Destroy the One Ring, Frodo
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Edward Bawden Sahara 1928 “Huskynut” in New Zealand sent me this, and introduced it by saying: I was reality-checking with an old (used
[See the full post at: Destroy the One Ring, Frodo]I love it when you talk philosophical!
Here’s my two and half cents’ worth :
The axiom “Power corrupts” is almost true, but it stops just short of the mark. The full truth is that power IS corruption. Power (the ability to enforce one’s will upon another person, against that person’s will) is both neccessary in order to survive, and the biggest existential threat to one’s own survival when the power lays in the hands of another.
In the past couple of years how many times have you thought to yourself (or said out loud) that the current world wide wacko would be hilarious if it weren’t so tragic ? Well, what if that were literally true ? What if the joke is on us, and we are the ones telling it? I do believe that’s the case.
We all more or less “collectively” (or at least interactively) construct a MACHINE ( let’s call it “Civilization”) that is essentially a hierarchically authoritative mechanism that produces all of the cool and convenient stuff we love so much. Stuff like electricity, flushing toilets, cool cars and cell phones. Owners hire bosses, bosses give orders, employed slaves comply, products ship, and everybody’s happy.
We expect and insist that this patchwork contraption runs like a Swiss watch. It doesn’t actually run that well , but we keep trying anyway. We try and try again to patch and modify and adjust (and sharply rap it against hard surfaces) to get it to run more and more and more “perfectly”.
The problem is, however, that Swiss watches and other machines only run perfectly when all of the parts actually do what they are meant to do ( or are told to do, or are FORCED to do.) That’s fine with us as long as we are the ones giving the orders (enforcing obedience and pulling down the bucks) , but it’s not so much fun things are the other way around. When the master tells us to do something stupid (or criminal) OR ELSE! And gives us shit wages and high taxes in exchange, then we really don’t like it so much. The shit end of the stick is not the same as the other end ! It’s like the First Law of Plumbing : “ Shit flows downhill”. [Second Law is : “Payday’s on Friday,” and the Third : “Don’t chew your fingernails.”]
So what’s the solution ? Why, enforce more AUTHORITY of course ! FORCE those greedy bastards (Masters and Slaves alike. Main Springs and Wheel Cogs alike. ) to do their jobs, do what it is NECCESSARY for them to do for this machine (civilization) to run like that Swiss watch I keep metaphorizing.
You see the problem here, right ? We want to have our cake and eat it too ! We believe that having full compliance and total freedom simultaneously is our birthright! If that Master or that Flunky or that Slave would just DO what they are bloody TOLD to do . . . then everything would be just peachy.
Like I said, it could be hilarious if it were not so tragic. So, The Universe, Life & Everything is a “Tragi-Comedy” ? Crikey! That takes us right back to the Lord Of The Rings analogy !
The Three Laws of Plumbing are wonderful aphorism. They are true and funny at every level of the metaphor, and the levels extend all the way down to Hell and up to Heaven.
Good essay, Huskynut – yes many ordinary people are “loath to…be confronted with the mundanity of their pre-Covid lives.” We *are* hardwired for the epic battle, a unifying drama because it gives us meaning and distracts us from the ordinary. The reality is none of the problems we had in 2019 went away. Most of our 2019 problems got worse from the two years of malign neglect.
Last year on a long car ride me and the Frau tried listening to an interview on NPR. Two health officials in California, both officials involved in heavy-handed lockdowns and mandates. One complained how a group of protesters woke her up from her nap, in her gated neighborhood, chanting slogans and playing ukuleles (the horror!) They were not adult enough to see their actions have consequences that other citizens do not agree with. They were picking and choosing which behaviors are acceptable, what “science” is correct, whose jobs are “essential,” which businesses are going to go bankrupt because the big-box stores can absorb the hits and the mom-n-pop shops can’t.
Covid took health officials and school admins from their dull, inconspicuous role and catapulted them into public figures, and those two ladies took a step further and chose the role of Petty Tyrant. They were shocked that there was blowback from the public. And perversely, it stoked their ego, hardened their resolve*, made them even more sure of their correctness and righteousness.
Repeat this 10,000 times across the nation and that leaves a vast number of people whose 15 minutes of fame are f’n over – and they cannot accept it, they may never let go of the Ring. There’s nothing left but to pick up the pieces* and start accepting their diminished place in life, start making peace with the vaxxed/unvaxxed and the wreckage we’ve made of our societies. The manifold intractable problems we forgot about and ignored. I see the cognitive dissonance hitting the PMC class particularly hard.
*”build me an army worthy of Mordor.”
** “rebuild the Shire”
I’ve recently come to the conclusion, that perhaps, the vaccines are meant to prime are cells to catch the virus. The more shots the better the prime. Then release a tailored-made virus(Omicron) to immunize your population. This would explain the cult-like behaviour of our authorities. This is just one pathway of thought I have had. Another pathway is that they are incompetent.
I suspect that “the one ring” would be more like the smartphone-digital-central-bank-currency-with-social-scoring-and-AI-monitoring/adjusting-of-balances.
What’s the vaccine, then?
Gollum, maybe? I’m stretching here.
Requiem for health care:
First they rejected the unvaxed, but I didn’t worry because I was vaccinated.
Then they rejected the drug addicts and alcoholics, but I didn’t worry because my life had not forced me down these paths.
Then they rejected the slovenly obese who ate junk food and the lazy who refused to exercise, but I was relieved to console myself that I ate healthy food and worked out regularly — whew!
