“Look at these concepts of the Trinity, Original Sin, Sacrifice and Redemption, which are agreeable neither to reason nor to conscience. Look at this capitalism with its monopolies, its usury and whatever else is unjust in it; at this individual freedom, devoid of human sympathy and responsibility for relatives except under the force of law; at this materialistic attitude which deadens the spirit; at this behaviour, like animals, which you call 'Free mixing of the sexes’ at this vulgarity which you call 'emancipation of women,' at these unfair and cumbersome laws of marriage and divorce, which are contrary to the demands of practical life; and at Islam, with its logic, beauty, humanity and happiness, which reaches the horizons to which man strives but does not reach. It is a practical way of life and its solutions are based on the foundation of the wholesome nature of man.” --- Sayyid Qutb, Milestones
This entreaty to Americans fell on deaf ears.
The Christians cannot save America because of the compromise made in accepting the separation of Church and State.
As well, although the Bill of Rights supports religious freedom, the First and Second Amendment states that a well armed militia must be peaceable in exercising their right to bear arms. This prevents seditious acts of treason and makes illegal incidents by Christian terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh.
Thus, there will not be a Christian "revolution" fighting for "freedom" because of the separation of Church and State.
Likewise, terrorism on US soil will not be the way of Muslim dissidents in America, because of the freedom and liberty given to the People.
Instead, American Islam will use Communist tactics to become acceptable to Americans. Islamophobia will be litigated when it become slanderous.
If Sharia does appear, then it will be an American Sharia --- and thus a compromise --- between the spiritually ignorant secularism prevalent in America and Islam but a temporary compromise until the negative aspects of Sharia are muted.
There will also be a large education of the masses about Islam to counter the blatant Islamophobia of the rightists.
Thus Islam will become another tool of the New Left, even though it will look like New Left to the average American.
An example of this will be anti-Semitic smears of Israel and New Left rhetoric that pretends to be political dialog but is actually a form of bullying.
Eventually, the New Left will accept a form of Sharia amenable to their American sensitivities about peace, justice and liberty.
However, the Islamophobes will publish propaganda stating otherwise.
One day there will be a Muslim President who might be from the Middle East. However, a civil war will follow his assassination by Islamophobe militants. By then 25 percent of all Americans are Muslim and growing. They will form a jihadi group to bring freedom to America.
If the Islamophobes wish to prevent this scenario, then they need to dialog with Muslims instead of offending them. They need to condemn violence of all kinds, and ensure a well armed militia remains peaceable. This will involve American Muslims buying dogs to fit in, watching American football and living the American dream alongside Americans of all walks of life.
If you wish to prevent Sharia from coming to America, then you cannot do it by demonizing Muslims but by educating yourself about what Islam really means. If it means religious pluralism, then that's better than being the ignorant mob that Islamophobes are now.
American Sharia is not an end result of interfaith dialog. Rather, it is the result of the current detent. Indeed, it is the result of Islamophobia.
For what you fear will come to pass, but to prevent that kind of future, it is of essence to Americans to hug their Muslim neighbours and befriend them.
Ironically, this is also jihad but it arises out of a meeting of minds, not phobia.
Showing posts with label New Left. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Left. Show all posts
20131226
A Quasi-Political Analysis of Microsoft and the Social Activists (satire)
It's sad that Microsoft has no presence on the competition at Google+. They copied gmail just like Apple copied everyone else with the iPhone.
Just so you know, I don't use my Hotmail account much since 2006. I stopped using Hotmail because of the rise of email spam due to sloppy security.
I also stopped using Yahoo chat circa 2005 due to the increasing risk of being attacked by chatbots since 2001. Though this has been "fixed" by getting rid of chat rooms on Yahoo chat.
Much of this is due to the insecurity of Windows prior to XP and specially of older versions NT server software in general.
This is primarily a Microsoft problem due to their factional nature. They hired right-wing fascists circa early1990s but rarely hire socialists or left-wingers due to the New Left's anti-corporate stance.
You'd only get hired IF and only IF you were paid to infiltrate to do something like what happened to Windows ME (a hack by the left who were annoyed at the right-wing neo-conservative faction using Microsoft addresses to traffic in porn). Though the programmer that kluged ME was a hired gun.
However, the anarchists are canny, because they aren't left or right. Anarchists are known to call the Left fascist for using violence like the Black Bloc (BB) even though the evidence says that most BB are dissatisfied with the old Left and the New Left for not being radical enough. BB use the same tactics as animal activists and other saboteurs. They attack property, not people. Ergo they are non-violent to people.
Right-wing neocon elements in the military & police form attack almost everyone in the name of law. Ergo, the military and police are violent to people and are known to damage property to achieve their objectives.
For they, along with doctor, nurses, teachers, and anyone dealing with the State are usually agents of the State regardless of which side they root for.
Observed events of tactics show that the agents of the state's tactics are representative of patriarchal forms of government. Let's consider the military. Because large groups of military work together, they have a very large number of circles of influence. This is why there is oversight by a command of hierarchy i.e. a commanding officer and the troops in the case of the military.
It cannot be determined what the BB and the New Left are representative of, because the rule is no more than three people are supposed to decide on what to do. This is to limit the circles of influence.
Therefore the New Left does not work by command by hierarchy but by roughly anarchist methods, which is harmonious in very small groups, but in large groups, become chaotic with non-violent groups unintentionally working for the State by blocking BB and similar radicals.
However, anarchists who are pacifist and non-violent tend to use non-violent tactics against the State. Jaggie Singh was a prime example of this: at no time in the past 25 years has there been any evidence of Mr Singh using violence.
