Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): We could have been so much more. We have the ability to create a healthy and harmonious world and collaborate to give everyone on earth everything they need, and instead we’re killing the biosphere while arguing about whether or not it’s anti-semitic to oppose an active genocide.
I am sorry Caitlin, I do not see us “growing into” responsible bicycle riders. These creatures are drunk on power and wealth. They have put us on a path to annihilation, and I don’t see them growing a conscience. They are not 6 year olds experimenting with a toy meant for 16 year olds. They know exactly what they’re doing with the toys they have built.
It really is unbelievable how this genocide continues, and we're all suppose to assume the Arab world leaders and Turkey will just standby and watch it continue. What puzzles me, is how do the super rich - running this planet right now - why aren't they trying to do something about this? Don't they see - even their lives (and their children) are obviously at risk here? Why isn't more being done to de-escalate this obviously dangerous situation - and if not just for the great evil we're all witnessing, paralleling the evil of the German Nazis - but for the sake of the stability of the rest of the world - including the super wealthy themselves and their children? If Iran enters the war, or Turkey, or Hezbollah - what's to stop the US actively entering the war - and then what?
We are seeing a titanic power shift the likes of which the world has never seen before. The East has emerged and the West is in decline. Our elites simply cannot accept they are going to have to share power and cooperate with the world community.
They are desperate to claim what they have lost and refuse to accept the edict of history that empires rise and fall inevitably. The days of imperialism, neocolonialism and globalization are past as the mulitipolar world emerges with an unstoppable momentum.
Just after WW ll US diplomat George Keenan warned the government the rise of the East was inevitable and only a matter of time. The Washington response to this advice was to declare war on the world. Where they didn't have the numbers to prevail, they would use militarism, war and economic extortion to control the world.
They forget that China has 1.4 billion mouths to feed, as does India and the US wants to hog the world's wealth with only 5% of the world population.
It is a momentous tragedy the US and NATO wage endless war when they should be focused on building better economies and better futures for their populations. Instead they are digging themselves very deep graves-- as verified by history. They are totally illiterate and slaves to bogus ideologies ultimately ruinous to all.
We are living the dying empire's rolling temper tantrum. There will be no peace until we insist on it
“In November 1998, Tom Plate, a columnist on Pacific Rim affairs Edition for the Los Angeles Times, described the United States as “a muscle-bound crackpot superpower with little more than cruise missiles for brains.”— Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Second Edition
When a nation is socialized to believe that pursuing one’s self-interest can and does serve the requirements of the collective, and every news story, and classroom lesson and textbook, and church sermon, and media outlet reinforces the blessings of serving individual prerogative, you get an oligarchy where the personalities of the facilitators of elite profiteers become the focus of the masses. Only those who ask bigger questions and explore systemic causes for social dysfunction can see the ideological underpinnings of a paralyzed society.
Because of the merger between government and business which requires placing capitalism and usury under the microscope.
It's not that our ''governments'' are incompetent - they're doing everything they can to please their real masters which isn't the electorate but the financial elite.
We are the one who are incompetent due to the fact that we still haven't figured out how to hold government officials accountable when they are openly catering to the corporate agenda instead of the humanitarian one based on the declaration of human rights.
We got to where we are because our patriarchal system of life consistently insists that someone has to be superior and they have chosen men to be superior. It doesn't work any better when women are chosen to be superior. We have to see that we are all equal. Those that have a superiority complex made up all the rules so that they could stay "superior". Season that with a little capitalistic greed and voilà, you have a world that is polluted and rapidly warming, wars going on all over the place to they can prove their "superiority" and make more money. That's how we got here and this is where we will stay until someone decides that co-operation and tolerance work better for everyone in the long run.
Survival of the fittest is a natural progression. For humans it means the most Ruthless, narcissists, and conniving, willing to do anything including murder to acheive power. Then conspiring with others to build a cartel based on territory and force. Police and soldiers protect those who sign their check, Mercenaries . It is a Racketeering enterprise that gains legitamacy. Humans are then subjected to continuous incremental indoctrination they don't even understand they are mind slaves, divided and conquered. Question Everything! Harold L. Mencken had some wonderful insights as did Edward Bernays, and George Carlin.
