How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 13

Back in the USSR

I. Background

This Dredd Blog series has been pointing out the history of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority that has brought down over twenty civilizations down through time.

The information comes from Encyclopedia Britannica and historian Arnold Toynbee (How To Identify The Despotic Minority, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12).

One factor that has been focused on is "tyranny" which is another word for "cruelty."

As it turns out, perhaps one of the least expected sources of cruelty being revealed is a "religious" source not at all associated with terrorism (Atlantic, RawStory).

In today's post I want to point out that the American government as set up by the U.S. Constitution is not fail safe, because it has some serious undemocratic aspects to it that at this point in our nation's history is unlikely to be remedied.

II. A Predicament

According the the last census of 2010, the 22 "Red States" that are home to a lot of current right wing religion and politics, as shown by the table below, make up only 31.42% of the population of the 50 states.

Yet they are given two senators each, totaling 44% of the U.S. Senate:

Red States	Population Rank	Population Census 2010	Population Percent	Senate Percent
Wyoming	50	0.563626 mil	0.17	2
Alaska	48	0.710231 mil	0.39	4
North Dakota	47	0.672591 mil	0.62	6
South Dakota	46	0.81418 mil	0.89	8
Montana	43	0.989415 mil	1.21%	10%
Idaho	39	1.56758 mil	1.74	12
West Virginia	38	1.85299 mil	2.29	14
Nebraska	37	1.82634 mil	2.87	16
Kansas	35	2.85312 mil	3.75	18
Mississippi	34	2.9673 mil	4.65%	20%
Arkansas	33	2.91592 mil	5.56	22
Utah	30	2.76389 mil	6.52	24
Oklahoma	28	3.75135 mil	7.71	26
Kentucky	26	4.33937 mil	9.06	28
Louisiana	25	4.53337 mil	10.47%	30%
Alabama	24	4.77974 mil	11.95	32
South Carolina	23	4.62536 mil	13.49	34
Missouri	18	5.98893 mil	15.34	36
Tennessee	16	6.3461 mil	17.39	38
Arizona	14	6.39202 mil	19.56%	40%
Georgia	8	9.68765 mil	22.74	42
Texas	2	25.1456 mil	31.42%	44%
Total		96.0866 mil

III. Another Predicament

Now, let's look at the whole population, all states, and the entire population so as to see that a remedy is not within our grasp at this time.

The table below (per 2010 Census) shows that 1.08% of the population elects 10% of the senate, 2.82% of the population elects 20% of the senate, 5.54% of the population elects 30% of the senate, 10.1% of the population elects 40% of the senate, 15.95% of the population elects 50% of the senate, 23.8% of the population elects 60% of the senate, and 33.31% of the population elects 70% of the senate (and so forth):

State (R=Red State)	Population Rank	Population Census 2010	Population Percent	Senate Percent
Wyoming (R)	50	0.563626 mil	0.17	2
Vermont	49	0.625741 mil	0.36	4
Alaska (R)	48	0.710231 mil	0.58	6
North Dakota (R)	47	0.672591 mil	0.81	8
South Dakota (R)	46	0.81418 mil	1.08%	10%
Delaware	45	0.897934 mil	1.37	12
Rhode Island	44	1.05257 mil	1.69	14
Montana (R)	43	0.989415 mil	2.01	16
Maine	42	1.32836 mil	2.41	18
New Hampshire	41	1.31647 mil	2.82%	20%
Hawaii	40	1.3603 mil	3.25	22
Idaho (R)	39	1.56758 mil	3.78	24
West Virginia (R)	38	1.85299 mil	4.33	26
Nebraska (R)	37	1.82634 mil	4.91	28
New Mexico	36	2.05918 mil	5.54%	30%
Kansas (R)	35	2.85312 mil	6.42	32
Mississippi (R)	34	2.9673 mil	7.32	34
Arkansas (R)	33	2.91592 mil	8.23	36
Nevada	32	2.70055 mil	9.15	38
Iowa	31	3.04636 mil	10.1%	40%
Utah (R)	30	2.76389 mil	11.06	42
Connecticut	29	3.5741 mil	12.14	44
Oklahoma (R)	28	3.75135 mil	13.33	46
Oregon	27	3.83107 mil	14.6	48
Kentucky (R)	26	4.33937 mil	15.95%	50%
Louisiana (R)	25	4.53337 mil	17.36	52
Alabama (R)	24	4.77974 mil	18.84	54
South Carolina (R)	23	4.62536 mil	20.38	56
Minnesota	22	5.30392 mil	22.08	58
Colorado	21	5.0292 mil	23.8%	60%
Wisconsin	20	5.68699 mil	25.56	62
Maryland	19	5.77355 mil	27.39	64
Missouri (R)	18	5.98893 mil	29.24	66
Indiana	17	6.4838 mil	31.26	68
Tennessee (R)	16	6.3461 mil	33.31%	70%
Massachusetts	15	6.54763 mil	35.4	72
Arizona (R)	14	6.39202 mil	37.57	74
Washington	13	6.72454 mil	39.85	76
Virginia	12	8.00102 mil	42.43	78
New Jersey	11	8.79189 mil	45.12%	80%
Michigan	10	9.88364 mil	48.14	82
North Carolina	9	9.53548 mil	51.28	84
Georgia (R)	8	9.68765 mil	54.46	86
Ohio	7	11.5365 mil	57.99	88
Illinois	6	12.8306 mil	61.84%	90%
Pennsylvania	5	12.7024 mil	65.71	92
New York	4	19.3781 mil	71.62	94
Florida	3	18.8013 mil	78.06	96
Texas (R)	2	25.1456 mil	86.74	98
California	1	37.2545 mil	98.7%	100%
USA		308.144 mil