Though the Montreal police complained that shooting teddy bears with a jury-rigged sling shot was a form of passive violence i.e. non-violent. This is ridiculous because teddy bears are cute, while tear gas makes your eyes run tears.
Sadly though, there are few articulate pacifists like Singh amongst the New Left, who have gone radical due to their tendency to party a lot and live in denial of their alcoholism and drug addictions.
However, the previous paragraph is not an indictment against the New Left, as their problems with drugs make them aware of what the homeless people face daily.
As it stands now, politics is polarized between the left and the right for the traditional reason that with conflict comes change.
As for myself, as a Buddhist, I cannot be left or right; I'll always be in the middle, rolling and tucking.
Originally posted October 27, 2012 0311H
Just so you know, I don't use my Hotmail account much since 2006. I stopped using Hotmail because of the rise of email spam due to sloppy security.
I also stopped using Yahoo chat circa 2005 due to the increasing risk of being attacked by chatbots since 2001. Though this has been "fixed" by getting rid of chat rooms on Yahoo chat.
Much of this is due to the insecurity of Windows prior to XP and specially of older versions NT server software in general.
This is primarily a Microsoft problem due to their factional nature. They hired right-wing fascists circa early1990s but rarely hire socialists or left-wingers due to the New Left's anti-corporate stance.
You'd only get hired IF and only IF you were paid to infiltrate to do something like what happened to Windows ME (a hack by the left who were annoyed at the right-wing neo-conservative faction using Microsoft addresses to traffic in porn). Though the programmer that kluged ME was a hired gun.
However, the anarchists are canny, because they aren't left or right. Anarchists are known to call the Left fascist for using violence like the Black Bloc (BB) even though the evidence says that most BB are dissatisfied with the old Left and the New Left for not being radical enough. BB use the same tactics as animal activists and other saboteurs. They attack property, not people. Ergo they are non-violent to people.
Right-wing neocon elements in the military & police form attack almost everyone in the name of law. Ergo, the military and police are violent to people and are known to damage property to achieve their objectives.
For they, along with doctor, nurses, teachers, and anyone dealing with the State are usually agents of the State regardless of which side they root for.
Observed events of tactics show that the agents of the state's tactics are representative of patriarchal forms of government. Let's consider the military. Because large groups of military work together, they have a very large number of circles of influence. This is why there is oversight by a command of hierarchy i.e. a commanding officer and the troops in the case of the military.
It cannot be determined what the BB and the New Left are representative of, because the rule is no more than three people are supposed to decide on what to do. This is to limit the circles of influence.
Therefore the New Left does not work by command by hierarchy but by roughly anarchist methods, which is harmonious in very small groups, but in large groups, become chaotic with non-violent groups unintentionally working for the State by blocking BB and similar radicals.
However, anarchists who are pacifist and non-violent tend to use non-violent tactics against the State. Jaggie Singh was a prime example of this: at no time in the past 25 years has there been any evidence of Mr Singh using violence.
Though the Montreal police complained that shooting teddy bears with a jury-rigged sling shot was a form of passive violence i.e. non-violent. This is ridiculous because teddy bears are cute, while tear gas makes your eyes run tears.
Sadly though, there are few articulate pacifists like Singh amongst the New Left, who have gone radical due to their tendency to party a lot and live in denial of their alcoholism and drug addictions.
However, the previous paragraph is not an indictment against the New Left, as their problems with drugs make them aware of what the homeless people face daily.
As it stands now, politics is polarized between the left and the right for the traditional reason that with conflict comes change.
As for myself, as a Buddhist, I cannot be left or right; I'll always be in the middle, rolling and tucking.
Originally posted October 27, 2012 0311H
20131220
My Reply to Vancouver Observer (satire)
Throughout this article I emphasized that Ottawa considers any confrontation between radicals and politicians and their corporate sponsors to be terrorist acts.
However, I did not identify anyone to filter out of the anti-pipeline meetings for security purposes.
Instead I pointed them to Greg Renouf's genuinewitty website, which is slanted in favor of the right but I feel that Greg uses rightwing rhetoric to bait the New Left radicals.
Hopefully the lady who runs the Observer will reply.
Anyway here is the email I sent her:
When the oil pipeline goes to the US, will the anti-pipeline activists condone confrontational and potentially violent radicalism like Harsha Walia did two years ago?
IMO we won't know until the fermented fat of animals and plants sluices southward in the pipeline in a couple years' time.
However, nobody understands that Harper will get his way because he's afraid of a US invasion, should he really fuck things up by helping everyone to realize that the anti-cyber-bullying bill should be killed and separated into the wheat of a real cyber bullying bill (4 pages long) and a privacy compliant cyber security bill (650+ pages) that still has warrants to keep it morally correct.
Note: since I sit on the political fence a lot, my hope is no pipeline but feel that nobody is listening to the refinery in Texas the pipe is terminating at when they said: "We have no urgent need of frakked tar-sand because we can find other sources of oil."
Therefore, Ottawa is pushing the pipeline to skim a few thousand dollars of oil lobbyist money in taxes from it when Texas sends us the checks for delivery of high sulphur tar sand oil; which nobody really wants to buy because it destroys car engines, exhaust pipes, the ozone layer, and people who breathe the sulphur dioxide laden air and develop asthma.
However, I did not identify anyone to filter out of the anti-pipeline meetings for security purposes.
Instead I pointed them to Greg Renouf's genuinewitty website, which is slanted in favor of the right but I feel that Greg uses rightwing rhetoric to bait the New Left radicals.
