Learned Dependency: The Invisible Pandemic That Is Rotting America from Within

By Citizen Kim

This book examines the insights of a common man as he examines problems within our country and problems people most deal with on a daily basis.

Did you know that our country is over $20 trillion in debt? The average American can’t even comprehend how many zeros that is. How did we accumulate that much debt, and how do seemingly intelligent people make similar life-altering mistakes in their personal lives?

Why do people scream “Defund the police!” yet immediately dial 911 when it’s their own personal safety at risk? Why must government entities solve our personal problems?

Are you capable of logical and rational thinking? Do you see yourself as being self-sufficient, resilient, and capable of solving your own problems? If so you, you have taken the first steps to independence, self-worth, and personal success.

Are you willing to accept the challenges of thinking for yourself and being responsible for your own well-being and success? Do you object to your hard-earned money being wasted on taxes and government programs designed to make totally capable people dependent on the government and others?

If you want an everyday workingman’s answers to these questions then take up the challenge, open the front cover, and let’s see what happens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662431333

Book preview

The End

All good things will come to an end.

—Citizen Kim

Here’s a topic that is targeted to the citizens of this country who are on government subsidies. When someone offers you something for free—well, that is free to you, anyway—what is your train of thought? When I say free, I mean free to you without any upfront cost.

I believe what your train of thought should be, Why are you doing this for me? Obviously, you don’t know this person—they are an elected official—so why is this person giving you something? My rational, logical mind would be asking, What are you going to ask for in return? And in the next logical step would be, What’s in it for you? Those are questions that are not even considered when people are being given free things from the government. And I said before, nothing is free. You may not be paying for them in cash to this person, but you are paying for it. I have gone into great detail about how you’re paying for it in another chapter, so I’m not going to get back into those weeds on this topic.

The question I have for you is this: What are you going to do when the free stuff goes way? It’s amazing to me these days where people only think of the present, the right here—it’s the right now mentality. They give no thought to the future whatsoever. It’s always, What can I do to get what I want right now? Instant gratification, they call it. You are solely dependent upon the government to exist. What happens when that money runs out? And make no mistake about it, don’t fool yourself into thinking that the well of taxpayer money is a bottomless pit. Because it’s not. At some point it will become dry. You just gotta know, if you have any rational thought processes whatsoever, then it’s got to come to an end at some point. And you’re fooling yourself if you think this is going to go on forever, because it won’t. You can’t just act like an ostrich and stick your head in the sand and block out the reality of what is happening in the world. At some point you’re going to start using your head for something besides a hat rack, to start using the brain that God gave you. You have already allowed yourself to become a victim—a victim of the very people who claim they want to help you. They have made you dependent upon them. And don’t think for one second that when the money runs out, the people who have been keeping you dependent upon them for generations are going to sacrifice any of their money and resources to help you. When it comes down to the point where they have to make a choice between you and them, they’re going to choose themselves. This is when are you are going to find out whether or not these people really cared about your welfare. What I’m telling you, what I’m trying to get through to you is this: when it gets to that point, it’s too late. You’re done. You will not survive, and there will be no need to sit around and wait on the government to come in save you, because help ain’t coming. You have the power to avoid the coming catastrophe. But it is going to require work and sacrifice on your part to be ready. You need to put a plan together to get off government subsistence. And you had better start now because you’re running out of time. Stop acting like sheep being led to the slaughter. Because in simple terms, this is what’s happening to you. You have been told and led to believe that you are victims for so long, so many times that you now believe it yourself. You’ve actually been victimized—there is no doubt about this fact—but you been victimized by the very people who claim to be helping you. They’re doing nothing but helping themselves by using you to retain their power.

All you have to do is go back, look at history, look at the countries that are doing the very same things that we’re doing, and you will see it will come to an end. You don’t have to go that far back in history to understand what’s happening. Just go look in the last five to ten years of the history of Greece. Remember what happened in Greece when the country went bankrupt, or almost bankrupt, and the government shut off all available private financial assets of its citizens? It was complete and total chaos. That is going to happen in this country. That is a certainty. If you have any common sense at all, you will see that I’m telling you the truth.

So back to the point. What’s going to happen to you and your family when that government check doesn’t come at the first of the month? I would wager a week’s salary that the people on government’s assistance have absolutely no savings whatsoever. They are living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Well, I should say, from government check to government check, with no way of taking care of themselves if that check stops. The people on government subsidies have given up their freedom to financial independence. They are solely and totally relying on that government check each and every month. If you are a self-sufficient person, even if the government totally went bankrupt without any prior notice, you could survive. People who have developed their planning skills would not only survive; they would thrive for a certain period. You would be in a position to ascertain the things that you needed to continue to live. You would not, after a governmental financial collapse, be able to continue living the lifestyle at which you live today, but you would be able to survive—for a while anyway. Depending on your resources that you have at your disposal, you may be able to even profit off other people’s demise. But that goes into a whole other topic that I’m not going to even discuss here. Perhaps I’ll save that for another book—a book about what’ll happen after the collapse of our government and country.

