Dystopia of Endless Night
(1) “Before the Great War all intelligent people said: ‘We shall not have any more war, we are far too reasonable to let it happen, and our commerce and finance are so interlaced internationally that war is absolutely out of the question’. And then we produced the most gorgeous war ever seen.”
-- C. G. Jung
Intelligent people can debate if we are at risk of entering World War Three, or not. In part, it depends upon how one defines “world war.“ One can use the relatively limited context of WW1 and WW2, or of the majority of the most populous and economically- militarily powerful nations being involved in a number of theaters of warfare around the globe.
It is safe to say that while military conflicts may take place in some of the locations where previous wars have been fought, we no longer exist in the Industrial Age. The synergy of multi-national corporations -- more powerful than many modern nations -- in the high-tech world reduces the efficacy of the WW1-WW2 models.
The media tends to present a rather subjective package of news and analysis. Thus, for too many of the less-aware public, they project their anxieties into pseudo-wars, such as the infamous “war on Christmas,” or in the extreme violence of the white christian terrorist movement. When various sub-groups in a nation-state begin hostilities against other groups, it is generally in battles, feuds, and/or terrorism. Yet in sum total, there comes a time when, faced with crisis (or crises), this inner-strife can be as destructive as war with an external enemy.
In ancient times, people looked to Walter Cronkite to declare it: war was just, war was win-able, or a jungle stalemate. The voices of reason are less clear today, as the ghosts of generations of lies rise from their graves, and swirl around in massive miscommunication on the television, radio, and internet. Where have you gone, Uncle Walter? Our nation turns its lonely ears to you. But in the gyre, the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.
(2) “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
-- W. B. Yeats
There is a Showtime documentary titled, “The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs” that features interviews with all of the living directors of the agency. The “wise men” debate issues such as the proper response to terrorism; the efficacy of “torture”; and the agency’s unregulated use of drones. It attempts to address the conflict between the current use of drones, and President Ford’s law which forbid the agency from assassinating foreign leaders.
It fails to provide real context in the sense of President Kennedy’s decision to take tactical wartime operations away from the agency, and place that responsibility where it belongs -- with the military -- if we are to remain a nation of laws, guided by the Constitution. Indeed, the drone program allows the agency the ability to conduct strikes outside of the recognized theater of war, without oversight.
Those who do not subscribe to Showtime have the option of simply watching cable news, for a repulsive ad that asks, “Can a corporation have a subconscious?” Willard “Mitt” Romney certainly thinks so: corporations are people, he assured his republican audience, with passionate intensity. For those who worship the dollar, and who accept profit motives as gods, corporate greed becomes mutant soul.
The synergism of corporate greed, tribalism (in its negative potential), and militarism cuts a direct path to an assault upon the central theme of what this nation can stand for -- liberty and social justice, of government for the people, by the people. The best of politicians have anxious convictions; the worst propose walls to stop the migration of once huddled masses; those who attempt to give voice to reason are looked upon with suspicion; and compassion is declared weakness by the loudest voices.
(3) “I see fingers, hands, and shades of faces, reaching up but not quite touching the promised land. I pleas and prayers and a desperate whisper saying, ‘Oh, Lord, please give us a helping hand’.”
-- Jimi Hendrix
One of the curious dynamics in American society today is that “bad” people are more organized, and making better use of time, than “good” people. That is not to suggest this is either new, or true across the board. However, I am convinced that the rates of organized action has been expanding with the “bad” people, creating greater difficulties for those “good” people who are social-political activists and organizers.
This afternoon, on CNN, there was a “discussion” that featured a rabid republican and a gentle Democrat, regarding the gross violence aimed at Planned Parenthood. Locally, I know for a fact that Planned Parenthood has offered free services to a number of young men, primarily in the context of couples considering family planning. But, even if PP only offered services to females, it is of such value that every man should be actively supporting it.
Indeed, even if a person has sincere beliefs regarding abortion, and do not support it for their personal life choices, the best -- and only -- way to reduce unwanted pregnancies is to promote education, and to insure that birth control is readily available. Thus, even those who would not consider abortion as a personal choice, should definitely be supporting Planned Parenthood. Yet the republican woman on CNN attempted to present the “dog-whistles” from republican candidates, and the aggressively confrontational “protests” outside of medical clinics, as representing appropriate, constitutionally-endorsed behaviors.
Amendment 1’s reference to public demonstrations is intended -- among other things -- to allow group’s of citizens to call for an increase in rights, for a group that is currently being denied equal rights. There is no evidence that its intent is to protect, much less promote, a group’s demand to restrict the rights of others. Obviously, in the context of Constitutional Law (the decisions rendered by federal courts), even groups as toxic as the KKK are recognized as having the “right” to engage in public demonstrations. However, “rights” does not equal “license.”
Amendment 1 does not provide one with the “right” to harass people who are seeking medical services. It does not justify the threats that both health care providers and consumers are so frequently subjected to. That Bill of Rights is intended to protect and promote individual and group rights, not as a means of denying rights by way of threats and/or violence. And there is no question -- none! -- that the republican candidates are, by and large, actively sowing the seeds of poisoned thinking, that is sure to result in more and more violent outbursts.
