WE LOVE TO LIE

 

WE LOVE TO LIE

Justice is not blind.  WE are blind to justice!

I was raised in a large farming family and we were all expected to work hard and contribute according to our abilities.  Besides good work ethics my parents also frowned on lying and stealing and disrespectful behavior.  They didn’t tolerate any of it.  Now we’re talking moral ethics.  And yet in life we lie a lot and lie about just about anything.  Why do we do it and why so often?  As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the humanities I will not even pretend that I can give you a definitive answer, but I will peel back some of the layers we’re all familiar with.  A lot of it has to do with that elusive concept called humanity, what it means to be human and act humane.  What we’re asked to aspire to (mainly by the ‘authorities’ in charge; church and state, teachers and parents) is a reality that defies the fragility that is life.  I am going to take a few detours to illustrate why we lie with such ease and such frequency.

We’re not in control, never have been and never will be.  It’s one of the reasons why we find ourselves out of control so many times and why we’re lying with such ease.

As pointed out by Tennessee Williams, the journey of life leads to an inevitable conclusion.  What happens in our lives from point of entry to exit is pure happenstance.  Our existence is foremost and primarily acknowledged by ourselves (we’re all ego-trippers), hopefully by parents and family, the communities we grow up in and if we’re really lucky, by some in the wider world around us.  In reality we’re nothing more than insignificant grains of sand flowing through the fingers of time.  Others may look back on our lives and examine its worth (one of the main reasons why we publish obituaries, yes, once upon a time he/she was one of us).  For a few the memories may linger a bit longer, but most of us are soon forgotten, recycled back into terra firma as insignificant particles and atoms.  Since life is short—in a universe that spans billions of lightyears and has existed for many more—we’re a mere cosmic blip.  Something we hate to acknowledge. 

It is therefore not surprising that while alive we cling to life with a tenacity that is surprising.  And the lengths some of us are willing to go through to leave a lasting mark is mindboggling.  All that enterprise and some of it so destructive that it blows the mind.  We would do well to remember that even the worst of the worst and the best of the best are eventually reduced to insignificance.  And once you’re dead, who cares!

Nothing induces lying more than believing and like a true trooper I will take the expected criticism coming my way on the chin.  Let’s face it.  From the time we’re born most of us are inoculated with a hefty dose of religion.  If we readily and willingly accept all the illusions, myths and fabrications as dished up by all faiths, then you have to realize that we’re raised to embrace outright fabrications and lies without question.  Faith makes a mockery of truth, facts and science.  A level of deception so ingrained that it gives credence to the fact that perhaps we prefer to be deceived and lied to.  Why bother with brotherly love and lofty ideals, of a mindful and thoughtful approach to life and living, when we embrace the opposite with much more gusto and fervor.  Our faults and mistakes rise to fore with such alarming frequency that it supports the notion that our much vaunted awareness prefers deception and abuse.  Why support decent human beings as leaders when you can vote for a clown instead?  That superior brain of ours has turned us into the most unreliable and destructive species on Earth.  It is one of the reasons why we don’t get upset with lies and liars.  We want to be lied to, and, we want to lie.  Because it justifies almost anything we do!  Lies are a like a comfortable blanket that we can hide beneath as it excuses and covers up all our weaknesses and our reluctance to act responsibly.  We are more comfortable with dishonesty than the truth, because the truth hurts.

Liar, liar, your pants are on fire.

When it comes to lying there is no getting around this guy.

Trump’s popularity for instance is in part due to the fact that he constantly lies.   Consciously and subconsciously he is a validation of our own ineptitude and shortcomings.  He is giving the masses a break away from the usual moralists parading as presidential candidates, standing on their soapboxes, wagging their fingers and admonishing us to be good little boys and girls.  We’re much more comfortable with a character flouting convention and the law.  He is much closer to our true nature and when he’s excused for his faults, lies and shenanigans, so can we.  And therein lies the beauty of lies and the lies we prefer.  To hell with convention and righteous expectations.  Instead, whoop it up, holler and discriminate.  Who wants to constantly live inside a straitjacket of conformity and compliance as prescribed by those in a position of authority?

I have explained in previous articles that basically most of us are underachievers and there is nothing wrong with that.  We’re usually happy to get by with the least amount of effort.  Such is the nature of the beast.  And we’re part of that world (the natural one) whether we like it or not.  Overachievers are a rare breed anyway and even they will only do it in short bursts.  Nothing is ever sustained.

Combine a short and fragile existence with base instincts and volatile emotions and lying takes on a whole new and much more acceptable perspective.  I still don’t approve of lying and neither should you, but I’m trying to explain the why and why so often!  Life is just not nice and rarely easy.  Depending on where you are born, when and under what circumstances, life can quickly turn into a tedium, and boredom can quickly turn into resentment and rebellion.  So many things go bust in our lives.  From jobs to relationships.  From a bed of roses straight to the shitter.  Life is a crapshoot from start to finish. 

The greater the lie, the more effort we put into it.

Nothing skates closer to the surface of questionable truths and practices than organized religion.  We go out of our way to embellish a truth desired: miracles, heavenly appearances and characters, talking bushes, divine powers, holy animals, chariots streaking through the sky, multi-headed serpents.  Seemingly there is no end to the myths and stories concocted when a fertile mind can truly conjure up the most amazing things and pass it off as real.  There is that wonderful phrase: tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.  Wrap the whole thing up in pomp and pageantry, fantastic buildings filled with works of art, music, rituals, relics and costumes appropriate for the various festivals celebrating special occasions that have occurred in the lives of the many holy men involved in developing the charade.  Put it all in holy books, preferably in a language laypeople don’t understand, put specially appointed clergy in charge of administering the rites and after centuries of mandatory attendance and compliance, of propaganda and indoctrination, voila, it literally turns into gospel.  And the beauty of it all . . . you’re asked to believe without question, because, if you don’t . . . you’re not a true believer.  And your reward, whether you’re life was shitty or absolutely amazing . . . life after death.  An afterlife.  Heaven.  Resurrection.  One catch!  You have to die first.  Tennessee Williams got that one spot on.

We lie because we’re frail and fragile.

We’re our own worst enemy when it comes to expectations.  Anyone can feel trapped by the pressures we put on ourselves and those ingrained in our societies. All the things we’re supposed to do and engage in: relationships, children, ageing gracefully, meaningful careers, looking great, feeling fine, multitasking, success, accomplishments.  It never stops.  And life is no picnic.  Our fragile bodies and minds constantly succumb to temptation and failure.  When there is no way out and people feel stuck, resentment easily rises to the fore and it will fuel an awful lot of lies, because we lie to hide and ignore, to obfuscate and to pretend.  Lies are often fueled by resentment and when it affects multiple layers in society it can lead to institutional lying, especially when the inducement comes right from the top.

Societal failure has become institutionalized: persistent inflation, a lack of jobs and shrinking disposable incomes, huge debt loads, poor housing, unemployment and unfulfilling jobs, social unrest, overpopulation and cultures and customs clashing.  When failure comes nibbling at our doors it quickly leads to a general sense of unease and from it flows our worst fears, habits and concerns, and the lying we engage in becomes prevalent as we want to excuse our worst behaviors, when our humanity frays at the edges and primordial instincts take over.  We’re not a nice species when things sour.

Nobody gets out of this life alive: Tennessee Williams

That much maligned, so-called superior intelligence of ours and heightened levels of awareness, have led to a layering of lies that affects every strata of humanity.  Traditionally the many have always been at the mercy of a select few taking advantage of us in every way they can.  Democracy was supposed to put an end to this.  The tenets are obvious and worthy of praise.  All that equality and access, legal rights and even some constitutions alluding to a pursuit of happiness.  Democracy however, over time, drowns in promises made by electoral hopefuls and all that catering to our many whims and wishes comes at a hefty price.  Through economic manipulation and extensive lying on both sides; from those who promise and those wanting to fall for all those promises, the many are now once more beholden to the few through massive debt loads and a dependency on government handouts.

Lying takes on so many forms and comes in so many disguises that is becomes an ingrained habit.  And if you prefer a lie over the truth than facts no longer matter and that is what lies at the murky bottom of what we refer to as our humanity.  Even church and state in all their sometimes meaningful attempts to streamline and regulate our tempestuous behavior have fallen victim to encapsulating convenient lies in their right to often rule with impunity and defying all challenges.  A testament to our frivolous and cantankerous nature is our constant flip-flopping between ruling political parties.  What we as humans crave and eventually achieve is rarely articulated in a concise and predictable manner.  We muddle, stumble, fumble, grope and grasp our way through life.  One last sobering thought to honor Tennessee Williams and so many other thoughtful, intelligent people who have tried and who try, again and again, to implore us to use that intelligence of ours in more respectful ways: you only go through life once and there is no coming back for seconds, even for those misguided souls who believe in reincarnation.  It is just another lie.

Feel free to comment or share.  But . . . no lies!    

 

HOW OBSESSED ARE WE?

 

HOW OBSESSED ARE WE?

All the things we reach for to look and feel our best.

 

In this article I am going to attempt the near impossible because I am going to write about our obsessive preoccupation with health and fitness items as manifested in the literally thousands of pharmaceuticals we purchase and in the remedies, aids and gadgets suggested by a never ending barrage of ads and programs dedicated solely to all our ailments and all the things we should be paying attention to; basically to lead better and longer lives.  That’s what we all want, isn’t it?  Watching this non-stop stream of ads on TV or handheld devices is enough to undermine your mental health because you’re bound to suffer from a suggested illness or symptom.  Take it seriously and you have to be convinced that we’re living in a terminally ill society.

From books, pamphlets and gadgets, to fitness clubs and seminars, we’re bombarded by information, and it constantly changes, because there is not a single thing out there that has longevity, although that is exactly what so many profess you will attain:  If only you purchase this or that item or product, buy into it, follow it to the letter, etcetera. 

According to the dictionary an obsession is a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling leading to an obsessive need for a quick solution.  And the problem, my dear friends, lies in the last part of that sentence, because when it comes to our health and healthy solutions and lifestyles, we’re not only sorely lacking in resolve, that horrible things called genetics and inherited genes comes into play.  Any good doctor will tell you that about 75 percent of the bad things we end up with, health wise, are genetic and only 25 percent is due to lifestyle, as in irresponsible habits.  All the things we shouldn’t do, eat or inhale and then only in moderation. (Goodbye all you-can-eat buffets) (Goodbye super-sizing) (Goodbye binge drinking and eating)

Advice!  Easily given, but rarely taken.

Perhaps parents should concentrate on lifestyle coaching and practicing healthy habits, rather than indulging offspring by spoiling them rotten with instant gratification; electric scooters and couch-bound electronic devices, just to name two popular items.  No unhealthy foods and snacks, plenty of fresh air and exercise, using our natural ability to move around with arms and legs and not spending hours on end watching mindless TV and playing video games with lots of silly noises and things crashing and getting blown up.  Of course, all of the above would require parents reared and adhering and practicing all of the above preached.  Hence our obsession with reaching out to substitutes because we’re abject failures.  To practice what we preach is our biggest shortcoming and we’re all sinners and therefore gullible victims of redemption.  There is help out there.  We need them.  Role models, influencers, gurus, experts, never a shortage of the saviors of mankind and like the fads and gadgets they promote, they come and go like the proverbial seasons and we continue to watch, buy and try.  They claim it works and of course, when it doesn’t, we’d look like fools if we dare to complain, even if most of them promise a full refund if not completely satisfied.  Nobody does!  You didn’t try hard enough.  You gave up too soon.  The changes didn’t come fast enough and the worst, it makes you feel like a loser.  You hold a garage or yard sale instead and hide the fitness mistake amongst all the other discarded items and you hope that nobody notices or remarks, “Hey, did you honestly think that would work.  Sucker!”

Thousands and thousands of people are involved in this multi-billion dollar industry playing on our worst fears and obsessions.  Who wants to get old and wrinkly?  Instead you buy that advertised exercise equipment, especially those that you fold and hide underneath your chair, creams and potions, pills and supplements, books on diets and healthy living, vegan and vegetarian, what to eat and what not to eat.  Pilatus, meditation, yoga.  Special retreats that are no longer called fat farms to detox and submit yourself to the realization that you’re out of control and need professional help to send you back home; healthy and invigorated, a new person.  Turning over a new leaf only to be re-entering the same, familiar orbit.  Surrounded by the same vices and devices.  Still there and beckoning.  You don’t need fancy algorithms in this industry because they simply cater to all our shortcomings and gullible nature.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

And we can’t keep up with the changes, because so much of what is advocated and recommended today, is debunked and challenged tomorrow.  You shouldn’t have eaten that.  I know, I know, we told you initially that it would work, but recent studies have indicated the opposite.  Try this instead!  That particular diabetes drug that you’re using to lose weight, actually increases your risk of harming your pancreas.  Remember, it is a diabetes drug, intended for people whose pancreas needs help functioning properly.  And when you pay attention to the side effects of drugs, should you really jump at the opportunity to try it out or could a healthy lifestyle change produce a better result?

Everything professed and advertised guarantees that it works, but very few of the so-called experts live long enough to great acclaim and most, if they live long enough, will never acknowledge the disclaimers that inevitable will arise when the debunking sets in, following the glowing testimonials when they were initially flocking their products.  Goodbye Jane and Suzanne, we hope you enjoyed the proceeds while long abandoned devices and gadgets bearing your names are now littering landfill sites.  Perhaps the odd purchaser keeps one around as a reminder, an item of nostalgia and that unhappy conundrum that continues to haunt them, why did it work for Jane and not for me and why, oh why, did I never end up looking like her?

Keep on looking.

I can’t get over the thousands and thousands of people redecorating perfect skin with garish tattoos and designs.  Permanent markers of unhappy people looking for an escape from the dreary reality of life: family, kids, dead-end jobs, debt and mortgages and stuck in a rut.  We are so taken in by the unrealistic pictures painted by our consumption driven societies.  Ordinary simply doesn’t sell anymore and the unrealistic expectations so many crave are like orgiastic explosions of fulfillment desired, as if their lives should resemble that of the headline grabbers of the day.  We have become addicted to everything professed and to everything we watch and we try and try.  Tauntingly within reach and yet out of reach.

Don’t expect any definitive answers from me.  Even a top-notch AI program wouldn’t be able to come up with a reasonable answer to explain our obsessions and obsessive needs.  I am old, liver spots dot my face, wrinkles galore, hair thinning and a shiny pate on top, spare parts galore and although my mind can still imagine all kinds of wonderful things, the body says @&%$ you!

Count your blessings.

Be honest.  Accept yourself for who and what you are.  My life has been filled with the usual ups and downs, but I have never really suffered any serious deprivations.  I have never been bombed or thrown out of my house with only the clothes on my back.  I have never suffered hunger or starvation or have been stranded in a refugee camp.  Never been exposed to discrimination or persecuted for whatever reason.  Life is a crapshoot from start to finish and all of us are fragile creatures.  I’ve been lucky.  War and violence thus far have passed me by and I know that the exit sign looms larger with every passing day.  But I have enjoyed the journey and writing has provided me with incredible joy.  The best advice I can give you on your journey through life: Be the answer.

Be the answer, you may find it a bit cryptic, but put your imagination to work and figure out what it would mean to you.  Better yet, let me know.

Feel free to comment or share.

A DEFIANT SPECIES

 

A DEFIANT SPECIES

 

Defiant to the bitter end!  (That will be us, all of us)

 

The State of the Union address (U.S.A) delivered on February 24/2026 is a typical example of how delusional we have become as a species.  It’s not just the outright lies and fabrications, the distortion of the true state of the economy and where a country is headed, it’s about what we want to believe, what we tell each other to believe.  Our entire existence in the Western hemisphere is kept afloat on a sea of bad debts and no amount of taxation or tariffs will alleviate the horrendous deficits all nations keep piling up year after year.  We’re moving ahead with a level of defiance that is absolutely astonishing and mind boggling.  Nations are grasping at straws to keep a leaking ship afloat.  Fifty years ago we managed to put people on the moon.  Fast forward to today and we’re struggling to put a manned Artemis rocket into space, not for a landing, but a flyby.  With improvements in technologies, materials and propulsion, why does it appear that we’re starting from scratch once more?  What changed in the interim?  Why did we stop fifty years ago?

Defiance in the face of desperation and that is what this article is all about.

I am not a physicist, but I do know that the exploration of space with conventional spacecraft is a non-starter to realistically venture into the universe.  The current resources and methods we use to launch a large rocket into space have not produced a tangible return on investment, other than scientific progress, improved space technologies and the bragging rights that we actually went to the moon.  Our ability to effectively explore space, to settle in space and to affordably extract whatever we think is needed to sustain the human population on Earth, has not produced any tangible results or prospects.  And the expenses keep piling up and most of it in the form of tax dollars to support an extremely costly enterprise.  Our current technologies have us spinning our wheels in proverbial space sand.

Looking for a way out, an escape.

We are throwing billions of dollars at a wistful dream; can we leave this planet in realistic numbers and settle elsewhere in space?  It is our numbers, needs and demands that have put planet Earth into a state of deep decline and this time around it is not about who is first and can we do it, but about desperation and looking for an escape, a way out.  Defiance and desperation are the drivers behind finding alternatives to keep our species alive and where else can we look at this point in time but at the heavens.  For millennia humans have stared up at the heavens and we have wondered and speculated.  What would it be like to travel up there and explore that seemingly huge infinity?  And then there is the frustration of knowing that we’re stuck on Earth.  Without attempting to put a finer point on the issue, the acceptance that we’re stuck on this planet has never sat well with that superior intelligence of ours, fueled by an imagination that knows no boundaries and for a species for whom pushing the boundaries is an ongoing obsession.  We have never accepted our finite existence and the fragility of life and all the obstacles all lifeforms face.  An intelligence such as ours has never been satisfied with a status quo or a fait accompli.

Defiance, not acceptance, drives us relentlessly onward.

We are in denial when it comes to the sobering reality that we’re permanently stuck on planet Earth, an uncomfortable fact as we’re well aware of the detrimental impact of most of our activities and the irreversible damage we have inflicted.  In less than 75 years we have polluted most of our water sources with plastics and micro plastics.  This is but one example of our disastrous impact and there are hundreds more.  The picture that has emerged as a result is that of a species in trouble.  We’re not reversing, we’re not pausing and we’re not backing down and in the process we’re denying millions of species in the natural world a future as well.

I am well aware that at times I must sound like a broken record (I was brought up in time where vinyl and turntables reigned supreme, and newspaper and radio were our lifelines to the outside world).  However, the uncomfortable realities that face our species and the entire planet is not something we can afford to ignore.  It has little to do with wistfully looking back or stubbornly plodding onwards.  We are steadfast in our refusal to acknowledge that none of our activities contribute to the health and welfare of planet Earth and the millions of lifeforms that depend on it for survival.

This is it!

Our dependency is in denial and we’re resorting to a dizzying number of excuses to either ignore what is going on around us or deliberately turn a blind eye.  Without letup we continue to extract, to pollute, to waste, to dig ever deeper holes, to vanquish species, and to destroy and devour.  And it is all taking place within a finite reality.  Not a single one of our species is contributing anything to the longevity, health and welfare of our planet.  Even the most conscientious amongst us still consume and are part and parcel of the communities we live in.  My writing doesn’t set me apart.  I am no different than you are.  I am surrounded by the physical realities that constitute my home and the city I live in.  Growth and progress are killing us and we’re not slowing down.  A truly intelligent species would make every effort to ensure that we protect and preserve the vitality of a planet that has provided us with opportunity and a lifeline for billions of years.  The extinction of our species is a distinct possibility as we have never tried to fit in.  We’re not stupid.  Most of us are aware how important symbiosis is and that the preservation of eco-systems is crucial to all life and that includes ours as well.  No matter how high we jump, no matter what kind of excuses we come up with, all of us come and go and there is no everlasting.  None of us get out of this life alive.  T. Williams

Ignorance is bad, deliberate ignorance the worst.

We can be forgiven for our earliest sins when we first emerged as intelligent uprights and we took the first tentative steps in exploring the world around us.  Our initial ignorance can be forgiven because we were learning and we didn’t know any better.  As Homo ignoramus (sapiens ought to be reserved for a truly intelligent species only) we set out on a discovery tour that initially appeared endless in potential and possibilities.

We are a creature of evolution and evolution only works on what is possible.  Creatures can and will adapt to changing circumstances, but only when circumstances allow it.  It doesn’t work on the impossible.  Space is too vast and hostile for a fragile species such as ours to exist.  Earth lifeforms are not compatible with a space based existence.

In my novel—They were like angels—I indulged in the possibilities of intelligent design and how it might have played a role in how life on Earth emerged.  In it I describe how technologies such as turning matter into anti-matter, converting humans and material into light pulses, might be the only logical way to traverse the immensity of space safely and effectively.  This is fantasy technology and it would require a level of sophistication and energy we don’t possess.  And I have said this before, all superior intelligence is inherently self-destructive and therefore any effort to reverse it is futile.  Look at what we have placed the emphasis on in recent decades and the negatives that have emerged as a result.  We don’t stop, pause or reverse, because that is not how a ‘superior’ mind works or behaves.

As a writer I have never been afraid to state the obvious.  We have an obligation to record history and our impact as objectively as we can.  I don’t serve any paymasters either.

Elect a clown, expect a circus.

In the State of the Union address in 2026 Trump and company clearly demonstrated, not only defiance, but how delusional the political spectrum in the United States has become.  For an intelligent person this was a sickening performance to watch and listen to.  Loose cannons are in charge of the nation’s economy and future and I will only list one ludicrous example of how unhinged they have become.

Tariffs replacing income tax?  Not having to pay income tax sounds like a Christmas present that keeps on giving.  The first reality is the sobering fact that the United States is in debt up to its eyeballs.  That debt belong to the masses.  We, the people, we are the government.  Secondly, replacing income tax and other nifty ways to collect money, with tariffs, would require a huge and complicated bureaucracy to administer.  In other words, more government and not less.  And most importantly, think really deep and hard about how this fancy-footing with tariffs and duties will affect the livelihoods of the average American.  I will illustrate the impact of tariffs on everything with a simple example.  If the price of groceries doubled this is not an issue for wealthy people.  Wealthy people may on average be able to afford more expensive luxuries, but by and large, their eating and spending habits reflect that of ordinary working people.  Currently almost every taxation model used is prorated.  The more you make, the more you contribute.  It is fair and it makes sense.  Not having to pay income tax would make the wealthy only wealthier and only the poor and the working poor will carry the burden of keeping governments afloat.  Still think that tariffs are a godsend?  If Trump and company have their way they will turn America in a nation of haves and have-nots and the have-nots will be a sweeping majority and not in a good (decision making) sense. 

The fact that tariffs are killing jobs and prosperity doesn’t deter this coterie of crackpots because they can’t wait to fill their pockets with ill-gotten gains.  We have turned into a defiant species engaged in a delusional race against the doomsday clock that it is edging up to midnight.  As a non-religious person I feel it is still appropriate for me to exclaim in disbelief and horror, “God, give me strength!”

Feel free to comment of share.  I enjoy your feedback and remember that ours is a journey we share.  We need to keep the dialogue going in a respectful and open manner.   

Purchase my novel Energy & Origin, available on KDP Amazon.ca    

ALL THE THINGS WE PUT UP WITH

 

ALL THE THINGS WE PUT UP WITH

 

A few live extremely well at the expense of the many.

 

No, this is not an article about all our gripes, pet peeves and the growing list of inconsequential faultfinding items we increasingly grouse about.  The list of personal grievances can be so large that it comes across like whining.  I don’t like whiners and I don’t want to sound like one either.  Toes curled, lips zippered, take a deep breath, walk away; that’s what the smart ones do.  Save your energy for a bigger fight.  Most of us prefer to squawk about the petty stuff, rather than the issues that really matter, because most of those issues either can’t be resolved or resist solution.  Stubborn matters that affect everybody and have done so since the dawn of mankind.  To name just a few: Fairness, equality, an equitable sharing of goods, food and resources and justice dispensed based on the severity of the offense and not on one’s standing in the community.  I’ll stick with a few of the biggies.

We mean well.

This is an article about the haves and have-nots, about masters and servants, about those that rule and the masses that obey and follow orders.  What makes the article uncomfortable is the sad fact that we’re all complicit in propping up a system that benefits few at the expense of many.  Not to worry that this will turn into some kind of manifesto akin to Das Kapital by Karl Marx.  Enterprise and hard work deserves its own reward, I just don’t believe that a scandalous, one-sided division of wealth will benefit any of us in the long run.  My approach is more philosophical and attitudinal.  Our sanctimonious approach to freedom and liberty, to values, morals and ethics is astonishing, because when it comes to standing up for ourselves, to celebrate our individuality and inner resolve, we continue to fail en masse.

We talk a lot.

We have created a system, a model of governance and economics that thrives on complicity, compliance and conformity and I am one of you.  I belong to the masses and I feel just as helpless as to what any of us can really do.  To make a difference.  Do you?  We continue to prop up models that are so skewered and unfair that it defies common sense and I continue to be baffled by our willingness to go along with this nonsense.  We’re caught up in a vicious circle of subservience and dependence and for the life of me I can’t figure out why we go along with this shit.  Part of it can be explained away in how tribal creatures follow evolutionary pathways that are beneficial to the group as a whole.  Our primordial past comes once more knocking on our doors.  For convenience sake I’m lumping humanity in with all lifeforms that live in troops, groups or tribes.  Despite the fact that in my humble opinion we’re an aberration and a poor fit, we’re still part of the bigger picture and had we remained in the jungle as apes I wouldn’t have to write this article because the lifestyle models that evolved in the natural world lack the complexity, nuances and oddities reflected in what we have concocted.  Wealth sharing and equality are non-debatable issues in the natural world because the biggest, greedy brute always gets to eat first.  Hmmm . . . apparently the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  That evolution thing keeps rearing its ugly head.  What is kind of amazing and perplexing is the fact that despite that much vaunted intelligence of ours, we still mimic the behavior of that of the natural critters living in the wild. 

We have maintained the pecking orders.

Not only have we maintained a distinct pecking order in our human tribes and societies, we have taken that whole exclusivity thing to the next level.  Most of us voluntarily put on that straitjacket of conformity and obedience.  And it doesn’t really matter what stratus in life you’ve been born into, even amongst the rich certain expectations apply: don’t share, keep them in their place, make them dependent and limit their rights (that will be us).  How often have you been reminded to know your place in society?  Born a pauper, you’re expected to remain a pauper Better remember what side of the tracks you came from. We look down on people who break the shackles of conformity and become a success and are almost filled with glee when they fall and stumble.  For some reason we hold those born into hereditary wealth and status in higher esteem than ordinary people.  In all fairness, we’re well aware of the persnickety reality that only so much cream floats to the surface and there is room for only so many chiefs at the top.  I could have penned ‘bosses’ instead, but every now and them I like to kick those insufferable woke chins.  Nothing wrong with holding on to a good phrase.

An equalitarian society is a utopian dream.

As a species we’re simply too ornery, selfish, greedy and self-possessed to conscientiously and determinedly pursue a model of governance and human behavior that should have been a spontaneous byproduct of a superior intelligence.  Alas, an increase in intelligence has not turned any of us into better people.  And the few that try are mowed down with an indifference that resembles the appetite of the great whale. (For the curious, check it out, it’s absolutely amazing!) (The appetite!)

The emphasis has never been on bringing out the best in an individual, focusing on strengths and helping them to overcome weaknesses.  To allow the best and the brightest to reach their full potential, regardless of birth, race, gender or background.  Advancement without prejudice.

Dream along.

It behooves the privileged and the entitled to keep us in our place, up to our eyeballs in debt, subservient and obedient, shackled to their whims and wishes.  They just love to protect their wealth and status.  This kind of unfair distribution of wealth and status remains part of any kind of governance system humans devise.  The failure of communism was twofold.  Not only did they fail to abolish a class society—it existed on paper only, but they established a party elite that was as exclusive, predatory, selfish and ruthless as the nobility, the rich and entitled, they supposedly despised and deposed.  What the new hierarchy accomplished was simply exchanging one autocratic bunch for another.  Unfortunately, while purging the establishment of all the elements they didn’t like they also dismantled a profit-based, market economy in exchange for state operated enterprises run by incompetents.  What unfolded within decades was the impressive collapse of an empire, corrupt from top to bottom and infused with distrust and paranoia.

We all need incentives.

Why aim for the top or pursue a degree or demanding profession when you end up earning little more than a street sweeper?  Especially when the thugs running the nation are living the good life.  Our true nature defies the dreamers and the do-gooders and they end up being pitied for being naïve and rather delusional, no matter how well-intended their visions and their dreams of a better and just society.

Let’s face it.  It’s the bad ape that always gets the lion’s share and all the attention.  The rudest, the most brazen and aggressive, the strongest, the most obnoxious, greedy and selfish.  We have had some amazing leaders that made a difference and many have tried.  But there is that ever present undercurrent of negative energy and momentum, often fueled by the inequities that seem to be rising like an unstoppable tide barreling down on our shores.  It may skip a few generations, but we always seem to be reaching a new boiling point when the division of wealth gets out of hand and too many people are failing and falling through the cracks.  It is the few that have everything that appear to have an appetite for wealth that is insatiable.  And we appear to accept it as a fait accompli.

When you have it all.

The king can afford to wave with a smile filled with warmth and benevolence from the palace’s balcony, because he knows that his larder will never be empty and the royals don’t have to worry about the crowds below getting out of hand and threaten their exalted position.  Because, we, the masses have been conditioned and raised to be compliant and to conform according to the expectations set out by society.  We are taught to obey those above us, elected or selected.  There is a whole structure in place to keep us in our place.

Reversed evolutionary engineering won’t solve our predicament because the pecking order in the natural world is as savage as it is in ours: Only more honest, straight to the point and without dialogue, diplomacy or negotiation.  The natural world dispenses of niceties.  You know where you stand right away.  Piss off the big ape and he will clobber you.  Despite the fact that the natural world is unencumbered by everything we have accomplished and hold dear, life in the wild is not a picnic.  So, let’s not over-idealize the natural option and this dream of going back to nature and doing it right.  It’s a tad late for that.  Our banishment from the Garden of Eden, the tale of Adam and Eve, the snake and the apple, it describes our failings and shortcomings to a T.

I am an objectivist.

I don’t apologize for my rather bleak outlook pertaining to our species, our humanity and all the things we are and are not.  I know where we are headed and why, but that doesn’t mean I’m excited about it.  I have no political views because my political party doesn’t exist.  Its cornerstone is the carrot and stick; reward those who try to the best of their abilities with carrots and use a stick on all who can, but refuse to.  I do believe that honest and hard work deserves its own rewards but that none of us need to be rewarded with obscene wealth.  In an equalitarian society we take pride in caring and sharing and looking out for each other.  Fairness.  Compassion.  Personally I wish that I could put a stop to all the extremists, religionists and hate mongers who keep differences alive and use them to pit us against each other.

I do believe in brotherhood, in our humanity, especially when given the chance and allowing it to blossom.  The sun that beams down on us from above shines for all, regardless of birth and where you were born.

As a writer I am an objectivist.  I try to be as objective as I can, for my benefit and yours.  My blog is free and I don’t serve any masters, but only you, my readers.  I always end my articles with the following: feel free to comment or share.  So far, all responses have been positive, but incredibly short: liked (followed by the title of the article).  However, as a writer I am always interested in what you are thinking.  Not just your opinion, but also your concerns, your dreams and expectations.  I do hope that all my readers are blessed with original thought and critical thinking.  Thank you for reading and sharing.  If you like what I write, spread the word.

  

CIRCUS AMERICA

 

CIRCUS AMERICA

The price we pay for electing clowns to the highest offices.

 

In this article I am going to draw comparisons between Trump and Hitler, not only to illustrate how nations can get stuck with some deplorable leaders (it happens all too often and history is rife with questionable heads of state), but how similar these two are in their psychological profiles.  We’re finding ourselves in troubling times and we’re faced with complex issues.  Any sane leader would concentrate on attempts to solve these problems, rather than spent an inordinate amount of time erecting monuments to gratify the leader’s ego.  Tacky displays.  Statues (in gold of course).  Marches.  Military parades.  Plastering your face and name on buildings and renaming some in your own honor.  A UFC contest on the lawn of the White House, demolishing part of this national symbol to make room for a billion dollar ballroom, turning a rose garden into a putting green.  On the political and financial front his ‘presidential’ actions are as erratic and unpredictable, a lot of it motivated once more by an out-of-control ego that is rooted in a dysfunctional childhood and an overbearing father figure; fostering a level of insecurity that has led to a constant need to overcompensate and prove his worth: power, control, wealth.

Who in his right mind would start a global trade war with outrageous tariffs and economic sanctions?  CUSMA, once praised and negotiated by Trump to replace NAFTA, he now describes as an absolute disaster and valued neighbors and trading partners—Canada and Mexico—are now derided as parasites as if their close ties fostered over decades of integrated, mutual trade, have come solely at the expense of the United States.  Fact and figures point at the opposite but the volatile nature of unpredictable leaders saddled with a psychotic mindset will ignore anything that contradicts their aspirations.  Hitler’s political ideology was one of resentment and perverted by racism and a desire for Germany to dominate the world. 

No control mechanisms.

There is nothing in our political and legal arsenal that can protect us from out-of-control psychopathic leaders.  Sane leaders abide by convention and negotiated agreements and treaties: led by and motivated by an expectation of respectful and thoughtful behavior.  Both Trump’s and Hitler’s tenure has been tainted by vindictive vendettas towards political opponents and critics.  Both displayed a desire to comment on anything and everything as if their opinion matters.  Trump from the onset has denounced and belittled friends and foes alike.  Praise one minute and ridicule the next.  A behavioral pattern similar as to what he displayed in his company’s boardroom.  Control freaks excel at this kind of destructive approach to governing and ruling; building up and breaking down, keeping underlings on their toes and as a result they all go out of their way pleasing the boss.  It creates an unhealthy and pathetic working environment.  Policies that please the leader, accompanied by a flourishing signature and the lackeys applauding in the background.  Smiles all around.  Hitler employed the same tactics!

They keep pushing to see what they can get away with.

Bad leaders also engage in questionable tactics and they constantly probe and poke to identify weaknesses as in; what can I get away with!  Kidnapping a president.  Military strikes against suspected drug runners.  Embargos on “sanctioned oil ships”, leaving Cuba in the dark.  Oddly enough the world’s worst nations when it comes to illegal drugs and drug cartels—Mexico and Columbia—are thus far left alone!  A unilateral war against Iran and nobody can figure out why this was initiated in the first place, although between Israel and the US an illusion is kept alive that somehow they can control the Middle East and the flow of oil.  Hitler learned to his chagrin that an army runs on oil.

Desperation breeds contempt. 

And then there is the mystery surrounding Ukraine and Trump’s rather vague explanation that “Ukraine is not our war.”  Soft pedaling Russian aggression and refusing to back up NATO with tougher sanctions against Russia.  All of a sudden North Korea’s nuclear capabilities are ignored while Iran is being crucified for attempting the same, attempts that have been consistently bombed into oblivion by the US and Israel.  Trump’s flip flopping on many issues couldn’t be expressed more acutely than in the way he has dealt with US-China trade relations.  His divide and conquer approach hasn’t worked out well. 

Hitler was just as erratic.  As he steadily rose to power and expanded his control his true nature came to the fore with a messianic, savior complex combined with a level of aggression that proved frightening in scope.  Outrageous displays of flags, parades, and thousands of people in uniform.  All saluting each other and the leader with the infamous Hitler salute: Heil Hitler.  He unleashed an incredible building frenzy, from monuments and planned museums to his personal retreat in the mountains.  His image and presence were everywhere.  What he and his acolytes crafted was a cult status that placed Hitler and the state above anything else.  And it came with enforced compliance.  His secret state police, the SS and the Gestapo were omni present and ruled with impunity.  The black uniforms, the lightning bolt epaulets, the silver skulls on their caps.  Everything was designed to invoke power and to intimidate.  So-called subversives were incarcerated in concentration camps and judges presided over kangaroo trials.

And now look at the detention centers in the US, the separation of families, a lack of legal representation, deportations.  ICE arresting anyone suspected of being a potential illegal citizen.  And look at the color of their clothing and tactics used!  Former administrators like James Comey are charged and threatened with court action based on fabricated and frivolous accusations.  Even if acquitted and exonerated, it is all based on career destroying motives.

Persecution and threats.

In Nazi Germany the intelligentsia was persistently ‘cleansed’ of anyone not willing to adhere to Nazi policies and towing the party line.  It led to a national justification of hatred, bigotry and racism.  State-led, state-fed, political indoctrination through a process of relentless coercion

In Trump’s America we see a similar process taking place.  Intimidation of candidates that are not pro-Trump, condemnation of networks featuring programs that are deemed anti-Trump with bad jokes or taking potshots at his bungling, lies and distortion of facts.  They are trying to create a Trump-cult-America where you don’t achieve or rise up through the ranks unless you submit to their views.  MAGA or else!  Submission without question.  Smile instead of cringe.  Sell out rather than doing the right thing: serve your country with dignity and respect.  Honor and abide by the nation’s constitution and laws.

Tap into fear.  Create fear.

Hitler faced a nation that was defeated and humiliated in his eyes, although World War I was put in motion by a psychotic, delusional Kaiser Wilhelm.  Sane world leaders are not afraid of the psychopaths elected as heads of state, but of the insanity they will unleash once they are in power.  Not a single, global institution is designed or can cope with an out-of-control leader.  Germany was broke.  The population fractious and volatile.  All it takes is a determined psychopath to light the fire and keeping it fed.

America is broke and it won’t be fixed with tariffs and sanctions.  England’s economy was devastated by an on and off hundred year war with France (1337-1453) and when the king’s coffers were empty they often resorted to tariffs on imports.  It led to smuggling and tax evasion instead and with thousands of civil servants charged with trying to put a stop to it.  America’s impressive military complex and with an army of over a million people in uniform spread out across the globe has steadily eroded America’s financial stability.  A mighty army that is not backed up by an equally impressive and profitable private sector presence is a recipe for disaster.  Under the astute financial mismanagement of Trump and company America is well under way towards a forty trillion dollar federal debt.

Appeasement has never worked.

Hitler compensated for Germany’s impoverished state by invading other nations and stealing their resources and using slave labor.  Hitler started his expansion by annexations that appeared tolerated as the world around him contemplated how to best contain him.  Austria was annexed in a semi-friendly-hostile takeover and the excuse: well, we all speak the same language and therefore an ‘Anschluss’ makes perfect sense.

Trump and company have been equally eager for much needed resources and cash.  He has expressed a desire for Canada to roll over and play dead and join as the 51^st state.  And look at the size, the resources and the impressive workforce of Canada.  What a bargain that would be!  And let’s not forget that most of them speak the same language.  They are also eyeing Greenland, the oil of Venezuela and practicing the art of intimidation and military threats by putting Cuba in the dark and bombing boats out of the water that are ‘identified’ as potential drug running vessels.

Hitler kept pushing to see what the world would do in the face of his increasingly erratic behavior and early conquests: the Rhineland, Austria and Sudetenland.  He mistook the reluctance of the Allied powers for fear and that he could pursue his agenda of invading other nations with impunity.  Sane leaders don’t fear the person, but what they will unleash.  War has never produced a lasting result or an improvement in relationships with neighbors or adversaries (the conflict model continues to dominate international relations, as if we need enemies to justify trade and financial policies.  Culture, language, customs, traditions, religion and heritage continue to be abused as justifications to pursue war and animosity).

They crave attention.

Big egos love to draw attention to themselves and again, both Trump and Hitler are prime examples.  Hitler would hold forth for hours, claiming to be an expert on anything.  And of course, nobody was given a choice but to listen, nod in affirmation and applaud.  Ditto for Trump.  Put a microphone in front of him and he won’t shut up.  Claiming to know everything: I am the smartest man.  I could have been a professor.  And the accolades he heaps onto himself keep piling up.

Hitler learned the hard way that armies run on oil.  All that impressive and expensive military hardware requires huge amounts of energy.  The Middle East is still the primary source and he who controls the oil spigot rules.  The unilateral decision by the US and Israel to provoke a war with Iran has little to do with Iran’s desire to enrich uranium for nuclear warheads, but with showing the world whose boss.  At the latest G7 meeting Trump was boasting to the leaders in attendance that “I’m the boss” as he took a seat at the table.

Israel has steadfast refused to reach a compromise deal with people of Arab descent living within its borders.  A land they shared for thousands of years.  They believe that by bombing the hell out of the remaining Palestinian enclaves that they can force them to move.  Accommodation and power sharing has deliberately been removed from any negotiations.  Psychotic leaders want it all and a lot of it hails from desperation.

Who needs America?

Once upon a time the world craved everything ‘made in America’.  We wanted their refrigerators and appliances, cars and machinery.  America’s manufacturing sector was booming.  Something peculiar started to happen in the 70s and 80s.  America as a nation started to trade in its manufacturing base for the pyrotechnics of stock speculation.  All part of the progress trap, which has been the undoing of nations past and present.  A few doing extremely well at the expense of the many.  Large corporations squeezing out the little guy.  Factory farming displacing thousands of farming families.  Profits and quantity before quality.  Supply management as practiced in Canada would have saved the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.  All economic practices, no matter how well intended at first, once in place, are extremely difficult to reverse.  America is now discovering to their chagrin that in the case of heavy industries like ship building and steel, they are now at the mercy for these items to foreign nations.  Some at the other end of the world.

America’s costly reliance on mega-sized defense industries—stuff that only gathers dust unless you use the stuff in profitable wars—has put its political masters in the poor house.  They have dug the costliest global financial hole.  I will illustrate this with one simple example.  A jet fighter, from the first bolt ordered until it is scrapped as junk at the end of its lifetime, is a cost factor.  Tax dollar wasted and spent from start to finish.  On the other hand, a commercial jetliner will earn its owners millions of dollars as it flies for years from destination to destination, ferrying millions of ‘paying’ passengers’.  This is how the private sector works and if the private sector doesn’t earn any money, there are no taxes to be levied.  A private sector-for-profit product doesn’t cost the taxpayer a single penny.  It actually produces tax dollars.

A little late at this stage of the game for Trump and company to attempt to turn back the clocks and reinvent the America of the 50s.  Don’t forget that America before, during and after World War II, started out as lenders of money.  A lot of it used to boost and reconstruct industries all around the globe destroyed by war.  Within record time they have become the world’s biggest borrowers of money and they’re only adding more each year.  Trump’s erratic trade policies are costly and counterproductive.

Out of control spending. 

The biggest millstone dangling around the neck of every American taxpayer is excessive military spending aimed at retaining a superpower status.  No other nation maintains as many costly security bureaucracies as the US, many of them born out of pure paranoia and fear and a lot of it hyped to justify the expense.  Get rid of heavy industries and manufacturing and millions of people previously working are now on the dole and need government assistance.  America is drowning in bureaucratic layers and many of them are rife with cronyism, corruption and fraud.  American insurance companies and health delivery services love to milk the taxpayer for all its worth.  Government contracts fail to deliver bank for buck and military contractors are the worst when it comes to cost overruns and overpricing.  Russia is a prime example of a nation bankrupted by its military spending.

Victims of the progress trap.

The progress trap is a typical example of how some of our best intentions end up costing us dearly.  The progress trap causes a progressive slide of disproportionate wealth division (haves and have-nots) that eventually places wealth and prosperity beyond the reach of the many and only increases government dependency (and henceforth the cost of government).  Economist John Kenneth Galbraith warned American presidents as early as 1954 that this was a recipe for economic and financial disaster.  Trump and company’s pathetic attempts to reverse this trend of economic and financial decline are laughable at best as most of them are the beneficiaries of what their predecessors and their families have created in the first place.

None of them will impose any controls or reversals on basic greed and excessive profit taking.  Using archaic tactics such as tariffs, sanctions and military escapades will only drive much needed investments away.  Even disgruntled Americans who have bought into Trump’s circus America will soon realize that what seemed originally harmless entertainment by putting a clown in the White House is swiftly turning into a nightmare.  It is one thing watching a circus, becoming part of the act is altogether different.

Only one blessing: he’s old!

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