IV. Population Estimates For 2018

The table below (population estimates for 2018) shows that 1.09766% of the population elects 10% of the senate, 2.86874% of the population elects 20% of the senate, 5.62715% of the population elects 30% of the senate, 10.2532% of the population elects 40% of the senate, 16.176% of the population elects 50% of the senate, 24.1214% of the population elects 60% of the senate, and 33.7532% of the population elects 70% of the senate (and so forth):

State	Population Rank	Population 2018 Est.	Percent of Population	Percent of Senate
Wyoming	50	0.577737 mil	0.176968%	2%
Vermont	49	0.626299 mil	0.368811%	4%
Alaska	48	0.737438 mil	0.594697%	6%
North Dakota	47	0.760077 mil	0.827517%	8%
South Dakota	46	0.882235 mil	1.09776%	10%
Delaware	45	0.967171 mil	1.39401%	12%
Rhode Island	44	1.05732 mil	1.71788%	14%
Montana	43	1.06231 mil	2.04328%	16%
Maine	42	1.3384 mil	2.45324%	18%
New Hampshire	41	1.35646 mil	2.86874%	20%
Hawaii	40	1.42049 mil	3.30386%	22%
Idaho	39	1.75421 mil	3.84119%	24%
West Virginia	38	1.80583 mil	4.39434%	26%
Nebraska	37	1.92927 mil	4.98529%	28%
New Mexico	36	2.09543 mil	5.62715%	30%
Kansas	35	2.91151 mil	6.51898%	32%
Mississippi	34	2.98653 mil	7.43379%	34%
Arkansas	33	3.01383 mil	8.35695%	36%
Nevada	32	3.03439 mil	9.28642%	38%
Iowa	31	3.15614 mil	10.2532%	40%
Utah	30	3.16111 mil	11.2215%	42%
Connecticut	29	3.57267 mil	12.3158%	44%
Oklahoma	28	3.94308 mil	13.5236%	46%
Oregon	27	4.19071 mil	14.8073%	48%
Kentucky	26	4.4684 mil	16.176%	50%
Louisiana	25	4.65998 mil	17.6034%	52%
Alabama	24	4.88787 mil	19.1006%	54%
South Carolina	23	5.08413 mil	20.658%	56%
Minnesota	22	5.61118 mil	22.3767%	58%
Colorado	21	5.69556 mil	24.1214%	60%
Wisconsin	20	5.81357 mil	25.9021%	62%
Maryland	19	6.04272 mil	27.7531%	64%
Missouri	18	6.12645 mil	29.6297%	66%
Indiana	17	6.69188 mil	31.6795%	68%
Tennessee	16	6.77001 mil	33.7532%	70%
Massachusetts	15	6.90215 mil	35.8674%	72%
Arizona	14	7.17165 mil	38.0642%	74%
Washington	13	7.53559 mil	40.3724%	76%
Virginia	12	8.51769 mil	42.9815%	78%
New Jersey	11	8.90852 mil	45.7103%	80%
Michigan	10	9.99592 mil	48.7721%	82%
North Carolina	9	10.3836 mil	51.9527%	84%
Georgia	8	10.5195 mil	55.175%	86%
Ohio	7	11.6894 mil	58.7556%	88%
Illinois	6	12.7411 mil	62.6583%	90%
Pennsylvania	5	12.8071 mil	66.5813%	92%
New York	4	19.5422 mil	72.5673%	94%
Florida	3	21.2993 mil	79.0915%	96%
Texas	2	28.7018 mil	87.8832%	98%
California	1	39.557 mil	100%	100%
USA		326,465,000

Of course that assumes that every one of those members of the population votes (see how optimistic I am sometimes).

The point I am making is that this is not the definition of a democracy in the pure, functional sense: "government by the people; especially : rule of the majority" (Dictionary).

The population in a state with 500,000 people gets the same number of senators as a state with ~40,000,000 people.

This means that the low population states can more easily control the senate, and thus the cabinets and the courts (Here Come De Conservative Judges, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

And as goes the Supremes, so goes the nation ("the constitution says what the Supreme Court says it says" - paraphrase, see Harvard Law Review).

The Senate decides who can go on the Supreme Court, and who cannot.

See the problem?!

V. Closing Comments

The tyranny of the despotic minority is here, and the odds are that it is here to stay?

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Ode to The Rus People:

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How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 12

Slipping Into A Slide Zone

I. The Record

The Trump Administration withdrew from the traditional U.S. involvement in the promulgation of the concept and practice of human rights:

"The strong civil society and democratic institutions of the United States were tested in the first year of the administration of President Donald Trump. Across a range of issues in 2017, the US moved backward on human rights at home and abroad.

