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When the Time Comes Will We Be Able to Forgive?
When the Time Comes Will We Be Able to Forgive?
By
Cognitive Dissonance
How do we live with that soul numbing pain we all know so well, but desperately wish to forget? You know what I’m talking about, the kind of inner pain that cuts a wide swath through our soul and then leaves us vacant and drained. It’s so much easier to be the hard ass, first with ourselves and then with all the others. You can’t be hurt by what you don’t let in, so let’s just raise our shields and hate those bastards because…...because they deserve it, that’s why. Of course, there’s always a special place in my personal hell for a few select psychopaths who deserve my best, most exceptional rage.
The thing is, though, when we finally lay splayed upon the floor exhausted from our hating labors, we still remain unsated and thoroughly dissatisfied. It is only then that we comprehend that we are all that we have left to abhor. Trust me on this one; those are the really ugly hate hangovers, the ones that spring from our own self loathing and disgust, along with our unabashed anger at the cruel world and those who we can single out for special hatred. Come on, we can admit it. We are all so very angry, furious even, at what the sociopaths have dealt us this time around. None the less, here we are. Or soon enough will be. So what are we going to do?

I suspect some of us are sitting smug as a bug thinking that we really aren’t all that angry, just plenty pissed off and loaded for bear. And that might well be the case, at least for now anyway. But just wait until the really shocking stuff is exposed, because the ass hat parade hasn’t even begun to march down Main Street. And between you and me, those stupid little clown cars, the irritating enablers and sycophants, are really going to irritate me to no end when they start to whine. Then what will we do?
I’ll tell you what we do; either we forgive them or we will be consumed by them. Either we dismiss them from our mind with an open and honest heart or we will be owned by them lock, stock and barrel. The choice is up to us and no one else, because at this point we are just renting space in our heads to those little bastards and it is slowly eating us alive. Sure, maybe for now the rented space is just closet sized and free of charge. But when the fecal matter hits several hundred million spinning minds there is going to be giant sized outrage and then the rent rapidly rises from free to mental and emotional slavery.
Forgiving someone or something certainly doesn’t mean forgetting what has been done. Nor does forgiving mean we should let ‘them’ off without punishment or sentence. And I definitely didn’t say a thing about turning the cheek. Nope, I said nothing of the sort. Forgiving is all about giving us permission to let go of all the hate, anger and bile that has been building for years, decades even. Forgiving is about evicting the demons that have occupied our mind for so long that we no longer know where we end and they begin. Forgiving them is all about forgiving ourselves.
Speaking from personal experience and only about me, when it came time for me to forgive I no longer knew how. I didn’t have it in me precisely when I most urgently needed to know how to forgive others so that I could forgive myself. I hadn’t realized that hating for as long as I did effectively sterilized from me my naturally occurring compassion and empathy. So when the time came to turn those healing tools upon others I found to my dismay that I could not heal myself.
Now I have come to understand that if I do not use the tools I have available, they become rusted, blunt and stale. Wait even longer and they are completely forgotten, assuring that I will soon become what I hate. So now I work daily to keep my forgiving sharp and at the ready. And the funny thing is that because of my continuous forgiving labors I now see that the time to forgive might never come because it is here already.
09-06-2011
Cognitive Dissonance

Forgiving Blue
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I will forgive them. After they've been hanged.
Hey Use,
Thanks, that's a nice story----'not being involved in the outcome' does allow enough space for compassion.
respectfully om
I apologise in advance, I've not read the comments - unusual for me, but I fear I'm running out of time. So if this is repetition I apologise.
What sparks an interest here is that Cog might be the ZH male cave version of: http://www.ted.com/talks/joan_halifax.html
The central message is: Compassion is essential, as is not being involved in the outcome.
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Personal aside - there was a moment, not so long ago, when I'd been fighting for five years straight. No remittance. No surrender. No chance of success. Each day was a battle to hold the line. Every moment a calculation of survival not just for me, but the business and the people who worked for me, and in the larger scale of things, the difference between (tiny) wealth and being owned. Every. Single. Waking. Moment.
At some points, it got so bad that I was without heating, with no window glass to my room (boarded up, 2" gap at the top) and faced counting silvers in change and fluking finding the odd $200 in kitty money to pay wages. The wages got paid. Every. Damn. Week. The naive among you will imagine that that would lead to loyalty and so on - of course it didn't: this was Manon de Sources country, and most of the paid labour was being co-opted and organised against the business, and I was going against the plan.
Of course, the smart money is to get with the plan and make easy money doing so - in this case, there were reasons that that couldn't happen.
All you can do is rise above it. And trust me: the full force of society and the mechanics of the plan are fairly large.
Every moment of waking was a battle because I would not let those fighting against me know the real reasons for the fight. They assumed that I was a readable, quantifiable entity, and that I was gameable. They assumed that I was acting in the same way they were, and that constant negativity (emotional, intellectual, physical even - got to love sabotage) would break me. They assumed that my behaviour was caused by their actions, not a conscious choice to use myself in said fight. Total abuse of all (legal) substances to gain an edge? Done. Extreme ruthlessness with personal identity, emotions and cutting personal goals to gain an edge? Done. They assumed that by not responding to their behaviours I was either stupid, autistic or powerless. They assumed that I shared their lack of compassion.
