Bring the Horde Home

Things I'd Like to Change

2011-05-31T07:18:00.001-07:00

I'm scared of police officers, and drug screens. Even when I've not broken the law. I'm well-trained to fear official scrutiny.

My classism is showing.

Some Gave All

2011-05-30T06:39:00.001-07:00

I hope Iraqis have an equivalent to Memorial Day. Lord knows they have a lot more bodies in the ground!

(And if anyone wants to get on the whole "they killed themselves" kick, then look up the history of the fucking holiday. Peace!)

Point?

2011-05-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Far better bloggers than me have given up. I haven't had much passion for this shit aside from commenting since the second GWB administration, so maybe it's no surprise that this thing will probably never get off the ground.

Name that Leader!

2011-04-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

"Well, in my impression, it's twofold. First of all, I think he understands the economic plight that his country faces. I mean, one would have to be blind not to see it. And to that extent, he knows that he's going to have to reform the country.

"On the other hand, the notion that some people have had over the years that he could reform the country against his own regime, that was the illusion, that he could turn against the very pillars of support of his regime and become a revolutionary that would lead a revolution against those who brought him to power.

"And that's not going to happen. And so it's not a matter of him being stuck. It's that he is part of the very regime that today is trying to save itself, and it's not going to save itself by committing suicide."

Aw... He was my second choice.

Authority

2011-03-27T05:09:00.001-07:00

Whenever I hear a straight white man argue that his film is empowering of women, I reach for my revolver.

I have no polished blog, yet I must waste time at work.

2011-03-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

When you're of a minority view, and you're on the Internet, and especially if you're of the lefty/anarcho type, I imagine it's pretty darn easy to see other people as agents of a nameless fear or something.

I'm usually called liberal. Nice to be (maybe) called a commie by someone who's not on the right for a change. Takes me back to middle school.

Fair Play

2010-03-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

So Obama's asking the Chinese to revalue the yuan to favor international (and US, of course) trade.

So China, stop being so damn protectionist! It makes it hard for our market, and the only time the global market should shut down individual nations' economies is when it's not us.

Anyway, I'm no fan of Chinese power plays, but at this point I figure that we shouldn't whine if China is artificially hurting our market the same way our subsidies injure other American growers.

Lose-Colored Glasses

2009-12-12T10:39:00.001-08:00

The most notable characteristic of our democratic system is Co-Optation. The twin forms this takes are Elections and Reforms.

Reforms weaken resolve among partisan groups, even when their goals are not met. Thus, a conservative politician makes hand motions and strong, empty words about abortion illegalization, which mollifies his supporters, who never realize that he needs abortion to be legal. Thus, a liberal politician may, if he is truly radical (within the constraints of our system), call for decriminalization or regulation of vice such as drugs, gambling, or sexual activity, which likewise soothes his people, who never blame him for failing to endorse individual liberty outright. Reform may always be dressed up as "taking what one can get." Taking what one can get is a policy of the weak who find rage to be exhausting. Taking what one can get is the intellectual's version of learned helplessness, with a dash of complacency, for one is not truly a victim, but a participant.

Elections, likewise, see political energies dissipate when, in more vital times and societies, they should be times of advancement and progress (at least for one side or another). Instead, they serve to enrich the state by easing the commitment of the public. Elections are honeymoons for the state, in which the philandering, more powerful partner exploits the lesser mate who, while holding some concerns, decides to suppress them for the sake of some momentary exuberance. You can decide for yourself which role the public plays in this scenario, which partner we are.

Now, this is hardly a thorough discussion of these dynamics as I see them, and it's hardly original. What I would like to add, which is something new, as far as I have heard, is the peculiar phenomenon now seen among the reactionaries of the working and light investor classes. They always see betrayal, but only in the quarters to which they have been told to direct their gaze.

So let us look at what they see when, say, a liberal politician dresses up his campaign with multicultural trappings and language. Naturally, to one who subscribes to a reactionary cultural program, this appears to be caving to a foreign element whose interests are not those of whatever "true" or "pure" culture which the subject believes is welcome and natural. Hence, we have paranoids who believe that Jews, or Muslims, or blacks, or welfare mothers, or whoever, is somehow seizing the throat of the most powerful class in human history, which is the American ruling class. The truth is, of course, that the state makes an appearance of being responsive to any and all whose acquiescence it desires. And, even as it neutralizes one party by appearing to respond to its demands, the opponents of that party see it as a victory (or a coup), which the original party encourages by itself declaring victory.

