On Sustainability

  Sustainability seems to be a key buzzword within Western nomenclature these days and for quite a few months now, if one wishes to look back.  Sustainability is the measure of how well some action can be maintained or the avoidance towards depletion; a darling word for those on the political Left.  The term ‘sustainable’ is often thrown around in regards to the environment, the Beznau nuclear power plant in Switzerland has been up and running for about 40 years and is planned for retirement in or around 2040 providing an expected uptime of half a century give or take a little.

  There is a point to be made that the environment is not the only thing of value worthy of being sustained.  Before some random reader starts the ad hominem attacks of ‘this guy is far-right’, please note that Ontario Canada has 36 Conservation Authorities that if one plans to camp there, one must make a reservation online and while there is no cost, there are rules about litter and fire.  So, put your tray in the upright position and buckle your safety belt as we are now going to get started.

  There was a time when facts didn’t care about your feelings or anyone else’s feelings for that matter.  A truth was derived from facts, with the base facts being observable to all and anything beyond that requires the use of other words; words such as: allegation, claim, assertion, assumption, theory, and hypothesis.  There is another form of truth based only on logic, something which most people understand as mathematics; math works due to everyone agreeing on the symbols and the operational rules.

  Some see the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (b. June 1712) in aiding and abetting the birth of the Enlightenment. Rousseau can also be credited, in part for the slogan used in French Revolution, Rousseau’s version was ‘Equality, Freedom, and Sovereignty’; yet the French revolutionaries chanted the words ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’, a phrase that translates to ‘Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood’.  Some of those influenced by Rousseau were Emmanuel Kant, Adam Smith, and probably even Karl Marx.

  Much like the results in the children’s game of ‘telephone’, the messaging of Jean-Jacques Rousseau along with other members of the Enlightenment have been morphed into a new something.  For even the French knew, back in their chopping off heads days, that a country must have a familial feeling within the citizenry.  This game of ‘telephone’ via history has resulted in at least one of the key words been transmogrified, as the word ‘equality’ has been replaced by ‘equity’.  There is one word out of the three mentioned by Rousseau and the French, along with other people throughout time that has seemingly been out-right dropped; the French word Fraternitè and the word Sovereignty seemingly all but evaporated from around much of the first world.  Rousseau spoke of ‘freedom’ and the French spoke of ‘liberty’, though it seems that these two words were intended to be for the group not just for a single person.  John Locke (b. 1632) is quoted as saying ‘my right to swing my arm ends at your nose’ or something like that; with Locke, the idea of freedom was a thing, though at that time, that freedom came with guardrails towards keeping some level of civility between the civilians.

 Jesus Christ was for the most part of more than two-thousand years the moral foundation of what is commonly known as the Western World.  With the teachings of Christ being the common starting point for what is considered to be ‘civil’ within the Western world, the resultant culture drove the politics, which in turn drove the laws.  This author makes no claim to any scholarship on the Bible, that being said, the main messages of Christ that are provided are: ‘be kind when you can’, ‘pursue love over hate’, and ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’; all three of which can be pseudo-summarized in the simple phrase – ‘Treat thy neighbour as yourself’.  That statement states ‘as you’ not ‘less-then you’ nor ‘more-then you’ showing that this simple message from Christ seems to have become lost on many a politician.

  Interestingly enough, when one looks at the political on goings in much of the Western World, one might notice that the politics is moving towards, what those of the political Left like to call, the Far-Right; yet it is rather the political Left that is backtracking on their policies and moving rightward as it seems that is going to be the only way they will be to retain any semblance of power.  Thankfully, the political Left has protected their democracy so that far-right has not as of yet been able to destroy it; this is a truism, because the peoples of many countries in the Western are now voting more towards the previously named Far-Right as the political Left have now started to adopt the positions of their political rivals.

