Raining bloody Flowers

Their minds enjoy Deliverance

The taste of Change

Newborn Freedom as a precious gift

Acquired through sweat and Blood

An upgraded Sun shines on their

Foreheads graced with Pride

A peaceful Moon watches over

Their Souls at sleep

Behind the curtain new Masters conceive

A better dress for their System

The Regime will show its modern,

Bright colors in the light of Day

Logos will be Transformed

Slogans shall be Rewritten

Songs will be Reprocessed

History shall be Reformatted

Purified thought Process

Everything it seems has Changed

The same old Game will be replayed

The Puppets hands will move along

The chants of Great Men

And Lambs will still be enslaved

And Lambs will still be slaughtered

Will the Sirens sing their lullabies

As bloody Flowers rain from an Empty,

Grey old Sky meant to Stay...

The Cost of Rebellion: Rise in Crime?

The revolts occurring in the Middle-East have obviously positive aspects. The main advantage of those rebellion movements is probably the rise in democratic participation that people will have acquired through those revolts, i.e. the overthrowing of dictators will most likely serve the cause of democracy. Yes, you note that I emphasize the “maybe”, since some overthrows that have occurred throughout history have proven to materialize as cosmetic displays of change, merely changing aging puppets A, B, C for younger puppets D, E, F. We will assume this will not be the case here (or not, well this is not the current thematic we will focus on here). Please note that this article is not meant to be blindly pro or anti rebellion but merely to elaborate on some of those recent revolts' impacts on the societies that bred them.

One interesting element that came to light recently in regard to the revolt that took place in Egypt is the rise in crime that followed Hosni Mubarak's overthrow:

“Crimes committed in Egypt have increased several-fold in February and March compared to the same period last year, residents and a top security official said.

Armed robberies in the capital have also risen in Cairo’s poorer neighborhoods, remote areas and on highways, residents said.” (Source: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/04/09/144871.html)

I will try to pinpoint what is the direct link between an authoritarian regime and police forces being weakened by such a regime getting overthrown, and will apply my theory with situations elsewhere in the Middle-East, namely in Afghanistan, Iraq or else.

Authoritarian regimes use police forces to suppress any form of rebellion, including “crime-thought”, meaning public expression of opinions that are contrary to the regime's imposed line of thinking. The political line of thought imposed by the dictatorship will consist of propaganda-type formatted opinions (opinions suggesting directly or indirectly a positive view of the regime) which will be propagated through government offices and society's institutions, but will also be expected from every member of said society, i.e. what one says on the street, through public or private conversations, on their Facebook page or their blog, etc.

So, the “problem” with this scheme is that the regime will use the police force to “criminalize” the thinkers whose thoughts diverge from their official line of mind conduct. They will use the police to spy on opponents, arrest them and put them on trial, torture them, etc. Fast-forward in time to where such a regime has been overthrown. People will link police forces to the overthrown regime, since the police were collaborators to the dictator staying in power. There will be a backlash against the profession as a whole, which will be seen as lacking in ethical values; people with strong ethical values will be ashamed of being linked to political oppression and will thus leave the force. The police force will be destabilized and will lack human resources, as well as the credibility required to combat crime. The instability caused by the regime overthrow will stimulate crime, since crime feeds on disorder and social instability. The military may have then a tendency to get involved in the post-overthrow process to restore order, which will then further discredit the police forces' strength or will to restore and maintain social peace.

Thus we move to a similar situation regarding the controversial role of police forces in unstable states. Another situation, much different in many aspects but still similar in many ways to a regime overthrow situation is in the behavior and perception of police forces in the context of an occupation. When such a police force is supported and financed by the occupational government or regime, it then will be viewed by local resistance as collaborating with occupation, whether that view is completely accurate or not. The state being governed by foreign powers or governed by a regime supported/financed by outside/foreign forces, it will rely on police forces (along with military special forces, contractors, etc.) to carry some of their dirty jobs. Such a role will then discredit the police and cause them to be viewed in a negative light. Even when the occupation ends (if it does end), then the police will struggle to regain the public confidence it lost throughout the years it collaborated with the occupational regime, etc.

So my conclusion is: a regime overthrow may temporarily destabilize society and the ones that must protect society from the effects of said destabilization (such as an increase in crime) are the police, but since they will be perceived as the former regime's tool then they won't have the credibility required in order to maintain peace. The core problem here is not the regime overthrow itself, though, but rather the use of police forces by authoritarian regimes to reinforce their control over power. A better situation is when a dictatorship utilizes special, non-police forces to control public opinion and to tighten their grip on power; once the regime is gone those special/paramilitary forces may then be dissolved and the transition to democracy will be easier, since police forces will be viewed not as collaborators but as peace-keeping, law-enforcing forces.

