His relationship with her brings them both to the attention of the inner-party as personified by O'Brien. (Does anyone know why O'Brien has an Irish name? It's not an accident. Orwell would have chosen it with tremendous care). Anyway, in this meeting of Smith and O'Brien the full horror of 1984 is revealed. Smith, the man who lacks knowledge, is enlightened by O'Brien, the man who possesses it. Me, I wonder at this relationship.
---
At the back of my mind has been the possibility of ending up in a windowless room having to answer the questions of an anonymous federal officer. In the US this would have happened already. In Oz, it's unlikely. But I push it. I never pass up an opportunity to disabuse customs officers, police, and security guards of the nature of whatever it is they're doing. I've had a variety of reactions from anger, to boredom, to shock. Invariably, whenever I start in on the subject of bullshit liquid bombs, bullshit terror attacks, bullshit al qaeda, etc. whomever it is I'm addressing tends to hurry up so that the whole thing will be over as quickly as possible.
Curiously enough, I find this disappointing. And I have no idea if anything results from me telling them they shouldn't believe me and that they should just put it into google and have a read. "It's your job, mate. I just thought you might be interested in knowing if what you're doing is real or not. If it was me, I'd rather not be on some wild goose chase. But that's just me, you know..." Maybe they look it up, maybe they don't. I have no idea. Otherwise, I don't know how many times I've heard people utter some variation of, "Yeah, well, I don't make the laws, I just carry them out." The reply to this is always the same, "Sure, we're all good Germans, mate". One female customs officer's eyes went wide when I said that to her. I had a smile on my face, but whatever...
I always keep it consistent. I am always friendly and cooperative. I never raise my voice. I never get angry. I let them do that. I merely tell them they are free to do as they wish - search anything. "No mate, go for it. You won't find any explosives. But you never have, have you? No? Yeah, and you never will, you know..." They are trained to deal with angry people, violent people, nervous people, but they have absolutely no training for cheerful, chatty, cooperative people like me. I do their heads in.
I confine myself solely to thought-crime. My purpose is always to screw with the thinking of people who have no idea what they're doing. They think they do, sure, but only because they've never encountered an opposing view. Welcome to me, ha ha. I am the man to ruin their day.
---
You know what it is? I want to meet O'Brien. I want to meet the creature who knows that he's bullshitting me. All I ever meet is Smiths. But I thought about this - I will never meet an O'Brien.
Orwell's meeting of Smith and O'Brien is an impossibility. In this world of bullshit, a man who does not know will never meet a man who does. In reality Smith would only ever have met more Smiths. Obviously this wouldn't have suited Orwell. Kafka perhaps, but not Orwell. Orwell wanted to tell us of his vision. This could never have been achieved if Smith had only ever met people who knew as little as he did. In reading 1984, it's worth keeping in mind that, genius though Orwell was, he was still subject to the mechanics of telling a tale. Thus the meeting of Smith and O'Brien is better viewed as a plot device rather than some kind of real world likelihood.
But that doesn't mean the collision of these two characters isn't instructive. As far as 1984 is concerned these two differ in knowledge. One has it, one doesn't. They also differ in power. Knowledge equals power. As I've said elsewhere, the root of the word 'know' is the same root as that for the word 'nobility'. This is an unarguable acknowledgement that the basis of power, of viewing oneself as above one's fellow humans, is the possession of knowledge.
All of the Smiths I've met had power, albeit of the tiny customs-officer variety. Their imagining that they are some variety of O'Brien is a trick that they fell for. They possess a false knowledge, a false nobility. The true O'Briens of this world, the possessors of closely guarded occult knowledge, are few and far between. I'm going to pull a figure out of the air and say that there's probably less than a thousand of them in the whole world. Their knowledge must be closely guarded or else their 'nobility' will be challenged.
And here's the thing. Their knowledge can be challenged. In much the same way that this 'nobility' must control the media in order to ensure that their Smith servants never have access to an opposing viewpoint, it's important that they too never be so challenged. This is because the knowledge they possess is not the truth. Their ultimate occult knowledge is merely a clever self-serving arrangement that ensures their access to 'stuff' - stuff like caviar, jewelry, mansions, and slaves. Clearly a self-serving truth is not true. Truth is not subordinate to the self. If this nobility was presented with a truth that didn't serve their desires they would have to look away.
So it's all very well, me screwing with the heads of the various petty Smiths that I encounter. But what I burn for is to smash the understandings of the O'Briens. I want to show them that their desires are a delusion. I want to show them that their fear is a delusion too. Desire, fear, same thing. I want to embrace them to my bosom and show them the joy, the love, the truth of selflessness.
Ha ha ha, what a fool's errand! But I don't care. That rabbi who bested God in the Talmud had it arse-about. If only he'd put his cleverness to use explaining to the devil the error of his ways. God is fine, he needs nothing from us. It's the devil who doesn't understand the world. It's the devil who needs is to be clasped to one's breast.
Who but a fool would do that? Ha! Hey nobility! I'll be your huckleberry fool! I have nothing to lose. You want to join me? You too can cast off fear, desire, delusion. We'll bow down to each other and dance a pas de deux. For no reason beyond the simple joy of it. We'll marvel at the tomato growing from the compost, we'll enjoy a long drink of water in the heat of midday, and then laugh at the lorikeets hanging upside down in the casuarinas as the setting sun turns their feathers to gold. None of it will belong to you, but it doesn't matter. You'll be astounded at how free you feel. It'll be innocent. It'll be beautiful. It'll be the best you'll ever feel.
