Low Desire Society

 Perhaps the goal of the Low Desire Society is to live comfortable and satisfactory lives before they die, knowing that the way the world is going, the byproducts of capitalism will result in an unlivable, intolerable, poisonous would, that this world will hasten their time of death, and so will they will die before they get old.  They reason, therefore, that if most of the human species dies, then the remainder will have a miserable time of it, not just for hours, or even years or even centuries -- or it is even possible that humanity will go extinct, and another species will take our place as the apex predator.

Back to the LDS (not the CLDS = The Mormons), they reason, why put effort into a project that is going to fail:  One possibility is that the project is satisfying, or good-in-itself.  If a person finds pleasure in dancing, or painting or sewing or cooking or writing or anything, it makes no sense to stop doing those things simply because they are not profitable (in the sense of money-making).  Being bereft of these activities may even be detrimental to their health and happiness.  

In the ways that the LDS is discussed, as though they are reincarnated "hippies" of old.

I applaud them, as it seems to me that much of the 5world's suffering is the result of desire and social-technical power.  "Power" being the ability to command and determine the behavior of other people, the more people, the more power.  The more detailed or precise the control, the more power.    

On: The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer

 In a DKos post by lobachevsky: 

Hoffer identified: true believers need an infallible leader because admitting fallibility threatens the entire belief system that gives their lives meaning.

 Earlier in the post, the writer suggests that the "True Believer" "come from the ranks of the frustrated—people who feel their individual lives are 'spoiled or wasted';" from the middle class as someone who has lost their 

middle-class Americans who feel left behind by economic change, cultural shifts, and technological disruption. They're not starving; they're frustrated. Their America—the one where a high school diploma guaranteed middle-class stability—has vanished.

It sounds like they have nothing "to live for", a reason "to get up in the morning".  More generally, they have lost their way.  Being thus lost, finding someone who can point a "clear" direction to follow, people will take it.

 

In a sense, it seems to be saying that "in order to feel secure, one must find security -- somewhere."  At the material, physical, in the real life, level of existence, can  providing "security" be shared among a mutually accountable and responsible group, or will that security be up to yourself alone and the kindness of strangers.

 

the true believer -- no matter how much he preaches the will of God, the voice of history, the will of the people, or the dictates of science -- is actually driven by an inner voice that whispers:  "You are not wanted and there is no place for you in this world." 

 

 We respond to this meaninglessness by becoming true believers.

 

any of us can fall into these patterns when we're frustrated enough, scared enough, or desperate enough for meaning. 

 

And if there are enough people who discover that their frustration, their fear, their confusion is shared with thousands of others, and they begin to share their frustrations, their fears, their confusions, then you have the basis for a mass movement.  But a movement will go nowhere, will wander randomly, without a direction, a pole star, an idea.

 

 

 

What if an essential part of your religion required that you do your utmost to get everyone who is not of your religion to hate you?

 

 

The USA's War With Venuezela IMPLIES the ability to TAKE Canada and Greenland

 

Venezuelans deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act means that the United States of America (USA) is at war with Venezuela.  This is he case since the Alien Enemies Act only applies when the USA is at war or under invasion by a foreign country.

 

If the USA Government decides that a particular group of foreigners in the USA is a foreign invader or otherwise are enemy aliens, then, if those foreigners are taken into custody under the Alien Enemies Act this means that the USA is at war with the country from which those "aliens" are from.  In other words, prosecuting under the Alien Enemies Act is a declaration of war, against the country whose citizens are being prosecuted under the Act, as per the conditions specified by the Act.

 

For example, if the USA were to take into custody under the Alien Enemies Act citizens of Greenland, this means that IF the USA applied the Alien Enemies Act against Greenlanders, THEN the USA has declared war against Greenland and therefore are entitled under the laws of war, to conquer the enemy, in this case Greenland, and at the very least, occupy their country and impose their will upon it; SINCE it is only possible to apply this act if the USA is essentially at war.

 

As in the case of the Venezuelans accused of being gang members without proof, it should be possible to accuse Greenlanders of being terrorists or invaders without proof; and so on the basis of that accusation use that accusation as justification to invade, seize and colonize Greenland as a spoil of war.

 

The same would go for Canada or Panama or any country the USA might want to absorb into its empire.

CEOs As A Distraction

 The assassination of United Health Care CEO, Brian Thompson, is the subject of interest: how much he got paid, how much evil his company has done, how much money it makes doing this, and the tactics it uses to achieve this wealth.  Thompson and the company are criticized for their denial of care, and they are urged to be more compassionate and charitable. 

