Compelling evidence of our demise as an “empire” to be sure. Not hard to believe how it all went wrong when history told us so over and over. It’s sad. What’s more sad is that all the knowledge and self-examination in the world by us will not change it or prevent the outcomes we fear. Those that rule are blind to it and inconsiderate of anything but themselves.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, my friend- I have experienced all of the emotions you describe here throughout the research and assembly of this project. We are indeed in a world of hurt, but I haven't given up yet... I have a total disdain for the way our country is being run, but I am heartened by how much I have come to learn about the resilience of our species, so as long as we are alive there is always a chance to fix this mess :) I promise that I'll offer at least some degree of hope in the final section.
It means a lot to me to know, by this comment, that you completely understand what overwhelming exhaustion means... And that you simply cannot stop until you've seen it through to the final bell no matter how bloodied and cleaned you are by the time you get there:)
Great stuff David. I will read again. I am intrigued by this "keep in mind that our sitting president has dared us to try, reminding us that he had all the F-16s." bearing in mind that I have basically given up on watching the news for my own country let alone yours! Although I did notice that our Police Commissioner said a few days ago that he was going to extradite and jail Americans for any ... hmm, lets call them "free speech comments" online. ha ha, I'd like to see him try that one, the comments from Americans were hilarious! But we are no longer allowed to say what we see in this country. Especially since the riots, they are rounding up and jailing people for online comments.
Thank you April-I know it is a big ask to hope that people hang in there for thousands of words, but this is going to be self-published in book form and I want all of you to see it in pieces as it is developed where you can see it for free-as you know this one is personal for me, as in... Long after I'm dead my grandchildren's grandchildren will have a copy of their ancestor's amateur attempt at warning them to be wary people in charge :) and believe it or not I keep close watch on your news as well as mine so I'm well aware of the folly going on where you are... Just as silly as the attempts on my side of the pond to presume their rules and their laws are enough to strip us of what comes naturally, hardwired into our species, to be incapable of shutting up when we don't like what's being done to us.
"It is my contention that, in the Darwinian context, humankind's unquenchable thirst for siege and conquest can never be sufficiently slaked because it is innate in the human species, and we have an inherently limitless capacity for it. The only difference between those who lived at the dawn of man and those of us living today is our so-called "culturally -refined "and "socially enlightened" ability to rationalize the death, destruction, and elimination of those perceived to be weaker and inferior and, therefore, worthy of subjugation and enslavement."
I regularly get into this discussion with those who say we have 'progressed' as a species and by way of example they usually say things like "We don't hang, draw and quarter people anymore". My argument is, as yours above, we have sanitized and hidden our deaths in order to rationalize and to profit which in my opinion is even worse!
Good catch, April. I've thought a lot about this over the years, and I am struck by how comfortable people can pretend to be about the killing of others far away in strange lands, not concerning themselves with how those people died or the children and families they left behind. The higher up the social food chain people get, the easier it is for them to just compartmentalize evil into a good guy, bad guy mindset. But I promise you that when an invading Force comes to their neighborhood and starts killing their families and their children and burning their houses down, they can make that switch - human nature and all that - in a heartbeat and wouldn't give a second thought to whatever means they deem necessary to kill that person before that person killed them. The high-minded in the world, fat and cozy in their privileged lives, don't know the first thing about getting their hands dirty... But it's a very short learning curve when they're staring at someone else's pistol pointed at their head. I hate to do this to you, but I invite you to do a little research on postmodernism - I have had to for this project- because you will immediately recognize how much of it you see going on around you where you live and all around the world because you will wonder how the hell we've survived this long, let alone how much longer it will be before we've gotten so smart we have extracted ourselves from the planet :)
We think alike on this David. I am amazed by people's inability to see uncomfortable truths. I wrongly assumed we were all on the same mission to try and see through our own illusions, as well as to be able to assess ourselves honestly, faults and all. I haven't yet got over my disappointment that this is in fact rare, rather than usual behaviour. Who knows how many tries we have had at this David, we may be coming to an end game once again and the planet Earth will breathe a sigh of relief for a while and reset for a few millennia and then groan when the damn fish crawls out of the ocean once again.
My friend Vassar and I have had this exact conversation both laughing that the only reason our known history only goes back 300,000 years is because we haven't dug deep enough haha the planet is 4 billion years old after all. Good stuff lady
I appreciate the feedback Erick -I have put a lot of time and Research into this, and feel pretty good about how it turned out. Don't wander off too far... The final entry should be released tomorrow :)
This is chewy David! I’m halfway through—gotta take a break 😓
I appreciate you sticking with it. I'm sure you can imagine it took a lot of breaks to put this together.
