A familiar pattern in history is where the ruling class, complicit with the bankers, manipulate the law to become an instrument of plunder.. so the wealth & property of the nation becomes concentrated with those in power.
This is a bit long, but it is mostly a biblical quote. I could have used a more current example, but this is an old one, to show the pattern of human behavior. Also, whether you see this as actual history, or just a parable, the principles are the point.
Gen.41:17 So Pharaoh told him the dream. “I was standing upon the bank of the Nile River,” he said, 18 “when suddenly, seven fat, healthy-looking cows came up out of the river and began grazing along the riverbank. 19 But then seven other cows came up from the river, very skinny and bony—in fact, I’ve never seen such poor-looking specimens in all the land of Egypt. 20 And these skinny cattle ate up the seven fat ones that had come out first, 21 and afterwards they were still as skinny as before! Then I woke up.
22 “A little later I had another dream. This time there were seven heads of grain on one stalk, and all seven heads were plump and full. 23 Then, out of the same stalk, came seven withered, thin heads. 24 And the thin heads swallowed up the fat ones! I told all this to my magicians, but not one of them could tell me the meaning.”
25 “Both dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph told Pharaoh. “God was telling you what he is going to do here in the land of Egypt. 26 The seven fat cows (and also the seven fat, well-formed heads of grain) mean that there are seven years of prosperity ahead. 27 The seven skinny cows (and also the seven thin and withered heads of grain) indicate that there will be seven years of famine following the seven years of prosperity.
28 “So God has showed you what he is about to do: 29 The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but afterwards there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out; famine will consume the land. 31 The famine will be so terrible that even the memory of the good years will be erased. 32 The double dream gives double impact, showing that what I have told you is certainly going to happen, for God has decreed it, and it is going to happen soon. 33 My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of administering a nationwide farm program. 34-35 Let Pharaoh divide Egypt into five administrative districts,[a] and let the officials of these districts gather into the royal storehouses all the excess crops of the next seven years, 36 so that there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise, disaster will surely strike.”
37 Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his assistants. 38 As they discussed who should be appointed for the job, Pharaoh said, “Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the Spirit of God.” 39 Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh said to him, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the country! 40 I am hereby appointing you to be in charge of this entire project. What you say goes, throughout all the land of Egypt. I alone will outrank you.”
...47 And sure enough, for the next seven years there were bumper crops everywhere. 48 During those years, Joseph requisitioned for the government a portion of all the crops grown throughout Egypt, storing them in nearby cities. 49 After seven years of this, the granaries were full to overflowing, and there was so much that no one kept track of the amount.
...53 So at last the seven years of plenty came to an end. 54 Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses. 55 The people began to starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he sent them to Joseph. “Do whatever he tells you to,” he instructed them.
56-57 So now, with severe famine all over the world, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians and to those from other lands who came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.
47:13 The famine became worse and worse, so that all the land of Egypt and Canaan was starving. 14 Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan in exchange for grain, and he brought the money to Pharaoh’s treasure-houses. 15 When the people were out of money, they came to Joseph crying again for food.
“Our money is gone,” they said, “but give us bread; for why should we die?”
16 “Well then,” Joseph replied, “give me your livestock. I will trade you food in exchange.”
17 So they brought their cattle to Joseph in exchange for food. Soon all the horses, flocks, herds, and donkeys of Egypt were in Pharaoh’s possession.
18 The next year they came again and said, “Our money is gone, and our cattle are yours, and there is nothing left but our bodies and land. 19 Why should we die? Buy us and our land and we will be serfs to Pharaoh. We will trade ourselves for food, then we will live, and the land won’t be abandoned.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; all the Egyptians sold him their fields because the famine was so severe. And the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 Thus all the people of Egypt became Pharaoh’s serfs. 22 The only land he didn’t buy was that belonging to the priests, for they were assigned food from Pharaoh and didn’t need to sell.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “See, I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is grain. Go and sow the land. 24 And when you harvest it, a fifth of everything you get belongs to Pharaoh. Keep four parts for yourselves to be used for next year’s seed, and as food for yourselves and for your households and little ones.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “We will gladly be the serfs of Pharaoh.”
This is the pattern for most of human history. The nobles, bankers, royalty, & those in power use that power to slowly take what the people have worked for, until they are serfs of the ruling class. The statists want to own everything, & have complete power over everyone.
America was founded on a different principle. The ruling class were to be the citizens, not a greedy elite. The govt was to dedicate itself to preserving freedom & dispensing justice, not taking the labors of the people.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~James Madison
These things do not happen overnight. Pharaoh did not own all the property of egypt overnight. But slowly, deliberately, the power of the state increases its holdings, until the bankers & ruling elite own everything, & the people are reduced to indentured servitude to those in power.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." ~Thomas Jefferson
“We will gladly be the serfs of Pharaoh.” This is music to the ears of the statists. They promote the false narrative that they hold the power of life & death, & we exist at their pleasure. They build a dependency.. not by producing anything themselves, but by TAKING from the producers & then benevolently dribbling it out, after enriching themselves. This dependency & looking to govt to provide is part of the absorption process, until we are all serfs of pharaoh.
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. ~Thomas Jefferson
In the biblical illustration, pharaoh did not sow, cultivate, or harvest any of the grain, yet by taxation he acquired everything, & all the people became his serfs. This is a consistent pattern in human history, interrupted by an occasional revolution, with the usual beheadings of the ruling class.
