Do Not Be Daunted

Do not be daunted
by the enormity 
of the world's grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated
to complete the work,
but neither are you free
to abandon it.

The Talmud

The Real Crisis

"No, the real crisis is an upsurge in hatred — unreasoning hatred that bears no relationship to anything the victims have done. And anyone making excuses for that hatred — who tries, for example, to turn it into a “both sides” story — is, in effect, an apologist for crimes against humanity." (Paul Krugman, Return of the Blood Libel, New York Times.         https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/blood-libel-trump-immigrants.html)

Paul Krugman writes about how Hitler's hatred of Jews became a "cause" for his campaign to find glory in killing as many people as possible.

The fact that hate drives wars is a sordid economic boon, while the lives of decent people are disrupted and destroyed. This is true for any system of government.

In the early part of the last century there was a theory, probably created by Russian secret police, that Jews were planning to take over the world, writes Krugman. As Russia was about to begin the communist revolution through fascist means they embarked on spreading fear through the charge and imprisonment of writers and artists who expressed "anti-Soviet ideas". Krugman writes the steps and causes of the rise of hate across Europe in a clear way. His article is worth reading.

In my less detailed way of finding patterns I propose that a system rules people until the people see the errors of it, then as movements to resist grow, up pops another scapegoat and theories are manufactured to point the blame to a small powerless group. 

This is achieved by billionaires and the ruling elite who fear being sacked by the masses. Media helps to spread this hate as people begin to feel more trapped by a system that punishes them for being poor and powerless.

Many wise people have warned that the rising gap between haves and have-nots will lead to fascism and violence.  It has been documented in the past.  But those most impressed by the anti-immigrant movements have been duped, manipulated by the emotions that men dare not speak of.

How can any self-respecting macho man admit that he is vulnerable to forces he cannot control no matter how strong he tries to be? Whatever the system is and whatever promises are made by well meaning leaders the pattern always ends up with the psychopath on top. Men love the apes that pound their chest and roar and feel contempt towards the poorest most bullied and abused.

This is called projection - projecting our fantasies onto others, in stories, songs and politics.

If you go to the article written by Krugman there is a picture of a white man with his distorted mouth open as though he is screaming some hateful epithet. This is the face of the human who has lost hope for the future while centralized power organizes humanity's expulsion from the commons. This is the face of the man who has been purchased, who is trapped and cannot find a way out.

A Prayer for Little Children

I wonder how to protect you

keep you safe from uniforms

with men inside 

who have pledged to follow 

orders in prisons 

where doors are locked

so I can’t get in and you

can’t get out even though

all you want is your mother

or brother or sister 

and the crying of other children

warns of danger as if 

there was anything you

could have done different

and the uniformed bodies

are not smiling but hard

and I suspect your infant heart

beats louder than your screams

sensing that something

you can’t name has gone

terribly wrong.

But these words are merely

a stranger’s attempt

to do something, anything

like send a card with butterflies

that opens to a nursery rhyme

to make the terror go away

knowing she can't.

The Essential Cleavage in Society

"The heartlessness of that is mind-boggling. It seems to elude the administration and its cheerleaders that this is not about crime or security, but about the most elemental human values; that ordering armed border guards to cruelly and needlessly rip children from mothers — in one case, while she was breast-feeding the child — goes against fundamental American values and undercuts its standing in the world." Seizing Children From Parents at the Border Is Immoral. Here’s What We Can Do About It. The Editorial Board, NYTimes.

"This is the platform Mr. Trump ran on, after all: a platform of xenophobia and corruption. This is the culmination of the dictatorial ambitions and dehumanization of immigrants that smug journalists and officials told people to take seriously – but not literally. For Latino immigrants, demonized from the very day Mr. Trump launched his campaign, it was always literally." Sarah Kendzior (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-unspeakable-cruelty-of-trumps-child-migrant-camps/)

There are those who were raised on a silent current of spite, mostly unspoken, but usually delivered to those who are powerless. Like the schoolyard bully scouring the playground for someone to pick on. When asked to talk about this bullies are silent - they often have no words. Children who were abused can find themselves meting out the same actions that caused them the pain they could not name.

Anyone who thinks about culture and human nature are familiar with the habits of people they know and love and how it relates to their history and our history.

But how many come to the conclusion that collectively, we know so little about life other than war and violence. How many of us witness a change in the personality of a child when she crosses the river of longing to the acceptance of reality as she has been dealt it.

There is a dark river running through our minds and veins, and spite is a sign of it. When people feel empowered because babies and toddlers are snatched from those who have less power than they - there is no reasoned argument to support that and the only conclusion is that there will be a political response which will punish most if not all people.

Zombification of Humanity

The ways in which a society moves from a free democratic one and becomes a mindless military for the ruling elite happens in stages, often when we can't observe or remember these stages. Corporate media no longer holds our "rulers" to account. We forget how it came to be that our democracy has become flimsy.

Even letters in a Canadian newspaper suggest "Progressive" is  a handicap akin to a brain disorder as if social justice, decency and empathy cripple our ability to make trade deals.

Also religious teachings are tweaked to clear the conscience to feel free in a business climate that has no morals. 

A study reported in WHO WHAT WHY revealed the group least likely to support their nation to allow refugees from the Middle East, are white evangelical protestants. "It’s ironic that the same people who claim to embrace the teachings of a Middle Eastern refugee from 2,000 years ago are now most eager to slam the door shut in his face."(https://whowhatwhy.org/2018/06/03/evangelicals-putting-the-ass-in-compassion.)

