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Showing posts from October, 2022

Notes on Democracy

Aren't all the theocracies, dictatorships, authoritarian states including this one, calling themselves Democracies? People throw "democracy" around much in the same way they say " there is a god" as if its crazy to believe otherwise. Is there any difference between Joe Biden, the Pope, or the Ayatollah? Depending on what you believe they all share the power of authority without any real justification for that power other than they got elected (in one form or another).  Democracy has taken on so many positive/parasitic terms to its self -righteous breast, such as free, equality, and other pc words that have little or nothing to do with actual democracy. So, what is a democracy according to a dictionary? "Government by which people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives. Rule by the ruled? (Is that even possible?). "The principle of equality of rights, opportunity and treatment or the practice o

Change

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Authority and Fascism

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Authoritarianism and fascism. Fascism is not the end of result of political, social and cultural adversity, but a process of intersecting authority for controlling the public political narrative that is left up to the independently contrived efforts of those personalities espousing political power as a solution to all political, social, cultural, and natural contradictions. The doctrines of fascism are mainly opportunistic and have little to do with the contrivances of constitutional, legal, or other acceptable or traditional methods for enacting change. In this way fascism is a revolutionary premise for both right- and left-wing efforts to enact radical change. In pre-mussolini italy both socialists and fascists marched and rioted, sometimes within blocks of each other. Both explored and improvised by marching, striking, violence toward each other, against government, at the same time appealing to a generally inactive, stagnant public to act. Most modern-day

Innocence Are they?

  Innocence In the belly of the beast we’re all living, And into the belly of the beast, They all want to come. There is an axiom among common men, That the closer you get to the gun pointed at you, Then the sooner you should have started to run.   The thing I like about Hannah Arendt is that she defined the face of evil for what it really is, an abstraction. It is not Eichmann’s face who has mistakenly been placed in our minds as evil’s poster boy archtype. To accept that rendition misses the point of her remarkable insight. Rarely, do we recognize evil because we humans, whether intelligently or not, haven’t ever moved beyond archetypes, prototypes and stereotype classification frameworks, call them mental cages if you want, for those who don’t think but only react to what they believe is good and evil. The rigidity of thinking in america is about as banal as anything can be, beginning in our belief of american supremacy and exceptionalism that every american is i

MAGA Republicans and the Emergence of American Fascism by Kraig Schwartz

            Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) platform, there has been much discussion in the media about fascism, authoritarianism and right-wing political movements.   This discussion is not limited to the U.S, as extreme right-wing politics are ascendant in Europe, Brazil, and the Philippines.   An authoritarian nationalist regime has consolidated power in Hungary.   A right-wing anti-immigrant party with fascist roots is forming a government after recent elections in Sweden. Moreover,  in Italy, the country that coined the term fascism one hundred years ago, has elected a new government rooted in Mussolini’s fascist party.   All of these aforementioned  developments are  alarming to many governments and people all over the world. The late Madeline Albright , former U.S. Secretary of State, did much to enhance the current discussion in  her 2018  book: Fascism: A Warning.   Speaking as   a survivor  of  European fascism , her book

2024 Anarchism, Fascism, and the Staus Quo

  2024- anarchism, fascism and the status quo Defining political terms is one of the hardest intellectual exercises around. Everyone has an opinion of what should or should not be. And that’s just under normal circumstances, not an election year, like we’re in right now, 2022, with perhaps the single most defining election in american history coming up in 2024. Why is it so defining?   The election of Donald Trump took many so called liberal/left leaning/ and some real conservatives by surprise. The reason is simple. Trump represents a clear representation of a real rising american fascist party, that is still ill defined, unorganized (for elections), though with his election in 2016 it is apparent the manipulation of the media, the resounding acknowledgement of a middle class and working- class tipping toward a fascist ideal of tear it down first, then we’ll think about rebuilding, have made the usual foolishness of a fascist movement in america more possible than it’s ever been.

No More Bystanding, Just Stand Up for Yourself

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The hero

It used to be Every now and then, I reverted, once the dust, smoke, clogged freeway cleared, to the notion that I'm possibly glad to live in california as though california has some special place beyond my own history. Although, there is a tendency in america to not only be a nationalist (and to believe in some sort of american exceptionalism) but, also, an indistinct, vague belief that where one lives i.e., state, city, or town has some special relationship to us who live there. It's not about patriotism, thats reserved for the nation, but the flag of the confederacy or tolkien empire manifests a pride that cannot be denied, and should it? Nowhere is this more apparent than in sports where one's affiliation with a home team is nearly as passionate as the furor over going to a righteous war. These are mens ideals. Its about the underdog rising up to smite the one with all the weight, david vs goliath, and get the praise and if the passion you have is

Dawn Rises at Pt. Reyes

The Dawn Rising (pt reyes 2022) Listening to the coyotes and the roosters compete. On the news, listen to this nations weep. Two different civilizations meet. The crows join in with their ca-ca-cawing tweet. The quarter moon floats as fog retreats. This is my morning greet. As good as it gets, for a moment so sweet. Bezos rocket to the moon blasts off,   blows up, Zelenskies fight wears on, combat hard,   Camo clothes only to the media core. Hardliners rule the roost. There's no sin so greatly prided where victims must compensate the sinners, The losers must bend to the winner The games must go on, the date must turn to rape. To the losers of the day, inside the churches, Who knows what they prey on? (Thanks to phil ochs for a little bit of that line) Trying to keep the memories straight. Up sysyfys (sorry to the greeks for that one) hill like a rolling stone. And don't forget the clamoring crows Exploding

Escaping Poverty

  Escaping Poverty Requires Almost 20 Years of Perfect Living With Nearly Nothing Going Wrong In a 2017 article written for the Atlantic called Economic Mobility Requires the Nearly Impossible, MIT economist Peter Temin argues that economic inequality results in two distinct classes. And only one of them has any power to transcend the chaos within the institutional prejudices of the typical middle or lower class. How is one to move up from a lower group to a higher one? Education is key, Temin writes, but notes that this means plotting, starting in early childhood, a successful path to, and through, college. That's a 16-year (or longer) plan that, as Temin compellingly observes, can be easily upended. Modern wealthier families contend with this nowadays by hiring career counselors early on in their child's educational experience, like the beginning of high school and sometimes prior to that, if they're talking about getting their child in a more exclusive high school. Every