In america, we seem to be somewhere at the end of this pattern. The elite ruling classes have usurped the democratic republic, founded as a nation of self rule, & hijacked it to plunder the producers of the nation. Greedy & self serving charlatans have wormed their way into power & influence, & are systematically manipulating the currency, the markets, our homes & savings until it is owned by a small elite. Freedom & opportunity are dying concepts, while dependency & subservience are promoted as the new american ideal.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
The American
My wife's ancestors are from new amsterdam (new york), & palatinate refugees from germany & holland. The dutch in New York were mostly indentured servants.. they worked for an investor who was making a business venture in the new world. The palatinate were religious refugees, fleeing papal persecution along the french border. This was reformation times, followed by a more enlightened thought time with science & human worth. My ancestors had massachusetts bay colony roots. They were primarily religious, almosts cult like.. a collectivist experiment that did not work (as usual!). The other side was scotch irish.. presbyterians fleeing the church of england & the pope. Then there were the virginians, the spanish in florida, georgia, & the other early colonies. They each had a part in shaping the new identity of the new nation.
But there was also the influence of the native peoples in all of these sub cultures, along with the enlightened thinkers of locke, rousseau, hobbes, bacon, & eventually jefferson & the other american founders. From this primordial soup was born the American.. not really european.. not native american.. a hybrid between the noble savage & the absolutist. This did not happen in mexico, even though there was a blend of spanish conquistadors, jesuits, & the native people, nor did it happen in canada, where the natives were kept more distant than in the us. The british monarchist system was clung to, there, & the wild natives had less influence on them. You also did not see it in s. africa, where dutch & british settlers kept very much apart from the native africans.
I'm sure that there are blends of culture in every emigration situation. None of us live in a vacuum, or are unaffected by other people. Our culture & ancestry are unique, & have made us into what we are today. It is also constantly in flux, & changing in every generation. We are moving away from a more individual, independent culture, to a more collectively centered one.. very eurocentric. Some is unavoidable, perhaps, as open land dwindles & populations increase. The time of the Historical, Traditional American may be winding down, but it was a unique evolution of a culture & governance in all of human history.
But there was also the influence of the native peoples in all of these sub cultures, along with the enlightened thinkers of locke, rousseau, hobbes, bacon, & eventually jefferson & the other american founders. From this primordial soup was born the American.. not really european.. not native american.. a hybrid between the noble savage & the absolutist. This did not happen in mexico, even though there was a blend of spanish conquistadors, jesuits, & the native people, nor did it happen in canada, where the natives were kept more distant than in the us. The british monarchist system was clung to, there, & the wild natives had less influence on them. You also did not see it in s. africa, where dutch & british settlers kept very much apart from the native africans.
I'm sure that there are blends of culture in every emigration situation. None of us live in a vacuum, or are unaffected by other people. Our culture & ancestry are unique, & have made us into what we are today. It is also constantly in flux, & changing in every generation. We are moving away from a more individual, independent culture, to a more collectively centered one.. very eurocentric. Some is unavoidable, perhaps, as open land dwindles & populations increase. The time of the Historical, Traditional American may be winding down, but it was a unique evolution of a culture & governance in all of human history.
Anarchy & the non aggression principle.
Anarchy & the non aggression principle.
The whole concept is so anti human.. they do not have a realistic view of humanity. Peace? Non aggression? We're talking humans here, right? We are warlike, brutal, & animalistic.. a lot more than we like to admit. The whole reason we have organized ourselves into regional governments is to protect us, collectively, from other brutal, aggressive humans, & their collectives. The entire history of mankind is one story after another of this aggression. So they can drone on about some utopian 'non aggression principle', but NO human throughout history has been able to live in that kind of state. There ALWAYS has to be a deterrence for any society to live in peace.
That is why i see the major flaw at the root of this ideology being the need for a 'new man'. It is an idealistic, unrealistic dream of humanity, that ignores our basic nature. IF you could change the human animal, you might be able to make us into peaceful, harmonious beings. But we are predators. Humans have few natural enemies in the wild, but other humans have always been the most deadly ones. It is like caribou deciding that they are going to live in peace with the wolves. They can decide that all they want, or eloquently describe their perfect world, where caribou & wolves live together in peace. But it won't work, because the wolves are still wolves. They might nod in agreement, at first, but they will NOT keep the pact, & they will begin to kill & eat the caribou. So the caribou better use what they have as defense mechanisms for this kind of natural behavior, or they will go extinct.
It is the same with people. If there are some altruistic humans out there, they are dependent on other more violent defenders to keep their personal peace. The quakers & amish come to mind. They cannot live under brutal totalitarian rule, but must flee it.
Some of my wife's ancestors were from the border of germany & france, during the reformation. They were palatinates, from that region in s. germany. They were persecuted, along with the french huguenots. They fled to holland, england, ireland, & eventually, america. Mostly PA. They would have preferred to live in peace & harmony, but Louis 14th would not let them. He didn't care about their peaceful ways or desires. So they needed the protection & sympathy of reformers who had equally sharp swords, to defend them from religious annihilation.
