| The ‘Porkmole Liberation Front’ Manifesto |
| Friday, 23 December 2011 | Guest Contributor | Commentary |
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Until now, the porkmole—the blind swine of excessive consumption, social apathy and corporate subordination—has remained nameless and incognito, its very existence lurking just under the cultural radar. Though denied by many held captive by its illusion, a group of porkmole-loathing realists and surrealists has united to form the PMLF, a movement dedicated to exposing this farcical force and driving the porkmole from our lives and our society. Those who have narrowly escaped the porkmole’s tubby talons tell a tale of hypnotic horror. The porkmole enters the lives of its victims by burrowing into the darkest nether-regions of the ego, where entitlement mutates into expectation for instant access and easy living. From here it spreads through the minds and bodies of its hosts, squealing its insatiable desires for the new-and-improved, no-money-down, life-changing cure du jour of all the needs you never knew you had—guaranteed to please your porkmole. Knowing no limits, it devours its host’s natural drive to search for personal, self-tailored meaning. Left unchecked, the porkmole learns to speak through its victims, snorting out hollow excuses and thin rationalizations to buy more crap, take the path of least resistance, and disengage from the social discourse—slowly transforming its hosts into blind consumers, slothful slugs, Napoleonic hermits and fear mongers. In time, the masses—whose minds and bodies have been manipulated by the meddlings of the porkmole—are conditioned to turn their backs on civic mindfulness, retreating down the hole of limitless consumerism, isolated forms of transportation, isolated living environments, isolating forms of personal entertainment, blatant expressions of excessive wastefulness, and the belief that satisfaction and happiness can be purchased off the shelf and charged to the almighty credit card. By promising happiness through limitless consumption and the lazy-boy lifestyle, the porkmole has hypnotized our culture into believing the illusion that community is merely a nice idea, a nostalgic memory, indeed the product of a foregone era. As a result, the notion of society itself has been replaced with a spectacle: a stage on which individuals play the roles of consumerist cogs, squandering our lives in the eternal gerbil wheel of self-aggrandizing consumption, wallowing in the muck of our material possessions. Many in our culture see the spectacle for what it is, but nonetheless choose to pander to the porkmole’s paradigm, rather than expose it to the mirror of its own falsehood. Others have become so dependent on the porkmole’s promises that what they desire has become eclipsed by their wanton wantings. Are we to choose willing dependence on this manufactured spectacle, or pledge our allegiance to one nation under porkmole? We choose to believe neither! The PMLF is not an organization, but a movement dedicated to movement–to using our own energy and physical abilities to live a mobile life while thumbing our noses at conspicuous consumption of all types. We believe that the porkmole must be exorcised from its hosts through exercise—by engaging in natural means of getting around including walking, jogging, hiking, moseying, sauntering, staggering, drifting, ambling and cycling. We believe that getting people out of their porkmolbiles and on their feet is the only way of taking back the public realm, taking back life—enriching time, minimizing our ecological footprint on this planet, fostering meaningful interactions within our society, and ultimately expelling the porkmole mentality from each one of us and from our society. The PMLF advocates true-cost economics as the only solution to the destitution—to break the chains that bind and confine—keeping us all sheepishly in line. We work to subvert the grid of oppression and the resultant depression that affects us all. We resolve to reverse this diffused pattern of a divided and divisively built environment that has lead us into sprawlocaust. We will not tolerate the porkmole’s prevalence for personal privacy over public good, but turn instead to living the communal life. We make our statement through our presence in and on our built environment. We turn the specter back on the culture for it to reflect on itself and ask the question, “How are we to live with each other?” Our fellow porkmole avengers are all of those committed to living these beliefs, creating a presence on our streets, sidewalks and trails and away from the gross outlets of consumerism. You may not be aware of our presence, but we are all around you—walking your cities and towns, pedaling on your roads and through your parking areas, watching you from the tops of the hills that surround you, eliminating our own inner porkmoles, spreading the word that we will not give in to the porkmole’s squeals of slothfulness and empty consumerism. We believe this culture needs to get off its collective ass and that individuals need to take ownership and responsibility for their actions and impacts on society and on this fragile planet. Cars and consumption will not rule our lives. We will liberate this culture from the fallacious forces of the porkmole one step, one turn of the pedal, at a time. Get out of your car! Walk away from big boxes! Join the front to liberate the porkmole from our lives and our culture! Resist the porkmole lest it consume you! - The PMLF [Join the FRONT. Contact porkmole(at)gmail(dot)com. - Ed.] Help the Earth, Spread the Word: Share this article with family and friends by clicking on the "Email This" or "Share This" links below right. Then see TODAY'S TOP STORIES. Comments
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We the proud members of the Porkmole Liberation Front (PMLF) hereby demand the release of the porkmole (rhymes with guacamole) that has hijacked the bodies and minds of people everywhere, seduced by rampant consumer-credit culture and the unending search for mass-marketed meaning, all pre-packaged for convenience in vacuum-sealed containers. 
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Yes, a Porkmole would taste better with Guacomole, but make sure you compost the pit to see which will environmentally be absorb into nature. The pit or the Porkmole. In these economic times eating the Porkmole out of our society may be the only solution.