the search for a new order – Page 3

You can’t say that!

At a friend’s baby’s first birthday (can you believe it?) last week, I saw an Irish friend, who recently returned from a visit to the Emerald Isle. I puffed out my cheeks and chirped that it seemed he had brought some potatoes back with him. He laughed and said he had put away a few while he was there.

Another friend sitting next to me was aghast and berated me for making such a remark about someone’s appearance. I protested that he was a friend and wouldn’t take offence, to which he laughingly agreed.

Earlier in the month, I had been castigated by one of my daughters for calling a nephew chubby.

Should we not say what we think ? And why do others feel they need to spring to defend, calling out possible offence?

Much of the current erosion of western values has arisen from the failure to speak out for fear of treading on some sensitivity or other and causing offence.

So when a few people promote the right of people to choose their own gender and pronoun and demand that the rest of society follow suit, much of society followed suit, without demur.
When a few students muzzled the Oxford Union, professors obliged.
When mobs toppled or defaced statues of historical figures, little action was taken.
When immigrants heckled soldiers’ funerals, little was done.
When immigrant priests urged defiance and eradication of Jews and supported jihad, governments demurred….
When foreigners started flooding borders and consuming benefits funded by citizens’ taxes, governments tip toed and hesitated.

Yet, I shouldn’t tell someone he is looking fat!

Resentment festers and if unresolved can erupt. The recent violence n the UK seems to me a clear demonstration of resentment. It is going to take a lot of undoing, because the damage is a cultural wound and those cannot be fixed by decree. Once you have let people in the gate, it is very difficult to get them out and the process involves bloody mauling.

So defy sensitivity and correctness and speak out or you will forever have to hold your tongue.

It is not just a right, it is a duty.

How do I feel?

What I believe is greatly influenced about what I feel. Thoughts and words express our perceptions which are greatly influenced by our emotions.

I suffer from bouts of insomnia for as long as 10 minutes and occasionally wake up too soon to get up in winter.

These are some of the thoughts that exuded from my foggy brain this morning:

How do we address the erosion of western values by the woke generation, some of whom are our own kith and kin?
How did I learn to feel and think the way I do?
What was the world like when I learned to think and articulate what I believe in?
What do I believe in?

It gets quite difficult and foggy, very quickly

Coincidentally, someone posted this on Facebook recently:

I am God … I think therefore I am.. I am a biological thinking intelligent machine… I can create my own reality.

I believe we are mostly good, but that experiences mould us:

There are some bad and weak people who choose to follow their own ways, despite knowing better ways.
We are easily distracted and tempted; self-discipline is difficult, but rewarding.
We are also easily misled and pride rules our redemption.
We forget that emotion guides every choice and harnesses intellect, so that it becomes imperfect..

I started life in Africa, as everything did apparently. That history was a great place to learn values and witness injustices.

Discrimination based on race, gender, ability and history is wrong.
We have a duty to stand by our family and friends.
We pay the State to serve us and we must also serve the State in times of need. But we cannot blindly follow the State.

Hmm! That should be enough for you to chew on.

I do not doubt that there will be little response to these humdrum words – that usually only comes after blogs about birds and flowers and such like.

Go the Marones!

In Australia, marooon is pronounced marone and is the colour of the Queensland rugby league team jersey.

During June and July, a kind of buzz arises about the annual Game of Origin clashes with the New South Wales team. Floods of money are spent on paraphernalia and tickets and Origin parties. Marone is the colour of the day, or blue if you are one of them…

It is a good buzz, well illustrated on TV by bands of pumped-up supporters of the two teams arriving simultaneously at the game bus. Glaring at each other, waving placards, the people at front brace themselves, then stand back and politely wave the other team onto the bus: “after you”.

Fierce love of the game!

One hopes the same spirit of fierce competition and control prevails in the US Red v Blue contest, where tensions are on knife edge after the near miss on Donald Trump. What a vivid demonstration of what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” !!

My first reaction was that it was a stunt, which refelects my opinion of US politics… but it wasn’t.

But, are the US close to civil war, as speculated by some respected commentaors?

