Delusions of Nationhood

Can the U.S. Win This Election?

By Thomas Friedman, Oct. 12 2016 (LINK to article)

"it won’t just be emotionally depressing, we’ll really start to decline as a nation."

America (nor any other country) can not begin to tackle its problems, which are now existential, until it recognises its OWN true nature as a mercenary "patron state" deceitfully posing as a nation, in order to legitimise itself, its ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse, at the expense of society at large and its long-term survival.

States have been deceitfully posing as nations since the end of the Middle Ages, supported by their academic elites, as they always are, because of their massive personal self-interest (subconscious more than conscious) in rationalising and defending their state employer, its role, self-image (as a "nation") and ideologies (social, political, economic and racial, formerly religious), on which the state bases its claim to moral and knowledgeable authority.

And it is not just academics, of course, who have a massive personal self-interest in rationalising and defending the state and status quo, but everyone who is anyone in society, with any power or influence.

Why would they want to question the state and status quo which serve them personally so well?

I can think of only one reason: state and status quo are leading us towards disaster, which they are. But first they have to recognise THIS.

The Genius of Conmen Like Donald Trump

Chickens, Home to Roost

By Maureen Dowd, March 5 2016 (LINK to article)

"The genius [of conmen like Donald Trump] lies in figuring out what, precisely, it is we want that gives life meaning and how they can present themselves as the perfect vehicle for delivering on that desire.”

This hits the nail squarely on the head, but I'm not sure that the author realises it.

Most of us have a profound desire to belong to a tribe or nation we can identify with, trust and feel proud of, because we evolved as an inherently and intensely tribal animal, which lost its original tribes long ago, when the first states replaced them. Thus, Trump's slogan of "making America great again". 

Only it's not just Trump who manipulates Americans' tribal nature in this way, ALL politicians do, as does the media, right across the political spectrum, and capital (brands being substitute tribes). They all want you to identify with AMERICA as your tribe or nation. Why? Because that is how the SYSTEM works for THEM.

Only America is NOT a genuine nation, but a mercenary "patron state" deceitfully posing as a nation (like all states, including my own), in order to legitimise itself, its ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse.

It is surely no coincidence that we trivialise, ridicule or demonise our tribal nature (tribalism!), rather than giving it the serious attention and study it deserves. Thus, is the system able to manipulate and exploit it without us realising what is going on.

I elaborate on these ideas HERE.

Without Our Tribe We Become Narcissistic

Narcissism Is Increasing. So You’re Not So Special

By Arthur C. Brooks, Feb. 13 2016 (LINK to article)

The fact is that the world does appear to revolve around ME, and it is my pain and pleasures which I experience directly. Those of others pass me by almost completely. It is the rare exception when they don't, when it is some one I feel close to and empathise with, and even then, its hardly the same. One may be distraught at a loved-one's pain, but you still can't actually feel it.

It is also a fact that we evolved as a member of a tribe, whose well-being and survival was more important than the individual, which resulted in us evolving to experience more profound pleasure from serving our tribe than just ourselves.

Then along came the state and did away with our original tribes, with the modern, "nation state" deceitfully posing as our tribe or nation itself, in order to legitimise itself, its ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse, not for the benefit of society at large, as they claim, but to facilitate its SELF-exploitation to their own, personal advantage and that of favoured (especially wealthy and academic) clients, at the expense (and ultimate self-destruction) of society at large.

Why is this not recognised by the academics we look to as authorities in understanding society, the state and civilisation?

Because the deceit works for them, as it does for everyone who is anyone in society, thus binding us to a tragic cycle of civilisational boom and bust.

As western civilisation approaches the bust phase of this cycle, the question is, can we put an end to it, BEFORE it puts an end to us?  We have the potential, I am sure, but do we have the will? Time will tell.

Fixing OUR Problems Requires Knowing Who WE Are

Fixing Our Broken Water Systems

By the Editorial Board (LINK to editorial)

"Fixing Our Broken Water Systems"

"Our" water systems. "Our" children. "Our" country, "Our" history. "Our" values. "Our . . .

This "our" is a lie and deceit, and the root cause of America's intractable social and political problems, as it is of all other societies, organised by mercenary "patron states" deceitfully posing as nations, in order to legitimise themselves, their ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse.

Until we recognise and develop an understanding of this fundamental truth, "we" are a lost cause.

Every American has his or her OWN idea of what it means to be an American, of who "we", "us" and "our" relates to. If America's wealthiest one percent felt the urgent need to "fix our broken water systems", it would be done in a jiffy. But clearly, they don't. They have - for them - for important things to do, like maintaining their private yachts and planes.

Why does the Editorial Board not recognise this, but persist with the deceit of American nationhood?

Like the academics they look to as authorities in understanding society and the state, they are themselves well served by the state and status quo, and thus have a massive personal self-interest (subconscious more than conscious) in rationalising and defending its role, self-image (as a "nation") and ideologies (social, political, economic and ethical), on which the state bases its claim to moral and knowledgeable authority.

America, know thy self! What you are, and what you are not.

See BLOGS in which I elaborate on these ideas.

The Gordian Knot of Post-Racial Ideology and Reality

The Other Obama Legacy

By Charles Blow, Jan. 14, 2016 (LINK to article)

In this piece Charles Blow is clearly indulging - as most writers do on the subject of race - in Orwellian double think:

"I spoke to a room full of beaming high school and middle school boys, a vast majority of whom were black,” he writes, but then goes not to say that  “. . race is tangential to [Obama's] record."

