Me, I think that this is bullet-proof. But, no one much cares for it. I can understand the temptation to write the whole thing off. Since the word selflessness appears nowhere in any public discourse, indeed is pre-emptively shot down in endless discussions that are variations of what's-in-it-for-me, the thought occurs that perhaps the whole thing is a silly idea, not really worth considering.
Frankly this is arse-about. Honestly, if selflessness was some silly thing, silly like Paris Hilton, the media would be all selflessness, all the time. Silly is what the bloc-media does best. I'm going to view it the other way around. Selflessness is absent from the general discourse because it is a thing to be feared. Not by us of course. Rather it's feared by the death cult PTB.
Think about interest, usury, money-as-debt, and the reserve banking system. The truth of this arrangement, ie. that it perversely brings no benefit to anyone but the absolute top of the pyramid with impoverishment for the rest, isn't utterly absent from all forums of discussion - the education system, the government, and the media - by accident. It's absent because if it was common knowledge the whole game would be over. Which is to say, it's absent because it's feared. No mistake, the death cult PTB are, beneath their smug, expensively coiffed exteriors, driven by fear.
Usury is one thing but selflessness is another. Usury is merely a means of delivering us to our fate. It's the truck that drives us to the abattoir; it's the conveyor belt; it's the rotating knives. A widespread discussion of usury would deliver into our hands the means by which we could take our sabots to the truck, the belt, the knives. A discussion of selflessness on the other hand is a discussion about the nature of this carnivorous cannibalism in toto. Certainly it addresses the means by which we are sliced and diced, but it goes further and attacks the whole concept of us being eaten at all, and suggests that perhaps we might find some other way of doing things.
Thus a discussion couched in terms of selflessness is a threat not so much to any particular tactic or strategy but rather a threat to the whole self-definition that drives the creation of the strategies themselves. It's huge, it's dangerous, and that's why it's nowhere.
---
Certainly our death cult rulers do not wish to have their actions viewed or discussed in this fashion, and their fear of this will be enough to ensure that selflessness is not in our lexicon. But this threat-nature of selflessness is only half the picture. The flipside of it all is that (forgetting all of the above momentarily) any people who only know, indeed can only think in terms of, me-me-me are far more easily dealt with. Rather than the bundle, they are the individual sticks - easily broken one by one. Thus the absence of selflessness in our lexicon is an absence of unity, or strength if you prefer. A ubiquitous mindset of me-me-me is the death cult's sword and shield both. And sure enough, for us selflessness can serve both these purposes also. It can be a defence and an offence. Quite right too, since as Bruce Lee declared, if you get it right they should be the same thing.
"Yeah okay nobody, brilliant, and another picture of Bruce Lee, but what are we supposed to do with this?" The answer to this is nothing, or nothing in particular. View it as a lens, a means of looking at the world. View as a foundation, a thing upon which to stand. View it as a martial arts form, a sense of balance, force, and direction that has no end in and of itself, but is merely applied to every physical, or in this case mental, action. Frankly, it's nothing more than mindfulness.
---
So as to cut off imagined counter arguments, let me say there is nothing to fear from it. It doesn't require you to be penniless, clad in sackcloth and ashes, an ascetic in a cave. Do that if you like, but don't imagine that it's demanded of you. There is nothing wrong with having stuff, but stuff-for-the-sake-of-it is idiotic, and obviously so. Stuff of this nature is the chunk of metal on which the oxide of fear and desire will form. But were you to look at your stuff and ask yourself how much utility it provides, and for how many people, it couldn't hurt. Van der Rohe's principle of 'less is more' is a design maxim, sure, but it's also a philosophical statement. Stuff will not bring you happiness and we all know it. On the other hand, it will bring you fear.
Selflessness is less about stuff than it is about the shedding of fear and desire. It's a mistake to assume otherwise. And as sure as eggs is eggs, the death cult media machine would, can, and does spend all its time and energy ensuring that you'll make precisely that mistake. It runs the gamut from Hollywood's Gordon Gecko absurdly declaring that greed is good to every other TV commercial telling you that "you deserve it." I don't know about you, but when I hear witless flattery like this, I know I'm being bullshitted to.
---
So our feet are on solid ground, our eyes are clear, our hand is open - now what? Now we take it to them. Ideas count - the death cult doesn't control the media for no reason. The battle is, and always has been, for the mind. All we need to do is offer an alternative that isn't yet more bullshit. And that's what selflessness is - an alternative to everything wicked and fucked up in this world.
There is no point opposing wickedness with some half-baked variation of its own theme. Opposing one fellow's version of me-me-me with your own version of it is, I don't know... idiotic? In a fucked up world it's just more of the same. Likewise, to replace one definition of us-and-them with another cannot and will not succeed. Brand X racism is not a better product than Brand Y racism. They're both shit products and to hell with the both of them.
Like it matters whether the union organisers in South America that were killed, were shot by death squads that belonged to coke or pepsi. Who gives a shit? Sure enough, preferring your own brand of racism to someone else's is like arguing over whether coke tastes better than pepsi, with the death squads neither here nor there. Fuck snipping around the edges, why not go big-picture and condemn it in its entirety?
