News & views (not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine) …
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April 25, 2024
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-121
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Three choice pickings from the history of Russia, to be tied in with the flowing debate.
The european 19th century, say from the Vienna congress to the Great War 1914, is in hindsight a spiritually haunted epoch of transition. Balance of power was questioned, but not settled, while the industrial revolution kicked in, devouring coal and iron to make rails, dreadnoughts, artillery divisions and the maxim gun. Oil became a strategic commodity. Telegraph and steamship routes kicked globalisation into higher gear. Gas and electric lighting suddenly did away with night. Hygiene was understood,as nature generally seemed to reveal its secrets, and with them, power and control. A God-shaped hole was staring people in their faces after Nietzsche’s deed on the creator, leaving a vacuum that was only marginally filled by Darwin’s observations. Socio-political turmoil lay in the air. All of this exploded in 1914, exacerbating all conflicting dynamics and resolving none, as the aeroplane, chemical fertilizers and the motor car entered the stage. News was instant and global by then, radio and advertising transformed the liveworlds of the western peoples. Empires vanished from the face of the earth, in the case of Germany giving rise to completely new aesthetics in design and architecture, in painting, music and literature. Russia was socially put head down, or otherwise, whatever I couldn’t resist the allusion. On top of all that physics had in a fairly short time brought understanding of mechanics, heat engines, electromagnetism, physical chemistry, to then discover relativity and quantum aspects. To me this looks as a bit disordered, and I suspect the fall of roman-catholic totalism behind the upheavel.
Now let’s focus on Russia a bit. They knew something was brewing, Dostoevsky’s The Demons is quite the tell. It was him too who insisted on some sort of fundamental difference between (orthodox) Russia and the european west. The race towards “modernity” in stunned disarray was never an option under the tsar. A famous political philosopher from the 19th century, whose name I’ve forgotten but remember he was a parliamentarian and monarchist. He wrote in a treatise on Russia in his times a very memorable sentence; incidentally the mtaphor he picked has surfaced upthread from here, the freezing of society. He advocated that, and simply argued that thawing the russian people would expose its stinking rot. Neither options are good, but I believe a point can made that he aligns well with the view scorpion presents, this or that detail notwithstanding.
The italian hermeuticist Giorgio Agamben once remarked that philosophers are necessarily political conservatives. I tend to agree, and just this kind of history is what I have in mind with that.
When the revolution kicked in, and soon also everyone about, the break with tradition (i.e., what identity is in a non-trivial sense) was even more pronounced than in the case of Germany: Malevitch hung his black square in the uppermost corner of the russian room, to replace the icons that had had their place there before. [Discussing icons in more depth must be again postponed, but it’s a most inteersting and important topic!]
The new avant-garde brought huge creative blossom, of course. The composer Dmitri Shostakovitch, dubbed a chronicler of russian history by his biographer, earned his money while being a student at the Petersburg conservatory playing the piano in cinema, in a time where movies were still silent. I’m a huge fan of him, and among the things I admire most are his ability to write incredibly illustrative music, while specializing in expression of humour and, most starkly, grotesque. The youthful Shostakovitch is full of movement and power, his 1st symphony sounds (in some like all 1st symphonies by young men) ready to go conquer the world, while only a few gusts of wind [and untied boots, editor] can briefly faze his prescience of his final and total victory.
This is easily forgotten when exposed to his later writings, of which some are so dark that it borders on misanthropy. Probably my favourite moment is the waltz in the third movement of his tenth symphony, which premiered shortly after Stalins death and is said to portray him in movement 2 signing the death lists. The 10th is one of his most subtle works, I really recommend it (and will put it on the jukebox anyway), and there is more notable stuff going on: the yearning cry that whispers over the empty lands, as if adressing the spirits of the missing (dead) sons and daughters of the peasants, who should be there surely, herding the flock, playing a whistle, laughing in company. But that waltz, really – – le me dare you to think about when you’d dance this! The 4th mov begins with a longwinding ethereal melody, still full of grief yet now strangely soothing, beautifully orchestrated (another of his strengths) with the darker woodwinds threading it along to sharp and perfectly timed dynamic accentuations of the orchestra behind them – and then for a second time, picking up more voices, before it begins spiralling in the most perplexing and intense manner while still remaining in the hush and flow, endlessly meandering about that heartbreaking and beautiful harmony … to then, abruptly, stop-start into a ridiculous display of gross shallowness, which must be self-aggrandizing attitude … whose would that be? Why is that ending there, right after he wrote one of the most beautiful five minutes of orchestrical music, which are also perfectly ending a story of absolute terror and senseless loss? Just, why? The censors who enforce socialist realism, some say. Yeah, censors my ass, says he. Powerful stuff.
So he’s been censored? Oh yes, he was. His polish biographer, who knew him close enough to report his habit of having a vodka in the backroom when visitors came, reckons they only only let him live because it was basically impossible to miss out on his sheer genius. He knew, and slept on a packed suitcase for almost fourty years in constant fear of them coming him at night. – As a note while typing this, the story surely merits a closer inspection of his biographers, doesn’t it? Just recently a new one came out, called Stalin and Shostakovitch by solomon Wolkew. I haven’t read it yet. Seeing that Harvey Weinstein made a movie on those two also I suggest to study this example in a bit more depth, regarding the discussion above.
A final word on my recounting’s still missing. How did his life turn around so dramatically? It was his opera Lady Macbeth of Mzensk, they say, which was not to Stalin#s liking (‘too formal’). He refers to a specific scene which illustrates the Lady and her lover having sex; as its set to be played on stage, this qualifies by all intents and means as pornography. Recall that Frank Zappa became a contrarian for something very similar, after having audial xxx with a girlfriend on air for a radio show, getting him subsequently scapegoated by bigot USians, from which he never recovered essentially. The Lady, who together with her lover murders her husband so the two of them can freely have a go reaches the opera stage in the mid-30ties. It hits a sweet spot for me, politically, as I get riled up to no end by this topic, this kind of psychologically maiming people is beyond my ability to restrain. It’s also in bad taste, I will add, and refer to the girls here, as they’re my taste, but the same ethical reasons apply to the fags as well. Err, fagotts. Fagotts everywhere! That’s what a bassoon sounds in german, I got confused, and … oh well.
Next in the playlist: Freddy Mercury. Hey Boy!
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 30 2024 15:43 utc | 401
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 30 2024 13:07 utc | 385
——————
The scorpion merely ‘thinking outside the box‘
Exhibit A
There’s this Han/Russian/Jew conspiracy to invade and take over North America
——————–
Who died and made you God?
I don’t always agree with Scorpion but saying that ‘he is sick and demented’ is more telling about your unbalanced nature than his.
Posted by: canuck | Apr 30 2024 12:08 utc | 380
—————————-
How about scorpion a serial lying pos
Any objectionn, ?
dont be shy loose canuck. !
Shut the fuck up
Who’r you to censor me on Bernhard’s forum ?
————
Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 30 2024 9:58 utc | 375
—————
I support B’s open format.
The downside is it lets in lots of flies.
Scorpion isnt just a shameless liar, he and his entourage often hijack the entire thread as if they own the bar.
No need to shut the window tho, just swat the flies
We owe it to Bernhard .
Posted by: denk | Apr 30 2024 15:53 utc | 402
Short and sharp
2m read.
The stinking hypocrisy of it all. !
2019 HK vs 2024 USAss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWSmdg4J8Fk
Posted by: denk | Apr 30 2024 16:02 utc | 403
I live in the same city as b. So I wrote him an email to offer him assistance, in representing mine and the forum’s sentiments. He didn’t reply. Unless he or some trustee provides information on the forum, there’s not a lot we can do; …and a third may be to try and find his doorbell – I’d rather avoid this, but then I tend to (sometimes badly) misjudge these kinds of situations, so what does MoA think? …Some people here should have his postal address, I’d be happy to do the groundwork, though I do fear the impression of troll-stalking him literally into his sleep.
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 30 2024 12:13 utc | 381
Thank you for your post.
It is absolutely clear now that something serious has happened, in b’s life or to him.
Hopefully, all will end well, whatever it is.
If some people here have b’s postal address, then persiflo you could go out of your way and comfort zone and visit that address, ring the doorbell and see if someone opens the door. If not, you could ask the neighbours if they know anything.
We know from b that he has family and relatives, but not where.