It is no great leap of understanding to see the rationale of: who sent the assassin? It must have been them, let’s show them… The US Capitol invasion occurred in a haze of righteous fervour. Once radicals start indulging in extreme behaviour it doesn’t take much for extreme opposition to erupt.

“Fight, fight, fight” might not be the right slogan for such fraught times in a country quite clearly divided.

‘Without a transcendent vision, the people run amok’; based on Proverbs 29:18, these words underpin our desperate need for leaders who can guide us towards good lives.

Let us hope that Trump has the finesse to control his meteoric momentum to the Presidency in the face of a visibly crumbling Biden camp. Desperation could lead one or some of Dems to say or do something rash!

In a flash, there could be a rash of violence, assassination attempts and general mob chaos, which in that heavily armed civil society could descend to civil warfare.

Here in Australia, we too are suffering from poor leadership. The current Prime Minister is a wishy washy socialist, unable to make hard decisions or control the factions and individuals in his party. The opposition is not particularly impressive, apart from a conservative Aboriginal Senator who opposed the notion of an Aboriginal voice. She appears to have the charisma and courage to lead.

Let us pray for strong clear leaders who can build a plan for the rapidly evolving future.

I fear I hear the feeble, quavery voice of Neville Chamberlain in September 1938, “peace for our time’ – the world was at war in less than a year.

Roolz are trapz

There are two types of rules: laws and regulations. Apparently, regulations are made to give clarity and certainty about the intentions expressed in policy or laws.

They do so by restricting and binding and diminishing freedoms. The more regulations there are, the less freedom there is, and the greater the risk of breaking the regulations. This gives legitimate causes for disputes.

Regulations are actually the tools of those that aim to reduce the power of the policy makers and the subjects of rules. They are the weapons of the trade unionist and the bureaucrat, used to consolidate and entrench their own function.

Policymakers are elected, like ministers, members of parliament, directors and board members. They do not make regulations. They delegate these functions to bureaucrats, who are not elected.

This is the likely source for one of the major failings of democracy.

By avoiding making regulations, policymakers abrogate any responsibility for how policies are implemeted, whether they succeed or fail, facilitate or oppress.

Politicians delegate their decision-making powers, instead of educating functionaries on the full purpose of policy and allowing precedent to serve as example.

Bureaucrats then lay out specific regulations describing specific behaviours required by the law makers and procedures to be followed to demonstrate this.

Procedures are the great scimitar of the bureaucrat.

In order to ensure greater certainty more rules and procedures are devised, requiring more bureaucrats to administer and interpret compliance.

Failure to comply with required procedure becomes a substantive offence attracting penalties: refusal or denial of a claim made under the policy. This is where the plethora of claims fail: improper procedure.

Actually, nothing to do with the intention of the policy !

Hence the existence of Administrative Tribunals, designed to deal with appeals against bureaucratic acts. The waiting period for an appeal is apparently only 46 weeks: easily long enough for memory loss.

The moral of this story: do not make rules, just make policies which are easy to understand and act upon. Let common sense rule.

Transform bureaucracy to save democracy!

We may need a Trump card to Musk it!

It does not seem impossible to imagine AI replacing most bureaucrats in the near future: imagine instantaneous decision making , information and assistance!!

Shine a light on it

This is not a religious rant.

The Devil loves the dark. He shies away from the light.

I was having a devil of a time understanding why I felt that capitalism was a failed system.

My concern was prompted by the perpetual focus on how rich the super rich are. The worth of Elon Musk, Bill Gates etc is staggering! According to Wikipedia they are surpassed by Bernard Arnaut who is worth $233 billion!! (understandable as he produces the world’s best champagne, brandy and luxury goods – Louis Vuitton – he sells to rich folk).

Then I shone a little light on their worth: LVMH has 213,000 employees, representing 190 different nationalities; Musk companies employ over 110,000 people.

That’s how capitalism works: clever people employ many people who in turn fund society and of course they all pay taxes so we can have a government to run our countries. In 2023, LVMH paid a tax rate of 26% on revenue of €86 billion.

That looks like capitalism works very well for society!!

Since the adoption of capitalism the world has improved dramatically:

Life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900;
the almost universal illiteracy of 200 years ago has practically disappeared;
only 10% of the world live in extreme poverty, compared to 80% of the world 2 00 years ago.

