The Certainty Of Death, Or The Death Of Certainties

 

It’s amazing to me, to see, even in thoughtful writings, even in exceptionally thoughtful writing, which is as far above the norm as the moon is from the bottom of the ocean, that even there, certain cultural constructs of the mind, certain prejudices or pre-formed and unquestioned assumptions, certain axiomatic, ideological presumptions and certitudes, are passed along without thought – as if the author were merely remarking on the sky being blue, and everyone knew it, of course, so such notions need no argument or support, but are taken as fact. These ideological constructs and presumptions are castles made of sand, but the authors, including most of the better thinkers and scholars, and virtually all people at all times, assume them to be as certain as the law of gravity. The blind, unconscious, unquestioning assumption of ideological constructs is almost shocking – at least when it is seen in otherwise intelligent people and otherwise intelligent writings. Concepts such as progress, development, civilization and civilized, freedom and liberty, democracy, evolution, or “evolved”, are tossed about with utter casual manner, with no rigour, no questioning of their actual meaning: meaning, in practice, their meaning has no meaning; or worse, and more commonly, their meaning means precisely the opposite to what it is presumed to mean. Orwell understood these things well. The fact that the vast majority, including the vast majority of intellectuals, do not, is very dangerous indeed, to say it mildly.

Fascism, war, slavery, cultural arrogance, and a culture of blindness, ignorance and shared delusion, the death of democracy and freedom, ecological holocaust, and the collapse of civilization (sic), are the likely results, the almost certain and inevitable results, and soon, if we do not begin to question far more, and assume far less.

Fortunately, all such concepts, ideological constructs and cultural certitudes are now being called into question. And none too soon. Our certainties are quite literally killing us. They are also a prison, and shackles and chains, of our own making. Let us shatter them now. It is time.

JTR,

February 1, 2020

 

Post-Script:

See my essay, Fundamentalism and Relativism, in my first book, Enlightened Democracy, for further reflections on the middle way between extremes, which represents basic sanity. Also, watch for my new book, The People vs The Elite, which is being released now.

Get ready for some exciting, but possibly quite turbulent times. The proverbial shit is about to hit the fan. And as usual, that will have both positive as well as negative consequences and implications around the world.

Low tech, high tech

These are just a few thoughts that came to mind, after researching the tiny home and camper van trends, but they have very broad implications, for just about everything. This is not a comprehensive treatise nor a definitive statement, but simply some musings.

Low tech vs high tech

Pretty cool overland custom camper truck here, shown below. One note, however, and it applies to almost everything: the more complicated things get, the more electronics, automation or high tech, the more things can break that you can’t easily fix yourself; and, the more open you are to being hacked.

(You can’t hack a simple v8 with zero electronics on it, but you can hack electronic ignition, or door locks for that matter. I don’t mean theft risk – I mean your truck won’t start, or your vehicle locks you out. But simple reliability is the generally bigger issue.)

I prefer high tech as back up, or as a nicety that I don’t rely on, with low tech as primary systems, where possible, with exceptions carefully chosen. Low tech and simple, combined with redundant back up systems, means more reliability and resilience.

By that I mean water, food, waste, shelter, heat and transport – the core systems functionality – are kept as simple, low tech and repairable as possible, in general, with higher tech options maybe present and useable but not depended upon.

So, for example, you have a compass and maps, and do not solely rely on sat-nav, a smart phone, computer, or gps. You have a mini wood stove, plus solar electric heat, plus maybe a deisel heater for an alternate back-up. Have a solar electric water pump, and a hand pump. Have an efficient refrigerator that runs on solar power, but if possible, more importantly, have a root cellar, or cold room/box, along with dry food stocks. Ideally you have a simple, reliable, durable engine (preferably diesel, because they last 3xs longer and break down less often) that you can find parts for, and mechanics who know how to fix it, virtually anywhere in the world – with NO computer hooked into the engine, so there are fewer things to go wrong and stop you in your tracks. Have LED solar powered lighting, but have candle lanterns as well. Have power tools, but also have good hand tools, more importantly.