Someone who has a twitter account can post on the MoA twitter that we, the MoA community, are asking anyone who knows anything about why b is absent to post that on twitter or on MoA.
Planning for the future of the blog seems premature to me and in bad taste before we find out what has happened with b.
What we, in my view, can not do is sit around the camp fire talking and pretending our guide has not gone missing.
Posted by: JB | Apr 30 2024 16:16 utc | 404
Roger | Apr 30 2024 5:23 utc | 364
China’s carbon emissions will most probably peak this year and start to decline, due to the massive amounts of wind, solar, nuclear, hydro added in the past years and the rapid growth in electrified transport (not just personal EVs, but electric trains, trams, subways, buses, taxis and delivery vans).
Wow. This year?? Happen to have a source?
It’s no secret that while the West generally makes high-flying promises and fails to deliver, China does the opposite: Guarantee little if anything, and then massively over-deliver. Beijing announced that China’s carbon emissions will peak before 2030 – 5 years early would really be amazing.
It might explain why western propaganda is going into overdrive, accusing China of ‘dumping’, ‘overproduction’ etc. In reality, China is single-handedly helping the world avert the worst of the climate catastrophe, while western politics & corporations are all talk, no action.
Methane, seems the problem has generally been under-estimated. A study just found that Germany’s lignite mining may be releasing 184 times as much as previously thought.
To reduce carbon emissions the energy system must be electrified extensively. Making the electricity supply less carbon intensive will not hack it if the rest of the energy system keeps using fossil fuels.
100%
Pumped storage is a useful factor, but nowhere near a large enough resource to provide the “big battery”.
Depends what you mean by ‘big battery’. Pumped storage is enough for a couple of days (more in places like Norway, Switzerland obviously). Longer dark and wind-poor periods exist, but they’re rare. The current scenarios bridge them with gas-fired power plants, burning either hydrogen or “synthetic” methane. Which is horribly inefficient and expensive, but since it only concerns c. 10 days per year, the effect on overall price of electricity generation is marginal.
“Green” hydrogen is just another game used by the fossil fuel industry.
Disagree on this one. While green hydrogen isn’t any magical panacea, some industries cannot do without. I expect steel & fertilizer production to shrink substantially – but not to zero. Of course, using (expensive) hydrogen for transportation etc. (where batteries or the grid can be used) would be nonsensical. Which is why no auto maker is pursuing this path.
Planning to introduce solid state batteries in a limited fashion at a given date is not the equivalent of reaching mainstream cost competitiveness. All of the big Chinese manufacturers are also driving solid state and semi solid state development. Also, 6 years is a lifetime in an industry moving as fast as EVs. The Japanese (and German) manufacturers will have lost their remaining Chinese market share by then and the Chinese will most probably be dominant in the world outside the West, with a significant share of Europe. The US may well have fully walled itself off by then with respect to EVs.
Good points, fully agree.
Still, given that Teslas have been around for 12 years, “mainstream competitive” in 6 years doesn’t sound that far-off. As you said, Li-ion will still linger on for a while due to massive investment now.
Your last sentence brings me to another point, maybe more apt for this forum: Geopolitics.
In my understanding, electricity is the energy choice of land powers. They control vast territories, some of which sparsely populated and thus ideal for renewable energy generation. And territory control allows to build extensive grids. Cue China’s push for electrification. (Russia would prob. pursue the same strategy, but as a major oil&gas producer path dependency says otherwise…for now.)
Sea powers, on the other hand, control some of the (coastal) oil-rich regions of the world – but more importantly, they control the sea lanes used to ship it to consumer regions. As archetypical “dancers on the coast”, US/UK have a geostrategic interest in promoting the use of oil & gas – or in the future, imported ‘green hydrogen’ or ‘synthetic gas’. So, wonder which way the US & EUrope will go…
Nice discussion by the way, thanks! 🙂
Posted by: smuks | Apr 30 2024 16:27 utc | 405
“Recall that Frank Zappa became a contrarian for something very similar, after having audial xxx with a girlfriend on air for a radio show, getting him subsequently scapegoated by bigot USians, from which he never recovered essentially.”
An interesting point, but it is misrepresenting the details. As I recall, this was a setup, whereby law enforcement commissioned an audio tape for a “stag party” in order to prosecute FZ for whatever cultural crimes a long-haired musician might be guilty of at the time.
It was not an FCC violation, nor any sort of actual pornography or pornographic act. It was an assault on an audio artist who was quite moved by acts of freedom and innovation by other composers.
It may have been utterly crucial to his development as a renegade political commentator. Considering all the radical efforts he made bringing forth open discussion of suppressed concepts and political chicanery, when some bozo asserts ludicrous theories regarding his background or intent, you can be sure they are either completely ignorant, deranged and/or nothing but full of shit. Those morons should be marked on the forehead as what they are, to save people from wasting time learning the lesson first hand.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Apr 30 2024 16:28 utc | 406
Thank you, Tom Pfotzer, that was helpful! I’ll try to find b, then.
If any (all) barflies who’ve mailed cash to him could pass me his post address, that should be helpful. Use my substack, or email to my uncle zingwaats, who’s on the nosy (cf. Gogol) provider that the Alphabet people set up.
Good night for now, stay safe and sound, everyone!
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 30 2024 16:55 utc | 407
For those interested in the study of the civil war in Russia (1917-1922), I invite you to read two articles written by Гагкуев Руслан Григорьевич, Doctor of Historical Sciences, leading researcher at the Center for Military History of Russia at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (for those who don’t know Russian, please, use an automatic translator):
https://histrf.ru/magazine/article/grazhdanskaya-voyna-v-rossii-1917-1922-vzglyad-cherez-stoletie-statya-pervaya
https://histrf.ru/magazine/article/grazhdanskaya-voyna-v-rossii-1917-1922-vzglyad-cherez-stoletie-statya-vtoraya
Both articles are historiographically rigorous in their bibliographic use of historical sources, primary and secondary.
Although this commentary is addressed to those who have a genuine interest in finding out what contemporary Russian historians know, reliably, about that tumultuous period, I will quote, for the impatient, the final paragraphs of the second article:
“Состояние источниковой базы не позволяет сделать однозначных выводов о потерях, которые понесла страна за годы Гражданской войны от террора. Революционный «красный террор», репрессивная деятельность разных «белых» правительств, террор со стороны многочисленных «зеленых» – по всей видимости стоили России многих тысяч жизней. В наши дни общая численность погибших в России в годы Гражданской войны от террора (вне зависимости от того, кто его проводил) может быть предположительно оценена в 1,5–2 млн человек.”
“Сегодня, спустя 100 лет с момента своего начала, Гражданская война в России остается одним из наиболее важных и актуальных исторических периодов, неизменно привлекающим внимание всего общества. Зачастую полярные взгляды на события столетней давности в обществе требуют от историков и публицистов крайней взвешенности в оценке событий войны и тщательного осмысления исторических документов и материалов.”
Please read, reflect critically and, of course, draw the conclusions that seem best to you. 😉
All the best for you and b.
Posted by: Shita | Apr 30 2024 17:48 utc | 409
Just posted a tweet (xeet?) from my X account about our concern for b to @MoonofA. I’m optimistic that he’s ok, but unable to access his computer (perhaps he’s had to spend some time in hospital). It’s still very worrying though…
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:26 utc | 410
There are now almost a million school students in Australia needing extra support because of a disability, equivalent to one in four enrolments.
And while some families have given up on the system, most are attempting to make it work, with almost 90% of students with a disability still enrolled in mainstream schools.
The number of students with disabilities has been growing at lightning speed, jumping almost 40% since 2017. Social or emotional disabilities have grown at almost 10% a year. This compares with enrolment growth of 1% a year over the same period.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/29/how-the-rise-of-autism-and-adhd-fractured-australias-schools
Almost everything I said in previous posts on growing violence against women applies here too. Autism, ADHD and anxiety are the symptoms of splintered sociality. If it manifesting itself as a clinical pathology it is only the psychosomatic hypostasis of the same late capitalist dysfunction producing gender dysmorphia, teenage suicide, inchoate explosions of violence, mass stabbings and shootings, etc etc.
You reap what you sow.