There's no point opposing evil with evil. We are not members of a hate group. We are members of a love group (as cheesy as that sounds). We have nothing that can be misrepresented. The last thing we'll do is charge into a Holocaust museum with a gun. A tuppence for such thoughtless stupidity. In the battle for ideas, that old man just scored a point for the opposition.
It's the false ideas (otherwise known as delusions) that need to be smashed, not the purveyors of them. Without their delusions the wicked of this world are nothing. Shoot the wicked and the delusions live on. And whilst you can smash one delusion with another, indeed the history of the world has been one episode of this after another, it will never solve anything. The only thing that stands clean, untarnished, and unimpeachable is selflessness.
In this battle, selflessness has the ability to be the sword, the shield, the tactics, the strategy, the choice of the battleground, and even the morale of the troops and the banner they hold high. Does that sound like overblown bullshit? No need to take my word for it. The death cult PTB has already told us they fear it by disappearing the least mention of it from our vernacular / armoury.
Whilst they might do their best to have us forget that word, and then to substitute their own words (and thus fight the battle they know they can win) - they cannot disappear the thing itself. Selflessness is timeless, indestructible, impervious to whatever the motherfuckers bring.
If we boil it all down, and strip away the distractions, the only weapon the death cult has is fear and desire. Between that and selflessness, only one of them is worth having. Between delusion and seeing clearly; between the self and the all; between fear and desire and peace, love, and understanding, anyone who isn't bullshit has already arrived at the right place. Not forgetting of course, that wherever you go, there you are.
27 comments:
From Belgium,
My, that was a very noble reiteration of the Christian ethic Mr n. You know, according to Zeitgeist 1, JC was just the fortunate one to be plucked from the lucky dip of history. If he really wasn’t expected to catch on then that is probably why the Bible wasn’t written for 300 – 400 years after the event. Some even went so far to say that he was a plant for the PTB of the time providing opiate for the masses, which if so, puts him in the interesting position of being his own opposite; a historical double gamer.
The only part of your piece I would take exception to would be: “…..any people, who only know, indeed can only think in terms of, me-me-me are far more easily dealt with. Rather than the bundle, they are the individual sticks - easily broken one by one”. What happened to “I am going to have your ass just because I can and I have got everything from tazers to nukes to back me up?” In fact right now the line is being very deliberately blurred between the military and the cops and the latter have an amazing array of weaponry at their disposal. On this digression, did anyone see the video of the SEN US cop who tazed to the ground and then cuffed an 82 year old woman for some alleged traffic violation. Everyone said “How terrible”; I said “What was the reason this video released to the news media and not buried by the Captain or the Commissioner”?
Otherwise your post was spot on. Ever since I heard John Prine’s recording of “Hello in There” I make a point of saying hello to anyone in the street who looks older than me and they are a dwindling bunch I can tell you. I use this as a small example that giving in not always about money.
Here are some apt words from Natalie Merchant.
People downcast, is despair
See the disillusion everywhere
Hoping their bad luck will change
Gets a little harder every day
People struggle, people fight
For the simple pleasures in their lives
But trouble comes from everywhere
It's a little more than you can bear
People shallow, self-absorbed
See the push and shove for their rewards
I, me, my is on their minds
You can read about it in their eyes
People ruthless, people cruel
See the damage that some people do
Full of hatred, full of pride
It's enough to make you loose your mind
Don't spread the discontent
Don't spread the lies
Don't make the same mistakes
With your own life
You never will let love survive
Don't disrespect yourself
Don't loose your pride
And don't think that
Everybody's gonna choose your side
Thanks FB, hmm... it seems your it for this one.
Oh, does that mean I have to run away and you have to chase me? And can you play tag with just two people? Anyway, off I go...
'A discussion of selflessness on the other hand is a discussion about the nature of this carnivorous cannibalism in toto. Certainly it addresses the means by which we are sliced and diced, but it goes further and attacks the whole concept of us being eaten at all, and suggests that perhaps we might find some other way of doing things'
I have often thought about this - we raise cattle here and we do our very best to keep them well , fat and happy all the time - we care for them while they are on the property - BUT then to make an income we eventually put the majority of them on a truck to the abbatoir - awful really if you think about it but lots of people including me like mince and saausages etc.
My husband went through an abbotoir once - never again he said - too much for him - I'm afraid since we like to eat it is hard to get away from that problem and do things differently unless you are like these extremists who think we should not breathe to save the planet.
We seem to be at the top of the food chain at this moment in time.
Farmers are a hardy people - that reminds me last night this Australian General in Afganistan was talking about rural people there and he said they are a hardy people and they arn't too keen on strangers coming through.
You wonder what our stupid soldiers ( terrorists ) think they are doing there upsetting the hardy local people.
They are pathetic with all their machine guns - makes me sick.
Hey folks, New Laurel Canyon! Head over to Dave McGowan's!
...and then FB's neighbor jumped out from behind a nearby Bodhi Tree, utterly surprising Mr. N as he tapped him gently on the shoulder and quietly laughed the words: "you're IT".
As for the sentiments in the text, I'm with you all the way philosophically. The difficulties that do arise for me aren't based so much on disagreement as concerns about the nature of the struggle you ultimately describe, as the innumerable, unnamed martyrs to their selfless nature are mowed down rank after rank by an increasingly mechanized Moloch.
