(Trompe de l’oeil is an art technique that creates the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Literally “trick the eye”).
That Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s appeal is one-dimensional hardly needs saying, however, what is worth remarking is his ability to deceive supporters into thinking he has depth. Trump makes astoundingly ludicrous statements, but he makes them with the faux moral authority of the extremely wealthy in a world in which the possession of wealth is in itself a signifier of moral substance deserving of respect. As with our own Malcolm Turnbull, if a man or woman manages to accrue enough money, it is assumed that he or she is capable of running a country.
Trump possesses the talent required of all successful propagandists: to make one-dimensional, exclusionary and divisive statements resound with the ring of deep truth, in the style of a painting intended to mislead with a convincing illusion of reality.
As Trump’s popularity rises and rises in the US, a woman can be forgiven for questioning the usefulness of a representative democracy that permits a blatantly disturbed majority the opportunity to determine a country’s governance.
Trump hates women, that is to say, he loves women until we cross him, sometimes entirely inadvertently by not physically presenting as he thinks women ought, and then he hates us. He has unresolved issues with menstruation: he thinks it makes us mentally incapacitated, homicidal, and disgusting as well.
It is actually possible to purchase from a US website panties, or what we more comfortably refer to as knickers to wear during our time of the month, that feature Trump’s face on the crutch so we can bleed on him. I’m conflicted. I get the satisfaction of bloodying Trump’s dial, but at the same time, having that dial nestled against my lady bits? I don’t know. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, she’s on the rag.
As a trompe de l’oeil politician Trump is, sadly, far from unique. Failed Prime Minister Tony Abbott is an outstanding example of one-dimension striving for the illusion of multiplicity. This explains his bizarre use of three-word slogans, yes it does, one for each dimension, you know I’m right.
I doubt current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull varies greatly in his capacity for perspective, though he claims to be agile, innovative, and what’s the third one?
Trompe de l’oeil has largely fallen out of favour as an art form, except when used ironically on the walls of cramped inner city gardens. Unfortunately, it has become many politicians’ favoured method of operation, as one after the other they abandon all remaining substance, replacing it with the illusion/delusion of eye-tricking depth.
As Baudrillard would have it, we live in the time of simulation, of references with no referents. Trump is the face of this hyperreality: bleeding on it may well be our only option.
This article was originally published on No Place For Sheep.
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
Trump loves women like Garfield loves Lasagna! It must look good, taste good and be inaudible!
The right wing nut jobs scream domination of women and the less powerful!
Money speaks!
Turnbull thinks his elevation of Lucy to his equal makes him a good man and a good politician, in spite of the governments support of Lucy’s financial causes! He thinks he is a feminist when his wife is so far from being one that he has no hope of ever comprehending feminsim!
Turnbull’s obsession with money and the promotion of wealth belies any pretense to being of the people.
He can take public transport until his arteries harden but he is still a snob and looks down on the unwashed.
His total incomprehension of how the other half lives speaks volumes.
Turnbull will never change his spots. He is incapable. A good suit and nicely tied neckerchief are the measure of the man. Principles are for waffling and mansplaining.
Don’t get me started on Abbott!
if a man or woman manages to accrue enough money, it is assumed that he or she is capable of running a country
One of the hilarious things about Trump is that he’s actually pretty hopeless with money. He’s had a string of corporate bankruptcies, sometimes apparently designed to simply get out of paying what he owes people. He inherited his money, but has significantly diminished, instead of growing, those funds. That is actually quite a feat, considering how easy it is for someone to make lots of money when they are already wealthy. To become less wealthy when born into massive wealth means he must be truly terrible at managing his money.
I wonder about Malcolm’s credentials for managing money too, if he feels the need to cheat our tax system by hiding wealth in the Cayman Islands. I have to say, that sounds more like something a crook would do.
Loved it, though the idea of trumps ugly dial against any womans “lady bits” is of demeaning.
Trump might make a terrible US president but when you compare him to the alternatives, he’s leaps and bounds in front. Gold help the US. God help the world. (Hot tip – If Hitlery or Cruz are elected, buy shares in Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics – Sell anything to do with Iran)
I have to laugh at the idiot Republicans these days. They are sweating blood over the two frontline contenders for the race to be conservative nomination for the Presidential race. There is on the one hand, Ted Cruz, who everybody hates and can’t stand to be around and who has back-stabbed a bunch of the other Republicans, and on the other hand there is Donald Trump, who nobody can stand and who keeps back-stabbing all the other Republicans. It really makes me laugh.
