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The New Paradigm

The old paradigm based on the illusion of competition and economic Social Darwinism is about to meet the ignominious end it so richly deserves. These were perpetrated by selfish, greedy people who manipulated the minds of ordinary folks to believe a lie.

The new paradigm as it truly is in nature is cooperation, open learning, and consensual decision making.

To call these old and new paradigms is really a misnomer. These two paradigms have been around since the days of Egypt and Mesopotamia. They reflect two different mindsets that are still at work in the world between Eastern and Western civilization.

Of the two paradigms, the more enduring is the cooperative, mainly because that is what works best for survival in nature and especially so for human beings for the simple reason that humans are irreducibly communal.

The psychosis of American society is the result of increasing and unending insolation in a world where community no longer genuinely exists.

While community has come to have many meanings, the most important is a sense of belonging within a population in a physical environment. This means that individuals are accepted as they are the same way that children in a family all have a place within it. None are excluded. And just as in any family there are certain norms of behavior that all must live by, a community will have norms to maintain social order and harmony.

The problem of modern society is the lack of norms in the name of pluralistic relativism. The failure of the parochial communities of old is the imposing of inhumanly strict norms that deny the wide range of human expression based on some foolish notion that has nothing to do with reality or reason. Neither of these extremes are appropriate for full human development.

The great disruption to come when the age of cheap oil ends will necessitate the re-establishing of truly local communities. But these communities will need to reconstitute themselves using a new paradigm if it hopes to have any chance of long term viability.

The Western model is an abject failure and has been a failure since the days of the Sumerians and the Greeks based as they were on atomistic individualism. The most enduring model of civilizational sustainability can be seen in the ancient Egyptians, and in the continuing existence of China and India which are based on social communalism. It would be a sign of wisdom to learn what they have to teach about living as human beings in community so that we may all have a place on this earth.

Exhaustion

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel really, really tired today. Exhausted. The kind that hits you when you've been "keeping up appearances" in the face of enormous tragedy for too long. It's as much to keep from feeling the full brunt of the tragedy as it is to be strong for others needing hope and consolance. I've finally run out and now I just feel spent.

The whole situation in America is heading for the most rude awakening since the fall of Assyria and the Roman empire. By definition, America is not ready for the shitstorm to come when the whole house of cards crashes down.

To be honest, I can't wait. Maybe then American arrogance will be deflated enough to learn some humility.

Reality: The Children of Iraq

From Today in Iraq, the first entry for today is:

Bring 'em on: The children of Iraq

I don't usually look at such pictures. But if I am to know the evil that America has become, I must see the plain, unvarnished truth of it.

This kind of evil cannot go unanswered or unpunished. I hope America is preparing itself for the coming retribution.

Notice: The paradigm has shifted

This blog has been fairly scattered which follows the scatteredness of my thoughts and feelings as I've tried to sort through all that has happened since last year.

This morning I awoke with a sense of clarity. Hearing birds sing on a sunny spring-like day in January in Minnesota was at first a bit like feeling not ready for prime time. But as I woke up, got some coffee in me, and mulled over the events of yesterday, I came to realize that there is nothing more important for me to focus on than Kunstler's coming clusterfuck and its resulting shitstorm that is going to hit America in the next few years.

In conversing about this with my life-pal this morning I have determined we have about 3 years to get ready for it. Anyone with half a brain needs to start organizing, re-building their community, and re-localizing their economy to deal with what is to come.

The way I see it, this year, 2005, will focus attention on cost hikes and income shrinkage and continuing job market losses. The dollar may actually collapse this year but I'm only guessing based on my woman's intuition on this. The war in Iraq will become wholly untenable in terms of lives lost and lives damaged beyond repair as well as the sheer debt it will incur. For me, the cost of the war is not worth any of the oil we could possibly get out of it.

Then, 2006 will begin another election cycle in earnest. Americans' attention deficit disorder created by the media will divert their immediate concerns to the smoke and mirror realm of politics and the lie that everything is just fine and tomorrow will be better.

After the vote in November and the new year ticks over, 2007 will see economic upheaval and increasing social disorder as a result. What trends we'll see is still foggy for me to discern, but I think there will be just enough inertia to keep pretending that the world will continue as we've always known it safely ensconced in our pod in the matrix.

