Mike:
Granted that human cognition,
passions and character probably haven't changed in centuries or even
millennia, I nevertheless think that the Enlightenment approach of
reasoned discourse, common civility and respect and so on are
threatened in new ways.
Ed:
A defining characteristic of being human seems to be thinking noble, peaceful
and elightened thoughts and then use those thoughts to justify cruelty and
butchery -- e.g. in Christianity, tranforming the words of Christ into the
Inquisition, the persecution of Jews, and the witch trials, etc., and a further
e.g. transforming the thoughts of Marx into Stalin's death camps. But one can't
give up, can one?
A further thought: We may have to achieve a high level of mutual respect to
ensure that what we hope for can indeed happen. E.g. the UN Declaration of
Human Rights is great in what it says, but the world is still a long way from
being able to apply it. Dometically, the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms is also a great document and we have shown ourselves ready to apply
it, or at least let the courts do so.
However, it does seem that the step, or leap, from thinking to doing is not an
easy one.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Spencer" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 5:14 PM
Subject: [Futurework] Re: Krugman's the man.
>
> Ed wrote:
>
>> Perhaps we do need another war, not a little one like Iraq or
>> Afghanistan, but a big one like WWII, which brought an end to the
>> Great Depression. Where oh where are Hitler or Stalin when we need
>> them?
>
> Well, Ed, if the Christian "dominionists", the ultra-right, the
> extreme Zionists inside and outside Israel, the apocalyptically and
> eschatologically oriented, along with the essentially amoral (or
> psychopathic) denizens of the financial and defense establishments and
> the notional 0.01% somehow get it just right and get on a roll, the
> USA might be our best candidate for a unilateral declaration of a
> Greater Global Prosperity Sphere, a Universal Reich of American
> Righteousness.
>
> There are those who sneer scornfully at any analysis emitting the
> slightest bouquet of "conspiracy" yet the newspapers and the net report
> daily on more or less overt conspiracies. ALEC and PNAC and its heirs
> come to mind. Lobbying in its present manifestation is
> institutionalized conspiracy. You don't have to make a case for
> complicity in 9/11 or an organized plan to dynamite the Dome of the
> Rock. The frothing nutters and their unreadable polychrome, mixed-font
> web pages make a fine distraction from those determined to project
> national (and supra-national financial) power globally, who have
> access to positions of influence and money.
>
> Maybe I just have too little historical perspective -- I'm weak on the
> details of political history and I've only lived through 70 years of
> it myself -- but I have the feeling that several aspects of the
> contemporary world are unprecedented. Granted that human cognition,
> passions and character probably haven't changed in centuries or even
> millennia, I nevertheless think that the Enlightenment approach of
> reasoned discourse, common civility and respect and so on are
> threatened in new ways.
>
> Indeed, the single sentence from a PNAC paper,
>
> Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings
> revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some
> catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor.
>
> has been realized in 9/11 with results for the American and global
> polity unimaginable a few decades ago. [1] Wherever more changes of
> the same kind are being imagined, promoted or implemented, there lie
> seeds of a new global, quasi-totalitarian hegemony.
>
> Back to Ed's comment: I really do not look forward with eager
> anticipation to a new, job-creating conflict between the some alliance
> of the USA with developed-world adherents and The Rest of the Globe.
>
> http://www.gahanwilson.com/ithinkiwonweb.jpg
>
>
>
>
> - Mike
>
>
>
> [1] You can't fly from England to Canada without getting approval from
> US authorities? No explanation or appeal possible if approval is
> withheld? Are you kidding? Regrettably, not.
>
> --
> Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
> /V\
> [email protected] /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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