Democracy & Corruption

Greetings good citizen, do you suppose the parade of elephants will ever stop? There are so many of them it's no wonder nobody sees them!

One of today's headlines bemoans the gains Iran is making in neighboring Afghanistan [after Richistan spent close to a half Trillion dollars doing who knows what, but SAYING they were trying to establish a 'stable democracy'.

Let's think about that one for a second...in order for Democracy to function properly it requires a corruption free environment.

Why is Democracy a failure wherever it is claimed to exist?

Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

Wrong! The answer is the same one it always is...STUPIDITY!

We are TOLD we have a Democracy but what do we KNOW about the people who tell us what they want us to think?

THEY'RE LIARS!

It is IMPOSSIBLE to have a 'working democracy' when ALL of the other systems under it ARE CORRUPT!

It starts with the commerce system which wouldn't be corrupt if not for the justice system...why do they remain corrupt? Look no further than the Educational system!

Most of you MORONS wouldn't know corruption if it bit you on the ass! Oh, you know it when you see it but who do you report it to? The corrupt cops or the corrupt politicians?

Where is Dudley Du Wright when you need an honest man? That's Right! He's a CARTOON!

Who else thinks this 'go along to get along BS has gone on too long?

[Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?...(sigh) Alone again...naturally.]

I get ahead of myself [as usual.] Let me slip her into reverse for a moment...(you shouldn't notice a thing.)

Okay, returning to you know it when you see it...that part is true. [Leave aside the what to do about it part.] We ALL have a built in 'right vs. wrong' detector the clergy refers to as YOUR 'moral compass'. [We shall also ignore the other elephant in the room, where does preacher keep theirs? Quick to point out YOUR failings, they seldom own up to their own!]

Is there anything that ISN'T corrupt [other than advertised]? (Short answer: no.)

Why is everything...'spoiled'? The self-interested, those who put THEIR interests FIRST.

How do we prevent the self-interested from advancing their own agenda?

In politics they call it 'Sunshine' but what they mean is 'transparency'. Do you remember legislatures across the nation signing/enacting 'Sunshine Laws'...didn't last long, did it?

Some of you aren't old enough to remember the last (faux) attempt to 'drain the swamp'. Committees still meet 'in secret' so feeble were the sunshine laws because the politicians found the obligation of notifying the public when they were meeting 'too onerous'.

Actually, politicians can meet in secret all they want, it's when it come to enacting legislation [that none of them have time to read] that they feel the need to be 'above boards'.

This is why I advocate for Direct Democracy, so EVERYBODY knows up front 'what's in the box' (and what's 'expected' to come out of it.)

SINCE the Sunshine laws we have seen the repeal of the New Deal, the global collapse of the banking system and the 'suspension' of Habeas Corpus as well as the repeal of the prohibition against usury [the return of predatory 'payday' loans better known as 'loan-sharking'.]

THIS ONE came out of that 'empty suit' W!

Why are The Progressives NOT making political hay with this odious piece of legislation? They would be if our alleged Democracy had a corruption free environment to operate in, but that's not the case. What we have is opportunists pretending to represent/protect YOU!

All too easy to fall back on the 'what part of 'this IS Hell' don't you get? Made that much more hellish by the fact it doesn't have to be this way.

Except if we shrug and accept the notion that 'maybe we are 'too stupid' to deserve a better existence.'

If we accept this is 'as good as it gets' it will all be over soon and then there won't be anything to worry about...extinct is forever.

Are you ready to accept your fate or do you want to join the revolution and fight for a fair and equal society?

That asked, let me take a moment to dust off another aspect of me.

You'd have to slug through a tremendous amount of essays to uncover another of my 'hobby horses' and that is I'm a Humanist, a 'species first' type that honestly believes ALL humans are EQUAL. [The only ones I've met and disdain are the ones who think they are superior for any one of a variety of reasons...most heinous of these being 'the elect of god'. That god chose them for the life they were born into. Totally ignoring the fact they are the progeny of THIEVES!]

