The Gadfly

Politics and “Conspiracy Theories”: It’s Not What You are Seeing

"To you, the bold searchers, researchers, and whoever embarks with cunning sails on terrible seas--to you, drunk with riddles, glad of twilight, whose soul flutes astray to every whirlpool, because you do not want to grope along a thread with cowardly hand; and where you can guess, you hate to deduce." - Nietzsche

In the beginning of Book I of his Histories, Herodotus, the first Greek historian, tells us the story of how King Gyges became ruler of Lydia.  The function of the story in the context of Herodotus’ history is to offer the reader an insight into the nature of political knowledge as Herodotus saw it. Political knowledge is not like any other kind of knowledge available to mankind and that is because political knowledge somehow involves having a certain kind of wisdom and comprehension of human nature, both the external and obvious characteristics, as well as the more subterranean and concealed ones. Without this kind of wisdom, political insight is actually quite impossible. Now most people who suggest that there is a subterranean and concealed government behind the known or public government are considered to be conspiracy nuts or whackos. I have had it up to HERE with this propaganda. People who don’t get their news from MSNBCCBSNBCFOXNEWS are somehow liars or misinformed. People who look behind the crap sandwich that is delivered daily at our door are somehow misinformed??? I’d say at the very least that they have good TASTE. I guess I will have to pull out Einstein in order to give our conspiracy nuts a little less nuttiness in the eyes of those who will AT LEAST listen to a genius of science.

Somebody who only reads newspapers and at best books of contemporary authors looks to me like an extremely near-sighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else. And what a person thinks on his own without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of other people is even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous. There are only a few enlightened people with a lucid mind and style and with good taste within a century. What has been preserved of their work belongs among the most precious possessions of mankind. We owe it to a few writers of antiquity (Plato, Aristotle, etc.) that the people in the Middle Ages could slowly extricate themselves from the superstitions and ignorance that had darkened life for more than half a millennium. Nothing is more needed to overcome the modernist's snobbishness. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

Back to Herodotus, our inquiring mind of antiquity. The tale Herodotus tells is quite simple – almost the stuff of a child’s storybook. It begins at the time when Candaules was king of Lydia and Gyges was his right hand man. Now Candaules believed that his wife, the queen, was the most beautiful woman in the world. Unable to contain this secret and hidden knowledge from public view, he demanded (in the form of a request) that Gyges see her naked. Gyges, knowing that such a sight would have tremendous consequences, resisted as he tried to convince Candaules that such a deed was a bad idea. However, tyrants being tyrants, “no” was not an answer and Gyges prepared to sneak into the queens boudoir to watch her reveal what is not to be revealed to the public. Gyges was then to slip out of the room, unnoticed. Well, the plan succeeded, with the exception of the unnoticed part.  In the end, the queen let Gyges know that he has two possible courses: either kill Candaules and become king, or kill himself. Gyges chose to become king of Lydia. He ended up paying gold as tribute to the Delphic treasury. They in turn certified his reign by declaring that his rule was ordained by the gods. The people welcomed him because the Delphic gods told them too. Revolution was avoided and the people were kept at bay.

When we try to understand politics and the history of politics, we must keep in mind that there are two different types of knowledge. The first type is public knowledge. Public knowledge is like the clothes of the queen. Everyone can see them and comment on them. People can argue about whether or not they are beautiful or ugly. The knowledge is usual trivial and/or unimportant entertainment. The clothes can always change every day with either little or no real consequence. Plato identified this kind of knowledge as being “opinion” or a “seeming”, as opposed to the true thing-in-itself.  Herodotus’ understands it as being necessarily a part of public life – it is the appearances that are created or worn by the ruling class. The clothes are the stories they tell, the lies they distribute and the fame and fortune they advertise.

We see this kind of “seeming knowledge” occurring on a daily basis with the modern mainstream media. For example, the flu hoax was a staged media event designed to frighten an enormous amount of people. Nothing came of it. Life went on as usual. The same is the case with the economy. People are being convinced that the economy is improving because the government is wearing its’ happy clothes today. THIS IS ALL FAKE, folks. Every day we are being taught that our political life is about as real as an episode of 24: we watch it, then we go to bed expecting to see a new headline in the morning that will change our circumstances.  The people are about as passive as a bunch of dogs being trained to sit in puppy class. We are trained to watch the images and the people, as they shift shapes and appear to make some kind of progress towards the hazy ideals we imagine to be good. We cheer some and jeer at others. We fight amongst ourselves because we believe that there are two sides, one with nicer clothes and one with worse clothes. We are convinced that the lies we are told are real, and so we do not even look beyond this Matrix to seek the truth. We think we are THERE already. THAT is a sad state of affairs, to believe to know truth or truths. No wonder we are so bored that we require more and more entertainment and consumerism. THAT is exactly what our political life desires. We make money off need AND off of debt.

Now the second type of knowledge seems to be something like true knowledge. It is the recognition that the clothes can be removed.  However, we are not talking about scientific truth or mathematical truth. We are talking about human nature here: in regards to politics and the human state, the knowledge of the truth will somehow get someone killed. If you come to have a glimpse of the truth you, like Gyges, will either be killed for sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong, or you will have to be lucky enough to become President of the United States or some other official position in the legal mafia. Either way, danger lurks on all sides, because you could then become like Candaules, eager to show off the truth that you have seen or found by going public with it.  Before you know it, you will be excommunicated by Jacqui Smith of Britain or you will be removed from your post for destroying the sanctity of the inner circle, or you will be eliminated from the YouTube.com website.

So why is Herodotus telling us this? Why wouldn’t an historian tell you this?  Any historian that DOESN’T tell you this is not worth his salt. One of the criticisms of against people like Bob Chapman or Alex Jones is that they don’t have all the facts. Well, OF COURSE THEY DON’T. There is a point where are knowledge stops when it comes to politics because there is so much secrecy inherent in it.  History is difficult because it is either told by flatterers or fear mongers. It is difficult if not impossible to see or discover that which is so deeply hidden from view. Herodotus understands that the essence of political power IS secrecy and concealment. If the government happens to be benevolent, we are great. If not, we are doomed. Either way, we are slaves to a force that is beyond the distance, beyond our ability to immediately identify and see. We must, as Herodotus does, come to see the truth in an entirely different way. We do not learn by demonstration of the truth – we learn instead by looking for the clues, the obvious fakeries and lies, by learning how to at the very least recognize the difference between what is clothing and what is flesh. We can find and locate the lies, even though the truth will be ever out of our grasp. But that is a better state to be in than to believe that the lies we hold dear are true or that the true is a lie.