Trump has targeted refugees and immigrants, calling them criminals and security threats; emboldened racist politics by equivocating on white nationalism; and consistently championed anti-Muslim ideas and policies. His administration has embraced policies that will roll back access to reproductive health care for women; championed health insurance changes that would leave many more Americans without access to affordable health care; and undermined police accountability for abuse. Trump has also expressed disdain for independent media and for federal courts that have blocked some of his actions. And he has repeatedly coddled autocratic leaders and showed little interest or leadership in pressing for the respect of human rights abroad."

(Human Rights Watch, emphasis added). The Trump Administration is at odds with traditional American values.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security condemned the human rights violations taking place on American soil:

Caged Asylum Seekers

More Caged Asylum Seekers

"During our visits to five Border Patrol facilities and two ports of entry ... we ... observed serious overcrowding and prolonged detention of unaccompanied alien children (UACs), families, and single adults that require immediate attention.
...
This management alert addresses overcrowding at four of the five Border Patrol facilities, and prolonged detention at all five facilities, we visited in the Rio Grande Valley.
...
In the Border Patrol facilities we visited, we also observed serious overcrowding and prolonged detention among adult detainees. TEDS provides that 'under no circumstances should the maximum [cell] occupancy rate, as set by the fire marshal, be exceeded.' However, at one facility, some single adults were held in standing room only conditions for a week and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells ..."

(DHS Inspector General Report, PDF). Standing room only for a week, no showers, clean clothes, or hot meals as required by humane standards and policy.

II. The Obvious

In the language of history, this is the tyranny (cruelty) of a despotic minority:

"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority. Unlike Spengler in his The Decline of the West, Toynbee did not regard the death of a civilization as inevitable, for it may or may not continue to respond to successive challenges. Unlike Karl Marx, he saw history as shaped by spiritual, not economic forces" ...

(Encyclopedia Britannica, emphasis added). There has been an about face away from the public's concern for human rights and an acceptance of cruelty (tyranny).

III. The Solution

Listen to those who started us on the liberty voyage in our ship of state:

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison

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"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.

The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both.

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Those truths are well established." - James Madison

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“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson

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“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." - Thomas Jefferson

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"Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people." - Thomas Jefferson

(Quotes Page). Those statements made by the original American statesmen are still true today.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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VSS (Very Slippery Slope) ...

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The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan - 18

"It's not lipstick on a pig"

This Dredd Blog series contemplates an administration that would attempt to, through a MEGA BULLSHIT tsunami, change the United States into something worse (The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17).

The coup de grâce of the shape shifting and bullshitting was the saying uttered by the shape shifting bullshitter in chief that the Mueller Report totally exonerated him.

The Muller Report specifically denies that lie:

"CONCLUSION

Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment , we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President 's conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

(Muller Report, page 8, emphasis added). The old "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." sayings in George Orwell's book "1984" comes to mind because Mueller said no exoneration but Donald Dump said total exoneration.

Since a very small minority of citizens have read the Mueller Report, the general public has only one way of knowing the truth (The Pillars of Knowledge: Faith and Trust?).

"Who ya gonna call?"

Now, it will be possible to listen to and watch the the entire Mueller Report, thanks to some members of The House of Representatives:

"From noon Thursday, more than 20 Democratic representatives will read out the entire redacted Mueller report at the Capitol. And organizer Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania thinks that number is likely to grow.

According to The Washington Post, which reported the news Tuesday, the lengthy reading will be live-streamed and later shared as an audiobook. The session will take place in the House Rules Committee Room, and Scanlon estimated it could take between 12 and 14 hours."

(Newsweek, How to Watch House Members Read Full Redacted Mueller Report Starting Noon on Thursday).

Download it and read it, listen to it, or watch it ("It's a free country").

The the next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Rebellion (Lies)
by Arcade Fire

Sleeping is giving in,
No matter what the time is.
Sleeping is giving in,
so lift those heavy eyelids.
People say that you'll die faster than without water.
But we know it's just a lie,
Scare your son and scare your daughter.
People say that your dreams are the only things that save ya.
Come on baby in our dreams,
We can live our misbehavior.
Every time you close your eyes lies, lies!
People try and hide the night underneath the covers.
People try and hide the light underneath the covers.
Come on hide your lovers
Underneath the covers.
Come on hide your lovers
Underneath the covers.
Hidin' from your brothers underneath the covers,
Come on hide your lovers underneath the covers.
People say that you'll die faster than without water,
But we know it's just a lie, scare your son, scare your daughter
Now here's the sun, it's alright!
Now here's the moon, it's alright!
Now here's the sun, it's alright!
Now here's the moon, it's alright!
But every time you close your eyes, lies!

---

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How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 5

Alt Demockcrazy

One can identify a despotic body ("a despotic minority") by the psychological "DNA"  of the despotic head of that despotic body.

What revels in ignorance, is red all over, lies about all of it all of the time, and has a minority of millions of despots as apprentices?

Answer: The Don (The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan - 2);

A wanna-be despot who fell in love with a real despot:

“I was really being tough, and so was he,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Kim. “And we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love, OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they’re great letters. We fell in [red] love.”

