Two views on the current state of the West. Both share a fairly grim tone. We need to as nations of the West turn things around. The classical liberal* principles that our societies were founded on need to be restored and refreshed in their primacy of how we exist as
Continue readingTag: Civilization
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Big Brother Is Watching You – and Yes, It Matters
I talked to my boy in the car this past weekend about what to do when he drives, if he has any problems; and he talked to me about the language learning, free software that he uses on his phone. Two days later, Virgin Mobile, now owned by Bell, sends
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Unspoken Privilege – English Privilege
We all know what White Privilege is but no one seems to speak about English Privilege. English privilege is simply the ability of English language speakers to get by practically anywhere in the world without learning another language. It brings with it a sense of entitlement. English speakers get annoyed
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Averting Fascism
Fascism is rising – here is how to avert it. A short video talk, linked below, sparked these thoughts, which I will share. May they bless us with the courage, and the presence of mind, to avert the rising of fascism once again – which, make no mistake, is indeed
Continue readingScripturient: Shopping carts, masks, and morality
The shopping cart theory — or rather the S.C. hypothesis, since it really isn’t a theory in the proper scientific sense — is a test of our humanity, or so the notion goes: The shopping cart is ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. But it’s
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The end of civilization? I’d like to see its beginning
Civilization? Technology does not define it. Morality does. That makes all empires uncivilized, because they are based in conquest, plunder, mass murder and theft. Amazing… Scholars still talking about the Roman Empire as civilized and civilizing… By what definition? Because they had sewers? I agree with Gandhi, Western civilization,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: On The Collapse of Civilization
Cheery stuff I know, but its interesting to see some of the trajectories we are on, and maybe if we shed enough light on them, we can can change them. Optimistic? Absolutely, but I’d rather have the motivation to continue the struggle than the gilded-glitz peace of the nihilist who
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The Greatest MIstake Humanity Ever Made
There are those who argue that the greatest mistake we humans ever made was agriculture. And they have a point. For 200,000 years we lived a hunter-gatherer way of life, and we did rather well. Evolving in Africa, we came to occupy every continent on Earth except for Antarctica. Then
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: That Can’t Happen In America…
How quickly we slip in barbarity. From Normalizing Atrocity, Ken Orphan writes on Counterpunch: “Thousands of socialists and leftists were marched into stadiums in Chile in the 1970s and gunned down, tortured, or disappeared in a country with a much smaller military than the US. Between 1965 and 1966,
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Primitive vs Civilized Societies
As someone born in 1950 and raised and educated in a Eurocentric culture I learned early that civilized societies are intellectually, socially, and technologically superior to primitive societies. This despite the fact that the indigenous peoples of this land I was born on have for centuries had their own distinct
Continue readingThings Are Good: Lunar Library Launched
A couple weeks ago a rocket blasted into space to deliver a satellite into orbit, this sort of thing is now routine. However, this rocket carried a unique payload destined for the lunar surface: a library. The Arch Mission Foundation is piggy backing a special disc on Spaxe IL’s lunar
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Paris Attacks In Contex
Propaganda, hysteria, ultra-violence and imperialism, as usual “A people unaware of its myths is likely to continue living by them.” – Richard Slotkin I have been too horrified by the predictably violent and insane reaction of the Western pow…
Continue readingScripturient: Hats, Manners and Society
I was at a local restaurant on the weekend, enjoying a nice meal with my wife. Of the six males – I hesitate to call them ‘men’ for reasons below – in the particular room in which we sat, I was the only one not wearing a baseball cap. I
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Don Iveson will stand the test of time
Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a politician! Naheed Nenshi has built a reputation as Canada’s coolest mayor, at least among young progressives. He’s big on the Twitter. He’s hip (by politician standards). He’s funny (by politician standards). He shatters the (unfair) stereotype of Calgary as Canada’s redneck wasteland. However,
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: My Grandfathers’ War
One hundred years ago World War I began, a war that started as a clash in a tiny, almost unknown Balkan state and blossomed into a violent, gruesome war that spread across Europe, the Middle East and reached into Africa and Asia. Within a few years, tens of millions would
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: The long course of civilization
“With the collapse of totalitarian empires, we believed that living together, peace, pluralism, and human rights would gain the ascendancy and the world would leave behind holocausts, genocides, invasions, and wars of extermination. None of that has occurred. New forms … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Info Graphic: The Evolution Of The Job Search
By The Canadian Progressive Reporters | Jan. 30, 2013 via The Daily Muse: We recommend:Fight for Internet freedom, ditch GoDaddy nowOperation Last Resort: Anonymous Declares ‘War’ On U.S. GovernmentWelcome to #Ottawapiskat, the “Settler Nations” reserve and Canada’s capitalOn Canada’s Independence Day, #DenounceHarper & #HappyCanadaDayThis year, Ramadan has a serious
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: America’s Shame – Guantanamo Bay
We have not written on America’s imperial adventures for awhile here at DWR. Constant examination of the antithesis of our civilization lays bare the soul, to touch the carefully crafted web we ensconce ourselves in and shake it till the dirty bitter truths rupture forth wearies the heart and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A New Civilization for a New Epoch
Goodbye Holocene, hello Anthropocene. The Holocene epoch of the past 12,000 years is said to be giving way to a new epoch, one in which man will be the key shaper, hence the name “Anthropo – cene.” The most significant feature of the new epoch will be a far harsher
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Dr. Tundra admits he has a problem
Once again, Dr. Tundra woke with a splitting headache, the feeling that he’d fallen asleep with a mouthful of half-masticated rat, and a pain in his lower back that could only be called apocalyptic. He opened his eyes; it felt … Continue reading →
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