That is what the history of man is.. one man's or group's aggression toward another.. for whatever reason. We cannot just 'declare' that nature to be null & void, & say, 'why can't we all just get along?' There is only one way to live in peace: Strength. There is only one solution for human aggression: deterrence. We can speak softly, but we better carry that big stick.
The whole concept is so anti human.. they do not have a realistic view of humanity. Peace? Non aggression? We're talking humans here, right? We are warlike, brutal, & animalistic.. a lot more than we like to admit. The whole reason we have organized ourselves into regional governments is to protect us, collectively, from other brutal, aggressive humans, & their collectives. The entire history of mankind is one story after another of this aggression. So they can drone on about some utopian 'non aggression principle', but NO human throughout history has been able to live in that kind of state. There ALWAYS has to be a deterrence for any society to live in peace.
That is why i see the major flaw at the root of this ideology being the need for a 'new man'. It is an idealistic, unrealistic dream of humanity, that ignores our basic nature. IF you could change the human animal, you might be able to make us into peaceful, harmonious beings. But we are predators. Humans have few natural enemies in the wild, but other humans have always been the most deadly ones. It is like caribou deciding that they are going to live in peace with the wolves. They can decide that all they want, or eloquently describe their perfect world, where caribou & wolves live together in peace. But it won't work, because the wolves are still wolves. They might nod in agreement, at first, but they will NOT keep the pact, & they will begin to kill & eat the caribou. So the caribou better use what they have as defense mechanisms for this kind of natural behavior, or they will go extinct.
It is the same with people. If there are some altruistic humans out there, they are dependent on other more violent defenders to keep their personal peace. The quakers & amish come to mind. They cannot live under brutal totalitarian rule, but must flee it.
Some of my wife's ancestors were from the border of germany & france, during the reformation. They were palatinates, from that region in s. germany. They were persecuted, along with the french huguenots. They fled to holland, england, ireland, & eventually, america. Mostly PA. They would have preferred to live in peace & harmony, but Louis 14th would not let them. He didn't care about their peaceful ways or desires. So they needed the protection & sympathy of reformers who had equally sharp swords, to defend them from religious annihilation.
That is what the history of man is.. one man's or group's aggression toward another.. for whatever reason. We cannot just 'declare' that nature to be null & void, & say, 'why can't we all just get along?' There is only one way to live in peace: Strength. There is only one solution for human aggression: deterrence. We can speak softly, but we better carry that big stick.
Friday, May 9, 2014
The Press: watchdog or partisan propaganda machine?
The death of objectivity
Consider some of these issues:
1. 'He looks.. black'
2. fast & furious
3. Benghazi
4. Irs targeting conservative groups.
5. 'If you like your doctor, you can keep him.'
6. 'They are nothing but domestic terrorists'
7. Solyndra
8. executive waivers to big business, unions, & executive staff on laws passed by congress & signed by the president..
9. Pick & choose law enforcement.. the prime directive of the executive branch.
10. Ordered 1000 boeing employees fired & shut down a plant in SC for union cronies.
11. BLM land grab in nevada
How many of these things have the media 'exposed' & covered, like a free press watchdog should? The american media has traditionally been part of our freedom process. Has it become just a partisan propaganda tool?
In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection is must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. ~Hugo L. Black
But what is happening now? The free press has become partisan. Most are shills of the democratic party, with a strong bias for the progressive agenda. A few are conservative, but balance of bias is NOT the goal, here.. truth & 'serve the governed' is the role of the press, not manipulation of public opinion by propaganda.
IMO, the corporatization of the press has led to this unholy alliance. They are shills of big money, the same as the politicians. TRUTH & PUBLIC INTEREST is not the mission statement of the press.. they are slaves to power & money, & are beholden to both.
[T]he administration of government has become more complex, the opportunities for malfeasance and corruption have multiplied, crime has grown to most serious proportions, and the danger of its protection by unfaithful officials and of the impairment of the fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and official neglect, emphasizes the primary need of a vigilant and courageous press, especially in great cities. ~Charles Evans Hughes
"There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press" ~Mark Twain
Money is always a motivating factor, in any human venture. Journalists are not immune.. especially their bosses. But i think it is clear to any casual observer that the press has changed over the last 50 yrs. At one point, there was pride in objective journalism. Cronkite or Edward Murrow would not show overt partiality.. they would not be a partisan shill. But now we have Rather fabricating documents to smear bush, & most (all?) of the broadcast media complicit in the administration's coverups. Since Reagan, i have seen a slow decline in the objectivity of american media.. Both in print & broadcast. Fox covers things from a conservative angle, but they are a cable network, not part of the mainstream broadcast media. They have grown, mostly as a reaction from the overt partisanship of the others.
The press hounded johnson in the 60s, even though he was a democrat.. they were not as concerned about partisanship, & many of the old journalists took 'unbiased' coverage seriously. They were a bit soft on jfk, & they really went after nixon. They were not that kind to carter, & his blunders in iran, opec, & domestic policy were scrutinized.. contrast that with the pro obama propaganda from the current media. They hated reagan, & took pot shots at him constantly. Clinton got softer coverage, & bush 2 was vilified as an incompetent war monger.
