Roland Michel Tremblay

We Are the World, but do we have a conscience? I’m sure you believe we do. Sometimes though it could be opened to debate as we can easily point out many human beings, Black or White, who do not appear to have any conscience at all. Mostly politicians, religious leaders, management and all sorts of Smooth Criminals. They send us Off the Wall. Maybe none of them require a conscience to reach ultimate power and wealth. As Michael Jackson stated, They Don’t Care About Us. Is it too late to develop a conscience?

This last decade will be remembered and talked about in HIStory, perhaps as much if not more than both first world wars. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough. As we appear to have avoided another world war and another Hitler, but still, some financial sharks stole all our money and here comes a second great depression crowned with Swine Flu. This world is really sick, and there is no one left to Heal the World, now that MJ is but a corpse, Gone Too Soon.

Remember the Time. The months leading to the last American presidential elections last year were frantic, we all went wild fighting, to do anything to stop what we thought was happening, the worst case scenario for humanity. And we said things that today certainly could appear quite extreme. What a Thriller. This Time Around we have calmed down, we have the time to reflect on this period, and we wonder: what happened, or more exactly, what is it that we were actually fighting against, and Why?

I just watched a powerful film called “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” with Maggie Smith (1969), where a teacher with fascist tendencies from Edinburgh led one of her students to her death in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and still could not see what she had done. And now I am wondering, what is it again that we all wrote and said while we were in the thick of it last year, and what exactly were the consequences of such fuelled political discourses? It gives me Butterflies.

To be honest I am a bit afraid to read again all those articles I have written in the last two years, I’m hoping I was not as extreme as I remember. Ain't No Sunshine. I hope there has not been any consequence to what I felt at the time was like entertainment and fun, for me anyway, as I never took myself that seriously in the first place. It was Just a Little Bit of You reflected back.

Farewell My Summer Love. Have I caused the death of anyone in the last year through writing inflaming stuff in the heat of the moment? It does not really matter, or does it? Should one only write about peace and love, beauty and truth, morale and ethical things, Michael Jackson’s stuff? Leave Me Alone!

The elevator for the heavens just arrived on the ground floor with one apple tree within, packed with the brightest flowers ever and all the saints of all souls. And the smell… as divine as a god itself. Are you hungry for sins or redemption? A mea culpa is bound to come in at some point, for those who still have a soul. In short, is it too late to develop a conscience? One way or another, You Can't Win.

I Wanna Be Where You Are. Some people have a conscience, it is clear, peaceful, they are generally nice people, and whether they should have a need for a conscience is a good question. We're Almost There, Happy people With a Child's Heart. Some others are cruel by nature, they could be described as monsters, and yet, they have no regret and no remorse. Can we say they have no conscience then?

So what can we make of it? Do we have a conscience or not, if many fiends can suppress it at will and act as if they had none? Who needs a conscience in this world anyway? We all know god never existed, or is long dead by now. I wonder, or am I jumping the gun? The very one pointed at your head, forcing you to believe, to be what you are not and will never be. Faith is everything nowadays, as it always was, at gunpoint.

It seems to me that the only ones who still have a conscience these days are Catholics, Come Together right now all over me, and I am not talking about their religious leaders. I’m joking of course, as I always did, but it leads to what I want to say. It seems to me that people only have a conscience if it has been pre-programmed in their mind, whether as a child or at some turning point in their life, most likely once they discover a rehabilitation programme, an Earth Song, or some weird religion movement along the way. You Are Not Alone.

Otherwise, what need do we have for a conscience? I feel that if we were all left to our own devices, as animals, none of us would have a conscience. Got to Be There. At that point, you can only have a conscience by convention, if we decided that somehow you should have one implanted within your mind through teachings, motherly talks, nanny states blah blah, probation officers and other methods of brainwashing. You Rock My World!

I’m afraid, I have a conscience, a powerful one too. I cannot allow myself to intentionally hurt another in any way, be it an animal, a human being or an insect (often I am unable to make the distinction between those three). What More Can I Give. I have to admit that perhaps the thought of being good would never have occurred to me if I had not been told it was wrong to be Bad.

I could have perhaps understood it by myself, witnessing how much I suffered when people hurt me badly. I may then have thought it was a Bad idea to hurt in return or to hurt others at all. HIStory and our daily existence tell us that usually if someone hurts you, you hurt them back, and even, you don’t care anymore and you can start hurting everyone else as a result, in some great chain reaction. Please, Ease on Down the Road.

I have to admit, I fought against my conscience, if only on paper. My books are filled with hurting stuff, but in real life, you would have to search deep to find any occurrence of me hurting anyone, I am such a gentle soul. Given One More Chance, I wish I had no conscience at all, it would have helped me a great deal to survive the world we live in.

