Ghostdance Shaman Process: More On Civil Disobedience Chapter 1 part 4 (of 5)

George Tuska? Sep 1952 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Criminal Healing

Criminal industries include marijuana, cocaine and heroin, hallucinogens, street drugs, gambling, prostitution, intellectual piracy and sexual predation. In examination we find that the good is sometimes not so good and, while some things are always bad, still they seem to ease suffering. Next we will consider our means of criminal healing.

Gilbert Shelton/Dave Sheridan May 1977 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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The Mighty Weed

Marijuana is a mighty weed. It induces an elevated mind without clouding it and induces compassion and good feelings in people who smoke it. It is beneficial to people who experience pain and nausea due to medical conditions. Although many become addicted, the effects of addiction are slight and primarily financial due to its criminal procurement. Few addicts are driven to steal to get it, and these few are invariably young and undeveloped personalities. Marijuana may cause some reduction in short-term memory, may nauseate some users, and of course smoking is always risky. The seeds and stalks of the marijuana (Hemp) plant can be used in the manufacture of valuable oil, fabric and paper, which cannot be exploited because of political reasons.

Marvin Bradley/Frank Edgington Apr 1952 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Cocaine and Heroin

Cocaine and heroin are the two most powerful drugs that we commonly prescribe for ourselves. They are potent narcotics which simulate an elevated mind but with terrible mental and physical consequences. Beyond physical addiction these drugs induce perilous reductions in ethical concern and reason. People who use these drugs will steal from you, lie to you, cheat you and may conceiveably kill you. If you use these drugs and have continuous problems in your life, you will solve them substantially if you stop.

Jim Mitchell Summer 1970 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Hallucinogens

Mushrooms, peyote and LSD are hallucinogens. Hallucinogens are drugs that bring the mind to a hyper-elevated state. Known throughout recorded history they have been used to collect, assimilate and to comprehend human experience in order to understand and express it. The effects of hallucinogens are the operation of one’s brain at a more advanced level than is maintained in life. Side effects include a state of well being, mental hallucinations, generally in the nature of projected lines, patterns and colors and never in my research in the form of pictures or communications. Also physical sensations, which I theorize, are the brain connecting with the body in ways we aren’t normally attuned to. Hallucinogens can also cause nausea and mental discomfort.

Jay Lynch August 1979 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Street Drugs

Pills, inhalants and stimulants are usually products developed for one purpose which people find that they enjoy using to get high. They are always self prescribed for fun, usually by young people who can’t afford better drugs. These drugs are never beneficial and always dangerous for their users.

Jack Kirby Feb 1948 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Gambling

Love of gambling is less about money than about gratification. The thrill of risk, the prospect of reward, the fun of play and the challenge of calculating the odds all play a role in addicting us to gambling. Life is a gamble, and we take chances every day. Gambling occasionally at low stakes may teach us valuable lessons of calculation, bluff and accepting the turns of fortune. Wagering amounts of money which are significant to your income and which interfere with your responsibilities on games of chance is foolish, and if continued will inevitably bring loss, hardship and distress to yourself and your family. The thrill of occasional windfalls blinds us to the costs of our gambling and blurs accounts of wins and losses. As detrimental as gambling may be it eases some people’s suffering and is a matter for free will to decide.

Matt Baker 1948 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Prostitution

Sadly some human beings find themselves with no other commodity than their body and their favors. Some enter politics and others are consigned to prostitution. Each occupation is similar in many respects but in this section I will deal only with prostitution. A courtesan sells her whole person, or at least a product reflecting her personality. Johns engage a courtesan for her sexual favors of course but at root they are easing their suffering from infinite causes. A lively, intelligent and personable courtesan can inspire elevation of mind with her personality as well as with her physical favors. Such prostitutes are generally prosperous but are constantly in danger of disease and violence. As the circumstances of a prostitute are reduced to simple sex for hire her threat from disease and danger increases tremendously and her free will is compromised. She must seek protection and in doing so becomes, in effect, someone else’s property. A prostitute deserves compassion, fair compensation, educational opportunities and personality development, by which she may transcend or excel in her occupation.

Bernard Krigstein Sep 1954 © Respective copyright/trademark holders.

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Intellectual Piracy

Intellectual piracy is the kind of problem they should all be, small and easily solvable. That it exists presupposes that many many people want to consume an artist’s product but are unable or unwilling to buy it legally. The key to reducing this piracy is to bring people an understanding of the concept of intellectual property and the reasons why its protection is important to everyone.

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You Can Too

The book or story or poem or research that you write, the music that you create, The pictures you paint, the movie you produce, the product you invent, the drug you develop and the software you design are all examples of intellectual property. You own all rights to them inherently, except those you choose to relinquish for purposes of creating, packaging and marketing them. This recognition of their status as private property, and our government’s duty to protect private property, gives incentive for the labor and devotion required to create intellectual property.

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Vendors Beware

Intellectual and artistic development is the path to prosperity for most people. Intellectual property is protected by copyrights, trademarks and patents that are legal means of recording and reserving your property rights. Ethical people who understand those rights do not buy bootlegs. Bootleg properties are usually marketed in obscure locations to random customers who are generally unaware that they are buying an inferior product. Bootlegs are most often purchases of opportunity because establishments that deal in them are subject to confiscation and civil penalties. Producers and vendors each make only small money really, although the totals can be enormous, and their lack of ethics prevent their business from expanding and growing.

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Ethical Uses of Intellectual Property

What are the ethical uses of copyrighted property? Of course we may enjoy it and profit by its insights and practical qualities. For example we may take a copyrighted image, paint a picture of it, and even an indistinguishable painting. This painting becomes our intellectual property that we may sell for any purpose someone will buy it. Its publication and concerted marketing may be problematic, and bring legal action, but sufficient financial expenditure on legal defense may uphold this right. This demonstrates the reality of intellectual piracy. If you take a little bit of another artist’s work to learn from it it is entirely ethical and permissible. If you can make a little money from it it is a fine thing and you should be grateful to the artist who inspired you and acknowledge her. If you make a lot of money from another artist’s work you must acknowledge and compensate her.

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Sexual Predation

Sexual predation is the crime most to be deplored because it carries the deepest and most damaging violation of personal liberty short of murder. Sexual predators suffer from obsession. Obsessions to dominate, control and degrade their victims. These people suprisingly are often individuals of elevated personality but their ethics are confused, confounded or overtaken by their obsession. Although compassion for the predator allows us to understand her, it must be directed toward her past and future victims. Sexual predators must be removed from society. Twenty years of incarceration at structured labor in a setting of simplicity and compassion may turn a predator into an enlightened human being.

Ghostdance Shaman Process

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

More On Civil Disobedience Chapter 1 part 4 (of 5)