And still, they never knew why I was fighting.
In five years, I never spoke a negative word about anyone, unless it was to their face and constructive. When I cashed in, above any appreciable expectation of doing so, I did one last thing: I loved them all. I did the best I could to make sure the business survived, jobs continued and the buyers had the best possible platform to launch from. I even burned myself as a demonstrable sacrifice to the reason for the fight. Why? Because all of the above says more about who I am than any of their negativity. In the end, I kept my compassion. Will any of the people involved in the game know this? Probably not. Doesn't matter. At the end of it, whatever they think, I kept my compassion. Even the last gasp of petty spite directed at me? Handled with aplomb and politeness.
And when they found out the reasons for the fight... there was no apology, but I could see the universal guilt of it. Let them eat it, it will not eat at me. Let the ignorant think I am a monster, as long as the reasons for the fight are protected.
But remember: Compassion is essential, but it involves not being involved in the outcome. Feel for your opponents, and have compassion for them - even when you have forced them to lose. That's the difference at the top - without compassion, the victory is meaningless, hollow and ultimately... it leads to collapse.
I fear there is a parable here, but I cannot tell what it is.
Grace and humilty, forgiveness and love, these are the hard roads of Christianity. Most specifically, they are taught weekly in the Catholic church, of which I am a member.
Years later now, and plenty of hard roads walked, and with hard feelings strewn out behind me like so much wind blown garbage, it is still a very tall task, indeed. Grace and humility, forgiveness and love.
And if that strikes you strange, that these good things be as difficult as they actually are, and as easily overcome by wind blown trash as they oft are...well then I say to you, welcome to humanity.
There is nary a wit of difference between us. And yet we cannot tolerate one another. And our ego daily drubs these virtues. Why? Of course, the answer to the question is the reason for the hatred and the scuffle, materialism, envy and betrayal, lust, coveting...and everything already written long ago. He simply reminds you of it here.
Thank you, brother Cog. And I see you are, indeed, experimenting. Wield the cleaver...until you lose a finger. And by then, it will be quite comfortable even if you are typing with nine fingers.
I'll be in touch.
your brother
Cdad
Hatred is the undertaker of empathy. -me
And an aphorism by a more popular author:
Greatness starts with the replacement of hatred with polite disdain. -Taleb
"Amongst humans, the fittest are smarter, more manipulative, more ruthless, more greedy, more ambitious, tireless, and more adaptable. Not all of these are attractive qualities, but they are qualities that have been selected in, because those who possess them thrive." chindit13
The bottleneck will be merciless. If you think life is unfair now, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Natural selection, "survival of the fittest " is unencumbered by the baggage humans insist on dragging around and attaching/projecting to the world around them. Cheap energy has altered our perception of the world and our place in it. Our denial runs far deeper than the economy and the sham of freedom.
Beware the lowest common denominator.
I fear that now. The reasoning is everywhere and threatens my own decision making, as I type this.
I never go over to Kunstler's site any more, but I still buy the idea that there will be a long emergency, rather than a blatant waterfall event.
Naturally this guarantees that a waterfall event will be on it's way!!
See you around, neighbor!
Thank you for reminding me of the tools, as some are a bit tarneshed and need attention. Forgiveness is one the most important, right up there with respect. Neither of tools can be applied without first using them in regards to others. We must forgive and respect others in order to forgive and respect ourselves. Thank you, CD, for a great story, this is a much appreciated reminder of our humanity in the midst of the ever unfolding nightmare we are living through.
Chicken soup for the trader's soul.
I just keep going. I have some things in my past that I hated people for, and wanted revenge. But, of course, revenge is best served cold, so that you don't get caught serving it. So I waited, and then I never got revenge because the hate just moved out of the front of my mind. I think I can get over hate without even forgiving. It's funny, whenever anyone says these deep things about how to survive emotionally, I never can relate. I always feel that I can survive emotionally no matter what anyone else in the world does. Life just goes on. and I just move on to the next important thing that needs doing. I am a person of action, not a person that dwells on the past. Probably the exception to this would be if anyone hurt or killed my children. They are everything to me, and I could never move that from the front of my mind.
I was born into this human machine, and I thought it was a fine machine because it was all I knew. I did fine financially in the machine, but my health was getting really bad in the machine so I bailed out to the countryside. Then things started happening in the world, and I started looking past the propaganda on TV. I was surprised to find out how bad the machine was. There are some evil people controlling the machine, and they need to be stopped, but I don't really hate them. I just want them stopped because I am outraged by the evil.
GET BEHIND ME SATAN (cd, play along, you're in no way the devil here),
if you were holding out for a thoughtful answer from janus, well, hold-out no more!
janus ain't loaded for bear; janus is ramming mutha-fuckin grape-shot, packin it hard and tight, calibrating his sites, practicing his trig!
the metaphysical will always subsume the physical; and this, you silly little empiricsts, will stun you with all the mezmerizing force of an atomic shock-wave -- brace yourselves.