And yet perhaps the Third World War will finally offer me on a platter my secret wish I can’t even admit to myself, this wish to kill people on a massive scale. Blood on the Dance Floor. To drop a nuclear bomb over a populated area and in one time swoop annihilate millions of them, I’m thinking of Iran. The Way You Make Me Feel.

I am only being ironic here in order to make a point, but it is true that in war soldiers get to love to kill, and cheer each others as they annihilate villages and entire cities. Cruelty is à l’ordre du jour. How one nuclear bomb could end this war right now, conscience is far gone then. Beat It!

Despite having written many times that I would love to eradicate millions, in order to make that same point about humanity, to show how many feel and go on to do just that, is all about how I could not even live with myself if I thought I had caused the death of one single human being, even indirectly or accidentally.

In fact, I could not live with my conscience if I had caused someone to lose his or her job. I would be a very bad manager indeed, I could not make the big decisions. I would always try to salvage it without anyone being hurt. As I am a fool, I believe I could achieve it somehow. I Just Can't Stop Loving You, and it will be my downfall.

The truth, you might not like it, but sometimes you have to make the big decisions and hurt people. Pressure from your superiors, only acceptable solution when the person is obviously highly incompetent, whatever else you could use to ease your conscience. And if you can justify it, and somehow you can always justify it, you can be as cruel as required in order to achieve whatever goal you have set for yourself or that others have set for you. Great news, you can learn to be cruel and live happily ever after with your clear conscience, as it was necessary or you had no choice, as simple as that. Another Part of Me, another part of you.

Where would this world be without a conscience? I reckon we would all be at war right now, assuming we would not have self-destruct yet. Oh, but we are at war. I can understand society, government and religions would feel it important for us all to have a conscience, and work hard building up our conscience in a way which would be acceptable to them all, bringing some sort of peace and acceptation of others, at the very least some resemblance of a tolerance. All in some sort of huge mixed messages and signals kind of machine, where being at war at the same time is normal and essential. Give in to Me.

For example, I would like to brainwash society to not only tolerate, but accept as normal that I love having sex with other men until I die under a cloud of ecstasy. In the Closet. No children will come out of this gay relationship, there is no other purpose than pleasure, though I could argue that it is a deep need for me that has to be fulfilled once in a while, or else I start thinking about suicide or shooting people.

Are you still comfortable with your conscience? Will You Be There? What about this then? I am a lazy useless human being, and the last thing I ever want to do is to get another job. I want society to support me for the rest of my life, whilst every day I go for walks with my dog, shooting myself with heroin and sometimes steal in order to support my addiction, whilst remaining as peaceful as one can hope, as far as management as possible. How do you feel about that? Jam!

How have you been programmed to react in such circumstances? What do you say to the fact that I was not only a soldier, I enjoyed killing anything that moved? I alone am responsible for killing at least 10,000 people. Make it 100,000 if you give me a bomber plane. Without regrets or remorse, I am proud of myself, I served my country as a hero.

When is it that your conscience kicks in? Why does it kick in at all? Why is it not kicking in faster than when your next door neighbour from hell gives you a hard time? When do you decide that I am a monster and that I need to be put in prison or executed? Based on what? Everything is so damn relative.

Due to brainwashing and PR campaigns, I’m not sure where any of us stand when confronted with cruelty, unacceptable behaviour and conscience. Torture, and mental Torture. Is it all just conventions, and who the hell decided any of these things in the first place? Man in the Mirror.

I hate the concept of guilt, remorse and conscience. I feel it is unnatural, that somehow it was implanted inside of me, I feel the need to fight it. Until I can be what I feel I ought to be, a cold bloody killer. Or a nice guy if I can somehow learn that I don’t like being hurt, and so I should not cause pain if I can avoid it, and I should not invent endless justifications for it. It is just not acceptable, if we want any kind of liveable society where breathing is permissible and not fired upon. Don’t let that dog foul on the pavement, it is a crime, we all know you are a criminal deep down, a Smooth Criminal.

I’m glad you have a conscience that somehow obliges you to accept me, or at least tolerate me for what I am and represent, probably the worst of humankind in your mind, just for being gay that is. Though I am not a paedophile just yet, and how you would love that, as it would be headline news worldwide, you little Dirty Diana. Well I’m not Michael Jackson, I guess no one would hear of it in my case. You’re A Vegetable! Aouh! Hee Hee Ah! Ma Ma Coo Sa! Thingy thingy thing… whatever. I can’t sing yet, but I’m working on it. I will soon make you sing to that tune, it is so catchy. This world has gone mad!