  The sarcastic point made above can be obviously noted in places like Germany, where the AFD party has won elections in a couple of provinces, in Sweden where a politically right party won the national vote, in Canada the ‘far-right’ Conservative party is ahead in almost every poll, the Italian people elected Maloni who declared a state of emergency over illegal migration, Poland and Hungary proceeded Germany in closing their boarders to the global ‘refugee seekers’ and were called Far-Right for doing so.  Now, will it be Germany’s turn to be called out as Far-Right for taking the same actions as the countries previously mentioned, which stepped up first on securing their boarders against invasion?

  The ideas the noble savage and magic soil, seem to be deas of overt wishful thinking; these two propositions will be addressed individually.  Starting with the savage, this too comes from Rousseau under his belief that civilization is a corrupting force and that the further man moves away from nature, the less civil they will be.  Magic soil is the idea that once someone steps into a country they auto-magically becomes a member of that country’s culture; of course this didn’t work out very well when the NAZIS entered Poland, Finland, Belgium, and France, or when the Russia army entered Poland, Finland, Belarus, Romania, the Ukraine, and what once was Yugoslavia; we can see this as these listed countries returned to their own flags so quickly.

  Vilipend (from Latin), ‘To speak of disparaging or contemptuously, to deprecate’, this word was found in a dictionary from 1931 in search of the historic definition of the word ‘vilify’, and turns out the two words are effectively one and the same with the difference being that ‘vilify’ includes the words that are written.

  It does seem there has been a campaign of vilification against ‘Gingers’, which would be the redhead characters.  Walt Disney changed the main character Ariel, a ginger, in the film The Little Mermaid (2023) was replaced by actress Halle Bailey who is described as African-American.  Marvel Studios had Idris Elba play the ginger god Heimdall, he who guards Asgard, in their movie Thor (2011); there are other examples, though there is no need to belabour the point.  The public messaging from these entertainment giants was that they were making these changes for the sake of inclusion, yet, is it really “inclusion” when a choice is made in favour of one demographic at the exclusion of another; this, along with other discriminations will be noticed by some and railed against by others.

  There are two basic political thoughts on history and how history is represented within the zeitgeist of a culture. One side wants to preserve their history, while the other wants it forgotten; the reader can decide which side is which.  This can be seen in the abundantly used phrase by Kamala Harris, “We can see what is possible, unburdened by what has been” as this phrase echoes similar words by Marx and the actions of China’s Mao and Cambodia’s Pol Pot; with the destruction of the past, one can make a new clean foot-print for what is to come, only after the old worldview has been washed away as there will be no-one left to defend it. A problem with this line of thinking is that as people get older they get entrenched in a way of thinking that tends to defy change.

  Historically, regardless of culture or country, social change has happened quickly or slowly. The quick method is typically based on war or revolution, while the slower type of change typically comes through shifts in both cultural and law.  The 300 Spartans were able to hold the Hot-Gates at Thermopylae until betrayed by another Spartan, the city of Troy stood strong until the Greeks fooled the Trojans into bring them inside the walls.  In days long past most countries with strong fortifications were undefeated until someone inside the gates opened one.   In more recent days, many cultures and countries are typically defended social commonality and a lot of kinetic weapons.

  Xenophilia seems to have become the order of the day for many Western governments, as any person who objected to the high levels of migration both legal and illegal was called a xenophobe or a racist; though never a possessor of Cultural-Philia.  To a space alien, this might come across as ether stupidity or apathy on the part of the managing class, something which could cause many a citizen to wonder what is the endgame of the over-lord class; thus creating the feeling that public-service has morphed into self-service.  It is strongly recommended that the reader look at the historical situations where the ruling class has become distant from the commons; the phrase ‘let them eat cake’ might just comes to mind.

  Going back to our friendly space-alien, he’s named Grok by the way.  After accessing Musk’s Starlink system, he at first sight began feeling that many of the countries should be placed on suicide watch, while other countries and cultures seem to be eating right and going to gym; because Grok was starting to notice that what some of the beings complain about local acts, were unwilling to criticize similar acts happening further abroad.  For example, Grok was happy to learn that the largest political force in human history sought to end the act of slavery globally.  Then things started to change in Grok’s assessment as he did more research.