You see, just one facsist foot soldier with the right hardware can dispose of dozens, hundreds, even thousands of right-thinking and acting individuals -- and I simply can not escape the massive tragedy of such a flagrant waste of humanity.
Yeah, I know, death is a natural part of the cycle and all that, but I can never get all the way past the injustice part of the larger equation; as those rare folk who are courageous and capable of standing against the monsters' minions continue to be disparaged, and eventually disappeared with seemingly inexorable regularity.
Naturally, the media's reportage of selfless acts is also twisting the noose tighter. I've had the fortune or opportunity, depending on how you look at such things, to save some lives in the course of my own, and as such I am in possession of personal experience in this matter.
One winter evening, stuck in a tangle of vehicles blocked by an avalanche across the interstate just below a mountain pass east of Seattle, my 4WD vehicle and I (and my two passengers) were hit by a second larger avalanche that buried us entirely and pushed us against the side of a large lorry trailer.
Having literally grown up in the Cascade backcountry among search and rescue (SAR), mountaineering and ski patrol types, I was fazed but not freaked out, unlike my passengers. In addition, just as the wall of snow blasted over us, I noticed a person walking up the shoulder alongside us just as he passed my passenger side window.
Instinctively following my own training in the processes of search and rescue, I noted the time and began the process of extracting myself and the two women with me in the cab from our own situation. The sluff over us was about two meters deep, and after a couple minutes of serious boring with gloved hands, eventually standing on the window frame of my driver's side door, I punched through and helped the gals scramble out of the hole.
Before I extracted myself, I reached into the back of the cab, grabbed my rucksack full of extra gear -- containing several pairs of various winter gloves -- and made my own way to freedom. By this time, our friend the human popsicle had now been buried about five minutes.
For what it's worth, the statistics on avalanche survival are as follows: for an individual buried without a mouthful of snow, the odds of their emerging alive from cold storage are 90% at 15 minutes, 50% at 30, and 10% at 45. Naturally, these are just averages and your mileage may vary.
To keep this story shorter than it would normally run if it was being told in person over beverages, I mustered every willing male milling about the far shoulder of the highway above the slide, handed out gloves and led the initial dig for our fast-freezing friend, as I was the only person who even knew that he was there -- and where he was when the wall of white came down the mountainside.
The first plow arrived from the pass about ten minutes later, with two DOT crew and a stash of shovels and long aluminum poles/probes. I ran over to them, gave them a high-speed version of what happened and where I estimated he had ended up. One began working a probe while we two began boring down hard into the heavy, wet and clumpy sluff.
(End Part One)
We found him exactly where I'd estimated he would be at 27 minutes and had an airway open at 29. As he told us later, sitting in the fire station up on the pass wrapped in blankets, he had heard us coming -- but had passed out not long before we extracted his limp form. Fifty percent indeed.
An interesting sidebar to this story is an unusual phenom known to many a SAR participant: the rescued will very rarely acknowledge or thank their rescuer directly. I don't know why exactly, but this is apparently quite common. And in my experience, true.
Naturally, as lives were at stake and the interstate was blocked for a few hours, the local television stations all covered the event. And what did they cover? The victim as "hero", laying in his hospital bed the following day still a bit off-color from his hypothermic holiday. The "miraculous" survivor. Not a peep about the rescuers, as in myself or the DOT guys who also risked their necks, contributing their experience and the invaluable digging tools that unquestionably saved this poor fools' flash-frozen arse.
This was a watershed moment for me personally, the last cynical nail in the coffin I had been constructing for my opinions of broadcast media of every shape and size. They were glorifying the victim, advertising the easy meat, with feel good BS about his overcoming the greatest obstacle of all: death.
In reality, he was a snowboard instructor who knew better (or should have) than to be out of his vehicle doing the "lookie-loo" under an active avalanche chute. The only reason he was even alive was that I had spotted him at the last possible second -- and had the training and experience and motivational skills to lead a rescue.
Now I know I probably sound a little bitter here, but it's not a jealous bitter; a feeling like he got the attention I deserved or somesuch. Actually, it's the still tangible aftertaste of my own final epiphany regarding the media's true purpose in modern society: pandering, preening, propaganda and programming.
Will the selfless, risking their own life for others, whether they be family or friends or complete strangers like Popsicle Man, ever be honored as more than a righteous anomaly?
Maybe in some future post-apocalyptic society, but not in the media-driven world we currently inhabit. The nobility of the selfless rescuer is paid a great deal of lip service, of course, as it must be. But if you watch closely, you'll observe that such praise tends to be reserved only for the most shocking and spectacular individual situations (ratings!) and "professional" rescuers, doing the right thing -- but in the service of official organizations (fire, paramedics, police, etc.).
And while I do not wish to disparage the efforts of these often noble souls, I'm with Philip K. Dick on this one: the media coverage nonetheless transforms their often high-risk feats into just another reverent commercial for a top-down social order.
# # #
well that was an interesting piece, I would say, my favourite thus far.
Oh and that picture of Paris Hilton looking "scholarly"?? OK?
Interesting how that which is never spoken, the means of our own impoverishment, is hidden from us because the ptb are afraid.
I hadn't thought of it that way before, and yet, I think that is correct.
