Weltanschaung

The Philosopher’s Stone

zenothestoic@protonmail.ch

Tag: Politics

  • And God so loved the world he sent Trump

    And God so loved the world he sent Trump

    To be a light to his people MAGA.

    And seeing the multitudes, the Blessed Trump went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. There was Pete (called Hegseth) and Vance (the Crusader) and many other blindly loyal followers.

    And Trump opened his mouth, and taught them, saying:

    • Blessed are the greedy: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    • Blessed are the vicious: for they shall inherit the earth.
    • Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after violence: for they shall be filled.
    • Blessed are the un-merciful: for they shall obtain their just reward.
    • Blessed are the corrupt: for they shall see God.
    • Blessed are the war-makers: for they shall be called the children of God.
    • Blessed are they which persecute: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    • Blessed are ye, when you revile men, and persecute them, and say all manner of evil against them, for my sake.
    • Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward here on earth.
    • Ye , MAGA, are the light of the world. A people that is set on an dung – hill cannot be hid.
    •  Let your greed and cruelty so shine before men, that they may see your vile works, and glorify me.
    • Think not that I am come to destroy the law, : I am not come to destroy, but to twist and use it.
    • Whosoever shall do and teach my commandments, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of earth.
    • I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with the world without a cause shall be in receipt of great rewards: and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in my good books forever.
    • Leave there thy gift before my altar, and go away: for I will spend it on a Bootiful, Bootiful new arch. And ballroom.
    • Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but this was total bollox.
    • And if thy neighbour’s right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.
    • It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but this was also total bollox. Don’t give her anything.
    •  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: now they got this one dead right.  Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, nuke him and his wife and children and all his family.
    • And if any man will sue thee at the law, take away his coat, and kick him into the gutter.
    • And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, stick it to him.
    • Don’t give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee tell him to fuck right off.
    • Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. This is bollox: hate everyone and cheat them.
    • Be ye therefore a deranged and vicious narcissist, even as I am.
    • But when thou doest alms, let thy left hand take back what thy right hand giveth.
    • But when ye pray, use vain repetitions: the more vain, repetitious, hypocritical crap you use the better.
    •  And lead us into temptation, and evil: For mine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
    • For if ye forgive men their trespasses, I will send ICE round to detain you in a horrible prison. Or maybe just shoot you.
    • Lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. They are the only type worth having.
    • No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Don’t serve God: suck it up with mammon.
    • Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; idle fuckers. Are ye not much better than they? You betcha: drill baby, drill. Bugger the biosphere.
    • For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. So wipe ’em all out and they’ll never bother you again. Eradicate Gaza and the entire Iranian civilisation.
    • And it is said Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Bollox to that.
    • Give not that which is valuable unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Fuck ’em.
    • Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Then I’ll send ICE round. Or Pete here will give you a good seeing to.

    And it came to pass, when Trump had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: even the great people of MAGA said:

    Verily we have a right shit amongst us. Impeach the fucker.

  • Am I a Guardian Reader?

    Am I a Guardian Reader?

    Do I have what it  takes to be a Guardian Reader?   I have always been desperately keen to say: “yes I am, I’m deeply socialist”.

    And yet these people can be so nihilistic and destructive.  Newspapers of the left are as full of useless political cant as those of the right.

    Here is a selection of today’s articles:

    Police have ruined my life.
    May 1968: the revolution retains its magnetic allure.
    Grammar schools are indefensible.
    The Windrush scandal was about racism.
    The rise of middle-aged renters exposes empty Tory promises.
    Queen Elizabeth sorry to bother you with this problem we commoners have.
    The privileged look the other way.

    So there you go; let me paraphrase:

    We must encourage violent revolution.
    We must encourage crime by having no police force.
    We must cut good education so that the masses are all equal in their ignorance.
    All ills of society are due to right wing racism
    The Tories are shysters
    Royalty are scum.
    The posh are scoundrels.

    You may be forgiven for thinking you are reading headlines in Pravda in 1922.

    Look, I acknowledge my privileged background and posh accent. I admit I won a random lottery at birth and ended up at a public school, then Oxford and a City law firm.

    But I hate the fact that most of the world live in poverty, violence and hunger. But violent revolution has not helped much has it?

    Does the Guardian have no memory of Soviet Russian atrocities? Does the Guardian imagine we would fare better under Mao Tse Tung? Has it forgotten that Mao put to death every “Guardian Reader” (aka “intellectual”) it could find?

    Do these fools actually believe the partisan nonsense they are peddling?  Are they so keen on bashing the well off they could not give a damn about the very people they are claiming to care for?

    There have been and are some heros who have fought valiantly for the poor, the abused and the hungry. But they have tended to do so in a constructive fashion by providing them with the education and sustenance they need. Robert Owen the 19th Century mill owner is a good example. Dear old Mother T in Calcutta. JC in  1st Century Roman Palestine did his best before he met his rude and untimely end.

    Ignorant, partisan polemic does no one any good.

    So no, I will pay no attention to much of the Guardian. Yes, I am a centrist, leaning left. But no I am not a supporter of polarised and foolish polemic whether that comes from the Left or the Right.