Add to that the fact that Fox is tearing itself apart at the same time. Could right-wing politics get any more insane in USA?
With any luck we may get the same crazy show here with Abbott vying with creepy Alex Hawke, with them both working against Turnbull. That would be just delicious to watch. 🙂
It is a shame when a childish schoolboy turn up and tries to hog attention whatever harm done.
ImagiNation..you obviously had just arrived home from the rubbedy dub when you wrote that fantasy. Hope that is not your wavelength when back in the world of normality
Miriam English, if you follow America you do out quickly how distasteful for reasonable Americans the guff from the right is. It’s been nice to discover via FB what great people many are, against the stereotypes
David, you observe he omitted the obvious choice, Sanders. Consent manufacture?
Narcissists like Trump can only gain traction and votes to the extent that the population as a whole has been dumbed down. The stupidity and gullibility of the average person in the street determines his/her susceptibility to the propaganda and spin peddled by unprincipled and ruthless con artists and manipulators.
paul walter, yes. I have a lot of lovely friends over there in USA… all around the world, actually. But I often become quite worried for my friends in USA. Extreme religion and warrior culture along with love of guns and money makes that country scary crazy.
David it’s the last thing I would do. As for Sanders, all you have to is look at his history to know which side of the fence he really sits. It’s pathetic how politicians disguise themselves come election time.
Miriam, you absolutely resonate with that comment. I feel like Ive met a fellow pilgrim on the high road of life.
Imagination, come clean with your gripes. Are you down on Sanders because he is too left or too right?
Paul Sanders is a politician. Politicians lie for a living. History has proven that what a politician says to get elected and what a politician does when elected are two different things. Because everyone thinks Sanders is a ‘nice’ guy they will vote for him. Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Hitlery – A neocon warmongering for Clinton Foundation profit.
Cruz – A neocon dedicated to more of the same military-industrial complex profiteering.
Burney – A closet neocon with double standards on the US policy of perpetual war and the underlying problem that socialists do not really understand economics.
Trump – A total unknown. The neocons and the 1% are so afraid of Trump they have spent billions in advertising to destroy him and used their bought and paid for media to discredit him worldwide, which is the only thing in his favor and the reason he is so popular.
ImagiNation, I suggest to you these are some of the main reasons Trump is feared and hated:
• he promotes violence at his rallies by talking about punching out people’s lights and laughing at protesters fearing coming to his rallies for fear of being beat up.
• all politicians lie, but he does so with an ease and frequency that must have the admiration of Tony Abbott. He says anything that will draw people to him or get notoriety. He really doesn’t care.
• his naked hate is something that all conservatives have, but he expresses it loudly and proudly, happily encouraging it in others.
• he has no plans other than to boot out all immigrants and people who look different from him, and to build a stupid wall to keep Mexicans out. He doesn’t seem to have noticed that racist white mass shooters have killed more citizens of USA than Daesh (ISIS) and al-Qaeda together and that the USA economy depends upon the Mexican laborers working in farms and the service industries.
• he talks about fixing corruption but he is steeped in the swindle culture of Wall Street. For example, he collected $6 million in donations for war veterans, then pocketed two thirds of it.
• he is the embodiment of that belief that the poor deserve nothing. He is in thrall to the delusion that wealth is deserved by those who have it, ignoring that he inherited his fortune from his Nazi father (hates blacks and Jews), and others have great wealth due to either good luck or through crooked practices. Nobody works hard enough to earn millions of dollars — they inherit it, luck it, or swindle it.
• his repellent views of women belong not in the last century, but the one before that.
Trump is not an unknown. He is a monster. He even scares the sociopathic Republicans!
My dislike of Trump has nothing to do with advertising. It comes directly from the words I hear come out of his mouth. The man is a lunatic. Build a wall across the border with Mexico? Nuke ISIS? Ban Muslims from entering the country? Arrogance combined with stupidity is a very dangerous mix.
Quotes from Trump:
“26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
“You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
“I mean, we could say politically correct that look doesn’t matter, but the look obviously matters. Like you wouldn’t have your job if you weren’t beautiful.”
