tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4271217397119431952..comments2024-03-28T09:30:58.096-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Alternate Visions of the FutureDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-46631326218814647782018-07-13T11:39:18.338-07:002018-07-13T11:39:18.338-07:00"I talk about the "self preventing proph..."I talk about the "self preventing prophecies" of Orwell and Huxley and Kubrick, that motivated millions to act, and arguably saved us all."<br />Let me draw your attention to one of the most frightening minatory works of science fiction, with a premise that right now appears inevitable, one that comes from an unlikely writer. I'm referring to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops."<br />Read it. Then go look at your favorite tech site and read about self-driving cars, robotic delivery vehicles, "smart" homes, Alexa, and so on, and go reread Forster.<br />Rinse, repeat, until you're uneasy.Old Rockin' Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07562766929484783021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47029736198734448652018-07-11T17:45:07.931-07:002018-07-11T17:45:07.931-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81677753215916555542018-07-11T17:31:19.236-07:002018-07-11T17:31:19.236-07:00Jeez crap, did you see all that? He cannot even re...Jeez crap, did you see all that? He cannot even read anymore! He’s again OBJECTING to the exact opposite of what I actually said.<br /><br />Ignorant as mud, he thinks the Nazis were anti-cyclic. Oh lord. But oh, my, every single factual/historical assertion he made is diametrically opposite to actual fact. Is he doing this to be satirical? Never miond. Zzzzzzz<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32830595792802335812018-07-11T17:03:49.663-07:002018-07-11T17:03:49.663-07:00Not true. I have no desire to serve a vicious ove...<br />Not true. I have no desire to serve a vicious overlord; I am quite willing to admit some complicity in our current sad state of affairs; and I even offer a way out. Unfortunately, our host & our peers are just too invested in this sad state of affairs to extricate themselves.<br /><br />David is just flat-out wrong when he equates the anti-romantic Cyclical History model with the anti-cyclic Romanticism of the Nazi goosestep.<br /><br />While we all agree that poverty & lawlessness are well CORRELATED, neither side can prove that they are necessarily causal, even though many progressives (via their attempts at social engineering) appear to assume that they are.<br /><br />We all find it easy to abide by the rules when times are good because laws & rules exist to ensure social stability & protect the status quo of good times; however, very few human beings will abide by laws & rules when times are bad because these rules & laws only serve to stabilise an undesirable status quo.<br /><br />This creates the vicious cycle responsible for the Cyclical History model:<br /><br />(1) We pass rules & laws during good times in order to perpetuate a desirable status quo and we eventually assume causality between the two;<br /><br />(2) In our attempt to 'bring back' good times & correct undesirable circumstance as our situations worsen, we then pass more & more laws that only serve to perpetuate & protect the undesirable circumstance; and<br /><br />(3) Finally, after we enact a veritable Bloody Code, we (more & more of us) eventually refuse to obey the rules because the rules & laws only serve to serve to stabilise an undesirable status quo.<br /><br /><b>The WAY OUT of this Kafka trap is simple but counter-intuitive: We need LESS law, LESS order & LESS central authority until the status quo reverts to 'good times' because law & order is NOT causally related to good times.</b><br /><br />Just hold on loosely<br />But don't let go<br />If you cling too tightly<br />You're gonna lose control.<br /><br />To bad, so sad, that most humans beings are just incapable of following the sage advice offered up by '38 Special' (above), and so we cling tighter & tighter to the now oppressive rule of law & order and thereby condemn ourselves to the rise & fall of the Cyclic History model.<br /><br /><br />Best<br />_____<br /><br /><b>The Nazis promised a 'Fourth Reich' that would last for a thousand years, and what other modern identity group makes the very same promise?</b> <br /><br />Why, it is the enlightened liberal-progressive who makes the same promise -- a thousand years of happy happy 'good times' -- while demanding ever more centralisation, ever more rules & ever more legal authority over others in order to usher in an 'End of History' level of inflexible & unending political stability in the image of a boot stamping on a human face forever.