The Philosophy of Jiu Jitsu
study the philosophies of war to master the strategies of winning
Never ever underestimate your opponent
We’ve learned all about this. About the greed. About the relentless drive to have more. More. More.
We know what they’re capable of. We know it by heart.
We know they are ruthless, cheating liars. We know they redefine the term ‘hypocrites.’ We know they are fake humans.
As Time Magazine reports, the rich see greed as good.
While stereotypes suggest that poor people are more likely to lie and steal, new research finds that it’s actually the wealthy who tend to behave unethically.
No surprise there. Although their owned media will tell us otherwise. Because they are selling us a storyline. Propaganda.
It’s us, they tell us, not them. We are the problem, not them. Because if we are the problem then we become more and more divided. We play into their game because we blame and hate each other instead of zeroing in on the real culprits.
And the real culprits are greed, hate and division.
Contempt for the human spirit
We know their God is neither Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist or even slightly religious. Even as atheists they fail. Because we know they worship money, power, elitism, divisiveness and selfishness.
From the Atheist’s Code of Ethics:
When the Atheist approaches the problem of finding natural grounds for human morals and establishing a nonsuperstitious basis for behavior, it appears as though nature has already solved the problem to a great extent. Indeed, it appears as though the problem of establishing a natural, humanistic basis for ethical behavior is not much of a problem at all. It is in our natures to desire love, to seek beauty, and to thrill at the act of creation.
I think this is true. For most of us. But there’s a line. And a certain group not only keeps crossing it, they’ve built fortresses of solitude on the other side.
The line in the sand
If we were to draw a line through humanity, and call it Good versus Evil, it would be far less about a judgment of individuals and their words, and based far more on the evidence of their actions and greed.
Perhaps it would be more apt to title our line in the sand as Good versus Greed. Or maybe even Consideration versus Selfishness.
We pretty much have their number. But the one percent doesn’t have ours. They think they do. They think they have us all figured out.
And in a sense, they do. Because if we continue with the status quo, we’ll lose. Repeatedly.
But history tells us, over and over, that if we study the strategies of war we can turn the story inside out. And in a world where wrong is right, turning things upside down would be very good indeed.
Best to let them underestimate their opponent
The one percent, the shadow rulers, have severely underestimated their enemies — us. That’s good. Keep doing that. Because we will leverage that. Over and over and over.
The French underestimated the opposing armed forces in Vietnam. It was the 1950s, before America jumped in and repeated many of the same mistakes. It began with underestimating the enemy general, Võ Nguyên Giáp. Underestimating just one guy, they ended up being badly beaten.
The Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu were led by General Võ Nguyên Giáp. A skilled and experienced commander, Giáp had led Vietnamese troops during their resistance against the Japanese occupation during World War Two. A dedicated Communist since his teens and a capable politician as well as a commander, by 1954 he was Vietnamese Minister of Defence as well as one of the leading lights of the war effort.
General Giáp was one of Vietnam’s greatest ever strategists, but in the eyes of the French, he was just one more unskilled Vietnamese soldier. General Salan referred to him as “a non-commissioned officer learning to handle regiments”. As a result, the French badly under-estimated the skill with which the Vietnamese forces would be led.
Minimum force to maximum effect
Võ Nguyên Giáp (1911–2013) is considered one of the greatest military strategists of the entire 20th century. For a time he taught history and was a journalist. Basically, a regular guy.
But he was also a student, of the type I constantly recommend to you. Martial arts.
Giáp was a dedicated reader of military history and philosophy, revering Sun Tzu. He also made a particular study of Napoleon’s generalship, and greatly admired T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, learning from it practical examples of how to apply minimum military force to maximum effect.
Keep hitting them until they give up
Giáp obviously recognized that the forces he was fighting were powerful and determined. He was facing the military might of the French, but then found himself toe-to-toe with a superpower, the United States. He was up against what anyone would consider overwhelmingly enormous odds, as well as swift and certain death and defeat.
His primary counter to all the power lined up against him was outlasting the enemy. In an interview, Bui Tin, a former colonel and general staff member of the North Vietnamese Army was asked,
Q: How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans?
A: By fighting a long war which would break their will to help South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh said, “We don’t need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out.”
Breaking their will
What broke the will of the Americans?
General Giáp attributed the Communists’ eventual military victory to their courage, determination, wisdom, tactics, intelligence, and sacrifices, along with Americans’ lack of knowledge about the Vietnamese nation and its people.
I vigorously maintain that the hoarders of world wealth do not understand the American people — even though many of them are Americans themselves. Because what it really comes down to is, they don’t understand humans and humanity.
They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. — Isaiah 44:18
I will grant the one percent a concession: that they understand wealth and greed better than I do. But just like the Americans in Vietnam understood napalm and B52 bombers better than the local citizens did, they lost to a far less empowered populace.
Why did they lose? Because the foreign invaders completely overlooked — time and time again — the strength of the Vietnamese people themselves. As General Giáp summarized, persistence of will, courage, intelligence and wisdom won the war. Not terrifying bombers. Not intimidating, wealthy, overwhelming force.
During the Vietnam War, the people owned the land. We do, too. We own the terrain.
It’s our planet.