(Wall Street Jungle). On another lust-for-power-money valentine front, Jarred Cashner fell in love with with Mohammed "I have Jarred in my pocket" bin Salman (a.k.a. "MBS ...Money, Big money, Some more money):

"In March, Saudi Arabia was on the brink of a new age of modernity. At the epicenter of the transformation were Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser.

But allegations this week that bin Salman — or MBS, as he is known — ordered the brazen murder of a dissident Saudi journalist in Istanbul, Turkey, have roiled the prince’s reputation as a modernizer.

So where does that leave Kushner, who cultivated a close friendship with MBS in part to advance Kushner’s efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks? Does Kushner counsel the president to distance the United States from Saudi Arabia? Or does he wait out the storm and return to the [red] bromance when things are quieter?"

(JTA, Jarred + Mohammed Bromance, emphasis added). Jarred is one of millions of apprentices of the wannabe despot: The "Biggly Red" Don.

So is the red republican mob in congress, the red republican mob in state legislatures that practice gerrymandering, and sixty-two some odd million red voting apprentices.

It does not end any better than it began (How To Identify The Despotic Minority, 2, 3, 4).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Etiology of Social Dementia - 18

Once upon a civilization

I. Individual Dementia Pales In

Comparison To Group Dementia

This post declares that The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump is not as dangerous as the group dementia that produced him is.

The simple argument supporting that declaration is that he is only one person.

He is an individual who is a member of a group of about 62,984,825 people who, in varying degrees (0-100), have the same group dementia.

One thing that has happened to most civilizations is something that has been fatal to each and every one of them.

That something is the dementia that produces and ends up in 'suicide':

"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."

(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). There is no cure for the final symptom of that group dementia (there is only prevention by way of avoiding it altogether in the first place).

The components of that group dementia were pointed out in an encyclopedia article concerning the historian quoted above:

"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority. Unlike Spengler in his The Decline of the West, Toynbee did not regard the death of a civilization as inevitable, for it may or may not continue to respond to successive challenges. Unlike Karl Marx, he saw history as shaped by spiritual, not economic forces" ...

(Encyclopedia Britannica, emphasis added). The show stopper (in terms of remedy, in this type of group dementia) is that it is a contagious dementia.

That form of dementia is contagious whether individual dementia is or is not contagious (see e.g. The Red Hot Debate about Transmissible Alzheimer's, Can Dementia Be Contagious?).

Group dynamics, in this context, are contagions to those who become ideological members of a demented group within a society.

Applying that to current society, we can easily recognize the rampant nationalism and militarism in our culture.

Focusing on the third factor ("tyranny of a despotic minority") tends to be much more difficult.

So here are the numbers concerning the minority we are talking about:

Clinton
65,853,516
48.18%

Trump
62,984,825
46.09%

(Federal Election Commission). A minority consisting of some 62,984,825 people voted for President Trump (but it was a smaller subgroup within that group who cast the 304 electoral votes that actually won the election for him).

II. On The Meaning of 'Despotic' and 'Minority'

The historian Toynbee (quoted in Section I above) identified the suicidal characteristics of the despotic minority group as nationalism, militarism, and tyranny (Reeling From Flynn Deal, Alex Jones Issues Civil War ‘Red Alert’—for 15th Time in Two Months).

The 62,984,825 voters are a minority, and the 65,853,516 are a majority by definition (a slim 2.09% majority).

Moving on to 'despotic,' we find that in that violent insurrection oriented group sense, it is associated with despotism:

... societies which limit respect and power to specific groups have also been called despotic.

(Wikipedia). There need not be a dictator or other autocratic individual in order to meet Toynbee's description set forth in his study, especially in the sense of the description "the tyranny of a despotic minority."

In this sense, a minority means a group composed of a population less than the majority of a society (but wielding substantial directional influence).

Note that this would not be possible in the United States if it was a democracy rather than a constitutional republic with an Electoral College that can elect presidents without a majority popular vote (as in the 2016 election of Donald Trump).

To fit into the Toynbee description, all that is needed is that the group be despotic in nature, which is to be 'authoritarian' (a synonym).

This type of authoritarian despotism requires two fundamental characteristics:

Authoritarianism is something authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders cook up between themselves. It happens when the followers submit too much to the leaders, trust them too much, and give them too much leeway to do whatever they want -- which often is something undemocratic, tyrannical and brutal. In my day, authoritarian fascist and authoritarian communist dictatorships posed the biggest threats to democracies, and eventually lost to them in wars both hot and cold. But authoritarianism itself has not disappeared, and I'm going to present the case in this book that the greatest threat to American democracy today arises from a militant authoritarianism that has become a cancer upon the nation.

(The Authoritarians, book by Bob Altemeyer, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, PDF). Put those two together (leaders and followers) in a group with despotic ideology and we have a structure matching and composing a despotic group of the type that historian Toynbee wrote about.

But, in this case the despotism is "soft despotism" to wit:

"Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people.

Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. Soft despotism breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that this trend was avoided in America only by the "habits of the heart" of its 19th-century populace."

(Soft Despotism, Wikipedia). The way the despotism is maintained by a minority has been explained by "the father of spin" (The Ways of Bernays).