Sleight of Hand: Ponzi schemes, governments and bankers

And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?  - Socrates (Plato’s Republic)

 

The media have focused on the Madoff ponzi scheme. They have presented it as the handiwork of one devious being. This is what the media has done time and time again in various contexts. In the world of Hollywood and propaganda and the media, deeds always have a single mastermind, an unmovable mover – an individual who receives either all the adulation or all the blame. That Obama is the savior is no accident. He will eventually become the opposite – like Bush.  Right now the story is that Madoff ALONE headed his Ponzi scheme. Anyone with an inkling of how much manpower it would take to pull off this kind of scheme knows that it is ABSURD to think he worked alone on this and that that neither the government nor the banking industry was involved.  While he goes to jail and the sheeple, having paid the price for this entertaining magic show, believe the source of the crime is locked up, they are certainly not paying attention to the fact there is still a lot of pocket picking still to come in the playground of their WALLETS.

Democrats from Andrew Cuomo to Barney Frank to Barack Obama are demanding that the 418 AIG employees who received bonuses give them back. Sure, it's outrageous that the very people who drove AIG off the cliff, along with a whole lot of other financial firms, walked away with million-dollar bonuses paid with taxpayer bailout money. But as the Wall Street Journal opinion page points out, "Taxpayers have already put up $173 billion, or more than a thousand times the amount of those bonuses, to fund the government's AIG 'rescue.'"

And there is more to come.

The Obama Administration is putting the finishing touches on another big bank bailout. Called the Public Private Investor Partnership (PPIP), it is the brainchild of the Treasury Secretary from Wall Street, Tim Geithner. Under the plan, the government will give our money to hedge fund managers to buy "toxic" assets for more than they are worth. The banks that created these toxic turkeys will use the money from the sales to recapitalize themselves. Everyone comes out ahead except, of course, the taxpayers, who are essentially funneling money to hedge funds to buy bad assets for more than they are worth. The other bonus for the banks in this plan, as Yves Smith points out, is that they get to avoid giving the toxic assets any real market value. Less transparency and more transfers of wealth from taxpayers to hedge fund managers.

So much for the "free market." – Ruth Conniff

Americans need to be careful about what they are being told and what they are not being told (this is even more important.). In the world of magic, this is called “sleight of hand”. Want to learn how thieves work, check out Penn and Teller as they explain the SEVEN principles of magic. Send it to their friends. Its a great video on how our government is working.

The power of the few (oligarchies) are the ones who are truly responsible for the actions of “Obama” and “Madoff” and “Geithner”. There  is always a “board” or a “gang” or a “cabinet” who hide behind the object upon which all eyes are set. No one notices that the puppet masters exists. The children continue to laugh at, despise and adulate THE PUPPETS.  This is why nothing ever seems to change from presidential election to election – but the economy does seem to be continually moving the money from the pockets of the taxpayers to the pockets of whoever is standing at the bottom of that GIANT SUCKING BLACK HOLE CALLED THE CENTRAL BANKS. This is NOT conspiracy theory. This is a fact of history, and it is about time Americans wake up to the fact that what they are lead to believe is NOT the case and that it is more important to INTERPRET the news, than it is to believe it hook, line and sinker.

Plato also references this “STATE” of things in his cave analogy, a piece of philosophy that ALWAYS abstracted into some kind of literary vapidity by our most “brilliant” scholars who never teach us anything other than to admire their own impressive thoughts. According to Plato my analogy is too kind. People don’t even see the puppets at all – they only see the shadow of puppets.

[Socrates] And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.
[Glaucon] I see.
[Socrates] And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.
[Glaucon] You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
[Socrates] Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
[Glaucon] True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?
[Socrates] And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?
[Glaucon] Yes, he said.
[Socrates] And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?
[Glaucon] Very true.
[Socrates] And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow?
[Glaucon] No question, he replied.
[Socrates] To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
[Glaucon] That is certain.
[Socrates] And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, -what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, -will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?
[Glaucon] Far truer.
[Socrates] And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?
[Glaucon] True, he now.
[Socrates] And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.
[Glaucon] Not all in a moment, he said.
[Socrates] He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?
[Glaucon] Certainly.
[Socrates] Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.
[Glaucon] Certainly.
[Socrates] He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?
[Glaucon] Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.
[Socrates] And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
[Glaucon] Certainly, he would.
[Socrates] And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with Homer,

