Confucius told his disciple Tsze-kung that three things are needed for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler can't hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next. Trust should be guarded to the end: "without trust we cannot stand". Confucius' insight resonates profoundly with what we see in America today and in many Western nations around the world. No thinking person in America trusts the Republican cult, or the corporate Democratic Party (or has faith in it breaking its ties with concentrated wealth). No thinking person trusts the corporate congress, the corporate presidency the corporate Supreme Court nor any of the other institutions like corporate media. Confucius today says America is so pathetically lacking in trust, its thoroughly divided and concurred by concentrated wealth- organized money... It's' "Fucked"
My opinion doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things but I'll provide it anyway... I don't even like the very idea of patriotism or nationalism. It's always seemed like an incredibly blinding thing.
Assuming our species makes it that long (without blowing ourselves up by nuclear annihilation, or climate catastrophe or something like that?), it would not surprise me if in a hundred or two hundred years, the very idea of nationalism or patriotism will have (hopefully) completely crumbled, withered away (and that especially goes for organized religion as well... not to be confused with "belief", "un-belief", or "un-sure" about the existence of a god, which is a very natural type of questioning right from when we become aware of ourselves as beings on this planet). Of course, none of us will be around to experience what a great thing that would be.
Countries are just artificial constructs with mostly artificial boundaries... no need for any of us to feel patriotism or nationalism. Their systems/purpose SHOULD only be for the benefit of the masses, and once they're not benefitting us, they should be removed or revised BY the masses so that they are, but since this current U.S. system we have only benefits the wealthier, and does not provide a "real" way for its citizens to effect change (only pointless artificial ways), it will never be able to benefit the average person/citizen.
NO country deserves the benefit of undying patriotism/nationalism.
Yeah, for sure! Thank you for that reminder. And, of course, one of my all-time favorites, and an obvious choice, to most I guess, would be... John Lennon's "Imagine" (...even just my specially "selected tracks" playlist of his music is over two hours).
What if it isn't the man behind the curtain (be it an individual or a group of corporatists or oligarchs), but a system that has grown in power and complexity over the last 60 or more years?
A system that doesn't appear to control, but has offered visions of ease, abundance, and pleasure - in a consumer paradise in the land of the free and the home of the brave. All the while masking its ambitions and realities of its wars and millions of dead, greed, and sacrifice zones and people.
It's a version of the picture of Dorian Gray. Only now, the contradictions have overwhelmed, and we have to face the picture of what we really are as a society.
I like to think that most people are fairly decent. That decency is not just a veneer but the grain that runs deep and throughout our society and communities.
Our "leaders" are the termites. Get rid of them and the termite mounds and we can save ourselves. But maybe I'm wrong.
I think the likes of Steve Bannon and others in the Heritage world, the world of Project 2025, etc, WANT us to give up on our government. That way makes it easier to destroy it and replace it with something of their own design…and that design will NOT resemble a government OF, BY, or FOR the most of us.
We don't need to dump it. We need to reclaim and work always to make it better. That has been our task all along…work to make it better. Recognize we were provided by our founders with something new, fraught with bits of darkness around the peripheries, but carrying the seeds of a system that COULD be excellent.
We have drawn closer to excellent and receded from time to time, but we had a framework that can succeed … if we hold onto a bit of trust and integrity and try.
The last thing I want to do is give up and stride, 350-million strong, into the unknown, with no trusted leader, and no idea what is ahead.
We have a constitution and a government that is being mangled and derailed. That is why it is not running smoothly right now… we need to get it back on the tracks. Not drive it off a cliff.
I agree with you, Bill. The vas majority of people are decent. Every time there's a disaster there are many people who run toward the danger to help, and most people one meets are courteous and kind.
It's easy to be hyperbolic, but I worry the speed of the collapse will be such that a lot of that civility will get tossed as people scramble to take care of themselves.
I fear we have so little time to change directions before this gets out of hand.