Compelling evidence of our demise as an “empire” to be sure. Not hard to believe how it all went wrong when history told us so over and over. It’s sad. What’s more sad is that all the knowledge and self-examination in the world by us will not change it or prevent the outcomes we fear. Those that rule are blind to it and inconsiderate of anything but themselves.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, my friend- I have experienced all of the emotions you describe here throughout the research and assembly of this project. We are indeed in a world of hurt, but I haven't given up yet... I have a total disdain for the way our country is being run, but I am heartened by how much I have come to learn about the resilience of our species, so as long as we are alive there is always a chance to fix this mess :) I promise that I'll offer at least some degree of hope in the final section.
🙏 look forward to your further thoughts David. Thank you for the colossal undertaking.
It means a lot to me to know, by this comment, that you completely understand what overwhelming exhaustion means... And that you simply cannot stop until you've seen it through to the final bell no matter how bloodied and cleaned you are by the time you get there:)
Great stuff David. I will read again. I am intrigued by this "keep in mind that our sitting president has dared us to try, reminding us that he had all the F-16s." bearing in mind that I have basically given up on watching the news for my own country let alone yours! Although I did notice that our Police Commissioner said a few days ago that he was going to extradite and jail Americans for any ... hmm, lets call them "free speech comments" online. ha ha, I'd like to see him try that one, the comments from Americans were hilarious! But we are no longer allowed to say what we see in this country. Especially since the riots, they are rounding up and jailing people for online comments.
Thank you April-I know it is a big ask to hope that people hang in there for thousands of words, but this is going to be self-published in book form and I want all of you to see it in pieces as it is developed where you can see it for free-as you know this one is personal for me, as in... Long after I'm dead my grandchildren's grandchildren will have a copy of their ancestor's amateur attempt at warning them to be wary people in charge :) and believe it or not I keep close watch on your news as well as mine so I'm well aware of the folly going on where you are... Just as silly as the attempts on my side of the pond to presume their rules and their laws are enough to strip us of what comes naturally, hardwired into our species, to be incapable of shutting up when we don't like what's being done to us.
This is my favourite paragraph today
"It is my contention that, in the Darwinian context, humankind's unquenchable thirst for siege and conquest can never be sufficiently slaked because it is innate in the human species, and we have an inherently limitless capacity for it. The only difference between those who lived at the dawn of man and those of us living today is our so-called "culturally -refined "and "socially enlightened" ability to rationalize the death, destruction, and elimination of those perceived to be weaker and inferior and, therefore, worthy of subjugation and enslavement."
I regularly get into this discussion with those who say we have 'progressed' as a species and by way of example they usually say things like "We don't hang, draw and quarter people anymore". My argument is, as yours above, we have sanitized and hidden our deaths in order to rationalize and to profit which in my opinion is even worse!
Good catch, April. I've thought a lot about this over the years, and I am struck by how comfortable people can pretend to be about the killing of others far away in strange lands, not concerning themselves with how those people died or the children and families they left behind. The higher up the social food chain people get, the easier it is for them to just compartmentalize evil into a good guy, bad guy mindset. But I promise you that when an invading Force comes to their neighborhood and starts killing their families and their children and burning their houses down, they can make that switch - human nature and all that - in a heartbeat and wouldn't give a second thought to whatever means they deem necessary to kill that person before that person killed them. The high-minded in the world, fat and cozy in their privileged lives, don't know the first thing about getting their hands dirty... But it's a very short learning curve when they're staring at someone else's pistol pointed at their head. I hate to do this to you, but I invite you to do a little research on postmodernism - I have had to for this project- because you will immediately recognize how much of it you see going on around you where you live and all around the world because you will wonder how the hell we've survived this long, let alone how much longer it will be before we've gotten so smart we have extracted ourselves from the planet :)
We think alike on this David. I am amazed by people's inability to see uncomfortable truths. I wrongly assumed we were all on the same mission to try and see through our own illusions, as well as to be able to assess ourselves honestly, faults and all. I haven't yet got over my disappointment that this is in fact rare, rather than usual behaviour. Who knows how many tries we have had at this David, we may be coming to an end game once again and the planet Earth will breathe a sigh of relief for a while and reset for a few millennia and then groan when the damn fish crawls out of the ocean once again.
My friend Vassar and I have had this exact conversation both laughing that the only reason our known history only goes back 300,000 years is because we haven't dug deep enough haha the planet is 4 billion years old after all. Good stuff lady
That was a wonderful read, thanks!
I appreciate the feedback Erick -I have put a lot of time and Research into this, and feel pretty good about how it turned out. Don't wander off too far... The final entry should be released tomorrow :)
Yes!