Monday, December 19, 2011

Be of Good Cheer!



We spend our time blogging about how horrible things are, and they are. We get all wound up and going on an anti-Obama thread, and then some realist goes and blows it by asking, "what can we do about it? How can we fix it?" And that's when the dark pessimism sets in. How do you get the powerful to relinquish their power and return it the people, the rightful owners?

Fausty, a UK libertarian blogger, wrote a nice blog post awhile back entitled simply, Truth. In it, he puts the impending great global collapse in an optimistic light, rejoicing that the rotten edifice of lies will groan under it's own weight and eventually come tumbling down.
"The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is."  -- Winston Churchill
Fausty celebrates truth, the increasing lack of which is discrediting the official commentariate and the lying liars in the political and business class that they report upon. We proles have educated ourselves, he notes, and we've learned much over these past few years, so much so that we smell their stinking lies as soon as they are unpacked, we no longer uncritically accept the propaganda.

Even as we get smarter, the mouthpieces have gotten more brazen with their tenuous twaddle, straining credulity to the point of breaking...
In 2008, for instance, the authors of most of the top-rated comments in national newspapers like the Telegraph would have been dismissed as "swivel-eyed loonies", had they expressed then what they express now, with such passion.
He's right.  We're caught in a slow-rolling avalanche of debt and despair, but they continue spinning fairy tales with a determined seriousness that sometimes has me thinking that maybe they really believe what they're saying.  Man's capacity for self-delusion is stunning.


Real Hope and Change:  Progressivism's End

The global progressive money-manipulating, freedom-stealing scheme is at its end, yet the practitioners continue spinning tarradiddle-stuffed fantasies to buy themselves more time. But like a losing gambler with a cocaine jones, they can only stave off the inevitable for so long. The jig will be up.

This is the part of Fausty's post that completely flipped my thinking around, wiped away my pessimism and gave me hope:
The funny thing about truth is that once it's out, there's no way of stuffing it back into its box. Once born, it lives and nourishes.

Lies and spin, on the other hand, must be constantly tended and patched up. To achieve that aim requires an enormous expenditure of effort and resources. The greater the lie, the greater the stakes and the harder the fall for its proponents. The web of lies eventually destroys itself via its own mass of contradictions; it ceases to make sense. Once born, the big lie ensures its own destruction.
That's where we are now - truth gaining on the lie. People are waking up in ever greater numbers.
Yes. The truth will out. Humankind has survived for millennia, and Americans in particular have a gift for reinventing ourselves. To quote a song from the wonderful musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, "Up from the ashes grow the roses of success."

32 comments:

Always On Watch said...

The global progressive money-manipulating, freedom-stealing scheme is at its end, yet the practitioners continue spinning tarradiddle-stuffed fantasies to buy themselves more time. But like a losing gambler with a cocaine jones, they can only stave off the inevitable for so long.

Spot on!

They are perseverating -- just as those with autism do.

Ducky's here said...

"Reason is powerful and unshakeable but it cannot resist a man determined to continue living."

Franz Kafka

Ducky's here said...

I'm fascinated by Libertarians who are in possession of "the truth" especially in economics.

Britain has been in decline ever since Thatcher and "New Labor" merely compounded the matter by assuming that as long as the banksters increased earnings and paid taxes all was well.

We know that didn't work out.

We spend time throwing mud at each other but never get together on what we agree on and what to do about it. Myself, I think that as long as we have a culture with no investigative media which is drowned in pop culture we are in big trouble.

Jersey McJones said...

"The global progressive money-manipulating, freedom-stealing scheme is at its end"

:/

WTF??

What are you talking about? What "progressive" "money-manipulating, freedom-stealing scheme?"

Where do you guys come up with this? What exactly is "progressive" about this?

JMJ

Anonymous said...

I admire the optimism in the face of the hopelessness in the world, but if only Truth were that simple then I'd probably share in your optimism.

There's two problems humanity faces when confronted with the idea of Truth. Problem one is that real Truth, universal and absolute, is a lot more difficult to discover than we think. Human reason is the process by which we try to match our minds with the world around us. The problem is that one human mind is vastly different from another. So whose mind fits reality the best? Yours does, right?

And therein lies the second problem: people often don't want to believe the Truth, because many times it's so drastically counterintuitive to how they "feel" and to what they "believe."