Very moving. The soft piano solo is so effective there. Even more riveting is the quiet melody that belies the words that just shred. And it's a different way to get the point across from, say, "Dirty Laundry."
Yes. Probably one of the most incisive, nail-it-to-the-wall songs about the environment I've ever heard. Similar sentiment as Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi," but WAY more in your face.
While much focus is understandably on the present attention-engorging man behind the curtain – who, paradoxically enough, through his quite overt boastings about his actions is revealing indeed what does go on behind the curtain – there has been a whole cabal of men - and women, think Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Linda McMahon – and other such wizards in American history, all with perverted brains, black hearts, and the courage of George W. Bush, to earn this country the status of "the greatest threat to world peace" by Noam Chomsky and “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The flames being stoked by them for political and financial profit, in combination with the flames of global warming being ignored by them - and let us give the "what genocide?" assessment of the thus far 20-month-long, live streamed genocide its due - mean the world is all but doomed.
I don’t really “like” this, but I sure as hell agree. The narcissistic attitude that all criticism is betrayal is outrageously, frustratingly wrong! It’s like living in a cartoon, and nothing is real. Even having to refute such a charge before we can have a normal conversation to get things on an even keel saps our energy and drives up the stress. I’m sure that’s part of the strategy…to keep people on the defensive, distract and dissemble, keep the opposition off balance. I am so exhausted.
Confucius told his disciple Tsze-kung that three things are needed for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler can't hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next. Trust should be guarded to the end: "without trust we cannot stand". Confucius' insight resonates profoundly with what we see in America today and in many Western nations around the world. No thinking person in America trusts the Republican cult, or the corporate Democratic Party (or has faith in it breaking its ties with concentrated wealth). No thinking person trusts the corporate congress, the corporate presidency the corporate Supreme Court nor any of the other institutions like corporate media. Confucius today says America is so pathetically lacking in trust, its thoroughly divided and concurred by concentrated wealth- organized money... It's' "Fucked"
My opinion doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things but I'll provide it anyway... I don't even like the very idea of patriotism or nationalism. It's always seemed like an incredibly blinding thing.
Assuming our species makes it that long (without blowing ourselves up by nuclear annihilation, or climate catastrophe or something like that?), it would not surprise me if in a hundred or two hundred years, the very idea of nationalism or patriotism will have (hopefully) completely crumbled, withered away (and that especially goes for organized religion as well... not to be confused with "belief", "un-belief", or "un-sure" about the existence of a god, which is a very natural type of questioning right from when we become aware of ourselves as beings on this planet). Of course, none of us will be around to experience what a great thing that would be.
Countries are just artificial constructs with mostly artificial boundaries... no need for any of us to feel patriotism or nationalism. Their systems/purpose SHOULD only be for the benefit of the masses, and once they're not benefitting us, they should be removed or revised BY the masses so that they are, but since this current U.S. system we have only benefits the wealthier, and does not provide a "real" way for its citizens to effect change (only pointless artificial ways), it will never be able to benefit the average person/citizen.
NO country deserves the benefit of undying patriotism/nationalism.
Just my feelings/opinion obviously.
Sentiments that I think are captured well by Midnight Oil in two songs: "My Country" and "Earth and Son and Moon."
Yeah, for sure! Thank you for that reminder. And, of course, one of my all-time favorites, and an obvious choice, to most I guess, would be... John Lennon's "Imagine" (...even just my specially "selected tracks" playlist of his music is over two hours).
What if it isn't the man behind the curtain (be it an individual or a group of corporatists or oligarchs), but a system that has grown in power and complexity over the last 60 or more years?
A system that doesn't appear to control, but has offered visions of ease, abundance, and pleasure - in a consumer paradise in the land of the free and the home of the brave. All the while masking its ambitions and realities of its wars and millions of dead, greed, and sacrifice zones and people.