In case anyone missed it, Miraculix and Penny both came up with some brilliant stuff in the preceding comments. Had I known what they told me, I'd have written both of these pieces differently. Not too differently but still...
ReplyDeleteMister Nobody
ReplyDeleteJust popped in to let you know what transpired on my visit to US to see Mister Murdoch.
I think the bailout will go ahead as I called upon both Democrats and Republicans to support the plan.
And I addressed the United Nations and told them how very important money is.
Do you not think Julia did a good job covering for me while I was OS?
We've always loved Americans
Inscrutable my eye
Until next time I remain
Your PM
KMR
also.. the o'briens of this wUrld will even kill you, to continue their delusion, and continue believing the lie. it's their nature. the ill reasoned use of freewill...service to self, is... after all a choice.
ReplyDeleteunc' al speaks of this at length. anthromorph'd analogy to the masses as the devil...
unc' al tells us, that lucifer is the light bearer. still takes heat for this frm the day he wrote in the 1870's...peepz still scream - palladism!.. the the leo taxil grand hoax, et al.
as analogy ol bal is the bearer of light. w/o him... freewill couldn't/wouldn't exist.
here ya go. fabian et al..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.modernhistory
project.org/mhp/ArticleDisplay.
php?Article=FinalWarn
05-1
one thread in the tapestry...
meanwhile...
ReplyDeleteahahaha... but aftr reading the comments in the first installment inre scot rite freemasonry as a jez infiltration of the york rite... i'd definitely go over anything ya read there w/a fine tooth'd comb...
OMG! whew..
Thanks PM,
ReplyDeleteI want to congratulate you on so brilliantly carrying out your role as catspaw of the bankers. Superlative.
And I must admit I failed to notice Julia in your absence. But I did notice her standing behind you when you came back, smiling and nodding. She's VERY good at that. Does she have some role beyond this? I've yet to discern it.
And sure enough, China is to be our enemy. The media has declared it so. And whatever they say, goes. And if you think about it, your appointment as the banker's man in Asia is brilliant. Here you are as alleged Sinophile dazzling the Chinese with the brilliance of their own reflection and all the while working for those who would bring them down. It's genius now that I think about it. And you're the man for the job mate! I salute you!
Sorry kikz, Prime-Ministers before little people you understand.
ReplyDeleteAnd Smiths killing you? Absolutely. People will do ANYTHING rather than examine themselves to see if they ain't the bad guy. Mind you, one does make it harder for them by following a Socratic method, which is to say merely asking them questions. Me, I premise everything I tell them by saying, 'Don't believe me. Put it into google and see for yourself.' It's a nice way of putting a point across and simultaneously defraying the argument.
And I was just using the devil thing loosely you know. God forbid I should ever get too deeply into anything that resembles an impossible riddle. That aside, I gave your link a burl and seemed to arrive a list of articles. I'll wander through them and see what I can find.
cripez.. the one i was reading.. was the final warning... if that helps...
ReplyDeleteWow, modernhistoryproject. Very interesting. I suspect I'll be tooling around there for a while. Ta kikz.
ReplyDeleteNobody, IYO why China?
ReplyDeleteWill she be the new 'host'?
As posted on my blog, I think what we see now is an hybrid of 1984 and a Brave New World. A Brave New World, circa 1984, if you will. The PTB can't be easily boxed in. They're a wiley bunch. Use all methods of control available - drugs (pharma), propaganda, surveillance, control, greed, debt....and if that doesn't work "a boot stamping the face of humanity, for ever".
ReplyDeleteHey NaM, yeah great phrase huh? I was kind of picking the teeth out of 1984. For the broad picture, you're right.
ReplyDeleteBuff, IYO? Don't worry, I looked it up. Anyway China is interesting. China defeats the 'chameleon' aspect of Jewish people. In the West they are never Jewish. Thus the mafia in Russia is 'Russian', Ari Ben Menashe is Canadian, and Michael Chertoff is American. And then there's Hollywood which is quintessentially American and yet, truth be known, it's no such thing. It's Jewish to its bootstraps.
China defeats this. China cannot be subverted and taken over. Subsequently they must be smashed. The anti-China campaign has been running for a couple of years now in the media and I'm not expecting anything straight away. The anti-Arab campaign began in Hollywood decades ago and all for the climax that's taking place now. They think ahead, these people.
Otherwise the leaders of China know their history. They know all about David Sassoon. And sure there was an initial link between the Bolsheviks and Mao's communists. But they famously split and Mao followed his own path. It wasn't a brilliant one but the main thing was that the Bolsheviks got no 'in' in China.
The bankers cannot 'hide' amongst the Chinese people. And nor will they ever be allowed to. Laowai in China cannot get citizenship. And those in Hong Kong are only allowed to enter China with visas. Even Hong Kong Chinese who might act as catspaws are restricted. Mainlanders view the Hong Kong Chinese with disdain? Suspicion? Whatever it is, the feeling is mutual.
But the main thing is the Chinese will never cede control of their money supply or their media to anyone. They're too smart. So the bankers will be reduced to attacking China from the outside. And I think China is too strong for that. One possibility I see is the use of contagious diseases to wreak havoc and weaken the state. God help the foreigners there if this is ever discovered.
Otherewise I was there when the Americans bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Huge rock-throwing crowds outside the US embassy. That was something to see! The mob is a fearsome thing and the Government is firmly in control of it.