Be versatile and adaptable, and keep it simple, I say. In general, the more simple, the more self-reliance, and therefore, the more resilience.

Automated or power digital/electric lighting, blinds, windows, vents, solar array racks, etc., look cool and work great when they work, but when they break, they’re broke. Hand cranks will likely last longer, and that might matter if you’re in a remote location, or simply want things that are built to last.

(For many reasons I avoid plastic, synthetics and aluminum. Aesthetics, toxicity, and ecology, are three reasons. Durability and repairability are others. I prefer wood, steel, wrought iron, leather, hemp, adobe, natural rubber, natural materials.)

Everything is a trade-off. Low tech generally means more reliability, repairability and resiliency. That is more important to me than gadgets, which might be fun or even useful, but can also fail (as well as being an unnecessary potential distraction). It depends on how valuable tech is to you versus reliability. More complicated usually means less reliable.

I’m not anti-tech, but I do value resilience, adaptability, and self-reliance. That means a general bias toward low tech is in order, for me. But to each his own.

Thoreau would understand. Simplify, simplify.

JTR,

August 3, 2020

 

Who Are The CIA?

Who are the CIA? This will tell you everything you need to know.

Here’s where things really started to go wrong: 1947, the National Security Act, which created the National Security Council and the CIA, giving the CIA sweeping, ultra-secretive, unconstitutional powers, and near limitless budget through the legalized, covert re-allocation of funds from other government agencies – and the secret recruitment of thousands of Nazis: not just Nazi scientists, to create NASA; but Nazi spies, into the new CIA.

Can you say, “Deeply corrupting influence“? That would be an understatement. No wonder the CIA became instantly ghoulish, and has remained so.

Read, The CIA’s Greatest Hits, by Mark Zepezauer, for a brief overview of one of the world’s most truly evil organizations. Then read, Blowback: America’s Secret Recruitment of Nazis and Its Disastrous Effects On Our Domestic and Foreign Policy, by Christopher Simpson and Mark Crispin Miller – to see where it all started, and how it went deeply wrong in 1947, right from the beginning.

If there are any doubts as to the nature of the organization, the next step would be to read William Blum’s, Killing Hope. Noam Chomsky and Peter Dale Scott can shed light into this dark netherworld of deep state politics, as well.

The organization should be disbanded. JFK and RFK were right. It is a dangerous criminal organization that has waged a war on democracy and freedom around the world since its creation, including at home within the United States. There are 17 other intelligence agencies in the US. This one, can and should be abolished.

JTR,
August 3, 2020

 

Post-Script:

Am I a radical leftist? Yes.

By radical, I mean the original meaning of the word, from the Latin, radus, meaning root: “to get to the root of”; “that which gets to the root of”; or, “one who gets to the root of things”.

By leftist, I mean this. The political spectrum has been driven so far to the far right over the past 50 years by the slow motion global corporate coup, that anyone who questions the new global corporate empire, including moderate conservative Republicans such as Eisenhower, are viewed as dangerous radical leftists. (“Beware the military industrial complex.”) So yes, if Eisenhower, MLK and FDR would all be viewed today as radical leftists, which they undoubtedly would, then I am proud to say I stand with them.

Am I a terrorist? No, I believe, along with Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Henry David Thoreau, in non-violent civil disobedience, as a means of making our society better, more ethical, more just, and more sane. I have always disavowed violence; and I agree with MLK: “If I was not opposed to violence for moral reasons, I would be opposed to violence for reasons of strategy.”