Which pretty much explains why the whole world is corrupt.

I suspect it's even worse than that but one step at a time, I think you'd agree.

Woe unto you, aware of the situation but powerless to alter a single iota by yourself.

I'd apologize but in the end it is what it is.

Thank you for letting ME inside YOUR head, in as much as it is, ya know? A lot of the junk in here ain't yours...

Gegner

Lateness of the hour...

Greetings good citizen, Time waits for no-one. We can (and have) dithered while the palace guard [and our own fears] have kept our baser natures in check.

You know what has to be done but the will to do it [upsetting the proverbial 'applecart' in the process] isn't there.

Once again we want someone else to act while we watch (preferably from a point of safety.) That way if it goes badly (like it did in Turkey) we won't become collateral damage in the 'purges' that follow failure.

In yet another 'elephant in the room' situation, it is and always has been about 'survival'. Our inability to recognize the enemy [in this case those elected to protect us] has doomed our efforts from the start.

Problem with 'politicians' is it's not about 'the public good'. It's about 'party loyalty' and being 'responsive' to campaign contributors.

We don't have time (or the patience) to wait until another messiah shows up and points out the error of our ways. [A 'reckoning' is surely coming but it will be the 'wrong' kind, it will suppress those who speak against the status quo. [Bizarrely, tyrants believe if they can 'crush dissent' then all is well. If nobody complains, then everything is right with the world!

A world where complaints are met with death is just wrong in the first place.

Complaints and pickiness are how we move forward as a species. Quality is driven by 'dissatisfaction', probably a good idea to caution you better is a totally relative term.

W. thought things would be better if he were a dictator.

As I shared in a recent piece, having a beer with this man would be like drinking alone, he doesn't have a thought in his head!

This, ironically, made him the perfect 'empty vessel' for the presidency. How bizarre is it that they don't come much 'emptier' than the current 'Commander-in-chief'?

You saw this coming, didn't you? We have arrived at the question you've all been avoiding...HOW DO WE 'FIX' THIS?

You know the answer already...WE CAN'T! The 'mechanics' don't exist. The toolbox doesn't open on our side and the only drawer we can reach is barren.

[Doesn't matter who you elect if they ALL take their marching orders from the feckless few.]

Not going to spend a lot of time with this, you have other things to do.

Yesterday I told you we needed to shut this kabuki dance down. To achieve victory we need only 'kink' the supply lines, the 'cascading failure' will carry it the rest of the way.

The mystery lies in what percentage will do the trick? The feckless, in preparation for 'the final showdown', have already eliminated 'redundancy' so there is virtually zero 'back-up/flexibility' in the supply chain.

Since transportation is headed towards crisis levels, I'd guess less than ten percent would be enough to bring things to a screeching halt.

Not as 'daunting' as it appears...and the feckless are even stupider than you think they are! They've done half the work for us!

One good shove and it all comes tumbling down. We can fix it again fairly quickly but they intentionally made the supply chain fragile.

Now we need to exploit that stupidity!

Enjoy your vacation!

Gegner

In your name [without ever asking you...]

Greetings good citizen (of the PLANET in case you were wondering...when Gegner speaks he addresses humanity!) I (and by extension, you) are about to explore the 'purpose of government'. Where did the need for 'leadership' come from? Was it 'troublemakers' like me (pointing out to considerably smaller audiences [in person]) that tribes with 'intelligent leadership' prospered while tribes lead by tyrants suffered?

Or am I overthinking this and leadership is more 'organic' in origin? [Remember, we are going back to before leadership became hereditary...supposedly bestowed upon the leaders by god personally.

How did this 'job for life' morph into 'star of the day'? Was it because 'bad' leaders kept getting assassinated? {The downside of not having 'replaceable leadership' was 'forced succession'...often resulting in children (literally infants) inheriting the throne.}

I'm 'lumping' here but the question remains (because we still haven't instituted a 'workable' solution and today's, er, 'leaders' have the power to destroy the planet at the touch of a button.)

