The software of these sheep looks as though it's got a bug in it!
1. Ms. M. Taylor-Greene
I was fascinated to see a BBC report that cranky Christian conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Green has herself been the object of a false conspiracy theory. See the end of this BBC web report where we can read:
Evidence-free accusations against Marjorie Taylor Greene
Baseless theories in the aftermath of the attack weren't confined to the right.
Some liberal influencers seized on a tweet by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, posted a day prior to the attack, which read: "Just wait until tomorrow."
A number of accounts with large liberal followings claimed that Ms Taylor Greene's tweet could be a hint that she was in on the attack on Mr Pelosi. There is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory.
But does evidence mean anything to cranky conspiracy theorists?
2. Mr. D. Trump
Another report that interested me (this time on MSN) concerns Florida's republican governor Ron DeSantis:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is overtly courting Christian nationalist voters, and Donald Trump lashed out at his most likely GOP challenger.
The Florida governor released a new video presenting him as a savior anointed by God to save the country, which the former president perceived as a direct threat to his grip over right-wing evangelical voters -- and historian Sarah Posner told the Washington Post that Trump was right to be concerned.
"Trump knows that his base believes God anointed him to lead America at a critical juncture, and that many of them believe him to be a messianic figure who alone can rescue America from what they call demonic forces (liberalism, civil rights, 'deep state,' and more)," Posner told the Post columnist Greg Sargent. "None of Trump’s potential rivals have so blatantly tried to claim that divine blessing.
"It’s a very dangerous sign that DeSantis is reading the base — which has been bombarded with ever more radical claims of anointings, prophecy and spiritual warfare against the left — as receptive to savior alternatives to Trump," she added.
DeSantis was explicitly sending a message to voters who believe America was founded as a Christian nation, using their language, and signaling that he shares their vision of taking the country back from the forces of evil, Posner said.
According to the above quotes DeSantis is competing with Trump for Trump's fundamentalist religious support base, a base which is looking for a prophesied anointed leader in their fight against Western democratic and liberal values, values which they believe to be demonic. Mr. Putin would concur with their views on liberal democracy.
3. Mr E. Musk
We hear Elon Musk affirming the virtues of free speech on the web, but I wonder if he is really aware of the complexities of this deceptively simple principle. After all what do we do about the "free speech" of Islamic extremists who incite their followers to carry out acts of murder or those Christian fundamentalists of the far right whose slanderous accusations and conspiracy theories also help incite violence? "Free speech" is clearly a balancing act. In regard to Musk, then, I was fascinated to read this article on MSN:
I never found out whether or not Musk censored the "Trump is dead" Twitter post!
***
How many people comprehend the potential inner contradictions of very strong "free speech" principles? Too much free speech and we get free speech from those whose free-speech effectively promotes the end of free-speech with their threats of violence against those who beg to differ with them. Somewhere a balance has to be kept between freedom and regulation.
It all reminds me of Asimov's three laws of robotics which in one of his stories led to a robot going round in circles as it was caught between two contradictory demands on its time. Unless you're doing physics or mathematics avoid using rigidly observed catch-all principles in politics, religion, sociology and economics: In the human sciences where complexity rules those principles are bound to have exceptions, unexpected consequences and internal contradictions. Think "heuristics" rather than "principles" and deal with stuff on a case-by-case basis where possible, using "principles" as guidelines rather than tram lines. Heuristics accept exceptions to the rule which in turn builds in the possibility of interrupting those endless loops and prevents us from going round in circles. (See video above).
Anyway, perhaps Musk himself realizes that checks and balances are needed, and that blanket catch-all principles rigidly and religiously applied so easily come a cropper. So, although he was prepared to give Donald Trump another chance, to his credit Musk is keeping the Twitter ban on the vile and evil Alex Jones. See here:
According to this MSN web article the above was shared by Trump on his social media. My first thought was surely Trump can't be that stupid, it must be a hoax. But then I reminded myself that the Trump-voting Answer in Genesis' theme park Supremo Ken Ham has also courted QAnon crackpots, (when he should have disowned them) probably because he understands they are his natural constituency, and he doesn't want to alienate them and lose their support: Ditto Trump. This right-wing culture is turning Christianity into an ugly travesty - and so is Putin who sees his brutal war also very much in the context of a good vs evil battle between Russian orthodox Christianity and the democratic West. Signs are, however, that they are all becoming so extreme that only a minority will stick with them - at least that's what I like to believe.
Ken Ham, AiG Supremo
Vlad Putin, Kremlin supremo
To my eyes Trump looks to be a self-serving narcissistic sociopath. But Ham and Putin are idealogues, not narcissists, who serve above all their world view. They believe that those who don't sign up to their ideology are wicked (As do many evangelical supporters of Trump, in fact). Of course, we must acknowledge that Putin heads up a clearly criminal regime, but Ken does not; But here's a warning for Ken: the accusations of the QAnon conspiracy theorists are slanderous untruths that must be disowned as must voting for Donald Trump.
Trumptruth links
A would-be dictator speaks his mind: Calls for a "Trumpconstitution"?
For Americans who are old enough to remember the Cold War
and the Reagan era, it is ironic that some of today’s MAGA Republicans aren’t
shy about openly expressing their admiration for Russian President Vladimir
Putin — even during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This admiration for Putin,
liberal New York Times opinion writer Paul Krugman noted in a scathing column
published on September 12, has been expressed by everyone from Fox News’ Tucker
Carlson to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to the leader of the MAGA
movement: former President Donald Trump. In that column, Krugman argued that
praising Putin’s authoritarianism fits right in with the “MAGA ethos.”
But liberals and progressives certainly aren’t the only ones
who have been calling out the pro-Putin attitudes in the MAGA movement. More
than a few Never Trump conservatives have been slamming Putin’s MAGA
sympathizers, including veteran columnist Mona Charen. In an article published
by The Bulwark on September 14, Charen lambasts “pro-Putin, pro-authoritarian”
Republicans as the “new useful idiots.”
“At the moment when freedom-loving people around the world
are elated, if on tenterhooks, at the progress of Ukrainian forces in pushing
back the Russian invaders, Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative
Heritage Foundation, has joined with other self-styled conservative groups to
oppose helping Ukraine fight for its life,” laments the 65-year-old Charen, who
was a speechwriter for First Lady Nancy Reagan during the 1980s. “I know, I
know, the Trumpification of the GOP has been a fact for six years, and yet,
this heel turn is remarkable. It’s as if People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals announced that they support puppy mills for medical research.”
But it gets crankier and crankier: News is coming in that Donald Trump is making increasingly positive moves toward the QAnon theorists (As has fundamentalist theme park supremo Ken Ham). This group, which almost idolize Trump as a kind of national savior, no doubt appeals to Trump's already planet sized ego. Trump's (and Ham's) cryptic overtures toward QAnon will help secure QAnon's patronage and/or vote - not that votes are of much consequence to Trumpites if they are always going to declare the elections of America's well-established democracy as rigged whenever they lose. See these reports:
If Trump or (more likely) his successor ever regains power we may well have to kiss goodbye democracy, freedom of expression & choice in the West: A far-right Christian group are praying for the return of this demagogue to power:
As we know Christian fundamentalists have been duped by dictators before. Somehow their harking back to a rustic golden age of traditional belief enforced by law & order makes them easy prey for dictators wielding conspiracy theories apportioning blame for all their woes to their "radical left" (!) antagonists.
As one MSN report I read rightly observed: This entry of a religious dimension into the political debate has raised its temperature; for one's political opponents are not just seen as wrong and mistaken but the purveyors of Satanic evil who must therefore be destroyed at all costs by the forces of light. Putin too portrays his struggle in similarly polarized terms of good versus evil. In a nation awash with military grade hand weapons and groups of armed Trump supporters wandering around who look like militias, this is an ominous turn of events.
White
nationalist Nick Fuentes admits the election proves that "we are in the
minority" and "that's why we need a dictatorship": "We need
to take control of the media or take control of the government and force the
people to believe what we believe." http://bit.ly/3fVcdam
I dedicate this song by the Piranhas to all those poor Russian guys who have been called up to serve in Putin's war on the Ukraine:
I know I'm not the only one who has noted the parallels that Putin's war has with Hitler's mission for national and personal glory but then all dictators will find that similar problems in maintaining their rule are met with similar solutions. For example, one of the common problems tyrants like Putin face is the threat from potential rivals & critics. The dictator's suspicions lead them to imprison or murder these rivals & critics. Putin is undoubtedly a murderer for his cause. The other general rule-of-thumb with dictators is that they surround themselves with sycophants who tell the dictator what he wants to hear and therefore his fantasy world isn't challenged.
As with Hitler Putin's initial successes have lead him to believe in the mythology that has come to surround him. He sees himself on a mystical religious crusade bound up with his eastern orthodoxy. He's known to obstinately pursue goals very single mindedly until he achieves them, which is bad news for Ukraine and perhaps for the whole world. The only thing that will stop him is his complete defeat. Hitler held on to the very last, buoyed by his initial successes he swallowed the mythology of personal destiny that he thought these successes were evidence of. .
The British royal institution evolved from that age old barbaric governmental model of the aristocratic protection racket. And yet in the UK it has accumulated change & learned from the wisdom of long evolutionary centuries to such an extent that it has become an important part of the UK's democratic constitution and government....but only in terms of its symbolism and the eloquent ritual of statecraft.
Outside oppressive dictatorships (Yes Putin and Xi, I'm looking at you) the natural state of human governmental affairs is debate, argument, contention and dissent. But those arguing politicians are answerable to something higher than themselves, something above the sleazy world of flawed human politics and this is well symbolized by the timeless aloof, wise and impeccable monarch to whom they symbolically go for permission to rule & form a government. "My government" says the monarch in their speech to parliament. Yes, you wretched lot of arguing, grubby, very human politicians you only rule at the monarch's permission.
It is an irony that the privileged hereditary monarchy, with its manifest ups and downs of family life (they are only human after all), is easier for "we-the-people" to identify with than those careerist, go-getting, ambitious, popularity & vote seeking politicians. Politicians, naturally enough, are sometimes tempted to serve self, but their job, in theory, is that of serving "we-the-people" (and let's concede many actually do their best to do a good job). But the monarchy personifies government and brings a human face to the complexities of constitution. And of Queen Elizabeth II we can say this: As an exemplar to politicians and to us all as she showed us what it means to serve. In that sense she followed in the footsteps of her heavenly Lord & King who also lived to serve. She was an excellent symbolic stand in for "we-the-people".
In my opinion no elected politician deserves to be called head-of-state and therefore that post is best taken out of the hands of a meritocracy of careerists with vested interests and submitted to a constitutional monarchy that cannot make proud claim to being there on merit but only on the basis of the vicissitudes of hereditary selection. In one sense that applies to us all: few of us get to choose our lot in life or get our role by popular support.; its selection rather than election for most of us.
Sorry John Wayne, (in "The Alamo") the word "republic" doesn't bring a tear to my eye, but instead fills me foreboding; good idea but the term is so easily abused and it's become too associated with dictatorships: Viz: "banana republics" and "banana republics without bananas" and "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". I also recall ominously the Trump supporter who said to me on social media not long after the the disorganized Trump rabble had attempted to seize Capitol Hill "I believe the republic is being rebirthed"; under Trump, or his successor, it would likely be rebirthed as a "A banana republic without bananas".
***
Thank you Queen Elizabeth for your servant heart and being an exemplar of those higher divine values against which all (wo)men must measure themselves and being a worthy stand-in for "we-the-people". (Philippians 2:1-11) God Save King Charles III. Long live the King.
Trump followers and "Jesus" followers seek to overthrow the US government in the 6 Jan 2021 riot. It was too spontaneous and disorganized to be effective.
I'm on the email circulation list of the far-right publicity group "Townhall". I won't go into how I managed to get on their list, but it's been a revelation in right-wing thinking. See here, here, here and here for prize examples of what can only be described as Townhallcrackpotism.
Below I reproduce an email recently circulated by Townhall in response to Donald Trump's home being raided by the FBI. Even if one withholds judgement on whether the Trumpkins are right or wrong, it is clear from the circular below that we are not witnessing just the usual sharp contentions over policy between political parties working within a constitutional & regulated forum that we would recognize as democratic. Going on the language below (and elsewhere) it looks and feels more like a civil war than the party political wrangling one expects to see in a democracy. The Trumpkins are accusing their opponents not just of policy incompetence (that's to be expected in a democracy) but of being criminals and even war opponents. That's serious in the West's chief democratic power; the Trumpkins are effectively telling us that the vital democratic institutions of the US are irredeemably corrupt. In a country awash with military grade weapons and armed right-wing groups that look suspiciously like militias the situation is ominous*.
I'm not an expert political commentator by any means so perhaps I'm being simplistic and binary, but to me what is currently only a war of words has a basically simple overall structure: Maverick far-right establishment outsiders typified by Trump himself feel alienated from the status quo and are seeking to overthrow the political, legal, law-enforcement, media and business institutions; or at least populate them with their men. They will, or course, deny that they are in the business of revolutionary overthrow and instead claim they are simply trying to oust the conspiratorial "radical left" who they are trying to convince us effectively run the status quo.
But the truth is that as mavericks they don't see themselves as working within an established constitution in order to reform that constitution (as do the political parties in the UK) but instead believe the entire status quo to be so evil & corrupt that if not overturned should at least undergo revolutionary reform in favour of the far-right. Ironically that is also the goal of the far-left. Both believe in a "deep state" that is so stacked against "we the people" that revolution is needed rather than mere piecemeal reform. Some of the causes of the extreme alienation of these conservative Americans are discussed in the book Strangers in their own land by Arlie
Russell Hochschild.
In the following extracts from Townhall all the emphases are mine.
Townhall: Yesterday was an attack on our country, the first salvo of the war openly declared on conservatives. The FBI raid of a former President's home has never happened in the history of our country.
My Comment: Raids on homes by law enforcement are of course legal if there is good reason for the raid. But in this warring context it's seen as the deep state's attack on the man who claims to be working for "we the people", namely Donald Trump. As we all know Trump (and his followers) assert that the last American election was rigged in favour of the "deep state" as might an "election" in a tin-pot dictatorship like Putin's Regime. One interpretation of the fact that it's "never happened in the history of our country" is that the Trump administration was the first time the US has hosted an arguably wholly corrupt maverick president.
Townhall: The radical left showed the corrupt lengths they will go to in order to stop President Trump from running in '24, but as Trump has always said, "In reality they're not after me, they're after you. I'm just in the way."
The same corrupt FBI and DOJ that cooked up the Russian Collusion Hoax struck again. This time, to a whole new level. The weaponization of the government against political opponentsand its citizens cannot stand. These are dark times for our nation.
My Comment: The FBI and DOJ: These are very important institutions of state: So either they are corrupt, which is a very serious threat to democracy, or it is Townhall that is corrupt and/or falling for conspiracy theories . It seems we can't have it two ways here: What ever side we take it follows from Townhall's fulminations that American democracy is in peril either because the state itself is irredeemably corrupt or because the far-right are looking for a pretext to grab power by telling stories of conspiracy. Again, notice that the government is being accused of the most Machiavellian activities and not just of peddling bad politics & policies submitted within an accountable democratic forum; Townhall are telling us that the forum itself must go. As one Trump supporter told me "The republic is being rebirthed": A euphemism for overthrow?
Donald Trump of course has an interest in stoking-up the fear of "we the people" by spreading abroad conspiracy theories about a deep state out to get them. Townhall's talk of a government against political opponents and its citizens would be an appropriate description of Putin's regime... so is that what Townhall is claiming to have become of American democracy?
As for the so-called "Radical left"; ask a Marxist or even a Critical Theorist whether the current American state can be said to be in the hands of "the radical left". No! Rather America is a capitalist democracy with liberal values and which tolerates dissenters: If it didn't Townhall would have been suppressed and Donald Trump jailed or poisoned.
Townhall: We the people (sic)are fed up and angry as hell. Join us in fighting back.But we need your help to continue to tell the truth.
My Comment: ....via "Truth Social", perhaps, the only truth teller of "We the people"?
Townhall: By joining Townhall VIP, you'd be directly supporting our in-depth investigative reporting exposing the corruption of the Biden cabal. There are no ads—just pure conservative writing that will arm you with the truth and cut through the liberal media's BS. Every penny is devoted to telling the truth liberals don't want you to know.
From just this morning: "The guy who created the Russia collusion hoax in 2016 and orchestrated the widespread, coordinated campaign to change election laws and processes in 2020 admits this is about the regime rigging yet another election."
Yesterday was horrendous, but if they can do this to a former President, just think of what they can do to you with their 87,000 new IRS agents and the force of the entire federal government.
Join the Townhall army working to save America and our beloved freedoms. We won't back down. Not now, not ever.
Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for 40% off your Vip membership, our largest discount ever!
P.S. - While VIP members have access to a wealth of exclusive content, VIP Gold members get even more. With VIP Gold, not only is your direct support doubled, but VIP Gold members have Gold access across the entire Townhall Media family (Townhall, RedState, PJ Media, and more) along with the ability to interact with your favorites like Katie, Schlichter, Julio, and more – a $300 value.
My Final Comment: Yes, of course, they want our dollars to subsidize their civil war against the liberal media establishment and the state they claim rigs elections; In Townhall's perceptions all the status quo institutions of American democracy and in fact the entire federal government are part of a "cabal" opposing the MAGA savior of America, Donald Trump. If this was really true and the US establishment was really a Putin-look-a-like that jails and kills opponents then their cause would be just. But I'm finding it very difficult to believe that a well established and publicly argumentative system like the US is really in the grip of a Putin-like regime.
Although its true that many in the American populace have had a long fascination for intriguing establishment conspiracy theories I've only become aware of the kind of civil war talk we get from the far-right becoming mainstream since the rise of Donald Trump, a man who has a rapport with conspiracy theorists and dictators (See here, here & here). For me this implicates Trump as a possible dictator-in-waiting.... either that or (actually, more likely) a successor of whom Trump will be the "king-maker". What for me has clearly disqualified Trump as a truth teller and made him more of an antichrist-like figure is his conspiracy theorism, his talking of "draining the swamp" of government, his side kick Michael Flynn advocating the use military force to get the "election" result Trump wanted, Trump's intimidation of an election official, his tendency to divide rather than unify, his ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon praising Putin and above all Trump's ability to dupe Christian fundamentalists.
Footnote
* I hope I'm just paranoid and it's all a storm in tea-cup: Somebody who probably knows American politics better than I do said that both Republicans and Democrats want Trump gone.... but for Republicans no doubt in a face-saving way that looks as though they never really changed sides. Perhaps there's a job here for Mike Pence if he wasn't branded such a "traitor" by Trump's followers!
Crank's Corner Featured at "infowars" 13/8022: Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Steve Bannon, Trump's ex-chief strategist.
Click to Enlarge
ADDENDUM 24/08/22
In an updated version of the mail-shot I've revealed above Townhall are even more bellicose and clear about fighting a war involving guns....
These are dark times for our nation. But it's only the beginning...
If they can do this to a former President, just think of what they can do to you with their 87,000 new armed IRS agents "willing to use deadly force" and the force of the entire federal government under the control of radical leftists.
By joining Townhall VIP, you'd be directly supporting our
in-depth investigative reporting exposing the corruption
of the Biden/FBI/Deep State cabal...
Every penny is devoted to telling the truth liberals don't
want you to know.
I have a very bad feeling about this "deep state" conspiracy theorism which makes claims about "87,000 new armed IRS agents willing to use deadly force...under the control of radical leftists". That'll give the well armed pro-Trump militias a pretext to clean and load their guns! I'm sure this kind of language warms the heart of the Kremlin and ultra conservative Orthodox coreligionists like Alexander Dugin who also have a pathological fear of "radical leftists and liberals". If I can get onto the Townhall emailing list I'm sure the Kremlin can too. They might even do something I wouldn't do; that is, make a big financial contribution to Townhall as it is clearly so dedicated to stirring up anger, discontent and even violence in the world's leading democracy.
I have recently compiled this analysis of an article by end-times pundit Wilfred Hahn. Below I've copied in the introduction to my analysis.
1.Introduction
T This document is best read in conjunction with my document here where I explore some of the pratfalls of conspiracy theorism.
Conspiracy theorism is
a pernicious evil that wracks democratic society; it undermines confidence and
plays into the hands of tricksters and would-be-dictators who are looking for
the disillusioned, the angry, the disaffected, the traumatised and the paranoid
as an easy-sell for their concocted rumours of conspiracy & blame in order
to justify a power grab. The cut & thrust and the open contensions natural to an accountable democracy exacerbates the insecurity of those
targeted by would-be-despots who perceive democratic debate and its rancour as a sign of weakness and failure.
Of course, in societies
where dictatorship has been successfully installed (e.g. Putin’s Russia) there
is sufficient autocratic media control to block all conspiracies theories but
the one put out by the protection racketeers in charge. In totalitarian and
authoritarian states government may be headed by a demagogue figure who is portrayed
as the only truth teller.
In this document I look
at a web article by Christian end-times pundit Wilfred Hahn.He consciously avoids fanciful conspiracy
theories peddled by web enabled theorists. These theorists join the dots of social history
into ramifying plots hatched by hidden nefarious operators who are said to be
the evil geniuses behind current affairs. Hahn’s overall thesis is that an
integrated economic system facilitated by enhanced technology, social
integration and a world market makes the idea of international centralized
social control by an anti-Christ an all too plausible scenario. I would not
disagree with this conclusion.
But as we shall see,
although Hahn identifies no specific baroque conspiracy behind current affairs he
nevertheless informs us that the history of progress is a product of a conspiracy
intended to bring about an anti-Christ power grab. He therefore inadvertently
plays into the hand of conspiracy theorists by leaving the edges of the map
blank and making statements to the effect that “Here be Monsters”. Therefore the active imaginations of the disillusioned,
the angry, the disaffected, the traumatised and the paranoid are encouraged to
fill in those spaces with fanciful entities which explain and make sense of
their fears and anger: Such will take their eyes off up & coming world-dictators and instead they will focus on the fanciful intrigue imagined to be going on behind the scenes. All this will play into the hands of an antichrist.
It’s with reluctance
that I relate my anticipation that many Christians are well set up to be duped by
up-and-coming dictators who use conspiracy theories to exploit Christian diffidence
about the democratic West where freedom of expression & choice is a prime moral
value.It is ironic that reformation
Christianity opened the way to a sequence of events that ultimately gave
Western populations the choice to accept or reject the core message of Christianity.
This very freedom of choice was built into Christianity along with many other
aspects of the democratic West where the concept that community serves the
individual (and vice versa) along with the freedom to dissent still has a very
strong hold on Western minds. The irony was that Christ’s take-it-or-leave-it
presentation of Himself turned out to contain the seeds of the possible demise
of core Christianity in the West.
As a reaction against
the marginalisation and decay of core Christianity in the West it seems that some Christians consequently
find common ground with potential dictators and will support a dictators cause
as the price for the restoration of their traditional authoritarian view of society. (e.g Hitler,
Trump
and Putin).
In any case many of those Christians come from sects with a culture that has a
high view of demagogic leadership and may even seek to bring about a Christian social
authoritarianism bordering on dominionism. My guess is that Christianity will become
debatable ground during the end times; by that I mean demagogues will claim to
be working for Christianity.
If you live near this god-father figure your circumstances may be "revised" if you fall out with him
My "Agent-Y" recently remarked that she is always asking the question "Why?" (Hence the "Y"!) regarding the human politico-societal scene especially in view of the recent upheavals: Viz: "Renewed nuclear threat, soaring costs and surveillance closing in on us". The reference to "surveillance" actually hints at Agent-Y's interest in conspiracy theorism. For the conspiracy theorist the hidden "Big Brother" is always lurking in the background, quietly watching us and manipulating us. On the contrary, my thesis is that "Big Brothers" are never hidden; their potentially threatening very manifest presence is the back-stop tool of the dictatorship trade. It is that forbidding presence which is the fallback when charm, disinformation and secrecy fails. "Putin-the-Terrible" is a case in point: We all know what happens if you are in the sphere of influence of this protection racketeer and you either displease him or fall out with him. Interestingly, according to Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch the word we translate as "Terrible" in "Ivan the Terrible" has more the connotation of "Awesome" in the Russian Language. In Russia there lurks the notion that "might is right" (As, in fact, it lurks everywhere else).
Anyway, regarding the answer to the question "Why?", this is more or less how I responded to Agent-Y:
"Why?" you ask! Therein lies the rub. In a world where humanity has partially failed in its mission to subdue the chaos of the Biblical "abyssal deep", the very problem with chaos is that it is so meaningless that there is no answer to the question "Why?"; in the limit it's just randomness and it admits no other answer.
Take the Putin crisis: It's the meaningless confluence of chance factors: Viz: Christian Orthodox history rooted in the Byzantium vs Rome fault-line, historical Russian alienation from and enmity with the West*, a guy who only understands dictatorship as a form of government, a guy who only has a few years left to him & is having an existential crisis & has converted to an authoritarian version of orthodoxy, and finally a guy who is an ultra conservative & believes the liberal progressivism of the West is evil. Ironically it might have been better if he didn't have such a rubbish army of undermotivated conscripts which is thwarting him in his military aims and makes him dangerous. He's painted himself into a corner and is left with only the nuclear option.
So it's the chaotic, meaningless business as usual in the vicissitudes of planet earth. No neat conspiracy theory to tie up all those random loose ends and make it comprehensible. The only way to make it meaningful and comprehensible is to deal with sin and bring order to the battlefield of Kaoskampf.
In this context I will reference here the introduction and epilogue of my book on Disorder and Randomness where I mention the Sherlock Holmes story The Cardboard Box.
* The Latin and Germanic West has its fair share of the blame: Let's recall the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Western Crusader's. I do think the West needs to revisit it's history with Orthodoxy and Russia in a spirit of humility and reconciliation. Putin is an end product of grievance, grudge and distrust. But needless to say Orthodoxy has it's own problem with fundamentalists.
NOTES
This link to a BBC article by Steve Rosenberg is interesting:
(This post is still undergoing correction and enhancement)
This "monarch" of our times is such an anachronism that he thinks "liberalism" is obsolete. What he means of course is that he's suppressed the idea in the little kingdom of his mind. He's an Orthodox Christian and staunch authoritarian traditionalist. i.e. he identifies with the tribe of the far right: Steve Bannon, one time Trump chief strategist, has spoken in defense of him. In his world "might is right" and untidy democratic contentions are terminated with force. But to call him a monarch somewhat dignifies him: It's closer to the truth to think of him as a mafia godfather who puts out contracts on people he wants murdered.
There was a time when war was the occasional pass time for the aristocracy, a way to settle family disputes, but above all a way to gain respect & status through victory and conquest. Might was right and the manifest strength of one's armies of knights in shining amour something to glory in. If your populace and your neighboring kingdoms feared your strength that was credited to your status account. These immature values were the social mores of the upper crust in medieval times. Given that life was short (and still is in some ways) it seems so small minded to turn life into a nasty brutal affair via war, fear, and famine in order to gain a few brief years of power and a name that stinks in the annals of history.
But these jingoistic cultural values go further back; at least to Old Testament times.....
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 11:1)
Reading BC history it becomes clear that nations like the Assyrians took pleasure in being feared and they appeared to encourage their reputation for extreme brutality; for them this wasn't something to be ashamed of but instead something to be proud of; might was right. In Egypt the Pharaohs celebrated their victories and conquests in the reliefs on the walls of their palaces.
Today, authoritarian monarchs still exist in almost every sense but name. One difference perhaps is that the monarchs were constrained by the rules of family succession. This was supposed to circumvent disputes & violence when the time came for succession, although it didn't always work: Think of the violence that Solomon perpetrated to secure his position and the Wars of the Roses in England. Also worth noting in this connection is the blood letting after Mohammed's death followed by well over a millennium's worth of killing.
Whether there is any real difference between the monarchs of old and the dictators of today is debatable. The Assad family have ruled Syria for decades and so have the Kim family in North Korea. Even in our liberal Western culture the notions of dynasty, succession and rule by coercion are never far away: One of Donald Trump's rank and file followers wanted him to set up a Trump dynasty and Trump's friend Michael Flynn suggested Trump enforce an election win using the military. Would-be-dictators can be spotted a mile off. They don't like and/or do not understand the complexities of the argumentative but constitutionally controlled row of open accountable government and want to do away with it. See for example Vladimir Putin betraying his dislike of liberal democracy by expressing his wishful thinking that liberal democracy has had its day: I suspect that the rise of Donald Trump's MAGA movement in the West help confirm Putin in his views. After all Trump was an admirer of Putin and his methods and Trump was Putin's favored candidate in the US elections. Dictators have a grudging admiration of one another and share the same problems that authoritarian rule brings. Moreover, the right-wing Christians of America have much in common with Putin's traditionalist Orthodox values.
In 1 Samuel 8:6ff we read that God was not at all pleased with Israel wanting a king and we can see why: They are potentially a tyrannical intuition. Kings rule the populace and the king's ego rules the king. They are also expensive, initiating self-aggrandizing monumental projects with a high cost. In 1 Samuel 8:6ff we read:
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6 But when they
said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the
Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to
you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day,
forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to
them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign
over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all
the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said,
“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He
will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will
run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of
thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his
harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his
chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give
them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your
vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female
servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own
use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his
slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you
have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people
refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then
wewill be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to
go out before us and fight our battles.”
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Ancient Royalty was a kind of legalized protection racket. Under kings the common people no longer ran their own affairs and they may even have had their property confiscated. The populace gets caught up in serving the Monarch's grandiose projects and this may include going to war. At the extreme the nation becomes the Monarch's personal property to do with what he likes; the nation effectively becomes an extension of his person and the playground of his ego and whims. King David was good as kings go but even he succumbed to the temptations of despotism and became an example of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Monarchs are the luck of the draw and fickle with it. Absolute rulers are suspicious of rivals and positions in the government are offered on the basis of crony-ship and loyalty rather than competence. The monarch rules by fear and advisors have a tendency to tell the monarch what he wants to hear rather than the truth.
To those of us who live in a democracy where the arguments of the great and powerful are aired, openly criticized and voted on, dictatorship is an awful prospect - and it is awful - we only have to think of the nightmare that Vladimir Putin's whims have unleased on the world: "One man's war" as it has been called. But such is the perversity of human nature, like the Assyrians, Putin may actually be enjoying the outrage at his brutality because this confirms to him his strength and importance in the world, thus feeding his ego.
But there is paradox here. The Book of Judges ends with:
In those days Israel had no king;
everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 21:25)
This is recognition that monarch's aren't all bad news. The book of judges is about a decentralized Israel. It is in fact the roughest book in the Bible and tells some very unpleasant and sordid stories. Potentially a king could act as the defender and enforcer of the law in an otherwise lawless society where the excesses of human nature have no rein.
During Henry II's reign (in England) the concept of a society run under law was worked out and consolidated (Thanks to Henry). In principle even the king himself was under the law; the king was the enforcer of the law, but was not the law itself. However, because the king was both judge and enforcer there was a conflict of interest and the system didn't work well in practice; despots could remain above the law. It was, however, better than nothing and to this end Judges 21:25 acknowledges the need for some authority to bring justice to the Middle East's equivalent of the wild west. The beginning of a more distributed and potentially self critical system of justice in England began with the Magna Carta of 1215. More the 400 years later Oliver Cromwell succeeded in imagining the idea of a parliamentary democracy (but failed to put it into practice). Ultimately, in the UK leadership and headship became two different things: headship was invested in the legal system & constitution and not fickle and unreliable human nature. It has taken the UK a 1000 years to reach this point in its democratic project and it is still by no means a finished product.
The Golden Image
But with democracy there is a major problem: Humans find it far easier to identify with human leaders than with systems of constitution; in one sense the latter are dumb, just rules written on paper. The fact is a legal system which distributes power is an abstract idea that has difficulty connecting with our sense of loyalty. Contrast that with the adulation demagogue leaders may generate and unfortunately be all too willing to receive. The campaigns of Donald Trump were a fine example and a call for him to set up a dynasty of power are indications of this human need for personality to identify with. In comparison the abstract government was thought of as a swamp of anonymous self-seeking bureaucrats that Trump was going to drain. For many Trump was as much God's man as was king Saul and other Biblical monarchs. In fact many right-wing Christians see him as liberator; it's as if they still have an OT concept of government.
During the halcyon days of kings and emperors the populace knew little but the rule of aristocrats and therefore were more accepting of their lot under the autocratic status quo; to them aristocratic rule was part of the natural order; after all, they didn't know any better. But in the peasants revolt of fourteenth century England we start to see rhetoric about the rights of common people. The trouble that besets today's dictators is that the liberal cut and thrust of democracy is there to be seen and compared with the tyrannical rule of despots like Putin. The secret of accountable government is out and the dictators of this world can't put the genie back in the bottle. So, who do think you are kidding Mr. Putin?
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According 1 Samuel 8:6ff God was most displeased with Israel's desire for a king. Kings, being flawed entities like the rest of us, come with potentially very unpleasant side-effects, many of which arise because of an unbridled will driven by ego. With their absolute power, often requiring unquestioned obedience, these flaws can make kings very dangerous features of the state. The personal attachment that some followers have to their autocratic leaders is a well known phenomenon and observed strongly in the rule of Hitler, a man who cast an almost magical spell over those he ruled, a spell that was only broken for some when he committed suicide. It is this uncritical acceptance of tyrants where one of the big dangers lies.
Given this context the Christian message is inspiring on multiple fronts and addresses the human predicament so well. It is a solution which fits that predicament like a glove: Viz:
1) It recognizes the universally flawed nature of humanity. This is the first premise of Christianity. (See the book of Romans)
2) It recognizes the need to control human nature within a legal framework and yet warns us strongly that this is no ultimate solution to the problems of that nature. (See the book of Galatians). In contrast Salvation from Sin is God's free gift (Eph 2:8-10).
3) It has a dim view of human autocrats (1 Sam 8:6ff). The inherent weakness of human autocrats in dispensing judgment & justice has lead to the evolution of the UK's constitutional monarchy and open accountable government, an interim solution which must be constantly reformed as it adapts to those inevitable human failures; democracy is sometimes a very messy (but constitutionally controlled) row that would-be-dictators like Hitler, Putin and Bannon despise.
4) Finally Christianity recognizes that human beings need a human leader to identify with and unite around rather than an impersonal legal system. That instinct is fulfilled in Christ the humble God for whom the salvation of humanity comes before His own personal glory and name making. And yet paradoxically it is that very lowliness of demeanor and a servant heart which earns Him glory and a name above every other name. (Philippians 2:1-11). To receive a glorious name one must give up one's hold on glory and become a servant. What a paradox!
But is the foregoing just a neat social myth & metaphor to live by? Is the concept of God meaningful and real? That's a story I tell elsewhere.
3. The link below links to a blog post by PZ Myers where he publishes a frustrated outburst from Putin whose brutal war clearly isn't going to plan and Putin is now turning on the "enemy" within. Comparison of Putin's attitudes with the US's far-right personalities such as Nick Fuentes, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar reveals similarities. In fact Nick Fuentes, like Steve Bannon, has a lot of sympathy with Putin.
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