Communities of Critical Thinkers: The Manchurian Candidate

 “Major Marco” (Denzel in The Manchurian Candidate 2004) had a palpable feeling that something wasn’t right. His internal in-congruence kept him pushing despite his seemingly preposterous claims. He along with others in his platoon knew they were crazy. Our challenge is to turn our internal everyday incongruities into a search for answers. “Who are we going to believe” — to paraphrase Groucho Marks — what we are being fed through a stream of messages or our internal incongruities. I hear more and more people saying: “Something is not right.” To pull a quote from, the movie, “Network:” They are mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore. This is a small, subtle and quite “resistance” taking place. I don’t know whether these “points of light” will form a laser-like force to bring about broader change. I’m not in the prediction business. What I do know is folks who are gathering as communities of critical thinkers are in the words of Dick Gregory, aware of the “Okie Doke” (the mental conditioning, the brainwashing) that keeps them and us from focusing on what’s important. Let me try my hand at crafting a Gregory-ism: They are staying woke to avoid the Okie Doke.kk