JUSTIFYING OUR ACTS .....

How do today racists, supremacists, apartheidists and genocidists  falsify, evade and twist the conflict between their actions and a universal code of ethics ?? They resort to one of several types of rationalization, all of which are a variation on a simple psychological theme ; "Blame the victim." Jared Diamond continues by saying even Hitler claimed self defense in starting world war 2 , he went to the trouble of faking a Polish attack on a German border post.

Possessing the right religion or race or political belief and motivation or claim, whether historical, divine or racist, all based on the vanity to represent progress or a higher level of civilization, is a second traditional justification for doing anything, including barbaric brutality and cruelty, theft and genocide, to all those possessing the wrong principle or those who happen to be on the weaker side.

Adherents to any major religion world wide, and more so Jews, Muslems and Christians, invariably try to accuse and label each other as irredeemably lower humans, justifying horrific actions of genocides and annihilation toward the others, the them.

Our ethical codes regard animals and humans differently. Thus modern genocidists routinely compare their victims to animals, in order to better justify the killings and brutality. Zionism in our actual times typify this attitude versus Arab Palestinians in the illegal occupied territories. White supremacists and some Evangelicals think and behave the same way against blacks and other minorities.

Historically Nazis considered Jews to be subhuman lice, the French settlers of Algeria referred to local Muslem Arabs as ratons, (rats), Boers called African indigents baboons, the English language as any other Semitic or non Semitic language is full with animal attributes used as pejorative to lower the other to subhuman levels, you pig, you ape, bitch, cur, dog, ox, rat, swine, vermin or snake.

Americans and European history of genocides is plentiful, not very discussed though in modern times, but they constitute the best indication of complicity and indirect encouragement of the Zionist Israeli behavior toward Arabs. Justifying most of the time the total silence and ignoring the criminal acts of one group of people toward another in our 21st century .

Apartheid, racism and sheer brutality in Israel, the U.S. or any country for that matter is not an accident, nor a passing little malaise, not even a temporary situation, it is a well planned strategy through years of indoctrination to form young minds and a whole class of aggressive settlers, police, and zealots' militias, it's all by design, all to achieve certain dubious goals of annihilation and total supremacy in the land. And this exact model is being recreated and reassembled in several parts of the world.

In today's world, genocide, brutality and apartheid are more accurately described as one race of civilian peasants and settlers exterminating another for their lands, waters and wealth. And modern man like his predecessor have a gift to reconcile genocide with the universal code of ethics, the solution is always to plead self defense, viewing and picturing the victims as savages and animals, or the post modern vocabulary of "terrorists", a very convenient new adjective to some, indeed.
             
                    All my thanks to you all, stay safe.               

AMERICA AND THE WORLD ON POLICE USE AND OTHER POSSIBILITIES .....

In the U.S. now the system maintains roughly 18000 confirmed police stations, at all levels of county, State and Federal levels, employing more that 1,2 million agent, full and part time, compared to 1.6 millions in China which is 4.5 times as populated. They are all extremely well armed, almost to army standards with war gear and equipment matching those of the best armed forces of the world, maybe only short of nuclear power. It's becoming a too strong and dangerous force by itself, especially with the type of funding, training, brainwashing, and background of their white dominance and majority.

The same proportions are applicable in many countries, huge police forces backed tightly by secret services agencies and private and public paramilitary organisations. all these and we're not talking about incarceration and prisons, which are in America both private business and federal. They have their own trained guards and police forces, all licensed to arrest and kill.

Enumerating them all here is beyond our scope, but Syria, Israel, Russia, China, most Latin America and the US.of A. are all maintaining very well equipped and well funded Police forces, strengthened, armed and militarized to better dominate their populations, or at least parts of them, the less fortunate ones, while they faithfully serve the ruling classes, and their economical cartels and corporations, thus actively helping create and widen the existing inequalities in every society.

The new political trends in America and many parts of the world are a somewhat return to fascism, replacing the older classical military coup, and dictatorships, nowadays we see many politicians elected democratically by using naive and tired populations and promising them riches and past glory and domination, using demagogy and faking it all the way.