Hopefully the lady who runs the Observer will reply.
Anyway here is the email I sent her:
From Me
To Vancouver Observer
Today at 1:06 PM
You realize that the pipeline will go through. The problem now is when it does, what will you do to prevent radicalism?
You could do the Harsha Walia move and condone it, but any radical action against the pipeline is a Terrorist Act in Ottawa's eyes.
We don't need any Squamish Five incidents.
Why? Because radicalism leads to violent acts against corporate monoliths like McDonald's, banks, etc.. It would be a waste of potential volunteers and not solve anything.
Radicalism wouldn't survive in the prison system since it would require everyone being middle class radicals from upper middle income families, the people who made it through financial crises by buying low and selling high.
Instead, you need to come up with contingency plans to deal with radicalism e.g. including a list of people who are barred from your meetings because they tend to show up at the rally to mete confrontational "justice" including "pie in the face" attacks, which are also a Terrorist Act in Ottawa's eyes.
I suggest you Google Greg Renouf and look at his genuinewitty website to see the faces of radicals who have crossed the line into criminal behavior.
Thank you very much for your time
Sincerely,
When the oil pipeline goes to the US, will the anti-pipeline activists condone confrontational and potentially violent radicalism like Harsha Walia did two years ago?
IMO we won't know until the fermented fat of animals and plants sluices southward in the pipeline in a couple years' time.
However, nobody understands that Harper will get his way because he's afraid of a US invasion, should he really fuck things up by helping everyone to realize that the anti-cyber-bullying bill should be killed and separated into the wheat of a real cyber bullying bill (4 pages long) and a privacy compliant cyber security bill (650+ pages) that still has warrants to keep it morally correct.
Note: since I sit on the political fence a lot, my hope is no pipeline but feel that nobody is listening to the refinery in Texas the pipe is terminating at when they said: "We have no urgent need of frakked tar-sand because we can find other sources of oil."
Therefore, Ottawa is pushing the pipeline to skim a few thousand dollars of oil lobbyist money in taxes from it when Texas sends us the checks for delivery of high sulphur tar sand oil; which nobody really wants to buy because it destroys car engines, exhaust pipes, the ozone layer, and people who breathe the sulphur dioxide laden air and develop asthma.
20130828
To the Children of the West (satire)
Dear Children of the West:
Can you ask the leader of your country to stop the War on Terrorism because it's not working?
The 3,000 deaths in the most symbolic form of terrorism ever called the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers in NYC was, is and never will be worth the 100,000+ deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Those terrorists even missed the most vital nerve center of the West: the Stock Exchange backup servers. Had that been hit, we would have had the Crash. America's recovery could have been delayed, and the mortgage crunch in 2008 might have dragged on, leading to more poverty and homelessness for Middle Class America.
America would have been left unable to fund Israel, and the terrorists would have wiped it out by 2010.
By 2059, most terrorist bombings would have rendered most cities in the West inhospitable. By 2060, Islam would have had more forced converts and sharia law would have been imposed beyond Dearborn and Birmingham. The end result would not be pretty: by 2100, Muslims (4 billion) would outnumber Christians and Buddhists (3.5 billion) combined in a world with almost 8 billion people
So, I am saying 911 was better than the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, 100,000+ people dead in the Middle East will never be worth the War on Terrorism, because it has never been 911 that was the real reason for invading Afghanistan and Iraq.
It has always been natural resources of the Middle East. Anyone telling you different on FOX is a CIA dupe. Wake up!
Now it is up to you, Children of the World, to call on your leaders to make war no more.
This public message is not endorsed or funded by the New Left or any other anti-war activist group. You may return to your regular diet of pop and corn chips to play your stupid XBOX game.
Can you ask the leader of your country to stop the War on Terrorism because it's not working?
The 3,000 deaths in the most symbolic form of terrorism ever called the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers in NYC was, is and never will be worth the 100,000+ deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Those terrorists even missed the most vital nerve center of the West: the Stock Exchange backup servers. Had that been hit, we would have had the Crash. America's recovery could have been delayed, and the mortgage crunch in 2008 might have dragged on, leading to more poverty and homelessness for Middle Class America.
America would have been left unable to fund Israel, and the terrorists would have wiped it out by 2010.
By 2059, most terrorist bombings would have rendered most cities in the West inhospitable. By 2060, Islam would have had more forced converts and sharia law would have been imposed beyond Dearborn and Birmingham. The end result would not be pretty: by 2100, Muslims (4 billion) would outnumber Christians and Buddhists (3.5 billion) combined in a world with almost 8 billion people
So, I am saying 911 was better than the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, 100,000+ people dead in the Middle East will never be worth the War on Terrorism, because it has never been 911 that was the real reason for invading Afghanistan and Iraq.
It has always been natural resources of the Middle East. Anyone telling you different on FOX is a CIA dupe. Wake up!
Now it is up to you, Children of the World, to call on your leaders to make war no more.
This public message is not endorsed or funded by the New Left or any other anti-war activist group. You may return to your regular diet of pop and corn chips to play your stupid XBOX game.
20130816
New Left and Addiction to Power (satire)
Over 10 years ago, the New Left certainly liked their recreational drug use.
If you become a drug abuser and abused your girlfriend or wife because of heavy abuse, then the New Left would accuse you of being a fake New Left party animal and label you a MAN guilty of domestic abuse, warning everyone in the party to stop sharing their party drugs with them.
This may include violent removal of said man ("eviction") from the former spouse's domicile.