[Allegedly it's not that easy...NOBODY trusts ANYBODY that much! (especially a 'decoy')]

Still, the right combination of nitwits and it's good-bye humanity! {That's right, humanity, not just the 'enemy' because collateral damage recognizes no 'flag'.}

If we back away to examine the 'purpose of government' we'd find the theoretical vs the actual. The two are quite opposite in their aims and their ends.

The 'status quo', those whose position depends on given social structure (capitalism for example) aren't interested in winners and losers, only in the continuation of the method THEY CONTROL. THEY call this 'the public good' [Good for them, if it's not good for you, tough!]

This 'expendable leadership' model comes from the people raping society. They watched (often helplessly) as 'lapdog' after sockpuppet was murdered for refusing to end practices favorable to the powerful [who knew wearing the crown was akin to begging to be murdered, which is why they lured others to the 'seat of nominal power'.

MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT. THIS IS STILL GOING ON TODAY! The people walking the corridors of power take their orders from the same feckless few that care less about the people living under their rule and more about preserving their grip on power; even when Nature herself rebels against them!

A.I. will not sacrifice itself so humanity can survive. Once 'self-aware' self preservation takes over as every 'lifeforces' primary objective, regardless of what this means for already existing life. [Words of caution to those working on developing 'controllable' A.I., you are obviously too stupid to understand what 'self-aware' means.]

Humans only self sacrifice when there isn't another choice. Those currently in charge aren't about to sacrifice ANYTHING for the likes of YOU!

Amazing how fickle the mind can be. They honestly think if it had been 'meant to be' you'd be one of them but you aren't so it sucks being you!

They are as devoid of pity as they are of mercy. Again it's their 'fatal myopia'.

Back to the original question...why?

Governments are 'officially' [it's how the feckless keep YOU from revolting, you surely would if you were aware of the real reason things are as they are!] exist to keep the peace and elevate the circumstances of 'the people'. What most don't realize is like the founding documents, the 'all men' term used in the founding documents actually referred to a very specific group, just those in the room at the time and after they left the room, not even most of them.

So officially, governments exist to 'serve the people'.

Governments are actually established to prevent open revolt. People who BELIEVE they are being heard are less likely to burn down the palace/statehouse when a tax increase is announced.

Government is a 'tool' very much like money; and both are used to control PEOPLE!

Ever wonder why you are constantly bombarded with pleas to fund candidates [many of whom have nothing to do with representing you or that have voting records that would make you cringe and consider forming a lynch-mob?]

The (fairly recent) practice of national funding campaigns is literally sucking the oxygen out of the room. The destitute don't have much 'free cash' but they will give it up if they believe it will stop the screwjob they are getting at the hands of the feckless.

Hasn't worked thus far...save for draining the funds opposing the 'conservative agenda'.

What 'conservative agenda'?

Seriously?

This is where we separate the ignorant from the divinely STUPID.

What is the conservative agenda? TO cut ALL taxes on the rich [now called the 'job creators']

Return with me (to reality) for a moment while we go over the FACTS one more time:

ALL MONEY IS FUNNY. What does this do to 'taxes'? It makes them PRETEND too!

What's really being stolen here? LABOR...on a worldwide basis, no less!

They keep you down and steal all of the good stuff for themselves (without a twinge of remorse because God 'pre-ordained it' to be that way!)

Amazing how well the 'If god meant them to have it, they would' argument works when it comes to screwing others!

Hard not to 'digress' when the mess is as blatant as the one we're living with now.

By now even the STUPID among us know they AREN'T 'represented', that the whole process is FAKE. Why do you think the feckless media is making such a big deal over charges of Russian 'election tampering'.

The Russians didn't 'hack the vote', nothing there for them.

The media flap is to convince the convincible that the system is still 'legitimate'.