Again the U.S. Israel, Brazil and Hungary, even democracies like India or Britain, they all share these new modern trends. All playing and applying from the same book, the same tunes, the same political games and rhetoric. all striving to achieve the exact same end-results, remaining in power, and achieving their interests, with their oligarchies and families as a sole priority.

They are all using police forces as the ideal tool to keep everyone under tight control, as police forces are more maniable than big armies and armed forces, and having less competition from generals and higher ranks. In today's world and times we all cannot afford anymore Trumps, Assads, Netanyahus, Bolsonaros, Urbans, Erdogans and Putins. Nor the classical theocracies of the Middle-East, Islamic or Zionist. 

This situation reminds me of several other political similar issues in the Trump era, like health care and immigration, wealth inequality, corporate power and total social neglect at all levels of the population. On all these issues progressives are pushing for policy changes that are popular with most voters, as in fairer taxation, better police accountability, healthcare to all, affordable education and not just elitist products all over, but the most dangerous would be the stealing of the position and power should he loose the election, and he will need a machine like the police forces.

We cannot afford opportunistic profiteers, we're too crowded of a world, and we need economical stability, less armament and more fair equality, we need more cooperation and better global visions. Do we need aliens and space invaders to unite us ?? Do we always need enemies, foreign or domestic to unite and think commonly ?? Isn't it high time to wise up and mature and show less greed??
         
         My usual many thanks to all, stay safe.       

THE VOICE OF THE UNHEARD, ELSEWHERE IT'S CALLED APARTHEID ......

After the barbaric murder of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis by sheer police brutality and cold blooded meditated act, plus two almost similar cases, one in Georgia where three armed white men, a father, his son and a third accomplice followed and murdered a black young jogger in the same cold blooded and intentional act. A third case where a young black woman was killed in her own home by a police force braking into her house, at night, and started shooting at anyone resisting or even mistaking them for thieves or thugs vandalizing people.

Everyone from within these communities and outside, normal citizens, politicians, business people rich or poor heard the pain and grief, the anger and exhaustion, the helplessness and despair addressing the futile and devastating loss of life, perpetrated by the same police who have sworn to protect and defend the citizens. As well as the officials, local and Federal at all levels of government who have the power of condemning and putting a stop to all such cruel and barbaric acts of legal violence.

As a country, we're having so much difficulty facing the racism that is America's history. In other places we look at it and call it apartheid, but in both cases, we try to find excuses and justifications rather than facing the injustice full on, and we invariably end up doing nothing. I'm referring here apart from Minneapolis, Louisville, Georgia and Florida and multiple other cities and States all over the American continent, to what happens practically everyday in Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.

Yes, the Palestinian population, undergoing the same brutality and barbarism by similar brain washed police forces and army troops officially having a license to kill, brutalize, jail and torture every Palestinian (black) and other under privileged minority. The same tactics are copied by settlers and other Zionist zealots and thugs, with no shame or remorse what so ever, all against whoever is not pure and openly pro Zionist. Gideon Levy, the famous Israeli columnist commented in Haaretz;" Being black in America shouldn't be a death sentence, what about being Palestinian." 

In America, all politicians, at all levels, acknowledge the sayings of Dr. M. L. King who once said; " A riot is the language of the unheard." And what is it that America has failed to hear ?? that the promises of freedom and justice to all have not been met. Israel and its Zionist leadership is at a neck to neck race with all of these policies and racist actions, what's mind boggling and vexing is when parties, groups  and individuals give themselves a right and legal justification for this supremacy.

Here in America, this present administration and its affiliated politicians and their judicial system, are all trying their best to incite and bring this same attitude of white, Evangelical ultra-right supremacy, it's paying mostly against blacks, brown immigrants and Jews.

This president is turning the White House and all major departments and agencies into purveyors of racism, death and destruction. To make it right, we need consequences and accountability, not explanations and excuses. We should all aim to root out the culture of racism, apartheid and abuse of power by a majority group against other minorities.

