This video of less that four minutes is worth your time:
Related reading, with thanks to Thersites...Left's Mission Accomplished: Blacks Torturing Whites.
In my view, there is no way to undo the wrongs of the past, and, in fact, attempting to do so leads to all sorts of unforeseen deleterious consequences, including misplaced guilt, a sense of entitlement, and divisiveness.
Your thoughts on the topic?
I couldn't agree with you more, AoW!
ReplyDeleteThe Progs will not be happy until there are billions less of us on the planet. Meanwhile sowing discord permits their agenda to move forward under the guise of saving the planet. Pitting one against another is a distraction. How else can one explain the higher costs of basic requirements for living such as food. What fool burns their food supply and puts it in their car as ethanol causing food costs to rise around the world?
ReplyDeleteFood supply?
DeleteMost corn grown in America is low in nutritional value and good for high fructose corn syrup, ethanol and livestock feed.
Subsidizing this crap did cause production of more nutritious Mexican corn to decline as small grower were bankrupted and forced to emigrate to the U.S.
Ethanol and "green energy" subsidies are all part of that, Ducky. Your Feral Government at work.
DeleteMother Jones has done good reporting linking Ethanol subsidies to economic destruction in Mexico that you mention, driving up the price of food, and some have even linked these subsidies to the unrest in Egypt and other parts of the ME thanks to the price of basic grains shooting up.
Ah we don't want to do THAT, Kid. For one thing the "fallout" would be toxic and much too dangerous for the rest of us,
DeleteAlso, remember that Hitler –– and others before him –– made serious efforts in that direction with tragic, absolutely deplorable results.
Exterminating our enemies doesn't work. It can't be, and efforts in that direction usually backfire making admittedly bad situations much worse.
HOWEVER, I do support the idea of BENIGN NEGLECT –– i.e. if an enemy is busily destroying himself, I think it's downright idiotic to try to do anything to stop him.
Let the fools and fiends weed THEMSELVES out of existence. That would be fine with me. ];^)>
FT, I'll go with that if they're all restricted to the middle east. Close the mosques..
DeleteI like what he said about the "right side of history".
ReplyDeleteThe right side of history always goes to the victors, or the history writers.
He said we must be "eternally vigilant".
I wonder if there is a simpler way of phrasing that.
Hmmmm.
Ignorant empty phrases like "right side of history" reveal a plonkish, deterministic mindset that has caused death and destruction down through the ages.
DeleteI've looked up PLONKISH, and discovered that, apparently, it is not a legitimate part of our English vocabulary. I'm not sure what you could have meant by using it, and wish you'd explain.
DeleteDETERMINISM
1. a doctrine or theory that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are caused or determined by preceding events, or natural laws
2. a belief in predestination
Though baptized in the Presbyterian Church I have always resisted and finally rejected Calvin's idea that we are subject to PREDESTINATION, because it implies –– rather wickedly in my view –– that we have NO CONTROL over what happens to us in this life, which in turn seems to imply that we cannot be RESPONSIBLE for our actions. How absurd is that?
IF we ARE held responsible for things over which we presumably have no control, that would imply that GOD is a MONSTER –– a notion I feel it foolish, wicked and inherently counterproductive to allow myself to entertain.
It also implies that FREE WILL does not exist.
That should strikes any logical mind as patently absurd, because without the admittedly inconvenient immensely complicating factor of VOLITION we would be nothing but MINDLESS AUTOMATA.
All that aside, the first definition of DETERMINISM makes a great deal of sense to me, because how could it NOT be true that to a large extent the course of our lives really IS determined by Past Events? Each of us cold be said to be the end product of an endless CHAIN REACTION –– we are in many ways shaped by infinite variations of the Domino Effect. How could it be otherwise? NONE of us is born a tabula rasa. BUT I do believe NURTURE has almost as much to do wth the way we turn our as NATURE.
HOWEVER, by using the power of FREE WILL combined with INTELLIGENCE motivated by honest CURIOSITY we ARE able to accomplish much in greasing the "chain" that otherwise would bind us to undesirable past ocurrences forever.
FT: Progressives are the calvinists of political ideology (my apologies to Calvinists)
DeletePlonkish: Acting like a plonker.
definition of plonker
DeleteEd, a simpler phrasing of eternally vigilant? How about keep your eyes peeled until the cows come home (yes, I cheated and used an online thesaurus). Good topic, AOW. The wise can learn from the actual historical record. That's why the left needs to twist it to their ends.
