Tag Archives: authoritarianism

The Road to Diamond, Day 24: White Pills

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Posted by on in Community, distraction issues, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 22, 2024- A red pill is still a pill-a quick fix; so are a green pill, a black pill, a yellow pill, a jagged little pill, and a white pill.

The conservative writer, John Stossel, whose work I read whenever I encounter it-usually in our local newspaper, The Prescott Courier, spent his most recent column discussing a book by a self-styled anarchist, named Michael Malice (“Malees”), who hails from Russia and survived life in the Soviet Union. This book is called “The White Pill- A Symbol of Hope”. Mr. Malice means no measure of the other word that’s spelled the same as his surname. Yet, his focus, alas, is with the enemy he knows: Authoritarian socialism, communism, Marxism-the “foe” on the Left. He skips over authoritarianism on the Right: Illiberalism, revanchism, Fascism. He placed, at the time of his interview with Mr. Stossel, more trust in the judgment of Elon Musk than in that of any actual politician, including Donald Trump. That was then (a month ago).

A white pill is still just a pill; a quick fix. There is no substitute for hard work, when it comes to maintaining civility, equanimity, democracy. Before anyone jumps in and says: “But this is NOT a democracy, it’s a republic!”, let me remind you that a republic is a derivative of democracy (Demos kratos-people power, in Old Greek). Any government where the citizens have an actual voice-Republic, constitutional monarchy, parliamentary system, is a democracy. Any government of the few is an oligarchy, whether the elites are “conservative” or “progressive”.

Mr. Stossel promises to continue his debate with Mr. Malice. In light of Elon Musk’s recent praise of neo-Nazis in Germany, I will continue to follow the discourse.

The Road to Diamond, Day 5: Seoul

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 3, 2024- As I wrapped up my visit with Aram and Yunhee, stopping for a satisfying lunch at a Pollo Regio branch, just down the street from HB II, a drama was unfolding in Seoul, South Korea, that may have worldwide implications.

As Aram and I drove to DFW, and he jockeyed for position on the road with at least one driver who didn’t know what he wanted to do, much less know where he was headed, thousands of people in Seoul found they had been betrayed. These were young men, who had voted into office a man who told them what they wanted to hear, that he felt their pain in the midst of a world that no longer put them on a pedestal, and that he would reverse the course of society and make men the center of the Universe, once more. Now, that same President was declaring martial law, placing himself on a pedestal-for the first time since 1989, when the last authoritarian President left office.

I lived in South Korea, in the final years of Chun Doo-hwan’s regime. My little family and I were not treated badly, but I noticed that those who dissented publicly were routinely dispersed by pepper-spray and water cannon. I noticed that the riot police themselves were not treated much better, by their minders. There was wire-pulling going on, setting the common people against one another, 24/7. This lessened, to a great extent, after a series of democratically-elected leaders, beginning with the conservatives Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam, and followed by progressives, themselves alternating with conservatives, proceeded to bring South Korea into a wider world.

Liberals and conservatives alike are fond of using phrases like “There’s no turning back” ,and “New World Order”. The two groups’ meanings are, at first blush, polar opposites of each other. There are, however, commonalities. Both see a world in which common people have a voice and the power brokers are reined in. Where they differ is with regard to exactly who those power brokers are. Conservatives see the “enemy” as Hollywood, “the Global Left”, Planned Parenthood and international financiers. Progressives see their foes as “the Christian Right” and mega-donors who control the levers of the media-both mainstream and social. In fact, those who stand in their way are the same forces-individuals and groups whose agenda rests in exercising control.

This is where what happened yesterday in Seoul matters to the world at large. The young men who voted in Yoon Suk-yeol, in 2022, are very similar to those who have voted in authoritarian leaders across the globe, in the past six years. Their locus of control is external, so they see any attempt by society and government to reduce the marginalization of women as a threat to their own well-being. This, as well as for different reasons that are specific to countries like Argentina, El Salvador, Hungary and the Netherlands, has brought similarly authoritarian leaders to the fore. Those, both male and female, who see themselves as being buffeted by forces out of their control, are bound to turn to the first, and loudest, appeal to their sense of well-being. I give you Weimar Germany, post-WWI Italy and Spain, resource-poor Japan of the 1920s and ’30s.

When Yoon Suk-yeol tried to return South Korea to the militarized days of 1960-88, the people found their inner locus of control-and took their country back, in short order. This looms large, for those who see authoritarianism as the wave of the future. “It ain’t necessarily so”-Ira Gershwin.

The true New World Order will arise from those whose locus of control is internal.