The police will target you, and you could end up on Skid Row, sleeping in a homeless shelter, made homeless due to reverse domestic abuse.
This is is a true story for one member of the New Left. When he got into some bad drugs and abused his spouse, she complained to the New Left junta who feel entitled to saving the world.
So they outed him, and nobody cares what happened to him.
However, it may be true that that the New Left has a problem with addiction, especially addiction to power and control.
If you become a drug abuser and abused your girlfriend or wife because of heavy abuse, then the New Left would accuse you of being a fake New Left party animal and label you a MAN guilty of domestic abuse, warning everyone in the party to stop sharing their party drugs with them.
This may include violent removal of said man ("eviction") from the former spouse's domicile.
The police will target you, and you could end up on Skid Row, sleeping in a homeless shelter, made homeless due to reverse domestic abuse.
This is is a true story for one member of the New Left. When he got into some bad drugs and abused his spouse, she complained to the New Left junta who feel entitled to saving the world.
So they outed him, and nobody cares what happened to him.
However, it may be true that that the New Left has a problem with addiction, especially addiction to power and control.
20130112
If the Left Thinks Buddhism is Authoritarian, They Need to Think Again!
I have never understood how the New Left can mistake Buddhism as only a religion when it, like the Tao, is also a philosophy and a psychology. Their criticism of Buddhism appears to be almost the same as it is for Christianity
Here is how their logic works: Buddhism is a religion. All religions are authoritarian. Therefore, Buddhism is authoritarian.
Confounding this logic is another one involving both Christianity and Buddhism: Buddhism is a religion. Christianity is a religion. Therefore Buddhism is like Christianity.
It is this second logical premise which is a false one, because it is a broad generalization that is invalid.
If Buddhism was like Christianity or even Judaism, then all those Western Christian and Jewish converts should have searched for the esotoeric in Christianity and Judaism such as Gnosticism and early Hasidism.
However, the New Left is notorious for using invalid logical premises to justify its activism, especially the violence-prone Black Bloc and especially in light of the Left's willingness to let agents provacateurs of the State lead and train other activists in what is essentially criminal acts of vandalism.
Returning to Buddhism, I will state that some forms of Buddhism may be considered authoritarian. Theravada Buddhism is a good example of this in Sri Lanka since a needless civil war by the Hindu Tamils was started by the Sinhala-dominated government insisting on Theravada Buddhism being the State religion.
Elsewhere, Theravada Buddhism is so enshrined in Thailand that there is a law that says any disrespect for Buddhism is disrespect for the King of Thailand, and subjects anyone who publicly expresses disrespect to a jail term.
Given the state of the prison system in Thailand, a Buddhist zealot among the guards could easily make your life a living hell just for being vocal about your non-belief in Buddhism. For dissing the Buddha in Thailand is diss the King!!
Also, within the Theravada sangha, women are there to serve the priests. While they are able to become nuns, they are not allowed to become a part of the hierarchy. According to their sutras, women are excluded from becoming a Buddha unless they are reborn as men.
I challenge this sexist notion because women after menopause have been known to grow beards! Therefore post-menopausal nuns should be allowed to become venerable Buddhist priests too..
Returning to the Left and their generalization about Buddhism as authoritarian, my examples do not prove that Buddhism is inherently authoritarian. Instead, they prove that Theravada Buddhism is authoritarian and sexist in some cases.
It is invalid logic to apply this specific example of authoritarianism to all of Buddhism as a generalization because in America, there are Zen masters who are female.
However, I feel that because of lack of a comprehensive education about Buddhism, the New Left movement may have a few members mistake it for a form of authoritarianism.
As well, I call for any New Left activist to fully explore Buddhism before generalizing about what it is, in addition to Googling it on the Internet. For you cannot confront the truth about Buddhism merely by relying on incomplete sources of knowledge. Rather, all the many schools of Buddhism need to be studied throughly before assessing it as something it isn't.
For it is invalid logic to state that since Theravada Buddhism is sometimes authoritarian and sexist, that Mahayana Buddhism is likewise the same. For there are many flavors of Buddhism and I assure you that Mahayana has more different flavors.
Here is how their logic works: Buddhism is a religion. All religions are authoritarian. Therefore, Buddhism is authoritarian.
Confounding this logic is another one involving both Christianity and Buddhism: Buddhism is a religion. Christianity is a religion. Therefore Buddhism is like Christianity.
It is this second logical premise which is a false one, because it is a broad generalization that is invalid.
If Buddhism was like Christianity or even Judaism, then all those Western Christian and Jewish converts should have searched for the esotoeric in Christianity and Judaism such as Gnosticism and early Hasidism.
However, the New Left is notorious for using invalid logical premises to justify its activism, especially the violence-prone Black Bloc and especially in light of the Left's willingness to let agents provacateurs of the State lead and train other activists in what is essentially criminal acts of vandalism.
Returning to Buddhism, I will state that some forms of Buddhism may be considered authoritarian. Theravada Buddhism is a good example of this in Sri Lanka since a needless civil war by the Hindu Tamils was started by the Sinhala-dominated government insisting on Theravada Buddhism being the State religion.
Elsewhere, Theravada Buddhism is so enshrined in Thailand that there is a law that says any disrespect for Buddhism is disrespect for the King of Thailand, and subjects anyone who publicly expresses disrespect to a jail term.
Given the state of the prison system in Thailand, a Buddhist zealot among the guards could easily make your life a living hell just for being vocal about your non-belief in Buddhism. For dissing the Buddha in Thailand is diss the King!!