Anyway I'm rambling now. The long and short of it is that China is host-proof, so to speak. But they're definitely to be the 'enemy'. But then, truth be known, all goyim are the enemy, whether they realise it or not. There's two categories of enemy: subdued; and yet to be subdued. We are the former, China, Russia, and the Islamic states are the latter.
From the Beginning
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning we are stripped of our freedom because we are only able to “take in” what is given to us. Life becomes a process of regaining that freedom, or giving up that it is recoupable at all. From our government that claims that we are to be responsible when things are bad, and claims all the credit when things are going good, to our parents who often have us to give purpose to their life (to define freedom for themselves) and at the same time take freedom from us by living our lives for us. From the beginning, almost ubiquitously throughout all cultures, there is religion and religious belief. Most often we are handed our religion by our parents, our culture, and sometimes our government, often all of the above. But, the religion that surrounds us claims that it alone gives us the only freedom that is necessary while at the same time demanding absolute slavery to its promises. From the beginning, we must define freedom for ourselves, or have it defined for us by our government, our parents, and most often by the smiling wolves called priests, preachers and pastors. We must define this freedom or never know the taste of being free.
Freedom is dangerous to governments, it is a source of fear to parents, and it is a thing to be controlled to religions. Freedom is to be defined for us by others, rather than being defined by us, according to most who have a stake in keeping us docile, dumb, and apathetic. Often, independence is considered synonymous with freedom, but it is not. One must first be independent before one can be free. So to define freedom means to define independence. Independence is a choice; it is a conscious decision to consider possibilities while at the same time differentiating them from the opinions of others. To do this will allow us to be free. Whether it is our political leaders, our parents or any power pundit interested in stripping others of their freedom in order to gain power for themselves, or it is religious leaders warning us of the dangers that freedom leads us into, we must both consider them and be willing to dismiss them. Independence cannot be defined by rebellion; it cannot be defined by differentiation from others or any other teenage act of defiance that unfortunately never ends with the teenage years. Independence must be defined by self through rational consideration and the willingness to accept consequences and answers whatever they may be.
Freedom also demands that anyone who claims it never defines it through one precept, one factor, on act, one idea, or one viewpoint. Freedom demands change, never-ending and constantly evolving change. No one is ever constantly free. Rather freedom comes in waves much like the friendships that we make throughout life. Freedom is not a thing to be had, but a process of realization, but from the beginning we are taught by those who have never experienced freedom that it is a natural state of affairs. These people, most, are lost because they define freedom as dependence: dependence on others, on country, on state, on family, children, on science and worst of all on religion, or they are simply liars. Dependence cannot be used to define freedom: this is why modern welfare, in order to free the impoverished from their poverty can never work. Welfare comes in many forms because we are impoverished from the beginning by others, by our expectations, by those who would enslave us to insure our dependence upon them: because they define freedom as dependence upon others. Freedom comes at a price one which most are not willing to pay: responsibility for self.
From the beginning we are not given the tools of independent thought. Rather we are given the drugs called acceptance, altruism, responsibility to others, blind faith and the destruction of objective reality in order to define it as wishful thinking, emotional appeal, and desire. Our governments define our thoughts as nationalism or patriotism. Our parents define our thoughts as their wishes, their desires, their need to procreate and their need to be depended upon. Religion simply defines our thoughts out of fear and ignorance, both its own and ours. The tools of independent thought, and hence the road to our own individual freedom lies in the ability to think rationally, to decipher wishful thinking from reality, to realize that emotional appeal is empty of meaning, and that our desires are nothing but our own hopes. Freedom demands conscious decision-making and clear, rational thought. Freedom demands the acceptance of objective reality.
From the beginning freedom is hard to come by and most do not or will not do the work to become free. Instead, easy ways out are taken. Acceptance or rebellion becomes the cornerstone of who we are. Acceptance is easy because it only calls for one being pliable. Rebellion is easy because it can come in the form of a haircut or a tattoo, or a $40,000 dollar motorcycle with embroidered leather chaps. Acceptance and rebellion are both empty of independence and freedom because they are emotional reactions rather than conscious decisions. Emotional reactions come naturally, conscious decisions do not. We cannot be held responsible our accountable for being human, for being a man or a women; we cannot be held responsible for the color of our skin, or where we are born. We can be held responsible for what we decide to do with the circumstances, the reality that we find ourselves in. This is not easy, and so most do not make the conscious decisions that it takes to be independent and thus free: they remain enslaved while holding the key to their self-imposed prison.
From the beginning we rely upon rather than consider; we depend upon rather than become independent; we seem not to want our freedom, but desire to consider ourselves free without any consideration whatsoever. From the beginning our lives are often defined for us and we, being dependent upon and desirous of wanting reality to adhere to our wishes, accept those definitions because it is easy to say “I am free” while it is one of the most difficult things to actually be free. We depend on our words while at the same time stripping them of any meaning. Our freedom, from the beginning is misconstrued and tortured into a meaningless pulp of wishful thinking, empty beliefs, and accepted rebellion. It is a prisoner of comfort and security, of normality and rebellion, of the ability of faith to define truth. We must remember that words do not make us free, but our independence from them is a sure start to a long trip from the beginning.
Excellent. That was really something. I'm thinking I have nothing to add. But let me read it a second time. It's definitely worth it.