Mr Blow's black identity is clearly and understandably of huge importance to him, but at the same time, in line with post-racial ideology, he is denying, or playing down, the importance of race.

We cannot have an honest discussion about race and ethnicity without facing up to their reality and importance, which post-racial multicultural ideology denies, or plays down, and suppresses. Thus the ease with which “progressives”, who embrace this ideology, exhort Europe to take in ever more refugees and immigrants irrespective of their different ethnic origins and identities.

The ideology of post-racial multiculturalism was, I believe, misconceived, in overreaction to European (white) imperialism, slavery, Jim Crow, Apartheid and, above all, Nazism and the Holocaust.

Interestingly, a recent NYT editorial, The Price of Fear (Nov. 20 2015), warns against just such an overreaction:  “In the reaction and overreaction to terrorism [evil] comes the risk that society will lose its way.”

Race and ethnicity are clearly not just the social construct we are taught they are (except when you try dividing closely related peoples from the same subcontinent into different races, as the Nazis insanely did), but real and important. Not in the way that racial supremacists believe they are, but because central to any deep and meaningful sense of both personal and group identity.

This, however, contradicts the “nation state’s" claim to represent a single nation, thus creating the demand for the Orwellian double think that has us tied up in a Gordian knot.

Notwithstanding our fears of the consequences, this Gordian knot urgently needs to be cut.

I elaborate on these ideas in THIS and appended blogs.

America's Gun Lobby, Symptom of a Non-Nation

Gunmakers’ War Profiteering on the Home Front

By The Editorial Board, Dec. 11 2015 (LINK to editorial)

"The nation needs restoration of a federal assault weapons ban . . "

If America (or any other state) were a genuine nation it wouldn't have lobbies which put the commercial self-interests of particular industries before the interests of society at large.

And it's not just the gun lobby, but those of ALL major industries, some less, some more harmful, especially when one thinks of the fossil fuel industries, who put their short-sighted commercial self-interests before the very habitability of our planet.

It is no good wagging our fingers at the gun industry, when effectively ALL industries do the same. It's just that the unscrupulousness of other industries is not so blatantly obvious or harmful.

So, if America is not a nation, what is it? it's a mercenary "patron state" deceitfully posing as a nation, in order to legitimise itself, its ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse, to their own personal advantage and that of favoured (especially wealthy and academic, formerly priestly) clients, at the expense and ultimate self-destruction of society at large.

Why has this not been recognised by the academics we look to as authorities in understanding society and the state? Because, like their medieval predecessors and counterparts, they are themselves privileged clients and employees of our "patron state", with a massive personal self-interest (subconscious more than conscious) in rationalising and defending its role, self-image (as our "nation") and ideologies (social, political, economic and racial, formerly religious), on which the state bases its claim to moral and knowledgeable authority.

The gun lobby is just a symptom of a much deeper malady which threatens the very survival of our civilisation and which I elaborate on in this BLOG.

Academic Ignorance of the State

The Case for Euro-Optimism by Ulrich Speck Oct. 6, 2015  (LINK to article)

"The new European Union is redefining the role of the nation state without replacing it."

This quote illustrates just how little the author understands of what he is supposed to be an expert in, i.e  the nature of the state and the societies it rules over.

There is no such thing as a "nation state", but only mercenary "patron states" deceitfully posing as nations, in order to legitimise themselves, their ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse, to their own personal advantage and that of favoured (especially wealthy) clients, at the expense (and ultimate self-destruction) of society at large. This is why all past civilisations have fallen, as will ours if it continues along its current path.

Why does the author not recognise this?  

Because, as a privileged client (and employee?) of the state himself, he too has a massive personal self-interest (subconscious more than conscious) in rationalising and defending its role, self-image (as our "nation") and ideologies (social, political, economic and racial, formerly religious), on which it bases its claim to moral and knowledgeable authority.  

Anyone wishing to understand the true nature of the state must view it from a human-evolutionary perspective (LINK to introduction to such a perspective).

Confusing Racial Identity with Racial Supremacy

Remembering a Milestone for Immigrants and America

By Lawrence Downes  October 5, 2015 (LINK to article)

The author refers to America as

"a country that had learned to turn away from white supremacy . . "

White supremacy? With this act, America denied and turned away from the natural ethnic foundations of national identity and nationhood.

"Celebrating DIVERSITY" is Orwellian newspeak for European Americans to celebrate their own ethnic displacement (white flight), replacement (having already been reduced to an ethnic minority in large swathes of your major cities) and ultimate demise.

Race is NOT the "social construct" you are taught it is (except when you try dividing closely related peoples from the same subcontinent into different races, as the Nazis insanely did), but REAL and important. Not in the way that racial supremacists believe it is, but because central to any deep and meaningful sense of both personal and group, i.e. genuine national, identity, which the American state and capital are not interested in you having. They are only interested in you as a "human resource", consumers and clients/voters.

Like Britain, which spawned it, America is not a genuine nation, but a mercenary "patron state" deceitfully posing as a nation, in order to legitimise itself, its ruling elites and the immense power they wield and abuse, to their own personal advantage and that of favoured (especially wealthy) clients, at the expense of society at large.  

These are difficult, painful and frightening truths, which, however, have to be recognised if we are to solve the existential problems facing civilisation.