<br /><br />Feh.<br />locumranchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06812045410916208141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38049937175162286842018-07-11T16:05:18.773-07:002018-07-11T16:05:18.773-07:00I agree. Treebeard appears to sincerely want to s...I agree. Treebeard appears to sincerely want to serve a vicious overlord. Locum is more of a terribly wounded soul with some idealism buried deep. If he lived in the world Treebeard wants, he would languish in bitterness and pain and possibly offer himself up to serve the underground resistance.... but never, ever admit to himself that he helped bring that world into being.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49104454118969008832018-07-11T12:18:23.799-07:002018-07-11T12:18:23.799-07:00Okay. I'm convinced Treebeard & Locumranch...Okay. I'm convinced Treebeard & Locumranch are more than Hobbes'ian. They are fans of Hobbes.<br /><br />So be it.<br /><br />Hobbes has been proven wrong a number of ways AND was guilty of a stunning lack of imagination. The Leviathan is a horror toward which we can drift, not an ideal to which we must aspire.<br /><br />Locum's approach is weird, though. He'd be eaten alive in a Hobbes-like world. Treebeard would merely serve until he was used up.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35515116910361890322018-07-11T10:53:10.100-07:002018-07-11T10:53:10.100-07:00BTW, America has sinned terribly, compared to wha...BTW, America has sinned terribly, compared to what we ought to be. But every generation since WWII the military has spent billions trying to reduce the ratio of civilian "collateral loss". It was horrific in WWII, though much less than wrought by the Nazis or Japanese or Soviets. It was gruesome in Vietnam, even at 1/20th the ratio. Now we wring our hands over ratios lower than 1:1. And rightly so. The military is evolving into cops. As ought to be.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36185076305689205752018-07-11T10:52:35.728-07:002018-07-11T10:52:35.728-07:00@ratio | Thank you. I'm going to make an effor...@ratio | Thank you. I'm going to make an effort to watch the movie now and avoid the opinions of all the reviews. 8)<br /><br />I'll be looking for whether his choice to become a shopkeeper is seen as honorable. Being smart enough to realize it is the best way is different from a community agreeing with and supporting that choice. Courage is a social virtue after all. Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52802297651442996642018-07-11T10:44:43.482-07:002018-07-11T10:44:43.482-07:00"Incivility & Brutality always triumph&qu..."Incivility & Brutality always triumph" fortunately, you are an imbecilic, fact-free ass.<br /><br />Eisenhower broadcast to the germans: "We come as conquerors, not as oppressors." And surrenders became a tsunami. It was backed by overwhelming power and might... and there were many sins that merit purgatory for those heroes who saved the world. The ratio of civilian "collateral loss" was staggering, even though US Air Forces in Europe took terrible risks and casualties trying for pinpoint instead of (much) area bombing. (And yes, racism played a role; Curtis LeMay was less judicious in Japan.)<br /><br />But it was because we augmented creativity and science and strength with a morally high(er) ground that we overcame enemies who sneered we were to decadently soft to ever defeat them. And the world we made... though terrible by the standards of a future that could only be made this way... is by far better than all of the other human times our species ever knew. <br /><br />Despite ankle-biting, skill-free, ingrate little kibble traitors.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-77996437123993843262018-07-11T10:37:10.803-07:002018-07-11T10:37:10.803-07:00Gerold, much of what you say is wisdom... yet you ...Gerold, much of what you say is wisdom... yet you have (apparently) absolutely no idea what "romanticism" is. Try watching TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. Listen to Wagner. Look at the square jawed heroes in both Nazi and Soviet art. Romanticism has some appeal! Tolkien and Star Wars and all that. Good is gorgeous and wonderfully goo and sanctioned by the gods. Evil is purely distilled evil and whole classes (e.g. orcs or storm troopers) merit only death. Sure, nothing's better for drama! I sometimes tap into that side of my mind when I write fiction...