When a lawyer facing Trump in 2011 asked for a break to pump breastmilk for her infant daughter, Trump got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at her and he screamed, ‘You’re disgusting, you’re disgusting,’ and he ran out of there.
“If Hilary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America.”
“My favorite part [of ‘Pulp Fiction’] is when Sam has his gun out in the diner and he tells the guy to tell his girlfriend to shut up. Tell that bitch to be cool. Say: ‘Bitch be cool.’ I love those lines.”
“Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants, and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money.” (Yes he said this about himself)
“All of the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me — consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”
“I would never buy Ivana any decent jewels or pictures. Why give her negotiable assets?”
He is very good at dog whistle, but don’t let him throw you off. Howard did this in the past like a troll and once you lose it with a needler, nbg.
Imagination, helpful clarification.
ImagiNation, when speaking of Bernie Sanders, you said, “socialists do not really understand economics”.
Seriously??? What on Earth are you doing here?
Throughout history, wherever you look, in any country, you find conservatives wreck economies under the guise of being controlling and supposedly fiscally responsible, and progressives repair economies by ensuring the well-being of the people who coincidentally power the economy. When you look at the Northern European economies you don’t see any that are broken. Now look at the conservative economies, the corruption they enable and the bucking, crazy ride of ups and downs, of ruin and splurge.
ImagiNation.. I know of a couple of politicians who are right up your alley. Christensen and Bernardi, what a grand cheerleader you will
make for either. As Miriam so concisely said ‘Seriously??? What on Earth are you doing here?’
Well thank you for confirming the money the 1% are spending in their anti-trump crusade is working. In case you missed my point, I am against each and every one of them but, unlike many, I do spend time researching my posts before I post them. Everything I say on this site is not of my opinion unless stated. It is the result of examining the facts and sharing conclusions from those facts. The world is in a hell of a mess and I’ll be damned if I can see any leader anywhere who is not more interested in his/her own self advancement or the advancement of a one world government. My research has convinced me there is a plot to control the world by the Rothschild Khazarian Mafia via Zionist Israel and I’ll be damned if I’ll be silenced by personal opinions of my posts. Trump is epitome of everything I despise without doubt but he is the only one standing up the the 1%. It’s the bigger picture I am concerned with, I couldn’t care less about his rhetoric or manufactured perception of his personality. FFS the world is on the brink of strategic financial collapse and the population are fighting over which puppet will ruin the US the fastest. In Australia we have a huge problem and that is the fact that Turnball is a Zionist bankster! Bullshit you say? Don’t worry, there are plenty more bread and circuses to come.
ImagiNation…when you get time from the crystal ball, give it a shine ole bud and sent us tomorrow nights lotto numbers. I don’t mind sharing. Ta.
David, I dare you to spend just 2 minutes researching any of my posts.
You provide the links ImagiNation and I will gladly tick or cross your work
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2016/03/19/george-soros-anti-trump-campaign
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-15/soros-floods-democrats-millions-warns-trump-consequences
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/heres-whos-funding-the-anti-trump-movement-and-yes-mostly-conservatives/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-30/seen-craigslist-get-paid-15-hour-protest-trump-rally
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-15/soros-alarmed-by-trump-pours-money-into-2016-race
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2016/03/10/billionaire-smackdown-george-soros-funds-effort-to-stop-trump-mobilize-latinos/
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/heres-whos-funding-the-anti-trump-movement-and-yes-mostly-conservatives/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-10/why-trump-haters-really-hate-trump
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-27/trump-voters-are-not-just-angry-they-want-revenge
http://www.jewishnews.net.au/turnbull-sworn-in-as-pm/49769
http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/03/15/malcolm-turnbull-another-ozzie-suckhole/
http://guides.naa.gov.au/safe-haven/chapter8/zionist-activity-australia.aspx
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.675991
http://www.zfa.com.au/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/category/one-world-government/
http://www.infowars.com/moving-toward-a-one-world-government-a-one-world-economy-and-a-one-world-religion/
http://www.infowars.com/economic-collapse-is-erupting-all-over-the-planet-as-global-leaders-begin-to-panic/
https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12529.24.174.0/economy/a-bold-warning-americas-economic-collapse
http://www.profitconfidential.com/economy/7-signs-of-a-u-s-economic-collapse-in-2016/
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/
http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/03/15/malcolm-turnbull-another-ozzie-suckhole/
http://guides.naa.gov.au/safe-haven/chapter8/zionist-activity-australia.aspx
http://www.jewishnews.net.au/turnbull-sworn-in-as-pm/49769
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.675991
http://www.zfa.com.au/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
http://www.jewishnews.net.au/turnbull-sworn-in-as-pm/49769
http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/03/15/malcolm-turnbull-another-ozzie-suckhole/
http://guides.naa.gov.au/safe-haven/chapter8/zionist-activity-australia.aspx
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.675991
http://www.zfa.com.au/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
and just a few of the news sources I trust…
https://theaimn.com/
http://www.zerohedge.com/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
http://stateofthenation2012.com/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/
http://sputniknews.com/
http://sana.sy/en/
David 6.02,,Well you did ask,Thanks for the links ImagiNation,that is enough to keep me occupied for a couple of hours,[ slow reader that I am ],M F.
