politics

Guns, God and Greed: Excerpt

“Is that legal?” the Leader asked.

“Legal?!” the assistant answered, looking surprised. Surprised that the Leader was asking a question rather than bleating out his “facts”. He was also surprised at the naivete of the question.

“Law is for those who can’t afford anything else. And besides, we make law. We interpret law. Do you think that having automatic weapons available to every half-wit dumbass in this country ought to be legal?

The Leader had a grim look on his face.

“NO!” the assistant answered, “No fucking way! But they are and that’s the law.”

Now he was on a roll.

“Law is a useful weapon, though. It’s a gun that can be pointed at our enemies.

The advisor interjected, “There you go again with your useless analogies…”

“Metaphors” the assistant corrected.

The advisor shook his head in disgust and smiled at the now sulking Leader. He was confused into silence. He didn’t like feeling stupid. He would have to make someone else’s life a little worse, a little more miserable. That was his gun.

Commodity

It’s important to remember that they are misguided fools.  They will believe that the scribblings and rantings of our psychopath, and hold the contradictory thought that he cannot change the world, our world.  We have violence on our side.  Our followers are ravenous and bloodthirsty.  They will soak up these empty ramblings of a madman.

We can’t believe in quick and efficient change from peace and prosperity to chaos and poverty because it will not happen to us.  Just let those bleeding liberals preach piously of peace and talk of rights and justice.  They’ll do so long after these things are just fading memories.  Remember, naïve expectations of normalcy outlive their usefulness like and old, old man.

“We have to realize that this is a ‘now’ era.  It’s important to realize this or be relegated to the past instantly.  No longer can we pretend to stand for anything other than what sells.  That’s what counts.” 

He paused, not expecting anyone to say anything, but just to make sure that his last sentence sunk in.  The minions sat staring as if at their cellphones. 

“We must market sales and that will become easier as Truth disintegrates.  Mass marketing, and everything can be mass-marketed, is what counts.  Everything is a commodity.  Remember that.”

The Truth

“The Leader lies.  That’s what he does.  The problem is not his lying but our lack of realizing that his lying is the solution not the problem.”

The Advisor paused, confused.

“Think about it.  The liar says what is untrue, knowing the truth.  But the leader.  No, the leader isn’t lying; he’s saying what he believes to be true.  To him it is true.”

The Advisor sipped his coffee and was silent.  He had learned to listen closely to The Assistant.

“The leader is a narcissist.  He’s a psychopathic liar, right?!”

“Right.”

“Well, what I’m saying is that the leader doesn’t know any of this.  He ‘knows’ he’s telling the truth.  He believes everything he says.  This is a weapon.  This is a gun to be used.  The Leader is delusional, yes, but he doesn’t think he’s delusional.  Hell, the thought never crosses his mind that he is lying.  To him there is no delusion.  It’s just us.  He lies blatantly and without reference to the Truth because to him what he is saying is true.”

The Game

The election had been a joke, a 1.3-billion-dollar joke.  During the last few days of the farcical show The Leader had danced on stage and rambled about personal vindictiveness and paranoia.  There was no sense to any of it.  He knew that he was going to “win”.  He knew that he was just biding time.  The billionaires had told him this and so when he simply ran out of things to say he bided his time in public as a flabbergasted public looked on.

Some of his minions were worried.  The Leader was not.

“Sir!”  they would say.  “You have to have an agenda.  You have to something, at least pretend…”

“I tell the truth and my followers want the truth.”  He would interject.

“I tell them the truth.  And you know what they want to know?!”

The Leader paused.

“Um, yessir.  What do they want to know?  The truth?”

The Leader smirked.  He could smell the fear and confusion.

“Yeessss.”  He said slowly.

“They want to know that they are right.  They want to know that they will be vindicated.  I know what they want.  They want to win.  The problem is that everybody thinks this is serious.  It’s a rigged game.  Not just this, but the system.  And so you have to know how to play the system.  And you have to know how to play people.  I am the best at both.  I am a master.  So don’t come and tell me what I need to do.  I’ll tell you what I need to do!”

The minion stood silently.  Then, The Leader laughed.

“It’s a game.  It’s a game!”

The minion was confused.

“It’s all just a game.”

Remember One Thing

“You need to remember one thing.”

“And what’s that?!”  The Leader asked lackadaisically.

“There’s always a weakest link and that link will define us in the end.  And the fact is these people, these weakest links, never think that it is them.  They are certain they are progressive and understand the circumstances.  They don’t.  They are looking for solutions but we are looking for answers to a specific question.  What they don’t understand is that solutions are easy, answers are not.  These elites’ solutions are based on the promise of good, virtue.  We have to promise victimhood.  We have to point out conniving, scheming, evil, these elites are.  We have to remind these followers of ours how the weak hold the strong down.  What those who are looking for solutions don’t realize is that it is ego and arrogance not thoughtful analysis that wins the day.  We have that on our side.”