<br /><br />... but romanticism leads straight into hell, when it starts to control policy. That's when you get the slaughter of orcs turning into mass killing of race or class enemies. <br /><br />The Confederacy taps into... no it IS... the dark-romantic side of the American soul. Mark Twain blamed the Civil War on the uber-romantic novels of Sir Walter Scott, which were devoured down south and lent credence to the recreation of a feudal-lordly caste, to be obeyed without question. <br /><br />Romantics, like Keats/Shelley etc and Nietzsche and Spengler and today's confederates adore notions of 'cyclical history." Destined falls and ultimate rise, were core to Nazism. The Soviet romantics, being leftists, catered to a different teleology, of unstoppable rise. But both expressed utter contempt for decadent western notions like proof, argument, negotiation and practical, incremental progress through the empowerment of citizens.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4695215096249014172018-07-11T10:19:00.289-07:002018-07-11T10:19:00.289-07:00Larry, as far as I can tell, that's the world ...Larry, as far as I can tell, that's the world we live in. Might is right, win the wars or be erased from the pages of history or turned into villains. And if you're king of the hill, someone will always try to knock you off. People like to overlay grand moral narratives on top of that, but it's ridiculous. America and Western civilization aren't morally superior to the nations they defeated, they're just better at organized violence (or they were, back when they still won wars). Does acknowledging all that make someone a "fascist"? Who cares.Treebeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13769796990019460695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39233724472666981172018-07-11T10:12:03.153-07:002018-07-11T10:12:03.153-07:00Gerold, the Nazi philosophy in fact fits quite wel...Gerold, the Nazi philosophy in fact fits quite well as an exemplar of "romanticism". It depended on its adherents having a view of themselves as dashing, gallant heroes, heirs to the mantles of the ancient Aryans and the Norse gods, the Ubermenschen who should <i>properly</i> stand astride the world. And of course all who opposed that were either Untermenschen who could and should be eliminated in order to assure the Ubermenschen their proper place, or fools and poltroons who lacked the courage to seize power from their lessers.<br /><br />Literally, they saw themselves as superhuman, and their foes as subhuman - and you can do anything you want to subhumans, because they don't really matter. And their children today still have that same twisted ideology, still hero-worshiping a supposed "Ubermensch" who managed to micromanage his empire into dust because of his megalomania. You can see hints of it in Trumpistas, as well, although I believe their desired empire is due to collapse before it even exists - at least Hitler had some intelligence and charisma to work with.Jon S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13585842845661267920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91869382101979100372018-07-11T06:43:42.869-07:002018-07-11T06:43:42.869-07:00TCB:
Without Bush v. Gore, there's no torture...TCB:<br /><i><br />Without Bush v. Gore, there's no torture state, no "Patriot Act", ultimately no Trump. And without Bush's daddy there are no five judges to install Dubya. George H.W. Bush is also at least part responsible for losing Russia to fascism and Putinism.<br /></i><br /><br />When considering alternate history, it's also sobering to consider the reactions in the other direction. Without W, we'd almost certainly not have had a black president with a Muslim name. In fact, it's likely Gore's successor would have been his Veep, i.e., Joe Lieberman.<br /><br /><i><br />...<br /><br />ANd an earlier Bush, Dubya's grandfather Prescott, was most likely involved in the fascist Business Plot of 1933.<br /><br />And I haven't even got around to the manifold evils of Nixon and Reagan. And all their friends.<br /></i><br /><br />Yes, the American public hasn't fully grasped the perfidy that is the current Republican Party. Perception is still that there is a simple struggle for power between two parties that are mostly the same, and that absent any significant difference, they'd prefer their team to win over the other team--politics as a sporting event or reality-tv show.<br /><br />In just the past two days, I've seen several editorial commentaries decrying the Democrats as "haters" who irrationally despise anything Republicans do regardless of merit. In this view, Democrats oppose Trump nominees to the courts because they prefer liberal judicial activism while Republicans are "constitutionalists" who respect the actual laws.