ReplyDeletesilverfish
ReplyDelete'the religion that surrounds us claims that it alone gives us the only freedom that is necessary while at the same time demanding absolute slavery to its promises.'
direct hit/nail head :)
womb to tomb and beyond...
frm my studies of scot rite freemasonry, a little ditty frm uncle al circa 1870's...
dante's devine comedy:
'Commentaries and studies have been multiplied upon the Divine Comedy, the work of DANTE, and yet no one, so far as we know, has pointed out its especial character. The work of the great Ghibellin is a declaration of war against the Papacy, by bold revelations of the Mysteries. The Epic of Dante is Johannite and Gnostic, an audacious application, like that of the Apocalypse, of the figures and numbers of the Kabalah to the Christian dogmas, and a secret negation of every thing absolute in these dogmas. His journey through the supernatural worlds is accomplished like the initiation into the Mysteries of Eleusis and Thebes. He escapes from that gulf of Hell over the gate of which the sentence of despair was written, by reversing the positions of his head and feet, that is to say, by accepting the direct opposite of the Catholic dogma; and then he reascends to the light, by using the Devil himself as a monstrous ladder. Faust ascends to Heaven, by stepping on the head of the vanquished Mephistopheles. Hell is impassable for those only who know not how to turn back from it. We free ourselves from its bondage by audacity.'
audacity to first realize then claim our freewill and freedom :)
rock on silverfish!
p.s. noby.. i'm not just bangin on the RC's, they are just the gold standard.
Thanks nobody, I kind of thought that's what you would say - but in this day and age it's best not to assume anything.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think you are right. On all counts.
Perhaps an even match has finally come forth. Goodness knows, it's needed.
kevin michael rudd:
ReplyDeleteshould a Canadian PM require another speech to plagairize, I hope you won't be the least bit offended.
Look at as imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
aargh
Is there something in the air as of late?
ReplyDeleteI am getting a sort of "fed up" vibe?
Or maybe that is just me.
Often nobody, you say, get away from white mans world. sadly it is all white mans world and I don't know that there is anywhere to get away to anymore.
Even the jungles and rainforests are being bulldozed, is there anywhere left, where one can live out a life, in peace, free of the manipulations of the powers that be?
I don't know, I don't know.
I keep thinking of a comment Jim Marrs made, about how people used to just move on, from tyranny.
what/where is left to move on to?
In the U. S. of A. if you have a truly just and fair grievance against the theocratic-oligarchy (a.k.a. Goverenment) They MAY just refuse to have you “Officially” questioned and simple allow the vilely ill CULTure to harasses you.
ReplyDeleteThis MAY *rolls eyes* give one a wee bit oƒ an “an out” at times *wink*.
Robin Hood, Robin Hood
riding through the glen
Robin Hood, Robin Hood
with his dearest friend
some like it hot
some like it cold
none like it in the pot
none like it in the pot
nine days old
Stay on groovin' safari,
Tor
More shit from Your PM
ReplyDeleteTony
Thanks folks,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine desultory conversation we are having today. For grasshopper brains like yours truly it's par for the course.
And I just last night watched Howard and Harper sided by side uttering the same words. What a laugh. Sure enough, the thought that occurred to me (and predictably did not occur to the reporter) was that Harper might not have plagiarised Howard so much as merely been reading the same speech as delivered by the people who dictate both Australia's and Canada's war policy. For the sake of convenience we'll call them the 'neocons', not that that's a particularly useful description.
Otherwise I re-read Silv's piece and decided that it's as close to a Buddhist view as you can be without using the word 'delusion' ha ha.
And hullo Tor, nice to have a new face, albeit a spooky magician's one (winky smiley face).
And Tone, like we're surprised mate...
"Spooky magician's (face)," Thank you very much, Nobody.
ReplyDeleteStay on groovin'
(How 'bout them thar goverénments nowadays?)
safari,
Tor
De nada,
ReplyDeleteI think I shall have to wander about your blog. I do appreciate a fellow with a sense of the absurd.
And governments? There's nothing wrong with any of our governments that a plague of boils wouldn't fix. Well for starters anyway...
And today's grooving shall take place on the beach and involve me unashamedly in speedos. Yoroshiku.
Dear Mister Nobody
ReplyDeleteA little more about me!
The Honourable
Malcolm Turnbull
BA, LLB (Syd), BCL(Hons) (Oxon), MP
Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia
Member for Wentworth
Future Prime Minister of Australia
'delusion' huh? Speedos? talk about delusion, I used to have 40 some pairs all with different country flags, one of my favs was the Oz flag with the stars in just the right places,(wink), and why do they call them pairs as there is only one and not much of one at that. But I digress, anywhoos now if I were to wear Speedos I'd look like an inverted Bartlet Pear cinched by a rubber band, not a pretty thought.
ReplyDeleteHave fun fella.
Mal,
ReplyDeleteWell, wasn't that interesting? And not Jewish at all. Kind of. Maybe. Perhaps. Well it's hard to know isn't it? And let's just leave it at that shall we? Regardless it was nice to see you down the synagogue.
Hey Silver, I just have one pair with North Bondi on the arse. Matey, I've been meaning to ask you - Waaay back when we were blathering about compost, you said you don't put meat scraps in. I never did ask the question, 'Why is that?' but - Why is that? Is meat bad? Does it screw up the microbiological fauna? Or something else? Just curious...
Meat is not bad as such, however it tends to stink and attract flies and other vermin. Same can be said for dog and cat waste, also a no no.
