Grab and Keel

I hope pretty soon we will get beyond the flaming idiotic discussion of whether or not a perfectly competent human knows what to do with her email.

I hope too, that folks will start to understand most polls for what they are-useful tools of attack. NBC’s involvement in the recent New Hampshire poll represents a sad low for media.

What I want to talk about is a thing brewing around the edges of liberality-me being a liberal-that I have been stewing over a while now. (Or perhaps I should say I am a democratic socialist. Don’t muck about with me over this apparent political bifurcation; I believe many of us non-politicos are more fluid in their thinking in this area.)

I read a lot of different blogs. One I like is Dandelion Salad, because it provides an open format for a wide variety of writers who are on the left side of the political spectrum. I received a recent post, from a writer there, named StormCloudsGathering, entitled: “World War III, Who will be blamed?”

Now, the posts for StormCloudsGathering may your cup of tea. They are not mine. Here is why. First, in going to StormCloudsGathering’s “Facebook “about” page, we learn that the person is a self-proclaimed “public figure” who identifies as an “it, or gender neutral”, interested in “truth”. Now I get that not everyone wants to be out loud and proud on FB. There are lots of considerations to be made, safety for one. However, “public figures” interested in “truth” typically want you to know who they are. In fact, he is Aaron Hawkins. (If I could find him easily, the NSA can, so he isn’t hiding from anyone but you.)

In his post Hawkins says:

[If you want to start a to war, the unwashed masses must be convinced to send their brothers, sons and fathers to die on the front lines. The specter of an external enemy must be etched into their collective mind through trauma, exaggeration and repetition. History must be whitewashed, twisted and cherry picked down to a politicized nursery rhyme. At no point should the real motives or consequences of such an endeavor be discussed. ]

Well, to start, most of us have been pretty well washed for a while. (Though the drought and global warming might affect that.) Second, If we ever have a third world war, the status of women will change how it is fought, who will fight it, and what will happen afterwards. Third, I find his pronouncements on mind bending and history changing troubling in light of what I found on his website.

Take for instance his 3-year-old uTube “The Road to World War 3”. I stopped listening when he said Iran had not attacked anyone since 1798, since my personal understanding of history includes the Iran/Iraq war 1980-1988. (It was kind of like hearing that the Holocaust never happened.)

Seriously.

This is male chest pounding in its worst form-disguised as tired, and old, rhetoric. It’s insulting to the audience that might otherwise listen and the rhetorical abuser is ignoring what might really be happening politically because HE just wants to push HIS own persona.

With the dingy music, and perpetually flashing images Hawkin’s uTubes wear you out. He doesn’t want you to think calmly and rationally about what you have just seen. There is no way to verify for yourself, without a mountain of research, how much he said is true. If you think you might believe some of it, then, he has just sucked you into some portion of his mythology. Where do you stop? This is no different than listening to the right wingnuts World Net Daily or following Judicial Watch for fun and profit.

With their format, absolutely, I think Dandelion Salad should have Hawkins as a contributing writer. Where was the discussion about his post? Only one of nine even addressed the sensationalism of Hawkin’s videos. I know you wouldn’t be reading the Salad if you were all sheepies.

I am beginning to wonder if it is possible for a man to be a liberal and feminist at the same time.

And that is sad for Bernie Sanders. As much as I admire him, I probably won’t be voting for him, because you all don’t get it yet. He represents YOU and you haven’t changed. You don’t see the future the way I do. You aren’t making amends to your 2008 past.

Women are closer to having a say in our government than they have been since the 70’s, maybe ever. The evolution is coming. There is still time for you male lefties to get your act together, imagine what the future will be with women as real partners and bosses, and start inventing words, speeches and behaviors that match.

http://christophercantwell.com/2014/04/02/anarcho-capitalism-storm-clouds-gathering-wrong/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zeitgeist_Movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacque_Fresco#The_Venus_Project_and_later_career

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Goldberg