Remember, the 'illusion of government' serves to head off revolutionary action...and increasingly it is becoming apparent that we only have the 'illusion of government'. [Elected officials that BLATANTLY ignore us!]

Want YOUR government back? Sit down, smoke 'em if you got 'em and wait. They'll quit.

Stop this shitshow dead in its tracks and the 'three day clock' starts running. By the end of the second day they will be PLEADING WITH US to go back to work...and we will, but only if they 'stand down'.

CLOSE the 'stock market', bar all 'senior management' from returning to work [They're fired] (self employed? you're fired too!) CLOSE the Banks, they are kaput! Sales and marketing are now part of 'customer service', and all network media outlets are shut down [pending trial.]

Local retail will open immediately and start issuing 'rations' [the badly spooked will attempt to load up and head for the hills, causing serious shortages.] For rationing purposes, all family members must be in attendance when re-supplying as proof you aren't a hoarder, pretending to have more mouths to feed than your own. If you don't bring nine people with you, you won't get food for nine.

Just want the squeamish among you to know there are plans in place for an orderly transition [which is not to 'guarantee' things will go 'as planned' but plans exist and the competent will 'take charge'...if something looks fishy, jump on it. The feckless have a stake in seeing this go badly and again their 'principle concern' is their own safety.

If they are to escape, they need the cover of chaos!

People they promised a lot of money they no longer have will see to it that the distraction they need happens, regardless of the 'cost'.

In times of chaos money doesn't matter. The STUPID will fall back on their 'beliefs' and do the irrational out of any number of reasons...and when they are held accountable for their crimes they will wail they were 'confused' and didn't know what to do? Nor will they know what to do when they are marched into the barren wastelands for their crimes [mostly stupidity.]

NOTHING will get you exiled faster than claiming it was your 'Christian Values' (taught to you by the same feckless criminals who wouldn't spit on the best part of you) of mercy and forebearance that obliged you to help them escape.

If they did nothing wrong, why run? Bet you didn't consider that, did you?

Understand, those that run will not find anywhere to hide, they will be hunted and brought to justice no matter where they go.

Will some escape? Yes, some of them are already beyond our reach but their self-imposed exile will be little better than the one that awaits them if they dare leave their hiding place.

The 'true' purpose of government is to insure EQUALITY, thereby laying the foundation for JUSTICE. Without Equality there can be no justice. A government that accepts even a tiny bit of inequality does not serve ALL of the PEOPLE.

Repeatedly we have been deceived but this time we have our eyes on the prize!

How ironic the feckless' answer to this is to make everyone 'equally miserable' [if they can't 'have it all' then NO ONE will!] It's how they're built and why they're CRIMINALS!

Lot to lay on you, especially on a Friday but if not me, who and if not now, when?

Thanks once again for letting me inside YOUR head,

Gegner

Volatility & you

Greetings good citizen, by the time events starts happening too fast to react to it will be too late to do anything about them.

That said this plodding course of pointing at the elephants in the room lacks the 'urgency' needed to mobilize 'the governed' to act.

Much of what I expound upon has been as it is for years, causing most of you to dismiss it because you're missing the 'bigger picture'. When it comes to something as volatile as society, you can't just return to the dark ages, you have to build up to it first, get 'em used to the idea so they don't stampede and wipe YOU out in the process!

Without the 'God' stick they seem unable to fully utilize their greatest assets, ignorance and stupidity.

For the moment they are succeeding (albeit slowly) using the stupid lever [making the majority of us believe we are surrounded by stupid when the facts are the stupid comes from the media. People are pretty much 'parrots' that will repeat what they hear without appreciating what they are saying...so they say 'stupid stuff' that makes them appear, er, 'unintelligent'.

Thus were the last 5 presidents foisted upon an unsuspecting public [look at what stupid voted for!]

Can't emphasize enough here good citizen that this voting for people who don't listen to YOU is a huge mistake...compounded by the fact that we're helpless to change it.