Is religion simply a tool for the ruling ideology rather than a spiritual discipline for humanity? With scriptures from more than two thousand years ago, you might think there is plenty of soul searching to call on. How can those who pride themselves on quoting the bible from memory have missed the stuff about love, justice and compassion?

Politics in Canada seems to be fraught with hate instead of debate about policy. How has that happened when more people are getting post secondary education? An article in The Walrus (https://thewalrus.ca/the-unpopularity-of-female-politicians-has-everything-to-do-with-sexism) writes "Canadians are more likely to believe in the existence of ghosts than to agree that Wynne is an effective leader." One psychologist named her "our devouring mother" and other ad hominem quotes reveal a blatant misogyny and homophobia.

So now Ontario has Ford Nation - an indication of a solid return to patriarchal glorification under the standard alpha male rule. Calling back to a time when we were apes and the winner was always the biggest bully.

Recently the G7 Summit was trashed by Trump, again with ad hominem attacks and no detail.  Is that all it takes for us to submit to the force of those with the biggest access to media coverage?

Is anyone questioning why the air waves are so impressed with slogans and bullies? Are we really ready to throw away critical thinking, analysis, rule of law, education, and compassion? If so we are throwing away civil society. 

Capitalism has certainly trashed any sentiment that cannot be turned into profit. But have we not seen through that? Are we ready to walk into that dark cave of a brave new world where we must believe  "Mine is not to reason why, mine is just to do or die"?

Here is how we might avoid the zombification of humanity:


1. Take responsibility for the way our society has become dysfunctional and do whatever you can to fix it. A society without the voice of conscience creates homelessness in the mind and heart.

2. Do not tolerate values that promote myths around masculinity or femininity. Do not try and inculcate in your child's notions of behaviour for princesses as distinct from behaviour for princes. Your children are human - that is a scientific fact.

3. Do not teach your sons, nephews and cousins, that men do not cry. Mass murder is a cry for help when it is too late. Humans cry.

4. Do not preach that men should be strong 100% of the time. Children learn how to dissociate from their feelings if they fear they will not be loved by those they depend on, and humans without feelings become hollow.

5. Do not glorify war. War is only good to pump up the alpha ego, who rather than learn how to lead responsibly looks for animal (including human) carcasses as trophies.  Otherwise it becomes complete destruction of any civil society and requires enormous efforts to rebuild, often leaving many broken and scarred people. But do support returning veterans with the health care they need to become part of their society again.

6. Read responsible news sources, science and fiction and learn how to distinguish the difference between them.

7. Give the people you love all your attention whenever you can. Care and attention does not spoil boys or girls. It teaches them they belong to the human family.

8. Give up racist ideas and stereotypes. Viking warriors are painters, singers and weavers, as well as ship builders. Identities have become constructs - designed to divide and control. If you believe in generalizations you are on the way to becoming useful to those who see humanity as a resource. 

The Coming Collapse by Chris Hedges

Echonomix

Hedges is a journalist who has refused to soften his message. His world view is dire and he crunches all the horrors he has seen into one tidy paragraph:

"All the harbingers of collapse are visible: crumbling infrastructure; chronic underemployment and unemployment; the indiscriminate use of lethal force by police; political paralysis and stagnation; an economy built on the scaffolding of debt; nihilistic mass shootings in schools, universities, workplaces, malls, concert venues and movie theaters; opioid overdoses that kill some 64,000 people a year; an epidemic of suicides; unsustainable military expansion; gambling as a desperate tool of economic development and government revenue; the capture of power by a tiny, corrupt clique; censorship; the physical diminishing of public institutions ranging from schools and libraries to courts and medical facilities; the incessant bombardment by electronic hallucinations to divert us from the depressing sight that has become America and keep us trapped in illusions."

Read the article here: Commondreams. Chris Hedges. The Coming Collapse

They Are Us

There is a sense of dread - not for me personally - but for the social and mental health of Canada. Voting for a leader who does not present a platform, who does not reveal ideas about how he will change Ontario for the better -   apart from an echo from his brother who went in with a sledge hammer under the banner of stopping the gravy train, there was nothing concrete in Doug Ford's campaign. But he was elected with 40% of the vote. Both of these men portray an image of thugs we should be afraid of and I wonder how voters translate that power into serving a civil society.

However it's not us or them because they are us.

They are humans who have feelings, judgements, vulnerability and doubts - but one of our most tragic flaws is projection - what we don't like in ourselves we project onto others. So said Carl Jung back in the earlier days of the twentieth century. They, them, us or me - mostly blame others for what goes wrong, and as long as our feelings are echoed,  or supported by "experts", we are happy to vote for the politicians who promote them.

Understanding politics, media, finance and civil society is complex and a leader who is tuned in is likely to be too nuanced for the braying crowd in the circus tent.  It's easy to feel elevated when our hatred is handed back to us from the halls of power. So we'd rather have a leader with a small vocabulary than a responsible leader whose intentions we don't understand.

Justice is not something that makes us feel good if we don't benefit from it.  Neither is there much satisfaction from great minds when they explain how something works if we don't see the immediate benefit.

How do I know this? I am human and have fallen into these habits without reflecting upon them until later.

No matter how smart I try to be  my opinions will not be gratefully received if they don't comfort the ones I am addressing.  Democracy  is abrasive when it's working, when it calls us out of the comfortable pew.

What has been revealed is that my inability to face and take responsibility for the politics of this world allows bad actors to create bigger problems for my family.