason and I would not mourn the very exorcism of God from State were it to occur

tomorrow. Such sentiments do not mean however that I damn those who oppose my philosophy. My

grandmother holds fast and tight to her Blessed Mother and her and I have had many a conversation

revolving around this subject matter. The end result of these conversations has always been the same, a

deeper connection with each other about what ideas define us. There are no curses thrown one way or

another, no hands raised to suffocate one's passion, not even the slightest raise of voice occurs. Though

certainly our humble abode and what goes on within it is nothing compared to the conflicts our world

faces the idea is the moral can be magnified. Humanity is capable of cohesion and progress our

evolution both scientifically and socially speaking has not even begun. We have isolated ourselves and

have become threatened by the mere gaze of another. As John Donne once eloquently said “No man is

an island.” We saw fit to prove Donne wrong and you need only your eyes to see the sum of such

efforts. We are more than capable of governing ourselves and the island known as America.

Government has proven to be nothing but a manifestation of corruption and greed whose sustenance is

the labor and free will of its people. It upholds the Taoist idea of government that says “Keep the minds

empty and the bellies full.” In the same vein it scoffs at the Aristotelian ideal of government that the

purpose of public office should be the pursuit and cultivation of good virtues. We as a people who

though are not equal to one another by mind or muscle, or by economic or social status are equal in

something of far greater value. We are equal by our inalienable rights and by our power as an

evolutionary creature to reason. Such a power is a threat to the tyrant, they would love nothing more

than for the whole lot of us to renounce our minds, for us to just readily accept that A=A without

question. Unfortunately it has succeeded in that venture with some, for some take greater comfort in a

full belly than a sharp mind. Such individuals will smile upon the intrusion of a soldier in their quarters

so long as they have the latest advances in electronics to consume. Such realities however must not be

validated by defining our fate as a people. No matter what disparities may occur between us in regards

to religion, economic standing, education or ideologies pertaining to morality, politics, etc, I know in

my heart and in the deepest recesses of my soul that we can stand united in the face of atrocities

perpetrated unto us. Such unity was how we became emancipated from the Crown of England. Such

solidarity saw the fall of the monstrosity of Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers. I am calling upon that

power again. We can restore our race to glory and start the world anew. We can stand firm in the face of

our totalitarian state and win. The common man may feel utterly powerless but what we fail to

recognize is that we hold the power our Masters fear most. We have the power to start the world over

again. I am calling for a rebirth of intellect and reason. We must all do our part to educate ourselves on

everything around us and to question everything. All our government and its companions such as

Academia have done is spoon feed us knowledge that THEY have defined as vital to survival and

success. We have become complacent feeding on the carcasses that are the philosophies of our

predecessors from the East and West. I am a proud philosopher, I fully acknowledge the contributions

and strides in the fields of knowledge from the likes of Karl Popper, to Plato, all the way to Rene

Descartes. The buck however stops at my acknowledgment, I know that while what those minds did

was great the minds of today and tomorrow can awaken philosophy as well as thought and the world

itself from its slumber. Let us stop regurgitating history and take up arms in the pursuit of making it. I

call not just for an awakening of thought and reason but also an awakening in passion and

responsibility. Look upon your Earth with open eyes and detach yourself from your consumption.

Apathy has a vice grip on our throat and its strangulation has rendered us unmoving to the crises we

face. The winds of oppression and ignorance have left the world and its spirits in shambles. Though

such a declaration be true today that does not have to be the reality of those who come after us. As I

have said the common man possesses the power which is feared most by our dictators, the ability to

create a better world and begin anew. Let it be a world forged from the brow of honest and gritty labor.

Let it be a world whose people need not be faced with a grave precipice to be united in the idea of

liberty and prosperity. Let it be a world where the mind is celebrated and not castigated. Let it be a

world where the only thing broken between Christians and Atheists, or Blacks and Whites,

Homosexuals and Heterosexuals, etc is bread. Lastly and most significantly, Let it be a world where the

only governments that exist are ones of autonomy and where a man upholds himself by his own laws

and not the laws of another. At the end of the day no matter what mask we dawn upon our faces we are

all human beings. Human beings whose greatest error was letting religion, politics, and the like go

beyond being ideologies we once held and could share to dichotomies that are tainting the fabric of our

world as we know it. I am but a simple man, a philosopher who is determined to bring about a

resurrection of intellect. I cannot achieve this world alone. To every person who is sick of waiting for

better days and brighter tomorrows, to every person who is repulsed at the sights of the world, to every

person who champions reason and communication, cohesion and compassion, let us take back the

world. This will not be a Utopia understand. Famine and disease, bloodshed and evil will never truly be

exorcised in my humble view. That being said, that does not mean we should ever rest on our laurels

when injustices run rampant. We are giving future generations two gifts far greater than a Utopia. The

first gift is a truth they will hold tight lest they repeat our missteps: Satisfaction is the end of desire.

The second gift is a weapon greater than any bomb or tank and has the potential to level nations and

their governments. That gift is the promise of tomorrow. What they do with that gift will be by their

hands and minds alone. Now I shall end this piece with an adage that is timeless and one that as the

year goes by the truth that it bears only develops a louder and louder ring: Together we stand divided

we fall.