Also, within the Theravada sangha, women are there to serve the priests. While they are able to become nuns, they are not allowed to become a part of the hierarchy. According to their sutras, women are excluded from becoming a Buddha unless they are reborn as men.
I challenge this sexist notion because women after menopause have been known to grow beards! Therefore post-menopausal nuns should be allowed to become venerable Buddhist priests too..
Returning to the Left and their generalization about Buddhism as authoritarian, my examples do not prove that Buddhism is inherently authoritarian. Instead, they prove that Theravada Buddhism is authoritarian and sexist in some cases.
It is invalid logic to apply this specific example of authoritarianism to all of Buddhism as a generalization because in America, there are Zen masters who are female.
However, I feel that because of lack of a comprehensive education about Buddhism, the New Left movement may have a few members mistake it for a form of authoritarianism.
As well, I call for any New Left activist to fully explore Buddhism before generalizing about what it is, in addition to Googling it on the Internet. For you cannot confront the truth about Buddhism merely by relying on incomplete sources of knowledge. Rather, all the many schools of Buddhism need to be studied throughly before assessing it as something it isn't.
For it is invalid logic to state that since Theravada Buddhism is sometimes authoritarian and sexist, that Mahayana Buddhism is likewise the same. For there are many flavors of Buddhism and I assure you that Mahayana has more different flavors.
20100616
Corruption as Metaphor for Urbanization
Corruption is difficult to hide in the country than in a city.
For one of the reasons for urbanization is to mask corruption such that the most successful urban citizens are often called "city fathers", even though their current philanthropy is based on years of socializing with the "right crowd".
We can also see this in how people watch TV. In the city setting, usually people watch TV in their apartment buildings with their family.
Most people in rural India do not watch TV like we do, but as a group in a rural setting. For not all people own TVs.
So their corruption only happens when they move to the city during the struggle involved in earning a living whilst keeping a roof over their heads.
Thus, the New Left's critique of the State is actually a critique of urban life i.e. "Smash the State" actually means "Humanize the Process of Urbanization" and actually is a critique of rapid urbanization ("fast urbanization").
Most people involved in the counterculture movement tried to form communes in a rural setting. However, because public education does not include any education on raising livestock but instead focuses on academics, most of these communes failed.
More than likely, recreational drug use associated with the counterculture movement was a sign of corruption which was not heeded by the movement's advocates. It diverted attention from learning how to raise livestock and how to get along with rural society.
Corruption in India is a metaphor for the corruption of urbanization. Actually, the yogis represent resistance to urbanization on a rapid scale.
Tokyo gives us an example of the side effects of massive urbanization: the hikikomori kids are similar to the mentally ill in the West with regard to their social isolation, which is seen as reaction to being bullied for not fitting in with society. This isolation results in mental health issues.
Thus, the hikikomori effect is due to "fast urbanization" i.e. urbanization on a massive scale.
In order to reduce urbanization's effect on its citizens, concerned members of cities around the world have demanded "slow urbanization" i.e. urbanization that is held in check by red tape and bureaucracy with the city obtaining input from concerned citizens and nearby rural areas that supply food helping to slow down urban growth in cities using agricultural laws to limit what rural areas are used for housing.
Reform in city governments which allows for chickens and rooftop gardens is a step in the right direction, but must be accompanied by a "slow urbanization" manifesto.
So far, the spirituality community has given no such manifesto but a smörgåsbord of spiritual materialism.
Population and human well-being: http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8479
Urbanization benefits Asia but not Africa: http://www.aviewfromthecave.com/2012/10/urbanization-is-great-not-so-fast.html
Explanation of slow and limited urbanization of the Americas: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100810212943AAbyLcW
For one of the reasons for urbanization is to mask corruption such that the most successful urban citizens are often called "city fathers", even though their current philanthropy is based on years of socializing with the "right crowd".
We can also see this in how people watch TV. In the city setting, usually people watch TV in their apartment buildings with their family.
Most people in rural India do not watch TV like we do, but as a group in a rural setting. For not all people own TVs.
So their corruption only happens when they move to the city during the struggle involved in earning a living whilst keeping a roof over their heads.
Thus, the New Left's critique of the State is actually a critique of urban life i.e. "Smash the State" actually means "Humanize the Process of Urbanization" and actually is a critique of rapid urbanization ("fast urbanization").
Most people involved in the counterculture movement tried to form communes in a rural setting. However, because public education does not include any education on raising livestock but instead focuses on academics, most of these communes failed.
More than likely, recreational drug use associated with the counterculture movement was a sign of corruption which was not heeded by the movement's advocates. It diverted attention from learning how to raise livestock and how to get along with rural society.
Corruption in India is a metaphor for the corruption of urbanization. Actually, the yogis represent resistance to urbanization on a rapid scale.
Tokyo gives us an example of the side effects of massive urbanization: the hikikomori kids are similar to the mentally ill in the West with regard to their social isolation, which is seen as reaction to being bullied for not fitting in with society. This isolation results in mental health issues.
Thus, the hikikomori effect is due to "fast urbanization" i.e. urbanization on a massive scale.
In order to reduce urbanization's effect on its citizens, concerned members of cities around the world have demanded "slow urbanization" i.e. urbanization that is held in check by red tape and bureaucracy with the city obtaining input from concerned citizens and nearby rural areas that supply food helping to slow down urban growth in cities using agricultural laws to limit what rural areas are used for housing.
Reform in city governments which allows for chickens and rooftop gardens is a step in the right direction, but must be accompanied by a "slow urbanization" manifesto.