There certainly seems to be enough money provided by the Capitalist economies and even the former communist and totalitarian economies like China and Russia who have ample funds to spend on military hardware and war!

So we must shine our light elsewhere.

The US federal government debt now stands at 33 trillion dollars*

Almost every single Western economy shows a similar pattern!!

Throughout democratic capitalist economies, politicians are confronted by rising expectations of the voters, rising costs of government and declining productivity.

… authoritarian capitalist economies such as those of Russia and China are not constrained by the economic realities that confront Western democracies.

If free market capitalist economies are to survive we have to either substantially increase rates of taxation to pay for rearmament or reduce the welfare benefits that citizens now see as their right.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/06/are-we-doomed Tony Letford

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Our governments are just shelling out money to stay in power – how long is that going to work?

So my faith in capitalism is restored. I have no faith in politicians, yet they are what we have, so we must get them to work properly.

Get down, Woman

That is the title of a song written by John Fogerty and first performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1968 (see below for lyrics). I do not remember hearing it before today, but it expressed something that has been gnawing at my gut for some time.

The words are not an instruction, but a plea, which is right for the times. The demands and displays by Western women seeking equality with men and the end to the exploitation and subjugation of women by men have grown and spread like a fever.

I support those objectives. However, I believe that the male and female psyche evolved in our lizard brains and are ingrained in our culture and beliefs. The physically stronger male is driven to dominate and impress with his superior skills and strength; the physically weaker but more astute female seeks out and enthralls the strong male who is likely to be a good provider and protector.

The growing economic independence of women in society since the industrial revolution has gathered impetus and has increasingly challenged and diminished men’s unrestricted dominance in the Western, Christian world.

The unrelenting criticism of male behaviour in modern times is increasingly shrill and condemnatory; its sheer volume pronouncing guilt without need for process.

The solidarity expressed in the #metoo campaign is phenomenal, but dangerous, because the allegations are historic and invariably tarnished by the time lapse between incident and outrage.

The offences are deemed to be so gross and prevalent that all humanity is required to unhesitatingly condemn any and all allegations!

Children are likely to be infused with suspicions and fears that their fathers and all men are beasts, out to subjugate and molest them because they are weaker.

Males are shrinking away and not engaging in this emotionally charged debate nor seeking a way forward. History is against them, crime has been re-defined retrospectively and they have been judged and found wanting (no pun intended)…

Males will be less likely in future to abuse their superiority. The yin will repel the yang.

However, the offer of an apple will be less successful. A lot more affirmative action will be required to compel employment equity. Like all artificial remedies, its success is likely to be limited. The male propensity for sulking and resentment is profound: the chasm between the sexes will widen with less willing help from the incumbent, dominant male majority.

Resentment will fester, western society may sunder.

Cultures, where women remain subjugated, will flourish and dominate societies riven by sanctimonious crusades and repressed resentment; torn by the yin and neutered yang of democratic politics.

So thos is a re-post. I believe it is still relevant.

Get Down Woman by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Well, get down woman, before I have to go.
Well, get down woman, before I have to go.
You know, ya hurt me with your bad mouth,
An’ I just don’t wanna know.

Well, slow down, baby, and gimme a little time.
Well, slow down, baby, and gimme a little time.
If you want me hangin’ ’round,
Gotta give me some peace of mind.

Oh, get down boy.

Well, get back, woman, before you bring it down.
Well, now, get back, baby, before you bring it down.
Or you can tell it to the wall,
Without me hangin’ around.

Originally posted on 16 March 2018 – it was somehow removed from the list.

Is it just the generation gap?

I have been restless and uncomfortable, resisting the inclination to froth and rant.

It’s not time to make a change

Just relax, take it easy

You’re still young, that’s your fault

There’s so much you have to know

The sheer perversity, fickleness and senselessness of mankind is depressing; I am aghast at the polarisation of people of the western civilisation; let alone people of the Middle East and Far East who are apparently equally as dichotomised and dissatisfied.

How can I try to explain?