Billions of people (several) just want clean air, clean water, clean soil, food, good roofs over their heads, culture, family, and in most cases, 'it takes a village to raise a family" ethos.
Now, the Oppen-Monster-Heimers of the world, the dirty war lords and the takers, well, they are small in number but they have advanced banks, land, real estate, and armies to protect their perversions.
Read Ishmael:
Culture is a mother everywhere and at every time, because culture is inherently a nurturer—the nurturer of human societies and lifestyles. Among Leaver peoples, Mother Culture explains and preserves a lifestyle that is healthy and self-sustaining. Among Taker peoples she explains and preserves a lifestyle that has proven to be unhealthy and self-destructive.
If culture is a mother among the Alawa of Australia and the Bushmen of Africa and the Kayapo of Brazil, then why wouldn’t she be a mother among the Takers? (To confirm the notion that “culture is a mother everywhere,” check foreign language dictionaries for the word CULTURE. In languages that recognize “masculine” and “feminine” nouns—French, Italian, Latin, and so on—the noun CULTURE is invariably feminine.)
+--+
My son sent me a book called Ishmael, written by philosopher Daniel Quinn. He said, “This book changed the way I think about life.” A profound statement like that cannot be ignored so I read this book.
The premise of the book is that there are two kinds of people in the world: Takers and Leavers. Leavers represent man before the agricultural revolution, for the most part, although there are still some Leavers in the world today. Takers represent those who change the earth for their purposes. Most of our culture is now Takers — which defines most of us by default because our culture is embedded in the way we approach life. And we are embedded in that culture and have, most likely, never thought of a different way.
Takers generally take what they want or need regardless of the consequences to the earth or even other people groups. Takers take more than what they need, kill animals or even humans who get in their way or encroach upon what they want for themselves. Takers disrupt the natural order of things — damming up rivers, cutting through forests, and flooding valleys to create what they want.
I’m sure it’s not hard to identify who the Takers and Leavers have been throughout modern history. I’m sure you can call to mind recent examples.
Leavers usually only ask to be left alone, for Takers to leave them as they found them and for them to be able to live their lives in Leaver fashion. Takers, by nature or choice, can’t seem to stop taking.
+--+
Now? We are sheeple. Badges and proof of humanity and life put into our culture by the rotten takers, the software application and AI-MR-VR-AR body snatchers. Small in number, but we are all now on the fucking net, with these dumb phones, and applications for every goddamned waking and sleeping head twitch, blink, step, defecation, thought, movement, bite, yawn, REM, hope, dream, fear.
Keep up the great thought experiments, Caitlin. It staves off insanity.
Pretend we're not abused preschoolers. Value the brains we were born with. Have an ounce of compassion. Wake up and see the paradise we were born into and do all we can to reestablish it. Listen to Paul Beckwith rather than Guy McPherson.
Well put, Caitlin. We should remember Hannah Arendt's observations on "the banality of evil." Sociopathy has its origins in the egoic mind and the traps and pitfalls it lays for each of us. Our ruling elite easily become drunk with power and forget their common humanity. How easily it happens! As our humanity, rooted in our dysfunctional egos, may be the greatest threat to our continued existence, it can, if we are willing to drop our delusions and self-righteousness, be our salvation. For me, it is a spiritual path, grounded in obedience to a Faith that helps me see my own sins and self deceptions as well as an unambiguous command to love every other human being, not just those of my tribe. For others there will be another path, but all our paths will converge in the realization that we are all One and that there are other, far better ways to share this troubled planet. Evil is just lying to yourself and precedes the inevitable lying to others. That is the reality of our political and most of our elite economic class. Such is the seduction of power and wealth.