Better to be the poor servant of a poor master,

and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner?
[Glaucon] Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner.
[Socrates] Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
[Glaucon] To be sure, he said.
[Socrates] And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the cave, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.
[Glaucon] No question, he said.
[Socrates] This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.
[Glaucon] I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.
[Socrates] Moreover, I said, you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.
[Glaucon] Yes, very natural.
[Socrates] And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
[Glaucon] Anything but surprising, he replied.
[Socrates] Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the cave.
[Glaucon] That, he said, is a very just distinction.
[Socrates] But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.
[Glaucon] They undoubtedly say this, he replied.
[Socrates] Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good.
[Glaucon] Very true.
[Socrates] And must there not be some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already, but has been turned in the wrong direction, and is looking away from the truth?
[Glaucon] Yes, he said, such an art may be presumed.
[Socrates] And whereas the other so-called virtues of the soul seem to be akin to bodily qualities, for even when they are not originally innate they can be implanted later by habit and exercise, the of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains, and by this conversion is rendered useful and profitable; or, on the other hand, hurtful and useless. Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue --how eager he is, how clearly his paltry soul sees the way to his end; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eyesight is forced into the service of evil, and he is mischievous in proportion to his cleverness.
[Glaucon] Very true, he said.
[Socrates] But what if there had been a circumcision of such natures in the days of their youth; and they had been severed from those sensual pleasures, such as eating and drinking, which, like leaden weights, were attached to them at their birth, and which drag them down and turn the vision of their souls upon the things that are below --if, I say, they had been released from these impediments and turned in the opposite direction, the very same faculty in them would have seen the truth as keenly as they see what their eyes are turned to now.
[Glaucon] Very likely.
[Socrates] Yes, I said; and there is another thing which is likely. or rather a necessary inference from what has preceded, that neither the uneducated and uninformed of the truth, nor yet those who never make an end of their education, will be able ministers of State; not the former, because they have no single aim of duty which is the rule of all their actions, private as well as public; nor the latter, because they will not act at all except upon compulsion, fancying that they are already dwelling apart in the islands of the blest.
[Glaucon] Very true, he replied.
[Socrates] Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all-they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now.
[Glaucon] What do you mean?
[Socrates] I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the cave, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not.
[Glaucon] But is not this unjust? he said; ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better?
[Socrates] You have again forgotten, my friend, I said, the intention of the legislator, who did not aim at making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be in the whole State, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactors of the State, and therefore benefactors of one another; to this end he created them, not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State.
[Glaucon] True, he said, I had forgotten.
[Socrates] Observe, Glaucon, that there will be no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others; we shall explain to them that in other States, men of their class are not obliged to share in the toils of politics: and this is reasonable, for they grow up at their own sweet will, and the government would rather not have them. Being self-taught, they cannot be expected to show any gratitude for a culture which they have never received. But we have brought you into the world to be rulers of the hive, kings of yourselves and of the other citizens, and have educated you far better and more perfectly than they have been educated, and you are better able to share in the double duty. Wherefore each of you, when his turn comes, must go down to the general underground abode, and get the habit of seeing in the dark. When you have acquired the habit, you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the cave, and you will know what the several images are, and what they represent, because you have seen the beautiful and just and good in their truth. And thus our State which is also yours will be a reality, and not a dream only, and will be administered in a spirit unlike that of other States, in which men fight with one another about shadows only and are distracted in the struggle for power, which in their eyes is a great good. Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.
[Glaucon] Quite true, he replied.
[Socrates] And will our pupils, when they hear this, refuse to take their turn at the toils of State, when they are allowed to spend the greater part of their time with one another in the heavenly light?
[Glaucon] Impossible, he answered; for they are just men, and the commands which we impose upon them are just; there can be no doubt that every one of them will take office as a stern necessity, and not after the fashion of our present rulers of State.
[Socrates] Yes, my friend, I said; and there lies the point. You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in the State which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life. Whereas if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor and hungering after the' own private advantage, thinking that hence they are to snatch the chief good, order there can never be; for they will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole State.
[Glaucon] Most true, he replied.
[Socrates] And the only life which looks down upon the life of political ambition is that of true philosophy. Do you know of any other?
[Glaucon] Indeed, I do not, he said.
[Socrates] And those who govern ought not to be lovers of the task? For, if they are, there will be rival lovers, and they will fight.
[Glaucon] No question.
[Socrates] Who then are those whom we shall compel to be guardians? Surely they will be the men who are wisest about affairs of State, and by whom the State is best administered, and who at the same time have other honors and another and a better life than that of politics?
[Glaucon] They are the men, and I will choose them, he replied.
[Socrates] And now shall we consider in what way such guardians will be produced, and how they are to be brought from darkness to light, -- as some are said to have ascended from the world below to the gods?
[Glaucon] By all means, he replied.
[Socrates] The process, I said, is not the turning over of an oyster-shell, but the turning round of a soul passing from a day which is little better than night to the true day of being, that is, the ascent from below, which we affirm to be true philosophy?
[Glaucon] Quite so.

All The World's a Stage

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy. - Plato

Amidst all of the inappropriate pomp and circus-stance of the presidential inauguration, I have maintained a state of quiet, composure and utter disbelief at the thoroughly un-American worship of a man who has not even yet accomplished anything of note. All of this insanity reminds me of my little one year old. When she is in the middle of an emotional tantrum, the best course of action is not to take much action at all. When I do this, it only takes a few minutes for her to return to her normal playful and happy self. The Obamamaniacs too, I pray, will eventually discover that such drama and imagination is too rich for the human digestive tract to handle.  Yes, eventually, there will be a mess for the mommies of the world to clean up. Yuck.  Unfortunately, my little girl has more sense than most of the American population put together. It could take years for them to come around, and by then it may already be too late. Not even universal health care could save either themselves or their addled gut.

Obama, the myth-man hero, the chameleon and thousand trick pony  has now taken on the form and features of the venerated Abraham Lincoln.  Obama's little costume fairies have dressed him up nicely for the stage, so that simple minds can correlate the civil discord during Lincoln's time to the manufactured "civil discord" during our time.  The civil discord during our time is by and large the discord that exists between liberals and conservatives as seeded and cultivated by our so called leaders in Washington and talking potato heads in the media. The Obama tinkerbells in particular have managed to instill the impression that the conservative desire to protect our borders and our culture is equal to the desire of the southern Confederate states to maintain slavery. White men are painted as the bigots who don't like different colors, who do not want to be "open-minded". This theme was also played out  ad nauseam during the entire election campaign. The theme is growing in power, the drama is thickening and Obama will, unfortunately, continue to use it in order to divide and conquer our nation.

 

Conservatives, be wary. Any civil discord, any recourse to war, any economic difficulties will be blamed on you and your leaders. Obama has covered this (his a**) during the campaign and will continue to do so.  The sacrifices will be born by his blind followers, wherever he goes, because he has managed to transform the American people into what the Romans so affectionately referred to as the vulgus and what Greeks endearingly referred to as the hoi polloi.  These two terms were possible because in those societies the masses were not a group of independent minded individuals contributing to a capitalist society in a powerful and unique way. These terms were possible and fitting because the people  were sheeple and they were easily herded every which way in accordance with the whims of their masters in chief. THAT is what Americans have come to. That is how we are teaching our children to be. We are teaching them to worship a man who has done nothing but embrace his own fallacious image and perpetuate it with his enormous and all-encompassing ego. It's a sad day folks. A very sad and sick day.