Neither realize the move that has been made. Each are filled with fools, desperate to believe that they have hope of being heard, or desperate to give their lives meaning by seeing around every corner an insurmountable foe. I guess we all have our fantasies. The fantasy of the modern aristocrat would be to rule--to own and command--without objection, or notice. It is no fantasy, however, for it is realized by their every action--and by most of ours, too.

Hospitalization

2009-12-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

It's always good when one doctor complains about unnecessary tests (on one's heart) and cancels them, right before the specialist comes in and says that said test is precisely what you need.

And of course, after all these tests, I received no diagnosis. Damn postmodern physicians.

Golf Used to be a Family Game!

2009-12-03T14:03:00.001-08:00

I don't want to talk about Afghanistan, which is new for me.

What I do want to say is that I thank Tiger Woods for giving us all an opportunity to know what other people's relational hang-ups are. From people who are going absolutely crazy to decry cheating as some unnatural act of catastrophic significance to people who are blaming the woman outright for the man's wanderings, I have to say that it's a hell of a show.

Who Am I?

2009-11-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

"What is the appeal of Scottish identity?"

Tartan, shortbread, haggis and whisky...

Some of the stereotypes might make the average Scot cringe.

However, when 47,000 people from at least 40 countries gathered for the world's largest clan gathering in Edinburgh in July, many revelled in such "traditional" offerings.

Among them were Americans, Canadians, Kiwis and Aussies, who donned tartan and blew pipes in an outpouring of national pride usually reserved for matches at Murrayfield....

"I don't know which area they belong to or which clan I'm from. It's like I'm missing part of who I am," says Mrs Dallimore, promising to revisit Scotland as soon as she learns her family name.

Wait, what's the hip response here? Am I supposed to reject this as lazy white co-optation of some nostalgic ancestral myth?

Or do I look, fairly, at my own cultural appropriations and recoveries? As a multi-ethnic individual, I myself have had to look at how well I've swum through the circumstances of American culture, all the while feeling like I don't really fit. Now, my journey has brought me to an understanding that I'll never fit, and maybe that I won't feel whole for a long time, or ever, but who am I to say that these folks aren't seizing on something real, or something that could be real?

One thing I will say is that if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. Loving your roots is awesome--just be ready to ask difficult questions. Just as I've dealt with the fact that Turkishness brings a certain amount of melancholy as well as tasty food and beautiful textiles (I'm boiling culture down to the Epcot sense here), take up your Irishness. Just realize that, for some, Irishness also means, yes, alcoholism, but also a lifetime of religious anxiety, among other dark legacies. And I love Scots; I married a part-Scot. But they're not just "freeeeeeedom," but also have a long history of, well, losing that freeeeeeeedom voluntarily and serving on the front line of English ~~terror~~ war againt Irish, Indians, you name it, really. Scots kick ass. And some times they kick their own ass, or anyone who's just standing there. And did I mention the tendency toward emotional burial and periodic explosions? (Irish get the same ones, oddly enough, and other sorts too.)

Anyway, as the holidays approach, I encourage all of you to know and love how awful your roots are. That's the game I've been playing for a long time, and I assure you--it leads to a deeper love, for them and for yourself.

Might be evident....

2009-03-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this up again. This will remain a "selections" of my main journal, if for no other reason than to chart my opinions' progress. My rants are a lot less numerous than they once were, and they have long since been outnumbered by social updates and the like.

Anyway, one post a year; let's see if I can improve on that.

Politics of Hope, Politics of World

2009-03-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ephesians 6:5-9

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men,
because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Debate still rages as to whether this was a cynical move on Paul's part, to curry favor with slaves and masters alike, or a statement of principle. In any case, Christianity did champion emancipation for a while, and periodically from then on, but as I said, the debate goes on. Was Jesus a man who stood up to the powerful, or who loved emperors and slaves alike and left political matters alone? We know Paul took the latter, as did Peter's church and most traditions so descended. Radical as a youth, establishment in age. As with individuals, so with institutions.

I'm having a couple of thoughts in my head. I'm engaged in a discussion with a pious friend of mine over the pope's recent comments. For me, the matter isn't even so much a pushing of abstinence, sexual prudence, and marriage. That's fine. But lying about the benefits of condom use which, I'll grant you, isn't a sure thing but which has tremendous benefits to health and life itself? That's another matter, and it's negligent. It's wrong. But according to doctrine, it's moral.