Could you imagine if the masses actually realized it?
"oh btw we have the system all set up, banks, interest, endless payments which will need you to work for the system from cradle to grave"
whoohoo!
I wonder where does advertising fit into this mass manipulation, you need these clothes, that car and a bigger house, for you to be sexy, virile and attractive.
To get all these things that you want to feed your ego, you must, MUST work and pay relentlessly.
In a way, you love and want your own servitude?
Do we ever realize that?
OK, I do, but most people don't.
Off topic, but, I had to share this thought, I won't shop wal-mart.
To me it is like the symbol, the epitome of what is wrong with this entire thing they call globalisation.
Yes, I know, I know, everything is made in China etc., but for me Wal-mart is like the original purveyor of low wages, slaves locked in factories etc.
No one does it bigger and better then them.
So some years ago, I though no more, no more wal-mart for me.
And, ya know what?
I am no worse for wear for not shopping there.
I haven't noticed any hardship or lack of getting what I need.
Yet, to so many people I know, it is wal-mart, wal-mart wal-mart.
As if there is no where else.
I think about how these people are contributing to loss of jobs in their own community when they don't support their own local business, or the loss in the tax base that local businesses pay.
I think about how by choosing wal-mart, they will eventually have no choice at all.
Then I ask myself, how do these people continue to act against their own best interests?
I guess we have come full circle.
We just don't see the means of our own impoverishment, wether, dressed up in a big box store, or masquerading as the friendly banker, who is always there to help us.
anonymous from Belgian:
I do that also, say hi to everyone.
I mean everyone, if not hi, smile and nod.
I always get a response in kind, and some people look so surprised.
My hubby found it disconcerting at first, when out with me, who is that, I don't know.
Now, when I say hi, he just goes along with it, lol!
It is like a great social experiment in way, but it makes me feel good and no one has let me down yet!
From Belgium,
Kikz, I had a look at the Babylonian Talmud but then I realised they had only translated about eight and a half thousand pages and there were still about another five or so thousand to go so I thought “What is the point of starting something you cannot finish.” Besides I am still trying to find the time to get through Operation Mind Control. From the bit I saw it went about agriculture and I thought that doesn’t sound very alternative to me but I guess I didn’t get to the best bits. Boy am I kept on my toes, I have just done a Wicky on Philip K Dick who had never previously crossed my horizon.
VC, Derek Jensen did a vivid description of what goes on in slaughterhouses. I will try to find it for you.
Btw, in my last comment SEN cop should have been ESN (educationally sub normal) cop. I guess you got that or glossed over it.
I have just this minute seen Obama commenting on demonstrations in Iran saying “Whenever People cannot demonstrate peaceably then I am rightfully troubled”. I guess he forgot about Mayor Daley. That wouldn’t be such a cheap shot if things in the US had improved in the meantime (Seattle, Miami). I will admit though that Obama does a better class of sound bite than most.
Anyway Mir, The story is what is important and it doesn’t much matter what the story is. “Victim comes good” had more aaah content than “Rescuer claws through two metres of snow” and that is what sells papers. If the media can’t make it one sided then they trivialise it. In the late eighties there was a gruesome mass murder at a stately home in England. One girl who came through it alive said that for the rest of her life she would be “The Cheltenham Grange murder rape victim” or some such name the papers had dreamed up for her and she said living with this was probably worse than the crime. The following week the reporters were off on their next story, never looking over their shoulder at the trail of mutated lives they leave in their wake. What has this to do with selflessness? Nothing much and that is exactly the point. I guess everybody has seen the film “Network”.
Very occasionally and not very often, some deserving person will get a minor gong in the honours list. A lady who has given a foster home to 500 children over 25 years or some retiring lifeboat man but there is a gnawing feeling that this is only so the finger cannot be pointed to overriding number given to the hoi polloi or celebs.
Su has a new post up today, kind of Autumnal in flavour.
'If we boil it all down, and strip away the distractions, the only weapon the death cult has is fear and desire. Between that and selflessness, only one of them is worth having. Between delusion and seeing clearly; between the self and the all; between fear and desire and peace, love, and understanding, anyone who isn't bullshit has already arrived at the right place.'
You see wives and husbands fighting each other through the courts with the children stuck in the middle - for what purpose you wonder , it is terrible what people who were previously very close do to one another for their own egos and lack of selflessness.
People often don't want to be transparent , they want to be sneaky and devious. Some people apparently want to live their whole lives avoiding the truth and lying to themslves and to others. Amazing isn't it - wouldn't do me.
Its never worried me about dying one day , but other people have to believe a whole lot of fairy tale stuff to help them cope with the fear of dying.
I would like to go when I want to go though , not for me being spoon fed in a nursing home or pumped full of morphine gradually on pallative cancer care - not good.
Anyway life is good , beautiful winter day - KEEP BRINGING OUT THE TRUTH NOBODY - THAT IS ALL WE CAN DO AND HOPE IT HAS AN EFFECT.
Nice write-up, nobody. And a nice story, Miraculix.
The problem with true selflessness is that it is against human nature, really. In the jungle, we take care of ourselves first, and it's mother's instinct to protect her young, and that's how we survive. It's survival to promote propogation of the strongest, hard-wired in our brains.
