Ray’s Rays Number 17

Fuck the Upgrade

by

Radiance Angelina Petro

 

 

 

 

Q-Anon, whacked UFO cults, and many fringe “New-Agers,”

often talk about waiting for the cosmic DNA upload,

the divine upgrade that will give them superpowers.

They speak of having a new, alien-given matrix

downloaded into our consciousness.

One of the thing that troubles me about con-spiritualists

is their comparing the human brain to a computer.

Of course, this is by far not the worst thing they do.

Along with their strange bedfellows—the extreme right

terrorists of the evangelical variety—they’re causing

more death, violence, hatred, transphobia, racism, Islamophobia,

an antisemitism at one time than this country has ever seen.

Addressing their language though is important—the terms they use.

By comparing people to machines, especially computers,

they further dehumanize others and put themselves above others.

Their believe their upgrades and downloads and uploads make them better

than the sheeples. They make them more cosmically aware

and give them advanced states of consciousness

that fuels their white supremacy. These terms are now

a part of our everyday vocabulary, and it is degrading.

Resist this type of computerization of the human being.

Change the analogies, comparisons, and metaphors

to ones of nature. We must get ourselves out of the machine-

consciousness and back to earth. It’s about descending

not ascending. Instead of getting alien downloads,

let’s cultivate the gardens of our hearts, let’s weed out

self-hate, and plant self-love. Let’s plant seeds of compassion

and community. Let’s water the gardens of our communities

with love and the sweat of our activism. We are not machines.

We are not spirits in the machine. We are people.

The more we resist the computerization of our language

the more empowered we’ll be. Using computer comparisons

disregards the horrors of colonization—it forgets the US is occupied

territory. It is designed to divert our attention from the earth,

the marginalized, and the real issues at hand. Resist it.

Stay human and humane.