Am I an authoritarian? A Marxist? Neither. Not a Marxist, no. Marx was a brilliant sociologist, whose writing is important, or at least worth while to read. He was a terrible political philosopher, however – precisely because he left the door wide open to authoritarianism: which is why Bakunin, the leader of the larger, libertarian socialist wing of the First International, which fiercely opposed Marx’s centralist, statist, and elitist, distorted vision of socialism, predicted that if Marx or his followers were ever to succeed in capturing state power, they would usher in a tyranny worse than that of the Tzar. That was a prediction Bakunin made decades before the Bolshevik revolution – and he was perfectly right. Kropotkin, my favourite political philosopher, along with Spinoza, Chomsky, Bookchin, Joanna Macy and Thoreau, also summed it up, when he said, after the Bolsheviks seized power, The revolution is dead. Meaning, of course, that the faux socialists, who in reality were and are simply statists, elitists, and authoritarians, had killed it. So no, I am adamantly and passionately opposed to all forms of authoritarianism, be they right wing corporate-fascist, or (pseudo-leftist) Marxist-Leninist. I would call myself a libertarian socialist, along with Chomsky, Kropotkin, Rocker, Bookchin, Ursula Le Guin and Bertrand Russell. But in the near term, and immediately, I would be very happy simply to see basic constitutional democracy and freedom secured, restored, and renewed. In fact, I would take Thomas Jefferson’s vision over Marx any day, in a heartbeat – because Jefferson had the clearer mind and clearer vision.

Decentralize power, and do not mistrust the people – beware instead the excessive concentration of power in the hands of an elite. That was Jefferson’s view; and he was far more prescient, prudent, and sane, than Marx, or any of his followers. So yes, I will take Jefferson over Marx any day.

Am I a conspiracy theorist? Anyone who uses such a phrase is either dishonest or deeply misled. It is a red herring phrase, designed to scare people away from serious investigation of their society. As Chomsky said, “The term conspiracy theory is used to poo-poo institutional analysis.” Amen. That sums it up perfectly. As Chomsky also said, with his usual matter of fact cutting through the bullshit and fog: “If you want to understand a society, you have to look at where power lies.” That should be obvious to everyone with even a glimmering flicker of intelligence. Naturally, in less than ideal societies, that takes you into dark corners, and shadowy areas steeped in secrecy and denial. To some people, that makes you a courageous freedom fighter, a seeker of truth, and a serious researcher, thinker, scholar or investigator. To others, that just makes you scary. But I will choose to side with the courageous, and not the mousy. As MLK said, “The moral arm of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

And if the CIA decides it has a bullet for me as well, for criticizing them or their crypto-fascist corporate masters, then I will happily take that, over silent complicity with great, on-going, systemic evils, which no good man or woman can acquiesce to, in any semblance of good conscience.

I’ve already pointed out many times that the emperor has no clothes. Somebody has to speak the truth. Thankfully, there are millions of us, who prefer truth to illusions and lies, and freedom to servitude or slavery.

I take my stand with Orwell and Huxley and Fromm, Chomsky, Thoreau and MLK. I could do far worse. It is hard to imagine a way to do much better.

JTR,
August 3, 2020

 

Mandatory Vaccination – With Extremely Dubious Safety Profile

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Here we go.

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(My apologies for the strange formatting – WordPress decides on occasion to be buggy, and I am not techno-savvy enough to correct for its bugs. Hence the stars to divide paragraphs. Sorry.)

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Note: I’m not anti-vaccine. I’m anti-stupid. Taking any pharmaceutical drug that has not been adequately tested for safety, is just plain dumb.

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And that is exactly what is about to be pushed on the people, in the form of mandatory injections of drugs, sold at multi-trillion dollar profits by pharmaceutical companies with decades-long histories of corruption and deceit – including companies which were established by selling drugs and other chemicals to the Nazis in WWII.

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All pharmaceutical drugs need to be rigorously tested – by independent parties, not the vendor drug company – for safety and effectiveness. Decades ago, such strict protocols were breached, and abandoned, according to the US government Office of Technology Assessment, after Big Pharma had gained “institutional capture” and took over the regulators. That meant that, according to the same US government assessment, 80% of pharmaceutical drugs were, prior to 2020, inadequately tested for safety. (That was before things got really bad.)