GOOD & EVIL & GREY:
socrates said that no man practices evil for its own sake; all men see themselves as good in their own eyes. (the Bible says the same, but they take up more words in the saying). solomon said, there is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end of that way is death. omar khayyam said this, let us softly meditate:
Look not above, there is no answer there;
Pray not, for no one listens to your prayer;
Near is as near to God as any Far,
And Here is just the same deceit as There.
In other words, CD, GOD IS HERE! and GOD IS JUSTICE and JUSTICE is VENGENCE!
The Lord God of Hosts, The King of kings, sent His Son as a fractal of His Self -- His Mercy, His Love, His Compassion; and men (not jews only, ALL OF US) killed him for a message of forgiveness and mercy. well, not all of us. notice the machiavalian manuvering among the power of the pharasees and the roman potentate. power colluding; power swayng the people (whom ever so recently loved Jesus, laid down the palm branches for their KING riding in on the colt of an ass) with propaganda; the people's fear, bigotry and patriotism all mingled in a demonic stew...sound familiar -- sound like the kettle drums of AMERICAN WARFARE. when fascism comes it will be draped in the flag and carrying a Bible." well, cry out to your swine-god in agony, fascists -- he's promised you a deaf ear and a muted answer. The Great I AM keeps His promises! many will come to me at that time saying, 'Lord, Lord, we preformed great works in your honor. and called on your name.' i say to you they will be taken to a place of great sorrows; of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
the bourgeois are to blame -- they've had two THOUSAND years to figure it out, and, well, time to start picking sides, people.
Now, you princes of men, you kings of the earth, you who will show no mercy, beg for it not -- in your time of sorrow, i will laugh with steel-eyed mirth at your misery; so now Jehovah is sending another aspect of His Self, which is also God, which is also Christ. Which is the one Josephus of Babylon spoke of so long ago. The time is at hand. CHOOSE YOUR SIDE! CHOOSE WISELY. if you are on the side of right, sabotage your company. destroy from within. if you are on the right side, speak truth to power with goddam CONVICTION. if you are on the side of RIGHT, stand up an FIGHT. do something, anything. the time for blood is not upon us -- but it is coming like a flood; and it will be spilling in the streets.
Yes, CD is right, there's no need for more than 10 to 50 thousand deaths in this country. sure as shit beats the hell outta 10 to 50 million innocents...or maybe janus is the evil one. again, choose your side. you think these people will go away after a few years at club fucking med? bah! death to all of them. resign now, CEOs. lay down your arms so we know whose house to pass over. if the lamb's blood of peace is not framing your door, we will barricade you inside and burn you to vapor. well, after we take what we want from within...of course, we are people of culture -- some of you have your slimy sucubus hands on some manets and van goghs and picassos and some, well, i could keep going forever. and, we'll be tender with the women after you're gone. we are gentlemen, after all.
So, you'd like me to forget my demons? CD, JANUS IS LEGION! think i'm the two-faced god for no reason? Janus will show mercy where mercy is due; and janus, well, janus will have to let Jack White finish this thought (TURN IT WAY THE FUCK UP -- JANUS HAS PLAYED THIS ON ZH, AND WILL PLAY IT AGAING) listen carefully:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mudTIboIYGI
No, i say let those 'demons' cry HAVOC! let slip the hounds of HELL! this system does not need a bit of tweaking! it needs total and complete annhilation! a razing of such epic proportions that no one will ever attempt to reconstruct such a perverse and iniquitious tower of babel. and you people think it's sexual sin that's america's problem. well, it's a bit of an issue; and, with the vileness of pornographay, you've turned the beauty of love-making into mutual masterbation (no wonder your women long for janus when they hear the tales of a generous love-maker...we giggle about you, though -- you fucking pervs)...but that's another issue for another time (or is it?).
so, yes, sharpen those tools. goddam RAZOR sharp -- WORK, my droogies! come learn at ZH. expose and crush cowards. force them to choose sides. see who is pure of heart. give plenty of chances. wait till the evidence starts to seep in. and, if it is evil's decadant side they choose, let them die like the swine they are. everyone must choose a side. it's not about christian or athiest -- it's good/evil. i use the metaphors that mean something to me. the godless among you; please, the floor is yours.
now, a bit more from the original athiest, omar Khayyam (who was only such, because, like the rest of you athiests, he saw not God working in men -- despair not, athiests; you will soon see the Holy Spirit move MOUNTAINS):
Some for the pleasures here below
Others yearn for The Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the cash and let the credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum
In other words, "THE TIME IS NOW, BITCHEZ!!!"
but, janus being who he is, he will leave you with the words of a living sage, poet, prophet and Born Again Christian:
it may be the devil/
or it may be the Lord/
but you gonna have ta serve somebody,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavBDpg91gA&feature=related
and here's a special dedication to you, CD:
may you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung/
may you stay forever young,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sldgunY3Fw
much Love,
Janus
Janus,
That was just beautiful... I'm with you
you good folk have four...five...languages over there?
well, janus will pick his fav:
enchante, swiss chick.
merci,
janus (the intercontinental)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02jjoy9mC2c&feature=related
Confiscate their wealth, all of it, and force them to work outside the industry, confiscating all income over the official poverty line. Prison for those against whom a case can be made. If they get shanked, too bad.