III. The Current Soft Despotism
Is Hardening Into Tribalism

The concept of tribalism is probably easier for us to understand, because it has been engineered to fruition in our time:

"But then we don’t really have to wonder what it’s like to live in a tribal society anymore, do we? Because we already do. Over the past couple of decades in America, the enduring, complicated divides of ideology, geography, party, class, religion, and race have mutated into something deeper, simpler to map, and therefore much more ominous. I don’t just mean the rise of political polarization (although that’s how it often expresses itself), nor the rise of political violence (the domestic terrorism of the late 1960s and ’70s was far worse), nor even this country’s ancient black-white racial conflict (though its potency endures).

I mean a new and compounding combination of all these differences into two coherent tribes, eerily balanced in political power, fighting not just to advance their own side but to provoke, condemn, and defeat the other."

(America Wasn’t Built for Humans). The group psychology at work forming our minds and thoughts when tribalism prevails is enmity towards "the other."

Recent scientific papers have pointed out that our culture, and in some cases our subculture, is "remodeling" our brains all the time:

"Beyond such internal mechanisms of variation, environment-driven plasticity lends yet another layer of complexity to the brain. The brain is capable of remarkable remodeling in response to experience. Signals originating from the environment can cause both widespread and localized adaptations. At the level of individual cells, structure and function are continually changing with the environment in a dance of lifelong brain plasticity, and some experiences, such as stress or physical exercise, affect the growth, survival, and fate of newborn neurons in neurogenic regions of the brain.
...
Traditionally, cells are defined by the tissue to which they belong as well as their particular functional role or morphology. This classification represents a developmental trajectory that begins early in embryogenesis and is hardwired into each cell. But other differences among cells are more subtle. Multi-dimensional analyses of gene expression and other metrics have revealed remarkable heterogeneity among cells of the same traditional “type.” Cells exist in different degrees of maturation, activation,plasticity, and morphology. Once we begin to consider all of the subtle cell-to-cell variations, it becomes clear that the number of cell types is much greater than ever imagined. In fact, it may be more appropriate to place some cells along a continuum rather than into categories at all.
...
Brain cells in particular may be as unique as the people to which they belong. This genetic, molecular, and morphological diversity of the brain leads to functional variation that is likely necessary for the higher-order cognitive processes that are unique to humans. Such mosaicism may have a dark side, however. Although neuronal diversification is normal, it is possible that there is an optimal extent of diversity for brain function and that anything outside those bounds—too low or too high—may be pathological. For example, if neurons fail to function optimally in their particular role or environment, deficits could arise. Similarly, if neurons diversify and become too specialized to a given role, they may lose the plasticity required to change and function normally within a larger circuit. As researchers continue to probe the enormous complexity of the brain at the single-cell level, they will likely begin to uncover the answers to these questions—as well as those we haven’t even thought to ask yet."

(Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala - 5). We know more about some of those dynamics than those previous civilizations did, civilizations that went down by "suicide" (self-destruction).

Will that superior scientific knowledge we have be sufficient to make us aware of ways to avoid the suicidal fate that engulfed previous groups (which we call "civilizations") recorded in our written history?

IV. Conclusion

The previous post in this series is here.

The Empire Strikes Back - 7

Health Care Is The Greatest Enemy

No terrorist threat has been able to endanger over twenty million Americans as they live their daily lives.

Until Oil-Qaeda came out and revealed themselves in the last election via T-Rex (The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan - 5).

Russian collusion is the least of the worries the American citizenry has to consider (Will The Military Become The Police?, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

Mega-Oil-Qaeda within is the major threat to millions of Americans as we teeter on the edge of oblivion (Humble Oil-Qaeda; Oil-Qaeda: The Indictment, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; The Peak of the Oil Lies, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Oil-Qaeda: The Deadliest Parasite Of Civilization, 2; MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact, 2, 3, 4, 5; The Authoritarianism of Climate Change).

It has been military doctrine for decades that the best way to defeat an enemy is to deceive them (Is War An Art or Is War A Disease?, 2, 3).

It would seem that there is a reason that military operatives and billionaires make up the current center of power in Washington, D.C.

Deceit is their credo (The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) because deceit (The Deceit Business) is in their epigenetic makeup (The Homeland: Big Brother Plutonomy, 2, 3, 4, 8).

It is not hidden from those who want to see it, but it is so big it can't be envisioned in one setting (Banker Jekyll Will Hyde Your Money, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; Epigovernment: The New Model, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

As it turns out, there is little difference between futile and feudal (American Feudalism, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

Ask yourself:  Why Is The Government Conditioning Us To Austerity? and dig the video below.

The previous post in this series is here.

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R.I.P. Leonard Cohen

The New Yorker

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Everybody knows ...

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In the Fog of The Presstitutes - 4

ad nauseum

I. Background

Like other Dredd Blog Series, this series is an exposé of the coverage cover-up of the news subject which the Guardian calls "The Biggest Story In The World."

In today's post, I want to show one way in which that cover-up is taking place by the mainstream media (MSM), which I call McTell News.