It's a version of the picture of Dorian Gray. Only now, the contradictions have overwhelmed, and we have to face the picture of what we really are as a society.
Yes, that's a scarier prospect.
I like to think that most people are fairly decent. That decency is not just a veneer but the grain that runs deep and throughout our society and communities.
Our "leaders" are the termites. Get rid of them and the termite mounds and we can save ourselves. But maybe I'm wrong.
I think the likes of Steve Bannon and others in the Heritage world, the world of Project 2025, etc, WANT us to give up on our government. That way makes it easier to destroy it and replace it with something of their own design…and that design will NOT resemble a government OF, BY, or FOR the most of us.
We don't need to dump it. We need to reclaim and work always to make it better. That has been our task all along…work to make it better. Recognize we were provided by our founders with something new, fraught with bits of darkness around the peripheries, but carrying the seeds of a system that COULD be excellent.
We have drawn closer to excellent and receded from time to time, but we had a framework that can succeed … if we hold onto a bit of trust and integrity and try.
The last thing I want to do is give up and stride, 350-million strong, into the unknown, with no trusted leader, and no idea what is ahead.
We have a constitution and a government that is being mangled and derailed. That is why it is not running smoothly right now… we need to get it back on the tracks. Not drive it off a cliff.
I agree with you, Bill. The vas majority of people are decent. Every time there's a disaster there are many people who run toward the danger to help, and most people one meets are courteous and kind.
It's easy to be hyperbolic, but I worry the speed of the collapse will be such that a lot of that civility will get tossed as people scramble to take care of themselves.
I fear we have so little time to change directions before this gets out of hand.
👍🏼❤️
"And we were stokin' the fires,
and oiling up the machinery,..."
- Don Henley, "The Garden of Allah"
Truly, the current regime is preparing to unleash hell on this country, if it's allowed to. Meanwhile, enlarging their bank accounts exponentially.
Henley remains one of the most perceptive chroniclers of our times. The whole song is relevant now, and has been since before it was written.
https://www.songlyrics.com/henley-don/the-garden-of-allah-lyrics/
I don't know that song by Henley. Thanks for introducing it to me, Denise.
You're welcome, Bill. Always ready to praise Henley. IMO, he's one of the greatest lyrical geniuses of all time.
A moving "live" rendition of "The Last Resort."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6cE-pTcSvM&t=83s
Very moving. The soft piano solo is so effective there. Even more riveting is the quiet melody that belies the words that just shred. And it's a different way to get the point across from, say, "Dirty Laundry."
Yes, I'm a fan, as you know. "The Last Resort" is brilliant.
Yes. Probably one of the most incisive, nail-it-to-the-wall songs about the environment I've ever heard. Similar sentiment as Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi," but WAY more in your face.
While much focus is understandably on the present attention-engorging man behind the curtain – who, paradoxically enough, through his quite overt boastings about his actions is revealing indeed what does go on behind the curtain – there has been a whole cabal of men - and women, think Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Linda McMahon – and other such wizards in American history, all with perverted brains, black hearts, and the courage of George W. Bush, to earn this country the status of "the greatest threat to world peace" by Noam Chomsky and “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The flames being stoked by them for political and financial profit, in combination with the flames of global warming being ignored by them - and let us give the "what genocide?" assessment of the thus far 20-month-long, live streamed genocide its due - mean the world is all but doomed.
Yes what are the hacks doing for Peace, the people and our Mother Earth?
I don’t really “like” this, but I sure as hell agree. The narcissistic attitude that all criticism is betrayal is outrageously, frustratingly wrong! It’s like living in a cartoon, and nothing is real. Even having to refute such a charge before we can have a normal conversation to get things on an even keel saps our energy and drives up the stress. I’m sure that’s part of the strategy…to keep people on the defensive, distract and dissemble, keep the opposition off balance. I am so exhausted.
One hundred percent, Bill! Your writing, then and now, is even more pertinent in today's times.