The most powerful nation in the world pulls 911 as an inside job and you expect anyone smart enough to see it to DO something?
Smart enough to see 911 was an inside job is smart enough to know we're f*cked until these people self destruct.
Cog, sometimes I wonder if something gets said within my range of hearing, just because I needed to hear it.
Thanks, Bro...or Sis...
I'm just waking up from a 3 year battle with "self" over a major hosing that old old "friend" laid on me. Now, I see that the "old friend" is just a person of exceptionally weak charachter. Hell, I survived the test. And now I'm stronger and happier for it. And the best part is that I love that friend again, just in a different way. Given the choice of being the "hoser" or the "hosee", I'm content with the latter.
At the root, I think it is always fear that causes our discomfort. I trusted someone that I should not have trusted. I should have seen that they just weren't the pyramid of virtue that they still claim to be. I think my fear issue was multi-faceted. I feared my own judgment, my own reasoning, how would I avoid such traps in the future and still remain "open" to people?
The lesson for me was that the Cosmos has a few things planned for my development that I didn't have planned. Learning what I need to learn, will take as long as it takes me to accept whatever it is that I'm going through. So, pain over things and events is my choice. Acceptance is the balm.
Thanks for having the courage! -Shine
I appreciate you sharing. It is very painful to go through something like this. Learning about boundaries and which people in your life are safe versus toxic is extremely hard. Thankfully, along the way, I have found in my life one or two "safe" non-judgmental people who are very dear to me. I in turn am one of their "safe" people. We are by nature social creatures- we must be true to ourselves in all aspects- one of the hardest things to do is to develop discernment about people in our lives.
Keep on the right path, Shine. May you have true joy in your soul.
Interesting article, CD. Interesting comments, too. I won't keep this shorter than your article, but I think I'll sneak in just shorter than janus.
Disclosure: I am a cynic by birth, but I smile more than most anyone I know. I'm the furthest thing from a wimp, but I accept the Universe has its own rules and there is no other place for me to play. Change what one can change and all that.
Now I'll make a point that might rile.
This world has always been rules by the elite of each generation, and it always will be. Those who expect major change, and who fantasize about any one of the few times in history where the elite got theirs, temporarily (France, sans-culotts Reign of Terror 1792-1794, Nicolai Ceaucescu), are going to be disappointed. Only in addled minds is there any visible and consistent karma.
I'm a big fan of Darwin. I don't mean I think his view of the Universe is attractive, but I do know it is correct. The fittest survive. They prosper. Amongst humans, the fittest are smarter, more manipulative, more ruthless, more greedy, more ambitious, tireless, and more adaptable. Not all of these are attractive qualities, but they are qualities that have been selected in, because those who possess them thrive.
Even if the "Great Reset" happens, it will be roughly the same folks who come out on top in the next iteration, and the same folks bellyaching now, because they personally are not on top or because they cannot stop the fittest from doing what comes naturally to them, will be in the exact same position next time. People who think they'd be better off with a reset, or that they'll live in a world where a self-serving elite is not in charge are delusional or ignorant of human history. There isn't going to be a Nuremburg because there are no Allied Forces to overthrow the Nazis. This is assymetrical warfare. Another term for it is "life".
Remember the USSR? Now it's Russia. Who are these oligarchs that run the place? Who is the country's leader? What did all these folks do before under the Soviet system? Of all the people who ordered or carried out the various pogroms and massacres---or even the corruption---under the Soviet system, how many stood trial? What about China? (I'm using the most well known and egregious examples.) Tens of millions of Chinese died under the Great Leap Forward and during the Cultural Revolution. Mao's face is on all the country's money, and his party remains self-appointed rulers answerable to no one.
That’s the way the world really works, at least outside of Hollywood and pulp thrillers.
Zerohedge is, among other things, a support group. I've been here about two days less than Tyler, first as an "anonymous" and latter with this "chindit" thing (when I had to kowtow to “the man“ and play by his rules). Thousands of times I read rants and blustering by people who are supposedly going to make somebody pay. I've no doubt said it myself. It's just talk. It is not going to happen, hence the personal damage from the anger CD notes. Tyler has done yeoman's work making the crimes and incompetence public, and I have no doubt that some changes will take place. They will be minor changes, even cosmetic changes, but minor is better than nothing. The constant attention also puts people on notice, and hopefully it slows them down a bit. Perhaps a guilty party of two will do time, a bone thrown to the screaming hordes. The vast majority of those who are on the receiving end of all the bile spewed by posters on this site, however, will do just fine, keep their gains, ill-gotten or not, and even if the system is changed in a dramatic way, these same people still will occupy Flight Level Elite (FLE).
