Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, August 14, 2006
Poet Ward Churchill (and more)
Orwell sez… As I Please (his newspaper column),25 February 1944
Looking through Chesterton’s Introduction to Hard Times in the Everyman Edition (incidentally, Chesterton’s Introductions to Dickens are about the best thing he ever wrote), I note the typically sweeping statement: “There are no new ideas.” Chesterton is here claiming that the ideas which animated the French Revolution were not new ones but simply a revival of doctrines which had flourished earlier and then had been abandoned. But the claim that “there is nothing new under the sun” is one of the stock arguments of intelligent reactionaries. Catholic apologists, in particular, use it almost automatically. Everything that you can say or think has been said or thought before. Every political theory from Liberalism to Trotskyism can be shown to be a development of some heresy in the early Church. Every system of philosophy springs ultimately from the Greeks. Every scientific theory (if we are to believe the popular Catholic press) was anticipated by Roger Bacon and others in the thirteenth century. Some Hindu thinkers go even further and claim that not merely the scientific theories, but the products of applied science as well, aeroplanes, radio and the whole bag of tricks, were known to the ancient Hindus, who afterward dropped them as being unworthy of their attention.
It is not very difficult to see that this idea is rooted in the fear of progress. If there is nothing new under the sun, if the past in some shape or another always returns, then the future when it comes will be something familiar. At any rate what will never come—since it has never come before—is that hated, dreaded thing, a world of free and equal human beings. Particularly comforting to reactionary thinkers is the idea of a cyclical universe, in which the same chain of events happens over and over again. In such a universe every seeming advance towards democracy simply means that the coming age of tyranny and privilege is a little bit nearer. This belief, obviously superstitious though it is, is widely held nowadays, and is common among Fascists and near-Fascists.
In fact, there are new ideas. The idea that an advanced civilization need not rest on slavery is a relatively new idea, for instance; it is a good deal younger than the Christian religion. But even if Chesterton’s dictum were true, it would only be true in the sense that a statue is contained in every block of stone. Ideas may not change, but emphasis shifts constantly. It could be claimed, for example, that the most important part of Marx’s theory is contained in the saying: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” But before Marx developed it, what force had that saying had? Who had paid any attention to it? Who had inferred from it—what it certainly implies—that laws, religions and moral codes are all a superstructure built over existing property relations? It was Christ, according to the Gospel, who uttered the text, but it was Marx who brought it to life. And ever since he did so the motives of politicians, priests, judges, moralists and millionaires have been under the deepest suspicion—which, of course, is why they hate him so much.
Posted by michael on from exile 08/14 at 09:36 AMHi michael...your comment is very thought provoking. I will have to read it a few times to get the full impact. You mention a fear of progress. As I was working outside today, I was thinking about all of the things that should be uninvented. I don’t think of that as a fear of progress, but a way to progress in a new direction.
Mickey...how’s your Mother today? I like all of the quotes especially Churchill’s and also Orwell’s. And yes, I think that Churchill is an excellent poet.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/14 at 11:19 AMRMJ - i hope it was clear that that was an orwell article and not me - i wrote the ref and date at the top
Posted by michael on from exile 08/14 at 11:22 AMHI everyone!
Great Post Mickey! Hope your Mom is doing well.
Great Comment Michael via Mr Orwell.
“At any rate what will never come—since it has never come before—is that hated, dreaded thing, a world of free and equal human beings.”
Heard That George!
It’s what makes me sick. In known History we never had that. Or when we did it was stamped out by the controllers of the day. piss me so off....
Recently I’ve been reading James Lovelocks Book Revenge of Gaia. I find no fault with his environmental ideas however when it comes to solutions I find his talk makes me think of Alex Jones’s statements about Fascism and Martial Law. paraphrasing “There not going to enforce it on us or force it down our throats. What they do is set-up a situation so horrendous that we will be begging them for it.”
Perhaps the globalists are allowing runaway global warming to accomplish two objectives. Mass depopulation and global corporate government.Nah, we’re all billiard balls and the consequences of our chaotic actions/interactions has brought the human race to this day. Why there’s simply no evidence of a hidden hand at all....BullShit I say!! Bullshit......those bastards....
Don’t get me wrong this isn’t an excuse to let humanity off the hook. I just think it’s important to keep in perspective that where we are now isn’t a direct result of the mass of humanity’s wishes.
...this is starting to sound like “conspiracy” talk again isn’t it?
Captcha says: I’m just stating my “position”. heheP&L
LCPosted by Luna_C on from The Delta 08/14 at 11:47 AMLuna...you give me more to digest but I sort of think that maybe it is more simple than you say. I am not so sure that the “oppressors” have a firm long range plan. I think that they are more likely to be concerned about the here and now and how it affects them directly and personally in the present. If you believe that they have a long range plan, what would be their motive? They would not be around to benefit.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 08/14 at 12:03 PMHello Expendables from hot, humid Texas. Thanks for the good wishes. Mom is okay...very tired, but cheered up with us here.
More soon…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Dubya Land 08/14 at 12:04 PMMichael re 1, I think it’s true that a lot of the more Fascistic government schemes have great PR, so they look & sound like democracy (isn’t that getting branded so ridiculously now; it could be a soft drink) but of course fall short where it counts.
The idea that there are no new ideas isn’t new, of course (ho ho!), but I don’t agree with it. Every time I hear a joke that really makes me laugh I think of a view I heard a while back, that there are only six jokes. That may be true in some boiled to the essence puritanism, but I can’t say it rings true to me in any effective way.
Look at songs - loads of people claim this song is ripped off from that one, but how far is this important or even discernible? The last song I heard that really chilled me (in a good way!) was one of Johnny Cash’s, performed maybe four years ago, and it was written in the 1990s. Can’t say I can think of anything else it sounds like.
On the subject of the new wave of terror threats, I took a flight yesterday from the Channel Islands. Everyone had to take their shoes off before being scanned. No hand luggage allowed, only a transparent bag with keys, wallet etc. I wasn’t even allowed to take a bottle of water or a newspaper.
BUT having gone through security, they were happy to sell us whiskey & cigarettes before getting on the plane. Hmm! I couldn’t take on a bottle of water or anything to read, but a quarter of the passengers had spirits & cigarettes.
A number of my friends maintain this is all about control. I agree. If it were about security, I’d have been allowed to take a book & some mineral water & they wouldn’t have been happy to sell me flammable liquids.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, which is fucking wet 08/14 at 12:19 PMBest to your mother, Mickey.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, which is fucking wet 08/14 at 12:19 PMLove the ambiguity at the end of that Orwell passage. Is it Christ or Marx they hate?
To add to a superb collection of quotes today, here’s one from Derrick Jensen (A Language Older Than Words):
Here is the real lesson of the story of Jesus, the main myth of Christian culture: oppose us and we will kill you, speak to us of love and we will nail you to a cross. We will deify your image and ignore your words. Within the span of three generations, your precious people will be killing each other in your name.
PS: George Carlin weighs in on airplanes.Posted by Keir on from The Hague (Jackowski election hdqts) 08/14 at 01:39 PMThanks, Chris.
Excellent quote and video, Keir.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Dubya Land 08/14 at 05:25 PMGlad to hear your mom’s doing okay, Mickey… and check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ug7WEUxH68
NOT my Frank, but close…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 08/14 at 07:59 PMHI RMJ,
I think Orwell’s “1984” gives a pretty good break down on what there objective is. He had close ties in his career with British intelligence MI5 and MI6. Here are some links to further reading on that subject.
http://www.vyzygoth.com/z.html Down the page a bit is a series called. “1984 is happening now”
Honestly I have no idea what they hope to gain by destroying the environment besides what I already pointed out. I hazard to guess that they have a back up plan. These people have access to not only the best technology we know about but also the best technology a grossly inflated “Black” budget can come up with. Jeff Rense is fond of pointing out how long lived the globalists are and that he’s never known one to die of cancer. Seriously how many kinder gentler contemporaries of Bush 1 and Kissinger have passed on while those two evil clowns are acting like energizer bunnies?
Peace and Love
LunaPosted by Luna_C on from The Delta 08/15 at 09:01 AMare others aware that SDS is back, membership growing and a new grass roots movement is at our fingertips. One of the other things they have linked to the group is “MDS” (Members for a Democratic Society) for non-students. I would like to see the group continue to grow, take some progressive steps at achieving their goal and most importantly: include workers. How about a WDS?
Posted by truth_addict on from arlington, tx 08/16 at 08:13 AM
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