Consider Sharyl Attkisson. She resigned in frustration from cbs because they wouldn't allow her investigative reports into the benghazi coverup. ANY of the media outlets in the past would have licked their chops at any hint of corruption, & made it their cover stories. It was a feeding frenzy with nixon, & all he did was spy on the opposition's political tactics & cover it up. The obama administration has done MUCH worse, where 4 americans died for incompetence, & the ensuing coverup.
Chris Christie is another. Here is a governor, linked to some bureaucrat closing down a bridge for political purposes.. inconveniencing a few people, & the media howls over this like a pack of wolves! Yet fast & furious, the irs scandal, benghazi, & a host of other administration 'scandals' are virtually ignored. A passing mention, at best, from the broadcast media. Some of these people died! Yet no coverage.. no expose.. no barking from the watchdogs. They have become useless mutts, lazing about, biting their owners, instead of the intruders.
In times past, the print media in almost every city had alternate views from competing newspapers. You could get a different angle from a different paper. It seems to me this has been dead for years, & it is clear that print newspapers are dinosaurs from the past. The Az Republic is a liberal rag, that promotes the progressive view in its pages. There are none that i know of that print the conservative view.. and this in a fairly conservative state!
I think there are many reasons for this.
1. Education has become the propaganda arm of progressive ideology. Liberal arts education is not the goal, but indoctrination. Each year a new crop of journalists enter the market with progressive ideology in their hearts, & matching words on their lips.
2. The conservative view is vilified so much.. linked to racism, stupidity, superstition, & back woods reactionary opinions, that it is difficult to get a fair hearing on the issues. The narrative is that conservative ideology is automatically irrelevant, so no reason is needed.. just dismiss it & continue the drive to a socialist utopia.
3. News & entertainment have become blurred.. the morning 'news' shows are mostly celebrity based entertainment, & that is what they deliver. That same mentality has taken over the 'hard' news divisions.
4. Money & power. Power follows the money, & money follows the power. Many despots have used the power of propaganda to subjugate the masses. Through clever use of the media, with their full consent, they are able to manipulate public opinion, not only by what they cover, but what they don't cover.
5. The rise of anti science. The concept of 'Truth' being something absolute, discoverable, & a goal to search for is becoming increasingly foreign. The trend now is to make the conclusions, first, then prop it up with supporting evidence, even if you have to fabricate it.
“The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief” ~Jacques Ellul
Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media. ~Noam Chomsky
The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control - "indoctrination," we might say - exercised through the mass media. ~Noam Chomsky
Consider some of these issues:
1. 'He looks.. black'
2. fast & furious
3. Benghazi
4. Irs targeting conservative groups.
5. 'If you like your doctor, you can keep him.'
6. 'They are nothing but domestic terrorists'
7. Solyndra
8. executive waivers to big business, unions, & executive staff on laws passed by congress & signed by the president..
9. Pick & choose law enforcement.. the prime directive of the executive branch.
10. Ordered 1000 boeing employees fired & shut down a plant in SC for union cronies.
11. BLM land grab in nevada
How many of these things have the media 'exposed' & covered, like a free press watchdog should? The american media has traditionally been part of our freedom process. Has it become just a partisan propaganda tool?
In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection is must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. ~Hugo L. Black
But what is happening now? The free press has become partisan. Most are shills of the democratic party, with a strong bias for the progressive agenda. A few are conservative, but balance of bias is NOT the goal, here.. truth & 'serve the governed' is the role of the press, not manipulation of public opinion by propaganda.
IMO, the corporatization of the press has led to this unholy alliance. They are shills of big money, the same as the politicians. TRUTH & PUBLIC INTEREST is not the mission statement of the press.. they are slaves to power & money, & are beholden to both.
[T]he administration of government has become more complex, the opportunities for malfeasance and corruption have multiplied, crime has grown to most serious proportions, and the danger of its protection by unfaithful officials and of the impairment of the fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and official neglect, emphasizes the primary need of a vigilant and courageous press, especially in great cities. ~Charles Evans Hughes
"There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press" ~Mark Twain
Money is always a motivating factor, in any human venture. Journalists are not immune.. especially their bosses. But i think it is clear to any casual observer that the press has changed over the last 50 yrs. At one point, there was pride in objective journalism. Cronkite or Edward Murrow would not show overt partiality.. they would not be a partisan shill. But now we have Rather fabricating documents to smear bush, & most (all?) of the broadcast media complicit in the administration's coverups. Since Reagan, i have seen a slow decline in the objectivity of american media.. Both in print & broadcast. Fox covers things from a conservative angle, but they are a cable network, not part of the mainstream broadcast media. They have grown, mostly as a reaction from the overt partisanship of the others.
The press hounded johnson in the 60s, even though he was a democrat.. they were not as concerned about partisanship, & many of the old journalists took 'unbiased' coverage seriously. They were a bit soft on jfk, & they really went after nixon. They were not that kind to carter, & his blunders in iran, opec, & domestic policy were scrutinized.. contrast that with the pro obama propaganda from the current media. They hated reagan, & took pot shots at him constantly. Clinton got softer coverage, & bush 2 was vilified as an incompetent war monger.
Consider Sharyl Attkisson. She resigned in frustration from cbs because they wouldn't allow her investigative reports into the benghazi coverup. ANY of the media outlets in the past would have licked their chops at any hint of corruption, & made it their cover stories. It was a feeding frenzy with nixon, & all he did was spy on the opposition's political tactics & cover it up. The obama administration has done MUCH worse, where 4 americans died for incompetence, & the ensuing coverup.