Lots of people who post here believe 911 was an inside job. If so, that would be the greatest crime in the history of the United States. I don't happen to believe it was an inside job. Frankly, I don't think many people do, even those who claim otherwise. If they really did believe, then they would do something about it other than rant. I certainly would. I'd find somebody I was certain was responsible and I'd take a pound of flesh on behalf of the innocent. Nobody, even those whose swear by conspiracy, has done a thing. Zip. It’s the same thing as threats to guillotine the bankers: bluster. If no one has done a thing about the (supposed) domestic perpetrators of 911, it is doubtful anyone is going to take concerted action against the financial elite. Perhaps there will be a few incidents, but nothing major or organized, legal or illegal.
All this brings me back to CD's essay and the concept of forgiving, which if I've read him correctly, is about coming to terms with one's anger so that it isn‘t all consuming. The bluster about guillotines is the first step. It's a release. It helps clear the deck. It's a cry of the powerless who deep down know they are powerless, but whose psyches are served, temporarily, by pretending otherwise.
After that release comes acceptance, acceptance of the power one does not have. The psyche heals itself by tacitly admitting there are things out of one's control (like tornados or earthquakes), and then provides its own salve by convincing itself that its human host is better than those who are the targets of anger. "I'd be better than those scumbags." That may or may not be true, as it is more a parlor game than a tested hypothesis, but it serves a purpose. It is a step toward getting one's life back without having to live each day with a belly full of bile.
None of this suggests taking an impassive stance. Far from it. Change what can be changed, stay vigilant and vocal, and take steps to make oneself as immune as possible from the things others are wont to do. Human society is and always will be a work in progress. Things take time, longer than most would like. The time between the end of slavery and the Civil Rights Act was just short of a hundred years. Individually we are all works in progress, too. Hopefully we learn how to live a good and enjoyable life long before that last breath, since most of us don't have a hundred years.
Finally, as I believe CD is arguing here, don't make yourself the victim of your own anger. The elite couldn't care less that you're angry, and with good reason don't feel the least bit threatened. Thus if your anger is no threat to them, it's only a threat to you. Use it (for something socially beneficial) or lose it.
nope, i just measured; and janus is, and always will be the king!
but i salute you, my prince!
a dedication (chindit13...and janus thinks he knows what that means; want me to guess out loud or drop a clue?) to ChinDit,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnSvPaT9hxA
be careful, last time someone wanted to compare length with janus; it didn't end well -- look out behind!
janus envy!
(i'm just teasin chindit...i liked your post),
ronnie
seriously, for a second, chindit...i'm sure you've heard it all before. but, brutha, you ain't nevah heard janus. janus knows what's required for war. janus has been slowly counting the costs for years...not ejaculating online. the time is here. now is the time for all Good Men to come to the aid of WHAT IS RIGHT! okay, i won't keep talkin. just watch what evolves over the coming weeks, months and a couple (yes) years. maybe that long. but the pace is quickening. and so too should be your pulse.
it's here, my friend. all that waiting is over. time to reap the harvest.
they've sewn the wind; now they will reap the WIRLWIND!
four days and counting till the tenth anniversary.
do you feel something changing?
dip that finger in the air and see which a way the wind's a blowin.
when you see the green shoot, you know the spring is here.
yes, the time for impotent rambling is over.
i'll be announcing my peaceful (for now) action in four days.
are you making plans?
have you counted the cost?
tally ho,
JANUS
Good post, I hear you loud and have had this train of thought run through my mind as well. Meanwhile, sometimes, revolutions and civil wars happen. There is a boiling point. I am not saying we are there. In fact I think this collapse of the system is going to take a lot longer than folks here would like. There will need to be a widespread shortage of resources before folks create some of those "incidents" you expect. I don't write this possibility off. But yeah, the replacement team will look a lot like the old team. It is the cycle of rebirth and death. Or the idea that wealth ebbs and flows in cycles of three generations.There are so many versions of it to pick from.
Thanks for posting your controversial (and yet obvious, I mean that in a good way) ideas.
The biggest conspiracy theory of all...brace for it...is that we don't know what the Fawwk is going on! Watched something tonight on the secret service and laughed pretty hard. It is huge, their budget is secret, and their staff and buildings are all over the place. We are given what ever story they will let us have.
Peace.
All reproduction ensures is survival of the luckiest. Darwin essentially explained the lottery. I've known a lot of dumb rich people who certainly didn't achieve anything but accident of birth, ie picking the right parents.
I know one thing, when shit gets real, a whole lot of shitheads are gonna git. Karma merely states the universe strives for equilibrium, and we being elements of said universe are also prone to such effects. Take nothing for granted, as recent economic events of the past 4 years show, things can change rapidly and often what we think we know isn't the story at all.
If the power goes out, I don't think a bunch of fatcat banksters are gonna be the ones to worry about. They succeeded in their environment, they most likely will fail in an alien environment. Darwwin showed birds adapted to a unique environment were likely to die in a new environment. Evolution only really works on small changes over long time frames. A rapid demise of the watering holes and S&M clubs where the elite survive could mean their demise as well.
I don't hate flies when I kill them, and I don't hate ticks when I kill them. Hate implies an emotional bond. I consider what wall street did to the world as beyond hate. If all the bankers in the world dropped dead tommorrow, my eyes would be dry and heart would not be heavy.