That cover-up issue is "how much attention is McTell News paying" or to the contrary, "how much is Oil-Qaeda paying McTell News not to pay attention" to The Biggest Story In The World?

II. Mainstream News History

Since about the time of WW I, both the business world and government have used McTell News to deceive the public on various and sundry matters (The Deceit Business, Mocking America, 2, 3, 4).

The media structure is part of a trinity construct (MOMCOM: A Mean Welfare Queen) ultimately controlled and/or influenced by a private empire (MOMCOM: The Private Parts) which I sometimes call the epigovernment (Epigovernment: The New Model).

I mention this, because The Biggest Story In The World is contrary to their interests, and is therefore the reason for their cover-up.

This will be abundantly shown below.

III. The Non-coverage Cover-Up

A. Data Source and Formula

The venerable Media Matters folks do a very fine job of keeping an eye on McTell News, so today I will use their data.

I will use their data in the following formula: dy * hd * mh = my

where:

dy = days in a year (365.25)
hd = hours in a day (24)
mh = minutes in an hour (60)
my = total minutes in a year (525,960)

hence: 365.25 * 24 * 60 = 525,960

B. The Coverage Cover-Up Data

Next, let's review the total minutes of coverage of The Biggest Story In The World for each of the last six years (2009-2014) by the McTell News brands ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX.

The combined figures are:

format is year - minutes:

2009 - 205
2010 - 48
2011 - 47
2012 - 67
2013 - 129
2014 - 154
=========
6 yrs. - 650 min.

Total coverage, in minutes, in all of the last 6 years combined, by all 4 of those McTell News entities (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) is 650 minutes to cover The Biggest Story In The World (Media Matters, Jan. 2015).

C. The Percent of Total Minutes

In Section III(A), above, I calculated that in each year there were 525,960 minutes available to cover The Biggest Story In The World.

The total amount of minutes available to McTell News in those 6 years is: 525,960 * 6 = 3,155,760 minutes.

We can calculate the percentage of total minutes available to cover The Biggest Story In The World compared to how many minutes McTell News used to cover The Biggest Story In The World:

650 minutes ÷ 3,155,760 minutes = 0.000205973
0.000205973 * 100 = 0.021%

The total percent of available time they used is two hundreths of one percent.

Not even one percent of the total minutes available to them for The Biggest Story In The World was used to cover it.

IV. The Propaganda Aspects of The Cover-Up

A. The Big Picture

Let's remember that The Biggest Story In The World is that burning fossil fuels causes global warming induced climate change.

Which includes all that it entails, such as sea level rise, is a threat.

A threat not only to civilization, but also to all of the Earth's biota (A Paper From Hansen et al. Is Now Open For Discussion).

Let's remember that The Biggest Story In The World is about the Sixth Mass Extinction, now under way, because of the use of poison fossil fuels.

Those poisons are controlled, owned, and/or operated by Oil-Qaeda.

B. Deliberate Deceit by Oil-Qaeda

The Union of Concerned Scientists recently pointed out:

"Internal fossil fuel industry memos reveal decades of disinformation — a deliberate campaign to deceive the public that continues even today.

For nearly three decades, many of the world's largest fossil fuel companies have knowingly worked to deceive the public about the realities and risks of climate change.

Their deceptive tactics are now highlighted in this set of seven "deception dossiers"—collections of internal company and trade association documents that have either been leaked to the public, come to light through lawsuits, or been disclosed through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.

Each collection provides an illuminating inside look at this coordinated campaign of deception, an effort underwritten by ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell, Peabody Energy, and other members of the fossil fuel industry."

(The Criminally Insane Epoch Arises - 4). The oil industry, Oil-Qaeda, does not care about the millions of lives they are destroying and/or damaging.

Thus, they are guilty of depraved-heart murder (Oil-Qaeda & MOMCOM Conspire To Commit Depraved-Heart Murder).

The McTell News is also guilty, since they are also instrumental in the propaganda and cover-up (Media Matters: "How Media Has Helped Advance Big Oil's Climate Deception Campaign").

V. Conclusion

The public is being kept unaware of the colossal failure of the private empire and government.

Their (the 1%) assumptions about themselves, and their assumptions about us (the 99%), were and are wrong.

They believed that it was and still is their place to tell us what to wear, think, eat, and do:

THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
...
It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice.

(A Closer Look At MOMCOM's DNA - 4, quoting Propaganda). To them, we are the hoi polloi which they charitably put up with, as they build a glorious world for all to behold.

They are now full of denial and deceit, because they have brought civilization to the brink, and have no clue now about how to do anything truly remedial about it.

Thus, they are very desperate and dangerous now (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

The previous post in this series is here.

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"People turn the TV on, it looks just like a window, yeah" - lyrics here

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The Fruits of A Celebrity World of Illusion - 2

Inside the New Science of Motivation

I. Introduction

In the first post of this series we took a look at the book "Empire of Illusion" by author Chris Hedges.

Today, we will take a look at another book that is of a similar genre, albeit one concerning personal illusion rather than mass-population-illusion, such as a cultural trance or group-mind trance (e.g. Comparing a Group-Mind Trance to a Cultural Amygdala, Choose Your Trances Carefully, 2).