Chris Christie is another. Here is a governor, linked to some bureaucrat closing down a bridge for political purposes.. inconveniencing a few people, & the media howls over this like a pack of wolves! Yet fast & furious, the irs scandal, benghazi, & a host of other administration 'scandals' are virtually ignored. A passing mention, at best, from the broadcast media. Some of these people died! Yet no coverage.. no expose.. no barking from the watchdogs. They have become useless mutts, lazing about, biting their owners, instead of the intruders.
In times past, the print media in almost every city had alternate views from competing newspapers. You could get a different angle from a different paper. It seems to me this has been dead for years, & it is clear that print newspapers are dinosaurs from the past. The Az Republic is a liberal rag, that promotes the progressive view in its pages. There are none that i know of that print the conservative view.. and this in a fairly conservative state!
I think there are many reasons for this.
1. Education has become the propaganda arm of progressive ideology. Liberal arts education is not the goal, but indoctrination. Each year a new crop of journalists enter the market with progressive ideology in their hearts, & matching words on their lips.
2. The conservative view is vilified so much.. linked to racism, stupidity, superstition, & back woods reactionary opinions, that it is difficult to get a fair hearing on the issues. The narrative is that conservative ideology is automatically irrelevant, so no reason is needed.. just dismiss it & continue the drive to a socialist utopia.
3. News & entertainment have become blurred.. the morning 'news' shows are mostly celebrity based entertainment, & that is what they deliver. That same mentality has taken over the 'hard' news divisions.
4. Money & power. Power follows the money, & money follows the power. Many despots have used the power of propaganda to subjugate the masses. Through clever use of the media, with their full consent, they are able to manipulate public opinion, not only by what they cover, but what they don't cover.
5. The rise of anti science. The concept of 'Truth' being something absolute, discoverable, & a goal to search for is becoming increasingly foreign. The trend now is to make the conclusions, first, then prop it up with supporting evidence, even if you have to fabricate it.
“The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief” ~Jacques Ellul
Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media. ~Noam Chomsky
The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control - "indoctrination," we might say - exercised through the mass media. ~Noam Chomsky
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Reformation + Indians = American Freedom
Why did America become a land of liberty? During the time of colonization many areas of the world were targets of European imperialism.
Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada.. all had lots of Europeans invading their shores. Why didn't america become like one of them? ..another European style statist system? They could be loyal to the king, and rule & oppress the native peoples. That is what most of them did.
Here is my theory:
The admiration for the honor and culture of the Native North American people.
1. The Native American would not be enslaved.
2. The Native American believed in dignity and honor. Their word was sacred and was something to be proud of.
3. They were utilitarian in their view of of war. War to them was to take the other guy's stuff, to take over their turf, and to carry off their children and women. It was an expansive tactic of coalition nation building.
4. Even though the European settlers brutalized the Native Americans, they admired them. The concept of the noble savage has been prominent in North American culture to this day. They learned how to survive in the New World from their native neighbors. They saw how they faced adversity with courage. They were sanguine about death. They were independent and self reliant from any central government.
5. They fought bravely, even when outnumbered. Courage and freedom were highly esteemed. ..More so than life in slavery or domination from another.
The Europeans however, had different roots.
1. For a thousand years or more, kings and popes and lords and masters had ruled the Europeans. They were used to being nannied, cared for and submissive and subservient. Independent living and thinking was not in their dna.
2. When they made war it was for genocide. They sought to wipe out their enemies, or any race they thought inferior, not to assimilate them. Or, they felt a manifest destiny to manage and manipulate other people as pets or inferior beings. They enslaved those who would submit to their tyranny.
3. The europeans would willingly enslave them selves for material things. They would sell themselves as indentured servants for years to gain passage on a ship or to gain partial ownership of some business.
4. They lived lives of quiet desperation & degradation with no honor, yet they accepted this as their lot in life.
5. The religion of Christianity was used to placate. The concepts of freedom, liberty, honor and self respect was not common in European church circles. They preached submission to authority and honoring the king.
Then, a reformation began. Law was seen as above all. The written law superseded the edicts of men. This blend of reformation theology, combined with the noble savage sense of honor, freedom, and dignity came together to form a new creature: The American. It was the perfect storm. This guy would fight with ruthlessness like a European but die with dignity, honor, & self sacrifice like an Indian. He saw freedom and liberty as the foremost things. It flavored his religion and his outlook on Law and his fellow man.
Of course, this American went on to brutalize and break the spirit of the noble man he admired. He did not appreciate the lessons or the freedoms gained from his neighbors' philosophy of life. But the white man assimilated the ideology of the indian, even though he didn't know it. He tried to follow his euro creed of non assimilation and genocide. He pushed the red man into reservations to keep him dependent, subservient and broken. But the genie was out of the bottle. The spirit of the North American had taken over and blended with the European settlers.
Then more people came & were infected.. They got the idea that all men are created equal. ..They are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights. Not long after a great war was fought to free the black man from his years of servitude and oppression.
All during this time aggressive men and statists worked tirelessly to empower the state and strip the people of their liberties. Freedom, though tentative, was always preserved.