Then they rejected the texting drivers- oh oh…
Then they rejected the elderly …Evil is a choice culminating from a gradual succession of lesser perversely corrupt choices. It never sleeps, and is always open for business.
To point, what percentage of German citizenry were aware of the evil nature of Hitler & his minions in 1933? 1939? 1945? 1951?
Yes Virginia, there is evil. And it walks among us everyday…
If the U$ofA was still under the rule of Natural Law, every heinously evil act would be subject to arrest & prosecution, but of course that is NOT the reality of the U$ Empire Inc. in 2002…
At a Friday news conference addressing how two school districts are abandoning school COVID mask mandates, Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that making kids wear masks is like making them wear sneakers: first they object, then they comply.
The Babylon Bee completes the story
BB better than the MSM in every way
I wondered which character was Sauron in huskynut’s allegory. now we knowhttps://babylonbee.com/news/dr-fauci-reveals-he-has-forged-in-secret-a-master-vaccine-to-rule-all-the-others
Power corrupts. What started as naïve individuals embarking on an important quest has led to what it necessarily must – the time for those same people to reject the self-corrupting influence of power, and for both themselves and us to return to the Shire.
Well done you; Huskynut…I very much like the Ring as metaphore for what’s going on today in the West…
Spot on…I have not seen the movies, but in the book, Frodo is unable to resist the power of the ring. It is only destroyed because Gollum bites off the finger with the ring and then falls to his death in Mt. Doom. Of course one could argue that Frodo’s compassion toward Gollum is what makes that denouement possible.
“There’s no such thing as an anti-war film,” is often attributed to the late French filmmaker François Truffaut. The movie that comes closest to reality is 1978’s “The Deer Hunter” and its allegory of Christopher Walken playing Russian Roulette in an endless war with himself.
There is the script, white-boarding sessions, actors, a director, and the producer out to make a profit. It is not reality. Neither is only the for-profit mRNA vaccine campaign with mandates supported by the corporate/state media. It is just another media profit making scheme. Without a public health campaign with practices that are proven to work over the centuries, it will fail.
The Western Empire has fallen. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, just can’t acknowledge it. Naturally he is frightened. Since the Obama’s Crew in 2014 tried to destabilized Russia by taking down Syria and Ukraine and failed, Russia’s survival depends on securing its borders. It has the natural gas (energy) and military power to assure this. There is nothing the West can do but kill itself.
Since the ruling ideology places corporate profits over western citizens lives, killing a million of its citizens already in the pandemic, there are only two options left: restoration of Government by and for the people or a forever, resource deficient, western Dark Age for any survivors.
Not familiar with the Lord of the Rings, but interesting, Husky, thx.
In the MSM, and the public, it is evident that:
Drama is sought out, the threat of dying is welcomed, the need for an antidote or protection (be it merely symbolic, a magic anointment, a sign of belonging) is ardently embraced.
Anecdotal ex. I was at the hairdresser the other day. No men there, only gals, about 10. Pre-covid the discussions were, local politics, scandals, famous ppl, recipes, shops/goods/prices, and interesting stories (“I met Federer…”.. “I’ll tell you what psychoterapists do..” “He actually just stormed out heh heh..”..)
Now it was all covid, with a palpable buzzing excitement, rife with real sadness, grief (a death, a long covid, a life ruined, some tears were shed), fear of the future (how to PRO_TECT, specially children), scathing blame targeted at the corrupt politicians, Pharma, the unvaxxed, and lack of ‘logic’, all mixed up together.. -> Everyone was enjoying themselves!
From a rather mostly boring round of encounters, this salon has transformed itself into a lively hub of highly engaging drama!
Masks are a good ex. of popular demand. WHO said they were useless, research tends to support that. At the start they were not mandated in the ‘first world.’ Later, some leaders e.g. Macron admitted they didn’t do so because there weren’t enough to go round… which is untrue, or could easily have been ameliorated, and crazy in the sense that pols don’t admit to lying no matter what, so the admission is in itself a lie.
What happened was that public pressure for mask wearing was very strong so the pols bowed – and the WHO bowed and everyone agreed, masks are a must. (There are historical precedents, see 1918, contemp. examples in Asia.) Of course nobody behind the scenes and into serious money cares about masks, so these dramas are encouraged, and then the public feels its power, is vindicated, yes, *Masks are a Must.* It continues to support pols who support masks, vaxxes, etc. (Not all do of course.)
So really part of what we see is spinning off into self-serving (Drama! I’m a participant!) fantasies, which fulfill all kinds of psych. functions (*not* Mass Formation), such as self-approval or esteem (via ‘right’ behavior, like masking, sterilizing hands), moral kudos (‘caring, actions, speech’), and authoritarian impulses (‘standing up for what is best, right’, justifying ordering others about), etc. These meld together in a heady mix and some ppl are having the time of their lives! If some ppl die, well that is to be expected as not everyone is morally good or capable!
Gvmts and Pols (see Bidadmin for ex. or Macron) are so weak all they can do is pander, go along, ride the wave, while of course also being directed by, and corrupted by forces bigger than them.
Thank you. Very thought provoking.
Neither Frodo or Gollum are evil people in their core, so I feel human compassion for their addiction. That is the human component. Sam is the one who sees the danger in their attachment. Did Gollum sacrifice himself to free Frodo or was that an “accident”?Time to rebuild the Shire.
The walls have begun to crumble.
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