  Grok continued his research on the history of slavery on the little planet he was looking at. After doing some quick math in his head, Grok figured that 7 rotats ago, a rotat being what we would call a year, in Libya one being could buy another for around 800 units in the planets most common currency, and yet within just 5 rotats that price dropped to 300 currency units due to free market capitalism; slavery was returning.  It must be obvious to the reader that the use of the term ‘free market’ was sarcasm.

  With a small sigh, Grok continued his research moving on to the next ‘hot topic’ based on this planet’s interconnected networks.  Both of Grok’s hearts drop as he learned more about what these beings were calling ‘Climate Change’ with a feeling of exasperation, boarder lining on anger.  Upon reading more, Grok began to understand that these beings have been terraforming their planet by covering parts of it with nonporous materials and try to hold back water, without expecting any of changes to the environment around them.

  Grok expressed his disappoint in the form a sigh; he understood that these beings are still not maturing; he entered his notes into his logbook, sent off his notes to The Alpha.  Then before moving on to his next assignment, he topped up the power of the beacon, to ensure the greater good.

DANGER

They are not ready yet

  

'We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.'

- Ayn Rand. 

 

  

Authors Note:

Grok was borrowed Robert A. Heinlein’s book ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ (1961) where the word means - to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed.

Frogs in a Boiling Pot

  It is understood that if you put a frog into tepid water and slowly raise the temperature to a boil, the frog will not leap out, but stay and die.  Another point about frogs, a large frog will eat a smaller frog; this practice is common amongst frogs, toads, salamanders, and other amphibians.  Considering the current political temperature, with the riots and other disturbances in the Western world, the political pot now seems to have been set to boil for quite some time now.

  People are not frogs and this is a main component of the current situation.  There has been for years now a systemic problem, sticking to the frog metaphor; people have been lied to with regards to what is going on around them.  People have suddenly taken notice that there are other people who want them to not know how to make good choices; be it by omission or by misdirection.

  It has been said: ‘the first man to hurl an insult rather than a stone started civilization.’  If that is true then when the people turn to riot, then discussion, including insults seem to have stopped.  It has also been said: ‘to learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize’; and this statement should be taken as a warning where the warning is to see who seeks to hold back the facts in the name of providing a ‘truth’.  Words have been re-introduced into our lexicon with a bit of a wrapper; the two primary being tossed around these days are misinformation and disinformation.

  It should be noted that Stewart Brand, with his declaration: ‘Information wants to be free’ was right. While open to interpretation, the statement is slightly off the mark, in that it should be reframed as ‘Facts will become free.’  Some facts are not always pretty and when people learn of the facts, those same people are not happy; and yet the facts are still the facts.

   Below this point the conversation slash argument is going to get dicey or spicy.  It is of interest to this author to understand why so many people are willing to work off of a lack of facts and move forward from there.

   Of course there are times when feelings over facts can be beneficial, though there are a few caveats.  The ideal of Love is the best start for feelings to win over facts, so-long as one adheres to the non-aggression principle; else that be stalking.  Alternately, is the case of altruism, some people may be causing miss-directing when they use other people’s money in their acts of kindness.  Consider the phrase - ‘robbing from Peter to pay Paul’, please look up Corinthians 14:37 if you want to understand why this reference has been made.

   As far back as Plato and Aristotle it was known that a democracy would be a tyranny of those who held the most common of beliefs.  Plato strove to ‘fix’ this problem by setting forth the idea of a republic in his writings titled Republic.  Aristotle wrote a dissenting piece, mentioning that too many competing goals will cripple a government’s capability to function and that eventually only a tyrannical state will remain.  Aristotle made another criticism, this time against Plato’s assertion that the city-state was responsible for the poor and the children; thus making Aristotle a member of the Far-Right.