I am sorry Caitlin, I do not see us “growing into” responsible bicycle riders. These creatures are drunk on power and wealth. They have put us on a path to annihilation, and I don’t see them growing a conscience. They are not 6 year olds experimenting with a toy meant for 16 year olds. They know exactly what they’re doing with the toys they have built.
It really is unbelievable how this genocide continues, and we're all suppose to assume the Arab world leaders and Turkey will just standby and watch it continue. What puzzles me, is how do the super rich - running this planet right now - why aren't they trying to do something about this? Don't they see - even their lives (and their children) are obviously at risk here? Why isn't more being done to de-escalate this obviously dangerous situation - and if not just for the great evil we're all witnessing, paralleling the evil of the German Nazis - but for the sake of the stability of the rest of the world - including the super wealthy themselves and their children? If Iran enters the war, or Turkey, or Hezbollah - what's to stop the US actively entering the war - and then what?
We are seeing a titanic power shift the likes of which the world has never seen before. The East has emerged and the West is in decline. Our elites simply cannot accept they are going to have to share power and cooperate with the world community.
They are desperate to claim what they have lost and refuse to accept the edict of history that empires rise and fall inevitably. The days of imperialism, neocolonialism and globalization are past as the mulitipolar world emerges with an unstoppable momentum.
Just after WW ll US diplomat George Keenan warned the government the rise of the East was inevitable and only a matter of time. The Washington response to this advice was to declare war on the world. Where they didn't have the numbers to prevail, they would use militarism, war and economic extortion to control the world.
They forget that China has 1.4 billion mouths to feed, as does India and the US wants to hog the world's wealth with only 5% of the world population.
It is a momentous tragedy the US and NATO wage endless war when they should be focused on building better economies and better futures for their populations. Instead they are digging themselves very deep graves-- as verified by history. They are totally illiterate and slaves to bogus ideologies ultimately ruinous to all.
We are living the dying empire's rolling temper tantrum. There will be no peace until we insist on it
History will not be kind to all of the people who have the power to use their voice to stop what’s happening in Gaza and are instead choosing silence.
“In November 1998, Tom Plate, a columnist on Pacific Rim affairs Edition for the Los Angeles Times, described the United States as “a muscle-bound crackpot superpower with little more than cruise missiles for brains.”— Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, Second Edition
Because money has become our God!
The CIA and the fact that WW2 never ended for those goons is why we are here.
When a nation is socialized to believe that pursuing one’s self-interest can and does serve the requirements of the collective, and every news story, and classroom lesson and textbook, and church sermon, and media outlet reinforces the blessings of serving individual prerogative, you get an oligarchy where the personalities of the facilitators of elite profiteers become the focus of the masses. Only those who ask bigger questions and explore systemic causes for social dysfunction can see the ideological underpinnings of a paralyzed society.
How did we get here?
Because of the merger between government and business which requires placing capitalism and usury under the microscope.
It's not that our ''governments'' are incompetent - they're doing everything they can to please their real masters which isn't the electorate but the financial elite.
We are the one who are incompetent due to the fact that we still haven't figured out how to hold government officials accountable when they are openly catering to the corporate agenda instead of the humanitarian one based on the declaration of human rights.
We got to where we are because our patriarchal system of life consistently insists that someone has to be superior and they have chosen men to be superior. It doesn't work any better when women are chosen to be superior. We have to see that we are all equal. Those that have a superiority complex made up all the rules so that they could stay "superior". Season that with a little capitalistic greed and voilà, you have a world that is polluted and rapidly warming, wars going on all over the place to they can prove their "superiority" and make more money. That's how we got here and this is where we will stay until someone decides that co-operation and tolerance work better for everyone in the long run.
Survival of the fittest is a natural progression. For humans it means the most Ruthless, narcissists, and conniving, willing to do anything including murder to acheive power. Then conspiring with others to build a cartel based on territory and force. Police and soldiers protect those who sign their check, Mercenaries . It is a Racketeering enterprise that gains legitamacy. Humans are then subjected to continuous incremental indoctrination they don't even understand they are mind slaves, divided and conquered. Question Everything! Harold L. Mencken had some wonderful insights as did Edward Bernays, and George Carlin.