When I do he turns away again

It’s always been the same

Same old story

From the moment I could talk

I was ordered to listen, now there’s a way

And I know that I have to go away

I know I have to go

Is it all down to tribalism? That great big melting cup of mixed ethnicities and cultures which is the supposedly United States of America, seems to be disintegrating politically and socially at an alarming rate. Economically it appears to be thriving but with an economy funded by huge and growing debt.

We have become diffuse and directionless, without a Polestar to guide us towards the same destination with the same interests.

Our ethics and principles and freedoms have been eroded and clouded and remoulded into different things to accommodate diversity, equity and inclusion. The authorities of the past are decried and history is re-defined.

I was once like you are now

And I know that it’s not easy

To be calm when you’ve found

Something going on

But take your time, think a lot

Think of everything you’ve got

For you will still be here tomorrow

But your dreams may not

Academia has been seized by the new wave, persuaded or cowed by the volume of cries to change history to abide by the new future of glorification and recompense of minorities. Disempowerment and emasculation are the cries of the new age, change is their agenda. There is momentum but little coherent vision – no Nirvana or Jerusalem, just destruction.

The old Marxists must be rejoicing at this projection towards a state of chaos, from which a new world can be built. Of course it will require a tyrant to bind the movement together and enforce discipline.

All the times that I’ve cried

Keeping all the things I knew inside

It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it

If they were right I’d agree

But it’s them they know, not me

So how do we avert this disaster? Or do we just roll over and go with the flow, as many have done already?

If, or more likely, when Trump comes to power, there will be a radical ripple of change. Support for NATO and the Ukraine and Israel will shrivel. Trade with China will be tariffed and short shrift given to illegal immigrants. The impact on Europe will be huge and Russia will grow powerful and dangerous to its other neighbours. China may be emboldened to consume Taiwan.

Will it stop the erosion of our institutions and society? Should it? Some of them are certainly no longer fit for purpose.

Somehow the gap between the polarised needs to be bridged. Zero sum arguments of the left and right will not prevail. A new way forward is needed.

That must be the solution: the best of the old and the best of the new, best of the west and best of the east, which we might yet have to discover.

Communication is now instantaneous, nothing remains hidden, accurate information and the total wisdom of the past is all there. Sadly, I fear, like religion, we have to deal with Man who is capable of and prone to corruption and perversion, to serve his own narrow interests.

Somehow we need to distil and renew freedoms which allow the truth to prevail and prevent corruption. Are we back to God vs Satan?

First define what is good and then what is bad; or vice versa?

Then get everyone to agree ….. Yeah, right!

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

DYLAN THOMAS

Other verses from Father and Son by Cat Stevens/Yusuf

The Eve of Destruction

Barry Maguire, once a hippy rocker lately into gospel music, sang the title song which was written by PF Sloan.

Listen and tremble. : The Eve of Destruction

Then there is Buffy Sainte Marie’s Universal Soldier

All of 50 years ago, they made my Mum cry when I played them.

They make me cry now. Especially now, as we in Australia and New Zealand gather to honour the sacrifice and courage of our armed forces, on the anniversary of the Gallipoli fiasco.

My great, great grandfather was a soldier, as was his son, and also his son, my grandfather, Aubrey Vialls. His son, my uncle Boy, flew in the Western Desert in World War 2

My other grandfather was a soldier, who fought in 3 wars, was awarded the DSO for bravery and briefly commanded the South African Brigade on the Western Front in World War 1.

My father served in North Africa and Italy in World War 2. His brother fought in Europe, Burma and Malaya and commanded the Royal Hampshire Regiment for a while .

My son has served in Timor, Afghanistan and Sinai

I have a conflict of emotion and intellect which is unlikely to be easily reconciled. I believe that we need guards and sentries to preserve our way of life. I admire the way of the warrior and believe we need courageous, strong people to keep us safe.

The warrior enshrines courage and resourcefulness and longs to prove himself in battle, to demonstrate the skills which have been taught.

As we saw in the Vietnam War, a small commitment to shore up a government against communist overthrow, turns into a vortex, sucking in tens of thousands who died, generating a military-industrial economy which gains heavy momentum.