People who fight the base instinct to stay safe, to survive themselves, and instead choose to sacrifice their safety to SAVE others - they should be lauded as no one else. And not lauded like the media would like, no - I am talking about getting real respect, the kind of respect that is often handed out for free nowadays to the idiots who take part in and support the killing of innocents through indiscriminate war. Nods of the head that say from the community to the hero: you are the best, and we will support you in whatever way you need. Here's a handshake, a free coffee, you don't need to pay for that, etc.
This is the kind of thing we need to engender . . . the support of real heroes, and the tearing down and disrespect to false ones. The one that really burns me up every time I read or hear about it (which is probably about every second day, unfortunately) is what is known as the Highway of Heroes in Toronto, Canada.
It's a section of the busiest highway in north america named thus because that's where they truck in the dead soldiers from Afghanistan, for some reason. It's as blatant a form of war propoganda as you can get, but no one around me (general public, that is) really gets that part for some reason, it feels like that movie where everyone is a pod person copy sometimes. Anyways, they always show it on the news channel whenever another dead soldier comes in (don't watch tv, but they have it in the cafeteria at work), and for some reason, people buy into it. Driving home, I pass hundreds of SUVs with yellow "support the troops" stickers on them.
Reverence, respect . . . for what? Some poor deluded kid or often parent who bought into all the bullshit, through ignorance and conditioning? Highway of heroes . . . should be highway of killers who support genocide, death, and destruction.
How can any form of selflessness defeat such naked aggression and evil cloaked in the form of righteousness?
It is easy to be pessimistic in these times before big change, when the public has been largely coopted to fascilitate their own slavery and destruction. Dramatic, but true, I think.
Belgium, you nit-picking fool .. ah, tried to 'strike' that--Blogger wouldn't accept my tag .. Oh well, damn tourrettes. Be nice Baz. "Forgive him for he knows not what he says." What!, who said that? .. Jesus, ah, "Is that you?" Damn schizophrenia. So much to condense, so little time, requisite skills required. Now. Sun is shining--torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool.
Apologies all: gotta whack-up a few more boards on me 'construction'. (to be cont..)
Thanks folks, lots of cool comments. I'll try to pick out the points that grabbed me. Cool story Mir. But the thing with selflessness is that there isn't any reward. Not that any thought of a reward occurred to you when you did it, but had that been the case, it wouldn't have been selfless. You can dig it I'm sure.
I was about to say I'd never saved anyone's life but then I realised the old man would have been dead on four separate occasions if I hadn't been here. Mind you all I did was call an ambulance. But the thing is, I detest being thanked or congratulated, or whatever. I can't tell it apart from flattery. And just lately people in my family and the old man's GP have been telling me what a grand job I'm doing with my father, but I figure that this is just them feeling guilty because they ain't doing a damn thing. It's poor of me to think like this but I'd prefer it if they just skipped it.
Otherwise Pen and VC, the media and advertising is there to push us to be sneaky, vicious, and selfish. All the shows are like this and all the advertisements are too. Ads in particular are really telling. Watch the ads and see how many times a product is sooo good that whomever is eating it will lie, cheat, and steal to have it all. No one shares anything. Honestly, over and over, the same thing.
The last ad I saw that was 'right' was years ago and involved a fellow who noticed that the kids couldn't play basketball because there was no backboard. So whilst they were gone he built them one. They returned, found the board and played basketball while he watched them and drank some nescafe. Three cheers! But commercials like that are pretty lonely.
This is for Australians but I expect everyone will get it -
Johnno likes his meat pie so much he ignores his friend's phone call and makes him look like a fool
The kids in the car lie to their folks about going to the toilet so they can go to McDonalds.
A fellow buys a burger for his friend and it's so cheap that when his friend pays too much, he keeps the money.
A girl talks to George Clooney just so she can steal the last coffee satchel thing.
The parents trick the kids by substituting some healthy sugar for regular sugar. As if the kids could tell the goddamn difference? It's almost as if the writers sat down wondering how they might squeeze some people lying to each other into the ad.
I expect it's the same in every country. And TV shows are worse! Trickery, lying, and self-centred behaviour is the first and only plot technique. No one ever explains the wrongness of anyone's behaviour and attempts to redeem them. They must be tricked and defeated.
And it's my considered opinion that the media isn't like this because we are. It's the other way around, we are like this because the media shows us no other thing. Don't be confused on this - the vast majority of people spend more time listening to what the media tells them than in real conversation with real humans. This absolutely shapes people. I'm perfectly convinced that if the media showed nothing but people engaged in acts of kindness and honesty, rather than the opposite, the difference in society would be so great it'd be shocking.
'I'm perfectly convinced that if the media showed nothing but people engaged in acts of kindness and honesty, rather than the opposite, the difference in society would be so great it'd be shocking.'
Amazing isn't it what has been going on during our lifetimes and I didn't start to really realize something weird was going on until 911 - the extent of this death cult and the stage management by the media and its control is incredible when you realize the extent of it. Life would be a lot different if we did not have this cult going out of its way to create BIG trouble around the world. Life is hard enough for a lot of people without a group actually causing trouble on a GRAND SCALE. Incredible!