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:46 utc | 411
1 in 4 children in Australia diagnosed with autism… The article I posted above makes bizarre reading. I have no interest in treating autism as a ‘real disability’ etc; I leave that to others. As far as it seems to me there are two factors: environmental pollutants and sociality. Smart phones, TV, pads of all kinds and social media: when are we going to realise that whatever these widespread social dysfunctions are, they’re origin is not in some clinical metaphysics, but in a world which monetises the catastrophic corrosion of children’s minds and bodies.
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:58 utc | 412
@ Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:46 utc | 412 about the mental health of youth in Australia…..your country is not alone
I am 75 and they didn’t have autism and ADHD in my youth, only difficult children like I was characterized as. In spite of being bullied and the hacks from the Jesuits in high school I grew up and became a “productive” member of society and even got a utility patent in my name in 1999 that I sold the rights to in 2013.
In 2006 I was sideswiped by a Chevy Avalanche riding my bicycle and took off the side mirror with the back of my helmeted head.
So then I had a traumatic brain injury on top of what I have learned about the infancy trauma that made me so special to start with.
I healed my infancy trauma and traumatic brain injury mostly about 4 years ago and no longer have persistent and unpleasant thoughts and fears controlling my being. My healing is attributable to a class of therapies under the umbrella of neuromodulation and neurofeedback grouping under that which is EEG related therapies of which QEEG is the main one used in my healing path which is evolving quickly.
The following is a link to a dated description of QEEG:
https://www.isnr-jnt.org/article/view/16715
QEEG therapy is non invasive, non-drug related, produces persistent results (easier for younger and harder for us old) and from what I have seen and experienced these therapies can resolve much of the mental health issues (dysregulation of neural networks is the new paradigm) you describe and more.
Like many other problems facing our species, we have solutions but not the social will to organize ourselves in positive ways…..I fault the God Of Mammon fealty over public commons.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 30 2024 19:22 utc | 413
Just posted a tweet (xeet?) from my X account about our concern for b to @MoonofA. I’m optimistic that he’s ok, but unable to access his computer (perhaps he’s had to spend some time in hospital). It’s still very worrying though…
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:26 utc | 411
Thank you for doing that and for letting us know. Please keep us posted.
I’m extremely uneasy and stressed about this.
Posted by: JB | Apr 30 2024 20:06 utc | 414
BBC Relies on Fake Document to Disseminate Misinformation about Controversial Death of Iranian Girl
The BBC has published a report about the cause of the death of an Iranian teen girl during the anti-government riots of 2022, citing “a leaked document” the authenticity of which is questioned by the BBC itself.
Posted by: Framarz | Apr 30 2024 20:10 utc | 415
I share the concern expressed by others at b’s absence. (I’m assuming SexyKitty21’s post is a clever barfly *really* investigating if b is absent, or just maintaining silence.)
So, on to something random. An American fast food franchise, Shake Shack, is expanding into Canada. “Here’s where Canada’s first Shake Shack will open in downtown Toronto” reports Global News. It’s a spot formerly occupied by Adidas.
A bit of advice though— “The Canadian restaurant market is quite different than what Shake Shack is used to in the U.S., said Robert Carter, a food industry analyst with StratonHunter Group, in an interview held before Shake Shack revealed its first Toronto location.
“They’re coming from a market that’s $800 billion in size to a market that’s $90 to $100 billion in size here in Canada,” he said.
“Too many times we’ll have a U.S. brand that’ll come into the market and think just because it’s a smaller market or they’re just close to the U.S., it’s going to be the same strategy or marketing plan, when in fact there’s nuances they’ll have to address.”“
I thought, there’s no way the Daily Mail is not going to link into this, is there?? It’s much too wide an opening. So — I checked. The top of the top stories was “The wedding menu that left 80 guests hospitalized and more than 100 guests vomiting”
That took place in Mexico. It made me wonder if this expansion into downtown Toronto is, in fact, on a Spice Route?
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 30 2024 20:31 utc | 416
Just to continue a bit with the above randomness. Canadian pharmacy/drug store, London Drugs, closed all its stores on Western Canada for a while due to cyberattack.
Last night’s The Moment on CHC’s The National was about a 6 year old boy he danced on stage with Punjabi singer, Diljit Dosanjh. He performed at BC Place to an audience of more than 50,000. First concert like that outside of India for him, I think.
https://youtu.be/Y7p9sjmnPW4
There’s a restaurant called Spice Route in Brampton, Ontario. What Google can discover for me. I wonder if all that is “nuances”.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 30 2024 20:54 utc | 417
Smart phones, TV, pads of all kinds and social media: when are we going to realise that whatever these widespread social dysfunctions are, they’re origin is not in some clinical metaphysics, but in a world which monetises the catastrophic corrosion of children’s minds and bodies.
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:58 utc | 413
I don’t think you’ve contemplated this issue adequately. There are, indeed, all sorts of social dysfunctions produced by late stage capitalism- some through the misapplication (or deliberate mal-application…) of technology, and some which are products, and reinforcers of, pre-existing social dysfunctions. However, there are heritable neurological traits that affect brain function in an observable way that relate to the Autism Spectrum disorders. These were not invented by capitalism, and there’s no evidence that they are caused by too much tv or computer time, etc, etc. That there is indeed some cause for the rapid growth in autism disorders that can’t be explained by heredity is obvious, but equally obvious is that the ability to actually observe the organization and operation of human brains in vivo is increasing at a very rapid pace, and it is these observations that have led to a redefinition of autism to include far more than the old notion of headbanging children and socially inept teens that can’t make eye contact. This, naturally, leads to an explosion in diagnoses. One can argue about whether it is appropriate to classify what were prviously seen as discrete maladies under the ‘autism spectrum’ banner, but the effect on the number of diagnoses is very large, and makes comparisons of rates of diagnosis over time problematic.
That being said, capitalism and the bizarre cultural distortions pushed by the CIA certainly amplify the problems of autism, raising what, in a more humane society, would be challenges to the level of disorders at the level of expression, but with same/similar organic foundations. Capitalism is not without blame, but it is a significant error to dismiss these neurologically based issues as ‘metaphysical.’
There is, btw, significant evidence that ASD may often be a product of the interaction of genetics, pre-natal and peri-natal development, as well as epigenetic factors such as parental age. The growth of autism diagnoses has a high correspondence with the growth of single-parent families and older mothers/fathers. That does, of course, have a lot to do with capitalism, but no matter what the ‘first cause’ may be, the fact is that the result is a different physical organization of the brain, and that even getting rid of capitalism will not reverse that.
Posted by: Honzo | Apr 30 2024 21:46 utc | 418
I share the concern of many others about Bernhard’s health. I hope he gets well soon. this is so rare for him not to let us know even what’s happening, and also not to issue at least some new threads…..it must be pretty serious.
I wish him the very best
(hoping that we aren’t soon invaded by many more ‘sexy kittens’)
Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 30 2024 21:58 utc | 419
nah, the growth of diagnosis of ‘autism’ sells pharma silly…
along with ‘bipolar’ and ‘borderline personality disorder'(given to annoying female clients)
it’s all about pharma
Posted by: furies | Apr 30 2024 21:58 utc | 420
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 30 2024 15:43 utc | 401
Quite a post. Lovely treatment of Shostakovitch. Will now revisit the 10th.
Meanwhile, back at ya with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYpudFil8qs
Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow – Paschal Midnight Divine Liturgy
Around 44 minute mark you can see VVVP participating in the sacred midnight ritual, I suspect in the inner alcove where the Royal Family used to sit before they were sordidly murdered without due process on the secret orders of Lenin.
Note the colour of the ceremony, the timeless quality. Every experience is vivid, particular, bright, fresh, present, the Symbolic level where also dwell the Icons. That is sacred ritual. Such sacredness arises naturally and both heightens, deepens and celebrates the miracle of this Living Dream of Life in which we are each Beings of Knowing Awareness. All participants wear costumes reflecting this same ever-present luminosity; all movements are dance within that sacred container.
This perhaps has something to do with the freezing you mentioned above. Have never heard that before. If it is being overly rigid and unable to flow with change that might be a problem; but if the idea is to preserve elements within the society that ‘stop time’ (because timeless), then that sounds good.
The sacred ritual shown enters each participant into the vivid realm of living, breathing, wakeful meaningful symbol. Note how every part of the floor is decorated, every inch of costume, every gesture significant, every sound exalted. Putin looks a little out of place, being a non-royal bureaucrat in an everyday blue business suit, not all that well cut, but good for him, no delusions of grandeur, a man of the people.
