26 February 2015
Global Conflict Discussion (Part 8): No Justice, Just Retribution
X Discussion Points
8.) There is no justice on the playground, though there is often retribution.
Some bullied children commit suicide. Recent deaths have acted as catalysts for bullied children who grew up (i.e., did not commit suicide) to take a stand against bullying in the schoolyard and by proxy bullying everywhere else. It is a noble sentiment, in some ways foolish, nonetheless noble. I'm glad they're finally taking a stand against something so important. I wish them luck, but fear they're misdirecting their energies. The schoolyard is and always has been a direct reflection of parent and teacher prejudices mixed with young humans in the process of developing their own prejudices. That makes the schoolyard a swarming mass of confused and ignorant beings experiencing uncontrollable physical and chemical changes while attempting to conform with parent, teacher, and fellow student expectations.
Bullying is a unique byproduct of learned behavior, self-correction, peer review, hypersensitivity / overt cruelty, and ignorance of "rules" (sometimes arbitrary) manifested by individuals seething with (often unaddressed) inner anger. The causes of this inner anger differ; they can be the manifestation of turmoils in the home, schoolyard, classroom, extracurriculars, or the self. Bullying is an outlet for this unaddressed turmoil: a percieved weakness in a fellow, makes that fellow a sure target. The bullied child becomes the outlet for the bully who is often times reenacting incidents of bullying within their own lives.
If bullying is a learned behavior, then "teaching the bully out" ought to be sufficient to end bullying. After all, bullying was taught in. Education is important for changing minds and subsequently behaviors, but everyone must make their own choices including potential bullies who choose to ignore the teachings of anti-bullying campaigns. That said, education, itself, tends towards the tyrannical and as such typically enables (or encourages) bullies. Can a bully really teach the bully out? That's awfully hypocritical, don't you think? Education is a beginning, not a solution. So, how do we stop bullying?
Perhaps, the best idea is to add "maintaining an acceptable outlet" to the teaching efforts. With regular access to acceptable outlets for releasing pent up inner anger, it may be possible to reduce instances of bullying but, I doubt it. Right now, we have more acceptable outlets than any other period of known history. We still have bullies.
Bullying is as much a part of our history as of our future. It will not end. It cannot end. Bullying is a fact of life. Deal with it and teach your kids to deal with it. Protect them by arming their minds with creative ways to seek retribution...teach the bully in. Protect them by arming their bodies with basic self-defense techniques...judo chop. Protect them by arming their souls with sympathy and empathy for all beings...hippie love. Protect children from bullies by desensitizing them to the effects of bullies...Pav-laugh-it-off. I don't pretend to know the best avenue for defending against bullies, perhaps a mix is best. All I know for sure, bullying is a form of human selfishness. And, there ain't no way in hell, people are going to suddenly stop being selfish.
Pax et Poema,
Vale,
Monique
19 February 2015
Global Conflict Discussion (Part 7): Greedy Kids Equal Greedy Adults
7.) The cycle of growing up, then forgetting everything you knew about growing up.
Although children lack the sophisticated language required to communicate on par with jargonistic scientists, kids can regularly be observed carrying out the scientific process with each new thing they discover. Think of the school yard where children discover the attractive properties of magnets by rubbing them in dirt to pick up iron slivers, before proceeding to run around the playground showing the other kids. They show others because they have discovered something and they want to share, they want others to discover with them. The joy of sharing knowledge, making discoveries, is the great reward that tends to benefit humankind both at the time and over time.
Some people are adverse to human progress through sharing. Ever notice how there's always one kid that will not share the magnet. One kid that gathers the tiny slivers aside ever increasing the size of their own iron holdings, all the while never letting other kids use the magnet. Greedy little fuck. What happens when it is time to go inside? The little greedster kicks the iron pile to the wind and pockets the magnet. How is it that everyone seems to forget greedy little kids grow into greedy adults?
Pax et Poema,
Vale,
Monique
Some people are adverse to human progress through sharing. Ever notice how there's always one kid that will not share the magnet. One kid that gathers the tiny slivers aside ever increasing the size of their own iron holdings, all the while never letting other kids use the magnet. Greedy little fuck. What happens when it is time to go inside? The little greedster kicks the iron pile to the wind and pockets the magnet. How is it that everyone seems to forget greedy little kids grow into greedy adults?
Pax et Poema,
Vale,
Monique
15 February 2015
FE-Tools: Volunteer Your Computer to Solving the Big Questions
Check out this article about volunteering your computer to science: BOINC volunteer computing opportunities
12 February 2015
Global Conflict Discussion (Part 6): 21st Century Class System
X Discussion Points
6.) You are hereby bequeathed a shitty class system for the 21st Century - Courtesy of the 20th Century
In the Age of Technology there exist three hierarchical classes of global citizen: 1.) rich w/ internet; 2.) not rich w/internet; and, 3.) w/o internet. The "rich with internet" (RwI) have ready access to the internet and the finances to act on their desires. The "not rich with internet" (nRwI) have ready access to the internet without the finances to act. The "without internet" (w/oI) have no access (or minimal access) to the internet and are without the finances to act even if they had access.
