Saturday, July 06, 2013
Futility
Polistra's icon above includes a brief quote about futility. The majority of Egyptians are feeling the truth of that quote in deadly form.
Time to bring out the full text again. The audio is here, clipped from a 1938 CBS broadcast just after Hitler took Austria.
Hitler's seizure of Austria demonstrates 3 things:
1. The futility of contracts with dictators.
2. Treaties signed at the point of a sword are useless. This invasion climaxes a series of violations of Versailles by Hitler. The other signatories never made meaningful response.
3. Demonstrates the futility of war as instrument for settling controversy. Twenty years ago we gave our blood, our treasure, to spread democracy across the world. Twenty years later we see the torch of world leadership being seized by Hitler. We cannot deny that Hitler is the leader of Europe. We tremble at what he will do next. We know what will become of religious liberty, both for the Jews and for the Catholics. It just will not exist. We know what will happen ... to other freedoms as well ...
Events are moving rapidly in Europe these days. ... England thought that by substituting the realistic actualities of Chamberlain for the idealism of Eden, it could stem the tide. Just two weeks later, England found it was too late. France thought it could rely on the "Steel Ring" it had placed about Germany. It now faces collapse of that ring. Even Mussolini looked with patronizing friendliness on his imitator; he now finds that the student has outgrown the master.
What does this mean for the average American? Certainly it leads to disillusionment with the instrument of war. We tried to preserve democracy in Europe once by going to war; we now know that war does not work.
[Quoting Emerson] Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist and will appear. Nothing arbitrary, nothing artificial, can endure. Of all forms of government yet conceived, democracy furnishes the most useful agencies for fighting arbitary mismanagement. What we must do is preserve democratic methods in America. No doubt we will be importuned again to spend our resources in a futile effort to correct the failings of Europe. The inevitable law of which Emerson speaks will take care of Europe. What we must do is care for our own. Futility has ever been the nemesis of democracies. Never in the world's history has it been more necessary for democracy to work than here and now.
= = = = =[End quote from Schwellenbach]= = = = = Futility is the nemesis of any system, not just democracy. If you want an economic system to continue working, you have to insure that people who follow the system's implicit or explicit recommendations are rewarded. They must be able to feel some small degree of progress, some slight annual improvement. Our economic system has failed. For the last 35 years, productive work has been punished. Productive jobs are disappearing fast. Destructive jobs and counterfeiting (i.e. banking) are lavishly rewarded. If you want a moral system to work, it's the same. People who follow the precepts must see that evil is occasionally punished. Good actions must at least be respected if not explicitly rewarded. And we're failing there as well. Normal marriage, normal family life, is no longer honored. It's treated with suspicion and contempt. Fashionable counterfeits are lavishly rewarded. Well then, why don't we have riots or at least alternate political movements? I dunno. For one thing, our masters have developed a beautiful system of symmetrical scapegoating. If you belong to the Goldman 'R' Team, you know that all the problems in the world are caused by the Goldman 'D' Team. If you belong to the Goldman 'D' Team, you know that all the problems in the world are caused by the Goldman 'R' Team. Just let OUR team get back in power, and we'll fix everything! By God, we'll do things differently! We'll continue 100% of the same policies that the OTHER team pursued, but we'll be wearing OUR team shirts while we pursue the same policies! This will solve all the problems caused by the policies that the OTHER team pursued while wearing THEIR team shirts! In 2008, it looked like political action might break out of the team system. Occupy and Tea Party were formed to oppose the Wall Street Mafia. Both were INSTANTLY co-opted by the Wall Street Mafia. After roughly 24 hours of real opposition, both have been advocating nothing in particular; both serve as especially loyal troops for the Goldman 'D' Team and Goldman 'R' Team respectively. Perfect futility. Nothing helps, nothing changes. ¶ 5:17 PM
1. The futility of contracts with dictators.
2. Treaties signed at the point of a sword are useless. This invasion climaxes a series of violations of Versailles by Hitler. The other signatories never made meaningful response.
3. Demonstrates the futility of war as instrument for settling controversy. Twenty years ago we gave our blood, our treasure, to spread democracy across the world. Twenty years later we see the torch of world leadership being seized by Hitler. We cannot deny that Hitler is the leader of Europe. We tremble at what he will do next. We know what will become of religious liberty, both for the Jews and for the Catholics. It just will not exist. We know what will happen ... to other freedoms as well ...
Events are moving rapidly in Europe these days. ... England thought that by substituting the realistic actualities of Chamberlain for the idealism of Eden, it could stem the tide. Just two weeks later, England found it was too late. France thought it could rely on the "Steel Ring" it had placed about Germany. It now faces collapse of that ring. Even Mussolini looked with patronizing friendliness on his imitator; he now finds that the student has outgrown the master.
What does this mean for the average American? Certainly it leads to disillusionment with the instrument of war. We tried to preserve democracy in Europe once by going to war; we now know that war does not work.
[Quoting Emerson] Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist and will appear. Nothing arbitrary, nothing artificial, can endure. Of all forms of government yet conceived, democracy furnishes the most useful agencies for fighting arbitary mismanagement. What we must do is preserve democratic methods in America. No doubt we will be importuned again to spend our resources in a futile effort to correct the failings of Europe. The inevitable law of which Emerson speaks will take care of Europe. What we must do is care for our own. Futility has ever been the nemesis of democracies. Never in the world's history has it been more necessary for democracy to work than here and now.
= = = = =[End quote from Schwellenbach]= = = = = Futility is the nemesis of any system, not just democracy. If you want an economic system to continue working, you have to insure that people who follow the system's implicit or explicit recommendations are rewarded. They must be able to feel some small degree of progress, some slight annual improvement. Our economic system has failed. For the last 35 years, productive work has been punished. Productive jobs are disappearing fast. Destructive jobs and counterfeiting (i.e. banking) are lavishly rewarded. If you want a moral system to work, it's the same. People who follow the precepts must see that evil is occasionally punished. Good actions must at least be respected if not explicitly rewarded. And we're failing there as well. Normal marriage, normal family life, is no longer honored. It's treated with suspicion and contempt. Fashionable counterfeits are lavishly rewarded. Well then, why don't we have riots or at least alternate political movements? I dunno. For one thing, our masters have developed a beautiful system of symmetrical scapegoating. If you belong to the Goldman 'R' Team, you know that all the problems in the world are caused by the Goldman 'D' Team. If you belong to the Goldman 'D' Team, you know that all the problems in the world are caused by the Goldman 'R' Team. Just let OUR team get back in power, and we'll fix everything! By God, we'll do things differently! We'll continue 100% of the same policies that the OTHER team pursued, but we'll be wearing OUR team shirts while we pursue the same policies! This will solve all the problems caused by the policies that the OTHER team pursued while wearing THEIR team shirts! In 2008, it looked like political action might break out of the team system. Occupy and Tea Party were formed to oppose the Wall Street Mafia. Both were INSTANTLY co-opted by the Wall Street Mafia. After roughly 24 hours of real opposition, both have been advocating nothing in particular; both serve as especially loyal troops for the Goldman 'D' Team and Goldman 'R' Team respectively. Perfect futility. Nothing helps, nothing changes. ¶ 5:17 PM