What it comes down to is how things are supposed to work, and how things do. And certainly, things can change and things that once were may not be any more. A little bit of hope is needed. A bit of moral zeal is needed. We need to think in the potential and the ideal. We need to dream. We need to inspire and be inspired.

I read the ancient works of Christianity or Islam and Hinduism and I see consistent teachings of how the powerful are supposed to act. Hell, you find it in communism, too, or Objectivism. On reading or hearing it, one might be moved to say how wonderful it all would be. But you know, that's not enough for me. I want to see the plan in action, because over my short life I've learned enough that you shouldn't ever get snowed by a sales pitch or a homily unless you know not what they say is going to happen, but how it's going to happen.

And I know, I know. That's doesn't mesh with true faith. Well God gave me reason; don't blame me for using it.

So the old Hindus said don't question the slave's place because karma put him there. And Buddha said don't rattle chains because it's all transitory anyway. And Islam said don't do what's in your power to do, just like Christianity said. And communism said make the laws perfect, never mind if anyone's going to follow them, and capitalism says that we're all free anyway and we'll get where we need to go and if you don't have it, you don't deserve it.

Me, I'm not perfect, and I don't know it all, but I don't believe in things I don't have reason to believe in. I'm stupid so much and I hope to change it, but if I can take pride in something it's that you're not going to find me before any golden calf. And you see, I know I'm right because I watch the world and I know, I have utter faith that the strong man is going to do what he likes and the weak man's going to resent him. And so it's no good for me to hear the sermon or read the pamphlet about right action and right intent because-- Well, let me get right down to it.

Changing society is never going to happen by urging the master to stay his hand. The only way you can have justice is if the slave can stand up and strike blow for blow. And maybe there is a time to do no violence. Maybe there is a place for love and restraint. Maybe the faiths have something to teach us, but until we fix the basic things that are wrong, reassert the strength of the powerless, and learn to have power for ourselves, anything else is distraction or sabotage. I imagine that, in a just world, I might have room for religion. But right now, as it's been revealed to me, it speaks too much of the ideal and not enough of the real. No "fear and trembling" ever shook a master's conscience, and the preachers of such ethics ought to be called on what they truly are: friends of the status quo.

If they cannot even imagine a better world here, how could we think they might lead us to heaven? I follow no moralist who is not also a materialist.

Dimensions of Conflict

2008-03-11T11:39:00.001-07:00

Conflict can never be eradicated, but it can be shifted. Civil wars took place regularly in most civilizations to settle claims to the throne and, though we may frown upon such activities, they were perfectly legitimate and rational responses to a power struggle. We can all think of societies whose civil conflicts dragged on (and have dragged on), but most warlords who emerge to take control of a country have proven their ability to defend that domain.

Naturally, as greater external threats emerged, despotic and relatively free regimes alike shifted the conflict inward. States of the former character exercised this conflict through maneuver, intermarriage, and assassination; states of the latter tended toward elite or popular elections, which are little more than conflict played out through the gathering of resources, namely power bases like wealth, employment, and prestige, and of course the voters themselves.

This will never go away, but as surely as conflict exists in tyrannies, lawless regions, and republics alike, we can choose how we exercise that struggle inherent not only to our species but to life itself.

In my eyes, the greatest solution to wasteful conflict (which is, conflict which does not advance the species) is not so much a change to conflict itself, but a change of focus, a change of stakes.

No greater boon to the pursuit of peace can be found than the colonization of space and of other worlds. It is only natural that as industrial civilization continues its development and as populations continue to grow (for a large population is not as disastrous as it used to be, as China and India have shown, and in any case, US population growth is still rather high), conflict will only intensify, as the wells of oil and water dry up and more of the globe must be utilized, to a greater degree than ever before.

Now if you want to delve into the dark heart of man, I would still encourage it. For it is an old magic, this worship of blood-letting that follows us in all our activities and shakes us from our disciplines. And wherever we go, we will carry it with us, this ancient predilection, and so we ought to know this about ourselves.

But it may be pointless even now to argue about the cultural underpinnings of war, about the ideologies that justify hatred. Even now, we may be living in a world where, as Nietzsche said, it is not the cause that justifies the war, but the war that justifies any cause. Very well to look for human frailty in the masses and the leaders, for you will find it. But do not miss the dying rivers, do not miss the failing crops, do not miss the basic material laws, older and truer than any of us.

As long as we cover the earth with our living, we will cover it with our dead. When it comes to this increasingly relevant fact, it achieves little to peer inside our souls. In ages of plenty, we fought as a pastime. Our heirs will fight of necessity. That is, unless someone finds a way out.