 

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. -Plato

My gods are better than your God, Saith the Liberal

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. - Friedrich Nietzsche

On one hand, liberals who want to seem smart are fond of regurgitating Karl Marx's declaration that “Religion is the opium of the masses.” Quoting the great soothsayer of the left makes them feel stronger, better - even wiser.  On the other hand, those who want to seem more artistic or visual and less learned employ something like  "Religious people are zombies."  But no matter how a liberal chooses to present himself -  for to her everything is about the presentation -  what he has to say in truth but can't because it is ugly is,  "My gods are better than your God."

Now the gods of any one liberal are many and relatively different from one individual to another in terms of combination and aspect. Generally, they aren't really worth talking about, even on the internet. These gods are usually very personal to the liberal, like those stick figures that you used to  love to draw on your parent's family room wall.  Yet one notices that this crude personalization of religion shows its bright pink hair in public with regards to the liberal's worship of science and scientists. Science and technology, to the liberal, is the only source of truth and wisdom. Religion, on the other hand is seen as useless and stupid, but that is only because their understanding of religion is relative to their own understanding, which was initially conceived during potty training with mommy back in the day.

Now It is the human condition to be limited to one's own experience. It is also the human condition to hate that which you love and are disappointed by. Liberals' understanding of religion has lead to their own disappointment in it. Yet many conservatives who are religious rail against the irreligious left. But the truth is that the left only understands religion in their way. Look, in order to talk to the dog, you have to talk in ways the dog understands. The dog will never understand the Ten Commandments, but he will learn to not steal the neighbors shoes or mount the neighbors wife. Same goes with liberals. It is high time that conservatives stop screaming about the dog peeing all over the carpet. We need to take matters into our own hands by first educating ourselves about the nature of the religious liberal. Once we grasp who and why they are, we will be able to communicate more effectively with them.

So, as I said before, the first thing to recognize is that liberals make up their religion as they go along, and that it is a personal religion. They guard it jealously and they are insecure about it because it doesn't seem as solid and as awe-inspiring as rocket science or brain surgery does.  That is why they hold poetry slam contests and flock to the Cannes Film Festival to give themselves rewards.  Some call this "spirituality". Some just call it "following their dreams".  Whatever they call and whatever rules them, the end is the same: there is not much power in it above and beyond personal pleasure and gratification.

But boy do things change quickly. Enter the Obamination: the liberal religion writ large and proud. Obama, the most clever thing invented since sliced bread and XBox Gaming Consoles, is the embodiment and projection of their religion and their god. A hollow man who is able to say or do anything to please anyone and everybody.  If he does something to offend, he can easily hide by doing something less offensive to cover it up. After all, this is what liberals do in their own lives, so why would they blame him for it? In the movies, the protagonist can be a bad guy, and in two hours flat, he can find redemption. THAT is the salvation for the liberal:

...a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. (Shakespeare, MacBeth)

So when it comes to real news, Obama is not it. He is just a myth and a mythology, the opium of those zombified liberals. He is the anti-religion religion of the left. He has a little Muslim, a little Black Theology, a dose of Christianity maybe, an appreciation for Israel, African heritage,  a little bit of Red perhaps? White too!  Oh, and of course, he has a lot of of soul and great abs! He also understands all the world and so he will fix the climate, the economy, human violence, unfairness, fat content and, last but not least, science! Science, science science. This is what has the liberals so excited. Their gods get science. Now they really know that their gods are better than our God

“The truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry,” President-elect Obama said. “It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States—and I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.” Change.gov

So again, science in this manner is another liberal invention .  Obama laughably appoints Dr. John Holdren as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Whew! That is quite a title.  But Obama might has well have appointed the clearly impartial observations of Mr. Al Gore.

Science magazine has reported that John Holdren, a professional environmental judgment day doomsayer, was going to become Barack Obama's top science adviser. Indeed, on Saturday, Barack Obama announced that Holdren was tapped.
See also NY Times Tierney Lab: Flawed science advice for Obama?
John Holdren is the ultimate example of the pseudointellectual impurities that have recently flooded universities and academies throughout the Western world.

Do you want to know what is his specialization? The easiest path to the answer is to look at his publication list at scholar.google.com. No, he hasn't found anything about laser cooling, like Steven Chu, despite his PhD in plasma physics. Instead, he has only written 3 very well-known texts - with at least 100 citations - and all of them were concerned with the "catastrophic" population growth. A few additional, newer articles with 50 citations or so are about the "catastrophic" climate change. - Science and Public Policy.Org

So make no mistake about it. Obama is using big boy words like "science" and "technology" in order to give himself and is mobistration some authority with the liberals in the land.  He will certainly use this science thing to his advantage. Every tax he will impose will have "scientific backing". "Read my lips, no new taxes unless science says we have to." I had one colleague of mine go positively leg-tingly when he heard about Obama's commitment to science. It was like a dream come true for him. I just stood there kind of scratching my head and figured I throw him a ball. He responded by telling me that he would be perfectly willing to shell out as much cash as was necessary to fight global warming. He was also quite unconcerned about using population control ala China and Planned Parenthood if necessary, in order to preserve the earth. All in a god's days work I suppose. All in a liberal's days work.

'But surely "blind" is just how you would describe men who have no true knowledge of reality, and no clear standard in their mind to refer to, as a painter refers to his model, and which they can study closely before they start laying down rules about what is fair or right or good where they are needed, or maintaining, as Guardians, any rules that already exist.'
'Yes, blind is just about what they are' (Plato, Republic)

Cross-posted on Modern Conservative

Obama: The Hero of a Thousand Faces Gets a Second Chance

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. - Joseph Campbell, The Hero with A Thousand Faces

The massive government bailouts will continue for those who are "too big to fail", as the government continues to paint itself as the hero on the white horse. The amount of these bailouts, the source of the money, the actual recipients of this money will become lost. Clarity in regards to America's financial situation will continue to deteriorate because the government is not interested in providing clarity for its actions in this area. It is, however, interested in recreating its image in order to maintain power in the way it wants to maintain it. It will shine light on what it wants the people to see. One light that will certainly shine is the light that is Obama the savior. Brzezinksi, Obama's personal brain,  has already clearly outlined the nature of this light and savior for the world in his new book, Second Chance:

"Brzezinski argues that the world is undergoing a "global political awakening," which is apparent in radically different forms from Iraq to Indonesia, from Bolivia to Tibet. Though America has focused on its notion of what people want (democracy and the wealth created by free trade and open markets), Brzezinski points in a different direction: It's about dignity. The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening," he argues. His worry is that America -- enfeebled by "material self-indulgence, persistent social shortcomings, and public ignorance about the world" -- may not get it. - RealClearPolitics

This image of the government as the savior of human dignity is in line with the image that Obama's "handlers" have projected and will continue to project even more powerfully after his inauguration. The greed and corruption of Washington and the likes of Bernie Madoff  and Blagojevich are simply a characters used to set up the foundational landscape of our protagonist who will triumphantly (and with dignity) lead us into a more "enlightened" and globalized  "American" government.  In order to create empathy for a protagonist who will save us, we must be made to feel the pain of our "current" America, along with him. Obama's corrupt nature is one that we have taken on as our own. That is why Americans have accepted him with open arms. He is their new Christ figure - someone who will take responsibility for all of our "sins".

Obama's close proximity to fraud and corruption, as in the case of Governor Blagojevich and his Washington buddies, simply serves to give contrast to his false but powerfully inviolate personification: he is the angel arisen out of the ashes of hell.  This is important to understand. Obama's association with ideas and people who are abhorrent to any sane American does not seem to stain his image because it actually strengthens it.  America is corrupt. Obama will see us out of it. He is always positioned as the accidental shepherd of the sick sheep (William Ayers, Dohrn, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Odinga) who seem to coagulate around him. Glenn Beck once called Obama the most unlucky man in the world. One characteristic of the classical hero is that he always falls into his lot by chance and uses the sheer force of will and intellect to survive and emerge triumphant. But the hero does not choose to swim in evil and enter the monster's lair: the gods or god (Brzezinski in this case) choose for him. This is why we forgive him easily.

Seeking to find his home, Odysseus crosses each water;
Through Charybdis so dread; ay, and through Scylla's wild yells,
Through the alarms of the raging sea, the alarms of the land too,--
E'en to the kingdom of hell leads him his wandering course.
And at length, as he sleeps, to Ithaca's coast fate conducts him;
There he awakes, and, with grief, knows not his fatherland now. - Friederich von Schiller

 

The disaster that is the economy; the evil that is the Taliban, the intentionally tarnished image of America: all of these are the monsters Obama will fight. Neither the audience nor Obama will be seen as responsible for our country, because the audience wants entertainment, not self-reflection and education.  Yet the truth is that Brzezinski  created the Mujahideen to lure the Russians into war.  The truth is that Obama has benefited handsomely from the thievery that makes Senators millionaires in a day. The truth is that you can't be clean if you play with pigs in a pigpen.  The truth is that we the people once owned this country and we sold our freedom long ago.  Obama always claims that he didn't know that his previous associates were steeped in evil. He always distances himself from every bad apple he has digested:

On Thursday, Obama pledged during a news conference (ostensibly about health care) that he would investigate and release all the contacts his staff had with the governor "in the next few days." He also expressed his personal outrage at the allegations and declared he was "absolutely certain" no one from his office had any involvement in deal-making about his successor.

The sequence was reminiscent of Obama's reaction to controversy earlier this year over incendiary remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., his former pastor. Among other things, Wright spoke of the "U.S. of KKK," said "God damn America" and said the 9/11 terrorist attacks represented "chickens coming home to roost" for America's racial sins.

Obama initially said he never heard Wright say anything objectionable; later made a highly regarded speech on race in Philadelphia that sought to put the minister's remarks in the context of black anger at racism; and finally disavowed the man. - philly.com

Just as Moses is distinguished from the Israelites and their behavior by being chosen by God as their leader, so is Obama crafted to be distinguished from the people he has associated with.  The power of this imaginarium is greater than the power any money can buy. This is something Americans don't understand because we are a people of logic, science and technology. We look for the causes and reasons for things, not considering that the stories providing context for the causes and reasons are themselves manufactured. We have forgotten and do not learn the Power of Myth. because we believe we are beyond it. We are not beyond it. We are in it.

Obama is forged to replace or perhaps "improve" the Judeo-Christian tradition with entirely new mythological features.  If we don't understand this, then nothing in American politics will make sense and we will continue to suffer the "How/Why Obama" migraine for years to come until history, after our deaths, resolves it for us.  Let us take the Blagojevich scandal again. It doesn't matter if we uncover that a person or persons in Obama's cabinet was dealing in shady transactions. Obama will go after those people and he will become the hero for it. His image as savior and the embodiment of goodness will become even stronger when we watch him turn on his unjust "friends" and "associates" such as Rahm Emmanuel.  His distancing himself from the pigpen will be shaped to enforce the idea that the government, in the form of Obama,  places justice over friendship and "special interests". 

The Obama phenomenon is not a phenomenon illustrating a real,independent, resourceful individual achieving the dream of being president.  That would be the old image of the American, and not the American government.  On the contrary, Obama is government personified and animated in myth. He is no more real than Santa Claus, except that you are more likely to get presents under your tree, than you are to see Obama's promises realized and in the form you had hoped for.  This fairy tale provided by the government, for the government and through the government, is not authored by just any part of government, but only those who hold the real power. These people are ruthless, highly intelligent and know how to orchestrate what is properly called  mass brainwashing. 

 

Many times, Socrates, I have heard Gorgias maintain that the art of persuasion far surpasses all the others and is far and away the best, for it makes all things its slaves by willing submission, not by violence."  -Plato (Philebus)

“Just as different drugs draw forth different humors from the body – some putting a stop to disease, others to life – so too with words: some cause pain, others joy, some strike fear, some stir the audience to boldness, some benumb and bewitch the soul with evil persuasion” -Plato (Gorgias ).

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Dirty Diaper Doper Babies

You'll find boredom where there is the absence of a good idea. - Earl Nightingale

Those evil, unenlightened and oppressive teachers! How dare they prevent our kids, our babies, from talking on phones, watching YouTube videos and twittering in class! This is America, isn't it? It's a free and democratic country. How dare they deny my angel her inalienable individual rights!

