Like Bison, humans form groups to maximize the chances of survival and propagation. As do bacteria and other life forms. In most species these bonds are largely instinctive, but in humans there is a conscious intellectual element as well, because of the nature of our brains. In a peaceful and ordered society this tendency is channelled into team sports, among other things and is generally considered to be positive. In a troubled society, the energy goes into supporting opposing political factions with potential for actual violence as we have witnessed in the US lately. When things turn really nasty, the opposing group is de-humanized and made ready for slaughter in a confrontational war, or by way of 'ethnic cleansing'. In the last few years we have been slowly slipping down this greasy totem pole, driven by an accelerating pace of wealth finding its way into fewer and fewer hands, at the expense of people at large, with very predictable results. Because it has happened so many...
How can rational people, observing a phenomenon, 'see' something very different from each other? Simply because what you see depends on your viewpoint, physically, and your point of view, or mindset. This explains the emergence of radically different opinions on the nature of what we have labelled Covid 19. On one side are those that see this virus as being similar to the one that created the 1918 flu pandemic, and should be dealt with as such. On the other side are those that see it as a weapon of fear without serious physical consequences and which should be ignored in order to preserve society as we know it. The people that are in direct contact with the virus daily and see it killing vulnerable individuals on a routine basis are generally in the first group. A good number of those that are not in direct contact, fall into the second category, as they observe empty parking lots and little obvious activity outside community hospitals (in contrast to those that work inside th...
People around the world are now celebrating Easter, the spring festival, when life emerges, once again from the fertile Earth. In Christianity this is symbolized by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascent into heaven, to once again, sit by his father's side. Ramadan in the Muslim tradition is tied to the phases of the moon, just like easter, and related to the beginning of the intense heat that begins around this time in Arabic countries and the importance of water. Having lived in Baghdad, Iraq during the summer of 1961, I can speak to that one! Passover in Judaism is likewise related to the moon and the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. What these traditions have in common is that they impose rules, lots of them, on populations that have adopted the beliefs associated with each of them. And then there are the enforcers, Lords of the Mindscape, who ensure that the rules are followed. They have special dispensations from God to do this and they are generally well fed and...
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