But now, as usual, we are at a crossroad. American liberties we took for granted are being chipped away by an ever growing & expanding state. No longer content with securing our rights, they make war at will, steal our property, and try to nanny and micro manage us like we are their third world conquests.
Wake up America! It is time to rise up and put these scoundrels in their place. It is time to remember our heritage, & honor the native american who has helped us cast off the chains of imperialism & servitude. No more euro nanny state! We came here for freedom, & we should not let anyone take it from us.
I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did any where. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. ~Thomas Jefferson
Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada.. all had lots of Europeans invading their shores. Why didn't america become like one of them? ..another European style statist system? They could be loyal to the king, and rule & oppress the native peoples. That is what most of them did.
Here is my theory:
The admiration for the honor and culture of the Native North American people.
1. The Native American would not be enslaved.
2. The Native American believed in dignity and honor. Their word was sacred and was something to be proud of.
3. They were utilitarian in their view of of war. War to them was to take the other guy's stuff, to take over their turf, and to carry off their children and women. It was an expansive tactic of coalition nation building.
4. Even though the European settlers brutalized the Native Americans, they admired them. The concept of the noble savage has been prominent in North American culture to this day. They learned how to survive in the New World from their native neighbors. They saw how they faced adversity with courage. They were sanguine about death. They were independent and self reliant from any central government.
5. They fought bravely, even when outnumbered. Courage and freedom were highly esteemed. ..More so than life in slavery or domination from another.
The Europeans however, had different roots.
1. For a thousand years or more, kings and popes and lords and masters had ruled the Europeans. They were used to being nannied, cared for and submissive and subservient. Independent living and thinking was not in their dna.
2. When they made war it was for genocide. They sought to wipe out their enemies, or any race they thought inferior, not to assimilate them. Or, they felt a manifest destiny to manage and manipulate other people as pets or inferior beings. They enslaved those who would submit to their tyranny.
3. The europeans would willingly enslave them selves for material things. They would sell themselves as indentured servants for years to gain passage on a ship or to gain partial ownership of some business.
4. They lived lives of quiet desperation & degradation with no honor, yet they accepted this as their lot in life.
5. The religion of Christianity was used to placate. The concepts of freedom, liberty, honor and self respect was not common in European church circles. They preached submission to authority and honoring the king.
Then, a reformation began. Law was seen as above all. The written law superseded the edicts of men. This blend of reformation theology, combined with the noble savage sense of honor, freedom, and dignity came together to form a new creature: The American. It was the perfect storm. This guy would fight with ruthlessness like a European but die with dignity, honor, & self sacrifice like an Indian. He saw freedom and liberty as the foremost things. It flavored his religion and his outlook on Law and his fellow man.
Of course, this American went on to brutalize and break the spirit of the noble man he admired. He did not appreciate the lessons or the freedoms gained from his neighbors' philosophy of life. But the white man assimilated the ideology of the indian, even though he didn't know it. He tried to follow his euro creed of non assimilation and genocide. He pushed the red man into reservations to keep him dependent, subservient and broken. But the genie was out of the bottle. The spirit of the North American had taken over and blended with the European settlers.
Then more people came & were infected.. They got the idea that all men are created equal. ..They are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights. Not long after a great war was fought to free the black man from his years of servitude and oppression.
All during this time aggressive men and statists worked tirelessly to empower the state and strip the people of their liberties. Freedom, though tentative, was always preserved.
But now, as usual, we are at a crossroad. American liberties we took for granted are being chipped away by an ever growing & expanding state. No longer content with securing our rights, they make war at will, steal our property, and try to nanny and micro manage us like we are their third world conquests.
Wake up America! It is time to rise up and put these scoundrels in their place. It is time to remember our heritage, & honor the native american who has helped us cast off the chains of imperialism & servitude. No more euro nanny state! We came here for freedom, & we should not let anyone take it from us.
I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did any where. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. ~Thomas Jefferson
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Race & Region. Artificial Unity, National Division.
Primary superficial traits:
1. race
2. region
3. education
These are the big 3. There are a few others.. gender, sexuality, culture.. but some of those overlap, or are functionally the same.
Race is the most obvious, has been with us the longest, & generates the most division. Region can include dialect & even culture, & stirs local loyalties. Education is supposed to be a healing agent, that exposes the artificial contrasts, but it has become a source of division itself. Instead of being a tool for enlightenment, it has been hijacked into a tool of propaganda, to indoctrinate, not promote critical thinking. Education now promotes this division, rather than heal it, as it used to.
Sports are a substitute for national division & rivalry. You can root for your regional team or hero, & feel pride for their accomplishments. After the game, the sportsmanship that the games teach *should* cause us to shake hands of congratulations, knowing our deeper national loyalties override any feelings of resentment or division over the sports teams. But the division runs deep, & some humans find their loyalties conflicted. They do NOT show sportsmanship, but let their resentment grow to hate, & build artificial divisions. The 'fan' is the poster child for this malady.
America has governance as its source of national pride, or it used to, historically. We are a govt of, by & for the people. Our unity is based not on similarity of culture, race, education, region, or any superficial trait, but our common govt, which has been a source of great pride & patriotism for americans over the centuries. But when other factors upstage the primary loyalty of the nation, national division results. The secondary superficial allegiance overrides the broader national identity, & a shallow pool of parochial devotion divides us.
