Critic, Cynic, Satirist “We are all connected to the Universe and each other whether we like it or not”

Saturday’s Thoughts

John Allen
Sep 8, 2018 · 3 min read

Short Takes on a Few Things

Well I finished my book “The Culture of Make Believe” by Derrick Jensen yesterday. Great disturbing read. A searing indictment on American culture. Highly recommended. Other disturbing things from this week include Kavanaugh’s hearings, publications about Mr Trump, and continuing wars overseas. To be honest these aren’t declared wars — the last US declared war was WW II — but wars killing vast numbers of innocent civilians just the same. The US is the biggest arms dealer on Earth. The secret alien rendezvous spot in this sector of the galaxy for arms great and small. A little know fact.;-)

Living to Dead

I’ll mention a biggie I got out of reading the above book. This culture we live in is very good at converting the living to the dead. The living to the dead. Think about it. Our system converts life to death in a myriad number of ways so I’ll mention just a few, there are countless ways.

Yemen

US weaponry is being used to destroy the Yemeni people. The US supplies weapons, logistical support such as refueling planes, intelligence, satellite photos, all sort of things so the Saudis and turn live men, women and children of Yemen to dead ones. I hold that the US is just as responsible for these deaths as the Saudis dropping the bombs. Might just explain why I’d be a terrible politician. I see all life as precious, not just the oil users or arms manufacturers. I see 1,000 year old trees more valuable than a porch deck for sunning oneself, or a coffin that’s buried. I don’t believe I’m crazy thinking this either. Don’t mention these pesky facts are the unwritten rule. I say scream bloody fucking murder because that’s exactly what it is.

Dams

Dams. Dams take live rivers and created dead zones below the dam as river waters are too cold for indigenous species, they either have to migrate or die. The flooded land does likewise. Animals are forced to migrate, trees and plants and smaller lifeforms they support aren’t so lucky so they drown. Life into death. The salmon that used to use rivers to spawn are left without a way to spawn so they just die without any children to carry on.

Mines

Mining. Mines are an especially ugly proposition. They leave huge scars on Earth’s face. The tailings poison rivers for generations along with below ground water sources used by humans. The Animas river here in New Mexico(Colorado and Arizona too) was poisoned in 2015 by a tailings dam breech. The river was a dull yellow for a week or so. It made the national news for a day or two. The poisons just flowed downstream or soaked in contaminating groundwater. The toxins are still there, the news moved on.

Lastly

I want to mention competition. we live in a ‘competitive’ system of dog-eat-dog survival of the most aggressive by any means possible. This is displayed early on in social settings by very young children. the attitudes of greed are used to get more for the more aggressive of the toddlers. Most of the time this goes unnoticed by adults because that’s the way they were raised. I say that this is wrong. This is what capitalism does. It encourages bad behavior from an early age forward. It ushers in bullying the weaker. this ‘pecking’ order can be set for life. Interaction within many families are done the same way. The unwritten rules reward the more aggressive child with praise or better gifts. I believe this is a big problem here in America. I think that this violence spills out in various ways. We have mass shootings, murder, gangs,-another form of capitalism really-rape, hazings for all sorts of ‘memberships’ to certain exclusive clubs.

All this is because industrial capitalism functions best in these varied ways. I’m not even sure how to get out from under this oppressive thumb. I do see this as wrong. A wrong way to be more civilized toward each other. I have another book or three to read so I’ll leave it there for today. Sunday Funnies tomorrow. It should be another hoot now that the unnameable war monger has been laid to rest. Peace, The Ol’ Hippy

John Allen

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Critic, Cynic, Pessimist “We are all connected to Universe and each other whether we like it or not”

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