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That would explain why another US government agency, the General Accounting Office, stated that 200,000 people die every year from pharmaceutical drugs *correctly prescribed and correctly taken*. That’s the equivalent of a fully loaded jumbo passenger jet crashing every single day.

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But of course, the corporate media did not report it. And the major governments did nothing about it – because they are deeply concerned with human health…. Er….no – because they are deeply corrupted by Big Pharma, and other corporate giants.

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But now that the hysteria has been whipped to a full froth around the world, by the same corrupt governments and major media, and the corporate elite who rule them both, we can dispense with even minimal and inadequate testing on the new rushed covid vaccine – for a virus that remains roughly as dangerous as the annual flu, as the CDC and others have confirmed.

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Don’t you feel more secure already?

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Does anyone remember Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction? It turned out that he didn’t have any. It also turned out that it was a conscious, deliberate lie by the US government and CIA. Hundreds of thousands of people – mainly women, children, non-combatants and the elderly – were killed based on that lie: a lie which the media universally parroted, and Western governments dutifully parroted, and the majority of the people naively believed. Have we learned nothing about the nature of power and propaganda in the past century?!

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Does anyone know who Hitler credited with his inspiration for propaganda during WWII? The US and Britain. He said they won WWI due to their superior propaganda machine, and he would not make the same mistake again.

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Question everything. Question especially the official narrative. It’s called doublethink, or newspeak – and you’d have to be insane to believe it.

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JTR,

August 2, 2020

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https://twitter.com/uTobian/status/1290051419412688902?s=20

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Further information:

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Look into it for yourself. But do question everything.

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See also:

The Corbett Report

Trends Journal

Global Research

American Herald Tribune

Geopolitics & Empire

The Boiler Room

Piers Robinson

Importing From China – an essay from my blog

and my first two published books:

Enlightened Democracy, and, The People vs The Elite – both are on Barnes & Noble now

*

Lastly, for reliable, truly science-based health information, I am aware of only two sources remaining, shockingly. They are:

GreenMedInfo

and

Gary Null

Culture Shock – and The Culture of Puritanical Excess

I backpacked around Mexico and Central America in 1989. I think I’ve been in culture shock ever since. Since returning to la-la land, that is.

I went to Latin America to see what is going on in the world, and because everyone told me the culture is very friendly and warm. Even being prepared for it, and expecting it, the friendliness and warmth….blew my mind, so to speak…and moved me deeply. I was broken-hearted to leave. I have felt the same every time since then, when it was time to leave.

My eyes were opened by the starkness of contrasts, and even more by the fact that Latin Americans don’t sweep their problems under the rug, as North Americans do. They have the same problems as we do, or many of the same ones – they’re just out in the open, and nobody pretends the problems don’t exist.

(Poverty and corruption, pollution, drug gangs, violence, organized crime – well, thank the good Lord we don’t have THOSE problems here!)

When I came back to North America, first to the US, then Canada, I felt like I was walking into Disney World – or Looking Glass Land. It was surreal. It’s like a giant, endless theme park, run jointly by PT Barnum and Mussolini.

The level of denial here is truly insane. And creepy and disturbing in the extreme. So too are the glaring, in your face, extreme excess, consumerism, materialism, gaudiness, showiness, pretense, all-pervasive advertising and corporatization of virtually everything, alienation, mistrust, repression, loneliness and fear.

It is a sad and lonely, mentally deranged land, we have created here in the, “land of the free” – despite the land being gorgeous, and the people being basically good, and even lovely.

Erich Fromm and the Frankfurt School were right: a repressive Puritanical culture breeds dark psychological and social patterns, just as surely as dark spaces filled with shit grow mushrooms. The answers are both implicit; and have frequently been made explicit, as well.

