Archive for the ‘ Morality ’ Category

People Like to Be Evil

There has been a lot of talk lately about what a good species we are. Research has been done, and books have been written about this. About how cooperative and loving we really are.

I see nothing wrong with this. All of it is perfectly true – and needs to be said. But the opposite also needs to be said – that we are a species that has created evil – and loves it passionately. And I certainly include myself in that number.

We have developed a peculiar attitude towards evil – and towards morality in general. We tell ourselves it doesn’t really exist – or in another version – that it is not that important. Or, in another formulation – it is too complicated for practical persons to bother with.

Our global culture has become strongly biased against compassion because it is not good for business – which has become our predominate passion.

We are ignoring the overall implications of this – which is simply that our culture (and most importantly, our economy) is on the point of collapse. Simply because it assumed a perpetual growth model. Anything less than eternal growth, we feel, is not tolerable.

And anyone (such as the more radical Islamists) who think otherwise are our enemy – and should be incarcerated in our version of Hell - Guantanamo.

Two excellent models of an evil society – Nazi Germany and the USSR – are available for our study. But we do not study them – because, I think, their implications are too embarrassing. We say loudly “We are nothing like that!” When it is obvious that we are.

More importantly – we are attracted to evil as much (or possibly) more than we ever have been. The complications of  all this are hard to analyze – but, in my opinion, easy enough to feel.

All this would be bad enough – but the fact that we do not recognize any of it makes it a much more serious problem.

2013
04/19
CATEGORY
Morality
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Managed Democracy

We take it for granted anymore that democracy must be managed by the better kind of people.

This is not a new idea at all – the Founding Fathers were careful to establish a republic – not a democracy – which was modeled, frankly on the British model. There were some ardent democrats among them – Thomas Jefferson, for example. But economic concerns predominated – Americans became more concerned with making money than with freedom.

As industrialization became more powerful, America quickly sorted itself into the haves and the have-nots. In Marxist terms – the Capitalists and the Workers. But even here – the managers – the company men who kept the wheels of progress lubricated – were not hard to find.

But eventually – with the advent of mass communications – something even more radical appeared – the masses and their managers. The people who watched their televisions – and the much smaller number that managed what they saw on them.

The model for all of this was the Organization – Business, or the Corporation – which was a blend of a hierarchical control structure (top-down control) and total conformity – control from the bottom up.

No one found this the least bit unusual – that was just the way things were. When in fact – it was highly unusual – and should have set off all kinds of alarm bells.

Why did this not happen? Evidently, because people had become overwhelmed by too many changes – caused by too many and too powerful technological changes.

These changes were noticed – how could anyone not notice them? But their effects on people were not noticed at all. Or only by a few – and these were ignored as alarmists. People were convinced that a new era had dawned – where everything was new (and better) including them.

When, in fact – they had been managed into oblivion.

2013
04/16
CATEGORY
Business
Economy
History
Morality
Philosophy
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Happiness is Not Good Enough

I sometimes compare my happiness with that of the sparrows in my yard. They are perfectly content with their simple life. And I know I can be just as contented watching the clouds in the morning sky. Or drinking a glass of water. If I just take the time to give myself over to the experience.

But usually I think I must have (or be) something better – that simple pleasures are not good enough.

I remember once when we were driving through the Mexican desert in our new Mercury station wagon – back in the Fifties. It was the latest thing – when we first saw one, we knew we had to have one too. We soon found it was a piece of junk mechanically. The engine suffered from vapor lock – whenever it got hot, the gasoline vaporized in the fuel line. I once had to stand on the rear fender, blowing into the gas tank all the way across the Ft. Madison bridge (which was several miles long). The wood on the exterior rotted, and the door handles fell off. But it was stylish (when it was new). But let me return to my story.

As I said, we were driving across the desert – when we saw a young man riding his burro (he didn’t even have a saddle) as happy as he could be! We were shocked – he had no right to be happy. After all, we had our new station wagon – and we were not happy!

Looking back at it, this was probably why we enjoyed our trips to Mexico – we got in touch (for a little while) with a simpler (but perfectly adequate) life.

Unfortunately, that life has vanished too – as Globalization has swept over Mexico.

