Identity

 Identity 

All human Identify is

Based on stories

Stories we tell ourselves

Based on the stories

Handed down to us

Since the beginning of

Human communication 

It's how we establish

Our reality

These stories are based

On the selective information

We call 'facts'

Our vested interests intact

Since there are no such things

As 'facts'

Just perspectives

Agreed to by

Humans in charge

The 'winners'

So to speak

But

In spite of the overall

General stories

We each have our own

Individual stories too

Just as 'fact-free' as

The general ones

Merely perspectives

Guiding the rendering of

Our masks

What we want or

Expect others to see

Protects our vulnerabilities 

Our true realities 

We are human

After all

-LE 

Letters Of Marque

 

Letters Of Marque

That is 'privateers'

In other words

Pirates

Sanctioned by

Governments to

Raid and capture, or

Sink enemy

Commercial entities 

Ships, stores, and such

Their frequent symbol

The Jolly Roger

Crossed bones with

A grinning skull atop

Even though letters of marque

Officially faded away 

In the mid nineteenth century 

Modern 'privateers'

That is pirates

Still ply their trade

But they are now called

Hedge fund managers

I'm waiting for them

To use the traditional symbol 

With the skull grinnning

Back at you...

--LE - 7/28/25

Stock internet photo...

Leaving FB

 

I'm finally fed up with FB, its censorship, its constant load on my browser, causing constant buffering. I'm sick of its 'suggestions' for my reading interests, establishment trolls, etc. I'm also tired of politics in general. Too many posting there who don't bother to educated themselves about what is actually going on here (buy the flag waving, Bible thumping BS, hook, line, and sinker), the unvarnished truth of our ignominious history and our current position as the world's leading terrorist organization, not to mention the decimation of our own country by our owners and their lickspittles, the governing class. 

The whole political system is corrupt (has been practically since its beginning), bought and paid for. I refuse to be sucked in by the main stream media, the propaganda arm of the ruling elite (our owners). The only hope for humanity and the planet is a truly progressive insurgence all around the world. Failing that, there's nothing for me to pay any attention to. So, I'll be posting my interests here, with just the occasional political rant when I just can't stand to be quiet anymore...

~CN

There is something terribly wrong...

I've immersed myself in alternatives to our currently accepted notions of economy, humanity, and even civilization. The news, both political and economic, along with trends in manufacturing and technology have convinced me that the current economic model is unsustainable. It’s collapse is inevitable. The only real questions are, when and what will follow it? To anyone willing to look at the ugly truth of our world economic systems, the evidence is irrefutable.

So, what can be done? Certainly, austerity and anything like it are just so many nails in the global economic coffin. The current system relies on scarcity and profits from that for a privileged few, while everyone else is subjected to some degree of deprivation, the reason for most crime and social stratification.

One good argument for and example of an alternative economy is described in a book by Jas Garcha, The First Civilization. A short excerpt follows:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”--R. Buckminster Fuller (1) 

There is a certain model that pervades virtually every aspect of our lives. It affects the way humans behave and interact with each other, determines which humans wear diamonds on their fingers and which ones dig for diamonds in the dirt, and even plays a strong hand in determining who lives and who dies. The model I speak of is human society. Our political, economic, and social systems combine to create a very peculiar model for our global society. In our current model, it's possible for one continent to face an obesity epidemic while another continent faces mass starvation. Resources that could be used to improve human lives and alleviate suffering are instead turned into weapons with which to end human lives and encourage suffering. A highly adaptable and intelligent species, capable of mastering complex technologies and surviving in virtually any environment, has become its own greatest threat to survival. Our global society seems to be a fantastic model for inefficiency, needless destruction, and the complete absence of logic and reason. 

This seems to me to be one of the most reasonable visions of a way forward for humanity. Check it out!

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.--the character V, in V for Vendetta

People seem to romanticize non-conformists, but after the fact. Even though we are taught Henry David Thoreau’s Discourse on Civil Disobedience in high school, we Americans nevertheless disapprove of most civil disobedience. We are a very conforming society. We look to others for our opinions, from our clergy, politicians, entertainment elites, journalists, talk show hosts, our employers, the one percent, anyone, anything but our own ideas and judgments. And we accept those other judgments without critical thought or evidence of any kind... it’s easier that way. If you didn’t really make the decision yourself, I guess you are relieved of any responsibility for the outcome... Doesn’t that sound familiar? “I was only following orders”... “I’ve only done what anyone else would do in this situation.”

We are going to have to stand up and take responsibility for our own actions (or lack there of) or our whole world human society will devolve into something that will surely end in the extinction of our species.  I think that like minded people need to Occupy the Planet!

All things are subject to interpretation; whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.--Friedrich Nietzsche 

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.--Friedrich Nietzsche 

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.--Albert Einstein