Posted by: Honzo | Apr 30 2024 21:46 utc | 420
Smart phones, TV, pads of all kinds and social media: when are we going to realise that whatever these widespread social dysfunctions are, they’re origin is not in some clinical metaphysics, but in a world which monetises the catastrophic corrosion of children’s minds and bodies.
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 30 2024 18:58 utc | 413
I warmly encourage both of you to listen to Dugin’s 20 minute interview with Tucker Carlson yesterday. He is asked to explain where the West is headed and why and he has a very clear, thorough answer.
From individualism > Protestant schism > Enlightenment > liberalism (which beat out both fascism and communism) > progressivism which now in its final stages is attempting to achieve liberation from gender and soon will be liberation from being human altogether, so now gender is optional and soon human will also be optional. We will achieve individual liberation from all constraints including those of being male or female, being human versus animal or avatar – transhumanism it is already being called. Something like that, but explained thoroughly. It’s an unusually pithy 20 minute interview. American journalists don’t usually ‘do’ philosophy…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIULmTprQ6o&pp=ygUPY2FybHNvbiArIGR1Z2lu
I don’t think he captures the whole sweep of the West in his remarks, but it’s a very good start. And there’s only so much you can say in public anyway…
nah, the growth of diagnosis of ‘autism’ sells pharma silly…
along with ‘bipolar’ and ‘borderline personality disorder'(given to annoying female clients)
it’s all about pharma
Posted by: furies | Apr 30 2024 21:58 utc | 422
Nah, sugar buns, the only medication for autism is good old meth, and that only helps with the ADD component. It’s pretty low mark-up stuff. Much better ROI promoting anxiety and depression. That’s where the real money is.
Posted by: Honzo | Apr 30 2024 22:44 utc | 423
Honzo@420…..you missed childhood vaccination as a possible cause of new neurological disorders in children. Having had a one on one conversation with a dyed in the wool working virologist, it’s not technically the vaccines that cause issues its the add ons that are in them. He said,they have the data, the know the cause, but at the end of the day, it’s a numbers game.
I’ve always suspected such, but to have it confirmed in an off hand way, it was during covid, oddly he was open to discussing CV19 but I wasn’t going there, but the info from him on the children’s vaccine program confirmed my long held suspicions.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 30 2024 22:49 utc | 424
@Posted by: smuks | Apr 30 2024 16:27 utc | 405
Methane has been underestimated for pretty much everything, coal mining, natural gas wells, natural gas city piping, natural gas appliances – they all leak like a sieve. NG is the bridge fuel to nowhere good.
From Carbon Brief, a pretty reliable source on such things: Analysis: China’s emissions set to fall in 2024 after record growth in clean energy
The West can no longer blacken China’s reputation by accusing it of increasing carbon pollution, and they are very pissed about being so far behind in the clean energy industrial revolution.
Just an anecdote that seemed fitting to what you posted, and am definitely not trying to encourage any religious direction – I am wary as anyone else about placing trust in any religious organisation or obligation. I think being good and honest to those around is just as meaningful.
Posted by: Ornot | Apr 30 2024 3:39 utc | 355
Beautiful post Ornot, I am with you in this. The onlychurch I have ever been comfortable in was the little just forming family church in Santa Fe. I have been in others and felt simply cold or remote or out of place. I travelled to my home country thinking that amount of ‘me-ness’ would make it possible after our little church no longer was, but it wasn’t. So, I simply use my memories and pass on that it can be perfectly as it should be for one to simply be who you are. There was a church built back in the day historically speaking, I am convinced of that — but it hasn’t been built by us although it does contain everyone. Complete with all our special characteristics, which only our Creator sees and values – obviously he does or we wouldn’t be here. He has to be farseeing, you see, he has to be aware of what we are going to end up as. There’s no such being as the kind of god everyone has supposed him to be. We cannot! There’s a great mystery in the creation so of course there’s one in the Creator as well. Stands to reason!
And if for many there is only a formless void, well, that is what is for them and there’s beauty in that too. We are not the ones to say how that is a part of the whole; it might be the most important part!
I came across, in my own mind, a new thought: that many tired old sayings are only the beginning. Say them, and then conclude something new. I said “Absolute power corrupts absolutely…” Fine, but then what does having NO power do? Why, it purifies!!! And that is what needs to be recognized, that we, having no power, are thereby being internally purified! That will have consequences even if we relax and do nothing!! I’m not saying ‘well this is religion and we’re all going to be angels’ – no! As we are is how we are meant to be, and I’m using my imperfect brain to recognize what we have that the powerful do not.
Gotta go water the tomato starts I just purchased. I got one each of totally different kinds, so long as they are propogatable – so long as I can take seeds and grow ’em. Do you notice that seed packages nowadays are almost barren themselves? Pretty much empty. I’m boycotting those. My nursery fave is Nichols Nursery in Oregon – look them up – their packages are healthy,truly non GMO, and they encourage you to pass on what seed you produce.
We need to find new ways to be cheerful – we all know and breathe in the negativity pouring down upon us. Let’s make use of it. There was once a day when there was NO INTERNET (gasp). How on earth did we survive?
We did.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2024 23:20 utc | 427
@413 Patroklos
Vaccine schedule has went from 8 to 72 injections for children:
https://theautomaticearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/VaxInUtero.jpg
https://rumble.com/v48q3vt-here-come-the-vaccine-mandate-lawsuits-w-dr.-pierre-kory.html
https://twitter.com/VigilantNews/status/1778813388526702767
Many things changed around 1989, there’s glyphosate from Roundup; neonicitinoid pesticides; atrazine in 63% of our water; high-fructose corn syrup; PFOAs and PFASs, the forever chemical that we put in all of our kids’ pajamas and all of our furniture on that timeline; cell phone radiation.
https://twitter.com/Holden_Culotta/status/1749168196274270681
Recent addition is radioactivity in our fossil fuel processes especially unregulated fracking.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/04/big-oils-dangerous-radioactive-secret.html
Surprised b does not have a backup to kept readers unformed of a problem. Has stepped away for week on occasion during holidays.
Posted by: Thurl | Apr 30 2024 23:27 utc | 428
blah, blah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrr54DiQW64
Posted by: Shita | Apr 30 2024 23:33 utc | 429
‘…Malevitch hung his black square in the uppermost corner of the russian room,
to replace the icons that had had their place there before. [Discussing icons in more depth must be again postponed, but it’s a most interesting and important topic!]…’
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 30 2024 15:43 utc | 401
Well, persiflo, that does have a bit of the sound of “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” (Just kidding, as my boys used to say.)
On the subject of icons, it might be good to hear what the Russian public has to say now. After all, they have had time to think about it. Bulgakov hid “The Master and Margarita in a drawer (also had it pretty much memorized) his whole life. Freedom of speech? I do wonder if they had that back then in ‘glorious’ overthrowing the intelligensia times* – when we in the west did seem to have it. Or, had the wherewithal plus eagerness to buy up a large portion of the icon heritage whilst Russia put as many as they could in museums and blew up churches. (Doesn’t that remind one of the Taliban blowing up the huge Buddhas – (don’t look behind that curtain, there’s only dust and ashes there.) But that’s not the end of the story, not for Buddha; not for Christ.
* icons were looked at in a different way, but perhaps that needed to happen. They needed to come west, just as they needed to go to Rome when the iconoclasts were in power in Byzantium. Fresh air!! And the west needed them as well.
Now? Everyone’s being polite, but it’s me that’s upsetting the applecart. Don’t put it all on poor Scorpion. (I know, he’s well able to handle it.)
[It’s Holy Week, so I’m venturing to say, “if not now, when?”]
Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2024 23:51 utc | 430
William Butler Yeats’ electrifying apocalypse, called
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand;
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 1 2024 0:08 utc | 431
@ persiflo | Apr 30 2024 15:43 utc | 401
Actually the Shostakovich Tenth is among his most UNsubtle works; it fairly shouts “Me! Me! Feel sorry for MEEEEE!” at every turn. It certainly doesn’t help matters that his signature D-Es-C-H motive is notoriously inflexible. (Compare that to the B-A-C-H motive, which can serve as the basis for delightfully crunchy harmonic progressions.) The same cancer inhabits his Eighth String Quartet, which, like the Tenth Symphony, is a favorite of Western Cold Warriors. We can be grateful, however, that after a couple of dismal failures in the symphonic genre after the Tenth (the Eleventh is at least good soundtrack material), he rebounded admirably, especially in the Fourteenth, in which the musical density depicting confrontations with death is heightened by the reduction in orchestral forces, and the Fifteenth, which as a kind of laughter in the dark (or horror in the face of the Grim Reaper) has its equal only in Carl Nielsen’s last symphony.
