They call that child abuse now but I can tell you it makes a lasting impression.

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/death_of_the_aryan_invasion_theory.htm

I mean, I could say “Psephisma” is synonym for “rock & roll group”, & how many would challenge it? If I repeated it enough it could even become true, right?

Evo Morales could turn out to be the reincarnation of Charlie Chan Chan but by that pt Tricknology was old stuff. “In the beginning was The Word — which even then was a Lie”.

Re causative factors behind wars: Baron Ulanov offered an indepth explanation in his “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism”, which may not be the last word on the subject but certainly must be referenced whenever you or I essay an updating, whether or not we call it “Globalization the Highest Stage of Imperialism”?

But you’re quite right, serious people need to study a lot more History, but maybe even more need to study pre-history. How did we get from Orririn Tugenensis to proto-Sumerian settlements organized not on Matriarchal or even Kinship bases but according to geographic/spatial rules?
How did Abraham get to be a Nomad with a Patriarchal ideology? Lots of dispute now about where the Hellenes came from, which may seem like an unrelated q. but isn’t. But how can you critique Morales if you never heard of Nazca?

EZ,
dan

I pray to myself: “Please listen to your better self; please measure desire against need; please pay attention.

You are certainly correct that the vast vista is missing. You have, in you comment, given that vista an address. My essay is about actions that we can take, no matter how imperfectly, to decrease the power of lies in our lives — and maybe influence the politic condition of our lives.

The beginning is with an individual recognizing that what they believe to be true is a better guide to action than what they believe to be a lie, regardless of their political values. This will lead some to evaluate information; this can lead to internalizing tools for evaluation.

There are people who “believe” that Palin is completely honest for no good reason at all, they will argue for her and vote for her, not because they are stupid or evil, but because they have no process to recognize the lie.

I am not saying that there can be perfection in discovering the difference between truth and untruth, only that if we are moved to even a weak process that trumps simple ‘high school team’ loyalty, then there can be a significant check on political lies.

That’s not their perspective. To see something as a void one must be able to see what can go into that void. Otherwise it isn’t seen as a void at all.

There are two obstacles to people acting honorably – a devaluation of the “honorable action” itself – for example some people prefer bling to love. The only way to overcome that is for them to change their minds.

The second is for them to be able to *produce* the honorable action. Monsters like Dick Cheney are excellent at seizing and maintaining power – his skill set doesn’t extend much beyond that. Is it any wonder he’s in control of Washington, the heart of the empire? What else could someone like Cheney DO with his time?

People must be empowered to understand and reproduce honor. America is decaying in part because the ruling class has become distanced from anything honorable, and their massive control over media means that distance is reproduced in the general population. Hence American society itself has become disgusting.

Take a look at people who love killing other people, for an analogy. It’s not so much “love of killing” that drives them, it’s a regression of more powerful forms of love within them. When you walk up to a neighbor, for example, you have the choice of talking to him or killing him, among other events. The result of walking up to a neighbor is determined by the most dominant aspect of social relations you have with your neighbor. If the value of compassion, solidarity, and cooperation is not recognized or disrespected, other values will “fill the void”. Values that produce Dick Cheneys.

Neoconservatism and it’s cultural derivatives emerged from the belief that goodness is a form of weakness. It emerged from an evaluation of the events of World War II – that Hitler was strong precisely because he was evil and the Jews were exterminated because they were good. Then Vietnam taught these same people that Good America failed because it was insuffiently evil. Thus the solution was to make America more evil, so that it might triumph in the days ahead. Neoconservatism went about such tasks with considerable relish, and here we stand in the aftermath of the impact of such non-jailed human beings.

According to this logic, neoliberalism is not bad because it hurts people, it’s GOOD because it hurts people. “What does not kill me only makes me stronger” – the outcome of this thinking is that the more one hurts people, the stronger they become. Therefore it’s *morally imperative* to hurt people – the IMF and World Bank are doing people a *favor* by hurting them.

I have never seen the left address any of this fundamental aspect of neoconservatism or neoliberalism, just one of many tremendous failures of the left and the reason they remain on the sidelines in America.

Well put.