Interference 2021

This blog had morphed into a conglomeration of my thoughts and writing on a broad scope of topics over the last four years. As I have said previously – it was a form of documentation of my perspectives for posterity.

349 posts in all… much of it has been re-read over the last few months to try to rediscover that spark that compelled and inspired everything up to June of last year. That wall may have been due to a shift in the available time to write – for the most part, if I don’t capture the momentum of an idea fairly quickly, it is relegated to the grave of Post-It notes and scraps of paper which are categorized for “Later.”

It could also be that there have been changes and events on such a scale that it makes it difficult to identify and adapt the proper angle and perspective on them. I strive to understand as many different facets of ideas and events to remain as characteristically objective as possible; there has been far too much loud rhetoric from everywhere that to do so would be nothing new under the sun…

Which brings me to the idea that has been bouncing around in my mind for a while now:

We get what we deserve.

One of the saying I have come to utterly despise is “…on the wrong side of history.” My visceral dislike of this statement is primarily due to the fact that the person making it – for the most part – hasn’t picked up a damn history book since it was required academic reading years ago and is usually prone to the cardinal sin of not having much in the way of original thought.

History is an extremely complex discipline. Never can one event or phase of a society be simplified into a casual reduction of cause-and-effect. Conflicts occur as a result of a glacial progress towards a definitive starting point fueled by long-simmering resent and/or victimization. Similarly, social movements/shifts never spontaneously occur in a vacuum – they are the culmination of the natural and gradual evolution of societies’ laws, norms, and goals.

There is no right or wrong “side of history.” History just is – it is not a perfect understanding of the people, equipment, actions, and results of events in the past; there are entirely too many factors which constitute one aspect of the past for any sort of complete comprehension. Quite often, the farther one gets from one part of the past, the better understanding can be obtained about that particular datum point.

However, some lessons of the recent and distant past seem to slip through the cherry-picking fingers of many folks. I missed the opportunity to capture my thoughts here on the events in Belarus in August and the later parallels in Kyrgzstan in October; I have written my own perspectives on the “Great Wall of Sand” in the South China Sea as well as touched on the slow naval arms race which was a significant contributing factor to the First World War.

My efforts on this were because of my fascination with the past and what we were once capable of – for better and for worse. Most importantly, it has become the foundation form my vicious optimism in who we might one day be and what our potential is comprised of.

We get what we deserve.

Very few people read these days, it seems. What is most disconcerting about the last few months is how far into fascism folks would go to defeat “fascism” and quickly becoming the exact monsters which are feared. The process isn’t a slippery slope, really; it is a barely perceptible decline with all sorts of wonderful scenery and distractions – a sensory chaos as that gradual downward angle becomes steeper and more disorienting until the realization that what they fought for – what they championed and cherished as they happily continued in oblivion to the warning signs they mocked – develops a momentum of its own with little to no regard as to how it came to be. When you give in to the pressures of hate, it will only be a matter of time before you are on the other end of that very same hate you supported. Societal and political pendulums swing, and there has been one constant throughout human history: there is no permanent utopia of ideology or governance.

A few months ago, my wife asked me what I thought the difference is between democracy and anarchy…

My reply was quick: “An educated and informed electorate/populace.” It is never that simple, but in the case of getting what we deserve, it is applicable.

As I write this, the number of National Guard troops being positioned in D.C. is around 25,000. Think about this: we have more troops in our Capitol than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

The rhetoric question of “why?” lingers. Is it because there is a credible threat, fueled by the media over the last five years? Is it because there is a credible threat that might present an opportunity for external adversaries to take advantage of?

The events which took place on 6Jan2021 at the Capitol… there was no excuse for any of that to occur. I don’t care how pissed any of these folks were, I don’t care how much of an opportunity for their own motivations there might have been – it was an event which was as futile as it was foolish. Yet, another quote I came across a while ago (and have lost the origin since) sums up not only that event, but what it feels like we are still inching towards

When you choose violence, you must accept violence in return.

We haven’t seemed to learn the lessons of the past. Russia in 1905 and later 1917, Germany in the interwar years, Spain in 1936, Cambodia in the 50s and 60s, Afghanistan in the 90s, and Venezuela in the early 2000s… All of these lessons started out with grand idealism and a promise for accountability and peace – for one small price: compliance… or else.

We are choosing to ignore those harsh lessons of the past… those brutal examples of what not to do… and because of this, we get what we deserve.

Now…

Go back and reread this entire post from the perspective of your political antipode.

I had considered revisiting “An Open Letter to Both Parties” from October 2019, with an update reflecting any changes of opinion which might have taken place since then. Fortunately, I don’t have to write a drawn-out post to capture the essence of that evolution of concept. It can be summed up quite simply:

To Democrats: you suck. Stop it.

To Republicans: you suck. Stop it.

To the Electorate: you also suck, and you alone will be the reason why neither parties can or will stop. Pick up a book. Think for yourself. Quit being so easily led… by proving to be difficult to lead, ya just might force the parties to start offering candidates which are worthy and capable of leading.

To the Media: you suck and are worthy of no rant, curse, or mockery.