The Occupy [Location] crowd managed to lose me in a hurry last week -- or was it the week before? -- when outspoken protesters decided to share their highly-advanced, deeply insightful theories about how The Jooooos were responsible for the economy gettin' all stanky.
Yeah, kid? Shaddup. That theory didn't hold for accusations of well-poisoning (etc.) causing the Black Death, back when there weren't any Christian lenders 'cos the Church was down on loaning money at interest; which should also clue you in that the "banking conspiracy" is purest, evil hokum, given the way in which everyone from the Mafia to mild-as-milk Methodists are in the loan business these days. Conspiracy FAIL -- which is what happens when they don't exist.
What we've got Occupying [Wherever] is the first generation with no living family members who came of age during The Age Of The Loudmouthed Leader. To them, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, FDR, Churchill and Tojo are just funny-looking old men in history books and plausible-sounding bullshit is exactly the same as truth (or at least decency), if delivered sincerely enough. The Big Lie is back, the crowd is lovin' it and bad things are never the fault of anyone like them. Nope, it's someone else and, look right there in Manhattan: it's the West's favorite Others.
Geez, I was hopin' we'd outgrowed that. Skooch over, Dreyfus; sooner or later, the mob will work their way around to the dark-complected, the Catholics, the Freemasons and infidels like me.
Kipling thought we might fix things by outlawing mass action of any sort, and while I have borrowed elements of his Aerial Board of Control in devising an oppressive anarchist non-government in my own fiction, I don't think it will be As Easy As A.B.C. (Want a little less politics with your airships? Try With The Night Mail, an evocative and literally as well as figuratively atmospheric bit of predictive journalism set in the same future. The story's good; the link is worth the clicking for the illustrations.)
I don't think Mr. Kipling's approach will work. Somewhere, George Santayana is laughing, but it's not a happy laugh.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
8 comments:
Somebody at one of my Masonic meetings yesterday mentioned that in S.F., some dude had a sign blaming everything on the Illuminati-Freemasonic World Domination Conspiracy, or some such BS.
We can't even decide whether to relamp with fluorescent or incandescent, or whether to put single- or two-ply in the restrooms at the lodge. World Domination is pretty far down the agenda, I think.
The philosophy of immediate gratification without effort and through redistribution to achieve income equity for the masses...it's so attractive. How could there be anything wrong with that?
You know, no matter what specific geographic area is highlighted by the particular "Occupy ___", they all are just "Occupy Mom's Basement".
And Nathan, I often think I'd feel better being governed by the Masons (and Shriners, and deMolay and Eastern Star and those guys with the swords and the admiral hats) than the leftist bunch we've got now, but maybe that's just because it's California and all.
Where have you gone "Bobby Heinlein"? Challenge them to wear the "brassard" or a weapon!
Given the recent history of these things, under the loudmouths mentioned, I think "infidels like you" is probably the last thing you need to worry about. I think the non-infidels need to worry a lot more about "bourgeois values" and being "counterrevolutionary forces". How long before Red Guards start fingering people for the Four Olds?
Oh, Windy...if you'd sat through all the meetings I sat through this week, you wouldn't be saying that :) But thanks anyway :)
Are we going to have to repeat the ENTIRE 20th Century, before we can move on to the 21st?
Bobbi,
I cannot thank you enough for that link to With the Night Mail. I am still looking for that particular edition, and reading this really made my day.
Thanks.
Hunter
Alaska
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