Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Siege mentality

   Until it sadly reaches a point of absurdity.  The place you lived in should be as free as the air blowing around in it shouldn't it?!  Less conflict, less fighting, more safety, less paranoia, more security, less worries, less fears, and so forth...sums to a given psychology over time.  Of course, one part of the world lives this way, another part doesn't, nor really understands, and likely fuels it at times.  

    When western civilization began to emerge from that recess of siege, it abandoned old siege structures...one should imagine like heavy stone fortifications with moats, and boiling hot cauldrons at front gates.   At least for other emerging worlds, that these sorts of structures, should seem absurd enough in their necessity, or to think how social mentality may have changed in some ways.  The Castle in a way doesn't exist for those today as it once had existed, and ironically there are more weapons worldwide likely then ever.  The other half of this question though is likely answered, one should imagine, in the way of civil space, change in social structures...obviously to put people more compactly in geographic confines, must have some implication with respect to the acquisition of social wealth, status, ownership of land, and so forth, or that at least more tightly drawn geographic confines in some ways, could make more sense in these sorts of social systems?!  Here when landownership expands, and peoples have the ability to build wealth, equity, and personal freedom, they manage to build, in theory, defying old social orders, they hadn't generally thought in such way, to build for themselves castles each to their own, or likely could little afford it, and even if they did, it must still seem an absurdity to need a castle in such given space?!  Surely if fortifications existed to repel invaders, the invaders at times could also be bargained, could be made wealthier, or hired at times for one's own personal security, but then I am humored to a proposed 'eastern' solution in solving the problem of the tornado, whereby building a magnificent and looming wall some hundreds of feet high, spanning a size able distance across America might eliminate the tornado in the mid west as we know it!  Sadly enough though if one hoped for better building codes, while in some cases, this might be true concerning the matter of fortification, but likely it isn't as much so.  Prevailing mentality outside of social media spheres, were more likely that this sort of erratic conflict just weren't enough in driving the notion of siege to improve the domestic shelter, or again return to the notion that there and aren't a lot of fences in the American mindset...if I remember siege at times, it could be an urban flashback, and occasionally something artificially driven sort.  Stores don't operate around in such a location with bullet proof glass (as had been encountered at a local fast food joint so many decades ago), and that generally died off.

If one were surely to suffer, the typified mindset vanishes in time, doesn't it?!  And what at times settles is that the distinctions of geography for siege, were somehow entirely arbitrary in a way, or that if you literally lived a mile away from another location, things could dramatically change as in rebirth into a new life...here the solution for the siege mentality, has strategically at times worked upon notions: worst enemy in one landscape, best friends in another landscape where none of the previous social inclinations exist.  The other synthetic half, is the sort of juvenile that lived far away from it and much easier to hold the hostile grudge though, especially when one doesn't really suffer, and were less likely to suffer?!  Or at least from another perspective, one supposes its the difference between building up insulating walls, versus having readied geographic isolation at one's disposal.  And then potentially another mentality culminates into the quiet, reticent to say much of anything much that suffered and resented in a way all the sacrifice that went along with such suffering.   Of course, this bit of speculation likely does little for the polyphony...living in siege is met with paradoxes isn't it, or that at least there is at least a strange nesting of worlds, a free world, a world with abandon, and a scary one that one hoped were reserved for the sake of fiction.  Reasonably you are told to have in mind caution of some sort in some way.  Only when traversing it briefly, I'd find a lot of quiet vacancy, and if I were like anything else of nature, as silent and invisible, or at least self effacing enough, the space should seem completely different, and there was much peace usually.  How ironic for de militarized/ no occupancy zone?!

Did one relate so much to the gated community?  Honestly, never lived there, and likely one should hope never living in such a place, or given to the absurd notion that affluence should bring with it so many woes or worries...yes, sure in Sao Paulo used to be the murder capital of the world, and could be in whatever statistical contingent an extortion case, but generally in the states, and for the distinctively humorous Midwestern American communities, upper crusts could live generally in un buffered geographic spaces literally within blocks of higher crime areas, and here the sense or feeling were that while potentially nothing were as a hermetically sealed tank in these cases, the red deer of the Czech republic dare not cross much the lines of demarcation (old iron curtains) into Germany, or what I like to call the 'magical invisible fence' does exist!  Who needs gated communities then?!  Ironically one should wonder if selling to the notion of protecting something that need be protecting, that the world were more dangerous in a way that it were, and it were but it weren't.  At least, if in another twist of sad irony, that I sort of return to another analogy with respect to creating the perception of a given sanctified space, here such a space were attractive by the notion that the space itself should have something quite intrinsically valuable in it...then given another approach, drive the 'clunker', and you don't have as many problems.  Minding all this were wealth were neither so highly stratified relative to its given surroundings.  Granted it took a while for Constantinople to fall, its hard to imagine structures that are completely impenetrable, and these days if seeking such a place, one might find oneself truly buried under miles of earth, waiting for the end of the fallout from a WWIII that never happened.  :)  

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Adams release after questioning on McConville murders