ReplyDeleteThere could be nothing wrong or undesirable about using a phrase like ETERNALLY VIGILANT. It is not stuffy, pretentious or exhibitionistic. It is merely GOOD STANDARD ENGLISH, and as such I admire ad applaud it,
DeleteSomething entered our culture decades ago that seems to want to DISCOURAGE people from writing and speaking PROPERLY –– as though there were something inherently snobbish, condescending or manifestly unkind about it. This has been dubbed The Dumbing Down of America, and I have a firm belief that this deplorable phenomenon is the result of a PLOT conceived ad executed by CULTURAL MARXISTS.
How could it be otherwise? Nothing happens strictly by accident, except weather events and natural disasters.
@Bunker,
ReplyDelete"The Progs will not be happy until there are billions less of us on the planet."
I could agree with this but for one thing; the "Progs" will NEVER be happy about anything. Happiness is not in their DNA. Their entire faction consists of perpetually disgruntled babies notwithstanding chronological age.
Jon,
DeleteSpot on! They are never happy.
YUP, Jon! Leftists are ADDICTED to MISERY and ALLERGIC to JOY.
DeleteThey celebrate DEPRESSION, DISEASE and DYSFUNCTION, and seem to live primarily to express perpetual DISSATISFACTION, DISAPPROVAL, DISMAY, SUSPICION, CONTEMPT and RESENTMENT.
We should, however, feel SORRY for them instead if letting THEIR diseased outlook on life take US down, for they are more to be pitied than despised.
And aren't you glad you are not ONE of them? ;-)
"aren't you glad you are not ONE of them?"
DeleteTHANKS and yes; it must be tantamount to Hell on Earth!
};^)>
DeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY NEW ERA!
Eternally vigilant, always on watch.
ReplyDeleteI facebooked this and my cousin shared it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed.
DeleteIf you can "FACEBOOK" a message, does that mean we now can ROD a fish, OVEN a turkey, CAR ourselves to town, FLOWER a garden in spring, or BOAT an ocean?
DeleteFT,
Delete"Facebook a message" is a social media colloquialism. I don't worry much about those because they're "trade terms," akin to those in automative repair, carpentry, etc.
FT, Unfortunately today you can - Instagram-myspace-pinterest-spotify-snapchat-google+-tinder-slashdot-reddit-ning-stumbleUpon-fitbit-flixter-flitr-tweet-yammer- and uplike-all on your phablet. And that's not the half of it.
DeleteFacebook is now a verb, akin to google, as in "I googled it".
DeleteEd,
DeleteIt IS a verb! I just checked. Not yet in Merriam Webster Online, though.
Addendum: I couldn't check last night. Computer and all devices turned off so that I could go to be early. I find that I must go to sleep early because I have to interrupt my sleep to take medication. **sigh**
DeleteI fan verbing.
DeleteWe need thousands more Mark Tapsons...I'd never heard of him and appreciate the introduction.
ReplyDeleteNothing to do but study the past, learn from it as much as may be possible, and try not to make the same mistakes again. PERIOD!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that! ;-)
We have control over nothing but ourselves –– as individuals. What we choose to do –– as individuals –– matters a great deal. What others choose to do ought not to concern us much, unless we know for sure they actively seek our destruction..
Minding other peoples' business is THE root of most evil in my never humble opinion.
Therefore, we should beware of "charismatic leaders" who have a "Messianic" vision of themselves, and seek to micro-manage domestic policy, and interfere in the affairs of other nations.
The ONLY excuse for intervention should be to PREVENT would-be troublemakers from attacking US. I'm an unabashed fan of "nipping trouble in the bud" whenever and wherever possible.
Centralized Power is greatly to be feared and should be avoided as much as possible. That means ISLAM, MARXISM and all their hideous derivatives should be rendered ILLEGAL and punishable by denial of basic rights of citizenship.
It makes no sense whatsoever for LIBERTARIANS to favor FREEDOM for those who seek to DESTROY LIBERTY and PUT US in CHAINS.
FT,
DeleteWe have control over nothing but ourselves –– as individuals.
And that includes voting responsibly, then keeping a close eye on those we have elected.
That also includes parenting responsibly, that parenting being proactive with regard to what's happening in our education system.
Yes, of course, AOW but are than that its means we have a moral obligation to make every effort to pursue TRUTH honestly no matter wha it might cost or where it might lead us, and to develop a deeper, broader understanding of things far been the grasp of our itty bitty selves.
DeleteCONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS, and then ASK MORE:
1. How many are content to listen mindlessly to the latest "Schlock Pop Idol" while blithely ignoring the Music of the Spheres?