ImagiNation, our spam filter is set to catch any comment that has a certain number of links. So if you’re wondering what had been happening to your comments – they were snapped up by the spam filter. We’re not always on board to check the spam, so it might be an idea to have a few less links per comment.
Oops, David. You shouldn’t have said that. 🙂 Many of the sites ImagiNation posted links to are of the more nutty conspiracy theory persuasion… and foxnews.com? Seriously? Who would link to anything on Fox News except for a laugh?
ImagiNation, I have no liking for Malcolm Turnbull, but to call him a zionist bankster is a bit silly. He worked in the vile global investment banking corporation Goldman Sachs, and undoubtedly manipulated a lot of money, quite possibly in shady ways, although we’ll never know how dirty his hands are, so it is difficult to know if he can be called a bankster (a term that fuses the words “banker” and “gangster” for obvious reasons). Not everybody who works in a bank is guilty of fraudulent activity, though I suspect his hands are not entirely clean — it is difficult to imagine any honest person getting that wealthy, unless it’s by astonishing good luck. But, okay, you might be able to argue that he can be considered a bankster. But Zionist? Do you even know what that means?
Malcolm Turnbull is Roman Catholic by birth, but as far as I can tell is actually atheist. Zionists are fanatically religious extremist Jews who are disowned by probably most Jewish people.
As for all the conspiracy theory sites you seem to be frequenting, my advice is to stop before their effect on you leads to too great a distortion of your perception of reality. Those are unhealthy. Yes, there are major problems in the world and many (though not all) of the ultra wealthy are out to screw us all, but many, many things are improving in a multitude of ways. To take a panicked and unrelentingly paranoid view is just plain unrealistic.
Myriam, In response to David’s lack of motivation to research anything, I googled anti-trump, one world government, economic collapse and zionst turnbull then copied and pasted the answers as they appeared and in no way represents anything other than that.
My post about news sources I trust, if that is what you are referring to by conspiracy theorist crap then I have nothing further to ad to this conversation and wish you well.
Interesting links.
I recommend reading this one first; http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/category/one-world-government/
I then advise following up with this; http://kingworldnews.com/now-months-away-totalitarian-one-world-government/
Actually I was writing my response before receiving the “news sources I trust” post. In any case a lot of those sites I don’t know, so my reference to conspiracy theorist sites was pointed to the earlier… ummm… link-spam (if you’ll excuse the term for links not vetted, but just pasted in bulk). 🙂
If you don’t want to be associated with conspiracy theorists then it is probably a good idea to avoid posting their links. Most people only post links to sites that they have researched and are sure represent the point they are trying to make. It is a bit unfair and disingenuous to tell David to research sites you haven’t bothered to research yourself, don’t you think?
I’ve always been surprised how many people, mostly of middle-eastern origin, misspell my name. I’ve had ex-Iranian friends and Egyptian friends misspell it as Maryam, which, I believe is a pretty common name in those parts. But I’ve never seen it misspelled Myriam. Bonus points for inventiveness. 🙂
Corvus, you mean, as entertainment? Or to show how badly some people’s thinking can go off the rails?
Miriam English,
Perhaps as examples of why people should look before they link.
Miriam, i apologise for misspelling your name, I could lie and blame my dyslexic keyboard but…
I appreciate your point about ‘unfair and disingenuous to tell David to research sites you haven’t bothered to research yourself’ and agree but, well, sheesh!
