I dreamt tonight that I did feast with Caesar, And things unlucky charge my fantasy: I have no will to wander forth of doors, Yet something leads me forth.Enter Citizens
~Cinna The Poet, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene III.
.I saw this earlier today.
British anti-maskers are burning effigies of Boris Johnson now.
I keep trying to tell people, I've been trying to tell people for years now. This isn't conservatism.
It isn't even about conservatism. It's about evil, hate, insanity and superstition. It's about childish, willfully ignorant people who simply want to scream "You can't tell me what to do!" anytime an educated or intelligent person has an idea. It's about people who'd rather burn the world than have to give a shit about other human beings.
And the fact that conservatism has attracted, pandered to and actively supported such people for over 50 years now? THAT should tell you something about conservatism.
First Citizen: What is your name?
Second Citizen: Whither are you going?
Third Citizen: Where do you dwell?
Fourth Citizen: Are you a married man or a bachelor?
Second Citizen: Answer every man directly.
First Citizen: Aye, and briefly.
Fourth Citizen: Aye, and wisely.
Third Citizen: Aye, and truly, you were best.
CINNA THE POET: What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I
dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to
answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and
truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.
Second Citizen
That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry: you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly. ~Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene IIINote that I say this as a former conservative.
As I've said before, hate, ignorance and stupidity have been marketed to people. In place of simple decent behavior we're offered...this.
A perverted little insurrectionist wheelie-Ghoul who had over a thousand students from Patrick Henry College (a Christian college in Virginia for home-schooled Evangelical Fundamentalist kids) rat him out for being a creepy serial sexual harasser that kept trying to get church girls to have sex with him.
And he says somebody else is trying to "Take away our morality?"
What morality is that, Maddie?
You, from what I can tell, are the one who ain't got no fucking morals. Next?
Madison's Christianity is all about fooling the feeble-minded into thinking anything he does is acceptable and getting Man's approval for his shitty agendas, that's all.
As I've said before, and note I'm disabled myself, so I figure I can say this: Back in the time when men were Men and the sheep were nervous, when some women didn't even so much as have names, when masculinity was unchallenged and so was the power of the Pater Familias (head of the family) and there was a Phallus on every fence or alongside every Roman road...and overwhelmingly most of what we know of society and culture of the era was about men because with only a couple of exceptions in a very long span, that's who wrote everything and who was expected to be the consumer of said material, period. Madison Cawthorn would not have survived whatever accident he had. In fact, it would've been considered merciful to allow somebody so severely injured to die.
And I daresay Madison's "Christian" sensibilities would have been rather offended by what was considered "Masculine" at the time, considering that by modern standards Classical Era Greco-Roman culture was...to put it mildly...extremely bisexual, especially for men, and for people of the sort of social class Madison imagines himself being part of (Well, really, all the people like him think that way) said bisexuality really wasn't a choice, except you weren't supposed to be the bottom for somebody who was of a lower class or rank than you were...or for somebody who was a "Barbarian" or whatever. There's an entire poem by a guy named Catallus that starts out "I will sodomize you and face fuck you, you who think I am a sissy!" and the whole damn thing is like that.
And all that, too, is Western Civilization. Reality doesn't give a fuck about the uptight Christian sensibilities you somehow never apply to your damn self. Deal with it, asshole.
But of course we/re dealing with people who think some chemical called "Luciferase" is in the COVID-19 Vaccines and somehow makes them the "Mark of the Beast" because it has "Lucifer" in the name.
It's an oxidizer with some luminescent qualities, hence the name. Lucifer simply means "Light bringer." And there is actually nothing if you look into it past a surface level, that says Lucifer and the Biblical Satan are the same entity. They don't even make it into the Bible via the same languages or mythologies. Lucifer is a Roman term, Satan is a Hebrew one.
But I digress.
My guess is that the entire concept of "Civilization" Western or otherwise, simply goes over these people's dumb heads.
You can draw your own conclusions regarding complicated theological constructs.
We're talking about people who would be perfectly happy dancing around a fire and shouting "Unga Bunga" while they wait for the Witch Doctor to come out of his cave.