This Happened

“You know those protesters are being paid by somebody.”
“Which protesters?’
“Those up in Wisconsin and Portland.”
“Oh, so you are referring to the black protesters regarding the police violence and stuff.”
“Well, they are being paid.  There’s no way they can afford those hotels they stay in.  They don’t work.”
“You don’t know anything about those people.  You are making unwarranted assumptions, and my guess is that you are trying to blame the ‘left’ or ‘Democrats’.  I don’t care, but I think that’s probably what you’re doing.”
“I know what I see.  And yes, it’s probably the liberal communists.”
“They’re what?!”
“They’re communists.”
“Your need to stop watching so much Fox News and get your facts straight.  I’ll bet you don’t even know what communism is.”
“Of course, I DO know what it is.”
“Then what is it?  Define it.”
“I don’t have to do any such thing.”
“You don’t know what it is.  You’re not really even making an argument.  You’re just making unwarranted claims.”

“That’s just your opinion.  AND I know what communism is.”
“Well some of this is my opinion, but  I haven’t made any claims, and I’m asking you to back up what your saying.  I’m just asking for a logical argument.  We have to define terms if we’re going to have this discussion.”
“Your just trying pull  intellectual, elitist tricks.”
“No.  I’m just trying to have a logical argument.  And you won’t define your terms.  We have to be on the same page if we’re to have this discussion.  And don’t get mad.  You started this.”
“No, you’re just trying to make me feel foolish.  I know what logic is, and I’m being logical.”
“Now why would I do that?  I’m not.  I’m just not going to get in a pissing match about opinions.  But I don’t believe you know what logic is.  If you do, define it.”
“I don’t have to.  You define it.”
“I’m not the one making all these claims and I won’t define it for you.”
“You think I’m ignorant.”
“You are ignorant.  But, so am I about a lot of things.  There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“And I don’t watch that much Fox News.  I get a lot of my news from Epoch News.”

“I don’t know them.

“See.  You don’t know everything.”

“I never said I did.”

Civility

No matter how much we may try we will run across people that we do not like. There are probably many reasons for this, but no matter how much you might believe that it is your duty to be liked or like, it is not. Lying about it will only last so long. All facades fail eventually.

It is better to embrace the truth. Face the reason(s) head on. Be honest with yourself, and if necessary with the person that you do not care for. Nothing new may come of it. Nothing may change, there is a chance of that, but truth can provide some comfort.

What is important is civility. Civility does not require us to like everyone or even most people. It does require us to be courteous, it may require us to minimize the time spent with these people. But no matter: be courteous, be polite, but be honest.

Civilization is not based upon amiability but it is based upon common courtesy.

Civility

During these trying, political times it is easy to forget that we all want the same things. At least the sane among us. Travel anywhere in the world and this simple statement will be proven time and time again. Talk to your neighbor and you will find out that is applies. The things that we all want is safety, security and a little happiness. How do we get these things? Civility.

Somewhere down the road we have duped ourselves. We have decided civility is simply the basis of all other goods, that it will always be, that it will always exist. This is our mistake. And another mistake that we often make is that being civil implies agreeing or even liking someone else. It does not.

Civility is a fragile state that exists only when people realize that we all define the society in which we live. The question is what kind of society do we want to live in? There are only two answers: a civil one or an uncivilized one. So what does civility require?

In the Ancestor’s Tale, Richard Dawkins studies the evolutionary fact that we are all related and that we do not have to go so far back in time to realize that. Civility requires that we all realize that we are related and that we have to live together. Civility also requires that we discuss differences and call out obvious wrongs, but it also requires that we realize that differences are not all bad and that some wrongs are not so obvious. Civility requires rational thought and the understanding that if we do not work together that we will all fail.

Civility takes time, but without civility we may not have that much time left. I may not like my family all of the time, but they are the only family I have. And so it is with humanity.

A Civil Society

In New Hampshire, armed idiots chased the governor elect away.

Ted Cruz is leading a group of Republican traitors, trying to fight the results of the recent elections. Mitch McConnell gives them his “blessings”.

No warranted evidence for any of their allegations has been produced, and our current president tried to change voter results in Georgia and an ongoing health concern is still, still a political debate.

Most of us turn our heads in disgust with some egging the upending of our country on for religious or other ideological reasons. Gun sales are up and fear and loathing are at an all-time high while rational and critical analysis and thinking are at an all-time low.

It is time for us as a nation to ask some simple questions:

What kind of society do we want, and how do we get it? How did we allow our society to come to this point?

It is time for us to look past the platitudes and bumper stickers and realize that a civil society does not come free and that unfettered freedoms do not equal a civil society.

Space

spaceSpace is amazing thing.  We create things to create space; we place things to create certain spaces and we rely upon people to give us space.  Space surrounds us; it makes up most of the universe and yet we are surrounded by barriers.

Once asked the job of government the answer was simple: to create space for a civilized society.

Once asked why read, the answer was simple: to create space in our minds for imagination.

Why learn?  To create space for curiosity.

Why be curious?  To create space for progress.

We all need space to ourselves and to allow space for others.  This is not just tolerance; we must not tolerate stupidity or incompetence.  But we must leave space for those who do not want to be or to remain stupid; to be or to remain incompetent.

There must be space for them and the change that they search for in the space that they live in.

There must be space for change; and it is in the spaces that we create that life happens.