Miriam (note spelling) I thoroughly recommend at least looking at the news sites I trust and note at the end of each article, unlike most other sites there in information about the author and most often links for verification and/or further research. I am very aware there is a lot of false info on the net and have spent years sorting the fact from the fallacy and always check credentials first.
Always a good read are the opinions of Paul Craig Roberts who’s career includes scholarship and academia, journalism, public service, and business. He is chairman of The Institute for Political Economy and formerly Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Reagan and he was confirmed in office by the U.S. Senate. From 1975 to 1978. The man is no fool.
corvus boreus, King World News is ok but I have no info on the other one and always remember not everything is a conspiracy theory…
One site I heartily recommend as an antidote to the above is the wonderful A Brief History of the Apocalypse. It hopes to list all the failed predictions of the end of the world since 2800BC. It makes for hilarious reading.
I especially love that the Jehovah’s Witnesses began as an apocalyptic cult, which oddly didn’t end after their founder’s predictions of the end of the world in 1874 came and went. They continued to predict the end of the world, time after time after time. Now their “church” (which is more a money factory than a genuine religion) has a policy of no longer putting a definite date on the end of the world. They’re content to give their sheep a feeling of more vague doom instead of sharper panic.
ImagiNation may have tended to reduce, if he follows US conspiracy theories about hidden communist and Greens plans for “world government” and the triumph of godless atheism.
Oth, Turnbull is a big league north shore pro Zionist- sorry- as was demonstrated during the controversy over Hanan Ashrawi’s Sydney Peace Prize a decade ago.
Without resorting to right-libertarian conspiracy theories it is still becoming obvious there is a long-entrenched two tiered global system, as the Panama Papers, a mere glimpse, demonstrates. This informal oligarchy not only includes an old Jewish component in tandem with long established Anglos, Anglo Americans and North Europeans, but all manner of East Asian tiger oligarchs and mid eastern formations to do with klepto Saudi Arabia, for example.
ImagiNation..your “In response to David’s lack of motivation to research anything” sums you up as a narrow minded tunell vision ignoramus. Regular contributors and columnists to AIM will be aware I do when ever possible supply links if I intend to make statements and or comments based upon quotes, news storys etc
That you have filled these pages with generally crap links to sites I wouldn’t waste my usage on, you have spared me the tedious task of reading them. Some by title alone speak for themselves.
You will be treated as I do all trolls from now on…ignore.
Miriam I was alerted by the Fox link of others, what sort of a doozy would go there?
…and not every conspiracy is a theory
paul thank you for the confirmation and no, I am not a conspiracy theory nutter and welcome all arguments against my posts. Unfortunately all I get are attacks on my person.
ImagiNation, no, not every conspiracy is a theory, but not every plant is poisonous either. You should be careful of what you consume for similar reasons.
I read some of Paul Craig Roberts’ articles to see what he says. He is rather excessively paranoid. His writings are a mix of some good sense and some crazy paranoia. His cynicism probably comes from being around politicians for so long, especially those on the right-wing. I can understand that, but he has the mix wrong.
Things are getting better, not worse. It wasn’t so long ago the desire to destroy Syria would have meant a quick war, the deaths of some millions of people ignored, and control taken. Now that can’t be done. The dogs of war are having muzzles forced upon them. Sure, they still get away with horrendous atrocities, such as in Lybia, but even so, we live in the most peaceful time in all of human history, with more people gaining access to the world’s knowledge than ever before. Crowdfunding is usurping banks’ control of financing. Sites like AIMN are part of the reason why the mainstream media are haemorrhaging money and audience. People have longer lifespans, religion is dying out, and the new generations are most intelligent ever.
Good on you guys.
How often do you go to a thread and see it degenerate but the main protagonists here have instead eventually chose instead to share thoughts and work through conflicting points. ImagiNation stays pessimistc and its a rationalposition., Miriam, in the end empathises, for having a mind and heart also. She refuses pessimism which is the only possible response, for if it festers it could deteriorate to fatalism.
Believe you me, how do I know?
ImagiNation,here is one article I found perusing links which might interest aim supporters [especialy those following panama papers ]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/the-world-s-favorite-new-tax-haven-is-the-united-states.yours M F
michaelattoowoomba thank you. There are many things becoming known lately that are not quite right (but don’t worry, everything is fine and things are getting better) Be aware though, according to the AIM experts, Bloomberg is on the above list of conspiracy theory sites only for nutters.