People will decry Truth as being false, and those people are denounced as "ignorant," or "sleepers," or "conspirators." So knowing that there are people who will vehemently disagree with what you believe to be truth, you should ask yourself "what if I'm the one that's wrong? What makes my perception so special?"

As I've written before, the mind is a prison. I believe in absolute and universal Truth, but I'm not entirely sure how many humans, if any of us, are able to accurately perceive it.

And just as a disclaimer, I don't think I'm accurately able to perceive it.

Infidel de manahatta said...

Good post.

In my humble opinion, there could be worse things than than the collapse of fiat currencies.

It would force people (and governments) to live within their means.

We've been living on credit since the '70s and now the bill is due.

dmarks said...

Progressivism, liberalism, socialism, etc are the reveral of hundreds of years of human progress. An attempt to shift the balance of power from the ruled to the rulers.

Jersey said: "What are you talking about? What "progressive" "money-manipulating, freedom-stealing scheme?" Where do you guys come up with this? What exactly is "progressive" about this?"

He's talking about typical progressivism, actually. Meddling in our money, reducing our freedoms, all of it.

Anonymous said...

A Yuletide Carol

Announce with Joy the Birth of Love and Peace.
Ye cynics, cease your sour scolding strains.
Unbridled Confidence might yet soon release
Leavening ~ lightening loads while making gains.
Enjoy the Season. Do not question whether
Truth and Love in Peace can reign supreme.
Idolizing Doubt shortens our tether ~
Declaring Good lives only in a Dream.
Each citizen of earth needs to believe ~
Cherish faith in all that augurs well ~
Act as if there is no cause to grieve ~
Rejoice! Be kind! Of great Glad Tidings tell:
Our lives can now in Joy be lived, if we
Leave fear behind, and trust the Deity.


~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper, Christmas 1996

And just who is "The Deity?" He is the embodiment and perfect expression of Truth, Love, Beauty, Intelligence, Courage, Principle, Spirit, Soul, Honesty, Compassion, Integrity, Creativity, Insight, Respect, Optimism, Selflessness, Perseverance, and Joy. He is LIFE, itself.

"And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people ..."

God is Truth. Truth is everlasting.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

~ FT

Silverfiddle said...

FT: Thank you for the carol!

Jersey: The Federal Reserve and the global monetary system is a progressive project writ large, and it's foundation is crumbling, because it is made of sand and wishful thinking. You cannot spin gold out of straw.

Jack Camwell: Fausty is not talking about "The Truth," but rather the truth that the European Social state is fiscally untenable and teetering on the brink. Our situation is similar here in the US.

The truth is, the bankers and the ruling elites have always scratched one anothers' backs, and it was all well and good back when they were competent and responsible. Now, their greed has brought us to the breaking point, and there is no denying the truth that they have blown it.

About all Ducky and I could agree upon is that the press has done a horrible job, and the irrationally exuberant use of credit (rather than making people and government pay as they go) have brought us to this point.

Jersey McJones said...

Silver, what are you talking about? I don;t know any progressives who would agree with that. None of us are happy with the Fed. A truly central bank would be a nice idea, but the Fed is just a corporatist shill for the banks. There's nothing "progressive" about it. Jeez man, you still have Glenn Back on the brain, huh? You guys just willy nilly stick labels on things as they suit you with no concern for reality whatsoever. Has it ever occurred to you guys to think for yourselves?

JMJ

Silverfiddle said...

Jersey: You're always barking on about history. Please go read some concerning the roots of the Federal Reserve. I am not one of those who believe it to be an evil cabal, but it was set up in the progressive era by progressives.

I'll grant you that progressives today hate what it has become, but it is a progressive institution born out of the progressive era; taking freedoms from individuals and vesting authority in big institutions for the "good of all."

Anonymous said...

"I am not one of those who believe it to be an evil cabal, but it was set up in the progressive era by progressives."

Well, my friend, if that is not a clear definition of the work of "an evil cabal" I can't imagine what would be.

It doesn't matter whether you call it "Marxism," "Bolshevism," "Progressivism," Liberalism," Naziism," "Nannyism," "Statism," "Corporatism," "Fascism," "Crony Capitalism," or "Glammagagaism;" "IT" is all about assuring and securing the ever-increasing concentration of Centralized Power -- i.e. "Tyranny," "Despotism," "Authoritarianism," "Totalitarianism," in other words ENSLAVEMENT of the INDIVIDUAL and ERADICATION of INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS and FREEDOMS.

