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Monthly Archives: September 2018

Conspiracy in Hindsight

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As with every 9/11, the passage of this date brings an exhaustive recounting of long debunked conspiracy theories.  This piece from 2014, slightly updated,  discusses only one aspect of the ridiculousness of this spectacle.  

The US commitment to being the policeman of the world. continues, bringing us into conflicts everywhere.  One of these is the still ongoing fight against Da’esh or ISIS, which has never been totally vanquished.  Why?

If you believe one conspiracy theory popular in the Middle East, it’s a creation of the US – for the purpose of doing just what we’re doing now, which is a justification for more interference.

While this comes from a region of many conspiracy theories, hatched by governments like Iran with strong propaganda needs, it’s actually a common type of conspiracy theory. It comes from looking at the result of a world event and then working backwards to determine that the outcome must have been planned by nefarious forces. Such “Hindsight Conspiracies” are part of the news cycle these days – despite almost always being pathetically wrong.

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Faith and Deeds

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This piece from a year ago is still valid.  

A lot of people are upset about the direction of the nation. Nearly a two to one ration finds that the nation is on the wrong track, according to a Rasmussen poll. That fits with the ongoing controversies sweeping our mindscapes involving protests of various kinds.

A lack of faith in our government should be one thing which unites us. It’s something of an American tradition, after all. Some think it’s involved in vast conspiracies. Some want to stockpile arms against it. Some think it’s just plain incompetent. Some think our history is a complete lie.

No one, anywhere, thinks that government is going to solve all of our problems. No one trusts it completely. No one thinks our taxation system is completely fair. No one thinks that the system always produces justice.

Yet protests about our system or our government are the surest way to spark a highly emotional shouting match that transcends any ability to get anything done. And there may be a good reason.

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Industry 4.0

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Call it the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” or the more hip “Industry 4.0” if you like. What matters most is that industry, or the process of making things, is changing in ways that seem fundamental and permanent. The world is moving on to a new era which, difficult as times like this can be to understand, appears to be rather well defined and describable.

If you do a deep dive into Industry 4.0, however, there is still something missing. It’s the “why” of the process which seems to be at least assumed, if not elusive. Not just why it is happening, but why it is being driven now and why it is expected to cast aside Industry 3.0.

What’s missing in the increasing chatter of Industry 4.0 appears to be the fundamental force behind it, which is the decline of what we might call “capitalism” in favor of a purely market centered, low overhead “marketism” approach.

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When a Republic Dies

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For those who find it difficult to process the daily blowtorch of news, it has come down to one fairly obvious event that inflames everything else: this is what it looks like when a republic dies.

There has been warning along the way. The parallels with Rome have been clear and the utter dysfunction of government manifest constantly. Decency died a long time ago, and the vulnerable have suffered as pawns for years before it culminated in the destruction of families for pure political sport.

But the warnings fell on ears deafened by the trumpets of war, incapable of caring the slightest bit for the republic itself. So that brings us to a time when it is obvious that we have one, maybe two last chances to save the centuries old birthright, a republic enshrined for the purpose of protecting freedom.

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