ReplyDeleteHowever just about anything else that was once alive but no longer is, is just fine, including things such as hair ie. dog and cat combings, torn up news papers etc. In short most things organic.
on the subject of compost.... no meat.
ReplyDeleteno cook'd veg.. not even potato skins.
draws flies.
Ah! That would explain the flies that have been driving me nuts...
ReplyDeleteNo meat. No cooked food. Gotcha. Thanks for that.
The "no meat, no cooked veg" is accurate in a standard sense, but not 100% correct, as what you can compost has much to do with how thoroughly (and "correctly") you are managing the decomposition process. For example, horse manure must age longer than that of chickens, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, I am currently in the process of "upgrading" our composting facilities here in the Eifel, and have an excellent reference material for any and all reading here who have similar designs.
For the best possible run-down on composting available at zero cost, Joseph Jenkins -- he of the Humanure Handbook -- has made his invaluable tome available online for any and all who would learn the art of composting. I purchased a copy after reviewing the online version.
Though it is not recommended for normal "kitchen and garden" type composting, meat, dairy and even de-natured (cooked) veg scraps can be added to a compost system -- if they are "aged" long enough in a managed pile with the proper thermophilic properties.
Just as humanure requires a longer "cooking process" to achieve the necessary chemical properties, so does all animal matter.
Here's a direct link to the ToC:
http://jenkinspublishing.com/humanure_contents.html
More good stuff. Thanks Miraculix, I'll check that out. If I ever make it to my own property it will come in handy. As it is, I only have two fifty litre tubs sitting on my balcony. They are maxed out with the food scraps of two adults. And lately I've been plagued by an unbeatable swarm of tiny flies. It was almost enough to make me consider giving up the whole compost caper. It seems that as a 'balcony composter', I have no choice but to be selective in what I put in my mix. Fair enough.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I'm a bit brain-fried lately. I think the old man had a variation of stroke yesterday. He was like Hal in 2001, only worse. He couldn't even construct a sentence. Even words defeated him. He repeated the words 'I', 'who', 'somebody', 'talking', and 'saying' over and over in random order, looking at me with this panicked look knowing that he was making no sense. And now today he's fine. Go figure.
awwww big hugz noby.... :(
ReplyDeleteThankz kikz.
ReplyDeleteI just put that there in case anyone is wondering why nothing comes up for a while. Maybe a thought will strike me, maybe it won't. Actually lots of thoughts strike me but in no coherent fashion.
Time stops everything
from happening all at once.
Well, that's the theory...
Ha! Over to the haiku blog.
The secret to keeping the flies down is to keep the "green" matter added to pile properly balanced out with the "brown" additions.
ReplyDeleteIf each time you add green waste to the pile you spread it relatively thin and cover it with a thin layer of dried grass, straw, wood mulch, sawdust, dried leaves or similar, you will find your fly problem decreases markedly. You will also be setting up a much better chemical "balance" for good thermophilic action as the layer finds its way into the "hot zone" in the middle.
One idea, if you live in or near town and easy sources of "brown" materials are scarce, as they often are for the balcony gardener: you'd be surprised how many folks will VERY happily let you clean up the leaves on their property and take them away. Under the appropriate circumstances, you might even make a few sheckels for your efforts.
Here, I just finished hauling in and setting down fifteen loader buckets (several tons) of horse manure with the tractor a week ago. Which should ideally cook at least two years. We also have a regular supply of own chicken manure mixed with hand-cut hay from the "backyard" behind the house and stables. But we also have a large greenhouse (very necessary at 50.06ºN) and a substantial house garden -- that's fed a multi-generational household for centuries. Which produce a huge amount of green mass for compost, as well as chicken feed.
And now it's my turn with the shovel. The ex-pat American hiding out in the hill country of Charlemagne's hunting grounds. Former Lotharingia. And I rather like the job, actually. "Stewardship" is the best word I can find.
[preacher mode ON]
If I have any advice at all for other individuals still seeking the stage of independence that requires the ability to feed oneself and your immediate family in a complete, healthful and traditional manner without industrial inputs, it is to get friendly with your local microbial community and support them at every turn. They are not the enemy.
Yes, you will have to unlearn some of those "civilized" sensibilities about things like sh**e, but it is worth it -- in spades. I have successfully eliminated many years worth of mystery ailments that mimicked rheumatoid arthritis by dumping refined sugars and refined flours, basically any and all de-natured (dead) products labeled "food" by the great industrial combines who engineer and focus group them to a supermarket near you by the hundreds each year.
Once you start eating properly prepared living foods, your body will come back to life. No joke. It takes time and commitment, but you can actually eat like a king and you'll discover your tastebuds were tweaked from all the chem, and after enough pain you can eventually laugh when that old monkey sugar sings its siren song.
We're not religious about things, though. We still enjoy coffee occasionally, and it's amazing the kick it has when you no longer consume it daily. Alcohol? Are you kidding? We're in Germany. No tobacco products; while we embrace all facets of herbalism with open minds. Modern day witches of a sort, without any of the Wicca mumbo-jumbo. Knowledge and wisdom without the costumes and dancing and sacrificial implements. Just aim a steady stream of respect at the quarters and keep the energy flowing out the top of your head and all will go according to plan (for those not paying close attention just there, this pattern of energy "projection" forms a very familiar shape). Or something like that. Refer to Rupert Sheldrake if you have questions.