   Unfortunately, if you know anything about the nature of conflict in Northern Ireland for the given time frames situated, there were much violence and many deaths having taken place.  If desiring justice, its not in my opinion weighted solely to the exclusion of one case like McConville but considerations to the many victims caught up tragically in the circumstances of political violence.  Here in my opinion, either set up a truth and reconciliation commission (something like the post apartheid court system, which allows for the testimony from victims, families of victims and perpetrators...which probably should have been done a long time ago), or the investigations should be more broadly be reopened in demonstrating care and indifference with respect to those victimized and impartiality of a given legal system...that is, all culpable of criminal offense irrespective of position taken in such sectarian conflict are culpable.  The problem with this conflict were its broad and systemic longer time range having led to decades of tit for tat violence that left many not just one.  Of course, this neither dis regards justice even in one circumstance, it is rather sad that a 'cold case' is still treated as exactly that, and then at some point in the history of such conflict, as were decided long ago, abandonment of violence where it has been more long ranging in the range of vendetta tit for tat, eventually leads to a given pathway solution:  somewhere the vendetta and vengeance needs to end if it is on a point without seeming termination, or if a world were in to persistently settling scores there'd never be the opportunity for peace. 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Would Jesus Support The Death Penalty?

Nope.  For a number of reasons, fallibility in legal systems deciding who has the right to decide who lives and who dies...that is, always finding exception in systems that neither perfectly weigh upon the crimes that individuals may have or may not have committed, or in another words, legal systems are not perfect, and that imperfection is neither bears neither enough warrant either for the sake of state security or punishment, reform, or much else, but this is an old tiresome argument.  Secondly, in the gospels it would seem Christ Himself asked that those seeking justice, should let Him (Christ) be that justice.  It would seem this role of subservience would put man at the disposal of neither, in one interpretive sense, acting alone in seeking justice or retribution, but letting God entirely handle this matter alone, or that in the end, when facing judgement and accountability for actions, God is inevitably a final judge that decides on the matter of justice.  It would seem consolations to victims are that, while it would seem that justice at any given time might not be served, this is a short sighted view to the prospects of justice in the spiritual long term sense.   After all a soul could have Eternity to consider for their actions, and compare that to the short amount of time spent committing an act of injustice.

It is ironic, that people may popularly hold a given view that Christ would actually oppose the death penalty, and that this hadn't popularly translated into the abolition.  Maybe, however, the problem here weren't that popularly people couldn't change policy, otherwise, but merely that the nature of politics on this matter were that those opposed neither were in enough objection to influence political outcomes in a negative sense.  That is when political issues were considered and weighed alongside one another, the less popular view could still be a position taken, for the sake of insulating political patronages.  Its nothing new to power elite politics though, or the good news is that while many American's might also not believe in the big bang and the influence of this could possibly mean potential wholesale nationwide changes in things like science education, it also means the state potential provides for and facilitates the sanctification of things like the death penalty.   Here I almost wonder for the alibi, for the politician, while at times historical views concerning the death penalty may have differed, and even the incurred added economical costs neither implied that state system's could ensure a likewise cost efficient killing, or for that matter really substantiate the benefits such as reductions in crime in any given area, owing to all the legal hurdles otherwise, and even so, if it in theory were more plausible, often times one should speculate that increased costs were more likely then less so.  The other part of this problem is something of social religious/culture like alibi for the cover of politicians, that a state were there like the hand of God to provide justice to people, or who in a given democracy shouldn't want this?!  The problem with bringing back the guillotine these days, however, weren't that people wouldn't perceive this as absolutely barbaric (or enough people as is)...its just that a given State system knows better in the process of social refinement cherry picking in its given social population.  On the one hand, while advances have been made in alleviating our sufferings to the woes of this world, are we more numb not only to our own suffering but the suffering of others?!   While its hard to imagine exceeding proportions of individuals that were as cruel and indifferent as in the days of centuries past, at least at such a given time, there should be a whole host of factors which differentiate a given culture, and the sort of juvenile revivalism that have translated and conspired alongside wholesale machinery should seem a blip in time.  Endemic changes in the long term sense such as these should seem more headed the path of extinction, at least we weren't genetically altered, and if you believed strongly enough in intercessions, human nature were likely not going to change anytime soon...here markedly, the sales of gaming consoles are down, and this could be a good sign with respect to social indoctrination!  Although if admittedly it were true likewise, my time in gaming, I should wonder were excessive and had it changed one's perspective or sensitivities otherwise?!  Here I think, as could be self customary, that there is an exception on this point...I am I, and someone else that is not I, neither has my perspective.  At least if one could leave this on a point of humor?!  But at least on another point, while we and our children may be more highly trained to kill from a virtual standpoint, and in act justice according to neutralizing threats, there aren't games out there as much to teach us excellent legal jurisprudence.  If it were so, maybe there'd be more a more vocal and better educated populace, to steer a given elite as opposed to being steered on this issue?

   It also seems potentially also that there were at face value pitfalls to the assumption that given populace were merely observant enough with respect to history, religion, scripture, and so forth, so as to acknowledge that Christ would likely be opposed to the Death Penalty, but not observant enough in bringing about changes within the system that they lived in, or that this were laden with some inset hypocrisy ranging to the degree that observation weren't even to the levels of Pascal's wager.  Certainly, at least, the matter of politics ranging here should be a more complicated picture.
    

Friday, May 2, 2014

A long time

    The years have passed.  Life presents all the new challenges and stresses.   I am thinking of the Ship of Theseus and re-examining this ...