So far, the spirituality community has given no such manifesto but a smörgåsbord of spiritual materialism.
Population and human well-being: http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8479
Urbanization benefits Asia but not Africa: http://www.aviewfromthecave.com/2012/10/urbanization-is-great-not-so-fast.html
Explanation of slow and limited urbanization of the Americas: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100810212943AAbyLcW
20090131
Adbusters: Lest We Forget - the Speech That Never Was
Monday, December 10, 2001 11:11 - Gandhara Op-Ed
Adbusters implies that, by declaring war against terrorism, America confirmed being a victim to terrorism. Rather than being inspired to promote peace, the GW Bush government chose instead the forever war that has been the legacy of terrorism.
Yet the State now sees its country and the world through the myopic lens of a post-911 future where fear of terrorism has led to racial profiling, illegal body searches and x-ray technology that violates privacy.
Here is a part of the Adbuster article:
What Could Have Been: The speech that was never made, lest we forget
Fellow Americans, citizens of the world: Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
We cannot see inside the head of a terrorist, and yet today we understand clearly what it is he demands. A terrorist demands hate. He demands fear. Above all else, a terrorist demands war.
But a free people does not bend to the demands of terror.
Our friends and family members have died in the thousands, their bright lights of life made suddenly, brutally dark. To the world tonight I say that not one more innocent person will die in the name of this terrorist act. Not one more mother's son in America. Not one more beloved father in Afghanistan. Not one more infant child in Israel or in Palestine.
To the men and women in uniform I say: We all must hope that your soldiering days are done. Today you are our officers of law and our keepers of precious peace. You have been challenged by a terrible crime and make no mistake, this nation's hunger for justice is as strong as its love of peace. We look to you, to our police forces and our troops, to the elected representatives of our citizens, and to our friends and allies in the international community, to bring the full weight of law and of human dignity against the wrongdoers and criminals.
America is ever prepared to act, and to act alone if we must...
Original post: December 10, 2001 11:11H
Previous update: January 31, 2009 1857
Update posted: March 8, 2013 1355H
Adbusters: What Could Have Been: http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
Adbusters implies that, by declaring war against terrorism, America confirmed being a victim to terrorism. Rather than being inspired to promote peace, the GW Bush government chose instead the forever war that has been the legacy of terrorism.
Yet the State now sees its country and the world through the myopic lens of a post-911 future where fear of terrorism has led to racial profiling, illegal body searches and x-ray technology that violates privacy.
Here is a part of the Adbuster article:
What Could Have Been: The speech that was never made, lest we forget
Fellow Americans, citizens of the world: Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
We cannot see inside the head of a terrorist, and yet today we understand clearly what it is he demands. A terrorist demands hate. He demands fear. Above all else, a terrorist demands war.
But a free people does not bend to the demands of terror.
Our friends and family members have died in the thousands, their bright lights of life made suddenly, brutally dark. To the world tonight I say that not one more innocent person will die in the name of this terrorist act. Not one more mother's son in America. Not one more beloved father in Afghanistan. Not one more infant child in Israel or in Palestine.
To the men and women in uniform I say: We all must hope that your soldiering days are done. Today you are our officers of law and our keepers of precious peace. You have been challenged by a terrible crime and make no mistake, this nation's hunger for justice is as strong as its love of peace. We look to you, to our police forces and our troops, to the elected representatives of our citizens, and to our friends and allies in the international community, to bring the full weight of law and of human dignity against the wrongdoers and criminals.
America is ever prepared to act, and to act alone if we must...
Original post: December 10, 2001 11:11H
Previous update: January 31, 2009 1857
Update posted: March 8, 2013 1355H
Adbusters: What Could Have Been: http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20020206005225/http://adbusters.org/magazine/39/whatcould.html
20080113
Could My HighFog Index Be the Cause of Misunderstanding?
From what I remember when i found the original script for calculating fog indexes in BASIC years ago, fog index calculators determine the grade level the author writes at.
According to my research, the fog index for school teachers is Grade 5. Yes, teachers are taught on how to effectively write so as to be understood by a 10-year-old. So I checked shaw dot ca's webpages, and they all rate Grade 11.
If you need to confirm of a website is beyond your reading comprehension - uses big words and phrases - then try out www dot readability dot info !
I am not going to post a link because it's too valuable a link to let the spambots get ahold of to try to get into the server.
I will post the readability results of Gandhara dot blogspot dot com:
Here's a list of Fog Indexes for various websites:
www dot bell dot ca:
www dot shaw dot ca:
gettingtothegate dot com
(The feminist women's lobby group trying to get more women into government):
Note: My guess is this website was written by a teacher.
andreareimer dot typepad dot com
(Andrea Reimer is the VSB school teacher who parlayed her network of university friends into stepping up in the Green Party of BC hierarchy, to the point where she's applying Green politicking to Vancouver city council):
Hmmm, she write one grade level about me! I bet people misunderstand her more than they do me!
Now a look at our fine post-second educational institutions starting with UBC:
www dot ubc dot ca:
Obviously written by a teacher.
www dot sfu ca matches Andrea's Grade 8 score:
Comment: My guess is, she gradated from SFU since the scores are so similar.
www dot kwantlen dot ca is not surprise, considering how terse the website is:
So I decided to check another webpage in the kwantlen dot ca domain.
This is the score for the testimonials offered by faculty at Kwantlen (www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw faculty dot html):
Being mostly masters grads, they naturally use a lot of big words and score above Grade 11, even better than the shaw dot ca webmaster, who might have graduated at an Albertan university.