  Aristotle’s comment on tyranny was proven in reverse when the USSR collapsed and the country of Yugoslavia was broken into the Balkan states in 1992. The shift to what that area was to what is today was marred with intercultural conflict coupled with genocidal level killings and rape.  Previous situations happened in the same area when the Ottoman Empire extended its reach northward.  In 711 AD in the Iberian Peninsula was invaded and the concurred local citizens where allowed to keep practicing their religion, so long as they paid the jazya tax.  Sicily in 827 was taken over by one group until it was taken by another country in the 11^th century; and then again in 1860 when Giuseppe Garibaldi and his army took the island back in the name of Italia; these shifts in cultural leadership plus the repeated oppression gave rise to the Mafia; which of course brought on a whole bundle of other problems both in Italy and further abroad.

  Post WW2, the League of Nations was rebranded into the United Nations due to failing at the mandate of world peace that was drafted after WW1; the League of Nations lasted only 26 years and was brought to an end after WW2.  The UN has been around for almost 80 years now, and while there has not been WW3, peace on Earth and good will towards all men still seems beyond the reach of the UN, which by the way seems to have mostly given up on those ideals in favour of authoritarianism; there was a recent attempt by the WHO to mandate that it controls the definition of what and when a pandemic is, and that control the mitigation process.

  There is a line of thinking that the world must be looked at holistically when it comes to topics like peace and poverty; this is impossible due to many factors.  On the peace topic, it will be quite difficult to get people harmonized enough, apathetic enough, or to be even disengaged enough in their own truths to create world peace.  Conquest of whatever was the ‘known world’ at the time has always been a fact for most religions, countries and many political ideologies; the Amish and a few others are excluded from the list. What the UN, the EUHC, NGOs and some governments have done was to download and off-load global warfare to locations in the Western World through their policies of mass migration.

  Moving on to poverty around the world, this can never be solved because the Earth does not provide a uniform or consistent condition.  Some countries have soil that is fertile and other countries do not, and some countries have navigable rivers while others do not; for example there is the Mississippi river and the Zambezi River with its Victoria Falls.  The two examples given shows how the world at the country level can never have an equal outcome because some countries can grow more food and ship goods to market at a lower cost.  The most referenced writing promoting equity of outcome for all was Carl Marx’s Manifesto; according to some though it has never been properly implemented.  Though, when one considers the recurring outcomes, one might assume the actual goal of hardcore Communists is simply a form of population control.

 The French, along with many others bought into the ideals of the UN, EU, WEF, and US that every state or country around the world will just get along, by holding hands, singing songs and that all people will just get along.  This line of thinking seems to have been somewhat accepted en masse in the Western world; while other people in other countries seem to have looked at the West as if it was a chicken ready for a plucking; the second group simply saw an opportunity made available to them, much like a common shopper clipping coupons.

   Unfortunately, diplomacy is not mankind’s natural state as the NEWS reports at the local, national, and global levels commonly and regularly.  Those in the collegiate and university institutions provide a plethora of courses in diplomacy and yet few and far between are the individuals who can attend such classes, and yet some political leaders have made the assumption that people in general can tackle such a task regardless of their educational level or any cultural differences. 

  Back to our Frogs and yes this includes the French, along with other Western countries that bought into the ‘all cultures are equally valid’ narrative; both linguistically and logically this quoted statement has a problem.  While it may seem like a nice idea, the slogan lacks specificity and not everyone agrees with it.  A culture is made up of more than just art, architecture, clothing, drink, food, language, laws, religion, or even the style of government; because every culture also comes with a common approach to life an idea of what is right general.  We as human beings look at the world in comparisons and that means that while two things may be ‘equally valid’, that doesn’t mean they are ‘equally best’; for the idea of ‘what is best’ is a matter of acceptable values, and values are the result of both one’s culture and one’s personality.

   

Mongol General: What is best in life? 

Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.  (From Conan the Barbarian - 1982)