The author of the book we take a glance at, today, is determined to let us know what true positive thinking really is.

Let me attempt to illustrate that premise with a joke the author of the book uses, a joke that helps to stimulate our ability to focus, because the author who is a doctor, is all about strengthening our ability to actually make use of real positive thinking.

The doctor does that by first humorously showing us what the concept of positive thinking is, and what it is not:

Ever hear the joke about the guy who dreams of winning the lottery? After years of desperate fantasizing, he cries out for God’s help. Down from heaven comes God’s advice: “Would you buy a ticket already?!”

(Dare to Dream of Falling Short). Or, as Forrest Gump exclaimed: "your chances of winning the lottery get a lot better if you buy a ticket."

Let's use "buying the ticket" as a metaphor for doing what must be done in order to win, and let's apply it in this situation:

It's one of the jokes of our time that we Americans have literally plowed trillions of dollars into what’s called “national security” in the post-9/11 years without seriously facing climate change, a phenomenon that, if not brought under control, guarantees us a kind of insecurity we’ve never known. Call it irony or call it idiocy, but call it something.

(Celebrity Oil-Qaeda). The word "joke," like most words in our doublespeak culture, can have two or more meanings.

II. Will The Real Positive Thinking Come Forth

The author of the book, shown in the graph at the top of the post, goes on to show that improper or imaginary "positive thinking" is a detriment:

Conventional wisdom has it that dreams are supposed to excite us and inspire us to act. Putting this to the test, Dr. Oettingen recruits a group of undergraduate college students and randomly assigns them to two groups. She instructs the first group to fantasize that the coming week will be a knockout: good grades, great parties and the like; students in the second group are asked to record all their thoughts and daydreams about the coming week, good and bad.

Strikingly, the students who were told to think positively felt far less energized and accomplished than those who were instructed to have a neutral fantasy. Blind optimism, it turns out, does not motivate people; instead, as Dr. Oettingen shows in a series of clever experiments, it creates a sense of relaxation complacency. It is as if in dreaming or fantasizing about something we want, our minds are tricked into believing we have attained the desired goal.

There appears to be a physiological basis for this effect: Studies show that just fantasizing about a wish lowers blood pressure, while thinking of that same wish — and considering not getting it — raises blood pressure. It may feel better to daydream, but it leaves you less energized and less prepared for action.

Thinking she could get people to act on their wishes by confronting them immediately with the real obstacles that stood in their way, Dr. Oettingen and her colleagues developed a technique called mental contrasting.

In one study, she taught a group of third graders a mental-contrast exercise: They were told to imagine a candy prize they would receive if they finished a language assignment, and then to imagine several of their own behaviors that could prevent them from winning. A second group of students was instructed only to fantasize about winning the prize. The students who did the mental contrast outperformed those who just dreamed.

So much for the relentless “you can do it” attitude that pervades our culture. Apparently, being mindful not just of your dreams, but also of the real barriers that you or the world place in their way, is a far more effective way of achieving your goals.

It seems like an obvious and deceptively simple concept, yet according to the author, only one in six people spontaneously thinks this way when asked what accomplishment is foremost in his or her mind.

(ibid, emphasis added). So, just in case you might be wondering what this has to do with a celebrity world of illusion, we have to remember that celebrity is merely being widely known about, i.e., having fame.

The recent talk about a Chinese - U.S. agreement on greenhouse gases received a lot of celebrity in the media.

That idea or dream is said to be a very good one, so we must "think positively" about it.

But, based on the habits and history of celebrity, perhaps it is wiser to wait to see what action is taken, and what action is not taken.

III. Celebrity Worship Is Not Positive Thinking

The recent Sony hack attack is an example of the effects which blind faith develops.

Even though some competent experts are not sure that the government / media  explanations are correct (Did North Korea Really Attack Sony?, cf. Inside Job?), as a nation we still tend to swallow the media story without proper confirmation (The Pillars of Knowledge: Faith and Trust?).

When we consider members of government, business / entertainment, or science to be celebrities who are going to take care of / protect us no matter what, we are decidedly not thinking positively.

Rather, we are wishfully thinking in a very deceptive and dangerous manner, unless we demand to see positive results too.

This wishful belief that takes place inside the celebrity bubble is, unfortunately, a deeply embedded trance in our culture.

A cultural trance that has been around for ages:

ON THE night of October 22, 1929, one of America’s most widely known economists addressed a great banquet of credit men. Not only were Wall Street prices not too high, he told his delighted hearers, but we were really only on the threshold of the greatest boom in the nation’s history. The prophecy evoked a burst of applause. Next morning, a few minutes after the great bell announced the opening of trading on the Stock Exchange, the storm broke. The greatest economic depression in our history was formally ushered in — though it had been in progress for some time. From this point on, as the country slowly roused itself to a consciousness of the far-spreading crisis, leaders in politics and business repeated with invincible optimism that it was all just a wholesome corrective. After several years a waggish commentator published a little volume called Oh, Yeah! It was a sardonic recording of the persistent and unconquerable stream of promises of quickly returning health. There you will find recorded the statements of statesmen, financiers, university professors, leading economists, and editors assuring the people that it was all a blessing in disguise, a corrective phenomenon, that the broad highway to renewed prosperity lay just ahead. All of which proved quite conclusively that these men did not know what they were talking about because they had no understanding of the economic system under which they lived. Then came the collapse of 1933 on the grand scale — and a resumption of the bright prophecies of happy days.