Student testimonies (www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw students dot html) scored the following:
Comment: Not as high as the teachers, but this leads me to suspect that the webmaster chose, in both cases, the most complex sentences to quote from both groups.
Just to make sure that it's the webmaster's editing that is making these testimonials so complex, I checked out the alumni's page to see if any quotes from teachers lowered the scores like it did the students'.
www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw alumni dot html:
It looks like the alumnis, no longer hard-pressed to impress everyone like their former teachers and fellow students, scored more than 25 points lower on the Lix grade, which is still higher than Grade 11 but is dropping back to normal.
University of Calgary's webpage (www dot ucalgary dot ca) scores at around Grade 11:
Comment: But Edmonton (www dot ualberta dot ca) scored higher, which means that the Shaw webmaster is a University of Alberta university grad surrounded by call centre staff who graduated from University of Calgary:
Comment: University of Alberta has the highest ratings so far, and that's the first time I've seen the Flesch Index go negative! And using by the grades, I've calculated that the Shaw webmaster may have networked with at least six of the call centre staff.
Now on to the government of bc:
www dot uvic dot ca scores:
The government of Canada (www dot gc dot ca slash-fw home dot html) scores in the same range
Checking www dot psac dot ca reveals similarities with student activists:
The student left's website of choice for some (www dot resist dot ca) show:
The activist newsfeed mostlywater dot org has pretty much the same level:
Comment: This leads me to suspect that the webmasters of both sites have the same background, or have the same newsource.
Anarchist dot com however gives low grades, which leads me to suspect the webmaster has learned to keep it simple.
Since the scores for the psac website showed a strong tie with the student activist movement, I thought I'd find a site that caters to white collars. So I checked out the Canadian Venture Capitalist Association:
Comment: This may indicate the webmaster is a university grad.
So I checked www dot garage dot com:
Finally, I peeked at www dot whitehouse dot gov and got this:
According to my research, the fog index for school teachers is Grade 5. Yes, teachers are taught on how to effectively write so as to be understood by a 10-year-old. So I checked shaw dot ca's webpages, and they all rate Grade 11.
If you need to confirm of a website is beyond your reading comprehension - uses big words and phrases - then try out www dot readability dot info !
I am not going to post a link because it's too valuable a link to let the spambots get ahold of to try to get into the server.
I will post the readability results of Gandhara dot blogspot dot com:
Readability report for http://gandhara.blogspot.com readability grades: Kincaid: 9.2 ARI: 10.0 Coleman-Liau: 11.2 Flesch Index: 64.1 Fog Index: 12.5 Lix: 42.9 = school year 7 SMOG-Grading: 11.3 sentence info: 19581 characters 4278 words, average length 4.58 characters = 1.45 syllables 217 sentences, average length 19.7 words 48% (106) short sentences (at most 15 words) 16% (35) long sentences (at least 30 words) 16 paragraphs, average length 13.6 sentences 2% (6) questions 48% (106) passive sentences longest sent 156 wds at sent 215; shortest sent 1 wds at sent 39 word usage: verb types: to be (145) auxiliary (51) types as % of total: conjunctions 6(242) pronouns 7(288) prepositions 11(490) nominalizations 1(47) sentence beginnings: pronoun (29) interrogative pronoun (6) article (16) subordinating conjunction (20) conjunction (4) preposition (14)
Here's a list of Fog Indexes for various websites:
www dot bell dot ca:
readability grades: Kincaid: 6.4 ARI: 8.4 Coleman-Liau: 13.7 Flesch Index: 71.4 Fog Index: 9.3 Lix: 33.4 = below school year 5 SMOG-Grading: 9.3
www dot shaw dot ca:
readability grades: Kincaid: 10.9 ARI: 16.2 Coleman-Liau: 19.2 Flesch Index: 51.3 Fog Index: 15.2 Lix: 64.5 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 13.4
gettingtothegate dot com
(The feminist women's lobby group trying to get more women into government):
readability grades: Kincaid: 8.2 ARI: 9.9 Coleman-Liau: 11.7 Flesch Index: 69.8 Fog Index: 11.3 Lix: 36.4 = school year 5 SMOG-Grading: 10.3
Note: My guess is this website was written by a teacher.
andreareimer dot typepad dot com
(Andrea Reimer is the VSB school teacher who parlayed her network of university friends into stepping up in the Green Party of BC hierarchy, to the point where she's applying Green politicking to Vancouver city council):
Readability grades: Kincaid: 10.5 ARI: 12.1 Coleman-Liau: 10.1 Flesch Index: 65.1 Fog Index: 13.7 Lix: 45.4 = school year 8 SMOG-Grading: 11.2
Hmmm, she write one grade level about me! I bet people misunderstand her more than they do me!
Now a look at our fine post-second educational institutions starting with UBC:
www dot ubc dot ca:
readability grades: Kincaid: 7.6 ARI: 9.0 Coleman-Liau: 13.0 Flesch Index: 67.1 Fog Index: 10.9 Lix: 40.7 = school year 6 SMOG-Grading: 10.4
Obviously written by a teacher.
www dot sfu ca matches Andrea's Grade 8 score:
readability grades: Kincaid: 8.2 ARI: 9.0 Coleman-Liau: 10.2 Flesch Index: 70.5 Fog Index: 11.4 Lix: 44.6 = school year 8 SMOG-Grading: 10.3
Comment: My guess is, she gradated from SFU since the scores are so similar.
www dot kwantlen dot ca is not surprise, considering how terse the website is:
Readability grades: Kincaid: 1.5 ARI: 2.1 Coleman-Liau: 9.6 Flesch Index: 96.1 Fog Index: 5.7 Lix: 29.6 = below school year 5 SMOG-Grading: 6.9
So I decided to check another webpage in the kwantlen dot ca domain.