The Devil is the Devil whether you call him "Satan," "Lucifer," "Beelzebub," "The Demon," "Old Scratch," or "Old Nick."

It's not "simplistic," it is very very SIMPLE.

Our Enemy is the overmastering desire too many have to exercise Power and Control over the lives of others. That desire, I am convinced, emanates directly from SATAN.

I gave a pretty good metaphysical definition of GOD above. Let me take a shortcut and say that "The Devil" is the polar opposite.


~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

Each person creates their own reality of truth. Facts generally should aid in the develop of rational thinking. But we have a government and media who are no longer giving facts, but merely conveying their distortions based on denial of facts.

Jersey McJones said...

For Christ's sake, Silver, you sound like the only history you ever read was in some cheese-ball grammar school book.

"Progressive era" my ass.

The Fed was established to promote stability in capital markets, period. It was not some "progressive" dream come true. Progressives do not "regret" anything they did in that regard, because they didn't do it!

Now, if you're just some loon who think Wilson and TR were great "progressive" champions, well, what can I say? Keep drinking the Glenn Beck retard juice. No progressive thinks they way you think they do. Not a one.

JMJ

Ducky's here said...

"Freedom, talking about it and doing it are two different things"

- Jack Nicholson in "Easy Rider" (terrible film)

Silverfiddle said...

Jersey: I do not watch Glenn Beck, and progressives of the early 20th century were enamored of strong men and strong institutions. We're now living with the consequences.

@ "The Fed was established to promote stability in capital markets, period."

Yeah. How's that workin' out for ya?

dmarks said...

jersey said: "Keep drinking the Glenn Beck retard juice"

I see that Jersey, who passionately defends the gay-bashing 'Faggot' insult, likes to bash the mentally disabled.

Bashing them as "Retards" is pure hate speech. Time to get educated. I get by without bashing peopple for homosexuality, mental disability, race, etc in my speech. It's not so hard at all. You are the worst bigot I've seen on these blogs, right or left.

Shaw Kenawe said...

One of my favorite quotes on truth:

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
--Andre Gide

Trekkie4Ever said...

And one day the truth will set you free!

I am optimistic about the condition of this nation. I believe many people are waking up and realizing the world is not a bed of roses and the U.S. government is not the answer to all of our problems, in fact, it happens to be the problem.

Anonymous said...

Hello, Shaw!

Wonderful to see a reference to André Gide on these pages! You make me want to read The Counterfeiters again -- after fifty-odd years away from the experience.

A wise and brilliant man whose opinions drawn mostly from real life experience show that he drank deeply of The Cup of Life.

I remember he said something to the effect that while life had taught him a great deal, he was still loath to "conclude" -- which perfectly accompanies the quotation you offered.

Whether you celebrate it "officially" or not, have a lovely time this Christmas.

Best wishes too for the New Year, of course.

~ FreeThinke

Jersey McJones said...

Silver, again, you sound like a combination of Glenn Beck and a grammar school history textbook.

I know you have been taught, and accepted, that the Fed (of all things) is a product of progressivism, but you can not show what is progressive about it. You simply take what you have been taught and accept as fact, and do not critically look at what it is.

That's why that whole "progressive" mention in your post just struck me as such a random non sequitur.

Please tell me how exactly the Fed is a progressive institution. What is progressive about it? What progressive reasoning went into creating it?

Please?

JMJ

Anonymous said...

Jersey,

Here's a special Gift for you:


We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Performed by

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Canadian Brass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYiPQwKuig

Listen to that after copying and pasting the link, and I can practically guarantee your anger will dissipate, and a smile might come to your lips. With any luck a giggle or two of sheer delight will soon follow, but I wouldn't dare hope for too much.

Life is short, Jersey. Get happy before it's too late.

Cheerio!

~ VreeThinke

Ducky's here said...

Jersey, there have been central banks in the U.S. since 1790. I doubt many of the Fed haters on the right can give us a decent history of banking in the U.S.

It's a pretty arcane subject for some reason. They usually state "back to the gold standard" and end there, hardly comprehensive or satisfactory.

Anonymous said...

My dear, Ducky,

Since you obviously "know it ALL" -- or certainly would like us to think so -- why don't you share your vast store of knowledge with us, instead of merely chiding us for what you think may be lacking in ours?

Knowledge shared, if it be genuine, is nourishing and illuminating. Aspersions cast are a waste of time.