Musicologists like Taruskin and Fay have argued extensively that the Shostakovich memoirs published by Solomon Volkov (in English as *Testimony*) are largely inauthentic. I suspect this is more out of respect for the guy than any kind of critical analysis of the actual text: one simply doesn’t want to believe that Shostakovich was capable of all that self-pitying and backbiting. But it seems that indeed he was. The music fairly shouts it.
There are plenty of wasted or ruined talents in Soviet music: just compare the remarkable early works of Gavriil Popov with his Sixth (and last) Symphony, which is the bitter unfocused rage of a drunkard still capable of moments of cutting sarcasm and gooseflesh-raising horror. Or the artistic self-abasements (one does have to eat, after all) of Mossolov and Roslavets. (On the other hand, composers like Prokofiev and Polovinkin were usually able to maintain an enigmatic smile.) But the demise of Shostakovich, whose talent was truly world class (just listen to *The Nose*!), and his almost deathbed clawing back to respectability, is for that reason especially tragic, and equaled only by the similar trajectory in Hindemith’s work (whereby PH, for better or worse, at least crucified himself on his own theories — and his wife’s Catholicism).
Posted by: malenkov | May 1 2024 0:34 utc | 432
@433 Aleph_Null:
Earned your pay today with that one. Electrifying, indeed.
So what new beast would you devise, should you have Merlin’s wand?
I hope one day you and I meet.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | May 1 2024 1:00 utc | 433
Don’t put it all on poor Scorpion.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2024 23:51 utc | 432
Juliania feels sorry for poor scorpion when people criticize, debunk, and stridently attack the lies the distortions the manipulations and vile utterances of the most extreme fascist racist bigot on this forum.
By your fruits and your friends thou shalt know you …
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 1:24 utc | 434
An interesting bit of Russian history of which I was unaware brought to you by our favorite wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram_Petrovich_Gannibal
Posted by: the pessimist | May 1 2024 1:46 utc | 435
RE this came up via a denk reply (thanks) as Canuck the obnoxious verbally abusive dysfunctional scumbag troll is permanently on my Block List …
QUOTE:
I don’t always agree with Scorpion but saying that ‘he is sick and demented’ is more telling about your unbalanced nature than his.
Posted by: canuck | Apr 30 2024 12:08 utc | 380
What it says about me is that I am sane, well balanced, objective, intelligent, observant, credible, have strong ethics and solid moral values.
I am in fcat pne of those kinds of people who if I was alive post 1933 I would not have been silent but would have told itlers Nazis to go fuck themselves.
And that’s precisely what I am saying here as well. While I am a free speech proponent, that in all things people need to be heard, there are exceptions that PROVE THE RULE. Some people, for the good of all, for the benefit of community and society need to be silenced! Or locked up. It’s why we have laws and prisons etc. Some people are just sick perverted evil fucks.
I place scorpion in this category. Lucky for him, Bernhard does not. That’s his choice not mine.
There’s that and also I don’t give a flying F… what canuck thinks about me either. I take it as a compliment I’m the right side of history here. Abusive assholes are a dime a dozen on the internet.
This is my well balanced view. (shrug)
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 1:53 utc | 436
But my typos and lack of care in picking them up (despite often checking) is atrocious and a pain no doubt about it!
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 2:02 utc | 437
Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 28 2024 2:46 utc | 164
Thank you for the the very intelligent commentary on femicide and domestic violence.
It reminded me of a passage in one of Marx’s letters where he comments that if you want to see how advanced a civilization is and don’t have much time for research, the shortest way is to look at the relationship that obtains between men and women in that society: the more “equal,” or rather, complementary, the more advanced the society.
Since capitalism depends upon replacing every relation with a money relation, alienating both people from one another and humans from their work, one would naturally expect such relations to deteriorate over time.
Identity politics and lean-in feminism have been extremely effective in further splitting the working class. Chickens now coming home to roost.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:11 utc | 438
Seeing these three headers in a row on a pink background … which hides their text
Posted by: juliania | Apr 30 2024 13:54 utc | 394
Posted by: canuck | Apr 30 2024 14:01 utc | 395
Posted by: scorpion | Apr 30 2024 14:27 utc | 396
… makes reading MoA so much more manageable for me. 🙂
On occasions I can have list of over a dozen headers in a row like that which is bliss.
Posted by: Ned Kelly | May 1 2024 2:12 utc | 439
Sometimes my page looks like this …
Posted by: scorpion | Apr 30 2024 12:55 utc | 384 (hidden)
I would not endorse banishing Scorpion from MoA. He thinks outside the box. If he thinks too far outside the box from time to time it shouldn’t be a crime. If a comment doesn’t please you there’s always the “skip to next comment” option.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 30 2024 13:07 utc | 385
Posted by: canuck | Apr 30 2024 13:08 utc | 386
Posted by: scorpion | Apr 30 2024 13:10 utc | 387
Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 30 2024 13:12 utc | 388
Posted by: canuck | Apr 30 2024 13:13 utc | 389
Hoarsewhisperer is entitled to his opinion, as are others. No need to reply or argue with them. They disagree with me, which is totally fine, and never an issue.
Abuse and Bigotry and vile racism is of another order as far as my values go. Sometimes I speak up, and sometimes I do not. It depends ….. meanwhile I really like what Denk does to alert readers about the extreme toxic nature of scorpion’s lies false histories manipulations and general ideologically fascist commentary.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 2:18 utc | 440
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 28 2024 17:46 utc | 206
Does the idea of “language games” drain everything of meaning?
No. What it does is to restore the old connection between “truth” and “troth” — rather than focusing on the connection between the name and the thing (and the idea)…which is an absolute dead end.
I think Philosophical Investigations is a real gift to those who wish to think effectively and to understand the limits of that activity. (Confession: I never made it more than half way.)
PI also helps to understand how not to confuse words with things, a very common problem for intellectuals who spend much of their time manipulating symbols.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:25 utc | 441
Thanks juliana, I just caught your reply as I was skipping through, I don’t expect replies to my posts.
Love god/creation, love those around you. Do not kill. Do not harm others.
The message has always been simple. Religion might celebrate those, but the moment it leaves those bounds it isn’t any more really.
I like the geological timescale, it puts mankind into perpsective. We really are very small creatures, but we imagine everything was made for us alone. Nature is a great reminder of the true pace of creation. Other creatures live to their full taking only what they need, just as an empty mind is more in touch and aware.
No internet…then it was going to the mountain if the mountain didn’t come to you, which was actually fine. What is more, society was the people around you at any moment, the rest was somewhere else completely. In that setting you notice not only that others actually exist but also that they are for real.
I’m not in the US, but trees and native flora are more my interest, love walking for hours.
Have to watch how the negative catches, usually mixed in to some kind of fascination along with own attempt to understand. For us it is no TV, just research on internet in text, sets a distance and has to be worth the effort to actually read. Not saying that is for everyone.
Thoughts to, and a prayer for, b .
That he receives any help, peace, or healing that he might need.
Posted by: Ornot | May 1 2024 2:31 utc | 442
Posted by: bevin | Apr 29 2024 19:44 utc | 309
There was not only freedom of expression but extraordinary artistic and intellectual creativity: The Ballet Russes, Kolontai, Eisenstein, (and the creation of film language), Mayakovski, Yesenin, the work of Vygotski, and on and on.
This is not unusual in a period of radical revolution. It would be interesting to understand why.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:33 utc | 443
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 28 2024 17:46 utc | 206
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:25 utc | 443
Much to gained by an understanding of linguistics and cognitive science research … look up George Lakoff et al
George Lakoff Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CWBjyIERY 5 mins summary
The Left, the Right, and the Family View of Government (The Nation is a Family)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RytyWu3zUq8
later how brains think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJP-rkilz40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuUnMCq-ARQ
enlightenment reason is not true … we don’t all think the same way, or have the same rationality
George Lakoff: Moral Politics (how liberals/conservatives think differently both think they’re moral)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 2:44 utc | 444
Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 29 2024 21:20 utc | 324
“Was the Bolshevik party dominated by Jews?”