Below is a link relating to the panama papers first victim but everything is fine and things are getting better.
http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/politics_and_society/2016/04/07/icelandic_bankers_released_from_jail_years_early/
Everything is fine and things are getting better (it’s just another paranoid fool who has got it wrong)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-15/fed-sends-frightening-letter-jpmorgan-corporate-media-yawns
But it does.t matter because things are getting better. And who cares about the US, just because the rest of the worlds economy is based on US hegemony. Don;t worry, things are getting better.
So glad the dogs of war have had muzzles forced upon them and everything is fine in Syria.
In a recent post I mentioned…
http://www.smh.com.au/national/text-of-obamas-speech-to-parliament-20111117-1nkcw.html
And yet another paranoid fool who has got it all wrong?
The thread starter was a fair bit about illusion and what it takes to eventually see through it. Wilson was careful to offer a working example orcase in point involving the crass, excluding gender component in Western politics as represented by Trump and his ilk; this exemplar involving the brutalism of overt unconsciousness and misogyny within the currently operating society and tacitly calls on folk to not doubt their own experiences of class, race, religious/philosophical and ethnic oppression.
The system is punitive and self sustaining through it. Clearly, it’s found that women do not escape it but we are invited to verify within ourselves our own experiences, sympathise with women and vice versa. We are the People.
I put the following up to indicate that my sympathy for ImagiNation’s position, which is an angry attack on a system this person has identified that they feel others, through habituation, have missed.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Imagination will feel Monbiot does not go far enough, but bear in mind Monbiot’s situation, where he lives and who he earns his crust from.
Read Monbiot and understand ImagiNations mindset more comprehensively and you will find the source of the pessimism and judge the validity or otherwise of that.
Remember, Wilson’s point is valid and an examplar and opens a door to a further appreciation of how things go.
paul walter,
It is easy enough to be pessimistic about our future societal prospects in an operative paradigm of eternal growth within a limited system, with the additional burden of parasitic financial manipulation (eg the creation of currency through the levying of interest),
and a dominant ‘religious’ code (Abrahamic) based upon male human hubris (the arrogant sense of entitlement to dominion conferred by being made in ‘His’ image) and the inevitablity/desirability of a prophesised doomsday.
When you add the factors of our escalating impacts on the broad biospheric picture (especially climate and biota) the implications for the future of our species it gets even grimmer.
Chronic depression can often descend, and when it situational and evidentially based, the dog that bites cannot be shaken.
The dog bites hard, corvus.
Paul thank you. You have hit the nail squarely on the head. Thank you also for providing the opportunity for me to see how my words are taken as pessimism. I had no idea as in my heart I believe my intention is positive. Thank you for reminding me that all I know is how little I know.
I’m waiting for Trump to announce his Vice Presidential running mate to be Sarah Palin.
the GOP would then have the ‘Dream Team”
Cartoonists and talk show hosts would be over the moon, and if elected the apocalypse likely to happen would have all the Tea Party, looney right and religious happy clappers delusional,as today, fully 77 percent of U.S. evangelicals believe that we are living in the End Times
Sorry, while Trump is in the running I can’t take the US election seriously.
All I can say is I’m glad I wouldn’t be one of the 144,000 zapped off to the happy cloud with this lot if the Revelation comes about
WTF! Greg Sheriden has written that Ted Cruz is the saviour of the western world. He has got to be f***ing kidding.
Cornie, I thought he’s alreasy announced Palin as his running mate. What a team, hey? One to build a wall to keep out the Mexicans and one to shoot those who scale it.
Bloody hell Michael
OH Geez, I was joking !!
I can’t follow it {the US Election} with Trump still in the running
The bloody hair turns me off, no matter what he says.
Don’t shock me and say G.W, Rumsfeld and Cheeney have been brought in as advisors
I just watch Bernie on youtube
Michael, it isn’t just the wall,
Seeing Sarah can see Russia from her front porch, the nukes pointed that way would be a concern
Thank christ she can’t see Australia from her roof top
but she can see China from Darwin….
Actually, in 2014 my missus and I spent 6 months in Greenland Canada and Alaska and we went to Sarahs hometown.
Didn’t see her, but 80% of the town worship her.