Cult-ure

What is culture? I am aware there is an actual dictionary definition. What I mean could be put this way: is there really such a thing as culture as we define it? Is it what we deem to be interesting as a vague manifestation of personal expression, i.e. what is commonly referred to as art? Is it an art form that has transcended its epoch to become a tradition, i.e. an accepted, socially-integrated type of expression used by an individual to manifest an idea he would be particularly fond of? Such an accepted art form would be for example Classical music (and not Techno music, well not until it becomes widely socially accepted as an art form, that is after a couple generations down the line). Or is it rather a trait common to a group of people, a group that could be based on gender, ethnic origin, religion, language, geographic location or else? When we say xyz culture, do we mean that a particular group of people will adopt specific behavior patterns, this linked to them originating from a common genealogy/source of origin? If 10 people come from the same town or share a common family name, does it mean they have the same culture?

Culture could be also considered an alternate, modern form of worshipping, in that the “worshipper” will perceive the artist, singer, politician, etc. as a kind of deity... Like when teenagers have posters with some actor or singer in their bedroom. Those role models are adored by the impressive young mind who sees them as superior beings who transcend common, boring everyday life/reality. Those deities carry with them perceptions and values that the worshipper identifies strongly with. This worshipping goes on all through one's existence, even though sometimes the adult mind has a more complex relationship to its modern deities (the act of idolatry will then be harder to detect and analyze). Thus one could argue that the hidden root of culture is cult, in that culture is saying “This person is good, what he or she expresses is worthy of a special interest.” And by saying “This person has no culture” we in reality would suggest that this person does not worship the same deity as us, have the same belief system or adhere to a similar moral code, etc. It could therefore be argued that all cultures have the same base value, even though different groups will perceive the culture the identify with as being superior to other cultures. Knowing your culture well could mean that you have a higher general culture than someone who is ignorant about his own culture, though.

Let's get back to culture as an art form. Is a thinker/intellectual/philosopher an artist? Could creating a new idea be deemed an act of artistic creativity, in the same way a painter puts together colors in order to create a painting? What is the criteria of creation, is it implicitly material (images, sounds, smells, etc.) or can it be a concept? Can it be a feeling, an impression?

One last question: if someone decides that he or she hates all artists/thinkers and all forms of art/writing/thinking, would that make him or her a culture-free individual, someone devoid of any cult-ure?

Audio Hell Inc.

Want to feel like a nightmare is taking over your head? Why not go for a listen to an audio version of the worse things going through my mind over the years. Yeah, not for everyone and you also got to be in the proper mood, but could be a good way to provide catharsis for some troubled periods of your own individual existence (to some extent).

(Playlist link) Pardaig Official Playlist

Note that in most cases I tried to find images that would be merged in a proper way with the concepts conveyed in the song's lyrical content. Sometimes it worked great, other times more or less. I also sing like crap but ha well nothing's perfect, tick? Tried my best.*

* Nota bene : How does it sound when some folks die saying to themselves “Yo man, just tried my best” and there's always an evil voice in their head replying “Yeah, but tried all you can, you were always sh*t to me”?

Outsourcing and extinction/downgrading of Western Middle-Class

What I find to be an underrated theme in today's media is outsourcing and how it is related to the current economic crisis. Note first that this crisis does not much affect China, India and the like. Why? Because the big corporations that close branches in the U. S. or Canada to open an equivalent branch in Asia cause qualified Western workers to lose their jobs. Those well-paid jobs then mean maybe (insert big corporation name here) will save money on the payroll and present shareholders with good numbers that will have the shares skyrocket and all, but also it means that the local, Western government will have in many cases a cheque to send instead of receiving tax income related to said job “cut” (relocation would perhaps be the right word).

So the impact on the overall Western society is that when those folks/outsourcing victims try to find a new job, they usually end up with jobs providing lower wages, since the well-paid jobs have been relocated/outsourced to other nations. Again, lower tax incomes for Western governments (and higher tax income for the Asian governments also). Those workers coming back to work in a downgraded job market become part of what one may call the “new proletariat”, which could be described as a group of post-industrial low-wage workers. So Western societies end up mostly with a proletariat and an Upper-class, the latter consisting of the folks who made the job cuts (they got even richer throughout the outsourcing process, since they got a bonus for saving on payroll costs but also made profits when shares went up after the job cuts), and no Middle-class. Eastern economies in general will thus profit from the outsourcing phenomena and this will also be the case for the Western Upper-class group. Since the Upper-class does not constitute a high percentage of overall Western society, the economic impact will be negative for most workers and end up being also negative for Western governments. Moreover, in some cases the Upper-class pays even less income than the Middle-class, in terms of percentage paid on actual job income, through tax-saving mechanisms deployed by Upper-class politicians.

