-13, "Right to Rule"Right to rule
to banter and delegate
a favorable solution
they waste days and lives
in obvious delusion
when war breaks out
much relief is sent
alongside guns and bombs
from governments bent
then, lie to the people
and reinforce resolve
with hope that resounds
and eventually dissolves
selling pawns like hot cakes
in the business of hypocrisy
you think dictatorship is bad?
take a closer look at democracy
Friday, June 19, 2015
American Inception
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18 comments:
At long LAST –– a tolerable musical style!
Too bad it's been put to such cynical use!
The "Rats Allusion" was not lost on me.
"SUCCESS is a LIE" –– the caption beneath the well-padded derelict –– gives the show away.
Just more depressing determination to emphasize the negative while dismissing the positive.
BUT, I am grateful that for a change I could at least stand listening to the music all the way through. That IS a blessing.
Terrible, though, that we have reached a point where optimism and affirmation strike us as "phony" or "contrived" at best.
Worse yet, the use of correct, grammatical English is now generally regarded as a quaint "affectation."
We have reached a turning point in America where hard work and persistence is no longer paying off for all segments of society. The middle class is shrinking, and a parasitic ever larger non-contributing throw away class is growing.
So perhaps grammar and "optimimistic" music of the kind you've grown accustomed to and to admire is no longer appropriate. It's becoming ever "phonier" and "phonier"... with less of a "pay-off" for those who still admire and practice it.
As for the "poem," we never were intended to be a "democracy." The Founders had a low opinion of "democracy" per se –– that old saw about "two wolves and sheep deciding what to have for dinner" no doubt, though I doubt they'd have phrased it that way.
The Founders Vision could only hope to survive and prosper IF the electorate has a sound moral compass, and is well informed by sources that encourage the application of Common Sense, Thrift, Altruism, the Value of Money, the Virtue in Savings and Investment, the Desirability of Property Ownership and Maintenance (i.e. Stewardship), Conservation (i.e. "Waste not, want not."), Consideration for Others, the need for Honesty and Principled Behavior in Business Dealings and Social Transactions as well.
Without a thorough grounding –– call it an"indoctrination" if you like –– in these and other basic principles of Right Conduct, "democracy" in ANY form has about as much chance of survival as that proverbial Snowball in Hades.
We seem to have forgotten that with "RIGHTS" come RESPONSIBILITIES.
Freedom is not, never has been and never will be "free."
Farmer, I understand your description of the "symptoms" to be accurate, but these "symptoms" are caused by massive disregard for, and flagrant violation of bedrock PRINCIPLES the truth of which cannot be denied.
Once upon a time, most accepted the realization that The World Was NOT EVER Going to Change to Suit OUR Wants, Needs and Personal Preferences.
Little CHILDREN Scream, Roar, Poop in Their Diapers, and Bang on Their Highchairs Constantly DEMANDING the Attention and Gratification to Which They Feel ENTITLED.
(:-o
ADULTS Do Their Best to Adjust to Realty and Play the Hand of Cards Life Dealt Them to the Best Advantage Possible.
The Various Utopian Idealists, Most of WhOm HAve Been Demon Mischief Makers, Have PREYED in HUMAN WEAKNESS by Playing on the Desire of Many to Return to Infancy, and Again Be Able DEMAND Whatever They Feel ENTITLED To as Their JUST Reward Simply for Having Been Born.
We have ample evidence of where this fallacious, inherently wicked brand of thinking has led, and only fools could fail to admit that it Stinks to High Heaven.
No matter where you are or what you hope for, only one basic motto could reasonably apply:
IF IT IS TO BE, IT'S UP TO ME.
The point is, that when the "elite culture" pays off for Americans, they follow and expand upon it. When it no longer does...
The middle class is shrinking, and a parasitic ever larger non-contributing throw away class is growing.
Which class or group are you referring to here?
The Unemployed/unemployable.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
~ Shakespeare - Macbeth Act 5, scene 5
Farmer:
'Parasitic' implies an active, deliberate actor, intent on living off the host 'organism' ['class, society', here]. Ending up in structural unemployment isn't a deliberate life-style made choice by those afflicted by it though.
While the 'culture of dependency' may be 'convenient' (and addictive) for some, it's hardly the choice of most that end up in it.
What does '-13, "Right to Rule"' refer to, BTW?
The 'author' (Pen name 13) and title of his poem.
Amd a parasite doesn't "choose" to feed off his host. He's "made" that way externally. I'm not assigning "blame", as if their situation was "freely chosen" by the parasite.
I see. It was vaguely reminiscent of Romney's 'moochers', 'parasitic' being such a pejorative term.
Large anti-austerity demonstrations in London today. Things are brewing...
'Parasites' is a term that [i]anti-immigration[/i] advocates would use to describe immigrants and by extension also benefit 'seekers'. That's why I don't like it: it's too prone to misunderstanding.
...but it is an accurate pejorative that reflects poorly upon the "system" the over-produces what Plato would have called "drones" (Republic).
Plato, "Republic" (Allan Bloom translation)
“Now see whether this regime [oligarchy] is the first to admit the greatest of all these evils.”
“What?”
“Allowing one man to sell everything that belongs to him and another to get hold of it; and when he has sold it, allowing him to live in the city while belonging to none of its parts, called neither a money-maker, nor a craftsman, nor a knight, nor a hoplite, but a poor man without means.”
“Yes,” he said, “it is the first.”
“Then this sort of thing is at least not prevented in oligarchies. Otherwise some wouldn’t be super rich while others are out-and-out poor.”
“Right.”
“Reflect on this. When such a man was wealthy and was spending, was he then of any more profit to the city with respect to the functions we were mentioning just now? Or did he seem to belong to the rulers, while in truth he was neither a ruler nor a servant of the city but a spender of his means?”
“That’s the way it was,” he said, “he seemed, but was nothing other than a spender.”
“Do you wish us,” I said, “to say of him that, as a drone growing up in a cell is a disease of a hive, such a man growing up in a house is a drone and a disease of a city?”
“Most certainly, Socrates,” he said.
“Hasn’t the god made all drones with wings stingless, Adeimantus, but only some drones with feet stingless while others have terrible stings? From the stingless ones come those who end up as beggars in old age, while from those who have stings come all who are called wrongdoers.”
“Very true,” he said.
“It’s plain, therefore,” I said, “that in a city where you see beggars, somewhere in the neighborhood thieves, cutpurses, temple robbers, and craftsmen of all such evils are hidden.”
“It is plain,” he said.
“What then? In cities under oligarchies don’t you see beggars present?”
“Just about everyone except. the rulers,” he said.
“Aren’t we to suppose,” I said, “that there are also many wrongdoers with stings among them, whom the ruling offices diligently hold down by force?”
“We must certainly suppose so,” he said.
“Shall we assert that such men arise there as a result of want of education, bad rearing, and a bad arrangement of the regime?”
“We shall assert it.”
“Well, anyhow, such would be the city under an oligarchy and it would contain all these evils, and perhaps even more.”
“That’s pretty nearly it,” he said.
“Then let’s take it,” I said, “that we have developed the regime called oligarchy, one that gets its rulers on the basis of a property assessment, and next let’s consider how the man similar to it comes into being and what he’s like once he has come into being.”
“Most certainly,” he said.
Thanks for the clarification and quote.
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