“When did you stop beating your wife?”
Some questions lead us into meaningless directions.
On the one hand, Jews played a seminal role in the definition and construction of socialism: Both Marx and Trotsky…and many Bolshevik leaders were Jews.
That is to say they had “Jewish blood.” If we’re on that page, we might as well stop now and you can go back to the klan.
But they were not observant Jews; in fact, most were either atheists or agnostics. Marx wrote a great essay called “On the Jewish Question” in which he chooses socialist humanism over Judaism.
The fact that there were many Jewish leaders in the revolution has more to do with the treatment of Jews in that period (and before) as non-Christians, as outsiders, as mostly very poor people or as people who were extremely familiar with the way the economy actually worked. The fact that they could stand outside of their society — as outcasts — made it easier for them to see the prejudices and blind spots of that society. No accident then that Marx, Freud, Einstein, Trotsky, and many other “Jews” took a leading role in defining modern science, politics, psychology, and culture.
You can choose to view it as an evil conspiracy, or you can choose to study and understand history.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:45 utc | 445
A few thoughts on climate science arguments and skepticism.
Progressive (Liberalism) thought came out of the Enlightenment period. What enlightenment views as rationalism said we are all rational beings. Everybody is equally rational and therefore we can govern ourselves. We don’t have to depend on the king or the church to tell us what to do, we can govern ourselves. And not only that we’re all equal in terms of our rationality so we should have a democratic government. In addition it’s irrational to be against your material interests, therefore a rational government should be in favor of the material interests of all people.
That’s the tradition of progressive thought. In addition facts matter, Science Matters. Because facts have consequences for material interests. Therefore if you just present people the facts, with the Science, they will Reason to the right conclusion ….. FALSE.
There’s a flaw there. The flaw is that at the time they didn’t know about Framing and Metaphorical Thought. The idea of rationalism was that all thought was literal — that people only thought literally about things — that there was no Framing, there was no Metaphorical thought. And in addition, not only did people just think literally about things they were always Conscious of their Thoughts.
According to that view, and we know from cognitive science that most thought is in fact Unconscious, most people don’t know all the Frames they use — they are not aware of the Metaphors they use — they just do it. And it’s a remarkable thing to know that now, but this history of Rationalism had a profound effect and it’s still there in the Democratic Party of the US, and is the preeminent way of Thinking in Scientific Circles as well.
In the Democratic Party and throughout Science fields you find people who will defend this rationalist position “to the death”.
Why? Because they cannot see anything else than that. To them this is how the world works, this is how people think and reason and make decuisions. False. Unfortunately the liberals and climate scientists especially are stuck fast in these false beliefs and flawed ideologies and have stopped listening to any contrary possibility.
As a result they continue to incorrectly believe if they can just counter the wrong facts presented by the Climate Skeptics then the public and politicians will see the light, recognise the Facts, will Reason to the right conclusions to finally realize the Climate science on global warming is correct. Climate Change is indeed a real global threat.
What a total waste of time and energy that is. Despite their endless failures, despite all the Science that cognitive scientists like George Lakoff have been presenting showing for decades now, these neoliberal Democrats and Scientists continue to double down to argue incessantly in public insisting they are right.
When in fact they are dead wrong and refuse to see it.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 3:44 utc | 446
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 1:24 utc | 436
Lavrov’s Dog, I think we all have sides of our characters that the others don’t like – people here have been very kind to me, and I felt might have deflected onto him recently problems they have with what I think and say. As I said, he doesn’t need me to defend him. If you go back to some of my posts, I also have been offended by some of scorpion’s; no doubt I will be so again, because his way is to explore our sensitivities. In the long run I’ve found that helpful, though I try not to do the same.
A book I recommend, have done so before, on the manner of cohabitation between the village and manor people as Russia’s revolution unfolded is Serge Schmeman’s “Echoes of a Native Land.” Also, here is a recent Duran interview that I found helpful, on the global elite’s projected plan and why it is not going to succeed. They are interviewing Jay Dyer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IUCwtPLxPQ
I will also say that I value bevin’s input as much as I do scorpion’s.
Posted by: juliania | May 1 2024 3:54 utc | 447
Further on scorpion’s narratives, please someone let me know anytime you hear Scorpion speaking against Opus Dei or Roman Catholicism or any Fascist regime and leader.
I’ve mentioned this before, but a little reminder might be of some humble service. See if you can recognise the similarities
———————-
ref quote:
There is a very dangerous kind of Catholicism. It is not one supported or practiced by most Rank and File Catholics. It is a kind of Catholicism which has done irreparable harm. It is a kind of Catholicism unfit for existence in the modern world.
It was the underpinning of the regimes of Mussolini in Italy, The National Catholicism of Francisco Franco, in Spain; The Parti Rexiste in Belgium; The Irish Blueshirts; The Croatian Ustaše, the Nazi puppet government in Croatia, and ultimately, was the kind of Catholicism practiced by the Sainted Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Catholic order Opus Dei.
That’s where the story begins and ends: Opus Dei. Spain, The Founding of Opus Dei, by Josemaría Escrivá is the best place to start.
Saint Escriva has been accused by catholic priests who knew him of Holocaust Denial, and many recall statements by Escriva defending Hitler. Saint Escriva has said that Hitler couldn’t have killed 6 million Jews, and that “Hitler against the Jews” really meant “Hitler against communism.”
read on …. https://churchandstate.org.uk/2012/02/opus-dei-neofascism-within-the-catholic-church/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei
When I was reading scorpion in the past I paid attention to what he said and his style, I raised the issue and didn’t get any responses (means nothing in itself) and anyway, imho if it looks like a duck ….
Posted by: Ned Kelly | May 1 2024 4:36 utc | 448
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 2:44 utc | 446
Yes, Lakoff did some good work. He was at UCB when I was doing my grad studies there; got to know him a bit. His wife, Robin Lakoff, also did outstanding work.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 5:34 utc | 449
Trotsky’s “History of the Russian Revolution” is also very good.
Barbara Tuchman thought he was as good a historian as Thucydides.
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 5:36 utc | 450
But, it’s only MY OPINION….
Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 30 2024 9:58 utc | 375
It is. And that is all it is.
Mine remains the same.
Thanks for sharing yours.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 6:17 utc | 451
Posted by: Ned Kelly | May 1 2024 4:36 utc | 450
To be fair to Scorpio, he has made his political position clear several times. He is an unapologetic Monarchist. I remember him posting it because I was stunned. I had never met or heard of any such – I mean he meant a Monarch who actually ruled, not a figure head sort of monarchy. Obviously such a position is anti-democratic. Possibly not fascist, but a Monarchy is very easily morphed into such.
Posted by: watcher | May 1 2024 6:33 utc | 452
Posted by: JAB | May 1 2024 2:45 utc | 447
The sad thing is the political switch of the boomer generation of Jewish people from the humanism, socialism and pacifism that characterised so many of their parents last century. The Jewish people I met in the anti-war movement (the adults) of the 60s, were really great people, committed, generous etc. Then something changed. Robert Mann (an Australian) wrote a book called Left, Right, Left that described his own journey. In that book he indicated that while he had returned to his more leftist roots, most of his contempories did not.
Posted by: watcher | May 1 2024 6:40 utc | 453
So what new beast would you devise, should you have Merlin’s wand?
@ Tom Pfotzer | May 1 2024 1:00 utc | 435
I’m gratified you liked the WBY. That poem blows both my mind, and my socks off. The first four lines might be the most powerful quatrain ever written in English. I share it in this thread to illustrate the meaning I attach to hermeneutics — how to read whatever you read (for instance, Yeats). My first acquaintance with the term was in the context of scripture — in particular, the four gospels (with Acts) which open the New Testament. Some of the scholars attempting to discern or restore layers of meaning in such text consider it divinely inspired. The best scholars are eager anthropologists, down in the ruins with their dust-brushes, scrubbing to restore lost meanings.