There is one thing worse than a high school dropout: A student who stays in the classroom and is bored, said Martin Bean, head of marketing and business development for Microsoft's education products group.Unfortunately, many are, Bean told a group of educators gathered Tuesday for Microsoft's School of the Future World Summit in Seattle. Bean said schools largely are not adapting to their students' digital lifestyles.

"Our end users (students) feel that the actual system in which they are forced to live is so disconnected from the world that they live in," he said, citing a U.S. Department of Education study showing that while most students believe education is important, few think it meets their needs.

Blanket policies, such as bans on cell phones or locking up computer rooms, do not help, Bean said during his keynote address and later during an interview. - Educators urged to adapt to students' tech lifestyles, Seattle PI

Let's put technology aside this time and take a little walk down memory lane. O look, over there! That looks like our old friends Discipline and Respect and Knowledge! Where have they been all these years? Are they on FaceBook?

All kidding aside,  I don't remember high school being very exciting, and in retrospect it was certainly due to the quality of teachers and their teaching.  Nonetheless, at the time, my peers and I respected, even feared the teachers. It really wasn't questioned very much. That made my classmates and I happy, just like it makes a puppy happy when his master is dominant and strong. Anyone who watches Cesar Millan knows this.  Of course there is always the occasional poking fun at the teacher or drawing funny pictures of her during class; but all in all, we still didn't want to get in trouble.
We just wanted to get good grades and be accepted into our college of choice.

That was back in the late 80s.

And it was also in the 80s when Dr. Benjamin Spock, that child behavioral psychologist whose philosophy is embedded in the very bowels of spoiled children all across America, said the following:

''I'm very disappointed that so few young people are interested in politics,'' he told a local reporter last week. ''They seem to keep their noses to the grindstone, interested only in getting good grades and getting a good job.'' NY Times 1983

How disappointing that kids care about good grades and making something of their lives! That is just so American of them, to want to succeed and be something in their lives. You know, I was listening to Michael Savage talk about this Dr. Spock on his radio show.  So thanks to Savage, this character has come under my radar.   Turns out Dr. Spock was an anti-war activist in the sixties. He also was the People's Party candidate for the 1972 Presidential Election .The People's Party was created by various American socialist groups. His platform called for the legalization of abortion, homosexuality and marijuana, guaranteed minimum wage and withdrawal of American troops from all foreign countries. He is ideologically no different from Mr. Bill Education-is-the-motor-force-for-revolution-Ayers. You can read about his philosophy of education here.

So Keeping Spock politics in mind, one can even imagine the sort of child care advice this man would bring to the world. Unfortunately, his point of view on child care is now pretty much mainstream: "Time outs" instead of spankings; treating kids as equals, as individuals; being more of a friend and companion to your child, rather than a disciplinarian or mentor:

Spock's ideas have become such a part and parcel of the parenting landscape that it's easy to forget how revolutionary they were. In post-war America, parents were in awe of doctors and other childcare professionals; Spock assured them that parents were the true experts on their own children. They had been told that picking up infants when they cried would only spoil them; Spock countered that cuddling babies and bestowing affection on children would only make them happier and more secure. Instead of adhering to strict, one-size-fits-all dictates on everything from discipline to toilet training, Spock urged parents to be flexible and see their children as individuals.

Perhaps most revolutionary of all, he suggested that parenting could be fun, that mothers and fathers could actually enjoy their children and steer a course in which their own needs and wishes also were met. All this and much more, including a wealth of helpful medical advice, was delivered in a friendly, reassuring, and common-sense manner completely at odds with the cold authoritarianism favored by most other parenting books of the time. - Dr.Spock.com

Now I love to give my daughter affection, but I also know the value of a firm and consistent presence. She doesn't cry much because she knows she gets nothing out of it. Like I suggested above, you'd be better off using Cesar Millan as your child care expert.   In any case, I am not sure what my daughter is going to do when she finds out that the world has changed. Everyone out there is having tantrums; and everyone is either hiring class action lawsuits to get revenge on the fact they lost their binkies,or they are electing any village idiot like Al Franken or an experienced fraud like Barack Obama to office - anyone who promises to change their diapers.

There is a viral and extremely contagious idea out there that says we need to comply with the will and ways of the young people. This idea is a symptom of democracy gone bad. Democracy gone bad is freedom toying with anarchy. Plato describes this state of affairs in his Republic:

...the father accustoms himself to become like his child and fears his sons, while the son likens himself to his father, and feels neither shame nor fear in front of his parents, so he may be free ; the metic [563a] becomes the equal of a citizen and the citizen of a metic, and similarly with the foreigner.
It indeed so happens, he said.
To these, said I, such trifles do add up: the teacher, in such a case, fears his pupils and fawns upon them, while pupils have in low esteem their teachers as well as their overseers; and, overall, the young copy the elders and contend hotly with them in words and in deeds, while the elders, lowering themselves to the level of the young, sate themselves with pleasantries [563b] and wit, mimicking the young in order not to look unpleasant and despotic.

Yet, companies like Microsoft, the technofascists and the Obama administration see this sorry state of things as an opportunity. Young people are the most impressionable. They do not have the wisdom or the experience to understand or recognize the Trojan horse that is politics and propaganda. It is always the youth that is the tool of dictatorship, whether that dictatorship be one of a political or corporate nature.

But you can always count on some dolt over at the Seattle PI to write something like this, to further illustrate the how completely clueless these tech-worshipers are in regards to the nature of the education problem in America:

In 1703, he said, teachers were concerned about the use of slates. A century later there were fears that students were using paper too much. In 1907, some officials warned that pencils were being replaced by ink. Thirty years later, a report said that students were "wallowing" in the luxury of fountain pens. And in 1950, ballpoint pens were referred to as the possible "ruin of education." Educators urged to adapt to students' tech lifestyles,

This is NOT about ballpoint pens and paper. These are tools that we should use. Technology is great and should be used. This is about the quality of discipline and the nature of the education being offered to our young people. We have an entire generation that can text faster than a speeding bullet, leap tall mountains in World of Warcraft and swallow large quantities of Rock Star in a single gulp. The destruction of respect, the sleazy love affair with youth culture and the replacement of knowledge with subversive creativity and cleverness is the death knell of American Civilization as we know it.