Ability to access the internet is now a prerequisite for most jobs as many employers have moved to online application processes and email notifications. This means that those w/oI are ineligible for job access based on the prejudice of modern employment application methods: no internet = no job. The nRwI have job access because of their internet access and vice versa. The RwI have pushed these methods forward in the name of increasing their ROI by lowering hiring costs and developing databases of potential future hires (i.e. talent pools).
Ability to access the internet is now a prerequisite for most jobs as many employers have moved to online application processes and email notifications. This means that those w/oI are ineligible for job access based on the prejudice of modern employment application methods: no internet = no job. The nRwI have job access because of their internet access and vice versa. The RwI have pushed these methods forward in the name of increasing their ROI by lowering hiring costs and developing databases of potential future hires (i.e. talent pools).
These three classes (RwI, nRwI, and w/oI) are based within four main systems of control (governance): 1.) government, 2.) business, 3.) religion, and 4.) education. The stratification inherent in the class system is amplified by the same structural stratifications found in each of the four systems mentioned above. The RwI set the pace in all four systems, the nRwI move accordingly while encouraging the w/oI to pick up the pace or die. As long as the four systems stay stratified we will continue to live in a segregated society. If we don't want a segregated society and we don't want a stratified system, then we must ask a number of important questions, like: What kind of social system do we want? What other kinds of social systems are available? What kind of social system will provide the most stability for the future? How will we transition to the new social system?
In order to learn what we want it is best to examine what we already have and to recognize what we don't like about it. If we can identify definitive aspects of the system that no longer work, we can purposefully trim them out of the future system, after all, we're redesigning it right now. We currently have four stratified social systems of control and three hierarchical social classes. The systems clash and the classes clash. Is it possible to integrate systems and classes to smooth out the clashes? It is doubtful, the idyllic world of Star Trek is but an utopian fantasy. Would that we could?! Ah, such a dream.
Pax et Poema,
Vale,
Monique
In order to learn what we want it is best to examine what we already have and to recognize what we don't like about it. If we can identify definitive aspects of the system that no longer work, we can purposefully trim them out of the future system, after all, we're redesigning it right now. We currently have four stratified social systems of control and three hierarchical social classes. The systems clash and the classes clash. Is it possible to integrate systems and classes to smooth out the clashes? It is doubtful, the idyllic world of Star Trek is but an utopian fantasy. Would that we could?! Ah, such a dream.
Pax et Poema,
Vale,
Monique
08 February 2015
05 February 2015
FE-DIY: Troubleshooting Blogger's Contact Form
Click here for my guide on troubleshooting Blogger's new contact form.
Global Conflict Discussion (Part 5): Austerity & Great Recession
X Discussion Points
5.) The austerity solution for the Great Recession?
What are we told is the solution to the global financial crisis caused by financial megaliths deemed "too big to fail"? Austerity: the seemingly innocent code-word for ginormous piles of trickle-down feces. Austerity generally comes in two forms: cuts to public services and increased tax rates. In 2008, a third austerity method was utilized, governments called it: bailouts. All three methods of austerity translate into giving the banksters more money. Are you fucking kidding me? Give banksters money, when they readily show their incompetence, rather, their greed, corruption, lack of conscience, and unabashed arrogance.
The Founding Fathers were right when they warned us of the dangers of giving the banks too much power. During the Great Recession (i.e., The Great Depression, pt. II) the international financial cartels effectively crippled all the nations by demanding tribute in between harvests - as if a field can be reaped before it is sown. And, the whole situation stinks of fertilizer. Austerity is in essence, a poor tax for being fucked over by the rich.
So, how does bailout austerity work: the concerned government takes over debts that financial institutions fraudulently entered into with citizens (ignorant of the fraud). Financial institutions take money from citizens, then if unable to receive payment, they take the collateral and charge the debt off on their income taxes. The unwary citizen risks owing debt for an object (house, car, etc.) that has been repossessed ("taken back"). In addition to taking back items, the financial institutions most likely also sold off the original bad loan in batches called derivatives.
"Nasty little buggers," these derivatives, they're like an international game of 3-Card Monty dealt by Cardini. Often when an item is repossessed, the bank resells it by making a new loan with some other unsuspecting citizen. In these instances, the bank makes money from writing the item off (tax credit), from selling the debt (derivative), from the original debt-holder who pays the bank to save their credit score, and from the new debt-holder who purchased the repossessed item. What a scam! Four payouts on one bad bet, er hm, I mean loan.
Pax et Poema.
Vale,
Monique
"Nasty little buggers," these derivatives, they're like an international game of 3-Card Monty dealt by Cardini. Often when an item is repossessed, the bank resells it by making a new loan with some other unsuspecting citizen. In these instances, the bank makes money from writing the item off (tax credit), from selling the debt (derivative), from the original debt-holder who pays the bank to save their credit score, and from the new debt-holder who purchased the repossessed item. What a scam! Four payouts on one bad bet, er hm, I mean loan.
Pax et Poema.
Vale,
Monique
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