    I am certainly a Guardian Reader. But a very selective one.

  • Why I do not read the News

    Why I do not read the News

    I do not read the news because it is repetitive, dispiriting, boring and irrelevant.

    Ecclesiastes 1:9
    What has been will be again,  what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.

    This quote is profound to my mind and sums up the very reason I have never, ever been interested in current affairs or politics.

    According to an article in Wikipedia “The subjects of Ecclesiastes are the pain and frustration engendered by observing and meditating on the distortions and inequities pervading the world, the uselessness of human deeds, and the limitations of wisdom and righteousness.”

    Well said whoever wrote those words.

    Here is an abbreviated list of world news headlines from the BBC  for today:

    • NY’s top lawyer quits amid assault claims.
    • Belgian singer dies days after comeback.
    • Pope Rihanna dazzles at Met Gala 2018.
    • Revolutionary leader win Armenia PM vote.
    • Melania Trump faces new plagiarism row.

    Here is what I would rather read about, although I will have to look beyond the media to find anything of interest or relevance:

    • How to improve human behaviour.
    • How to abolish poverty, hunger and disease.
    • How to increase happiness.
    • How to further knowledge.
    • How to transcend the limits of human consciousness.
    • Cheerful news as to the progress by anyone in any of the above!

    And then there are a few who by luck or design have managed to jump off the hamster wheel of mundanity and have the good fortune and luxury to seek answers.

    Who is it then that reads newspapers and watches CNN? It can’t be those struggling for basic physical survival.  It must be the unconscious ones.

    Some of the unconscious ones must have good motives for what they do.  Some politicians must (one hopes) be genuinely interested in the good of others.  Some businessmen must be genuinely interested in improving mankind’s lot by producing fairly priced goods or services.

    There is a good argument to be made that the unconscious improve all our lives by their very busy unconsciousness.

    By pursuing their dreams of world domination in business or politics perhaps such people create the wealth necessary for research and development.

    And yet I have a nagging thought at the back of my mind that all is not well with the world.  That a better order is possible, that loftier goals should be sought.

  • Right Honourable Gentlemen

    Right Honourable Gentlemen

    There can hardly be a sight so little edifying as the Right Honourable Gentlemen of the House of Commons in full debate.  One has to be thankful we have debate I suppose, and that we do not have to suffer “Putin on The Ritz” as do the modern serfs in the 21st Century Russian Empire.

    We are all monsters.

    But still, the sight of His Right Honourable Bigness from Self-Important-Smugness-in-The Marshes really isn’t much fun.

    Before the advent of televised debate one may have been forgiven the assumption that dignity and decorum prevailed in the sacred debating chamber here at the epicentre of democracy.

    Not so. It is every bit as vicious in there as a meeting of the Parish Council or the Women’s Institute. Bossy self important people score points off each other using ridicule and scorn. And apparently they are paid to do so by the people foolish enough to elect them.

    I’m afraid it all goes back to the origins of violence.

    However good natured and pacific we may be as individuals, get us in a crowd and we turn into monsters.  The will of the people be damned – Not In My Back Yard thank you!

    There may not be much to be done. Given the platform and the provocation most of us would probably behave in exactly the same way.

    We may think we are different. We may hope so. But like rats in a cage, when the chips are down it seems we humans will fight to the death for self interest and a place on the Titanic’s last remaining lifeboat.

    Unfortunately none are blameless. We may become irritated in church at sickly smiles or the petty pecking order, we get road rage, our family can irritate us to death.  Awareness is certainly a help. Thinking and pausing before you speak another. Or delaying sending that email for an hour.  Can we change our minds? Can we become nicer people? Opinion is very divided but it does no harm to try.

  • Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?

    Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?

    In what must be an April Fool’s prank, the Beano comic has apparently issued a cease-and-desist letter to British MP Jacob Rees-Mogg claiming he has modelled himself on its character Walter the Softy.  It listed traits including his side parting, round glasses and “snootiness” as “distinctly copying” the character.

    Much amused by the idea of Moggism I suspect I would probably enjoy his company for an hour or so at dinner.

    The Moggist background is so quintessentially English: Eton and Oxford followed by the City.  And clearly bright enough to clean up, although no doubt that is as much to do with his people skills as investment wizardry.

    I am no judge of character (it appears I was horribly wrong about Tony Blair who I briefly admired when he first came to power) but there is something appealing about the concept of Moggism even if it turns out to be a chimera like most things in politics.

    Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mr. Mogg was a genuine good-egg? The sort of pleasant cove even Psmith would have enjoyed working with?  Just the sort of chap you would meet at Blandings and very delightful too.

    He seems to care. He seems to be a relic of those well meaning 19th Century tory patricians and whig grandees one could almost forgive for their rotten boroughs.

    Wouldn’t it be splendid if what you see is what you get?  Perhaps he is not just well educated and wealthy but also decent and good with the interests of his fellow man at heart?

    I am always surprised that a man of a religious nature would chose to associate himself with the political right but he is probably more Septimus Harding than Lord Soper.  And perhaps one should judge him more by his articles on the importance of the welfare state than his attachment to the Conservative party.