One enterprising mature age woman running a general store even sold aprons with “Grannies with gun for God” emblazoned on them and wore a gun on her hip, and Sarahs smiling dial were still on posters everywhere
Scary shit ! I felt more at home with the moose, grizzlies and other killer critters
ImagiNation, I can begin to see why you have difficulty getting people to take you seriously.
Perhaps you might learn to read accurately before mischaracterising what I said.
I think I know how you feel now. I’ve met people like you before. You take grim delight in thinking the worst. If someone does something good you’ll take great pleasure in finding some way to make it look like they had evil intent.
There are bad things in the world. A lot of things are going wrong. This has always been the case. But things are changing. For the first time in history the wealthy and powerful are being exposed for who they are. For the first time in history those who love war aren’t able to just roll in and murder without repercussions. We can now see these things more easily, but you are mistaking this visibility for them getting worse. Some things are truly getting worse, like ecological devastation, but for the first time in history, we have widespread interest in fixing that.
Look for solutions. Seek out where improvement is occurring so they can be used to leverage genuine change for the better in those areas that need it.
If you want to gleefully preach the end of the world, then you are welcome to do so, but know that by doing so you contribute absolutely nothing to the solution. By panicking people and engendering a feeling of doom and resignment to fate then you ARE the problem. The most evil people on the planet try very hard to convince us that we can do nothing. You seem to have unwittingly thrown in your lot with them. I’m sure they are very gratified to see yet another paranoid loser do so.
If you want to turn my words of balance into part of your message for everybody to give up all hope and surrender to the monsters, then frankly you can just eff off.
I almost feel like apologising for my anger, but I really, really do not like my words twisted to mean the opposite of what I said.
Palin and Trump. No brains are better than two? Welcome to the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Yes dear….
Shoot the messenger. Lesson learned, ignorance is bliss…
ImagiNation, learn to read.
Miriam, please read paul walter’s post and particularly the article he included at 7:57 am.
ImagiNation, I read it shortly after he posted it. I have collected a lot of George Monbiot’s articles and the audio of his talks because I have great respect for the man.
What he calls for is in some respects similar to what I was saying. There are bad things happening. We need to find workable solutions. He concentrates more on what is bad than I would like, but doesn’t give way to paranoia, and he does understand the underpinnings of the problem, how neoliberalism was originally developed with the honest intention of improving the world. Of course it was then seized upon by powerful interests who saw it as a way to further their gluttony and to convince slaves to love their chains so they would vote for right-wing monetarists against their own interests.
Of course you saw only the decrying of bad affairs. You think it supports your self-defeatist “we are all doomed” attitude. If you read it more carefully you’ll see he actually has the opposite message. He is saying that it has been very hard to stop this because it made itself invisible, but now that we can see it we need to have a suitable plan of action to use against it. He is advocating for fixing things, not giving up and howling delightedly that the end is nigh.
Perhaps you might eventually admit that you misrepresented what I said, but somehow I doubt it. You are a coward.
Miriam everything I have said you have twisted and transformed into a weapon you can use to discredit me. I admit my above comments were in disappointment and disgust from you even discrediting the links i tried to share. I apologise for my outburst but I must say, not once in your posts did you dispute the facts I feel need to known, instead you attack my motivation and my integrity. You accuse me of taking grim delight in thinking the worst. If someone does something good I take great pleasure in finding some way to make it look like they had evil intent. Of what, may I ask, authority, qualification or pre-knowledge do you dare make such a condemnation? Miriam it is my love of this planet, it’s people and it’s children that motivates me. This knowledge is fact. Not some fantasy I have concocted and it is my belief that without knowing the facts a solution can never be found. I don’t have the solution, I don’t even know the question. I agree and support the power of positive thought, it has been with me all my life but it is my sincere belief that we need all the help we can get. I believe burying our heads in the sand and not facing the the situation the world is in will only put us in the position to be screwed over easier. We are being led up the garden path by lying, cheating scumbags and our media is lying in support, Our world is in extreme danger and not just politically. The media blackout on the radiation still leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima disaster in 2011 is real and the threat of nuclear war has never been closer. I mentioned paul walter’s post hoping you would understand just a little but no, just another another weapon in your arsenal of denial. the facts arn’t pretty but neither is servitude. If I am wrong (and I would love nothing more) then I am a mere fool but if I am right then perhaps I have made my contribution and if just one reader of my posts becomes aware and looks further, I believe my time not wasted but worthy.