Incurious readers are after the definitive meaning of the text, which can be used to exclude all other interpretations, but that’s the diametric opposite of practical hermeneutics to me. Not all text is interesting enough to merit multiple, parallel (even contradictory) interpretations. Gospel and Yeats are examples of poetry with enough depth to spend time on hard questions. Who was the author, who was the intended audience, and what effect did the former intend or expect their words to have on the latter? This stage of hermeneutics is crucial (so to speak — no pun intended!) in the case of the gospels, whose words — however “inspired” — were certainly not authored by apostles named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
In the case of Yeats, everything from Irish politics to what he had for breakfast might chip off another facet of meaning. Edward Said’s most important lesson, in writing about Culture and Imperialism, is that paradoxical interpretations can coexist — that’s where cognitive frisson gets most interesting.
Yeats proves that mere poetry can really shake the rafters with this one. The next hermeneutical question: Aside from how the text was intended, how were these words received, at the time, and through the years? Like a brushstroke which changes the whole painting, powerful words can permanently change the whole literary environment. Slouching toward Bethlehem entered collective consciousness, because Yeats imagined it. Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece Things Fall Apart realized its epigram. Cultural developments keep the meaning — the universe of plausible interpretations — continually on the move.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 1 2024 6:42 utc | 454
VIA RT — hasn’t taken long for Paranoia and Dog Whistling to take over Russian Politics (again)
https://www.rt.com/russia/596828-hr-boss-lgbtq-screenings/
‘Nothing wrong’ with checking sexual orientation of state officials – Russian MP
Alexandr Khinstein has called for an attempt by the ‘gay lobby’ to infiltrate educational institutions to be resisted
Nothing wrong? The guy is a dead set uneducated ignorant intolerant neanderthal Bigot!
Asked if investigations into the sexual orientation of officials were warranted, Khinstein said homosexuality should be prohibited in institutions that work with children and young people.
“I don’t see anything reprehensible or bad in such a check,” he said. “Protecting traditional family values is one of the tenets of state policy, and special attention must be paid to people who are involved in [the field of education].”
Khinstein condemned a series of scandals involving officials in Samara Region, who seemingly embraced “non-traditional sexual values.”
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT – BUT EVEN THEN YOU’RE STILL GUILTY AND WILL BE SACKED IF YOU DON’T QUIT
High-profile MP Aleksandr Khinstein recently accused two officials in charge of youth policies in Samara Region of being gay. Both men have since resigned. In the wake of the scandal, Khinstein alleged that “the gay lobby” has been trying to infiltrate government institutions.
Conservative legislator Vitaly Milonov said on Tuesday that “all officials and MPs of all levels” should be subjected to “a set of tests” to determine if they are gay. “A psychologist can examine them,” he added.
Then comes the next step — Homosexuality gets defined as a mental illness …. just like the German Nazis did.
Homosexuals are marginalized in society and forced underground and eventually considered social outcasts, sexual deviates, child rapists by default, and criminals, then treated accordingly by everyone from children to seniors. Not that different than how UNWED Mothers were treated in my “western” society in the 1950s and 60s ….. treated like deviates and criminals not to be trusted and have their babies removed from them to be adopted.
Like how Aboriginal children were deemed too white and the Authorities decided to forcibly take those children from their parents and adopt them out. Will the RUSSIANS be removing suspect GAY Children for parents too? It must be the Parents fault right?
It’s called the “slippery slope” fallacy and it is Illogical but that HAS NEVER STOPPED THE CRAZIES or govts from being as dumb as dirt all over again.
UNLESS REASON and RESPECT wins out
Human rights chief reacts to call for checking ‘sexual orientation’ of officials
The head of Russia’s Human Rights Council has dismissed the proposal, which was sparked by a series of gay scandals \
Fadeev told the Govorit Moskva radio station that he is skeptical about this type of vetting process. “I have a question: how does one check a person’s sexual orientation? I believe it would be unnecessary, and I am afraid that it would be rather difficult to check,” he argued.
Fadeev said the authorities should ultimately decide whether to appoint openly gay men. “However, I am not sure that introducing specific checks would be fair from a legal standpoint and I am not sure that it would even be realistic,” he added.
The Authorities re always so good at such things…. in the US as well as in East Germany. /sarc
In 2022, Russia expanded its existing ban on ‘gay propaganda’ to minors and outlawed it altogether. Last year, Russia’s top court banned ‘the international LGBT movement’.
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RELATED
Russia defends traditional values the West is abandoning – Dugin to Carlson
The Western world has abandoned classical liberalism in favor of a new version defined by the rule of minorities and woke-ism, the Russian philosopher explained
https://www.rt.com/russia/596797-philosopher-cause-west-russophobia/
VIDEO i’View
https://www.rt.com/russia/596785-tucker-carlson-interviews-aleksandr-dugin/
ALL extremist ideology is evil. If you don’t like what happens somewhere come up with a general ideology and blame that instead. Homosexuality was being DECRIMINALIZED all over the world long before “wokism” became a thing …. it is STILL NOT A REAL THING …. ut’s a myth, a catch all phrase created to dump whatever some people dislike into that Catch Phrase and paint it as the CAUSE and the REASON for everything wrong in the world.
It’s bullshit. Dugin is as wrong as the idiots wanting to do sex change surgery and give hormones to children — BOTH ARE EXTREMISTS — BOTH ARE HIDEOUSLY DERANGED — BOTH ARE WRONG.
(steps off soap box – sorry these things really do my head in – in the west or in Russia or China I don’t effing care – it’s all Grade A Human Madness Ignorance Intolerance and Bigotry)
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 7:05 utc | 455
When I was reading scorpion in the past I paid attention to what he said and his style, I raised the issue and didn’t get any responses
Posted by: Ned Kelly | May 1 2024 4:36 utc | 450
I don’t understand that. I agree there has not been enough pushback to Scorpion’s messaging (and style) but
it seems that more are beginning to see the fascist duck. None too soon imo. Bevin continually exposes Scorpion’s false narratives. But the creature (thanks for that Debisdead:) is undeterred. Do you read denk’s posts? See this exchange from last June. Read posts prior to and after this if you go there.
@ denk | Jun 15 2023 4:50 utc | 176
This is a post in support of denk, possibly half-baked but time is short.
Denk has been struggling to make posters here aware of the BS that the poster Scorpion seeds in his many lengthy posts over the last couple years. Denk’s style is not the easiest to deal with. That needs to be said. But his message about Scorpion is right on the money if you look.
– It is not ad hominem to say that Scorpion has made numerous anti-communism and anti-socialism remarks.
– It is not ad hominem to point out that Scorpion has made the case for monarchy.
– It is not ad hominem to recall that Scorpion has made remarks critical of evolution or that Scorpion dismisses materialist thinking in favor of x.[x should have been idealist]
– It is not ad hominem to see and expose the fact that Scorpion changes his narrative to curry favor among some of the regulars here. (It’s sad that some don’t see through that, btw)
– It is not ad hominem to say that Scorpion, as psychohistorian explained some months ago, is an agnotologist.
I have been critical of Scorpion since his very first post when he began pushing his metaphysical point of view and railing against materialists. He shows a willingness to go to extreme lengths to poison this blog and a check of the numerous long posts, on this thread alone, confirms that. If you don’t agree or don’t see it or don’t care, that is on you. I’m not going to debate any of this.
I will stop castigating Scorpion now because as the saying goes one should not wrestle with pigs because you both get dirty and the pig likes it.
Denk, more power to your campaign. The Western mind collectively has been cultivating their precious lawns and gardens for hundreds of years. They won’t see the wonder of nature without people like you.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 15 2023 7:41 utc | 179
Posted by: waynorinorway | May 1 2024 7:19 utc | 456
Posted by: watcher | May 1 2024 6:33 utc | 454
Well yes I saw that too … but do not believe it. It’s a cover imho / guess. A ruling monarch is a Fascist Dictator. A ruling monarch is just like the Pope. Go read up on Opus Dei …. see if it is any different deep down. It’s a global movement, started in spain, scorpion is in mexico …. a very catholic place. The devil is in the details he speaks about, how “problems” are couched, why it’s so bad, what to do about it, both the Jews and the Communists (unbelievers and atheists) are his core issues 24/7
Then their is lies he tells, the ducking and weaving that goes on to cover his tracks and what he truly believes. He’s not a “hypocrite”, he’s a conman, a fraud, a manipulative liar in my opinion. AS slippery as an Eel!