This chapter is really just a small taste of things to come. It’s an opportunity for me to activate some of your critical thinking skills that have lain dormant within you for the last few decades. By reading this you will be primed and maybe more willing to accept my opinions, viewpoints, and theories as we take this journey together. Stand by—it’s about to get fun.

Technology

Man, this sucks.

What’s the matter, dude?

My cell phone battery is dead already.

Didn’t you charge it last night?

Of course I did.

So what’s the problem?

Dude, my whole life is in there.

You’re right, that does suck—for you.

Technology—or our over-the-top use of it—is probably one of the best examples of learned dependency.

Think about this for a moment: technology is all around you. The simplest example is your smartphone. Another ready example is this laptop that I’m using to type this chapter. Honestly though, I’m actually dictating what I’m writing through a speech-to-text software. To be totally honest with you, that’s very funny, because I’m not a technology guy. So I would imagine it is somewhat hypocritical of me to slam technology and then use it for my benefit. But here’s the difference: I’m not using it as a crutch.

So look around your life and take an instant inventory of all the devices that you have. Include everything: smartphones, iPods, iPads, smart TVs, the Bluetooth wireless speakers that play the music that you have downloaded on your smartphone. A friend of mine has his entire house working off voice recognition wireless technology. He can be anywhere in the house and simply speak out a command and get an answer for anything that his heart desires. His system is linked to the internet, which links his TVs, radio, music streaming services—his whole house generator is even linked to it. He is the epitome of the technology guy with tech as much a part of his life as a Siamese twin. Yes, technology surrounds us; it binds human to machine. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

In my opinion, it can be both. Anything you bring into your life that enhances your life is an asset. But does it run your life? If it runs your life, it has become a detriment. The way I look at it is this: technology is a tool in your toolbox, not your one-and-only go-to for everything. Now I really like my hammer. But to some of you, it’s kinda like having only a hammer in your toolbox. If you only have a hammer, then the whole damn world looks like a nail. (And if you don’t understand what I’m talking about, you need to develop some critical thinking skills.)

Raise your hand if you own a cell phone. Ask yourself this question: if you dropped your cell phone right now, and it shattered and became completely and totally nonfunctional, could you recall from memory five people’s phone numbers from your contact list? I did a little nonscientific experiment and asked fifty people that same question. Some people said that they could, so I challenged them to prove it. All of those fifty people wrote down five names and phone numbers. Not one person was correct with all their answers. Six people got one contact correct. Out of that six, one person got three people’s phone numbers right. One of those numbers was his wife’s, the other one was his mother, and the other one was his doctor’s office. (A doctor’s office—go figure.)

So I submit to you, Mr. or Ms. Modern American, that if you are one of those people, then you have subconsciously conditioned dependency upon technology. And in my view of the world, you should never rely on something that much. Especially technology. I’m going to explain why.

We as humans are all fallible. We make mistakes. We make mistakes on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis. And being aware of all those mistakes we make—guess what, we made that technology. Now put one and one together: common sense will tell you that if we made that technology, at some point, it will fail. And by Mr. Murphy’s law, it will fail at the most critical time when you are most dependent upon it. For those of you who don’t have intimate knowledge of Mr. Murphy I will enlighten you about his number one law: what can go wrong will go wrong.

I’m not saying get rid of technology in your life. That’s not what I’m trying to get across to you (and it’s probably no longer possible). The point is, you need a backup. Stop being dependent on technology alone. Technology—no matter what it is—has redundant systems. Those whiz-bang gadgets have backups. Why don’t you? You know that you can ask yourself that question about everything else in your life also. It’s called self-reliance. Why would you put your complete and total faith in a machine that’s going to fail you? If I was not required to use a smartphone for my job, I would not have one in my possession. For me it’s a necessary evil. But I have been conditioned to depend upon it—in my job, I cannot function without it. Another disturbing thing about technology is this: it houses your personal information. This is not something that we all don’t know. Every day somewhere some news agency is reporting the theft of personal information. If your personal information is out in cyberspace, it will be stolen, if it has not already been stolen while you’re reading this. As good as technology security is, the hackers are better, and they’re getting more proficient in their job every day.

Back to the cell phone experiment I conducted. I know that smartphones have what’s called the cloud, an off-site storage facility that stores all your information, all your contacts, pictures, and everything else that you’ve got in your smartphone. But that cloud technology, that cloud is nothing more than a warehouse full of your and everybody else’s information. So when you drop your smartphone and destroy it, and the cloud is down, how are you going to get all your information back? Don’t think for a moment it can’t be hacked. So do you have a written copy of your telephone numbers that are in your contact list?