CINNA THE POET: Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral.
First Citizen: As a friend or an enemy?
CINNA THE POET: As a friend.
Second Citizen: That matter is answered directly.
Fourth Citizen: For your dwelling,--briefly.
CINNA THE POET: Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.
Third Citizen: Your name, sir, truly.
CINNA THE POET: Truly, my name is Cinna.
First Citizen: Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator!~Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene III
I mean, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. To them, Western civilization simply is a gussied-up term for "Whiteness" or more accurately, for White Supremacy. Never mind that they would not have considered the average Roman to be a White person (Hell, anti-Italian sentiment and white people being racist against
other white people persisted...sometimes viciously...into my adult life.) And ya know, I'm really starting to think all this anti-liberal, Culture War bullshit has been put forth as a replacement for the fact that, ya know, it's not cool to call somebody a Mick or a Polack or a Wop anymore. I mean, that's along with the actual racism that always went hand-in-hand with the petty ethnic hatred.
And Motherfuckers be real mad that they can't call Black people the N-word no more.
Motherfuckers gotta hate somebody, I guess.
So lately, I guess it's Joe's turn in the barrel.
And no, the joke not only wasn't funny the first time, it was conceptually never funny in the first place and might cost an actual human being and NASCAR driver their career and endorsements but ya know, let's not let the lives of actual people get in the way of a good right-wing douche bag dog-whistle.
And there's people out there who oppose every single thing that's good for actual other people (on the basis that it might cut into profits) who are only too happy to stir this shit up and weaponize it in the name of profits and wealth.
And now the shit's getting so obscure and stupid and meme-culture based it's hard to tell where half of it comes from if you're not computer literate or online all the time.
I'm not a hundred percent certain on this one, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's probably a lot of CEO's and idle rich motherfuckers that just love them some internet nihilism and meme culture bullshit, even if they wouldn't be caught openly within a mile of the shit...because it makes it easy to get people to vote against their own or their country's best interests and to support offshoring of jobs and wealth in the pursuit of greater profits. Hell, it feeds directly into fascism over time.
And while the words and the means of delivering them have changed it's still the same old hateful bullshit.
And it's getting worse, and it doesn't even really give a fuck about any of the people who are its idols today.
I keep trying to warn people, these motherfuckers got a whole three years before the next election. They'll find somebody way worse than Donald Trump, given half the chance.
And the next one might actually be competent or know how to speak in complete sentences and talk to people, or might even be at least Richard Nixon level of devious and capable of acting in the public interest and getting reelected on his own merits.
And frankly, given how much time they wasted before passing the new infrastructure bill, I'm not at all sure that Congressional Democrats are up to dealing with even marginally competent evil.
CINNA THE POET: I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet!
Fourth Citizen: Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.
CINNA THE POET: I am not Cinna the conspirator!
Fourth Citizen: It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going.
Third Citizen: Tear him, tear him! Come, brands ho! fire-brands: to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius'
house, and some to Casca's; some to Ligarius': away, go!Exeunt
~Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene III.
Trouble is, at a base level (and in a Democracy that's who picks the candidates) that's not what we're dealing with. Hell, would that it was because then somebody on their own side might show some leadership and get these ignorant goons under control (and that goes for the UK and much as it does for America) and maybe make them behave like human beings again.
This afternoon, my friend sent me this sad sack bullshit.
Please note the plot.
Apparently, some moron thinks that COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing are some kind of an attempt to outlaw Christianity...and that in a world where corporations punch above their weight, there would be no meetings.
Oh, if only such a thing were true. I
hate meetings of any kind, not that I have to go to that many.
Again, Communism hasn't been a thing since 1989.
As if it would ever be possible to ban Christianity in a world where the people out there with the most rock-concert like passion for Jesus are Black Africans in countries where Traditional courts and village mores and tribal customs often hold sway because national and local governments often have limited capability to enforce laws and provide services...in fact, one of the reasons for such passions for Christ is that it's often the Church and Christian non-governmental organizations that provide things like clean water, education and safe food.