Lincoln made his famous 'house divided' speech running for the senate in 1858, which he lost.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free."
It illustrated the division of the day: Slavery. It was a major division, & a very heated issue, which eventually erupted in the civil war. That is the most common 'solution' for man, in our disputes with each other: War.
Man has always been a conflicted, divided creature. Today we have race baiters, regional loyalists, & other dividers pitching us against each other based NOT on our ideology of freedom & self governance, but on race, education, & regional or cultural differences. The detractors of american freedom constantly fan the flames of division, distracting us from the deeper issue of human freedom & self reliance. They mock the less educated, or impugn those they deem inferior intellectually, or they ridicule the snobbish elitism of the educated. They promote absurd differences in race, pounding drums of suspicion & mistrust, based only on skin pigmentation. And these dividers are trying to build a coalition of grievance.. pitting all the big 3 against a trumped up opponent. They try to paint the divisions as these artificial traits, to rally their side against their ideological opponents.
But the real struggle going on is ideological. Will we be a govt of, by, & for the people, or will we promote an elite ruling class? Will we defend & secure individual rights of sovereignty & responsibility, or trample them with redistribution & nanny state solutions? Will we be a nation of free people, or a state centered bureaucracy? THIS is the real choice before us, not the phony superficial divisions the race baiters & dividers try to portray. People of ALL education, region, & racial backgrounds need to wake up to the fake wars over superficials & see the bigger picture.
Once we lose our sense of national identity, & let the dividers run rampant with superficial loyalties of race, region, or anything that distracts us from the central truth of american liberty, we are finished as a nation, as a house divided cannot stand.
1. race
2. region
3. education
These are the big 3. There are a few others.. gender, sexuality, culture.. but some of those overlap, or are functionally the same.
Race is the most obvious, has been with us the longest, & generates the most division. Region can include dialect & even culture, & stirs local loyalties. Education is supposed to be a healing agent, that exposes the artificial contrasts, but it has become a source of division itself. Instead of being a tool for enlightenment, it has been hijacked into a tool of propaganda, to indoctrinate, not promote critical thinking. Education now promotes this division, rather than heal it, as it used to.
Sports are a substitute for national division & rivalry. You can root for your regional team or hero, & feel pride for their accomplishments. After the game, the sportsmanship that the games teach *should* cause us to shake hands of congratulations, knowing our deeper national loyalties override any feelings of resentment or division over the sports teams. But the division runs deep, & some humans find their loyalties conflicted. They do NOT show sportsmanship, but let their resentment grow to hate, & build artificial divisions. The 'fan' is the poster child for this malady.
America has governance as its source of national pride, or it used to, historically. We are a govt of, by & for the people. Our unity is based not on similarity of culture, race, education, region, or any superficial trait, but our common govt, which has been a source of great pride & patriotism for americans over the centuries. But when other factors upstage the primary loyalty of the nation, national division results. The secondary superficial allegiance overrides the broader national identity, & a shallow pool of parochial devotion divides us.
Lincoln made his famous 'house divided' speech running for the senate in 1858, which he lost.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free."
It illustrated the division of the day: Slavery. It was a major division, & a very heated issue, which eventually erupted in the civil war. That is the most common 'solution' for man, in our disputes with each other: War.
Man has always been a conflicted, divided creature. Today we have race baiters, regional loyalists, & other dividers pitching us against each other based NOT on our ideology of freedom & self governance, but on race, education, & regional or cultural differences. The detractors of american freedom constantly fan the flames of division, distracting us from the deeper issue of human freedom & self reliance. They mock the less educated, or impugn those they deem inferior intellectually, or they ridicule the snobbish elitism of the educated. They promote absurd differences in race, pounding drums of suspicion & mistrust, based only on skin pigmentation. And these dividers are trying to build a coalition of grievance.. pitting all the big 3 against a trumped up opponent. They try to paint the divisions as these artificial traits, to rally their side against their ideological opponents.
But the real struggle going on is ideological. Will we be a govt of, by, & for the people, or will we promote an elite ruling class? Will we defend & secure individual rights of sovereignty & responsibility, or trample them with redistribution & nanny state solutions? Will we be a nation of free people, or a state centered bureaucracy? THIS is the real choice before us, not the phony superficial divisions the race baiters & dividers try to portray. People of ALL education, region, & racial backgrounds need to wake up to the fake wars over superficials & see the bigger picture.
Once we lose our sense of national identity, & let the dividers run rampant with superficial loyalties of race, region, or anything that distracts us from the central truth of american liberty, we are finished as a nation, as a house divided cannot stand.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Exceptional or Multicultural.
Whenever i hear the race baiters carry on about the supremacy of the {insert race here} man, or a 'manifest destiny' kind of attitude, i remember what made america. It was not the cream of the crop.. the elite, superior specimens of human evolution. No, it was the dregs.. the misfits.. the castoffs.
America is an argument AGAINST any racial or cultural superiority. We cannot claim thousands of years of racial or ethnic purity. Mongrelism is the norm, here. Yet what the purists despise is our greatest strength. Most of european race & culture was highly esteemed, especially early in the last century. They ruled the world.. dominating every other culture & race, occupying their lands with superior armies & technologies. Their smug superiority found a climax in the nazis, who made a religion out of racial & ethnic superiority. But they were just openly expressing what most europeans already felt.