I will give you a prime example of what I’m talking about. A few years ago, I was traveling toward Florida to visit friends in St. Augustine. I don’t remember what city it was, but I had a craving for a Chick-fil-A sandwich, so I found the nearest store on my smartphone maps app (yeah, I know, right?). My debit card worked like it was supposed to. Nothing unusual happened. I figured since I had stopped and added time to my trip, I may as well top off the fuel tank. Their system denied my debit card at the pump. At the time I didn’t think much of it, so I just used a little bit of cash and did what I had to do. Shortly thereafter I got a text message from my bank asking me to give them a call, so obviously, I called them. They wanted to know if that was me who just purchased a sandwich and attempted to buy fuel? And I’m like, Well, yeah, it’s me, why? They had deactivated my debit card because at the same time I was trying to buy fuel and a chicken sandwich, somewhere in California somebody was attempting to purchase $1,500 worth of computers in person at a Best Buy, and also in Arizona somebody else was trying to buy $2,000 worth of Apple products in person at the Apple Store. Of course, I was glad that they deactivated my debit card and stopped the fraudulent purchases. But by doing so, they could have put me in a tough spot. Picture this: I’m in southern Georgia with no way to access my debit card. Now if I had not had a redundant system in place, this would have crippled me.

The redundant system I had in place was an additional checking account linked to a separate debit card. I do not use funds from this account as my primary; it’s my emergency stash of cash. This redundant system was put in place just in case a situation like this presented itself. Here is a somewhat funny thought that just ran through my brain like a runaway train: if I had not had this system in place, you may have seen me standing on the side of the road with a sigh that read Stranded in GA without money. Please help. God bless. I wonder what my chances were of actually collecting a few dollars from some Good Samaritan in that situation? I really don’t think it would have worked out too well for me. As a side note, I give money to people who stand on the side of the road with those types of signs. So before all you tenderhearted, easily offended people out there lose your minds, calm down and don’t get your knickers in a twist about me making fun of those people with the signs. It was a joke. Get over it. How many of you out there have thought of this scenario happening to you? I would wager not very many.

Here’s what you need to understand about technology: tech is a great thing if it brings added value to your life. But you should not abandon the old ways. We humans are flawed beings; we make mistakes every day. Now who makes that technology? We do, we flawed human beings. Machines—and that’s what technology is, essentially: a machine. Things wear out in machinery. Things break in machinery. How many times do you drive down the road on your way to work and see broken-down cars on the side of the interstate? That is an absolute certain truth of life: machines will break. Technology will fail. The indisputable truth is Murphy’s law: If things can go wrong, they will go wrong. And they will go wrong at the worst possible moment. Just when you need that phone number or that cash at your bank the most.

Here’s another scenario for you to consider: Let’s say you’re on your way home from work one day, you pull over to get gas, you swipe your debit card, and it denies your purchase. What now? Are you carrying cash with you as a backup? I know I do. So what are your options when this happens? Obviously, you pick up the phone and call your significant other and ask them to come and help you out, right? That is, if you have a husband or a wife. So what happens if your joint checking account has been hacked, and the bank has deactivated both or all your debit cards? now you are in an everyday SHTF situation. For those of you who don’t know what SHTF means, it is an abbreviation for shit hits the fan.

I’m going to relay another personal experience to try to illustrate the point that I’m going to get here shortly.