The best part is that there are a grand variety of ways to conquer the beast, proven by the diversity of traditional indigineous diets (as in what you eat, not what you don't) adopted in various climes across the planet in our pre-industrial history. There's a wealth of knowledge out there for the finding, buried in an avalanche of paid-for industrial propaganda masquerading as modern scientific research -- or misinterpreting the results of effective independent work. But we already know who owns the media.
[preacher mode OFF]
As ever, adapt or perish.
The reply to this is always the same, "Sure, we're all good Germans, mate"
ReplyDeleteWTF?? As a holohoax survivor i am stunned at your slander of the true victims of WWII. As a matter of fact, ive a good mind to turn you into soap and lampshades for your preposterous lies.
Thanks Miraculix, most excellent. It reminds of the brief time I spent in the temple in Japan. Each fortnight they'd empty out the septic tanks and we'd carry bucketload after bucketload of sewage (happily, since they're all vegetarians, it doesn't smell so bad) and compost it. They did the same shit/straw, shit/straw layering thing there too.
ReplyDeleteTa Vlad, longtimenosee. It comes down to having to speak a language people understand. And since I want to fetch the petty Smiths a crack right between the eyes, I find that line answers best.
Good shit.
ReplyDeleteHey boys, what Miraculix tells about nutrition is absolutly true even if he came to his conclusion on a somewhat 'alternate' way (I mean the Sheldrake gobbledeegock).
ReplyDeleteCheck out the blogs of theses three fellows, who will tell you what food items are good and which are bad and will justify it with the best available research. Really these three guys are the best of the best in that area.
The hyperlipid blog of Peter at
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/
Cutting edge knowledge about optimal diet with lots of great speculations and insights.
Stephans whole health source http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
with lots of insight, with more epidemiological data. Very interesting stuff and quite easy to read.
And Chris Masterjohn's http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/cholesterol-blog.html
cholesterol and health
very thourough and extremly well written and argumented site.
There are others, but these 3 are my favorites.
Sorry, for changing subject somewhat (in fact it is not, food is my opinion also one of the ways to have control on population and only by knowing about it, can one have a real choice).
Thanks Gallier, nice to see you popping in.
ReplyDeleteI'm still a bit dizzy at the moment, stuck for inspiration. And never mind a bee in the bonnet, I have a hive of the damn things. And they're all hum and no honey. Still, better than Colony Collapse Disorder...
On the topic of real food remind me sometime to tell you about my Sig other and what happend to her, as well as her child.
ReplyDeleteHey Silv,
ReplyDeleteRemember how you were going to tell us about your missus and the food? What was that story mate? Do tell.
As it is I'm bashing away at a thing for the cinema and I don't know that there'll be anything going up here for a couple of days. So let's read your stuff!
hey nobody:
ReplyDeletethinking about composting, a way that may be more suitable for the balcony/apartment composters is with worms.
I'll admit to not knowing anything of this personally, but I have read up on it.
It is called vermicomposting.
http://www.toronto.ca/compost/withworm.htm
There is much more to it than will be eluded here but for starters I will let my other tell it in a letter that she sent to her Dr. shortly before shitcanning said same Dr.
ReplyDeleteDear Dr. B. When Swallow, aka Silverfish, and I first met I was a trainwreck waiting to happen. You had diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia and the specialists were investigating whether or not I had MS. I was suffering from dizzy spells with lights flashing in my vision and colors changing at random, for example, white would appear to be pale pink. You had figured that I was depressed because of all that was happening so you put me on Amytriptaline, a nasty little anti-depressant along with Clonazapam, another anti-depressant to aide me with sleeping problems. I had also been suffering from a buzzing of sorts in my legs and muscle twitching which you said was from the Fibro, so you put me on Gabepentine and Novo-cycloprine. Neither of which really did any good for me. At the time you also had me on Naproxen and Tylenol 3's, again no help there and all the T3's did was constipate me. More often than not I would have to use a cane to help me walk, as my legs keptfeeling like they'd give out on me. Your solution was to up my meds. I was having seizure like symptoms which the Neurologist still can't figure out, but it's pretty obvious by the MRI's that there was damage done. Nerve conduction tests have shown that there is a fair amount of damage done to my central nervous system as well. Yet no one can find the cause of any of this, and therefore can't decide on a course of action to take to control it. Becky's Child Psychologist had diagnosed her with ADHD and Bi-polar Disorder and put her on Siroquel, she was up to 100 mg twice a day and this med had never even been tested in anyone under the age of 18. Becky was 3 and a half when first put on it! With the upping of Becky's medication she started to have breathing problems so you put her on a steroid inhaler. The more medication she got, the worse her behaviour became. As you may remember she was having terrible nightmares and acted out with friends hitting them when she didn't get her way. She was becoming incredibly abusive to the point where she broke her bed frame. She had even pulled a knife on me, threatening to dismember me and then cut herself up so much she'd bleed to death. She was 7 and a half years old at the time, this is not normal behaviour, especially after 4 years of being on behaviour modification medication! Under the care of the medical community both Becky and I were getting worse. I was at my whits end and didn't know where to go for help. I couldn't go to you or to Becky's Psychologist as the solution was always up the meds and/or add more. It was obvious to me that changes needed to be made, but I just didn't know what kind nor how to implement changes. My thinking was random at best and I couldn't figure out for myself that the medications we were on were making us worse. Considering the fact that the medical profession couldn't figure out where our problems were stemming from, it's no surprise that I couldn't either. This is where Swallow comes in. After we had been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, I took him to my place to meet Becky. She was her usual self with the talking back and bad attitude, refusing to listen to anything I had to say. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Swallow didn't cut and run right there. But he stayed and watched us as we interacted, he snooped through my fridge and cupboards to see what kinds of foods we were eating, he looked at all our medications lined up on the coffee table, and he realized that we both needed a metaphorical slap up side the head. He went home that night and thought of what exactly was needed to put us onto a path of healing, and the following weekend when we got together again, spent a lot of time explaining his thoughts to me. He asked me 7 times if I really wanted his help, I was lost, of course I wanted help! That last time he asked, I told him to knock it off already and help me, I had answered thatquestion often enough in my opinion. The first thing he told me was that I had to listen and implement everything he said to do. Even though I didn't quite know what he was talking about, I agreed. The way I saw it was, "what could it hurt?". He told me that I needed to get rid of the medications, most specifically, the anti-depressants and Becky's Siroquel. That had me worried as I was somewhat suicidal, and I was scared that if I took Becky off her med's, just how much worse was she going to get. After all, they were supposedly helping her. As it was, I had asked for his help and had promised to listen to what he had to say. So, I flushed my anti-depressants down the toilet and proceeded to ween Becky off her meds. Then I had to change what we were eating. I got rid of most of my processed and canned foods, and tossed out the sugary cereals and snacks. I bought fresh fruits and vegetables along with meats and Swallow proceeded to teach me how to cook real food as opposed to the restaurant style of cooking I had been doing till then. School lunches for Becky included all 4 food groups and the cookies or whatever for desert were over with. I went back to canning my own fruits and juices as opposed to buying the processed high sugar stuff. Bread was no longer bought, at least not white bread, I started to bake whole wheat bread instead. I also learned how to make rye, french, and sour-dough bread. Instead of instant oatmeal or high sugared cereals, breakfast became oatmeal from scratch, or cereals such as Special K or Corn Flakes. White sugar was pretty much not a part of our diet anymore and was replaced with Demorara sugar. Pop, candy, chocolate bars,chips, etc became a thing of the past. Yes, I still buy those things as a treat on occassion, but they are no longer part of our daily diet. Powdered cream and margarine were also gotten rid of and replaced with whipping cream and real unsalted butter. Salt was also pretty much taken out of my cooking and only used as an additive at the table, and even that to a much lesser degree than what had been. Within a week I quit taking the rest of the meds I had been on and with Becky also being without medication, I noticed a huge improvement in her personality. We got along much better and her nightmares ended. I took her to see her shrink one last time, and she was shocked at the change in Becky. She asked me what I had done, so I told her the meds were gone, diet was changed and discipline was implemented. I told her that Swallow had taught me that to be healthy there were 3 things needed. Those are a healthy diet, discipline, and consistancy. By discipline, I don't mean beatings or anything like that, I mean that there have to be consequenses for actions taken, and routines had to be established and adhered to. I had to take back control of my life, and with Swallow's help I did exactly that. When I was done relating to the shrink all that had happened in the last 2 weeks since last seeing her, she said good for you and keep it up. I seriouslywanted to tell her thanks for making our lives worse over the previous 4 years, instead of better, but I held my tongue and just said that was the plan. Now 3 years later, Becky and I have established an early morning work-out schedule along with an after school walking program. This combined with healthy eating hasn't curred me from my Fibromyalgia, but it's now under control with very few flare up's. Becky however, is a completely different person as you well know. Anyone I had known 3 years ago wouldn't recognize us as the same people should we run into them today. You wanted to know why I wasn't requesting refills for my meds, well that is why. Now, I want to know why no one in the medical profession even considered suggesting that processed foods and sugar could be so toxic to a person. Had that been mentioned to me when all this started, our problems would never have gotten to be what they were. No we're not perfect people, but we sure are a lot healthier, and Becky is actually pleasant to be around. I'm not ripping out my hair every 5 minutes and I really can't remember when Becky last threw a temper tantrum, let alone destroyed anything. I just wish everyone who has what the specialists dub problem children, would be taught exactly what Swallow taught me. Life would be so much easier all the way around if healthy living were truly taught and stressed by the medical profession.
Sincerely,Skye
p.s yes my name really is Swallow, weird huh
Yeah, worms are brilliant. I had them before but I've had trouble bringing them to the balcony. For some reason they don't last. But I'll try again though.
ReplyDeleteOff to read Silv's piece. No para breaks! Ayah...
Oh in my last comment I forgot a link to a really good book.
ReplyDeleteIt's the book "Nutrition and physical degeneration" from Weston A. Price.
It is one of those book that beggets the question why it is not a standard study book in Universities.
An online version can be read at
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/pricetoc.html
And the site
http://www.westonaprice.org/
looks at modern nutrition with the point of view through the work of Weston Price.
And Silverfish can read there, the root causes of his ailments and why a switch to traditionnal preparation methods, healed him (the keyword is anti-nutrients).
The 4 main cumprits of bad health nowadays are sugar, flour (cereals), soy and vegetable oil.
Thanks Silv,
ReplyDeleteThat all rang true like a bell. So glad to hear your daughter is better. Now all you have to do is throw out that other subverter of teenagers, your TV, ha ha. Anyway, the sooner I live in a place where I can grow my own food, the better.