<br /><br />Almost every assertion there is the diametric opposite of reality. "Money is speech" and "Whole number of persons means something else" and "Religious liberty means the freedom of religious institutions to impose their will upon individuals" are way more activist positions than anything liberals have managed to find in the Constitution. Republicans had a stated congressional <b>policy</b> of opposing everything President Obama did no matter what. And if Democrats hate and oppose anything and everything Republicans do, it's the hatred of the slave for the whip or the hatred of the concentration camp prisoner for his torturer.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83773397654626345632018-07-11T06:28:22.099-07:002018-07-11T06:28:22.099-07:00True Grit wherein a 21 year old Kim Darby pretends...<br />True Grit wherein a 21 year old Kim Darby pretends that she is a precocious 14 year old girl who pretends that she is a warrior male & then a helpless damsel in distress, and singer Glen Campbell pretends that he can act.<br /><br />In nature as well as human society, the most numerous & ruthless culture always wins. The American Colonists did not defeat the British by being more merciful & rule-obedient. They won by hiding behind walls, attacking on holidays & being the most barbarous. <br /><br />A hypocritical & slave-owning Union crushed the Confederate South with numbers & an industrial approach to mass slaughter; White European settlers conquered the North American continent with scorched-earth tactics, resource depletion, disease & callous indifference to the native american; and the Nazis (who thrived in an environment of civilised discourse & League-of-Nation appeasement) were finally defeated by overwhelming brutality.<br /><br />Incivility & Brutality always triumph; the Rule-Obedient are slavishly hobbled by their rule-obedience; and Civilised always snatch ignominious defeat from the jaws of dominance through serial compromise.<br /><br />The graveyards are full of optimists & everything that you think you know about history is wrong.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06812045410916208141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71950794202768468332018-07-11T06:22:58.501-07:002018-07-11T06:22:58.501-07:00raito:
For those who aren't going to go read ...raito:<br /><i><br />For those who aren't going to go read either, the hero is the son of a sheriff who is known for his fast draw. But the son has seen what that brings -- every idiot who wants to either see for himself, or prove himself. That's not the life the son wants, so he moves away and becomes a shopkeeper and keeps the fact that his father taught him a secret.<br /></i><br /><br />As an allegory, that's exactly what I object to about Treebeard's "good character requires war" view of the world. Yes, the strong and ruthless survive to live another day, but that other day requires continuously being on guard against any and all challengers, until eventually (it only takes one) one of them takes you out. That sort of life is my version of Hell--and that's the prize for the <b>winners</b>.<br />Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37563776577880386112018-07-11T06:12:18.555-07:002018-07-11T06:12:18.555-07:00Gerold, I see a European civilization that is agin...Gerold, I see a European civilization that is aging, dying out, being ethnically displaced, unwilling to defend itself, producing little culture the world cares about, and I’m not impressed. You don’t look like warriors to me, but weak old bohemians and Last Men. It’s like a ghost civilization, where immigrants squat in the shadows of monuments built by your much greater forefathers. If that’s your idea of progress, you can keep it, cuz it looks like a death wish to me.Treebeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13769796990019460695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47265772430586315012018-07-11T05:54:54.093-07:002018-07-11T05:54:54.093-07:00Alfred Differ,
The main review at IMDB isn't ...Alfred Differ,<br /><br />The main review at IMDB isn't particularly accurate. In particular, his 'secret' doesn't come out while he is drunk. It's that the townspeople >think< he's drunk when they first see him with a gun. It doesn't fit with their view of him.<br /><br />Nor is he a coward, though I think you're reading that into the review (the synposis at wikipedia is much more accurate).<br /><br />For those who aren't going to go read either, the hero is the son of a sheriff who is known for his fast draw. But the son has seen what that brings -- every idiot who wants to either see for himself, or prove himself. That's not the life the son wants, so he moves away and becomes a shopkeeper and keeps the fact that his father taught him a secret.