Focus and Count

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Posted by on in Community, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Technical stuff

August 28,2024- Her head spinning, the excitable teen threw up her hands and announced she was too stupid to figure how to do Scientific Notation. Looking at the arcane samples written on the white board, I could see where she, and several others, had come to that conclusion.

It’s not them; it’s the system of instruction. Focusing on maintaining order, I vowed to look up the matter in the quiet of my Home Base. So, should one want to write the number 168,275,000 in Scientific Notation, it would be necessary to move the decimal point (presently after the right-most zero) far enough to the left that the whole number,1, is followed by .68275000. Then, count the digits to the right of the decimal point. There are eight of them. This translates to 1.68275000 x 10 to the eighth power, or ten with an exponent of 8 . This laptop will not write it properly, but anyone who has had Algebra I knows what I mean. I will write it on the white board for all to see, tomorrow.

Focus and count is also necessary, when trying to make a rational, evidence-based decision that balances a heart conviction. Many men in their late teens and twenties have spoken of wanting to see a decisive, “macho” leader, who will, essentially, make the trains run on time-and shove all obstacles aside. That was tried, nearly a hundred years ago, in several countries of Europe. It’s been tried in several other countries since, with limited results, actually.

Historical evidence shows that human nature gets in the way of a machine-like system that knocks all obstacles to the side. The “macho” leader is still a human being and is subject to whims, fancies, and other emotions, which can and do make him/her go overboard. The leader, for example, may misjudge the nature of a an event or a phenomenon, convincing self and supporters that their way is the only way to get through the morass. The problem itself being complex, there are disappointments, setbacks and unrest that come before its resolution, and thinking outside the box, something often anathema to the authoritarian, to the hidebound elders and the unseasoned youth who support his/her efforts, is exactly what is needed to resolve the issue.

The same thing can happen with a top-heavy bureaucracy, which will, in its turn, bring another call for an authoritarian system. Red-tape vendors don’t like divergence of opinion, either. The fact remains, though, that the universe of problems can only be soothed by exactly such diversity. There are matters that can only be resolved by a trusted executive; others that require limited, but vigourous, debate and consensus and others that demand universal participation.

Many matters require that those involved focus, and count.

One Year Later

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 6, 2022- Epiphany, the recognition of Christ by the Three Magi-or kings from the East, if you wish, either is commemorated today only-or is a season of commemoration unto itself-lasting from today until Ash Wednesday. I stick with the former.

I wonder what we recognize, about our country today- a full year after what, to me, was a reckless, misguided attempt to begin solving deep-seated problems in our society by unilaterally installing-not electing- a claque of self-appointed experts who are used to making executive decisions on important matters. Sometimes, they get it right. Other times, the results, from unintended consequences, are catastrophic.

The delusion is the same, whether the oligarchs rule from the right-or from the left. The nomenclature itself, taken from the French Parlements’ practice of conservatives sitting on the right hand side of the chamber, with liberals sitting on the left hand side, is tellingly simplistic. The very idea, of people who posit opposing ideas being one’s mortal enemies, is so ludicrous as to give ridiculous a good name-but here we are.

A conservative friend did ridicule the comparison of 1-6-21 to the Holocaust, the Pearl Harbor attack and 9-11-01. He’s right, in terms solely of human casualties. He’s wrong, in terms of long-term effect on the democratic process. In each case, authoritarian forces tried to undermine American participatory democracy. Each attack is one in a string of a thousand cuts-regardless of the surface ideology of the assailants. In real terms, authoritarianism is a complete circle; there is no difference between Right and Left, if in each case the boss is always correct. In each case, the attackers draw-and are buttressed by, those on the ground whose grievances are given surface recognition by the wirepullers of the attacks.

The sole antidote to such attacks is for those on the ground to recognize that both sides of the continuum offer solutions to some problems and exacerbate others. This is why we need both sides to hear one another out and think their respective opinions over.

The main entrance to a building is most often in the center of the frame-not tucked away in a corner.

Upholding the Timeless

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 26, 2020- “Stand, there’s a cross for you to bear, things to go through if you’re going anywhere.”– Sylvester “Sly” Stone

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder, Maulana Karenga, identified as seven traditional African values, with a day set aside to celebrate each of the values:

  1. “Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
  2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
  3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
  4. Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
  5. Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
  6. Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
  7. Imani (Faith):  To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. ” -Courtesy of Wikipedia.

One of the topics of discussion at our Christmas gathering, last night, was the underlying fear that people have of ideas that seem counter to American values. If one looks at what is celebrated during Kwanzaa, the festival is all about building up a community-without the taking advantage of the least among us, which, when one looks carefully at both the complaints of conservative small business owners and self-styled “socialists”,is a common concern of both groups.