This is the score for the testimonials offered by faculty at Kwantlen (www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw faculty dot html):
readability grades: Kincaid: 22.1 ARI: 28.0 Coleman-Liau: 15.8 Flesch Index: 22.6 Fog Index: 24.4 Lix: 84.5 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 16.5
Being mostly masters grads, they naturally use a lot of big words and score above Grade 11, even better than the shaw dot ca webmaster, who might have graduated at an Albertan university.
Student testimonies (www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw students dot html) scored the following:
readability grades: Kincaid: 22.0 ARI: 27.8 Coleman-Liau: 14.4 Flesch Index: 26.9 Fog Index: 24.6 Lix: 81.5 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 16.1
Comment: Not as high as the teachers, but this leads me to suspect that the webmaster chose, in both cases, the most complex sentences to quote from both groups.
Just to make sure that it's the webmaster's editing that is making these testimonials so complex, I checked out the alumni's page to see if any quotes from teachers lowered the scores like it did the students'.
www dot kwantlen dot ca slash-fw testimonials slash-fw alumni dot html:
readability grades: Kincaid: 13.5 ARI: 17.1 Coleman-Liau: 12.9 Flesch Index: 53.8 Fog Index: 16.0 Lix: 57.1 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 12.1
It looks like the alumnis, no longer hard-pressed to impress everyone like their former teachers and fellow students, scored more than 25 points lower on the Lix grade, which is still higher than Grade 11 but is dropping back to normal.
University of Calgary's webpage (www dot ucalgary dot ca) scores at around Grade 11:
readability grades: Kincaid: 12.1 ARI: 14.4 Coleman-Liau: 14.8 Flesch Index: 48.7 Fog Index: 15.3 Lix: 55.1 = school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 13.2
Comment: But Edmonton (www dot ualberta dot ca) scored higher, which means that the Shaw webmaster is a University of Alberta university grad surrounded by call centre staff who graduated from University of Calgary:
readability grades: Kincaid: 34.4 ARI: 43.9 Coleman-Liau: 18.4 Flesch Index: -16.1 Fog Index: 38.3 Lix: 123.4 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 24.2
Comment: University of Alberta has the highest ratings so far, and that's the first time I've seen the Flesch Index go negative! And using by the grades, I've calculated that the Shaw webmaster may have networked with at least six of the call centre staff.
Now on to the government of bc:
readability grades: Kincaid: 17.4 ARI: 22.2 Coleman-Liau: 16.4 Flesch Index: 34.0 Fog Index: 20.6 Lix: 74.5 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 16.0
www dot uvic dot ca scores:
readability grades: Kincaid: 12.4 ARI: 15.5 Coleman-Liau: 15.6 Flesch Index: 48.2 Fog Index: 16.0 Lix: 58.4 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 13.8
The government of Canada (www dot gc dot ca slash-fw home dot html) scores in the same range
readability grades: Kincaid: 12.6 ARI: 17.1 Coleman-Liau: 16.2 Flesch Index: 50.4 Fog Index: 16.4 Lix: 57.4 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 13.8
Checking www dot psac dot ca reveals similarities with student activists:
readability grades: Kincaid: 8.2 ARI: 11.9 Coleman-Liau: 16.3 Flesch Index: 63.9 Fog Index: 10.8 Lix: 48.9 = school year 9 SMOG-Grading: 10.3
The student left's website of choice for some (www dot resist dot ca) show:
readability grades: Kincaid: 11.2 ARI: 12.6 Coleman-Liau: 12.4 Flesch Index: 55.8 Fog Index: 14.6 Lix: 49.2 = school year 9 SMOG-Grading: 12.7
The activist newsfeed mostlywater dot org has pretty much the same level:
readability grades: Kincaid: 11.8 ARI: 13.9 Coleman-Liau: 12.4 Flesch Index: 56.3 Fog Index: 15.1 Lix: 50.7 = school year 9 SMOG-Grading: 12.7
Comment: This leads me to suspect that the webmasters of both sites have the same background, or have the same newsource.
Anarchist dot com however gives low grades, which leads me to suspect the webmaster has learned to keep it simple.
readability grades: Kincaid: 6.4 ARI: 6.6 Coleman-Liau: 9.9 Flesch Index: 76.4 Fog Index: 9.5 Lix: 33.8 = below school year 5 SMOG-Grading: 9.3
Since the scores for the psac website showed a strong tie with the student activist movement, I thought I'd find a site that caters to white collars. So I checked out the Canadian Venture Capitalist Association:
readability grades: Kincaid: 13.9 ARI: 16.7 Coleman-Liau: 16.9 Flesch Index: 38.1 Fog Index: 17.8 Lix: 62.0 = higher than school year 11 SMOG-Grading: 15.2
Comment: This may indicate the webmaster is a university grad.
So I checked www dot garage dot com:
readability grades: Kincaid: 8.5 ARI: 10.8 Coleman-Liau: 16.8 Flesch Index: 55.7 Fog Index: 11.7 Lix: 48.3 = school year 9 SMOG-Grading: 10.9
Finally, I peeked at www dot whitehouse dot gov and got this:
readability grades: Kincaid: 12.4 ARI: 14.9 Coleman-Liau: 13.7 Flesch Index: 51.2 Fog Index: 15.9 Lix: 52.7 = school year 10 SMOG-Grading: 13.5
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