And thanks Gallier, I think you're right. If I was dictator, I would ban any food that wasn't organic. Preservatives, colouring, additives - all banned. As for your four culprits, I don't know that one must strike them utterly from one's diet. Must they? I occasionally have a bit of each of those. Very occasionally, now that I think about it. Is tofu bad? I used to eat rather a lot of it in Japan and China. I even had a girlfriend show me how to make it. It was cool.
The problem with these 4 ingredients, is not that they are extremely toxic, they are not. The problem is that they are slow toxins (except if you are susceptible to them like coeliacs which cannot tolerate gluten the protein in wheat), which only do only little harm. The problem with them is that they tend to replace the real food, made with real ingredients full of vitamins (and I'm not speaking about the C vitamin). Furthermore, safe sugar, these ingredients are also touted as health foods and the real food (saturated animal fats) get a bad rap.
ReplyDeleteExample: your grandma certainly used way more lard, tallow, butter cream than you could imagine today, during war the precious food was meat and butter, not broccoli and kale.
In the links I gave there are some articles showing that the obesity epidemic, diabetes explosion and other ailments explose, while the supposed bad fats (saturated) were replaced by unsaturated one, the wheat and sugar (HFCS) consumption exploded.
There is a serie of articles at wholehealthsource which shows the obesity epidemic in China whose sole culprit looks to be wheat, all other parameter didn't change.
As for soy, the only problem I have with, is the extreme lying going on about it. It is touted as a natural food, but it is not, it is one of the most artificial food one can imagine, and while some traditional preparation methods (fermentation) can make it edible, one shouldn't use it as a staple food. The westonaprice site has more info about that.
So the take home lesson here is, the four ingredients I listed above should not be the base of your food. They can be consumed, but in small quantities and not to often. But if you ground you nutrition on real food, you will see that these get less and less appeal.
There's is much more to it than this little rant, but I have to bring the children to school now, if you want I will tell the experience I had when changing my nutrition 4 years ago.
Thanks Gallier,
ReplyDeleteThat pretty much accords with my understanding. And believe it or not, I actually like fermented soybeans. It's called natto in Japan and is universally despised by foreigners. Except for me, ha!
On the subject of soy, I challenge you to drag, push or carry a dog or cat into a soybean field. As an experiment I have tried and I have paid for my sins in blood. Even a coyote will not chase a rabbit into a soybean field, all animals including deer and cattle avoid it like the plague, perhaps they know something that we don’t . Also did you know that a handful of raw soybeans if eaten will kill you deader than shit?
ReplyDeleteOh and by the by, sorry for the non para break thingy, I was busy putting the boat up for the winter and had my Other email me the letter she had sent to her Dr. I just cut and pasted it and Blogger edited the breaks out. Again sorry.
wow, silverfish, loads of common sense in that advice.
ReplyDeleteMe, no white bread, only butter, no margarine, or pretend margarine, we have a garden,( no chemicals, bug holes?, cut'em out I'd rather that, then ingest poison) as little processed as possible, no food colourings if possible, particularly not green, OMG!!! I am allergic to that.
The last time, I unwittingly consumed that crap, I had hives for two weeks, and the itching was making me crazy.
I like the advice on discipline, natural consequences for poor behaviour, with rules clearly laid out. And basic rules non to complex.
When my daughter was younger she had this nice lunch always made for her, and fruit juice, no pop.
Whole wheat bread, no chips etc.
She used to get mad at me because this one kid had all the "good food" and she didn't. (imagine foot stomping here and mean mother proclamations) I said you will thank me for this one day, you'll see.
Well it took some time, but in Gr 9 they checked the kids cholesterol and the kids who had all the good food, or so my daughter thought was at least 50lbs overweight and his cholesterol was through the roof, to the point the school called the parents to come in promptly, the kid was 13 yrs old at that time.
Can you imagine that?
So my daughter tells me that, and I promptly say, remember when???
She concedes I was right, a rare concession, but nice to hear nonetheless.
what is it with docs and meds, I see the doc, he says, want the flu shot, NO, I don't take that crap.
Aargh, I am sure I have had enough mercury thanks.
anyway good post
re tofu, one problem with it being soy is that so much of it is GMO.
ReplyDeleteIn fact if I am not mistaken soy is the most common gmo crop , hang on I will verify that..........
sometimes going by memory just isn't good enough
http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v07n01/orig_articles/orig_articles3.htm
"The most common GMO in food on the market today is genetically modified soy, with 75-80% of American soy crops grown from genetically modified seeds (11); Roundup Ready Soybeans engineered by the Monsanto corporation are the most common variety."
therein lies the problem with soy and by extension tofu, (which I will eat, but it has to be the firm stuff) anyway, if you can find a certified organic source of it, that would be better.
Silv! You're doing my head in mate! Dogs and cats won't go in there? That's amazing. I just remembered how we used to sit around the TV in Japan watching the sumo, drinking beer and eating soybeans cooked in there pod (they're called 'edamame'). But I'm still thinking all things in moderation. Even alcohol is a poison, but I still like a beer at the end of the day. And I may eat soybeans occasionally. Just never as a staple. Not now anyway!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the paras mate. No problem. Mostly it just looks daunting, ha ha. Also, hats off to a man who'll shed his own blood for science!
Onya Pen. I was fortunate to eat nothing but traditional food. But I have a younger brother born fifteen years after me and he was subjected to every idiot fad diet imaginable. Unsuprisingly he had asthma, various allergies and was otherwise unwell a great deal. I recall now he had no dairy, only soy milk. Craziness.