Don’t Stand For Peace, Fight Against War

Miscellany

Posted November 18, 2022

Don’t Stand For Peace, Fight Against War

To stand “against” something is wrong, we are told – to stand “for” something is good, that is what we must always do, we have been taught too. To stand against is “unconstructive”, it is “negative”, while “to stand for” is “constructive”, it is “positive”.

The items figure prominent in the curriculum of the education we receive grace of the establishment. It is part of the long array of the Mighty Myths they make us live by. All as if mythology was a science, part and parcel of how the world is made and which we cannot change. This array of toxic notions heaped in our crania stifles the proliferation of malcontents, the likes of Socrates and Martin Luther King who chase Change and pursue civilization.

These assertions are made to mislead. “They” shackle our minds, lest we examine “their” command. “They” lead us to do as “they” say, and bar us from examining what they say and which cannot survive scrutiny. They are out to hobble our tongues lest word about the faults of the system spread and take society beyond their control. The more of us they silence, the more secure the “system” becomes and those who feed on it fare better.

Frequently the defenders of the status quo counter-attack. They demand the critics propose “alternatives” to whatever they criticize. If the critic bites the bait and proposes an “alternative”, the concern about the existing are cleverly sidetracked, the reactionaries take control of the discourse and the critics are pummeled to retreat leaving intact the rotten exising. In the general case it is easy to raise fears of the unknown and this they pursue – “Better the devil that you know than the one you don’t” they say and this carries the day. Hence the agents of Change must persevere in damning the rancid existing, to establish the need for Change Once this is done the new will emerge, probably on its own.

Notably, often the solution is the elimination of the existing. Therefore, taking a stand against the unreasonable existing is not only conductive to progress, it is, in the general case, the choice way to progress.

The most dire consequences of this tactic is that it dissuades creative minds from coming out to trigger needed change. They stay away if they have no alternative ready, or fear their alternative is vulnerable.

Politicians have a parallel trick to this. When the people demand a change the politicians resent, they appoint a Committee to select “Consultants” to study the matter, recommend cosmetic reform and calm the agitated. Additionally, Consultants serve as the blame-absorbers if the show flops. If the trouble does not subside, they commission “further study”.

The terrible Cold War that split humanity into two warring camps was a war between two Mighty Myth systems, both unyielding, unwilling to let the people thrash the myths of these Mythologies to separate the chaff from the grain, adopt and adapt the good elements to their local conditions and live in peace, enjoying the best of both worlds. Instead, the intransigent establishments prevailed and fueled the Cold War to ravage the world. Supercharged Economist John Kenneth Galbraith breathed more life into Mega Myths by camouflaging them into “Conventional Wisdom”. These innocent-appearing bits of “wisdom” are very instrumental in determining the course of our reasoning and, therefore, in shaping our decisions. Thus manipulated, we rarely pause to ponder their veracity and and expose their utility or toxicity.

This is terrorism in drag. Making people leery of standing against something shelters the unreasonable which is what primarily attracts criticism. It is the unreasonable that is vulnerable and in need be shelter. Rebels-without-cause occur in Hollywood films but rarely in real life. Indeed, we have plenty of causes to rebel against but let go because we are intimidated. We lose bit by bit our freedoms and as soon as we learn to live with the last bout of oppression, “they” hit us with the next and ask us to “Trust” our “leaders”- come oppressors-in-disguise.

Look at the PM and the Premiers subjecting the Nation of 40 million souls to the Mid-Pandemic general election blitz, bleeding the public purse in times of crucial need and making us suffer the elections haplessly, unable to stop them in their frenzy. Thereafter we are standing like columns of salt, unable to change the system to prevent a repeat.

We surely need a jolt ... Revolution would not do for it usually it is cruel, messy, noisy and worse of all, result in more of the same, often worse. Democracy will do it, that is what it was made for.

Our option is one: We must stand against the Mighty Myths. We must hold the Magistrates accountable, as accountable as they would be if the system was Democracy. And carry on until the Mighty Myths no longer and the system becomes Democracy.

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BITS AND BYTES

Zoltan, terror of the courts

In the late 1950's Zoltan, a Hungarian refugee from communism, went to a Toronto Park, shed his shirt and lay to tan himself. The cops lugged Zoltan before his Lordship charged him with indecent exposure producing his shirt as Exhibt “A”. Zoltan cited a precedent, he had done that previously riverside the Danube in Budapest and no cop ever batted an eye, he told the court and the Judge let Zoltan go.

Next day Zoltan went to the copshop to retrieve his shirt. But the cops had disposed of Exhibit “A”, due to it being odorous, and told him to get lost.

Zoltan lost no time dragging the cops to court. The judge ordered compensation to Zoltan for Exhibit “A” plus costs.

He liked winning and specialized in parking tickets, reputably winning one for parking by a “No Stopping 4 to 6" sign. These got Zoltan frontpage exposure in the “Weekend” mag, with the banner “Zoltan, terror of the courts”.

The City fathers tossed the No-topless bylaw, but for men only who, by nature, have nothing worth showing ... to the dismay of man(y), wouldn’t say?

Don’t Stand For Peace, Fight Against War - Alcyonenews