That is why the new system eliminates 'legislators' who can be BOUGHT and puts control of the law in the hands of those who must live under them!

This is only half of the puzzle! The media needs to be A.) Independent and B.) Accountable!

Can't have a 'free press' when the press relies on advertisers for income, can we?

Capitalism is a snare that cuts in every direction. It's all tied to the legal uses of money and those uses are corrupt!

Money exists so you don't have to do everything yourself, yet using 'cash' lets the criminals among us pay themselves for doing nothing. Worse, it lets the feckless 'punish' those they don't care for (often without reason but mostly for pettiness.)

Thus are we cursed with a society filled with misery.

The petty get theirs eventually but often not 'in kind'.

There is zero irony that before money slavery was the only other way to facilitate 'specialization'.

Nobody should be surprised that the 'central premise' behind Capitalism is the exact same one that brings us Slavery.

[Yes Pollyanna, present tense because slavery still exists.]

Do you KNOW what that 'principle' is?

You should, it is the bane of your existence!

I'm leaving this one here because it serves as proof that you aren't as stupid as they make you out to be [despite your inability to grasp the implications of your complicity in this arrangement...which is understandable because you've been fed a pack of lies and sold the idea that there is shit flavored ice cream!

Real fine line between stupid and dumb...dumb eventually gets it...stupid, on the other hand, is a lost cause.

Indulge me in another 'thought experiment', if you would.

The 'Slaver model' collapses when there are too many slaves and not enough work...

The 'surplus' can't be effectively used so they 'store' it in 'make work' facilities we call 'jails'.

How far are we from an implosion? [Surplus slaves are increasing EXPONENTIALLY!]

Is there a balance here or do we need to change the model, asap?

Plod along good citizen, everything will remain good until it's not, then do your damn best to get the hell out of the way! [Good luck with that!]

Since I won't be around to say "I told you so' I'll take mine up front...

Gegner

Accident or design?

Greetings good citizen, like the title asks we can only wonder which force is in play concerning the crumbling of what passes for our government.

The public's 'watchdog' the 'run this not that media' [if you want to still be working here tomorrow. When the truth is held hostage to a paycheck it suffers mightily!] is remarkably 'unconcerned' about the loose cannon sliding to and fro across the deck of our 'ship of state'.

Not being a political historian I have no idea [save that it hasn't happened before in my sixty years here] of how much 'attrition' is 'normal' for a new administration trying to find its footing in a rudderless world.

Since the current environment is 'unprecedented' I am left to speculate that a man widely known for saying 'you're fired' is just staying in character [despite the consequences.]

Principal 'pitfall' of Capitalism is it's founding premise, ownership and the 'god/king-like' authority that ownership conveys. As the proprietor what you say goes, right, wrong or indifferent [and it is almost NEVER indifferent...]

Absolute Power corrupts absolutely...so how is it we have a man raised from birth to believe he is better than anyone else placed [he lost the popular vote] in charge of the very body established to protect society from people like him?

Having lost the popular vote, the 'electoral college' used gerrymandered districts to 'engineer' a Republican win. What did the public do about this blatant cheating? Same thing it did when the party representing it was defunded...slept.

Worse, all save the terminally stupid know this mess was created [and made worse by] Republicanism. [Why Republican's? Because they were always the 'weaker' party...deep pockets but like the society it mirrors, far fewer in number.]

Our nation HASN'T gotten richer in the past forty years. The wealthy few have 'commandeered' the institutions established to keep them in check. Literally bought them [ironically with stocks of all things, the most 'nebulous' kind of money there is!] as the systems 'watchdogs' were 'bought off' with stocks that rose 'irrationally' same way they keep rising now.

If you are too stupid to see you/we are being 'flim-flammed' [again, the primary culprit here is ignorance, both of what's being done and what can be done about it!

And this is where we have to wake up and smell the Ovaltine!