The problems facing American and Canadian society have recently exploded onto the surface, cracking through the denial like an atomic bomb bursting through thin, melting ice in spring. Now the denial is giving way to finger pointing, shouting and screaming at each other, or worse. But that is unsurprising. Problems do not go away just because you bury your head in the sand, as the Italian saying goes. And when you ignore, deny and suppress something for a long time, it is going to come out, and it is probable that it comes out explosively, or in dark ways. This is the trouble with either psychological or sociological repression – it simply doesn’t work: it is always counter-productive and conducive to bad outcomes. But, while dangerous, this manner of working through problems can be cathartic. Sooner or later calm discourse, maybe will return – and return with a greater honesty and openness. Then we can start to get somewhere.

The frenzy of speed, and the also insane levels of (frequently self-induced) stress, rushing, and manic, frantic norms, also hit me in the face when I returned – hard. Coming “home” to “civilization”, after my first wilderness canoe trip at the age of 18, I felt the same thing: this isn’t right – this is a madhouse, and I do not want to live in this crazed, concrete covered, nature- and sanity-deficient, bauble-obsessed, deranged, modern industrial society fueled by futuristic George Jetson technofantasies, and simple corruption, conformity, materialism, consumerism, escapism, perpetual distraction, and corporate greed.

I have traveled through 20 countries,on four continents, and have loved the people I have met in all of them; and have loved every land and culture, in a number of different ways.

I love all people, everywhere, truly – even the annoying ones; even the dim-witted; even the secular and religious fundamentalists, with their rock wall minds, and their oh-so-assured dogmas and certitudes; even the evil-minded, sociopathic few – who tend to fill the ranks of the ruling elite, and who must be forcefully, but non-violently, dethroned.

But I do have a certain particular fondness for Italians (and Southern Europeans generally, I would presume, if I knew them better) and Latin Americans, I must say. They’re generally relaxed, unhurried, calm, warm, friendly, hospitable, open, inviting, and welcoming. They know how to appreciate the little things that mean the most, like food, friends, family. They try to keep things simple and uncomplicated. They’re passionate, and yet relaxed at the same time – or almost always so. And they tend to be straight-forward.

“Ay, say what you mean, uh? Why not? And feel free to speak with your hands!”

But then, there is something to be said for paranoid, wound up tight, stressed out, frantically rushed, status-driven, hyper-materialist, hyper-consumer, Puritanical, repressed, strung out, alienated North American culture, too.

And as soon as I think of it, I’ll get back to you.

One proud Canuck, most saddened by his country’s current state, signing off.

Thoreau would understand. So did Farley Mowat. They are my kin. And I can ask for no more solace or comfort in difficult times, than that.

JTR,
August 2, 2020

 

Post-Script:

Americans, Canadians: not to fret – the entire modern world is insane. North America is simply the most insane, at least from what I have seen. The US is running itself into the sewer, and Canada, Britain, Europe, and most of the rest of the world, are racing to keep up with the race to the bottom.

Maybe we had better question our direction?

Remember also, what Thomas Paine said:

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

And Thoreau:

“There is more day yet to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.”

 

See also:

America Has Built A Global Dystopia – Chomsky, Scheer Intelligence

The Morris Berman Interviews – Geopolitics & Empire

T.S. Eliot Recites, “The Hollow Men” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAWaZqDf-VE

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Pathology of Normalcy

The Sane Society

Escape From Freedom

Necessary Illusions

Requiem for the American Dream

The Shock Doctrine

The Corporation

The New Rulers of the World

The Pursuit of Loneliness

The Poverty of Affluence

A Short History of Progress

The Iron Heel

1984

Brave New World

Walden

We

 

Simple, key advice: on health, & peace of mind

You have to refuse, categorically: hurry, worry, self-recrimination and blame. You do your best, and live in peace. I had accomplished that state of mind, four years ago. It is possible – and it is incomparably better. I now find these things difficult, once again.

(20th century modern society was stress-ridden, and frankly insane. Erich Fromm was right. In 2020, we sailed over the cliff. Now it’s a madhouse.)

But yes, these things are worth striving for. And yes, they are attainable. Inner peace is a sensible aim. And I can guarantee you, it is indeed achievable. But as with nearly everything that is worth striving for, you start, one single step at a time – with the ground beneath your feet.

