IS IT PARANOIA? OR REALITY?

Henry knew he saw things differently. But so did Einstein, Henry figured. Some folks thought Henry paranoid. Other said he was crazy. Nobody thought him a druggie. Clearly, he was not. Some strange things, he did physically. Others, he did mentally. He had thoughts different than others.

Late one night, Henry fired up his Apple computer and spliced it with his old 8-transistor radio, a CB radio stolen from a wrecked semi, a Motorola pager, a junk yard guitar amplifier, and a portable cardiac monitor … just before lightning struck his power supply. When the sparks settled down and the smoke cleared, things were different.

Next thing he knew, he was hacked into encoded communications between an alien sleeper cell scouting out the United States of America for a potential takeover. The info came in brief blurps and spurts intended

Based On A True Story

(most of the time)

A series by Bad Billy Laveau for interpretation by superior intelligence. It went something like this.

Humans are obsessed with throwing various sized balls through assorted holes. They call it sports, with all sorts of rules about what they can and cannot do. Ball chunkers are paid huge sums of money and feel a need to tell everyone else what to think about everything.

Humans shoot each other during parties. They never seem to kill a thug, thief, wife abuser, dead beat, or some similar low-life. The unfortunate ones killed are always the best of society, heroes, saints, pillars of the communities. TV reports make sure everyone knows that.

No country is happy with their neighbor and they frequently kill millions of them with bullets, mines, bombs, poison gases, or other implements of destruction. Everybody claims God is on their side. The winner is always right because they get to write the history.

The young stay up all night. The old sleep all day and all night. The young and the old each think the other is out of touch and misguided. They wear different clothing based on what they think is cool, but actually their decisions are made by marketing agencies.

TV is obsessed with mixed race couples. The actorsspokespersons get fatter each year. Each product is always greater than anything before. If you don’t believe it, some self-assuming celebrity will straighten you out. They have therapists for every mental problem imaginable. No one is ever cured of the disorder they complained of to begin with. Every year the medical community comes out with a few new diseases that no one ever worried about before. Sometimes, it is just new names for old disorders. Example: First, it was “lack of moral fiber.” Then, it was “battle fatigue.” Then it was “nervous breakdown.” Now, it’s PTSD. I wonder what it will be next. The bottom line is that people get really upset about almost getting killed.

The wealthy go to these therapists. The poor go to church. Others take street drugs to change how they see things.

Most humans have a car and a cell phone, even the homeless.

Humans from all other countries want to come to America even if they hate American ideas on freedom and religion.

The USA makes new laws almost daily and enforces all their laws strictly. Except for politicians and illegal aliens, who seem to be immune to these laws.

Humans are obsessed with movement. They have to be going somewhere all the time.

Whatever humans have, it is never enough. They always want more.

They demand movies glorifying illegal acts, car chases, shoot-outs, blood and gore.

Everyone seems to agree you can’t kill a newborn baby. But half of them think it is OK to kill a baby before it is born. But if you kill a pregnant mother, you get charged with two murders.

Well, hearing all of this, Henry’s physician hung the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenic on Henry and got paid for doing so.

While it is true the electronic conglomeration described above had no physical being and existed only in Henry’s mind … were his observations also imaginary? Were they paranoia? Or were these observations actually true and present in our society today?

Henry was treated with FDA-approved medications and he became a little less strange, according to his family and his physician. His electronic equipment was suddenly gone. So was the sleeper cell of aliens. Certainly, according to modern medical teachings, his paranoid schizophrenia is “under treatment and clinically improving.”

The problem is that when you and I look at our society, many of Henry’s paranoid observations seem to be actually correct and accurate. Does this mean all of us are a bit paranoid? Or does this mean that maybe Henry was not as crazy as we once thought?