Interesting chat and comments on Iran - Agent Provocateurs in Iran - ( Amazing that I heard on our ABC yesterday a reporter say just once and never did I hear it again that Iranians believe that agent provocateurs are creating trouble .)
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2009/06/overturning-islamic-revolution.html
http://www.911oz.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=25380#post25380
OK, started something I knew I'd have trouble continuing. Posted it anyway to goad me into trying. IMHO, arghh, sounds like a pig-disease. Of course it's my opinion--there's no-one else here, is there? I mean .. metaphysical entities. We're all so post-scientific, and ego-maniacal with-it. Incidently, how's that working out for us? Well, lets see .. 'eve of destruction' comes to (foremost) mind. Quite like that definition of insanity--doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results! which the natural antithesis to is; 'Insanity is a reasonable response in an insane world'. Yes, then that's the answer--sometimes to be sane, you have to go a little crazy!
Now by crazy, I mean something different, as measured by status-quo modern standards. You know--the usual, credit-card debt, mortgages, good-paying jobs, church, enlistment .. but, I hear you say--impossible, there's no-way out. No-one gets out a-live. No escape--we're all just doomed to continue day after bleeding day like rats on the proverbial treadmill.
Well, there are lots of other proverbs .. to live by, denounced by our sophistication, that got us to where we are now. Yes-way. I didn't say it was necessarily easy. But possible .. Re-programming yourself. Thinking (critical). Jesus got a bad rap from Jerry Falwell, and others. When he said repent, they thought he meant murder.
Belgium, my friend, you redeemed yourself with that song--whacked myself on thumb with hammer while building today singing it.
From Belgium
Slozo, that is an argument I really could go with. The mother’s instinct was an interesting example. If a child of hers was attacked and she put herself in between it then her act is selfless but for selfish reasons, protecting what is hers. Now if that is not nit picking then I don’t know it anymore. Btw Baz, I don’t mind you having a pop at me, if you can’t take it back then you shouldn’t hand it out but you do have to substantiate your arguments. You can’t just say something like that; you have to say why you are saying it. I appreciate you were in a rush when you posted the comment then tried to take it back but it is cool, no worries mate.
Mir, If you were at the end of a blind street and the fascist gunmen were grouping around you and there was no escape but you had the choice of offering your life selflessly or taking a few out with you, what would you do. Personally I would go for it, which I guess makes my position clear.
VC I think people fear the moment of death not death itself.
Penny I was on a pavement café (pub) a couple of years ago and there was a family group speaking in English on the next table. Normally I don’t tune in but they were having a few laughs so I leaned over and said Hi. The woman was English and her man was a Belg and they related the exact same story you just told. They had been walking through the woods and around the edge of fields and the guy couldn’t take it in that she was talking to complete strangers along the way. We put it down to differences in national character and left it at that.
Re your comment on shunning Wally World, it is a recurring theme we have hacked to death on the Campfire over the last few years. It is true that the choices we make have consequences and the main one is not feeding the beast; Wally World in particular and being as self sufficient as possible so as to reduce your consumerism to a minimum. Mr N has also addressed this topic I seem to remember. Years ago dad could go out to work and support a wife and a houseful of kids. For many now both parents have to work just to keep afloat and for them big box store is necessary for their survival. Like you said it is a state of mind and not everybody needs it. Here are some links to a mini series on Globalisation by some lesser known author in which Wally World is featured in parts 2 & 3. I have included part 1 just for completeness in case you are interested.
Globalisation Part 1
http://troutclancampfire.blogspot.com/2008/07/part-i-globalisation-is-fighting-back.html
Globalisation Part 2
http://troutclancampfire.blogspot.com/2008/08/part-ii-globalization.html
Globalisation Part 3
http://troutclancampfire.blogspot.com/2008/08/part-iii-globalization.html
"And it's my considered opinion that the media isn't like this because we are. It's the other way around, we are like this because the media shows us no other thing."
I hear what you're saying here, but...it's a *two-faced* beast we're dealing with, is what I'd be trying to say. Ever since discovering the basic outline of 9/11 truth a few years ago, I've become an order of magnitude more repulsed by people on tv being really fucking *nice*.
The hosts on the morning shows are a classic example. You have to be a conniving competitive turd to get on tv and stay on tv, for the most part, and then when they get there they have to act like the nicest people on the planet. Beyond being easy on the eyes and ears, they're little more than studied liars.
Here's a theorum: anonymous people on tv (ie actors playing a role) are allowed to show their selfishness, but people playing themselves on tv always have to maintain the pretense that they're not selfish conniving turds. That way we are both encouraged to be selfish *and* to learn to disguise our selfishness, so that we may be more complete selfish conniving turds ourselves.
Imagine getting on the wrong side of Scott Cam (tv renovation guy) for example. He'd tear you to shreds! You can tell just by looking at him! But they make shows where he "selflessly" takes part in extraordinary acts of charity in order to help salt-of-the-earth Aussie battlers. Makes me want to puke.
I'm an Anglo myself - and shit, I wouldn't have it any other way - but I hate what has become of Anglo culture. Or should that be I hate it having now found out the age-old truth about it?
I'm a self-hating Anglo.
For fuck's sake...
Peter.