I should also mention that Western businesses will lose in the long run, since there will be fewer well-paid workers to buy their goods and services. An exception will obviously be the luxury goods market, since the Upper-class will have even more money to spend on sports cars, big mansions and other such products.

My conclusion is the following: the outsourcing phenomena gives more money and power to Asian economies (better-paid jobs for workers and higher income taxes for governments) while depriving Western societies workers of well-paid jobs and depriving Western governments of substantial tax income.

Maybe I missed something so do not hesitate to comment in order to rectify some elements or shed further light on some points if deemed useful.

Flattened Mental Landscape

Harmonized Psychological States of Thought

The War has been Won

Mass Delusive Vision

Global Confusion

Worldwide Convergence

Cosmic Brainwash

War on Dissonant Cognitive Mental Resistance

Has been waged and won

Animals extinct

Only Machines left

Left to contemplate

A System meant to Exterminate Life

A Mechanism automated to

Kill Nature

Purity seen as Danger

Instinct Controlled

Truth Slaughtered

W. O. D. C. M. R.

Waged by whom?

No One

Only the Passage of Time

Flattens Emotional Perspectives

Humanity a mere Tool

For External Entities

Prone to transform the Earth

Creatures with Empty Eyes

Light-deprived Beings

Breed to Swallow Magic...

And breed to engulf all Magic left...

God Dies

As Grey Skies crush the once immortal Tree of Life

Beautiful Music to share

Blonde Redhead – Spain

Lots of you will most likely already be familiar with Blonde Redhead. They play a fusion of Rock and Electronic music, with lots of atmospheric elements.

The song Spain from their Penny Sparkle album is particularly powerful, in my modest opinion. It goes deep into your mind to bring forth intense, contemplative emotions.

You may watch a video for the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnzJQtBio_o

Visit the official band website here: Blonde Redhead website

Crystal Castles – Crimewave

This Toronto-based band also fuses Rock and Electronic music, but in a much different way than B. R. Their sound is more influenced by... err... Video-game music, if such a thing exists and is plausible as a description (it is not).

I adore their Crimewave song, although I like better the sound of this YouTube vid than the actual song featured on the Crystal Castles (I) album. Robotic voice added to a Rock beat, mixed with layers of electronic bleeps that Mario Bros would be proud of...

You may watch a video for the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2gdbQpESNY

Visit the official band website here: Crystal Castles website

Cosmic Confusion

Cold Winds blow

Enter weak Flesh

Freezes your Blood

Black Blood, dark like the Cosmic Night

My Blood is as dark as the

Hole through which Stars fall to Die

My heart is made of Stone

A Rock upon which your Sword shall break

My Soul a Spear

That shall pierce your confused Mind

My Spirit is as white as the

Sky through which Birds rise to Die

A huge, menacing thought comes into Being

The World is beautiful but also Fierce

This World will serve you but also

Kill You

9-11

Since we are near 9-11, why not go for a little politics? I was looking at all those reports about how Bin Laden failed; Al-Qaeda is weak, terrorism-sponsoring states are getting wiped off the map, etc. Ok right, but aren't the States themselves weaker also? Not related to B.L., you say? Think again... The guy got the U.S. to spend billions in internal security, money that could have been better spent on infrastructure, tax cuts, social programs and yes, creating jobs... The wars that were started after 9-11 cost a lot and were the main reason for the U.S. debt to sky-rocket into the stratosphere. 

The guys making money are security firms and corporation linked to the military-industrial complex. Nothing there for the middle-class, one could say. So, my conclusion is: it seems indeed that however was behind the 9-11 attacks did succeed to weaken the U.S. and Western societies/economies in general. The worse thing may be: even once terrorism-free societies like Norway now got their own, home-made breed of terrorists; the nutcase said his goal was to wage war against Islam, which seems fairly ironic: the attacks he waged on his own countrymen, women and children was, whether he was himself conscious of it or not, directly inspired by Al Qaeda-style blind murderous madness.

Intro

Historic moment ; here is my first blog post, I mean ever.

This feeling will most likely quickly vanish as the act of posting thoughts will become a daily, or weekly routine (depending on my current motivation being followed by an eventual sentiment of boredom, or rather by a feeling of blossoming ; just hope it won't get to monthly, although that would be of somewhat insignificant impact to the course of the cosmos anyway).

What is the ultimate goal of your blog, would you ask. Well, sorry to say, there ain't no specific target to be achieved through this public display of inner/outer contemplation. If any, it is that some may find the subjects discussed of interest. If others disagree on some viewpoints herein expressed, that will be fine also, since creating emotional reactions from a writing could be considered as a certain form of creativity.

Hope you enjoy my future posts,

Philosopher














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