By no coincidence, as the reporting on violence becomes the media’s obsession, more and more of the less-insightful among us uses the dangers as reason to cut back upon that Bill of Rights -- just as assuredly as all three branches of the federal government increasingly engage in “post-constitutional” behaviors and activities. The center of what represents the best potential of America no longer holds. The vacuum that is created allows for a Ben Carson to be considered, by a sizable number of republicans, as presidential timber -- and not in spite of his delusional religious system of thought, but rather, almost entirely because of it.
(4) “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
-- John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Most political-social-cultural concepts have both a good and bad potential -- with lots of room in between. Just as Amendment 1 can be used to either promote social justice, or to bring about violent oppression, issues of “religion” in American society have spanned from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s contributions, to Jerry Falwell’s intolerance. As a general rule, insightful people make use of religion for self-examination, while the dull-witted use it to justify harsh judgments of others.
The self-righteous have used “religion” to justify the slaughter of Native Americans, the forced slavery of African-Americans, the obscene oppression of gay and lesbian people, and virtually every war in our nation’s history. Small surprise that their “religion” promotes the violence against Planned Parenthood, and the inhumanity that saturates the republican platform for dealing with the current migrations of human beings around the globe. There’s nothing more violent than that old-time religious self-righteousness.
There are large numbers of people who, while not “bad” per se, are adding their energies to the unconscious rituals of violence that are wrapped in flags, and/or found in perverted readings of esoteric texts. The sum total tends to discourage rational thinkers, who often find their efforts to advocate for social justice are frustrated by the sheer force of gross ignorance in motion. Yet, as Alfred, Lord Tennyson reminds us, “Come, my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
We need the united efforts of women and men of good will, not the divisions that result from none of us being perfect, or all-knowing. It’s high time for us to celebrate the human potential.
(Thank you for reading the thoughts that I was thinking this afternoon, as I was doing some of the tasks in preparation for ceremony on Friday. My older son and daughter gathered 49 good-sized cobbles of white quartz, which holds heat very well. -- H2O man)
= new reply since forum marked as read
This afternoon, on CNN, there was a “discussion” that featured a rabid republican and a gentle Democrat, regarding the gross violence aimed at Planned Parenthood. Locally, I know for a fact that Planned Parenthood has offered free services to a number of young men, primarily in the context of couples considering family planning. But, even if PP only offered services to females, it is of such value that every man should be actively supporting it.
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And THIS from DU POST AND LINKS, Today?
And, Joe Bageant (Deer Hunting With Jesus & other books)
Website:
http://joebageant.net/
Rep. Keith Ellison has "Deer Hunting With Jesus" as one of his top Book Recommends:
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In Response to This Post:
The AGE of the DEMAGOGUES -- Chris Hedges -- MUST READ
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_age_of_the_demagogues_20151129
excerpt:
The Republican business elites, which declared war on the liberal class’ call for cultural diversity, allied themselves with an array of protofascists in the Christian right, the tea party, groups such as the National Rifle Association and The Heritage Foundation, the neo-Confederate movement, the right-to-life movement and right-wing militias. The elites in the Republican Party, who needed an ideological veneer to mask their complicity in the corporate assault, saw these protofascists as useful idiots. They thought, naively, that by demonizing liberals, feminists, African-Americans, Muslims, abortion providers, undocumented workers, intellectuals and homosexuals they could redirect the growing rage of the masses, sending it against the vulnerable, as well as against the only institution that could curb corporate power, the government, while they greedily disemboweled the nation.
But what the Republican elites have done, as they now realize to their horror, is empower a huge swath of the public—largely white—that is gripped by magical thinking and fetishizes violence. It was only a matter of time before a demagogue whom these elites could not control would ride the wave of alienation and rage. If Trump fails in his bid to become the GOP presidential nominee, another demagogue will emerge to take his place. Trump is not making a political revolution. He is responding to one.
The corporate state was never threatened by the liberal class’ myopic preoccupation with cultural diversity or the right wing’s championing of supposedly “Christian” values. This was anti-politics masquerading as politics. The culture wars did not challenge imperialism, neoliberalism and globalization. The dictates of the market, the primacy of corporate profit and the military-industrial complex remained sacrosanct. The mounting distress of the underclass was ignored or manipulated during the culture wars. Liberals who embraced cultural diversity did so within a neoliberal framework. Feminism, for example, became about placing individual women in positions of power—this is Hillary Clinton’s mantra—not about empowering poor, marginalized and oppressed women. Post-racial America became about a black president.....”
85http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027396652
Except for our hopes for Bernie Sanders being a beacon light in focusing discussion for future efforts after this 2016 Election whether he wins or not.
The PTB have managed to whip up the National Attention on "Terra, Terra!" once again. Hillary will keep us Safe with Bill's help and experience and Trump will "Kick Butt."
It's like a watching reply of an old movie you've enjoyed in the past. You are so familiar with the plot and the cast of characters but, it seems that each time you rewatch somehow you see things you didn't notice before. Maybe your taste in movies has changed. Maybe when you were young you focused on certain characters or parts of the plot that kept you fascinated. But, with each rewatch you begin to wonder what you found so interesting that kept you going back over and over. You begin to think that maybe it really wasn't such a good movie as you originally thought -- that the plot was faulty and some of the characters really weren't what you thought they were on first view.
Sometimes it can almost seem like PTSD.
Don't mind me. 
Enjoy your Sweat and lets hope for better times ahead, someday. 
Quartz?!? Is this the "Luxury Lodge"?
Have a beautiful sweat.