Hats off to all you people. I persist in banging on about selflessness in spite of a general indifference. I just happen to think it's worth it, so I carry on regardless. But I gotta say that this is the best response yet.
And FB, I did suspect in amongst the keyboard anarchy that Baz wasn't actually being too serious. And I was right, ha ha. Otherwise Baz, well I've always said I'm either mad in a sane world, or sane in a mad one. Hats off to the concept of democracy (such as it is) but if we put this to the vote amongst my family and friends the consensus opinion would be, 'He's a lovely fellow and all that, but he is nuts.' Just so you know, the only valid piece of ID I have with my name on it is my passport. I don't even have a bank account. God knows how that'll end. With me living in a park I suspect.
As for those discussions of choosing selflessness over taking down some imagined motherfuckers in an alley, you might be surprised. I could make an argument that to not take them down would be selfish, what with the likelihood of them going on to do it to other people. Mind you, I was always good at talking my way out of fights. I'd usually describe events to whomever it was in such a way that if they hit me they'd be declaring themselves a stooge, or a fool, or somesuch. This won't always save a fellow but either way it pays to keep thinking.
And Peter I grooved on your theorem. Did you ever see that clip of Alan Jones going batshit? It was marvellous. You can probably find it on youtube. Speaking of which, has anyone seen Elia Kazan's movie 'A Face in the Crowd'? It's fantastic. It ends with the folksy populist, Andy Griffith (who's really good in it!), having his ad-break speech about what fuckwits his audience are being put to air. Clearly that's what happened to Jones. And God knows he deserved it!
Just checked. If you go to youtube and type in 'alan jones hissy fit' you'll find it.
Oh VC, I forgot to say, I eat meat. I just don't groove on the cruelty of industrial agribusiness. If I could be assured that an animal lived a happy life and died painlessly I'd eat more meat. As is, I eat it anyway, since I'm hard pressed getting the old man to eat any vegetables at all. As for Xymphora, I don't link to him since I consider him dodgy (he pisses on 911 and banking) but I do read him and lately he's been good. His Iran stuff is fantastic. Otherwise his constant phrase of his 'anti-assimilation land' is a triumph of convoluted thinking. It's the kind of nonsense required if you want to discuss Israel and the Jews and not mention banking. Frankly the whole idea is idiotic.
Um, did I miss anybody? Probably. Me participating in the comments (which was difficult enough to begin with, what with being twelve hours out of synch with half the world) has now become even harder given that I've ditched the internet cafe. I use the public library in the next town over now. Instead of wandering 200m down the road whenever, and as often as, I liked, I now catch the bus and have to limit myself to a single session within opening hours.
And closed on Sundays! But that's not such a bad thing I think. Given that 24/7 is a symptom of what's wrong with this society of consumers, well fine, let's break with it. Sunday can be a day off.
Um... this is not a criticism of people who want to post on Sunday. Go right ahead! As long as you're not disappointed when your comment doesn't appear until Monday.
Otherwise, new post tomorrow inspired by Su's last two pieces over at her blog. If you haven't checked them out there's a link on the front page under 'oddbodies'. Wait until you see the pix her kids drew. They're really brilliant. Hi Su!
Ciao Ciao
ばかやろ!おるえんだよ!
The paradox is that being selfless works to one's advantage; while being selfish works to one's disadvantage.
ばかやろ!おるえんだよ!
What do you think of this site http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/06/fruits-from-jungle.html
She wrote an article called America - I HATE YOU http://www.911oz.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4684 and it was very hard hitting and made us Australians, Americans, British look like vile idiots. Really hit home I believe.
Nobody in our country demands an investigation into why we went to Iraq. We have no selflessness as a nation , we like invading other countries and forcing our image of 'democracy' which is really 'corptocracy' onto them and then we use aid to keep them down and under control.
We are a despicable in our use of war to do buisness.
I watched that Alan Jones clip ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nm5bTGqRzI&NR=1 ). I can actually forgive him for acting like that - I could see myself getting caught acting in the same petulant way if I was doing what he does. What I can't forgive him for is the social, political and economic ideology he spouts. I'd gladly bash his head in with a rock for that. Him and John Laws (visa-versa actually).
I'm on dial-up at the moment, but I did manage to get distracted and wait 30 minutes to download a 10 minute interview, Alan Jones with Sir Les Patterson. I wish Sir Les would poke his head up a bit more often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoPBODv_D4E
Interesting points you make about xymphora (re 9/11 and banking), nobody. I couldn't help but notice the same thing myself from time to time, but have been so distracted by - and appreciative of - how good he is on the things he is good on (like Iran, recently), that I had put my concerns to one side.
Von, the comments at xymph strike me as being uniformly off-topic and mostly a waste of time. I can't believe how bad the comments are considering how good the blog is. The thing I love about xymph is how his critique of of the club of Jews is absolutely harrowing, but to my mind I can't detect an ounce of actual racism in the guy - and that gives his critique that much more bite.
Would that anon there be Aangirfan at all? Certainly schoolgirl-esque and pithy with it. Otherwise, yes, exactly. The beauty of selflessness is that, were one to achieve it utterly, one would have nothing to lose, which is a variety of invincibility.