No one in their right mind wants to be a “useful idiot’, the kind of dupe of which Vladimir Lenin bragged about having fooled, after the Bolshevik Revolution. Cooperative economics, which lends itself to ownership by the workers in an enterprise, rather than by the State, ought to be compatible with American entrepreneurship. I have visited a cafe, owned by a traditional conservative couple, for several years now. Their skills at consulting with their workers and the team that has been built, have established an admirable example of how even the busiest of enterprises may be managed in a climate of equanimity. I have seen the same, in another business, owned by cooperative socialists. This has been the strength of American workers, in the past, and there is no reason for that atmosphere to go away.

It is authoritarianism, regardless of social orientation, that presents the problem for people on both ends of the sociopolitical spectrum. The struggle, referred to as Imani, is primarily a shared experience, with both traditional conservatives and those wishing to alter our economic structure, for the good of the marginalized, wanting to hold back what they see as tyranny.

For both viewpoints, self-determination is a critical goal.

The Summer of the Rising Tides, Day 51: Bad Moon Rising

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, Historical, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

July 21, 2020-

I am re-reading Joy DeGruy’s “Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome”, an enlightening account of the effects of both two hundred forty six years of slavery, and nearly one hundred fifty-five years of its aftermath, on the psyches of African-Americans. There are a variety of ways that people who are descended from the enslaved have adapted to modern American society, just as there are a variety of ways that people who are descended from historically “free” people, or who are descended from First Nations people-they who were not technically enslaved, but who were most definitely not free, following the Trail of Tears and Black Hawk War, have adapted.

One of those ways, common to many, regardless of ethnicity, legal status or the historical background, is what Dr. De Gruy calls vacant esteem. The listless, the self-limiting, the soporific, the “crabs in a barrel”-all work overtime to keep both themselves and those around them in a state of suspended animation, or at least on a very basic level of achievement.

Society has largely answered this phenomenon with outwardly loving, but ultimately debilitating, practices like “the Self-Esteem movement”, participation awards, and worst of all-the simplified curriculum. We are seeing what these have brought- Along with the spread of a mindset that anything not perfect merits destruction, (the ULTIMATE crabs in a barrel mentality), the sense that “my ignorance is as good as your intellect” has brought us to the Age of Confusion.

It is in this clime, that opposites may be switched: Up is now down; black is white; good is evil; hatred is love. Into this setting come the notions- that anyone who thinks differently than oneself is demonic and deserves death; that one must dither and accommodate every single idea that is proposed, in the name of “fairness”; that rapid change must be opposed at all costs, or, conversely, that anyone opposing change needs to be pushed aside. It is not long in coming, when such attitudes, collectively, result in chaos, that authoritarian thinking, on BOTH sides of the divide, gains primacy.

We are seeing the seed sof this, here and now. Generations of authoritarian policing, (hardly everywhere, but in a critical mass of public experience), combined with long-standing authoritarian executive thinking-at the county and state levels in both “Liberal” and “Conservative” jurisdictions and at the municipal level in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, have resulted in a certain public sclerosis in thought, as to how change should be brought about. This has been countered by academic authoritarianism, so that ANY adherence to conventional ways of thinking about the nature of this country and its past, or about HUMAN nature, is subject to being uprooted-violently if necessary. The academics who push this agenda are failing their acolytes.

The violent pushback that has shown its face in Portland, OR will spread, not the least because conservative people are still as sensitive, still as subject to fear, as are Liberals and will support THEIR authoritarians, in suppressing the authoritarian forces on the Left. It will spread because of overkill, overreach- the cries for toppling statues of ALL of the Founding Fathers, of ALL religious figures, of ANYONE who ever uttered an unkind sentiment about someone of a different skin tone, sexual orientation, gender status, creed or social class; the calls for putting someone like J.K. Rowling TO DEATH!

Such authoritarianism will be, deservedly, opposed by those who don’t want its equal and opposite reaction. The demonstrations in Portland, prior to the deployment of plainclothed Federal agents, were for the most part mellowing, according to people who LIVE there. The hornets were settling in their nest, but once the nest was whacked-well, “torch the Courthouse” was not long in following. Thus, the self-fulfilling prophecy, that only FEDERAL FORCE will crush the spirits of those on the Left, gains currency among those in the socioemotional Heartland.

I love too many, especially of the younger generations, to sit on my hands with this one. It is time, with a very narrow window, for the neofascists in academia to let up and stop agitating those who know and feel the need for social change. It is also time, with an equally narrow window, for the Old Guard Fascists, who seem so set on flooding the streets with their forces of occupation, to pull back and to ENGAGE with those currently tasked with leading our cities and states.

Engage, and be specific with your expectations, the way parents, teachers and community leaders at the grassroots level have to be.

The clock is ticking, and it’s not made in China-yet.