They And Them: Part II

So, how do people get trained like a dog or a monkey?

It's actually relatively simple. A pattern is established. A routine. Over a period of time, a predictable behavior system of stimulus and response will emerge. This is called Classical Conditioning, or Pavlovian Conditioning (Pavlov's Dog).

If one does not achieve desired results with Classical Conditioning, then Operant Conditioning is resorted to. This is the reward and punishment system.

Discussions and arguments of Mankind's base nature have raged for centuries. Some opining that man is inherently Evil, and others that man is inherently Good. What most fail to realize is that they're not arguing about humans. What they're arguing about is a system. And that system is rigged by various conditioning mechanisms.

Need proof? Take a bunch of three year olds from various races, socio-economic levels, ethnicities and whatever division you want to add. Throw them on a playground. What happens when there is minimal supervision?  Now bear in mind that these kids have a fairly well developed sense of "self" and their wants and needs.  There's some squabbling and maybe some half-hearted mutual combat that may happen. Maybe someone is "mean" and the other kids don't want to play with him or her.

At the end of the day, how many corpses are you pulling off the playground?

Bear in mind three year old kids are quite capable of killing in defense of their resources.

What happens when you put that same bunch of three year old kids back on the playground the next day? How many grudges are held? Does what ever small scale physical violence that happened the previous day immediately resume? Is there escalation, an arms race e.g. baseball bats being swung with abandon and jump ropes used as flails? Is the "mean" kid more amenable to behaving well because they just don't want to be left out?

So, what separates those kids from adults?

Conditioning.

Now to be quite frank, there are several differing accounts of Christ's activities, his trial and death. Some are radically different from what we see included in the New Testament. What is written below is based upon what is widely accepted by the modern Christian community as being true. It's just a different take on what modern Christians, and those familiar with modern Christianity, are conditioned to accept. So, please if you want to argue historical facts, and interpretations, lost writings, etc. This isn't the place. I just want people to look at what they've been conditioned to accept in a different light.

In Western Society, the Church reigned supreme for a very long time. The people who ran the Church had an agenda.

Now bear in mind that the Church came into being AFTER Christ was born and had been murdered. That's right. He didn't die. He was murdered.

You're always told He died. Most people confronted with an injustice, especially one as big as murder, start looking for the perpetrator. If the Good Book told you He had been murdered, as a result of a conspiracy, wouldn't you be pretty upset and look for the people responsible?

Well, like everything else, the people in charge have propagandized God's word and are using it to mislead you.

Christ had come to form a "New Covenant" as mankind had hopelessly failed at living up to God's instructions in the Old Testament. That's right kids, Big Daddy came to Earth and threw out the Old Rulebook and gave you a New Testament.

He NEVER married the two. It wasn't an addendum to a manual, a supplement to explain some difficult concept, or a tech bulletin to correct a mistake. He changed the rules.

So, why did the Church concentrate so heavily on the Old Testament? Why always drag up Leviticus? Why punish people based on a rule book that was voided by the Creator Himself?

Well, for the same reason Jesus was murdered. If you read Christ's words in the New Testament, how much Hellfire and Damnation is there? Aren't His words about tolerance, self discovery and forgiveness? If you don't believe me, go read what Jesus had to say. Don't read what people said He meant. Read His words and lean on your own understanding.

You can't control a population if you can't condition them or threaten them, now can you?

Jesus was a radical. He threatened a very cozy system that had a very few people at the top very wealthy and very influential. They didn't have to work in the fields, bake their bread, or weave their own garments. Other more common people did that for them because without those people at the top, the common people believed they would be punished by God. So they toiled and died in service to those who served as gatekeepers to the Almighty.

Who told the common people they would be punished by God?

Why, the people at the top. Convenient, isn't it?

The Pharisees, Saducees and Essenes didn't get along that well. They're mentioned quite a bit in the New Testament, but many don't realize that these groups were not just Jewish sects, but rival POLITICAL PARTIES. The Essenes were friendly to Jesus.

The Pharisees and Sanducess kind of ignored Jesus initially, until He went all kung-fu on the money changers in the Temple. The Temple also served as a Roman central bank, which was offensive to the Jews at the time. You read that Christ kicked the money changers out of the Temple, but some accounts have Him wielding a Staff like Bruce Lee and beating the tar out of those nasty bankers.  Go Baby Jesus!

Well, by now Jesus is starting to piss off a few people. The Temple stunt had strained relations between the Romans and their collaborators in the Jewish government. Telling people to sell their cloaks and buy swords alarmed the Romans and the Jewish Elite. Performing miracles with out the priests being present to exact a fee. Challenging the exalted place of the leaders of the Jews. Drawing attention to them as ineffectual and vain. He was seen with the most unsavory characters; the prostitutes, the beggars, the drunkards, the diseased and the insane. These people were examples of what GOD would do to you if you did not obey! How dare He redeem them?

The leadership was grumbling because more people were starting to listen to Him. People had been distracted by the posturings of the Hellenistic Saducees (wanted to adopt Greek thought and teaching), the Mosaic Pharisees (wanted to keep Jews Jewish) and the Essenes (dope smoking communal hippie Jews), mostly ignoring their Roman occupiers. After He cost the ruling class some serious dough by cutting off their Temple extortion scheme, well...something had to be done.

After an extensive campaign of propaganda, attempts to put Jesus at odds with the Roman authority directly (Render unto Caesar.....), bribery, a show trial, and leaving the Romans holding the bag for nailing Jesus to a tree, the Pharisees and Saducees went back to lining their pockets and controlling the people.

Several years later, in Rome....

A new King from Serbia, an a astute and shrewd student of Roman history, has taken notice of how effectively the Jews controlled their own population. Rome received its remuneration on time. The garrison forces weren't under constant attack like in other parts of the Empire. Oh, a war had happened because of the Zealots (another newer Jewish sect) and a minor rebellion followed. We had to punish them by knocking down the Temple, but all, in all the Saducees have done well in maintaining order and the flow of wealth. Some of the problems had been exacerbated by Pilate and others, but we exiled them. Maybe the Greek model of thought isn't so good. Sure people are compliant because they have plenty of food, drink, entertainment and sex...but it is expensive, and they aren't really controlled. They're more distracted.

This guy Jesus even did Rome a favor by telling the Jews to pay their taxes. Constantine thought, "Maybe I should learn more about this God of the Jews."

*hint - look at the reflection of American foreign policy, and American lifestyle, in the above two paragraphs and the apparent ascendancy of a very restrictive new (to America) religion called Islam. One that our very own little caesar is rumored to follow. I can't prove it. Just sayin'*

Watch for part III