           My profound thanks to all my good readers, stay strong and safe.   

              

MINISTRY OF PROPAGANDA .....

The White House is boosting its own propaganda network, one that is bankrolled by the president's family, they are doing this because they're finding their private current propaganda networks insufficiently suppor-tive, and not manipulative enough. Nothing to match the leadership's xenophobic agenda, or his dreams of reelection and total fascistic supremacy.

It's been no secret that Mr. Trump and his machine, had dreams of directly controlling his own TV network for quite some time, and more so since the 2016 election campaign, now it appears that this dream is coming through with an investment group associated with Trump Junior, who are looking to buy a major stake in One America News (O.A.N.), so the president, his family and oligarchy can take their brand of propaganda and extreme right-wing autocracy to the next level.

Can we imagine a strong media outlet directly controlled and operated by Mr. Trump himself ?? or through his family and oligarchy, while people across the country, and the world are being ravaged and impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic, and everywhere people are looking to inde-pendent news outlets for advise and correct information, plus an election looming in view, and the tax breaks to corporations and rich executives, and the mishandling of approved budgets to help small businesses and out of jobs individuals, one can imagine the work this network will produce.

In America, machines like Fox News, Breitbart and OAN, all bankrolled by millionaires, belonging to the same club and playing by the same rules, specializing in pushing out ultra-right wing programming and fake news to perpetuate their propaganda and ideologies, by brain washing their audiences and infecting young innocent minds with all types of cons-piracies and dangerously playing and twisting sciences about all world problems, only to suit big businesses and their interests.

In today's pandemic, large crowds gathering, protests, potential drug complications, drug and preventive medical equipment availability, effectiveness and prices, even spreading racist and completely false rumors, accusing countries and international organizations, all rejected by most serious scientists, and even our own intelligence community. All these are public domain news, very delicate and subject to high mani-pulation. Even Fox news is very careful about the origin of the Wuhan laboratory story, or its counterpart and accomplice in North Carolina or Boston.

They have all been without exception downplaying and manipulating the news about the death toll approaching now 100.000 Americans, and more than 330.000 world wide , and the recurrence of cases in some parts, all to suit Mr. Trump's agenda, demagoguery, hate and vengeance against anyone opposing him and his future reelection plans.

All of this is not enough, as the Trump machine now wants to control this powerful semi official tool personally and directly. This type of organised and politicized propaganda cannot be permitted to continue spreading disinformation unchecked, they must be all accountable for their blatant lies, whether it is an adventure in Iraq for its WMD, or a war with Iran, invading Venezuela or a world pandemic, they should all be thoroughly checked.

Let's admit it, all governments lie, it is the job of journalists and the media outlets to do the hard, tedious reporting to expose these lies, and not the contrary. More than half the president's tweets this past week, targeted Obama/Biden, only 16% focused on Corona virus responses and solutions, is this the general pattern and policy of his private propaganda machine & network once established !!!!!
                             
As always , my many thanks to all my readership, especially the many new comers from Germany and the Netherlands, stay safe.             

PLAYING CHEAP POLITICS WITH A CRISIS ....

Since day one of this presidency, the Trump administration has treated all America's problems and social malaise, and wealth inequality with unprecedented vengeance and disdain, and when incapable of destroying these programs, distancing themselves, blaming others, and waiting for better times to try again. They have treated COVID 19 pandemic, almost exactly the same way. Like a PR crisis at best, a political opportunity to boost the president's approval ratings while giving false information and fake hope to millions of blind followers.

They knowingly ignored the disease and refused expert opinions and intelligence reports, and previous presidential warnings and pandemic committees, until it was too late and continues, by totally failing to provide and implement sufficient testing, even to high risk areas, ignoring that it's considered now an essential element of relaxing confinement and self social distancing.

The U.S. compared to most European countries, and the Pacific rim, has the highest numbers of infected people, more than a million three positive cases, and more fatalities than anyone else exceeding 80.000 deaths,and very soon 90.000 and a staggering 100.000  leading the country to the highest unemployment rates since the great depression of 1930. We are still in denial, still lost between opening our economy and States without adequate testing and other preventive equipment, and willingly admitting to the eventual killing of tens of thousands more, of Americans from all ages, colors, and ethnic backgrounds.