And if you think the United Nations or the world community or whatever is going to somehow step in and fill the gaps in enforcement or services...much less against a populace that would be, by definition, hostile...then you've never been around or served as a part of a multinational or United Nations operation or spoke to anyone who has.
Many of those organizations that provide basic services and the Word of God in places like the Central African Republic or Uganda are, to put it bluntly, American.
With all, good and bad, that goes with that.
So the reason one hell of a lot of those people...who are often conservative in ways that simply aren't socially acceptable in America anymore...aren't American-style Conservatives is because, again, to be blunt...American Conservatism for the most part won't have them because they're mostly Black.
Even though those people are, for all intents and purposes, the future of Christianity in a world where the average American, Southern Baptist, believes more in Donald Trump and fascism than they ever believed in Christ or Christianity.
I'm telling you from personal experience, you want to see a person from South Africa or Zimbabwe get excited and have one hell of a conversation, start talking religion with them. These people really believe this stuff, in a way that most Americans just...don't.
So yeah, Ban Christianity my fucking ass.
And that's just one continent and those people don't have as many guns as American rednecks do.
And they're not desperate to be martyrs because their lives are boring and they think the End Times will be like an action movie. An awful lot of the Christians in other parts of the world have had some of their people be, ya know, martyred and they've seen more action than they care to already.
You want to bet against that? I don't. You think those people will put up with Americans who want to burn the world over some selfish fantasy?
I sure don't.
The American church, especially on the Conservative side, is a hollow shell so infiltrated by greedy deceivers, politics and racism that there isn't much else left. Why the hell else do you think these fools worship conspiracy theories and Donald Trump?
And there's already a world language, English. British English and its many and various sons and daughters and the patois thereof hold the most actual territory and are the vernacular in the most titular-English-speaking countries...but if you go to a non-English-speaking country and run into people who speak English, chances are they speak the American kind. In the global media-competition, outside of right-wing news services anyway, it's American culture and media that's ahead of the game.
English is the language of the trade for a number of professions, including aviation and maritime operations...both military and civilian...and the lingua franca of business and culture for most of the world. I mean, for fuck's sake, what's wrong with these people?
English remains one of the official languages of both India and Pakistan, respectively. There's likely a hell of a lot more people in the world that can speak English than speak Chinese or Russian.
We're there already, it's your fault for not paying attention.
Oh, not like that, you mean.
What the hell did you think people would be speaking, Esperanto?
These people have no connection to reality anymore.
They're desperate for Apocalypse, they're desperate to be persecuted martyrs because their shitty selfish religion requires it so that their shitty, selfish version of Jesus can come and save them from a bunch of stuff that only exists in their stupid imaginations...and these people will gladly provoke said Apocalypse if they think it will get them what they want, in the same way as they'd gladly kill every living thing on the Earth for an extra buck or two.
And it's getting worse, and I'm here to tell you, it will get worse still.
And people keep winding these assholes up for fun and profit, and provoking them to be violent for basically no fucking reason.
Hell, some people seem to think it's funny, or people make money off of this shit.
But a fair number of these people are so hopped up on hate and ignorance and an addiction to this shit that they have to keep escalating things. And the hate is starting to turn inward and turn on the people who've exploited it.
And I for one don't think the British government is going to be capable of handling the situation if their own nutcases decide to start burning people instead of effigies.
The guy who Tweeted the OP that I snipped said a lot of the Tories think they'll be able to keep their heads down and survive by not making a fuss. That's not how it works when you're up against a rampaging, ravening mob that's looking to lynch people.
They don't give a damn. They just want to kill motherfuckers.
And whether it's some British Hooligan, or Lauren Boebert or Madison Cawthorn or some Evangelical idiot whacking off to End Times porn they found on Amazon Prime, that's what we're really dealing with here.
For most of these fools, all they need is a rationalization.
You want a better country? Be a better citizen.
But be aware, sometimes being a citizen means you have to fight for the republic.
Sometimes, freedom isn't free, and you have to fight for it.
That's all.
If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. ~Ronald Reagan
ThreeWe know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check; we've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can. ~Barack Obama
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