Oh, and imagine my horror at having mistyped that Japanese there. What was I thinking of? It should have read - ばかやろ!うるせんだよ! I hope no Japanese read it. How embarassing.
Thanks VC, I'll check that out. I do know what you mean. We used to be a quiet unassuming country. I always viewed our convict traditions as a useful check on anyone getting a big head. But we seem to have cast that off now and have become smug and self-satisfied. Everything that's wrong with Oz can be seen in perfect concentrated form in how we celebrate Australia Day. Sickening.
Thanks anon, and no, petulance is always bullshit. I used to work in an industry one step sideways to the parrot and I got no time for behaviour like that, ever from anyone. If there's problems that need solving, tantrums ain't going to fix it. As for bashing his head in, I was thinking of a venue and it occurred to me that a public lavatory would be ideal.
Hmm... if one was looking to apportion blame for individual Australians supporting the Iraq War and otherwise buying into the War on Terror, Jones would carry a measurable percent. Oh! Just remembered! The Cronulla Riots! That was Jones! He is such a fucker isn't he? God I hate him.
Yep Jones is hideous - talking about other hideous reporters and gate-keepers I read an article by zionist Greg Sheridan in The Australian ( in the library as I refuse to buy the lying zionist Murdoch propaganda rag) and he was going on and on about Ahmadinejad being like Hitler. They do seem to be trying to crank up WW3.
Interesting article I read today - pretty awful actually about what the British elite and their mates are doing to us all.
The British aristocracy are at the heart of it and control our press, police and armed forces through Masonic networks
http://www.911oz.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=25453&posted=1#post25453
Hi Nobody,
Forgive the possibility of a duplicate comment(server issues), as well as the fact that this comment is long after the post. I generally am a 'lurker', who follows writers and bloggers, and doesn't often comment. But, as I (mostly randomly) wade through your writings--and the comments that they elicit--I am often moved, and that considerably.
This was a great post, as always, but one comment in particular resonated with me the most. Miraculix's two-parter, and largely the first part, described my internal dilemma quite accurately. He mentions the problem he has with standing by as droves are "mowed down" (a great metaphor, whose reality is confirmed by History, i.e. Columbus, Cortez, etc.), because they are loathe to fight back, since doing so would add to the violence that abounds. This point is central to my dilemma and the internal struggle I have with this Continuum. "Fierce struggles of the heart", one friend called it.
Thank you for all your writings, and for allowing me to comment here.
bye-ciao,
Dave Q.
p.s. Cheers and thank you to all the commentators, as well
Hey Dave,
Thanks for stopping by. And I do get what you're on about. In fact right now I'm in amongst wondering at what point do I throw the continuum out. I'm thinking the continuum may be viewed as something like (speaking of Bruce Lee) the Wing Chun Kung Fu style. Lee got to the point where he didn't need it. But that's not to say it's worthless. Indeed it's arguable that Lee would never have arrived where he did had he not spent years practising it.
I'm not saying that I'm like Bruce Lee, ready to ascend into philosophy heaven. Truth is I'm just a loudmouth bullshit artist. But! I'm pretty certain that ultimately the very concept of a continuum, indeed any either/or duality, must fail. There is no ultimate truth in two things opposing each other.
But it's a nebulous thought at the moment, one which I'm still trying to make sense of. In fact this confusion on my part is part of the reason I haven't written anything for ages. That and the fact that I had a bag of grass and couldn't move until I smoked it all, ha ha.
Still! On the subject of doing nothing as people are mowed down, the continuum is not a do/don't do list of rules. Nothing is verboten and nothing is compulsory. The only question is: how might I do the most for the most? If I had the means of stopping a mass killer by putting a round through his head and thus save a dozen lives (say) why wouldn't I? Thus we could argue that to kill those doing the 'mowing down' is the most selfless option. Catholics also have convoluted arguments explaining the rightness of violence etc. but I think the continuum does it more elegantly.
Instead of simple rules that we can bend and twist to suit us, the continuum is the motivation behind the rules. Or to put it another way, there are no rules and it's up to you to figure out the right thing to do in any given situation. Frankly I'm more and more inclined to think that the ideal answer to any situation is to go loud, attract public attention, and shame the perpetrator. But failing that there's nothing that says you shouldn't smash his teeth in.
As I said to my yoga teacher, "Non-violence? A thing worth fighting for!" Speaking of which, off to yoga. Ciao Ciao.
Hello Nobody,
Thank you so much for your response. I am coming more and more to see what a decent chap you are, at least in my book.
Should you ever like the idea of communicating 'one on one', feel free to peruse the linkage and message me. I'll respond from my preferred email, in kind. I'd welcome the hell out of it, actually.
Still plodding through all the great posts and comments. You remind me of my own, eclectic self, although minus about twenty years on the planet.
I agree with one of your posts, where you admit that Dave McGowen's writing style seems to you a bit like your own. His has been one of my favorite sites for years, and I always wait with bated breath for the next post.
Well, I'll be off now. Have a great time doing whatever you choose to do next!
bye-ciao,
Dave
Thanks mate,
n
I apologize, my friend. I just went to my MySpace link and realized it will get you nowhere, if you aren't a user. I realize now that it's a bit of a passe networking site.
I am using my new (actually not recent, but sparse) blog link for now.
Dave
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