Child molesters go to prison, I would expect nothing less for bankers. Lock them all up and let god and the prison guards sort things out.
What is "lucky"? In its purest form luck is random and non quantifiable, so it cannot be modeled. If by luck you mean accidents of birth, then I agree. Many are born more fit. Sure some dolts make it big (real estate pre 2007 is a good example, as are lottery winners). On balance, though, the ones who tend to rise to the top in all human societies are those who are above average intelligence, more ambitious, adaptable, greedy, manipulative, perseverant and ruthless. Tall and good looking don't hurt, but Blankfein and Cramer are proof those are not necessities. The system doesn't really matter. Skills are transferrable across systems. Communist apparatchiks are the new oligarchs. Like cats, the elite tend to land on their feet. Societal changes may seem extensive to us (e.g., going from Communism to Capitalism), but they are minor compared to the sorts of things that really affect evolution (such as major climactic changes). The elite are possessed of the skills that serve well in any form of human society. Conversely most of those who are not elite lack the skills necessary to reach the top of society. We might all be equal, as least theoretically, under the law, but we are hardly all equal in terms of abilities and potential. Yes, that is "luck". Given that many of the traits needed to reach the top are not necessarily attractive, however, then being less than a rainmaker is nothing of which to be ashamed.
Another reason nothing will change---even if I am wrong and the names change in the Great Reset---is that, like the oft used cliche says, absolute power corrupts absolutely. So does great wealth. Those who think they would be better human beings if they ever struck it big are just using their egos to speculate. When someone pops an eight figure bonus of electronic fiats into your bank account once a year, you change. It is slow and insidious, but it happens. After a few years of that your view of self and your view of the rest of humanity changes a bit. It takes a lot of personal strength to see it in oneself and admit it, then correct it. Thus, even if an entire new cast of characters run the show next time, guaranteed the ones who remain will do everything possible to game the system so that they don't lose their place at the front of the line. They don't lose their place to the masses; they lose it to another elite.
The Universe strives for equilibrium? In areas of mass and energy, yes, but in society? Hardly. That's a delusion of the faith-based crowd. Anthropomorphism is a human invention. The Universe doesn't get involved in credit quality or questionable transactions related to it. As for the bankers, you think they would be caught unprepared if the SHTF? You think the only precaution they have taken is buying Congresspeople? Even if a typical upper level banker only has 5% of his assets in PM's, he's got more than almost anybody on this site, particularly the ones who claim to be "backing up the truck" every time there is a correction. The small PM holder who thinks he is going to be able to buy the Sears Tower for a Monster Box is deluded. His position post the Great Reset might change, but only relative to the peers he has this iteration. Besides that, before the roving hordes can even locate the Hamptons on a map, the bankers will have taken the helicopter to Teterboro, boarded the G650, and they'll be drinking a nice Barolo at FL410 on the way to their Caribbean estate. Go take a look and see who got the chop during the Reign of Terror. Yes, Louis and Marie got it, as did a few others (including, eventually, the executioners), but most of those killed were common folk who ran afoul of a neighbor or business competitor, or were petty criminals. Social unrest is confusing, random and ugly. Whose shops got torched last month in the UK? Not the elites. The "luck" that plays a part in escaping unrest's clutches is actually preparedness, as well as the level-headedness to avoid the confusion.
You say you expect nothing less for bankers than prison. Fine, who's going to do it? We've got a slew of posters on this site who are angry every single day and claim the bankers are going to get the guillotine or a bullet or a hundred years in Sing Sing. Are they going to do it? No. They lack the power and the courage, and I suspect that makes them almost as angry as what the bankers have done to society. Hence the chest puffing and bluster. That anger also eats away at them, preventing them from enjoying life, changing things that realistically can be changed, and it sort of hands the elite yet another "win".
79...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbInZ5oJ0bc
h/t UoW
Frankly, I've often thought this method would be a good way to choose the Chinese Prime Minister, because it would "prove" the person selected would have some sort of supernatural power. Have every Chinese take a coin and flip it. Heads flippers remain standing, tails flippers sit down. Odds are there would still be someone standing after thirty flips. People would want to believe in his or her power.
Now if it came to re-election time, and the same fellow was still standing after thirty flips, I might be forced to reconsider whether or not he held sway over the Universe, at least in the realm of parlor tricks.
i think so too chindit, but don't sleep, the CCP may actually try this maneuver when they 'select' the next Dalai Lama. as far as parlor tricks go, this is exactly what i choose to think when it comes to the 'elite' you referenced above. Darwin may still rule, but it seems that a part of the playbook has gone missing from the rest of us. what are they at by now, about 665 heads in a row? i smell a ruse, even if it is Cosmic.
nonetheless, your advice is well taken. from my experience with plants, i've come to discover that evolution not only favors the strong, but the flexible. (bamboo is my chosen metaphor for this.) too much anger, hate & negativity hardens the heart and blinds the soul and then when the real strong winds arrive, even the strongest trunk goes SNAP! another thing i noticed is plants that were starved with just enough water to survive earlier in the summer developed a very deep root structure that gave them the ability to move whichever way the winds took them without becoming uprooted. maybe there's a lesson there too, not sure.