JTR,

August 2, 2020

 

Post-Script:

How on earth do you attain that? How is it possible, in this world, in this society, in this time, to have even some small degree of peace? Not by trying to control things. That doesn’t work. Nor be being passive, hesitating, or avoidant – that doesn’t work either. It is mind training, above all, that works, and transforms your life.

(The Western psychotherapy comparison might be cognitive behavioural therapy, although I am not familiar with it, but have heard very good things about it. Working with your own thoughts is the simple, straightforward way of putting it.)

Also extremely helpful, and complimentary, are:

Mindfulness meditation

Yoga

Pranayama

T’ai Chi

Chi Gong

Saunas

Forest bathing

Walking and hiking

A healthy diet

Unplugging – limiting time with electronic media

Avoiding physical and mental toxins

Nearly any kind of exercise

Prayer (Yes, prayer. See Dr. Larry Dossey on the power of prayer.)

Aromatherapy (No, it is not a cure-all, but it is very helpful.)

Body-centred therapies – many kinds exist, from massage, to acupuncture, to reflexology, and many more

Psychotherapy – and no, you need not be “psycho” to go. Most people have stress, a few bad habits of body or mind, or baggage from the past, if not all three. Various types of psychotherapy can be helpful. So can journalling, solitude, reflection, or talking with a friend. And they are not mutually exclusive, of course.

Nature therapy – meaning simply: Get outside!!!

Choose tools that appeal to you, and suit you, then use them. But above all, it comes down to training your own mind. It is possible. And it is most definitely worth the effort.

 

For more information, see the three best sources – that I know of – for reliable, science-based health info:

GreenMedInfo

Gary Null

Andrew Weil

 

For meditation and psychology, see:

The Dalai Lama

Allan Wallace

Alan Watts

Ken Wilber

Erich Fromm

Joanna Macy

John Kabbat-Zinn

 

Tiny Homes Now

 

While sitting immersed in thought this morning, planning out my tiny house design, for the creation of a tiny home construction business, I hear a family walking down the street after the rain, and I think, how wonderful to hear families walking together, and talking happily. I stood up to look out the window, and didn’t recognize them from our tiny street regulars (yes, it really is a tiny street, with only eight houses), and guessed they were not from the neighbourhood. Then I heard the Dad say, “We’re going to get a tiny house.” Then two of the raft of five kids chimed in excitedly, “Tiny house, tiny house!” 

Spot on trend? Damn straight. It is an urgent and great social need, for affordable housing; and an urgent ecological need, for green housing – and a public health need for homes that are non-toxic, and don’t poison the families living in them. I intend to help fill those needs.

Nope, not thneeds – needs.    😉 

Ok, silly joke, but I am quite serious about the urgent social and ecological need for affordable, healthy, green homes – be they tiny or otherwise.

So let’s go. Obviously I can’t fix this global problem myself. We need millions of tiny home and green home builders. We need an army. Let’s build it now.

JTR,

August 2, 2020

 

Post-Script:

 

The need:

1 billion people need basic, decent housing (ballpark numbers – and growing)

5 billion people are struggling with expensive rent or mortgage (ballpark numbers again – and growing)

Not counting the billions of existing homes and buildings which are in urgent need of retrofit upgrades for energy and environmental standards, we need affordable, healthy green homes for roughly six billion people, asap.

As I say, the need is urgent, and great – and that is a radical understatement.

 

Defining a tiny home:

The average size of what is typically called a tiny home is 200 square feet, but they go up to 700 or 800 square feet, depending on who you ask. The “war homes” built for families of veterans after WWII were typically 400-700 square feet. They are still around, and are as charming as they are modest. To me, that is a very practical size for a home (400-700 sq. ft.) and it should be much more common a size today, for both economic and also ecological reasons.

 

The core priorities for a tiny home:

1. Affordable: 

   a, Lower cost to build or buy; 

   b, Lower on-going operational costs to live in 

     (heat, electricity, utility bills, property tax, etc.)