A significant contribution to the psyche of america was the native people. They were not ruled by a central, powerful state, but by small, independent tribes. The values of the 'noble savage' were revered, & continue to be to this day. They could not be enslaved, like some conquered peoples, but were very defiant & independent. This trait infected the nannied europeans who came, even though they possessed superior technology & eventually, numbers, & who in general, looked down on the 'savages'. But by & large, the native american tribes were much more individualistic in their basic ideals than the euro settlers. The europeans had to learn that.. sometimes just to survival in the new, wild world, but it carried over to the rest of their lives.
Some americans tried to jump on the bandwagon of racial superiority, but it just didn't work. Maggie Sanger got the nation fired up about eugenics, & tried to bring us into euro cool, wanting to bump off inferior races & hasten the evolution of the Perfect Man, which was all the rage back then. But the message was so similar to what the nazis preached that it fell into disrepute. So multiculturalism has pretty much ruled western ideology since ww2. It is now, however, becoming a pariah in europe, as the social engineers in the various countries seem bent on not just accepting other cultures & diversity, but actively destroying the culture of the indigent population. Europeans are not inherently multicultural, like the US, so forcing american parameters of culture has backfired. The success of america was a boon for the concept of multiculturalism, but it has been perverted & is used to destroy the long, rich cultures of the individual euro states.
The 'exceptional' part about america is its multicultural diversity. But that is the nature of america, & those dynamics cannot be forced upon other cultures. Other cultures & ethnicities should not despise their own culture, but embrace it.. it is YOUR heritage, accept it! That is your strength. Americans should do the same. We are a melting pot & a rag tag group of misfits & cultural rejects. Embrace it! It is our strength.
But the success of america should dispel any notion of individual cultural superiority. It is the core ideals.. the basic idea of america that has built our own success. Freedom. Responsibility. Self reliance. Opportunity. Hard work & intelligence pays off, here.. or it did. It was not something racial. There was not an evolving Man rising to perfection & prominence. No, it was the ideals of america.. individual sovereignty, personal freedoms, independence & self reliance.... THESE things were the major factors in building the new world hegemony, not any claims of racial superiority, as was done by most throughout history. That is why people are confused.. they are programmed to think that cultural & racial superiority is what makes a people great. Many people live in the past, coasting on dreams of past glories in their culture. They console themselves in their current state with memories of greatness & power, when THEY ruled the world.
America is an argument AGAINST any racial or cultural superiority. We cannot claim thousands of years of racial or ethnic purity. Mongrelism is the norm, here. Yet what the purists despise is our greatest strength. Most of european race & culture was highly esteemed, especially early in the last century. They ruled the world.. dominating every other culture & race, occupying their lands with superior armies & technologies. Their smug superiority found a climax in the nazis, who made a religion out of racial & ethnic superiority. But they were just openly expressing what most europeans already felt.
A significant contribution to the psyche of america was the native people. They were not ruled by a central, powerful state, but by small, independent tribes. The values of the 'noble savage' were revered, & continue to be to this day. They could not be enslaved, like some conquered peoples, but were very defiant & independent. This trait infected the nannied europeans who came, even though they possessed superior technology & eventually, numbers, & who in general, looked down on the 'savages'. But by & large, the native american tribes were much more individualistic in their basic ideals than the euro settlers. The europeans had to learn that.. sometimes just to survival in the new, wild world, but it carried over to the rest of their lives.
Some americans tried to jump on the bandwagon of racial superiority, but it just didn't work. Maggie Sanger got the nation fired up about eugenics, & tried to bring us into euro cool, wanting to bump off inferior races & hasten the evolution of the Perfect Man, which was all the rage back then. But the message was so similar to what the nazis preached that it fell into disrepute. So multiculturalism has pretty much ruled western ideology since ww2. It is now, however, becoming a pariah in europe, as the social engineers in the various countries seem bent on not just accepting other cultures & diversity, but actively destroying the culture of the indigent population. Europeans are not inherently multicultural, like the US, so forcing american parameters of culture has backfired. The success of america was a boon for the concept of multiculturalism, but it has been perverted & is used to destroy the long, rich cultures of the individual euro states.
The 'exceptional' part about america is its multicultural diversity. But that is the nature of america, & those dynamics cannot be forced upon other cultures. Other cultures & ethnicities should not despise their own culture, but embrace it.. it is YOUR heritage, accept it! That is your strength. Americans should do the same. We are a melting pot & a rag tag group of misfits & cultural rejects. Embrace it! It is our strength.
But the success of america should dispel any notion of individual cultural superiority. It is the core ideals.. the basic idea of america that has built our own success. Freedom. Responsibility. Self reliance. Opportunity. Hard work & intelligence pays off, here.. or it did. It was not something racial. There was not an evolving Man rising to perfection & prominence. No, it was the ideals of america.. individual sovereignty, personal freedoms, independence & self reliance.... THESE things were the major factors in building the new world hegemony, not any claims of racial superiority, as was done by most throughout history. That is why people are confused.. they are programmed to think that cultural & racial superiority is what makes a people great. Many people live in the past, coasting on dreams of past glories in their culture. They console themselves in their current state with memories of greatness & power, when THEY ruled the world.
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