2. How may remain blissfully content to eat hot dogs while they eschew the delights of haute cuisine without ever having tried it?
3. How many imagine themselves perfectly content to watch TV in their trailers while swilling down six packs of Bud and munching on Dips 'n Chips, while they wouldn't even dream of reading a good book, attending a classical music concert, going to see a play in an actual theater, attending a lecture at their local library, taking a course to improve their minds, or even trying a new recipe?
4. How many have ever voluntarily learned anything they hadn't already known since they were in elementary school, unless harsh circumstances forced them to?
5. How many prefer to tear each other to shreds with idle gossip and conjecture instead of making an effort to SHARE ideas and true KNOWLEDGE and thus LEARN from each other?
6. How many are perfectly happy to remain smug and harshly judgmental without developing the least bit of CURIOSITY about why others think differently?
7. How many will spend there entire lives being ready, willing and eager to criticize, condemn and ostracize others who don't mirror the narrow norms of their own measly existence?
8. How many in the blogosphere ever imagine they might have something to learn from exploring a point of view that does not merely reflect their own without overt hostility?
Most follow the paths of least resistance, which is why we have the dismal society we must live with at present.
I'll add this....
DeleteHow many would much rather live a virtual life than a real life?
The Smart Phones are wonderful tools (Love my iPhone!), but they are being abused -- much like the abuse of substances.
FT,
DeleteBTW, those people you mentioned in Question 3 are not limited to those living in trailers. Not by a long shot!
People are holed up in their megamansions and doing much the same!
Oh, I know that. I was using "trailers" –– a clumsy, hastily contrived metaphor, I admit –– for anyone who allows himself or herself to be satisfied with very little substance in his or her personal life.
DeleteWe used to call them "PHILISTINES –– a colorful term I'd like to see revived. Of course, I'm one of those odd ducks who refuses to regard any legitimate English word as "archaic."
Anyway, at the rate we're going, if we are not very careful, English, itself, will soon be as extinct as LATIN, I do realize the language has undergone many evolutionary changes. Old English, Middle English (the language of Geoffrey Chaucer) and Elizabethan English (the language of Shakespeare, Milton, Marlowe and other lesser lights) must be "studied" now almost as one studies a foreign language, BUT to a reasonably literate person such as myself, I CAN read Chaucer in its original form with a good deal of comprehension, and I've been happily conversant with Shakespeare since childhood. It's a matter of conditioning.
That's more than I can say for the "ignoranticized" gibberish that passes for communication among younger people today. Much if which I find incomprehensible.
Much Madness is divinest Sense ––
ReplyDeleteTo a discerning Eye ––
Much Sense ––- the starkest Madness ––
’Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail ––
Assent –– and you are sane ––
Demur –– you’re straightway dangerous ––
And handled with a Chain ––
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
As to trying to progress by bring up the past or the current is counter productive. imo the best way to proceed is to say - Here is where we are at, this is what we need to do. Get on board or be left at the station.
ReplyDelete"He who who refuses to learn from the past is condemned to repeat it."
DeleteI can't remember who said that first, but it's true, nevertheless. Ignorant people (unfortunately the vast majority) tend to relate everything to themselves, their needs and desires, They not only don't see The Big Picture. Most are completely unaware that a Big Picture even exists.
This means, of course, they vote and promote ONLY those politicians and popular phenomena that promise to gratify their desires of the moment.
And that is why The LEFT has been able to make such inroads on our once thriving society. The LEFT works very hard to EX|LIT the worse in human nature to gain DICTATORIAL POWER.
I think your interest in the mysteries and great beauty of Outer Space and Heavenly Bodies would save you from taking the Worm's Eye View that holds most people in bondage.
"He who who refuses to learn from the past is condemned to repeat it."
Delete---George Santayana
Jorge AgustÃn Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás to be exact.
Delete§;-D
Good read:
ReplyDeleteA Complete Timeline of Race Relations Under Obama.
Concluding paragraph:
At every opportunity to quash racial division, Obama’s rhetoric instead amplified it. For eight years he continuously peddled the notion that America is a deeply racist, unjust vessel of oppression. While he would at times admit that some progress had been made in race relations, he consistently returned to his rhetoric about a country plagued by “systemic racism.” And so, race relations in America changed to reflect the vision Obama promulgated for 8 years. The media beloved racial unifier, Barack Obama presided over the deterioration of race relations in America. If you like your race relations, you’ll get to keep your race relations.