<br /><br />The precipitating incident for the movie is that one famous gunfighter killed another, and the town starts hero-worship talk about gunfighters. Here I diverge from wikipedia's version. The hero is derided for his opinions on gunfighters, as he is seen as a coward (very different from being one), and it's then he shows them his talents. My view of it was that he wanted his opinion that all that comes from gunfighting is death to be taken seriously. His mistake is that then his secret is out and can't remain hidden.<br /><br />Sure, he's scared to face the other gunman -- he's never been in a gunfight, but has seen the results of many. But he ends up going anyway.raitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06205709825686152560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52463439858820946782018-07-11T01:21:16.667-07:002018-07-11T01:21:16.667-07:00Treebeard: I understand where Nietzsche was coming...Treebeard: I understand where Nietzsche was coming from, in the pre-WWI era it was still possible to see war as the crucible of honor, courage and progress. It was a common error, but most people learned from that mistake. Surely you don't still believe it?<br /><br />The West is a warrior culture. But we can apply the warrior virtues in other areas now, in ways that build instead of destroy.<br /><br />There was a time when war could turn a profit. When plunder paid. Those days are long gone.<br /><br />The fear that immigrants will destroy the West betrays a profound lack of confidence. Your fears are unfounded. Muslim ideology has proven very resistant Western assimilation in Europe, but reports of imminent doom are greatly exaggerated. Don't mistake the zealotry of the religious fanatic for strength. It's just the opposite.geroldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05140093281920523064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57539918143675483482018-07-11T01:09:19.132-07:002018-07-11T01:09:19.132-07:00David: "Read Stapledon’s LAST AND FIRST MEN, ...David: "Read Stapledon’s LAST AND FIRST MEN, where he relates the assumption of the 1930s that what’s needed is a balance between franco-anglic cynicism and germanic-russian romanticism. There certainly was something to it, since German and then Russian romanticism turned the continent into a hellscape."<br /><br />Calling Nazism "German romanticism" couldn't be wronger. Nazism is a perfect example of ethno-tribalism in it's most violent form. It was a social darwinist assertion of German and "Aryan" supremacy, specifically based on racial affinity. There is a reason white supremacists love swastikas. Doesn't matter if they worship Trump or Putin. Nazis are white supremacists, and white supremacists are Nazis. <br /><br />A populist call to arms based on the threat of race war is very effective at mobilizing the primate brain. Any chimp can understand that. The next tribe over wants to take our land, women, money, prestige etc. We need to genocide them before they do unto us.<br /><br />The history of the totalitarian state provides ample examples. Hell, even the rugged individualists of the freedom-loving Western frontier engaged in systematic and deliberate genocide to create the land of the free and the home of the brave. (Read "An American Genocide" by Benjamin Madley, which describes the extirpation of the California Indians over the course of about a quarter century (1846-1873)). Every living culture on earth exists because it was more successful at murdering their neighbors than their ex-neighbors were at murdering them.<br /><br />Enlightenment has been the product of accumulating knowledge leading to the realization that cooperation is better than competition. Remember Nonzero by Robert Wright? I read it on your recommendation. He provides numerous examples of how non-zero-sumness built everything good that is human. Enlightenment is the understanding that just because you have the power to dominate or destroy others doesn't mean you should. <br /><br />We can look at the exemplars of enlightenment (Kant, Condorcet, Locke, Paine etc) and it doesn't really matter where they come from. Despite their intellect, ideals, and integrity, they all came from societies marred by corruption, brutality, dishonesty and exploitation. That doesn't negate the truth or wisdom of their ideas, it only shows how far ahead they were of their time. But we're getting there. <br /><br />Infighting among progressives is a real problem when we have to deal with a unified monolithic bloc of totalitarian/criminal reactionaries. White evangelicals comprise only about 17% of the US population, but about 26% of US voters (if I remember correctly) and they all vote as a bloc for their Fuhrer. The obedience of the totalitarian drone does have its advantages.geroldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05140093281920523064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89785250227723322382018-07-10T22:53:14.185-07:002018-07-10T22:53:14.185-07:00@Larry Hart | Not only war, but "most terribl...