Not long after, Middle Eastern tyrants defy Pax Americana and the war vortex starts sucking in soldiers and spitting them out dead or maimed.

Where does the virtuous deployment (is there such a thing?) of soldiers begin and where does it end. Rules of engagement are political tools. Politicians have different values and interests and often lose sight of the humanity their decisions impact. Once the ball is rolling it only stops when the pain becomes unbearable…

Can you imagine a world war, now that we have grown so lax and soft and comfort friendly? Now we fuss more about recompensing historical wrongs to ancestors of modern day minorities. Now we can’t say, no, now move along. Now we can’t defend our lives without fear of accusation of excess. Nor can the police.

Suddenly, all in Australia, between ages of 18 and 45 are conscripted for war service: men and wwomen (!!), citizens and aliens too (those that are not interned); protests, strikes and demonstrations will be banned and forcefully suppressed, (no time for the frillier civil liberties); rationing will slim us down.

Watch the wave of youth crime disappear and the woke wails dwindle to a whisper.

It could easily happen … soon; conscription happened three times in the last century!

I wrote about the paradox of remembrance after Armistice Day in 2021. It seems that I continue to wrestle conciliation between martial honour and the desire for peace.

If you can take more of the protest era songs listen to Masters of War written by Bob Dylan, sung here by Barry Maguire (I had his LP: The World’s Last Private Citizen).

What can we do?

The air is clear and still, dew is glistening on the leaves, birds’ calls are particularly clear and sharp. Some gum trees are in flower again, fooled by the seventh false start of summer. The honey eaters are happy.

Today attack drones swarm towards Israel – is this the start of World War 3? All the ingredients are present: an axis of autocrats, their identified enemy, a creature of the Western alliance…. all have nuclear weapons.

Yesterday a maniac ran amok slashing and stabbing indiscriminately, mostly weak and defenceless victims, avoiding challenges from brave men; then shot dead by an efficient police officer.

The same day we baby sat a grandson for a few hours; we sang and danced and laughed and smiled … such uninhibited joy and love!

Tomorrow judgment will be handed down on another case arising from the lies and immorality of two young people who had been employed to assist our government ministers. How did they get there and how could they have been tolerated? The damage created by just one incident has been incredible: reputations of Ministers, Judges, Police officers, Media icons tattered … only a bishop missing! And the slime ball is still rolling!

What we can do is lift our heads and think about values outside our little material worlds. We need to decide how much we value freedom and consider the responsibilities of citizens in democracies. Remember, we have a duty not only to pay our taxes and obey the law; we must also take up arms to defend our country when required.

I suggest that we should think a bit more about the corrosion of our values and speak out against their erosion by sentiment and identity politics.

Making ourselves mad

In order to allow both parents to enter paid employment, governments subsidise child care services, in which we willingly enrol our children, some as young as 3 months old. (This is permitted!)

As people get older, they need more care, so instead of caring for them, we allow them to be sent to aged care homes, also subsidised by government.

Out of sight, out of mind?

I bet this will surprise you …. NOT!

Over 50% of aged care residents have significant levels of depression.
Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants

Institutional old age and child care services are convenience services designed to remove caring support roles from the family unit and free up more people to enter the labour force.

The distress and toll on families that this causes is apparent.

In primitive societies, the elderly and the young were kept in the family home, with the bulk of caring falling on female household members. Oooh! I need to tread carefully here…

In modern times, females have demanded and been granted greater access to and equality in the labour force. Which governements support and encourage for a number of reasons.

So the modern solution is to outsource our caring duties. Is there any wonder that so many are on anti-depressants?

What can be a greater source for despair than daily abandonment of children and the marooning of their grandparents, our own parents?

We know the effect on the elderly – what about the effect on our children?

One solution is to stop chasing the ‘own home dream’ and promoting the shared home. Subsidise home carers, not care homes; incentivise one working parent households.

A 24-work day would enable both parents to work and to care for the children and grandparents.

The pace and demands of our society is causing its disintegration at the edges.

We institutionalise the young and old, almost certainly deteriorating their mental health. We allow the drug addicts, destitute and depressed detritus of our commumities to sleep in the streets.

Is it not time we open our eyes and put our foot down?