By 2008 even the presidential election won't be able to prop up the illusion that will be so rudely ripped away. No jobs, no money, skyrocketing fuel and energy prices leading to runaway inflation on everything. Food is going to start being a genuine concern as items stop being on the shelf at the grocery store. And THAT is when the shit will hit the fan.

The way I see it, we have only 3 years to get our act together to get a plan worked out and put in place to deal with the popping of the modern industrial widget-making bubble. We will be forced to return to the agrarian, pre-modern old-fashioned quaintness of the nineteenth century.

If there is one good thing about this to look forward to: obesity will cease to be a public health problem.

Getting really irreverent

The hatred and loathing of Bush knows no bounds.
From Today in Iraq watch this: He's an Asshole

The Inauguration and its protests

I am not watching the annoint....er....inauguration. Instead, I have C-SPAN2 on. It's carrying the protestors. As much as I laud and support the protestors efforts, I also find the protest lacks something essential, especially coming as it does a few days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

What was it MLK brought to the civil rights movement? What's the difference between MLK's "I have a dream" speech and what the protestors are shouting today?

It's a rather difficult quality to put one's finger and not many may understand its meaning, but what MLK had was depth, the deeply spiritual kind that goes beyond all particulars to reach the common bond of our humanity struggling against tyranny and oppression.

The trite chanting of the protestors today does not reach into the deep well of human suffering nor does it help us turn to each other and join hands in solidarity. The protestors today do not speak of a vision we can share and work to build together, though I cannot blame them for their strident anger. Unfortunately, without spiritual depth, little will come of today's protest against Bush, the Iraq war, and the continuing injustices of American policy.

What we need is a spiritual vision of what life could and should be like and to feel a spiritual connection with our fellow humans. Only then will we have the depth and wisdom to guide our energies into a transformational force of social renewal and a rebirth of the human spirit.

Let us put our differences aside to find what binds us together as human beings. Let us stop insisting on I, me, and mine and begin thinking about us, we, and ours. All of our individual lives are inextricably bound up together in deeply interconnected but unseen ways. Let us wake from the delusion of isolation into the reality of our shared humanity. And let us dream of a real equality, real justice, and a real peace.

The 'Media Party' is over

My goodness. The amount of smoke of mirrors in this piece boggles the mind.

Despite the so-called "discrediting" of Dan Rather's report, AWOLBUSH.com is a rich source of documentation for Bush having been AWOL during his Air National Guard service.

Also see: tompaine.com and Bush fell short on duty at guard and especially, CBS' COWARDICE AND CONFLICTS BEHIND PURGE.

What I really see happening is a "purging" of anyone in a position to "threaten" Bush and the PNAC agenda. What you are seeing is fascism at work by further tightening control of everything we see, hear, and read in the mainstream media. ALL MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTLETS ARE PROPAGANDA OUTLETS. Remember that. It is time to start getting your news from alternative internet sources.

It is also noteworthy that Bill Moyers names Leslie Moonves in his keynote speech at the 2003 Media Reform conference as having something other than the promotion of good journalism or protecting our democracy motives.

A few more very short comments below.


The 'Media Party' is over

ANALYSIS
By Howard Fineman
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 5:12 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2005

WASHINGTON - ... Now the AMMP is reeling, and not just from the humiliation of CBS News.

I gotta wonder why the Boston Globe hasn't been similarly "discredit" or "humiliated".

In this situation, the last thing the AMMP needed was to aim wildly at the
president — and not only miss, but be seen as having a political motivation in
attacking in the first place.

For all they've said about CBS, Dan Rather, and the media, why did they leave out the Swift Boat Veterans Against Kerry nonsense?

Mad Eye Moody

To rule a country

Confucius says...

To rule a country there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons. (B1ch5)

The beginning of the path of a sage

Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perserverence and application?
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from a far?
Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him? (B1Ch1)

Happy New Year!

May everyone enjoy this day of relative peace and quiet, such as it is.

The Power of Nightmares

From Information Clearinghouse:

The Power of Nightmares | The Rise of the Politics of Fear