@Larry Hart | <i>Not only war, but "most terrible wars" is supposed to be the very stuff of life.</i><br /><br />Yah. That's old school. It's difficult to display martial courage if one doesn't get to risk being killed. Teddy Roosevelt went on and on about it... until he didn't. Funny things happen to parents when their kids are at risk. 8/<br /><br /><i>Does the father in Mary Poppins count?</i><br /><br />I wouldn't. He got sacked while learning about becoming a decent father. His employer wanted an automaton.<br /><br />George Bailey is held aloft as an example of how to be a good person. The fact that he lent money is a rare element to an character who is supposed to be an exemplar. They softened it, though, by adjusting the character so he wasn't really focused on making a profit. Mr Potter WAS and exemplified taking prudence too far. It is VERY typical in our stories to have the bourgeois traders/merchants take prudence too far, but there are times when we don't... very interesting times when we don't. 8)<br /><br />Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10512151182558793242018-07-10T21:03:18.872-07:002018-07-10T21:03:18.872-07:00True Grit.... "fill... your... hand!"True Grit.... "fill... your... hand!"David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85076352008476415332018-07-10T21:02:40.299-07:002018-07-10T21:02:40.299-07:00Treebeard: "modern Europe not only needs wars...Treebeard: "modern Europe not only needs wars, but the greatest and most terrible wars..."<br /><br />romantic-pathetic war-dreamers who would dissolve into kibble-puddles if ever near the real thing. David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82477080526077042972018-07-10T20:08:28.445-07:002018-07-10T20:08:28.445-07:00Pssssh the Cowboys is merely good and stands a poo...Pssssh the Cowboys is merely good and stands a poor comparison to True Grit.<br /><br />If those tenderfoots had Addie Pray on their team, they'd not have had to do the cattle drive at all. She would have found a way to hector a buyer into coming for the cattle himself at twice the price.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56553100578678177912018-07-10T20:04:50.979-07:002018-07-10T20:04:50.979-07:00I like to remind people that the five Republican S...I like to remind people that the five Republican Supreme Court judges who installed George W. Bush were labeled, by Vincent Bugliosi, the man who sent Charles Manson to prison for life, as "The Felonious Five."<br /><br />See Bugliosi's article <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/none-dare-call-it-treason/" rel="nofollow">None Dare Call It Treason</a> which he expanded into a book.<br /><br />Without Bush v. Gore, there's no torture state, no "Patriot Act", ultimately no Trump. And without Bush's daddy there are no five judges to install Dubya. George H.W. Bush is also at least part responsible for losing Russia to fascism and Putinism.<br /><br />ANd an earlier Bush, Dubya's grandfather Prescott, was most likely involved in the fascist Business Plot of 1933.<br /><br />And I haven't even got around to the manifold evils of Nixon and Reagan. And all their friends.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7496407308878146842018-07-10T19:59:28.050-07:002018-07-10T19:59:28.050-07:00'The Cowboys' was the best John Wayne movi...'The Cowboys' was the best John Wayne movie ever made. Not Stagecoach, not the Searchers, not The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Cowboys has everything including the pleasant passivity that is feminine collectivism, John Wayne's benevolent fascism & the starry-eyed academic idealism of youthful inexperience wherein the starry-eyed cowboys (along with a wet-behind-the-ears audience) learn that life is harsh, the law is hollow & virtue comes from the barrel of a gun.<br /><br />It echoes the wisdom of our fine host when he exclaims "LET NO ONE CENTRALIZE POWER (so) Split it up, Create reliable due process and flat-fair adversarial safety <b>and then citizens will enforce their own rights"</b>.<br /><br />Balkanise, balkanise, balkanise.<br /><br />It is the PEOPLE, and not some arbitrary Protector Caste, that must have a monopoly on corrective violence.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06812045410916208141noreply@blogger.com