Meanwhile, the Best of The Season to you!

~ FreeThinke

Silverfiddle said...

Jersey: Liberals today adopted the term "Progressive" because they had besmirched the term "liberal." Most, apparently including you, don't know what the term really means.

Ducky. I would settle for a peg, but that's been tried.

Money manipulation is like changing the definition of an inch. Money is not wealth, it is a measure of wealth.

Silverfiddle said...

Shaw:

I was not speaking of the metaphysical "The Truth," but rather the little truths that reveal themselves everyday in an increasing crescendo. The elites have spun a web of lies, and now it's coming unraveled. There really is no such thing as a free lunch.

Finntann said...

Ducky, are you sure Kafke didn't mean:

"Reason is powerful and unshakeable but it cannot resist a man determined to continue lying?"


Jersey: Progressive money-manipulation:

If I take some of my savings and invest in GM and it loses money, I have only myself to blame.

When I don't invest in GM and it loses money and the government takes money from me and gives it to GM, I have only progressives to blame.

As it stands now, on the rare occasion when I work as little as a 40 hour work week, the government steps in and takes 10 of those hours. It gives the money to Solyandra, GM, and the millions who work and pay nothing. This is freedom? Sounds like 25% slavery to me.

We need outside the box solutions.

Things are so screwed up that a massive portion of the voter base has no vested interest in government beyond what it is willing to give them.

Things are so screwed up at this point that I would support a 10% increase in minimum wage if the government would just turn around and take it back in taxes and let the companies write it off. A zero sum proposal. Because what we have now is 10 houses on a dirt road where nine of the neighbors get together and vote to make #10 pay to pave it. That is what progressivism has become.

When you don't pay anything in income tax, or get it all back at the end of the year, what do you care if the rates go up?

Since you progressives all whine that 4 Trillion isn't enough, we need to raise revenue, how about an alternative minimum tax of say 1%. How would your entitlement ridden constituents react to that?

If you can get every man, woman, and child with an income to fork over 1%, I'll agree to a matching increase. Hell, get them to fork over 5%, I'll match it also. Lock any future tax increase to an across the board tax increase on all income earners and I'll pledge you my vote to support it.

What do you think fellow conservatives? Willing to go there to get a voter base that actually has a vested interest in voting? To get a voter base that actually cares about expenditures rather than entitlements? The voter's aren't becoming disenfranchised, they're becoming insulated and financially inured to the actions of their government.

Cheers!

Ducky's here said...

See that's the deal, Finntann, you are a Libertarian.

You are constitutionally unable, for some reason, to think in terms of common good, community, common property.

You're like a child and maybe it has something to do with tough potty training.

Finntann said...

No, it has to do with a sense of civic duty, self-reliance, responsibility, and any number of other archaic social concepts that have been replaced with your progressive entitlement culture.

Whereas the Democratic and Republican progressive bread and circus party has to do with buying votes and staying in power.

Progressivism is corrupt to the core.

I am thinking of the common good and the community, voters without vested interest in government aside from what they can get out of it is a sure recipe for failure.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

Anonymous said...

SOME FRIENDLY ADVICE:



Whether you're a doctor, 
a lawyer, an artist or an Edison,
May you ever at all times and in all ways 
Remember that Solomon says:
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."



CHEERIO!


~ FreeThinke

Chakam Conservative said...

Finn,

You said:
No, it has to do with a sense of civic duty, self-reliance, responsibility, and any number of other archaic social concepts that have been replaced with your progressive entitlement culture.

Whereas the Democratic and Republican progressive bread and circus party has to do with buying votes and staying in power.

Progressivism is corrupt to the core.

I am thinking of the common good and the community, voters without vested interest in government aside from what they can get out of it is a sure recipe for failure.
------------------

Brilliant, sir. Absolutely brilliant.

dmarks said...

Duck said of Finn: "You are constitutionally unable, for some reason, to think in terms of common good, community, common property."

Actually, since he is a libertarian, he does think in terms of common good and community. Much more than a socialist, as socialists think in terms of maximizing the power and privilege of the ruling elites at the expense of the people.

"Common property" is a misleading term, since it too often means 'government controlled', i.e. owned by the ruling class. Things are the best when as much property as possible is owned by the people, instead of by the state.

We could use with a lot more libertarianism. Things would be a lot better for everyone...except perhaps the socialists who believe in common property and all that rot.