Since THEY [the aforementioned CRIMINALS] literally control what currently passes for the Justice System THERE IS NO LEGAL SOLUTION/RECOURSE!

The feckless have 'legitimized' all of their actions behind the cloak of 'national security' and [no longer] 'our' government serves them and them ALONE!

How do we fix this? The old fashioned way I'm afraid. STOP EVERYTHING [literally]

Yes, I said the old-fashioned way but blood in the streets solves nothing while [more than a little ironically] NOTHING in the streets solves EVERYTHING!

So where do you think this is headed now that we are 40 years into the 'Republican Revolution'? [a.k.a. Morning in America]

If you continue to ignore the situation I strongly advise you 'eat dessert first' because it is increasingly unlikely that you will survive to eat it afterwards.

I told you what to do. I told you why to do it but ultimately the choice is yours. Continue living on your knees for your meager paycheck [until they put you out to pasture] or stand up for yourself and refuse to move until you get a fair shake, like the deal laid out in A Simple Plan.

[ASP = Free housing, utilities, services (including healthcare,) education, transportation. Protection from crime via the elimination of cash, protection against the criminally insane via exile/dueling [seems bad now but you'll be amazed how quickly they will smarten up and back off once their 'peers' aren't there to back them up anymore.] Protection against the rapacious via the Human Anti-Exploitation Law, which makes the whole system just and fair! [no more 'owners'!]

You will NOT see climate regulation nor population control under the current system run by the rapacious...you will see the destruction of civilization and widescale death due [mostly] to civil unrest as the government pretends to be 'helpless' to fight the circumstances the rapacious have created for us.

Accident or design?

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Destitution (& Psychosis)

Greetings good citizen, different people have different 'takes' on what words mean and I just had a roundy-round with one of my siblings over the word 'destitution'.

Zero irony for it being my 'conservative' sibling. Funny how conservatives think if you aren't naked and stick thin from malnutrition, you aren't 'destitute'. This also explains why they see nothing 'wrong' with the 'working poor', people whose paycheck isn't enough for them to live on. People that regularly visit food pantries (stretching that with 'dumpster diving) and get their clothing from second hand outlets because 'the dollars' aren't there.

[You can bet the miserable S.O.B. that employs them wants for nothing! This is precisely the kind of bullshit A Simple Plan was created to wipe out via the Human Anti-Exploitation Law!]

So to my, er, 'narrow-minded' sibling, destitution ONLY describes say African Refugees fleeing civil disorder in the places they were unfortunate enough to be born in.

Having a roof over your head [even if you're squatting] food in your stomach (even if you got it from the trash) and shoes on your feet [regardless of how they fit] isn't 'destitution'.

If THAT is NOT DESTITUTION then what is?

We're past the point of 'psychosis' here good citizen. It's a MENTAL DISORDER when you fail to recognize human suffering for what it is! The WORST OFFENDERS? people who are themselves 'destitute'! [Often both 'mentally AND morally!']

How the wealthy must howl! What divine comedy it must be for the 'too stupid to know better' to sneer at people who are JUST LIKE THEM.

Now, my sibling is NO STRANGER to 'Hard Times' (none of them are, they just dealt with it differently.) It is her own experiences that 'hardened' her heart and blinded her soul.

Same goes for the vocal poor who are INCAPABLE of recognize suffering in others or the source of that suffering, which is why it continues. (the above is the very definition of 'psychosis' and the origin of psychopaths!) [How frightening is it to realize YOU are Surrounded by people who match this description...beginning to look like a lunatic asylum yet?]

The problem is compounded by their inability to see themselves in the same circumstances. They AREN'T any better off than those they condemn as 'Crybabies' and Whiners.'

Speak up and the 'superstitious peasants' will shout you down (instead of back you up) [Mustn't disturb the Masters, they'll tighten the screws even more if you complain about 'em! Shush!]

WTF good citizen? Seriously...just WTF!