2013
04/16
CATEGORY
Morality
Philosophy
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Companies Do Not Give a Damn for You

And you should be clearly aware of this – that your world (which is controlled by Business) is not the least bit interested in you – as a person. And in fact only wants to use you.

A whole book could be written about this – but is not likely.

2013
04/14
CATEGORY
Aphorism
Business
Morality
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Marrying Dolly was James’ Best Decision

I am listening to Mr and Mrs Madison’s War: America’s First Couple and the Second War of Independence. The historian, Hugh Howard, sets out to tell a good story – and the narrator, John Chancer, supports him admirably.

But I wish he had been even clearer about how highly James Madison valued women – something most unusual for his time.

Unfortunately, their combined intelligence (mostly James’) and charm (mostly Dolly’s) did not keep them from making the blunder they are remembered for – the war of 1812.

Where America showed it could make the same mistakes all the other powers (great and small) were capable of making.

2013
04/11
CATEGORY
History
Morality
Psychology
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Destroying the World That Has Destroyed Us

I have hesitated to write this – it seems so irrational. But sometimes I have to take myself firmly in hand and say my piece anyway. Our conscious lives and our unconscious lives have gotten badly out of sync. And if I have to be the squeaky wheel that complains about this (much to everyone’s annoyance) I have to squeak anyway. With that in mind, I return to my original thought - we are destroying the world that destroyed us.

I am convinced this is going on right now – logically in our collective unconscious and practically in our dysfunctional world.

As I have said over and over – our things have taken over and eliminated us – as humans. And as a result – we have done the only rational thing we could do – we decided to destroy the world that destroyed us.

I used to wonder how to describe us – some kind of degraded humans, that much was obvious. But what, and how? Then it became obvious – we had become things ourselves – and things were not very bright  - since they were only machines.

Computers seem intelligent, true enough. But this is only an illusion – and a fateful one that has gotten us nowhere. We have to get behind this illusion – and get better at controlling them. Not better at letting them control us.

I work hard at this – getting to know about the cloud, for example. But most people are the same as everybody else (not too bright) with some small variations to make them feel unique.

The tragic result is that these thing-people attack any people-people still around. The worst thing they could possibly do – but that fits in with their overall objective – to destroy the world.

2013
03/30
CATEGORY
Morality
Philosophy
Sociology
Technology
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Afghanistan: The Way to Peace

New York Review

Empires have never been concerned in the least with their impact on other countries. This is what empire amounts to – the right do what you want – at the expense of other people. And America has been an empire for a long time, ever since it took much of its territory from Mexico – and before that, from the Indians.

The recent switch to trade agreements is an improvement because they are much less expensive – militaries have always cost a lot of money. It is cheaper to make a deal the rich of these countries – or, better yet – make them part of a global economy that you control.

But countries such as Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan had nothing worth taking. Iraq had oil, and plenty of it – but America never latched onto it – for reasons I have never understood.

These weak countries were only good for making the American public feel powerful – at the expense of the people they humiliated. When these undertakings failed – as they always did – due to the nature of asymmetrical warfare – America was left with a problem. How to get out? Which depended on the question – how did we get in?

These books answer these questions – in some detail.  But Americans (including myself) are not likely to take the time to read them. The Obama administration knows this – and will probably be even less interested than we are in understanding the situation. It will continue to do what it always has done – lie about what they are doing. And ignoring what they are doing to the people most directly involved.

Here is a quote:

As to the use of the word “endgame,” this might be appropriate if next year, upon the departure of US ground forces, the entire Afghan population, overcome with sorrow at the loss of their beloved allies, rolls over and dies on the spot.

The least we could do is read this review – but no one reads anymore. They watch movies. And a movie about this is not likely.

Americans want to feel good – and there is nothing in Afghanistan for them to feel good about.

2013
03/27
CATEGORY
History
Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan
Morality
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The Impact of Technology on Society

This is something I keep harping on, to no effect at all. It seems simple enough to me – we become whatever we are obsessed with. When we became obsessed with Christ, for example, we became like Him – and never really recovered. When we became obsessed with the Sailing Ship, we changed ourselves completely to accommodate that (a whole complex of activities). And never really recovered.