One word answers every question in this great post: Capitalism.
Billions of people (several) just want clean air, clean water, clean soil, food, good roofs over their heads, culture, family, and in most cases, 'it takes a village to raise a family" ethos.
Now, the Oppen-Monster-Heimers of the world, the dirty war lords and the takers, well, they are small in number but they have advanced banks, land, real estate, and armies to protect their perversions.
Read Ishmael:
Culture is a mother everywhere and at every time, because culture is inherently a nurturer—the nurturer of human societies and lifestyles. Among Leaver peoples, Mother Culture explains and preserves a lifestyle that is healthy and self-sustaining. Among Taker peoples she explains and preserves a lifestyle that has proven to be unhealthy and self-destructive.
If culture is a mother among the Alawa of Australia and the Bushmen of Africa and the Kayapo of Brazil, then why wouldn’t she be a mother among the Takers? (To confirm the notion that “culture is a mother everywhere,” check foreign language dictionaries for the word CULTURE. In languages that recognize “masculine” and “feminine” nouns—French, Italian, Latin, and so on—the noun CULTURE is invariably feminine.)
+--+
My son sent me a book called Ishmael, written by philosopher Daniel Quinn. He said, “This book changed the way I think about life.” A profound statement like that cannot be ignored so I read this book.
The premise of the book is that there are two kinds of people in the world: Takers and Leavers. Leavers represent man before the agricultural revolution, for the most part, although there are still some Leavers in the world today. Takers represent those who change the earth for their purposes. Most of our culture is now Takers — which defines most of us by default because our culture is embedded in the way we approach life. And we are embedded in that culture and have, most likely, never thought of a different way.
Takers generally take what they want or need regardless of the consequences to the earth or even other people groups. Takers take more than what they need, kill animals or even humans who get in their way or encroach upon what they want for themselves. Takers disrupt the natural order of things — damming up rivers, cutting through forests, and flooding valleys to create what they want.
I’m sure it’s not hard to identify who the Takers and Leavers have been throughout modern history. I’m sure you can call to mind recent examples.
Leavers usually only ask to be left alone, for Takers to leave them as they found them and for them to be able to live their lives in Leaver fashion. Takers, by nature or choice, can’t seem to stop taking.
+--+
Now? We are sheeple. Badges and proof of humanity and life put into our culture by the rotten takers, the software application and AI-MR-VR-AR body snatchers. Small in number, but we are all now on the fucking net, with these dumb phones, and applications for every goddamned waking and sleeping head twitch, blink, step, defecation, thought, movement, bite, yawn, REM, hope, dream, fear.
Keep up the great thought experiments, Caitlin. It staves off insanity.
https://paulokirk.substack.com/p/we-do-need-those-stinking-badges
"How The Hell Did We Get Here?" - welcome to humanity. The real kind.
Pretend we're not abused preschoolers. Value the brains we were born with. Have an ounce of compassion. Wake up and see the paradise we were born into and do all we can to reestablish it. Listen to Paul Beckwith rather than Guy McPherson.
Well put, Caitlin. We should remember Hannah Arendt's observations on "the banality of evil." Sociopathy has its origins in the egoic mind and the traps and pitfalls it lays for each of us. Our ruling elite easily become drunk with power and forget their common humanity. How easily it happens! As our humanity, rooted in our dysfunctional egos, may be the greatest threat to our continued existence, it can, if we are willing to drop our delusions and self-righteousness, be our salvation. For me, it is a spiritual path, grounded in obedience to a Faith that helps me see my own sins and self deceptions as well as an unambiguous command to love every other human being, not just those of my tribe. For others there will be another path, but all our paths will converge in the realization that we are all One and that there are other, far better ways to share this troubled planet. Evil is just lying to yourself and precedes the inevitable lying to others. That is the reality of our political and most of our elite economic class. Such is the seduction of power and wealth.