nice to see you and the cogger finding some common ground. you both do the rest of us here a fine service here by offering your viewpoints up for digestion & respectful conversation. cheers to both of you.
janus gets it.
good show, tip e. canoe (i'll be watchin that movie soon -- big roth fan)
and i'm far more than just a 'fan' of the guy that follows...so, tip e. canoe, here's janus's advice for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4obesVXWhjM&feature=related
live every week like it's shark week,
janus
thanks j. i've learned from experience to veer a respectful distance away from the sharks whenever possible. however, when the time comes and the confrontation is inevitable, legend has it that the key is to stay calm until they are just about to attack, overconfident in their ability to eat you, and then BAM! right between the eyes.
every predator has a weak spot, but one needs to step outside the tank in order to see it. ask Achilles...
No, No, NO!!!
my friend, YOU are to be the predator. THE SHARK!!!
that's why i played defense on the grid-iron -- it is ALWAYS more satisfying to be the hunter than the hunted. let the fools have their ephemeral 'glory', you relish the bone-crushing blows! the savagery is the REAL glory -- not crossing some arbitrary line.
quarterbacks are pussies that are always frettin over the stains on their jersey. WE get to hunt, prowl, attack, draw-blood; and, what's more, the stains are the stripes of OUR glory.
long live the hungry BEAR!
grrrrrrrr!,
janus
ok j, ready for a duel my friend? just cracked open GG's 'meetings with remarkable men' today. (traded it for a piece of Honest Abe paper on the street last week). got thru the 1st 6 pages as i had to read them thrice to ingest the jist. (1/6th the price of a monthly cable bill, twice the entertainment value in the 1st 6 pages alone, but that's besides the point.)
anywho, on page 4, is the 1st of 7 (notice the #) ancient sayings that he discusses in the book. and i repeat verbatim:
Only he will deserve the name of man and can count upon anything prepared for him from Above, who has already acquired corresponding data for being able to preserve intact both the wolf and the sheep confided in his care.
hmm, now if you're wiling to take artistic license with me for a moment for substitute wolf for shark (maybe History Channel should do a Wolf Week?), it would make sense that some of us were born wolves and some of us sheep. thus, those of us that were born wolves (sharks), it is their task (if we follow the ancient saying) to find room for their inner sheep (so that it is preserved). and those of us that were born sheep (minnows?), it is their task to find room for their inner wolf (so that it is also preserved).
if you are willing to look at it this way, you may see that in the hedgerow (and also everywhere), there are both wolves endlessly searching for sheep and sheep always keeping their eye out for wolves. you and i may or may not share the same costume. but that is not relevant really, the real question is whether we (you & i that is) are searching for the Other/opposite to kill or to preserve? this is perhaps where the Line (if there is one, and am i not quite certain whether there is just yet) must be drawn. not between wolves & sheep, but between the choice each of us make (no matter what role we were born into) between preservation & celebration of Life (in all of its forms) and projection & glorification of Death (for any form but the one we inhabit at the moment).
from there, GG changes the sheep to a goat and adds a cabbage and a boat into the equation, but that's for another time...for now, the sword is yours...
i see no reason to intervene here, tip e canoe. you're swimmin along fine by my seein things.
let's see some more and i'll give you a synthesized appraisal.
yup, made the same calculations ten years ago -- haven't had cable since. my children are better for it; and the wife and i fuck like minxes -- it's what people used to do before TV...that and read.
but who cares for sublime sex and esoteria?
janus does, dats who!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHuntdTzVyc
sorry buddy, y're gonna have to do a much better job at seducing me than that. tip ain't no easy bitch ;~)
p.s. 18 mos. in nyc and you may not know T.Mo if he passes you on the street. people are people and we all start blendin' together after ahwile.
janus ain't fuckin around...tracy morgan is a wisdom that most people don't get. he's a hero of janus's.
i am just blown away with this man's mind -- i kid you not when i tell you he's BRILLIANT (and we are very similar in our world view; i'm sure we'd be fast friends...hell, maybe when i move to new york, i'll look the man up and fill in the gaps for him)
whatever he is or isn't, he's the funniest man alive by janus's reckoning (and, yes, i know woody allen is still alive)
p.s. to take this back to the top of 30 Rock (notice the sly use of slang in the show title to underscore the theme of The Shark Tank), one must wonder why Big Tracy is encouraging the lowly intern to find his Inner Shark, for until Big Tracy (notice the sly role reversal vs. the Golden Age of Television back when your grandpappy was growin up, nice way to co-opt the Sheeple, n'cest pas?) finds his little sheep in the mirror, world's just gonna turn same ol', same ol', just like Big Tracy and his Boys want it to turn. ya dig?
(hint: network television is not your friend.)
You did not address this to me, but you put me in mind of something with this post. I have heard some folks talk about sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. Some folks decide they are sheep dogs, there to protect and preserve the innocence of the sheep so that they don't have to worry or even consider wolves. I got this metaphor from the gun community. I see the sheep dog as a very nice melding of the essence of the two. It does not want to exploit the sheep (therefore it is sheep-like, nice) yet it does not want to let the wolves exploit them either (therefore it has wolf like instincts to protect and be aggressive). Owns both sides.
my dear,
anytime you see janus's special purpose, always know that you are far more than simply welcome -- you are invited!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfPyTiUi_Uk
xoxo,
alex
and, a janus flirt would not be complete without a song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Iyfrymydc
it's quite possible that i'm yer third man, girl/
but it's a fact that i'm the seventh son/
...let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar/
and take our sweet lil time about it,
The Catcher in the Rye (sheeep dog metaphor plus one)
y're welcome to butt on me anytime, dear msC...thanks for answerin' the riddle...been doggin' me all day...
Groundhog Day is a bitch.
Sounds like Step 4. I get where you are coming from, but first the dark has to come completley into the light. Yeah, these people are depraved, mentally ill, and sinister, but I find it hard to reach out to a guy like Cheney who goes on Leno
wearing a Darth Vader costume and thinking he is celebrity. Forgive myself, my friends, my family, strangers...sure. Forgive these money-grubbing, power-grabbing, wreckless, dillusional parasites? Now thats a tall order.
Sic Semper Tyranus, death to tyrants and those that serve them! I can forgive most things but attempted enslavement is not on that list.
There's a fine line between forgiveness and appeasement. Appeasement didn't work with Hitler and it won't work with the financial terrorists. Once we have ended the terrorism, we can consider forgiveness (after appropriate punishment, of course). Until then, we must fight to end their assault on citizens.
I didn't say a word about forgiveness or appeasement or letting them go or not pursuing them. In fact I said the opposite. Jail them, sentence them and punish them. Forgiveness is requested. I am not promoting that. Forgiving is freely given with no strings attached. To forgive them doesn't mean letting them go. I can forgive someone for their transgression and still expect them to be punished. I am not forgiving them in order to release them from us, but to release me from them.
Very excellent piece, CD. I have been filled with outrage and hatred over the raping of our world. So many of us have been thrust into circumstances that are beyond our control. I'm sure we could fill volumes of pages by telling our stories. I've chosen to do the best I can for my family and others and let everything else go. We are in for some scary times and that's going to be hard enough to deal with so I'm not going to let them have any more of me. It really is hard not to fantasize about revenge, though.
Here here. It is hard. However, nothing in the subject matter presented was ever suggested to be easy. In fact, the notion of forgiveness is the absolute hardest road to walk. Grace and humilty are hard won virtues.
But I hear you...it is very hard to let it go and forgive. Still working on a very large bit of that business, myself.
Forgive them for what??
1. Inside Obama's bank CEOs meeting - Eamon Javers - POLITICO.com
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20871.html - CachedSimilar
Apr 3, 2009 – My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks...” ... who is standing between WE THE PEOPLE and your administration? ...
?
2. Obama to Bankers: I'm Standing 'Between You and the Pitchforks ...
blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/04/obama-to-banker.html - CachedSimilar
Apr 3, 2009 – "My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks," the ... Thanks, Mr. President for standing for the American people. Bamster ...
Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Fed’s Secret Loans
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-trillion-in-fed-s-secret-loans.html
PLUS!!!
SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817
Plus!!!
How about the $2.5 Trillion in Social Security Bailouts??
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/video/good-news-on-social-security/478373/
What else do you need to know about QE-3???
When it gets here! Wall Street will continue to Rob "We the People" Blind!!
Law Enforcement will sit around on their FAT DOUGHNUT EATING ASSES!! and do NOTHING!!
Any Jobs that have NOT been moved to China Yet! will be!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/02/14/intelligence-community-fears-u-s-manufacturing-decline/
"since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Over the last ten years, China has mounted the biggest challenge to the U.S. manufacturing sector ever seen, threatening producers of steel, chemicals, glass, paper, drugs and any number of other items with prices they cannot match. Not coincidentally, the United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs every month during the same period."
So??? what is the Government going to do with this Bright Shinning Star of a Service Economy that we have left??? How will MORE!! Money to Wall Street help?? Wall Street has "Trillions sitting on the sidelines"!
http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-money/2010/09/29/scared-investors-sitting-on-the-sidelines/
"As a result almost $11 trillion in cash is now parked throughout the banking system, according to research firm Strategic Insight."
Wow you have no clue what you are talking about! 2.6 TRILLION is OWED to Social Security! Our government owes social security! You have it so wrong! WE borrowed from the trust fund you moron!
that is exactly what the story is.. if you would have followed the link.. it is about how Social Security was robbed.. by the Treasury.. who prints money.. and how they cant find any more paper or 1's or 0's to replace it! LOL!
bichezzz
btw jw i rarely agree w u but YOU'RE THE MAN as far as I am concerned ;) #antisec #lulz
i feel that JW has crashed through the lookin-glass, too.
he was always right there -- it only took the shove of someone who loved him, and felt maybe he was jepordizing his credibility by overdoing a certain subject.
JW is solid gold by janus's reckoning.
JW will be a colonel in the army of the future.
forgive? off with their fucking heads......