In the 19th Century there was an explosion of technological innovations that blew us out of the water. The first result, which we have never recovered from, was the elimination of us, as humans. And our replacement by a series of technologies – all different kinds of machines.

But the most fundamental effect was to make us like an explosion – with pieces of ourselves flying off in all directions. You can easily see this for yourself – everyone is scattered. And like Humpty-Dumpty – cannot be put back together again.

2013
03/22
CATEGORY
History
Morality
Psychology
Sociology
Technology
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How Does Greg Palast Get Away With It?

The only answer I can think of is – because he is telling the truth! It may surprise you to know that, in this day and age, the truth can still be spoken – but he is living truth that it can be done. And in some detail.

The following is taken from his book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits – and the Chapter Penny’s from Heaven. It explains how Obama became President – something I have always wondered about.
—
Barack Obama means “The Blessed one we have been waiting for.” But who was waiting for him?

We never heard of this guy before 2004. Less and three years before taking the Oval Office, he was in the Illinois State Senate. a swamp of scammers, backhanders, and Party Machine tools, not a stellar lanchpad for the Presidency.

Then One day the Blessed One was visited by his fairy godmother. Her name was Penny Pritzker.

Plenny’s net worth is listed in Forbes as $1.8 billion, which is one hell of a heavy magic want in the world of politics. Her wand would have been heavier, and her net worth higher, except that in the 1990s the federal government fined her $400 million for the predatory, deceitful, and racist tactics of the bank she owned on the South Side of Chicago.

Penny did not like that. No, not one bit.

What she needed was someone to give her Hope and Change. She hoped someone would Change the banking laws to let her get away with this crap.

Pritzer introduced the neophyte state senator to the Ladies Who Lunch (that’s really what they call themselves on Chicago’s Gold Coast). Obama got lunch, gold, and an introduction to Robert Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury, former Chairman of both Goldman Sachs and Citibank. Even atheists recognized Robin as the Supreme Deity of Wall Street…

What did Rubin get for showering the Blessed One with gold? Obama agreed to take care of Rubin’s poodles, Larry Summers and Tim Geithner. They became Obama’s first cabinet picks, Summers as economics czar and Geithner as his czarina, Secretary of the Treasury.

These were the two gents who, under Treasury Secretary Rubin, and deregulated and decriminalized the kind of banking activity that had got Penny in so much hot water. Despite their banking-law destruction spree having brought the planet to its financial knees, Summers and Geithner we back in the saddle – Obama’s horse but Rubin’s saddle.
—
This give you a feel for his style – muckraker. He can get away with telling the truth – because he is restricted to a small audience. The Official Media never heard of him.

Reading him is not an elevated experience. He dishes up dirt, dirt, and more dirt. While all of it is the real stuff – I can only stand in it small doses.

He provides no context for what he says – which is simply that America the Great has fallen. And may take the rest of the world down with it.

2013
03/22
CATEGORY
Morality
Political comment
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Success in Business Means Killing Everyone But Yourself

I, Cringely-Accidental Empires, Chapter 12

Sometimes this is labeled creative destruction – which makes it sound nicer. But as anyone who has been in the Silicon Valley rush for success knows – it is simply the drive to grab the most. Just as the Vandals plundered Rome – America is plundering its past also.

Surviving in this atmosphere is not easy – just as it was at the end of the Roman Empire. But at least those guys knew this – that their heads were likely to roll at any time. In our time, people have adopted another strategy – not being at all. Which means not knowing anything at all.

I hardly need tell you that this is not smart. But this doesn’t matter. If rampant plunder means the world is left a smoking ruin (a definite possibility) that’s just too bad for it!

But there is a problem – it is impossible to separate yourself from this smoking ruin. You still have body – whether you like it or not – and it is not fireproof.

“So.” you ask, “What’s the solution?” The answer is simple – there is no solution. There are only individual survival strategies. Cringely has his own, I have my own, and you have to make your own.

The usual solution I see is emotional and social collapse. Which I am not supposed to notice – and you will not notice either.

2013
03/20
CATEGORY
Business
Morality
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