2. Functional 

3. Comfortable

4. Charming

5. Beautiful

6. Ecological (low-impact)

7. Healthy (non-toxic)

 

Most tiny homes currently being built meet the first five priorities admirably. Most mainstream homes meet two of seven, only: functional and comfortable, but fail on the other five.

The last two priorities are not being adequately met: neither in the general standards for mainstream, new and existing homes and buildings; nor in the tiny home movement.

That must change, and now. 

 

That’s my job: revolutionize the tiny home movement, the standards, and the industry, along with the broader home and construction industry standards and norms, in the process. It is time.

Ok…do aim high, yes indeed. And clearly, I could use a little help….or an army.

 

But do take note:

In 2020, the actions of extreme arrogance, hubris, and brazenness on the part of the sociopathic elite, in taking a wrecking ball to the global economy – in order to build a global neo-feudal police state – has sown the seeds of resistance, and non-violent revolution; and also, has driven the tiny home movement into the mainstream – out of sheer necessity, in the wake of the *politically* caused economic devastation.

In short, not only has the market demand for tiny homes exploded in scale; but moreover, the army is being built.

And I will say again, in summary:

Most governments are failing utterly to meet either the needs of the people, or the challenges of the environmental crisis. The corporate elite, who now effectively rule the world, and have taken over, are not meeting the needs of the people or the planetary crisis. They are lost in a truly sociopathic addiction to power-lust, egomania, and insatiable greed – and are devouring the poor, the middle class, and the earth. Clearly, it is up to the people. It is up to us.

 

See my first two published books for further reading:

Enlightened Democracy:

Visions For A New Millennium

and

The People vs The Elite:

A Manifesto For Democratic Revolution, Or Survival In The 21st Century & Beyond

 

See also, my recent essays:

Sinking All Ships (But Our Own)

and

A Tiny Home Or Revolution

Global Overview 2020 – A Brief Synopsis

There are a lot of thoughtful, creative minds working on the problems we face in modern 21st century society – and we have myriads of good examples, prototypes, and functioning, proven models to work with.

Mondragon and the co-op movement, crowd funding, alternative currencies, renewable energy, organic food and agriculture, permaculture, downshifting and simplicity, rural rebirth, relocalization, decentralization, grassroots activism, unity within diversity, solidarity and mutual aid, green homes, tiny homes, natural and integrative health, the birth of a serious anti-fascist resistance movement (after the faux “Resistance” of the Wall Street Democrats made a mockery of itself),  THE QUESTIONING OF AUTHORITY, along with MASS NON-VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and countless other examples of positive models and trends, are taking off and soaring.

That is an exciting, encouraging thought. 

That speaks of hope, and bodes well for the future; despite the ecological apocalypse we have made, and possibly already set in motion for ourselves. 

We will get through. But of course, the suffering will be far less if we take very bold action now, and not delay any further. Our backs are already pressed against the wall. 

Now is the time for boldness, in defence of constitutional democracy, freedom, the people and the earth, against the all-devouring assault by the new empire of global corporate rule.

The time is now.

Most governments are failing utterly to meet either the needs of the people, or the challenges of the environmental crisis. The corporate elite, who now effectively rule the world, and have taken over, are not meeting the needs of the people or the planetary crisis. They are lost in a truly sociopathic addiction to power-lust, egomania, and insatiable greed – and are devouring the poor, the middle class, and the earth.

Clearly, it is up to the people. It is up to us.

 

JTR,

August 2, 2020

 

See my first two published books for further reading:

Enlightened Democracy:

Visions For A New Millennium

and

The People vs The Elite:

A Manifesto For Democratic Revolution, Or Survival In The 21st Century & Beyond

 

For further reading see my recent essays:

Sinking All Ships (But Our Own)

and

Importing From China

 

Renaissance & Rebirth, or Decline & Decay?