(As We Go Marching, by John T. Flynn, 1944, page 166). Some may remember that during a recent presidential race (which are more and more about celebrity issues rather than being about working / middle class issues) one of the celebrities running for president was asked about the then-current "economic problems."

He replied: "what economic problems?" just as some of his ancestors with "clueless genes" had said just before the events leading up to the not so Great Depression.

That clueless ideology is still here with us in Petroleum Civilization (You Are Here).

IV. Petroleum Civilization

Yes, our current civilization actually is Petroleum Civilization, because as the U.S. Department of Energy pointed out:

"Oil is the lifeblood of America’s economy" [- U.S. Department of Energy]
...
If oil is the lifeblood, it being a finite resource, and said to be peaking in 2014 (if it has not peaked already as some say) our nation needs a blood transfusion or we will die out economically.

The truth of the matter is that the earth environment with its oxygen, water, food, and protection is the lifeblood of every living thing and nation.

Green renewable blood is better than toxic oil blood because green is of by and for the people, in the sense that the people need new blood that will not run out, or destroy the environment along with humanity itself.

(Do We Need A Blood Transfusion?, emphasis added). In a medical sense, people, nations, and civilizations are alive based on their having "blood" --which means oil, petroleum, i.e. fossil fuels, when metaphorically applied to Petroleum Civilization.

Hence, Oil-Qaeda is a celebrity because of the billions of dollars it spends on advertising and other ways of propaganda (Oil-Qaeda: The Indictment, 2, 3, 4) that present Oil-Qaeda as the lifeblood giver.

Rather than virtually worshipping such celebrities via wishful thinking, government and business celebrities need to get busy about getting busy.

That is, they need to get busy, yesterday, about the real "positive thinking" that requires clear thinking combined with positive action.

Bring on the blood transfusion (Greenland’s Ice Sheet Shifts Could Speed Melt).

V. Petroleum Civilization & Wishful Thinking

There are scientists and others who say that Petroleum Civilization is going to collapse soon (circa 2030).

Others disagree by saying, in effect, what ends up being the same thing, i.e., that Petroleum Civilization will not collapse until circa 2100.

Both are correct, because within the context of the 200,000 year time frame of human existence those dates are both "soon or near term" at the civilization level (even if that is not so soon based on an individual person's lifetime).

Petroleum Civilization is now on suicide watch without doubt, but that is not the end of the matter (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4).

The direction toward suicide is only one direction on the highway, but hopefully it is not yet a one way highway, even though it could be.

It has lanes, plural, and they go both ways like most highways do (or they might be called one-way streets).

But, as the following song lyrics and video below show, it is not the highway that moves.

The "rolling wheels" and the "flying carpet" are the vehicles that move upon the highway, or in the sky:

i am not your rolling wheels I am the highway
i am not your carpet ride I am the sky

("I Am The Highway"). The highway and sky are already both where each "is going" and where each "is coming from."

Two ideologies can be on the same highway, but, at the same time be a thousand miles apart.

Thus, it is the vehicles that must traverse the highway, not the other way around.

This is a metaphor for true positive thinking which is both the highway and the vehicle.

The destination is arrived at via the highway, but the vehicle is the entity that must move, the entity that must be moving in the direction of the destination.

The vehicle is included in real positive thinking, which only exists when real positive steps in the proper direction are taken on the highway.

The highway that both government and business must travel in order to reach the destination.

VI. The Point

Hopeful thinking alone without positive doing is false positive thinking, because hopeful thinking is only the highway.

It does not include the moving vehicle.

The real and lasting point is that the illusion of positive thinking urged upon us by government, business, and the media, is nothing more than an incomplete and illusory cognition.

It is absent the vehicle, absent the positive steps needed to save carbon-based life from Petroleum Civilization.

True positive thinking includes the positive action of a blood transfusion that removes petroleum fuels and replaces them with fuels compatible with the Earth's environment ("As it happens, the planet’s changing climate now demands that we summon up the energy to leave behind the Age of Fossil Fuel ..." - Rebecca Solnit).

VII. The Conclusion

Denial is actually two layers deep (Exceptional American Denial).

The first layer of denial is composed of those who deny any possibility or probability of global warming induced climate change, along with the catastrophes it has been spawning for years (The Most Brazen Lie Of 2014).

The second layer of denial is composed of those who are able to grasp the dire message of climate science, including those celebrities in government and business who are capable of acting on it seriously and adequately, but who are not seriously and adequately doing so (New Climate Catastrophe Policy: Triage).

This is because of their false positive thinking such as "technology will solve the problem for us, so we don't have to take any difficult steps."

That thinking is actually advanced by celebrities in government, business, and the media.

Whether or not this two-tiered denial has already caused the ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction to include the human race is disputed (MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Nevertheless, the growth of the acceptance of the possibility / probability of human extinction should must not be ignored (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4).

The previous post in this series is here.

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"I am the Highway", by Audioslave (lyrics here)

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