Writer Spotlight: George Orwell

This morning I was reading an article at ZeroHedge about Obama this, Obama that, world war 3 being started based on a pack of lies (which is probably true), etc. etc..

It occurred to me that we as a species are largely running in place, never really moving forward. Chris Hedges, who I will admit is a decent writer and adequate orator albeit pessimistic as fuck, has basically attested to the same idea, that we never move forward.

The reason I bring all of this up is that we have had theorists and ideologues presenting us with theories of government corruption, of lies, and of wars started for the wrong reasons. Heck there are even those who would go so far as to say that every way ever fought by the United States was started for a different reason than the one publicized in the media.

This is likely true, but it is obviously so. The real reason a country would invest many billions of dollars and incur heavy national debt to invade another country, is precisely because there are resources to be pillaged in the target nation and that the activity is going to be profitable to the country and the multinational firms responsible who pressured the right government agents to start this war. Unfortunately, the general populace would find such a thing distasteful, that and they would largely be given the shitty end of the deal in that the profits of war go to the rich, and the costs burden the poor. As such a nation cannot tell its people that it wants to send them to death so that it may profit from said death.

An alternative I suppose would be to promise to the nation a piece of the pie of the pillaging, however this would greatly reduce the productivity of the activity for the elite, I daresay that in order for pillage and murder to be enticing for the elite, they must know that they are going to obtain the lion's share of the profits and not have to waste it on the leisure class.

Regardless I digress. The reason I am certain that we have made zero progress as a species, is that Orwell stated all of this better than I could perhaps, its all been said many times by many great minds over the course of history.

The truth is staring at us all in the face. History is littered with proof that the same story is replaying itself over and over. Technological advancement has only empowered the state to the level of Big Brother originally conceived by Orwell in his masterpiece 1984.

So you see, when I visit a blog, or an opinion piece, or any form of dissent on the internet, I think back to Orwell and realize that things will likely never change, that dissent is largely a useless waste of time, that those in power will do whatever they can to retain it, and those without it must do what they must to survive.

Might as well stop bitching about the unfairness around us and just try to make something of it, whatever that may be.

I know I'm simplifying, I sound like a reductionist, like someone trying to distill something complex into something very basic, however the truth is that no meaningful reform or revolution is anywhere near in sight, and I'm not about to sit around hoping for it to happen.

So here's a toast to our overlords, hope the ecosystem isn't entirely annihilated by the time my unborn children turn 18.

A Famous Lenin Quote

“The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves.”

― Vladimir Lenin

Sometimes I wonder about dissent in modern culture and whether or not its brought on by the powers that be so that it inevitably fails and teaches the rest of us how dissent will not work. I sometimes think something like Occupy Wall Street was created precisely to fuel people's rage against the system into something utterly futile and pointless. In that manner the average Joe can say to himself, heck, if Occupy couldn't do anything with its hundreds of thousands of protesters and worldwide spread, how the hell can I?

Empires have indeed evolved over time. Their basic modus operandi is fairly similar: imperial and hostile takeover of outsiders to pillage their resources. Domestic control via subtle use of force and distraction, suppression of dissent, growth of the state and insurance that the vast majority of your population is dependent upon the state so as to ensure its survival (and growth).

Eventually however the state runs out of cash, can no longer fund any of these endeavors and evaporates.

However when a central bank controls a state and can print money at will to keep propping up that country's imperialist and propagandist goals, and when that bank can also in conjunction with a crooked finance industry try to minimize the real felt effects of this constant paper being printed, perhaps things can remain in this twisted manner in perpetuity.

Someone once said markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent, it means that even if mathematically something is supposed to collapse and go under, it can be propped up and given the appearance of solidity. This principle I think applies to the western white man inhabited world.

Standards of living go down.

Real wages for the vast majority of people (85% and up) stay the same or go down ... (mostly go down).

The state becomes slightly fatter and more bloated each year. Infrastructure gets worse. Culture declines, marriage failure goes up, as does depression incidence, suicide, crime, premature death etc.. Look at the indicators for the US in terms of teen pregnancy, violence, etc.

And people become more and more disconnected from the political process as they slowly discover voting is somewhat useless and that corporate interests will always win out whenever it really matters and that the only issues discussed will be largely useless, I live in Quebec and language laws are at the forefront of what people are talking about, basically the QC government is in full fascist mode trying to impose french language onto everyone, in a place where the anglophone community has been not only giant, but ever present, and EXTREMELY productive and profitable for the economy. Many anglophones are moving out of Quebec because of this, a brain and skill drain of sorts.

In some ways this language law issue is really about reducing the economic strength and size of the middle class in Quebec, in other words the point is to impoverish it while at the same time trying to convince people via the media that the goal is to preserve french culture in Quebec (which I don't believe at all).

So I come back to dissent, and how this is being so very well controlled at present.

It's hard to dissent when you're living from paycheck to paycheck, or when the government is supplying you with income in between jobs (which they have to do because the economy sucks). It's hard to dissent when every move you make is digitally foot-printed and can brand you a traitor or extremist, all but eliminating your chances of fitting back into the borg collective we call the job market.

It's hard to dissent when you see endless riots being reported by small media outlets, whereas the large media outlets are still drowning out the actual sequence of events with the corporatocracy's agreed upon interpretation of events. Over time, because the mainstream media has greater reach and repeats its message with greater frequency, the corporate interpretation of events is the only thing people remember. The true history of events is lost. This is perhaps the most subtle and pernicious way of silencing dissent, unless the agent dissenting makes the ultimate victory, you will never have heard of them in 20 years.

It's hard to dissent if you have kids and fear for their safety, survival, and integration into said system.

Enough of this for now, I could discuss this topic until my fingers wither from typing on the keyboard. It's a fun pastime but a meaningful solution to the problems outlined above has yet to materialize.

Why Game of Thrones and House of Cards are so popular

So I've been totally enamored with these two shows for the past two years or so, House of Cards is a more recent fascination of mine, and it dawned on me that among the many reasons people may list as to why these shows are doing so well, one of the reasons applies to both.

In the case of House of Cards, the main character played by Kevin Spacey, Mr. Frank Underwood is the embodiment of pure ambition and lust for power. Nothing is as important as dominating others and winning. The concept of right or wrong never even enters his mind, in fact the majority of his actions seem to indicate that he is contemptuous of the notion of right and wrong to begin with, right and wrong are for the weak he might say.

Game of Thrones espouses the same basic tenets. The Stark family tried to do what was right and we all know how that ended, whereas the Lannisters embody the same drive and ambition of Frank Underwood.

Both shows are essentially trying to paint a reality that rewards ruthlessness and cutthroat behavior. Being good is for suckers.

We now live in a world where art is fully imitating life. One needn't look far to discover that people no longer believe in government, or for that matter that the government actually has our best interest at heart. We live in cynical times, and in cynical times (in which everyone is hyper informed and mass propaganda is becoming ever more difficult), the art of that time is a rather accurate reflection.

I suspect that shows will keep going further, with depravity, greed, lust, ambition, if indeed it is possible to push the envelope any further before becoming a farce.