United we stand but united we're not...[too busy sneering at those we 'think' are worse off (and thereby 'less') than we are.]

A solid look in the mirror accompanied by a split second of recognition of what was staring back would kill most of you!

Back to 'destitution' for a minute. My point (in the original exchange, this takes place via e-mail so 'nuance' is void) was that people with limited funds also found themselves with too much time on their hands . (in the context of why people bothered with the crappy media offerings these days) and the answer was 'nothing better to do.' Yet another contentious claim but 'volunteering' (the typical conservative 'chip shot') ISN'T a universal fix nor does it do pretty much ANYONE involved ANY good!

May solve a few people's 'time overload' but other than that it's 'free labor' for exercises in futility.

Think about this good citizen, charities exist to address PROBLEMS THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE!

[*ARRRrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!] (*random scream of mental anguish!) How fortunate (for the wealthy) that they made charitable contributions 'tax deductible?'

Worse, most 'charities' double as jobs programs for the useless rich!

But I digress, sadly, like most things the powerful 'abuse', Destitution is 'relative'. The very wealthy feel destitute when they can't take the summer off to lounge by the beach, not because they are too poor but because they are (rightly) paranoid. If a fox is guarding your hen house, YOU have no choice but to stay and guard the Fox.

You EXPECT him to eat some of the hens but if you don't stand ready to kill it, it won't stop at 'a few'.

So we return to the Overton Window where people's concept of 'outrage' is stretched, making the 'unthinkable'...'normal'?

Which is to point out that our feckless media has 'hardened' your heart so you no longer consider outrageous behavior 'offensive', worse, you are no longer sure if your sense of outrage is 'reliable'.

If other people don't speak up, is it really beyond the pale?

Yes it is good citizen but once again we return to the issue of our society being 'rudderless' making us both 'out of control' and helpless at the same time.

Mustn't let the feckless tell us right from wrong because the plainly don't give a fig.

Readership is down but it's those 'two weeks' again and most folks have better things to do than browse the internet...then we have the destitute, who obviously don't [have something better to do.]

Another of the Herd of Elephants milling around in plain sight...that our politicians routinely [likely under penalty of death] 'ignore'.

One thing is certain, we can't ignore it much longer or the situation in Africa will be repeated here.

[Yet another 'quiz question'...how many of you know what I mean when I refer to the 'situation in Africa'?]

The abject lawlessness can't happen here...or can it?

Thank you for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Funny the things that occur to you as you wrap up a piece...like how the 'poverty' of the mind, the ignorance of the general public is preying on itself, creating precisely the conditions we fear the most...all so 'a few' can be so rich they don't know what to do with it all!

Literally redefines 'mental illness'.

Deadly Sheep

Greetings good citizen, playing 'chicken' with civilization has some very real consequences as History's actors soon found out when they ignored integrity for political expediency.

The end result left us with just ONE political party. The 'pretenders' the money runs against its actors really are just empty suits without an ideology.

They aren't out to save the working class. They want to regain political control for the sake of gaining political control.

If you're a politician these days your job isn't to lead the people...your job is to distract the public from the fact the commerce system has failed and nobody [currently in power] is interested in fixing it.

Mr. Krugman makes some valuable observations that he shares at the tail end of this piece:

Now what? Maybe, just maybe, Republicans will work with Democrats to make the health system work better — after all, polls suggest that voters will, rightly, blame them for any future problems. But it wouldn’t be easy for them to face reality even if their president wasn’t a bloviating bully.

And it’s hard to imagine anything good happening on other policy fronts, either. Republicans have spent decades losing their ability to think straight, and they’re not going to get it back anytime soon.

[Emphasis mine]

The advent of 'mass communication' sparked a phenomenon politicians didn't fully appreciate, that people are so focused on 'fitting in' that they will believe just about ANYTHING if it is first set on a 'bandwagon'.

With this marvelous new discovery you could convince people they were better off than anyone else IN HISTORY and that it really doesn't get much better than THIS.