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal. -Plato

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Technofascism: A New Kind of Change

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. - Plato

We live in an age where we teach ourselves and our children that points of view are only opinions, all which are equally valid. For many people, it is just a matter of choosing between ones you like and ones you don't like.  As a result, the value of research and taking the time to consider various points of view will be a lost art. That there is something beyond the horizontal panoply of various tasty opinions; that there is a vertical style of knowledge that is more akin to the Straussian "knowledge of the whole"  is being left to the dustbins history and the library as well.  The distinction between wisdom and knowledge as opposed to egotistical pontification and sophistry, is going the way of the dinosaur. I spoke about this phenomenon in Election Day: The Day Philosophy Died and it is one of my primary concerns in relation to what I see as the present technofascist age.  From my point of view, the times to come are not an age of progress, but are rather an age of darkness.

John Palfrey, who wrote Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, and his gang over at DigitalNative.org doesn't see these "digital natives" as worse or better off than the current generations. In typical technofascist style, he just sees them as different in that they have to deal with life in a different way and with different challenges. In other words, he does not subscribe to the belief that young kids today who are saturated with media the internet on a daily basis and who are neglected in our pathetic implementation of education are worse off intellectually. He believes that one of the problems is that parents and their ipod-brain children are just simply suffering the generation gap, a gap that can and should be mended by "community efforts" of various kinds. 

Even though Palfrey and I fundamentally disagree, he still points out the deep ignorance that is prevalent amongst young people in regards to how to distinguish between quality information and bad information:

"...adolescents with a lot of Web experience often base their evaluations of online information on personal preferences, which are only sometimes a good guide. Visual aspects, such as personal color and design preferences, rank among the top evaluation criteria for judging the depth of online information ,often more than, for instance, the sources cited.  Further, information quality tends to be evaluated with information quantity. Young people tend to think that sites with names they recognize have more accurate information than sites that they haven't heard of before. One of the kids we asked about judging online information responded this way: "I normally go by what - well, one of things I'll  go by is - if it looks like it took a long time to make - I mean generally someone doesn't spend more than twenty-four hours doing something that's a complete lie, although I backed up with different sites." - Born Digital, p. 170.

I guess that means that everything Obama says is absolutely true one hundred times over, since he has been working on his campaign a long long time, -  since the age of the Pharaohs perhaps.  This is how bad our educational system is. Now this kind of ignorance is not due to technology, but it is men like Palfrey who continue to gloss over the egregious and sick disposition that constitutes our education in all parts of our society. Parents should be ashamed that they let this go on in the schools - that our kids think pretty colors and time are factors in the creation of quality and true information. To make matters worse, Palfrey even says that most kids don't even care at all about the quality of information .They don't even think it matters:

"In conversations with Digital Natives about information quality, questions like "So what? " and "Who cares?" are common refrains. The majority of the population born digital doesn't perceive quality of information as an important issue, it seems" - Born Digital, p. 161

So while Palfrey notices what is not going on in the space between the ears, he doesn't seem to find it particularly disturbing.  He doesn't even think that perhaps it would be a better idea that our kids learn to use technology as a tool and NOT a lifestyle. He instead goes on to propose what he thinks is a an effective middle ground to solving the information quality online. His method is typical of the technofascist generation: community organization.

"The answer is to empower communities to improve the quality of information found online. In structural terms, this means establishing a model of distributed governance. Under this approach, no single force would be in charge of creating a robust information-quality environment. Neither would the development of such an environment be left to the free market alone. Instead, what is needed is a blended regulatory approach under which all categories of key stakeholders and actors, private and public, would play a role in creating a viable information ecosystem. The goal is to establish adequate mechanisms and institutions to deal with information quality issues in the digital age."

So in this future age of twisted values and ignoramuses who care a dot about the truth and even less about knowledge, we are going to form communities and community boards who will vote on whether something is good enough in the eyes of the ipod-headed creatures, to be published on sites like Wikipedia and MySpace? I wonder if a John Milton, Plato or Aristotle would ever have been able to create "a robust information-quality environment"?   Apparently, the collection of books over in that treasure house called the New York Public Library is not a viable information ecosystem. The technofascists need something a bit more suited to their community organizational needs, something not burdened by the ponderous accumulation of knowledge and wisdom created by individuals sitting in their dark rooms. As such, Palfrey sees his collectivism as something that is more favorable to the individual:

"The reason I wanted to write this book is to put a stake in the ground. My view is that these changes are by and large a very good thing for global society. The central concept, to me, is the extent to which young people have a much greater ability to shape the culture in which they are growing up. Power dynamics are shifting in many, though not all, contexts to favor the individual and the nimble small, ad hoc group as against the large, slow moving institution. " - John Palfrey , Born Digital, p 287.

Again, I find it interesting that change and the ability to make change is more important than the quality or nature of that change.  Technofascism is all about innovation, rapid innovation. It is about influencing the status quo with its innovations. Subjugating it even. Consequences don't matter. They are not even discussed.  It wants people to login and tune out. It wants people to depend on their iPhones. It wants people to be addicted to Facebook. Global participation is key. It wants people to be dependent on technology because that is how it survives and survives in a powerful way. 

This is why the Obama administration is going to use this generation in a way that no American generation has even been used before.

"If Obama gets his way, all Americans will have broadband Internet access, whether they live in big cities or remote villages. Online life will be safer, with better defenses against cybercriminals. And there will be greater access to government, with online services to let anyone question members of the president's Cabinet or track every dime of the federal budget."

I suppose that as long as Obama's web sites look pretty and they work on it for more than twenty-four hours, I am sure our little iPod offsprings will think it speaks truth.

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Election Day: The Day Philosophy Died

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Against Catiline I

I am not a professional philosopher. Really, there is no such thing.  Yet, I did pursue and recieve a degree in philosophy. To this day, friends and acquaintances still ask me as to why in the name of the almighty dollar, would I have pursued and continue to pursue something so, well, "fruitless."  Meanwhile, today is election day, and today is the day which marks the beginning of something unprecedented for our country. A strange growth indeed:  I believe that Obama will easily take the White House. The enormous force of propaganda and excitement generated out of it, the likes of which I have not seen during my lifetime, except in the case of perhaps a movie like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, is a tsunami that is just too massive for the majority of Americans to resist.  People have flocked to the Obama show and have been swept up by his character, his drama and his platitudes. However, whether it be a day or a week or a month or years, many people are going to wonder why and how we got here.  People are either going to be in shock for what is to come or they are going to be in such a narcotic stupor, so zombified, that they won't even notice. They won't even notice to what extent our minds and our wallets have come into utter slavery.

They don't notice because we don't teach our kids "fruitless" philosophy.

It takes times like these to see that philosophy is probably THE most fruitful of all the pursuits. I say "most fruitful" because where else are kids going to learn the origins of Marxism, communism, socialism and every other -ism for that matter? Sure, kids can learn about the  -isms inside history, inside the variety of movements throughout the world both present and past. You yourself can hear Obama or Al Gore utter -ismic type sentences. However, if you want to see what truly rules the world, you will find that it is the ideas and the imagination these ideas provoke. And once understanding these and seeing their weaknesses and their lies, you can really see the absurdity and dangerous nature that is an Obama, that is antiscientific Global Warming theory, that is the United Nations, that has become our nation.

I furthermore ask as to where are kids going to learn the distinction between political thought and metaphysical/religious thought and scientific thought? Where are they going to learn that the distinctions matter? In computer programming 101? In social studies? In Spanish class? I don't think so. But in today's world, do we even recognize that you can't apply principles of, lets say, computer programming, to political science? I read many technology blogs, many of which assume that their expertise in matters of technology apply to matters of human politics and ethics. A combination of unbridled ego, a lack of education regarding the various types of knowledges and distinctions that had created by Aristotle and passed down into Medieval thought, has resulted in mass confusion, faulty logic and unbelievable arrogance, the likes of which is only reflected in the leader we will choose today, namely, Obama.

You see, ideas are like big monstrous babies. You need to keep a sharp eye on them. Otherwise, they could hurt themselves and everyone around them. They grow tentacles and roots and they insinuate themselves into the crevices of every life form on earth. They even take on the forms of other more benign beings, just to gain more power and more adherents to their cause. Really, after studying philosophy for many years and just paying attention to what is going on in the world, I don't need science fiction to entertain me.  Everyone knows how insidious, how unexpected and how powerful a cancer like this can be to a body. It grows from within, not from without. It festers and overtakes the body until the body is no longer the body it once was and then, finally, it will kill at any moment, instantly.

As you can see, Obama is not our only problem, though he very well is one of the heads of the hydra. The disease has spread. And while writing this, I am reminded of Cicero's speech against Catiline before the senate, where is is warning them of the dangers of this man, Catiline, who attempted to overthrow the Republic:

Though there are some men in this body who either do not see what threatens, or dissemble what they do see; who have fed the hope of Catiline by mild sentiments, and have strengthened the rising conspiracy by not believing it; influenced by whose authority many, and they not wicked, but only ignorant, if I punished him would say that I had acted cruelly and tyrannically. But I know that if he arrives at the camp of Manlius to which he is going, there will be no one so stupid as not to see that there has been a conspiracy, no one so hardened as not to confess it. But if this man alone were put to death, I know that this disease of the republic would be only checked for a while, not eradicated forever. But if he banishes himself, and takes with him all his friends, and collects at one point all the ruined men from every quarter, then not only will this full-grown plague of the republic be extinguished and eradicated, but also the root and seed of all future evils.

- Marcus Tullius Cicero

Philosophy is like gardening. If a nation does not practice it, the weeds and the diseases will continue to grow unchecked. That is what is really meant by "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Philosophy always wants to keep all the powers in check by keeping the mind free as it swims amongst all the various beliefs and creeds, and chooses the ones it knows to be best:

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789

Philosophy *should* teach young people how to wake up, become aware of the power of thought and mind and knowledge and learn how to use it, how to tend their own garden and think for themselves. This is kids learning how to be free human beings. Are we going to allow our children to continue to be slaves to the -isms and MSNBCs of the world, or do we want to teach them how to wrestle themselves out of it through the exercise of mind and make better choices based on "common sense" rather than unchecked idealism. THAT is one of the many benefits of philosophy and that is why Plato's famous dictum, in the mouth of his character Socrates is: "Know Thyself!".  This dictum does not mean go out and experience your feelings or find your inner woman. It doesn't mean go out and buy self-help books and experiment with different positions and different genders. What this means is to know who you are as a human being; Know what you are capable of and incapable of; explore your own power and use it WISELY.

If Americans do not wake up. If Americans refuse to follow Plato's and Ciceronian wisdom, we will continue down the path of slavery which is slavery of the soul, slavery of mind and the perpetuation of our rulers' unchecked power over us. The cancer will continue to spread. Power that is unchecked is corruption. America is already deeply, deeply in a state of utter corruption. Philosophy, the way Plato invented it, is meant to prevent or cure the corruption through questioning what you think you know; through experimenting through thought rather than experimenting on society a la progressivism; through exercising what freedoms we have to force those in power to be accountable for what they say and do. If we do not do this we will only have the history of America, but no longer America, because we simply gave up the gardening to something completely foreign, to something completely destructive to ourselves.

Socrates was put to death for the practice of philosophy in a democracy that became a tyranny. I believe that the election of Obama is the final death sentence for this nation. We have chosen the course we want to take, but it is a course that we really don't understand. It is a course that Obama calls "Hope". As such, America will never be what it was again, at least not in our lifetime, because today is the day philosophy died once and for all.

Still I have a favor to ask of them[the people of Athens]. When my sons are grown up, I would ask you, O my friends, to punish them; and I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they seem to care about riches, or anything, more than about virtue; or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing, - then reprove them, as I have reproved you, for not caring about that for which they ought to care, and thinking that they are something when they are really nothing. And if you do this, I and my sons will have received justice at your hands.

The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.  - Socrates addressing the jury upon his death sentence. Plato, The Apology

Over two thousand years later, Jefferson responds, making clear that that "for which they ought to care" is in fact the virtue of freedom:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826 (in the last letter he penned)

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