In America today, many people are still living and behaving as if the whole pandemic will vanish in few weeks or a month at most, it will disappear from our lives as it came, all with the help of the official propaganda, and the following ultra right media machine. Of course religious zealots and their institutions, and Divine power are always there to help.

Even our internal politics of high interference in the judiciary system, of dismantling every social contract previously achieved, to a dangerous degree of destroying what remains of our democracy, and the delusional totally in cloud nine foreign policy, based on false military superiority, readiness, and overconfidence, plus the insufficient economical and monetary means, a huge totally ignored national debt, and continuous unsolved social inequalities and failing infrastructures, all while further empowering corporate and private wealth to reign and take over.

America simply cannot afford another 4 years of a president and his oligarchy who make decisions based strictly on what is best to the president, his reelection, and themselves, and not to the country or its people. Past presidents had their high moments and their low moments, some did better internally and some dragged the country and its armed forces into horrific and very, very costly adventures, but non kept lying to themselves and to their people while believing themselves like this president and his entourage. Somehow at the end they managed to take ownership and accountability for their doings and the well being of the country. History proves it, and the last 3 plus years of this presidency tells it all clearly.

Using all types of political tools, dismissing experts, using executive powers for personal benefits, catering to businesses and corporations and fossil fuels , pardoning admitting criminals, all these and other methods form an area of natural comfort to this president and his administration, the economy will not come back, here or anywhere until the death toll slows, so let's stop hiding behind our fingers. But if we don't believe in science and not in social interference or collective programming then let's all drop it all and live our stupid individual lives .   

We need to invest much more in proper and adequate testing, and only when the death rates start coming down significantly, only then, we can apply proper testing and know who's positive and who's not, and create meaningful isolation and start reopening the economy. Now it's up to the American people to come together, in full force to help save the country and the world, from some grave and imminent disaster, by electing someone sane and responsible to lead .....
                     
             As always my gratitude to all my good readers...  stay safe.   

            

THINKING AND ACTING STRAIGHT .....

Some things that govern our lives, are clearly very obscure, for instance I don't know whether there is a God, nor does anyone else know, I don't know what will happen after death, shall I survive death and move forward or not, nor does anyone else, I do not have a good answer as to my having a soul, if it sticks to me or leaves me or transforms itself into something else after my body decays, and no one else knows either.

Many religious adherents have unshakable convictions, or what they proudly call faith, in such matters they are sure they know, but convictions emanating from blind faith are not real knowledge. Somehow it seems incredible that Sapiens do not know what they are, or the nature of their being. These questions were as old as humanity, the Greek pre-Socratic Xenophanes said; "The Gods did not reveal from the beginning all things to us, but in the course of time, thorough seeking, may lead to learning and knowing things." Until today, there is a strong consensus among most philosophers, including religious ones, that the existence of a soul, life after death and absolute divine power cannot be proven.

We basically had no saying about coming into existence, we just woke up and found ourselves in this world. So what gives us the pretense of knowledge and certitude of a next one. The self as it is seems to be and remains forever unknowable. We feel ourselves, here on earth, but do we know our inner selves? and what happens to it when we die!! Yes it's easier to convince ourselves of the pretension of knowing what will happen, but we all know deep down that it could be not so after death.

It's difficult to live with such incertitude and being lost with such questions, but as Socrates said;"The unexamined life is not worth living" And being lost in daylight is very different than being lost in total darkness. Some people believe there is a God, the creator, the designer of our will, the basis of morality, and there are others who believe there's no God, and our morality is not of a godly source.

Historically, we know that human morality has advanced and developed toward the better, and we talk about it openly. many of us (but not all) are more compassionate and caring than most of our ancestors were 4k and 3k even 2000 years ago. But God cannot be gradual, and not from low to upward, so if it is a godly affair, it should have been the reverse, starting with the perfect and better morality, and slowly deteriorating or fading, if at all.... and not the contrary.