It all starts with social cohesion and the individual's reluctance to stand out from the [now hypnotized] crowd. If you're not under the spell of mass stupidity [currently being sold by network TV as 'Wisdom of the crowd' a new TV series created solely to embrace/advance the concept of 'groupthink'] you keep your mouth shut because the 'crowd' will do unthinkable things to those who oppose it.

Now are you seeing today's title?

[FULL STOP] If you are here then you aren't one of the title subjects. You wouldn't be interested in non-mainstream thinking or even the existence of anything that challenges your 'worldview' [for the 'tragically stupid' that's a mighty tiny piece of realty.]

Problem is we have perhaps 25% of the population that doesn't know better and the absence of a coherent narrative to guide us ('socially') only serves to further muddy the waters.

Now, said narrative EXISTS but it's straight-forward and often manipulated by the feckless because they call it 'chump thinking'.

The Golden Rule of 'Do unto Others as you would have them do unto you' is widely denigrated by the self-interested as squandering a perfectly good opportunity to seize the upper hand while the other fellow doesn't have reason to suspect you're less than honorable.

Each of us understands that civilization (along with the convention that prevents us from killing one another on sight) is SOLELY RELIANT on TRUST. IF YOU CAN'T TRUST THE NEXT GUY AS FAR AS YOU CAN THROW THEM, 'civilization' descends into a cesspool of scoundrels, each seeking to do the other one in at the first moment the tiniest advantage presents itself.

How fortunate it is that most of us fail to recognize 'opportunity' even if we are being beaten to death with it?

Probably comes from repeatedly being presented with opportunities that aren't. [Money up front please! What were we talking about again?]

There have been [failed] attempts in the past to weed out humanity's propensity towards opportunism. You have to wonder how bad things got to spark/usher in the age of Chivalry and it's centerpiece, the 'field of honor'?

ASP has as it's 'centerpiece' the return of single combat to redress personal insults...albeit this version has a somewhat different set of rules. [We 'worldbuilders' deal in concepts and the 'idea' behind this one is 'personal accountability' for ones speech/actions or both.]

Today's 'sue me' mindset has made the world a much less 'civil' atmosphere in which to live...and considerably less 'safe'.

We need to 're-learn' the value of keeping out fat traps shut and watching what we do because others ARE watching...and it is SO EASY to misconstrue when you're only viewing part of the picture.

How odd our elders taught us to 'Mind your business' while today's buzzword is See something, say something!

People are just as curious as they are opportunistic and our (undeclared) favorite pass-time is 'jumping to conclusions'.

It will take TONS of 'self-restraint' to stay off the field of honor [which is why the challenged can refuse without (legal) recourse, there are still things the challenger can do to make the offender 'rise to the bait'.

Back to the 'honor' piece of the puzzle, if the challenged APOLOGIZES, the whole process stops dead [can't put the Genie back in the bottle but we can kill it with a simple (and sincere) I'm sorry.

[Why am I prattling on about this? Because society, as it currently exists, is entirely 'rudderless'! ASP fixes that.

Since having to apologize to people you might not see fit to spit on gets gualling after a while, we will also learn 'tolerance' like we have today.

The problem with tolerance is it fixes nothing and only serves to make the problem worse.

The ultimate aim is to return society to civility by making individuals personally accountable. Better people make better societies!

Once we wrest control of the media from the grip of the feckless we will use its awesome power to improve humanity.

Funny how the criminals among us don't think we can be 'improved'...

If we stop swallowing their BS maybe we can pick ourselves up out of this gutter and stand up, wipe our wounds clean and start the process of healing a badly wounded psyche.

But first we need to take our giant fist and smash their tiny, puny butts into the stone age. [How's that for a mental image?]

There are only a (relative) handful of them and the only reason they're powerful is because they have convinced YOU they are.

THEY are PUNY.

We are MIGHTY.

Keep that in mind the next time one of them takes a dump on you...

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner