*
Printable View
*
Thoughtful, well written and addressing important topics. Important enough for me to want a face and voice to give the topics the respect they are due and especially if even a tiny amount of actionable resolve is to be reached.
We have the technology for such interactions. Text is like using a horse and buggy when other better suited options are available. Although, no tech is required for inner work and developing a relationship with Wisdom. In fact, inner work might even be a prerequisite for productive, real time interactions.
That will be my contribution here.
*
*
Not to bring this thread to a shrieking halt, but...
The problem is that there are so many aspirants... :p And that is all because society indoctrinates us and conditions us from birth to think along the lines of a dichotomy that should not be, i.e. "the rulers and the ruled", as in "the predator and the prey".
This connotation with predation — and thus, the survival instinct — is what makes many aspire to become a ruler. Not all of them are corrupt from the onset, but they do all carry within them the seed of corruptibility, and upon their entry into the pyramid, they all soon discover that in order to become part of the ruling caste, this seed must be allowed to flourish into a lush plant.
Those whose corruption has thusly grown are the ones who make up the bulk of all career politicians. Those who were already corrupt from the onset are the psychopaths, and they invariably have their minds set on the highest and/or strategically most opportune positions of the pyramid structure. And finally, those who do not carry the seed of corruptibility within them are repelled, trampled and smothered by the power structure's immune system until they once again become part of the faceless and impotent muck of society that this ruling caste treads upon.
I have very briefly been a member of a (now defunct) political party, and I have worked for the authorities over here in Belgium. I've seen enough. ;)
*
No, I was not under the impression that this would be where you are going. ;) I merely sought to highlight what I regard — both from within an intellectual consideration and from within my experience in the field — to be the biggest hurdle on account of creating a fair and prosperous society model.
A secondary hurdle, sprung from the one above, is the financial-economical construct. Animals don't require barter, because they live in harmony with nature. They feed off of what the Earth provides, and it is extremely rare — not completely unheard of, but extremely rare nevertheless — for an animal, even a predator, to kill for other reasons than feeding itself, or protecting either its territory or the safety of its offspring.
For instance, when the alpha male of a lion tribe dies, then his wannabe-successor will often kill the dead male's offspring so as to establish his own dominance over the pride. Female tigers and a few other female animals will sometimes kill and eat their own young in an act of mercy if they find that they cannot sustain them. But only a psychotic animal would kill for the joy of killing — this, too, has already been observed in the wild, but it is rare.
Returning to the subject of bartering however, this is not something an animal would do. Animals might use manipulative tactics — for instance, the concept of prostitution has already been observed among certain species of apes — to gain an advantage, but no animal has ever said to another animal "If you want this coconut, then you're going to have to give me two bananas and an apple in return", or "I'll give you two wallabies for the tail of that crocodile."
Taking this further, at some point in time, the human bartering system evolved toward the use of an abstract and more "universal" barter medium, namely precious metals. And then the bankers came and took that concept to the next level through the creation of a fiat money system. And it is this fiat-money-based control system that makes for the center of attention in the daily management of any human society within what humans like calling "the civilized world".
Managing the fiat-based financial structure in turn comes down to two major strategies, being a capitalist one and a socialist one. The "civilized" world at large has opted for capitalism — in no small part because of the imperialist push from the USA. I'm painting only a crude picture of the whole situation here, but what it basically comes down to is that socialist regimes always have to exist within the global capitalist system, and that as such, true socialism has never been able to materialize — that which was called communism was not socialism in its actual form, but a perversion of it in order to ensure the pertinent nation state's protection against the capitalist outside world.
Mind you, I am not advocating socialism here, but the spirit of true socialism — which, as I've just said, has never actually been materialized anywhere because of the fact that capitalism dominates the world at large and no nation can ever truly sustain itself by way of its national produce and resources, so there must always be a possibility to trade (and thus communicate) with the capitalist outside — comes closer to the stage of intellectual development where people might want to consider the abolition of the barter system altogether.
And because capitalism is an avenue to power — especially because of corporatism, which is a natural consequence of capitalism — you will once again find the same tenet there: those who least deserve the power (and wealth) are the ones who aspire it the most. So it's no surprise that governmental power structures and the financial world are in symbiosis. They both offer the same thing — i.e. power — and to people of the same psychological profile.
Now, one could then posit that the social injustice brought forth by this unholy collusion would be met with resistance. But that's exactly where the ruling caste has covered itself in. They rely on a secondary, "somewhat lesser" power structure, comprised of a much larger number of individuals, and authorized by the ruling caste to carry firearms.
On account of civilian activity within the nation's borders, this secondary branch is "law enforcement", and on account of defensive action — or in the case of the USA, offensive action — against other nations, the secondary branch is "the military". Sometimes, law enforcement and military are one and the same, depending on the nation. And as the name "law enforcement" says, this contingent of people is not there to protect and serve the population or to uphold justice, but to uphold the law and serve the lawmakers — or otherwise put: the ruling caste.
Furthermore, capitalism as a control system is also subliminally reinforced by over-industrialization — creating the shiny gadgets that everyone wants and that everyone eventually gradually becomes addicted to — and by the distortion of information by way of propaganda, obfuscation, thought policing and advertising. And the latter approach is in fact an amalgamation of all of the aforementioned tactics. Advertising revolves around the creation of needs that didn't exist yet before.
The bottom line is that the materialist society model imposed by capitalism — which, remember, is in essence only a sociopathic trend that grew out of the existence of the barter system by way of the institution of fiat currencies — acts like a sedative on humanity, causing it to go blind to the very injustice that lies underneath the whole foundation of society as we know it here in the West.
In the Arab world, you can add religion on top of that venomous mix. The influence of religion in the West — or that is to say, where it concerns religious power structures native to the West — has already long waned in favor of materialism and capitalism as opium for the masses. The fanaticism behind Islam — which is a political ideology that obliterates the line between religious beliefs and secular matters — is in itself also a force to be reckoned with when it comes to controlling the population, and because of several waves of mass immigration from the Middle East and Northern Africa into Europe and even into North America, Islam is now also gaining a foothold in the West. As an example, we are repeatedly seeing political attempts over here — in several European countries — to have Sharia Law legally implemented.
I realize that all of what I've written here-above essentially summarizes the typical "conspiracy" angle, but I'm not actually approaching things from that vantage, per se. I am merely trying to paint a clearly verifiable picture of how power is divided within society and how it is being used to subdue any kind of dissent on the one hand, and where this power structure comes from on the other hand, from the various little seeds to the whole of the jungle that's currently suffocating mankind.
Hopefully some of you will be able to see the logic behind what I've written in this post. And as an aside, this would then be a clear example of why the written word is often a better way of communicating than an interactive face-to-face conversation. The latter is sequential and one-dimensional, whereas the written word adds the extra dimension of being able to look at things that were said earlier, having all the points made conveniently available for evaluation, and to allow for better detection of any flaws in the logic, if present — all without interrupting the flow.
There are things for which a direct face-to-face communication is superior, and there are things for which it isn't. This discussion here is clearly one where it is not. ;)
*
Hmm... Either I do not understand what you're saying, or else we don't seem to be in agreement. :hmm:
If I read you correctly, then you seem to be saying that ruling over someone else would be justified if that someone else does not realize that you're the one who's ruling over them. [*] And if that is what you're saying, then my response would be that this is an unethical thing to do. In fact, it would be a fairly accurate description of Machiavellianism.
If that is not what you were saying, then by all means, feel free to enlighten me, please. :)
Edit: [*] Unless we're talking of an individual who's mentally not capable of ruling themselves — such as a young infant — of course.
my thoughts are simple...though there is much ado about the voting topic in the U.S. right now...
most people at some point in their lives realize no matter how silly the game seems, participation is a 'sane' admission to care and concern.
compassion and empathy should be the driving motivations...my interpretation... :)
We have a system that we could make better if we all work together. We'd have to work together to do all the work. Together.
My Dad taught me that the government does important work, it's how we work together in a system. And government work is boring work. And if it's being done right it should be. People shouldn't be going into the government to enrich themselves, that's how it becomes corrupt.
The government belongs to the people, not the people in office. We should all have to do civic work so we see first-hand what this system born of the Constitution actually does.
Most of us don't. Most of us seem to want to find an 'other' to blame for what we don't like and we kill ourselves from within. Because we put our teams first instead of understanding that we all exist in a system.
It's like picking favorites among your body's organs.
Not smart in the long run.
you're on a roll today DT and very honest as usual...
all true...the 'essence' of any government whether one chooses to admit it or not is reflected in its constituency...that seems pretty real and significant to me.
imo, the systems that exist today were not set up for our benefit.
Isn't it time to rid ourselves of them and create that which benefits all?
The idea of bowing to authority is so ingrained that the idea of true freedom cannot be fathomed by most people.