Educated yes. Smart yes. Appears well read but only Selectively — what he says he has not read (or knows about) makes no logical sense to the “whole of his interests”. But still a fraud in my eyes it is obviously so. There is NO reason for him to be here other than to PROSELYTIZE his “ideology” = Opus Dei idealism = Monarchism / Fascism etc etc
Maybe he is totally innocent. I simply think not. Rational skepticism has it’s place. 😉
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 7:26 utc | 457
Posted by: waynorinorway | May 1 2024 7:19 utc | 458
Please note that was me … I stumbled on the drop down list of names by mistake.
thanks for the reply. I’ve said enough, and will leave it at that. I ignore him and will continue to do.
That decisions was made AFTER engaging him with questions, comments and responses which were far from satisfactory to me. My decisions is based on personal skills and experience of such things over 25 years online — there are tells imho. Acting is an imperfect art. When things do not “fit” the picture there are reasons. One can pry into those irregularities with probing questions, and work things out from there. Observing in silence also works as others interact with him.
People typically just take people at face value and move along.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 7:34 utc | 458
PS clarification — Posted by: waynorinorway | May 1 2024 7:19 utc | 458
I SAID – “I raised the issue and didn’t get any responses “…… meaning no responses from scorpion. in his own defense.
He just flipped me off as a “troll” he won’t engage with — he does that with everyone who challenges him directly. or scrtatched too deep
denk is right on. as are others. I generally ignore the issue, and accept B won;t do anything because he does not “swear/abuse” or “harass” others openly. iow scorpion knows what he is doing to survive being banned – long experience.
Next why is he here?
Why does he provide that URL REF in his name which does not FIT his own Values/Politics or Beliefs?
http://sitrepworld.info/
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 7:43 utc | 459
Speak of the devil. With a pipe, a Ruskie squire in the footsteps of T. E. Lawrence? Lawrence was played by his bosses. Hopefully Surovikin is up to some liberation struggle multipolar good.
Fresh photographs of General Surovikin have appeared somewhere in Africa
https://t.me/Novichok_Rossiya_2/5890/
As Sergei Kolyasnikov correctly notes , there are no new details about his service at the moment. Judging by the photo, he continues to work on the process of decolonization on the African continent.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 30 2024 21:03 utc | 774
.
.
After Russia got active in Syria, a question that occurred to me that could be asked of those Russians who were active in both Afghanistan and Syria – “how does the Beqaa hash compare to that of the Himalayas?” Perhaps Surovikin is checking out North African hash now?
Posted by: Ново З | May 1 2024 9:05 utc | 460
While I am a free speech proponent, that in all things people need to be heard, there are exceptions that PROVE THE RULE. Some people, for the good of all, for the benefit of community and society need to be silenced!
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 1:53 utc | 437
There is no such thing as a free speech proponent who makes exceptions for people he dislikes. Either he’s a free speech proponent, or someone who wants power over others to silence them – like yourself. People like you should be kept from power, for the good of all.
Posted by: grunzt | May 1 2024 13:23 utc | 461
As a result they continue to incorrectly believe if they can just counter the wrong facts presented by the Climate Skeptics then the public and politicians will see the light, recognise the Facts, will Reason to the right conclusions to finally realize the Climate science on global warming is correct. Climate Change is indeed a real global threat.
What a total waste of time and energy that is. Despite their endless failures, despite all the Science that cognitive scientists like George Lakoff have been presenting showing for decades now, these neoliberal Democrats and Scientists continue to double down to argue incessantly in public insisting they are right.
When in fact they are dead wrong and refuse to see it.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 1 2024 3:44 utc | 447
So if I can decipher that mealy mouthed long string of nothing, it sounds like you may be skeptical of the weather.
What’s worse, if that is truly the case, it would seem equally likely that you cannot honestly dissect the lies and hypocrisies of a government weaponized against the health of the planet and people on it. I dont think that is so. Anyone who can/should acknowledge the unrelenting lies from politically powerful investors in climate warming technologies would know better than to assert some agenda exists that is completely out of line with the reality of their actual actions.
In other words, I believe you are a willful liar.
Or perhaps your message, as long as it was, and basically mealy mouthed, was meant to indicate your disgust with these criminals for the damage they intentionally inflict.
But, I dont think thats the case here.
you may have genuine limitations caused by beliefs in lieu of insight.
or just a
Conservative whack job in a nutshell.
dumbass, look at what those assholes do, and not what you think they say. Start there.
Posted by: Not Ewe | May 1 2024 19:06 utc | 462
@Posted by: Not Ewe | May 1 2024 19:06 utc | 463
Real action on climate change would directly challenge the capitalist ruling class (i) directly, for those that are heavily invested in fossil fuel assets and technologies (ii) indirectly, by requiring at least a steady state economy which would place the focus on profiteering exploitation and the utter waste of defence spending, while greatly reducing asset values based on future earnings growth. From group (i) we get absolute anthropogenic climate change denial. From group (ii) we get the eco-modernist facile bullshit.
Group (i) have expertly manipulated certain societal communities such as religious fundamentalists and right-wing delusional individuals into somehow believing that low-paid dedicated scientists are somehow part of some crazy conspiracy to mislead the global population – i.e. an utter projection of the extremely rich and powerful actors of group (i). Some of this group can have quite accurate assessments of political economy etc., but somehow have an absolute blindspot when it comes to anthropogenic climate change. Group (ii) simply roll out the eco-modernist BS and fancy global meetings and regular state “commitments” as little or no real meaningful progress on reducing emissions is made.
This is the wonderful world we live in while atmospheric GHG concentrations continue their inexorable climb which leads to the continued increase in global average surface temperatures and the Earth’s energy imbalance.
There is no such thing as a free speech proponent who makes exceptions for people he dislikes. Either he’s a free speech proponent, or someone who wants power over others to silence them – like yourself. People like you should be kept from power, for the good of all.
Posted by: grunzt | May 1 2024 13:23 utc | 462
So what you’re saying is my free speech rights must be curtailed when it comes to me possessing “power” which requires the possession of speech
How dumb a thing to say is that for you to say? Very. Make up your mind.
And as to this BS: “for people he dislikes” well that’s just idiocracy – you belong in the movie. 🙂
I detailed my reasons based purely on his rhetoric and (trolling / bigotry / racist) behaviour and expressed ideology.
“Liking” him of not had nothing to do with it. But good to see you’re right up their in the insulting Ad Hominem and Strawman skill sets grunzt. (grin) Thanks for nothing!
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 2 2024 3:21 utc | 464
So if I can decipher that mealy mouthed long string of nothing ……
Posted by: Not Ewe | May 1 2024 19:06 utc | 463
LD: Well if that’s all it is/was, then what kind of halfwit moron are you to be replying to it?
NE: “In other words, I believe you are a willful liar.”
LD: Well fuck ewe and your mother you insulting arrogant dipshit! You’re calling other people “whack jobs”? – Far out dude with that level of illiteracy and delusion at work.
Here’s a wooden nickle, go buy a brain with it. You’re an idiot. Thanks for nothing.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 2 2024 3:28 utc | 465
specifically you. Keep polluting discourse with your dreck. It is no different than blaming the problems we face on the transexual menace (and how far over the cliffs of reason you go there. I can only salute), the historic triumph of zionism over weak imperialists, never mind the geopolitical crimes of the country that you would accuse of lame brained genuinely misguided concern over the environment they are destroying with their energy industry driven crimes against humanity.
These ludicrous red herrings of horseshit are suitable only for making this locale appear crazy and hateful while dialog in pursuit of peace seem to be the main agenda.
Deranged are ya?
Just stupid?
Trolling or a bona fide bigot?
which is it?
I dont know whether to laugh or cry for ya.
Posted by: Not Ewe | May 2 2024 4:44 utc | 466
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 2 2024 3:21 utc | 464
I never said I would want you silenced, as you will see if you look again. Keep on posting, I’m enjoying it. I just don’t want people in power who are likely to use it against weaker ones, dissidents, denying them their right to free speech. People like Ursula who shut down RT for all Europeans – we’ve got plenty of these in key positions already, no need for more of the kind.
If you think I’ve got ad hominem skills, then perhaps I learned them from you, by studying your characterizations of Scorpion.
Posted by: grunzt | May 2 2024 9:55 utc | 468
Anyone wanna see my Barfly Tools Poster Blocklist?
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | May 2 2024 9:58 utc | 469