And the demonic take-over continues…. Or so it would seem. Evil rules the political realm, the economic, and increasingly, the cultural as well. An awakening of humanity continues to unfold. But the war on compassion is only getting hotter and more intense. Cynicism drips from everything, like blood off rotting meat.

For example, and just one example of a countless many: Four or five “Netflix original” TV series I have sampled so far. All were too nauseating to continue watching. All were nihilistic, narcissistic, sadistic, superficial, lacking all depth, desensitizing, waging war on compassion, leading to a further hollowing out of human feeling, and making light of suffering and violence, while glamourizing them and reveling in them.

Yes, suffering, killing, violence and death are funny, amusing, and fun! LOL! Ha ha!

This isn’t Star Wars, Spielberg, Dickens or Blake – culture based in the values of the Enlightenment, and in universal values of compassion, love and solidarity. This is Satanic.

Do the corporate elite, who control virtually all the major media, want us all to become isolated, narcissistic, numbed consumers? Well, that is a naive question, isn’t it?

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a mass derangement.

Renaissance and rebirth, or decline and decay? Both are happening. The jury is still out as to which will predominate.

But I can tell you this. It is up to us.

JTR,
August 1, 2020

Choose your tech tools (and all tools) well

 

I tried using my old HP Stream notebook computer today – which I bought two years ago, naively, because it was slim and compact and blue, and barely used it – after a long hiatus; having set it aside for a new msi, after seeing how abysmally, glacially slow the HP was.

 

Using it again today, it loads a single web page at a time just fine. But try to do anything else simultaneously, like write and edit a document, while keeping just one browser tab open, and it bogs so badly you feel your stuck in heavy mud on an old abandoned road, with nothing but an uncooperative mule who refuses to help pull you out.

 

Going back to the HP is like going back to a broken down ox cart after driving a Maserati.

 

More to the point, the one computer is a tool that just doesn’t work, or barely works, and always is a hindrance to what you’re working on; while the msi is consistently flawless.

Moreover, like all good tools, the msi is built to be reliable, and built to last – which means it is cheaper in the long term, than buying junk.

Choose your tools well, I say; or be the tool for making bad choices.

JTR,
August 1, 2020

Systems Collapse Ahead? It Is Increasingly Probable

Synopsis:

First rule:

Question everything. Think for yourself.

Satyagraha: Gandhi’s word for truth-force, meaning also: non-violent civil disobedience, as inspired by Thoreau’s short essay, which inspired Tolstoy, Gandhi, and later MLK – this is exactly what we need.

 

Now, to be clear: it is not only truth which we need, but its logical application: which, at this time in our history, will require nothing short of revolution – Gandhian, of course.

The environmental crisis which we have created for ourselves has truly become that urgent, that nothing less will do.

*

Are we headed for the collapse of our civilization (sic)? Of course. It is undeniable. The evidence is overwhelming, and the science is clear. We are racing toward a brick wall at 100 miles an hour, while everyone is arguing about where they are going to sit – as David Suzuki put it 30 years ago. As he also said, we are witnessing a “slow motion train wreck”. That is the state of our “civilization”.

Can we avoid the collapse of our civilization, and truly catastrophic times in the near future, perhaps as little as 20 years from now? Yes. But we must make radical change now, in order to do so.

That requires removing the corporate elite and their political, military and intelligence (sic) minions (who are collectively the Global Power Elite) from power.

That, in turn, we must be clear, will require nothing short of a revolution.

“Evolution”, “transition”, “awakening” – whatever you want to call it, we will need to to do more than change our attitudes, our personal lifestyles, and our consumer habits. We will also have to remove the ruling elite from power. That is called a revolution, and whether we like the term or not, it is now quite simply a necessity.

So, man the lifeboats, yes; prepare for possible systems failure, yes; and work for non-violent revolution as well – or our future will be bleak indeed.

Read your Gandhi, Thoreau and Martin Luther King. We are going to need all the inspiration, and strategy, that we can muster.

JTR,
August 1, 2020