Tag: Politics

PoliticsLeave a comment

An Expression of Love

Kurt Brindley

Don’t worry, my relentless efforts to completely overpower you politically is nothing more than a love-like expression… 😘 The actual exercise of physical violence substitutes for the psychological relations between two minds, which is of the essence of political power, the physical relation between two bodies.” He wrote that “all foreign policy is the struggle for the minds of men.” Genuine political power couldn’t be forced on people. It was complex, organic, unquantifiable. Elsewhere, Morgenthau compared it to love. The Book That Shaped Foreign Policy for a Generation Has More to Say, NewYork Times, May 9, 2020 #alonetogetherexpressingourlovepolitically Continue reading An Expression of Love

GovernmentLeave a comment

United States of Me

Kurt Brindley

The egalitarianism typical of human hunter-gatherers is interesting when viewed in an evolutionary context. One of humanity’s two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, is anything but egalitarian, forming hierarchies that are dominated by alpha males. So great is the contrast with human hunter-gatherers that it is widely argued by palaeoanthropologists that resistance to being dominated was a key factor driving the development of human consciousness, language, kinship, and social organization. . . [WIKIPEDIA]

While I’m loathe to give credit to the hardcore Silicon tech bros due to so many of them having a bent toward misogyny and authoritarian ideals, which also made Trump so appealing to so many of these tech nerd dictator-wanna-bes, a la Peter Thiel, however, one of their ideals that somewhat sort of does appeal to me is a their striving toward a kind of hyper-freedom/ individualism, a striving so much so that some, again a la Peter Theil, are working to create these technology island havens of sort where each island would be governed autonomously as its own country and where, it seems to me, the island owners could proclaim themselves king or queen.

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Freedom6 Comments

Transgender Community* Trumped by the Arc and Bent of Autocratic Politics

Kurt Brindley

My fury throughout the whole last campaign to and through the election until now has never been much about politics.

Politics in this country, while they have been expanding outward toward the wacky fringes leaving the mostly moderate radicals (the rarity of moderates these days makes us rather radical) like myself quite lonely, have always, and hopefully will continue to, arc this way and that.

Because if our politics are not forever fluid and free to flow this way and that depending upon the tides of our national temperament, then it must mean that someone must have dammed up our river of democracy.

Metaphors… sigh.

Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve read my about page but there you will see in one sentence how I feel about politics and politicians…

To me, politics is simply acting for ugly people. Pretty actors go to Hollywood; ugly actors go to Washington DC.

Consequently, as our politics arc to and fro in this country, our politicians arc right along with them…only always just slightly behind the arc as they forever fail in their efforts to try to predict its toing and froing.

No, my fury for the most part has been directed solely at Trump and his bent towards authoritarianism; which means then that the more he contorts himself into a true to life autocrat, the more he is strengthening his power at the expense of my freedoms…

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PoliticsLeave a comment

“Post-apocalyptic fiction has been moved to our current affairs section”

Kurt Brindley
HEROES OF DYSTOPIA
HEROES OF DYSTOPIA

I wish I were smart enough to be able to claim this post’s eye/brain-catching headline as my own. But, alas, I cannot because I got it from this read-worthy #longread of an article written by John Feffer, a journalist and author who, with his read-worthy article, attempts to (in subtle sublimity) — and in my view does — make the case of why we should purchase his new near-future dystopian novel which spookily mirrors the current dystopic, Trumpian events of today, and who, Feffer, got it, the headline, from a friend on facebook in the form of a viral photo of a sign in front of bookstore in Boston.

A whole lotta fortuitous and fast-moving mechanics behind that headline up there, wouldn’t you agree?

To paraphrase/abuse a popular insurance company commercial from several years past that was trying to get us to fork over the beans for their coverage so we would be covered/prepared for any disastrous potentiality…

Continue reading ““Post-apocalyptic fiction has been moved to our current affairs section””

Politics6 Comments

Crossing One Thin Line After Another

Kurt Brindley

History shows us there is a thin line between outrage and unrest, between unrest and riot, and between riot and revolution. And it seems lately that we are constantly crossing these lines, that we are constantly on the edge and on the verge of being pushed to the limit, that every day, somewhere in the world, individuals, families, communities, countries, and regions are fluctuating and transitioning from one point of frustration to the next, even more frustrating point. From the economy, to the environment, to intractable politics, to intolerance, to technology, to terrorism, to any number of other issues, who … Continue reading Crossing One Thin Line After Another

Politics10 Comments

TOTAL WAR OR TOTAL PEACE – A Relating to Humans Political Issues Feature

Kurt Brindley

I do not have much to say as an introduction to this powerful topical essay by Paul Xylinides, our IABS&R Volume 2 selectee, other than to compel you to go take a look at today’s headlines. There you will unfortunately witness once more what brutality we humans are willing to inflict upon other humans in an effort to further our own goals, be they political, religious, or whatever cause it may be that motivates us into a frenzy of fanaticism and murderous hate.

My prayers are with Pakistan as I mourn the lost lives of all the innocent children.

Paul will also be contributing a guest post for us tomorrow.
– 8:00pm (EST), Wednesday, December 17, 2014

TOTAL WAR OR TOTAL PEACE
by Paul Xylinides

The concept of total war has been especially widespread in execution in the twentieth century. It means just what it says, that is, the decision by one or both sides in a conflict to use all and every means in order to prevail. War crimes become unavoidable and are a matter of course under these scenarios. Moral and legal concerns are completely set aside. Intended to prevent or, at best, minimize carnage directed towards the innocent, the rules of war are effective only so long as one side enjoys vastly superior capacities and thus the luxury of choosing how to conduct itself in an engagement. Recent comments by Vladimir Putin as to his country’s continued possession of a nuclear arsenal illustrate what recourse a threatened nation feels justified to employ. Today, the United States is able to act militarily within the rules of war. Should the day come that a figure such as the present Russian leader were to carry out his veiled threat, it is not conceivable that the United States would not respond in kind.
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Books, Literary1 Comment

Bookies on the Books

Kurt Brindley

The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced next week and the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the odds makers are making noise for the usual suspects. Of course we all know it’s all just a guessing-game (as most gambling is) as to who will win, a game depending on the author and scholars who make up the selection panel, and, unfortunately, the international politics at play. That said, still it’s fun to guess. Here are some of the odds: Haruki Murakami is the favorite at 5 to 1 Joyce Carol Oates is at 12 to 1 Philip Roth … Continue reading Bookies on the Books

Poetry5 Comments

Rise Up!

Kurt Brindley

And we all know that to improve something, you don’t need to focus on what is all ready working, you need to focus on those areas that are under lubricated and mis-aligned and need a little re-balancing.
It’s the squeaky, protesting wheel that is gonna get the oil first.
So be assured that I intend to be one annoying squeaky protesting wheel from time to time.
All I ask from you is that you help supply the oil in any amount and in any way you can. Continue reading Rise Up!

Culture, Mental Health2 Comments

In Defense of the American Way of Life

Kurt Brindley

I think and I write about all of this BS, this Way of Life BS and that way of life BS and all the goofy-looking uniform BS and all my pretentious and pedantic intent versus impact BS while I am being completely overwhelmed and embarrassed by the ridiculous politics and even more ridiculous politicians behind the current budget battle crisis that America is currently tearing itself apart over. Continue reading In Defense of the American Way of Life