I have been an active high-power long-range rifle shooter for many years. I went to a training class a few years back that had been conducted and taught by some of the world’s best long-range shooters. Just to expand my base of knowledge. We were shooting distances from one hundred yards out to one thousand yards. During this class we were taught basic fundamentals plus advanced tactics and techniques. There were ten shooters in the class; we were paired up into two-man teams. One would shoot, and the other would observe and spot the target hits for the shooter. The guy I was spotting for obviously had his rifle. But he also had a ballistic calculator, electronic wind meter, and a laser range finder. For those of you who don’t know what this equipment is, well, let me explain. A laser range finder shoots a laser beam out, which bounces off an object, comes back to the handheld device, and displays how far that object is away measured in meters or yards. Now the wind meter obviously measures wind speed and from what direction it’s coming from. There are a lot of things in the environment that affect bullet flight from a firearm. Wind is the number one environmental effect on bullet trajectory. Bullet trajectory is affected by many things—barometric pressure, shooting angle, and others—but wind carries the most dramatic change. Now the ballistic calculator is a device that’s actually a minicomputer. You input information into this calculator, such as bullet caliber, bullet weight, and the feet per second that the bullet is traveling when it leaves the muzzle of your firearm. If your gun is zeroed (which means the point of impact is the same as your point of aim) and let’s say your zero is two hundred yards, now you change your shooting position to a different range (which is to say you’re either closer or further away from your target), you take your wind speed and put that information into your ballistic calculator, take your new range to target and input that information into the ballistic calculator, and you will come up with a firing solution. That device will calculate the bullet drop now at your new range, plus it will calculate the wind speed and how far the wind speed will affect bullet flight. It will give you a solution and tell you how far you need to raise the elevation on your scope. It will also give you a solution on where to move your windage adjustments on your scope. This is a tool that will enhance your shooting abilities and hit probability. Now I don’t own any of this technology. I don’t need it. I have gained my skills through repetition of practical application. I have acquired my knowledge through experience. When it came time for me to shoot, the gentleman that I was partnered with offered his technology to me for my use. I told him, No, thank you. I’m good. He had a weird, puzzled look upon his face. When I was done shooting, he made the statement something to this effect (I don’t remember his exact words): I cannot believe you shot that well without a wind speed meter, a calculator, and range finder. I just don’t get it. I just plainly stated, I learned to shoot old-school. I was taught when these things didn’t exist. I never had the option of using that technology because it hadn’t been invented yet.

At the end of the day, all the students got together with all the instructors, and we had a Q and A and a discussion about everything that went on during that day. The topic was brought up by my partner about me being able to do the things during the clinic without technology. I was asked by the head instructor to explain to all the students how it was possible. He was an old-school guy like me as we were about the same age, so he learned the same way I did. I jumped at the chance to explain the old ways to the new guys, the younger generation. If us old guys don’t pass along what we’ve learned, it will be lost forever. During this class, we had military and law enforcement shooters alongside civilians like me. They had no idea that you could perform these tasks without this technology. I explained in detail all of the ways to range targets, judge wind speed, and do these things without all these fancy gadgets. Now don’t get me wrong, technology can be a great thing if it enhances your life, but it can also be a detriment by creating dependency. I explained it to them this way: Just because you have the latest and the greatest of all technology doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a backup. And here’s why: we as humans are fallible. Who made that technology? It didn’t just appear all of a sudden out of the mist one day. Aliens didn’t come down from Mars and give it to us. We as humans made that technology. And if you follow the simple laws of logic, if we made it and we are fallible, then that technology will fail. And when you add in Mr. Murphy’s laws, it will fail at the most critical time. I told the guys, Whatever you do, especially the job that you’re in, it is absolutely necessary that you must have a backup system in place. If you don’t, you will fail in your job. You can carry extra electronics with you as a backup, but all you’re doing is adding weight and bulk to all the other things that you have to carry now. Why would you want to do that? What you need to do is memorize the old-school ways, and you can recall that information at a moment’s notice. I also stressed to them how important it is that you know your equipment. And the only way you’re going to get to know your equipment is to use it extensively. You have to trust your equipment for it to do its job exactly the way it’s designed, and the only way to do that is through repetition. You must put in the work ahead of time by spending hundreds of hours of range time applying your craft.

You can relate these personal experiences of mine to your own life. Do an honest assessment of your life. See how many condition dependency examples you can find. Don’t fully trust technology. It will let you down and create problems for you when you least expect it.

I’m sure that everybody out there, or at least the vast majority of the population, does their banking online. Do you realize how much of your personal information is zooming through cyberspace right now? Think about how much time you spend on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever else…just name it, it’s all out there. There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever, and it’s backed up by true-life experiences, that personal information is being stolen every day. You must protect yourself and your personal information at all times. You are responsible for your protection, not some anti-pirating, anti-malware program. You are the responsible party. The best way to secure your personal information is don’t put it out there. I have a friend who is a computer architect. He writes code and designs multimillion-dollar computer programs. I would wager he knows probably just about everything there is to know about technology. There have been thousands of examples where stored information has been stolen by hackers. Those warehouses of information were, at one point, the preferred method for accessing your treasure trove. He has told me that computer pirates are so good now that they can steal information in transit. For those of you who don’t understand what I’m talking about, let me explain. Let’s say you’re sitting down in front of your computer, and you buy something off Amazon. You put in all your information, including a credit card number, and then you hit the enter key. From the time you hit the enter key until that information is transmitted to the person you’re buying it from, that information can be stolen during the nanoseconds that it takes for that information to travel from you to them. If you don’t know what a nanosecond is, well, just google it. Needless to say, it is a very small fraction of a second. That is absolutely scary and frightening to me. That’s why I have a very minute footprint in cyberspace. As I’ve said before, If I wasn’t required to have a smartphone for my job, I wouldn’t own one. My privacy and personal security are very important