The fact that we can never be sure that something is right, though we can be sure that something is wrong confirms Socrates saying; that he had an inner voice which occasionally told him not to do things, but it never told him what to do. I personally have never found myself able to believe in the existence of a God, or a divine will and power, though I admit that I can not prove his non-existence, the challenge in these matters is to live with it, die with it, without really understanding it. This is our fate in life, and our situation. The existence of God cannot be explained by simply asserting the existence of God.

For centuries people were congratulated on the strength of their faith, and the more blind it was the better, but these beliefs have very little or no evidence, and there's nothing really to congratulate in it. Most people are only stubborn about the entire affair, because they were totally and perfectly brain-washed, ordered and indoctrinated since early childhood. And leaders of all sects, political and religious want and strive for such followers.

Obviously arguing with these people is absolutely futile, as they are not committed to the pursuit of truth. But no one should expect all sides to agree with baseless faith, whether positive or negative. Locke puts it nicely;" Where is the man that has incontestable evidence of the truth of all that he holds, or of the falsehood of all he condemns." We have no choice but to live and act based on the best of our knowledge and understanding, but far from believing these to be true, we need always to keep in mind the fact and possibility that they might not be.

 The entire blog here, was inspired and influenced by an excellent work by B. Magee, entitled Ultimate Questions , I'm grateful for his insight and wisdom. My as always, many thanks to all, stay safe.                         

POLITICS IN OUR TIMES ......

Few people around the world are totally indifferent to the United States, its politics and politicians. As the U.S had in the past century always played a big role and interfered heavily in world's affairs. The supposedly greatest power on earth evokes strong and contrasting sentiments, either you love America, despite its flaws, or you hate it, not withstanding its arrogance and selfish partiality.

Lately America is showing signs of retreat and weakness, at least vis-a-vis China and few other powers ... let's quickly look at how the political game is being played in our times; Always and invariably, everywhere, the best way to reach somewhere is to listen to all sides, to both sides at least of any position or argument, and only then make an educated decision on any matter, our major problem nowadays is that most politicians everywhere are becoming little dictators, playing the nationalistic, fascistic side, imitating and competing as to who can do more and beat all others.

to name a few, our own Mr. Trump, Mr. Bolsonaro of Brazil, Mr. Putin, Orban of Hungary , Erdogan of Turkey, Netanyahu of Israel, Bin Salman of Saudi, Modi of India, and the list goes on with some traditional dictators as in Syria, political parties as in Lebanon, and theocracies as in Iran ... and more in Africa , Latin America and Asia. This is not good for the future of our world combined, but only serves these politicians, their families and oligarchies.

All these politicians enforce policies and tactics that only listen and get advise strictly from one side, their followers are driven and brainwashed to listen to one side, the side they like, and keep their opinions and actions and votes in check with the official propaganda. This is the typical partisanship of many engaged people in politics, and politicians who blindly endorse the one side to serve their survivability and strict interests.

We only listen to one side, our side, no matter how demagogue and sometimes irrational our side is, and always act accordingly. The U.S. will end up suffering  and paying for some of the worse effects in the world, because of its incompetent leadership and their one sided system and experts. The president, his administration and some States governors and mayors, who all follow a one prescribed policy dictated by incompetence and immaturity.

The U.K. and Brazil and some other spots are already paying for imitating our foolish model of leadership and shortsightedness. Of course some big, big money will make its way to some big pockets and their political benighted beneficiaries, at the expense of too many innocents who could have been spared and saved.   

The challenges in our lives, all over, are massive, but we must have the courage and enough compassion to fight for the world that is still possible, never has this been more clear and obvious than it is right now, in the midst of our global crisis and irresponsibilities. We will have enough time to calmly inspect and caution each and every country of its delays and cover up, it's not the time now to find culpable, culprits and victims to clear our conscience, and justify ourselves and our acts.

                       My, as always, many thanks to all my good readers, stay safe.