Have you ever wondered why Michael Jackson was never convicted in any Court of Law of being a paedophile? The answer is very simple, he was not. Every single one of his accusers was proven to be of bad character in Court. It tells you a lot about the world we live in, as no one has got any conscience left, desperate for any money settlement they can grab, and up here comes ultimate freedom, no matter how it was acquired. I can live with myself and what I do, can you?

I am glad I have a conscience even if I was manipulated into acquiring it. At the end of the day, as A Brand New Day, everyone deserves a break and it would be nice if this world would be a happy one where everyone could live in total happiness, without a Scream, without it being a fake happiness obliged upon us by any authority. Being nice naturally instead of being obligated to do so, must bring more happiness than frustrations that will need to be vented at some point. Hyperventilation is a serious disease. Save Me!

One Day in Your Life humankind invented conscience, quite early on actually, considering biblical books, and yet, I guess it was a good invention, even though they pushed it to the limits of the unacceptable, by brainwashing us into falling in line. Somebody's Watching Me. That kind of conscience is not acceptable, it is too high a price to pay.

Get It! No one is a good Christian in this world, don’t be fooled. If you are going to be that kind of Christian from the extreme right, a Republican, you might as well be a Muslim extremist, a suicide bomber. The only ones talking in those terms are people taking advantage of others, people who have no conscience of their own.

If you only have a conscience because you are afraid of God or undue consequences from the law or any sort of authority, then this is a world where freedom simply does not exist, it is too high a price to pay. You should become a Mormon then and pay your tithe. It is expensive to be a Mormon these days, but is it safe? Shall we ask MJ’s mother? I’m afraid, we won’t get a straight answer.

If you cannot be bothered to develop your own personal conscience based upon your own personal experience, as in: “Would you like me to do to you what you do to me?” Then I would prefer that you state it straight to my face, I would at least know where I stand. I would know that you have no conscience, that you are prepared to do anything to destroy me, and then I could forget my own conscience and destroy you before you destroy me. Of course as I do have a conscience, I would simply let you win and be gone. How hurtful would it be to me to play your mind games for a while until you succeed in annihilating me, I can’t even describe. Speed Demon.

I feel sorry for the people who have a strong conscience, they are at risk of being hurt so badly by people who have no conscience at all, or who can justify the conscience they have. Life would be much easier if none of us had any conscience, any religion, but then the world would cease to exist. It would be nice if we all had the same level or standard of conscience, then it would be levelled, and we would all stand a chance for survival. As it is not the case, sometimes we have to put our conscience aside and fight back, only in self-defence though, as far as our conscience will allow it.

It is useless to have a conscience if others don’t have one. It sorts of cancels your own conscience, make you wonder why you should have one at all in the first place if no one else has. If you have a conscience, you will have to accept people without conscience hurting you badly and you will not be able to retaliate or take revenge, you will essentially die a martyr, a badly hurt human being wondering about the unfairness and injustice of this world.

Even the government and the law will seem to be against you, against us acting like human beings in search for happiness, when even most authorities show no conscience, and you could never hope that eventually they will develop one. You can only fight back. And be grateful for the brainwashed ones along the way with a conscience, who will help you and support you throughout your struggles against people without a conscience. Just make sure they are not in the business of taking advantage of you in your time of weakness.

My God, everyone is preying on us and taking advantage of our good nature, our misplaced conscience. This is what most charities are about, all your money goes to pay the high salaries of the fat cats pretending to help the world whilst running their charities like profitable corporations. When is it last time you actually helped a dying African exactly? Are you sure you did help that dying African in the end? I would not bet on it. Corruption is everywhere, and God is too often used as an excuse to justify any atrocity, any genocide.

In any case, you’d be better off without a conscience, get rid of it now. Until at least every single human being on the planet, every single government and every single religious authority do develop a conscience. Then it might be worth reconsidering developing one yourself.

Our leaders have no conscience, they have proven that time and time again. Human Nature. I suggest we do not follow their advice that we should develop a conscience whilst their own rules for us do not apply to them. Heaven Can Wait. Send that elevator back to the heavens without any of us within it, we have all sin anyway, at any rate we’re beyond salvation, all of us are already going straight to hell. Cry and damned the consequences.

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. We still need to fight for our freedom, for our peace of mind, for a better world, and Michael Jackson is truly dead. It is too late to develop a conscience, and the world be damned! Now Who’s Bad?

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“Without irony, this life would hardly be worth living.”

Roland Michel Tremblay

http://www.themarginal.com/destructivism.pdf