ImagiNation, perhaps I shouldn’t have made the crack about you taking something good done by someone and looking for a way to assume evil intent. I was thinking specifically of something in one of the pages you pointed to in the link-spam earlier where Bill Gates was being painted as having an evil agenda in his work in the poorest parts of the world. But I was also thinking more generally of some other people I’ve met who exhibit this trait of gleefully crowing that the world is coming to an end. Perhaps I was wrong to do so; you did admit you didn’t read those links, and perhaps not all people who look forward to the end of the world would want to portray good acts as bad.
I discredited those links because they were mostly ridiculous. Why are you defending them? You didn’t even read them yourself. (This excludes the “favorite news sources”, as I already explained.)
It is a strange “love for this planet” that urges someone to enjoy shouting doom to the point of closing one’s eyes and ears to all possible solutions. You hate optimism to such a degree you don’t even see the signposts to solutions presented in links you recommend, such as Monbiot’s article which you accused me of weaponising against you. But then ways out of our problems would deny you the pleasure of luxuriating in doom.
It is absurd to equate finding solutions with “burying our heads in the sand and not facing the the situation the world is in”. All the points I made about the many ways things are actually getting better are true, but you prefer to ignore them. Of course you do. That’s an aspect of reality you’d prefer not to acknowledge.
Yes, I’ve been short-tempered with you, but in many respects you and the fatalistic doom you preach represent a more dangerous enemy than those who cheat and pollute and destroy. You do your level best to convince people that it is all too hard and that they might as well give up. You refuse to see the genuine gains we are making despite the other real setbacks. You and your ilk are why young kids are not bothering to vote out the worst of politicians. They are so convinced by the fatalistic garbage people like you spew that they believe things are so much worse than they are. I’ve been irritable and insulting, things I normally avoid, because I see no evidence that you can change. You are so seduced by your grim pleasure.
Yes, there is no news reporting on Fukishima and the radiation that continues to leak. The mainstream media have a ridiculously short attention span and are beholden to, among others, the nuclear industry and military. Yes it is bad, but it is not as bad as shrill lovers of catastrophe love to say. Look at the genuine investigations into the radiation — the citizen scientists using DIY radiation monitors funded by crowdsourcing. Look at the reports of concerned scientists actually measuring the radiation in the ocean because they don’t trust the official line.
Yes, there is increasing risk of a nuclear winter, but not because of nuclear war. Thankfully that remains exceedingly remote. The great danger is the aging systems that could launch a nuclear attack due to accidental glitches. It’s only good luck the world is not already enveloped in a nuclear winter. There have been many near launches. Sooner or later it will fail spectacularly if it is not scrapped. There are strong movements working to achieve the complete removal of those absurd nuclear weapons delivery systems. We will win there. There are signs that even some of the war hawks are starting to see sense.
You are wrong. But perhaps you can change. I have to say though, that I’ve never personally seen a doom-lover open their eyes to solutions. You have steadfastly ignored all mentions above. In my experience, doomcasters want the apocalypse. That makes them the enemy of anybody who wants to fix things.
I give up. You win. You are absolutely correct at all times and there is no other possibility. You are indeed the suppository of all wisdom. Congratulations.
Thank Christ you’ve given up. Miriam, you’re the well deserved winner. Case is closed.
🙂 Lucky I persisted. I was of half a mind not to.
Though he still doesn’t think there’s any hope. One doesn’t “win” an argument with a person wedded to doom any more than one does in a religious argument with a Mormon.
Ditto Roswell’s comment from me Miriam and you are so correct re the Mormon comment, been there.
All 4 traditional parties are headed by catholic men, turnball, who turned catholic in 2002 just before launching into politics, is the only one with non-religious education.
I had one little exchange with my catholic bridesmaid about being unable to question or challenge beliefs and stay in the church. Her answer was ‘rubbish’ I often eat meat on fridays.
That is the extent of ‘challenge’.
It is obvious that the rabbott’s 5 years set up a piled of mormonish voters who watch 7/9, cannot read between the lines of murdoch’s muck nor understand economics beyond slogans,
How can they be educated without slogans and propaganda???
A cursory look at bernie will show the worth of the man and how he may do the US a pile of good, A cursory look at cruz will show trump is preferable. A cursory look at clinton will show america is more misogynistic than us.
viva bernie!!!!!!!!!!!!!