But the problem with being compassionate and charitable, from the perspective of a corporation, is that this is illegal.  The argument is that to be compassionate and charitable reduces a corporation's profits, which is against the interests of its share holders.  And since the purpose of a corporation is to make money for its share holders, any actions contrary to this end is against the corporation's definition and is therefore "illegal".  There is a case against a CEO in New York that established this principle.

Thus, the job of a CEO is to make money for the corporation's share holders, and his success supposedly justifies his compensation.  In other words, all of the evil that Thompson oversaw was merely his attempt to satisfy the corporation's share holders.  Killing Brian Thompson will not change the behavior of United Health Care.  Its corporate board will simply choose another CEO who will continue with the corporation's policies to make money.

The real bosses of United Health Care will remain untouched and will collectively continue to perpetrate the greedy practices that resulted in Thompson's assassination.

The Big Lie Worked

 

Oliver Hall writes, "people just seemed to believe Trump more often than they believed Harris and Tim Walz. There was no easy way to counter that, especially in a campaign lasting barely 100 days."  Indeed, how can that compete with a campaign that was on-going for 1460 days - from the beginning of Trump's term to the end of Biden's. (All this, over and above Trump's stint as the host of The Apprentice.)

During the Reagan administration, someone from the Democratic opposition was interviewed and told this story":  The operative had put together an anti-Reagan advertisement which he felt was devastating to Reagan and his values. After the ad appeared, he was surprised to receive a call from his opposite in the Reagan campaign who thanked him profusely for the ad.  "Why," asked the Democrat, "I blasted your man?"  "That's true," said the Republican, "But nobody listens to the words in an ad.  You showed our man standing tall, proud and dignified in front of a waving American flag.  That's what they remember."

Related to this was a Dennis the Menace comic strip from about the same time:  Dennis' pal, Joey, is looking at Dennis after Dennis has gotten a big scolding after some mischief. "Why are you looking so happy," Joey asks, "You just got a big scolding?"  "Yes," Dennis replies, "But at least they are paying attention to me."  Was there any time during Trump's 1460 day campaign when the Guardian did not run a front page story about Trump?

Younghill Kang, in his book East Goes West:  The Making Of An Oriental Yankee (1937) quotes "Spencer:"  "Were it fully understood that the emotions are the masters and the intellect the servant, it would seem that little can be done by improving the servant while the master remains unimproved..."

The American economy and now the internet's algorithm has as their driving force the manipulation of the emotions to increase attention and consumption, rather than improving intelligence and ethics.  Are we constantly told, "This ,will make you happy, this will give you pleasure.  Buy it, consume it, believe it." or are we constantly reminded, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:45) or The Golden Rule.

Conclusion:  The Big Lie worked.

Making America Great

 Democracy and the rule of law, in my interpretation based on the preambles of the founding documents of the US -- the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution, understood as mission statements -- are an attempt, though perhaps not consciously, to create a government or perhaps a society based on the Golden Rule:  "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you", or "Do not do to others what you would not have done to yourself".

 An attempt at operationalization:  All people are created equal.  No one is above the law.  The law applies equally to all.  The history of the United States can be viewed as the efforts by its people to be recognized as "people" as in "We the People of the United States".

Pay Attention

 Re:  A quote from Adolph Hitler:  (The Guardian, "Everyone laughed at Hitler in the 1920s.  A century on, are we making the same mistake?"  by Adrian Chiles

"It makes no difference whatever whether they laugh at us or revile us ... whether they represent us as clowns or criminals;  the main thing is tha they mention us, that they concern themselves with us again and again ..."

I have run into this idea a couple of time before, once, som time after Ronald Reagan was elected, when a television reporter in a program told an interviewer about how he had produced a program that he thought was extremely critical of Reagan.  He was surprised then, when shortly after the program aired, he received a call from one of Reagan's press people who proceeded to warmly thank him for the program.  "Why are you thanking me?" asked the reporter (or something to that effect), "I trashed your man on TV."  "Oh, that doesn't matter," replied the Reagan man, "Nobody listens to what is said.  You had some great graphics of our man standing heroically in front of the flag, all that patriotic stuff.  That's what people will remember,"

The other manifestation of this idea is from a Dennis the Menace comic strip from about the same time. In the strip, Dennis has just gotten a terrific scolding from his parents for some mischief.  Dennis' friend, Joey, asks him "Why are you smiling? You just got scolded?"  Dennis replies, "That doesn't matter.  What's really important is that they pay attention to you rather than ignore you."