March 2010
Dear Comrades,
This is my spot to politically vent a little—ok, a lot—as well as
a section to post letters from other socialist individuals & organizations. The opinions I express here do not represent the views of other people associated with Parallel Perspectives.
Regards,
JEFarrow
Previous
Postings:
Dear Comrades #1 [April 2008] California budget woes; Red Army in Afghanistan; Humans unwilling to modify their behavior.
Dear Comrades #2 [May 2008] Treacherous Arab Oligarchy; Capitalists & the Environment.
Dear Comrades #3 [August – December 2008] Stimulus package; Animal Rights Terrorists; Castro praises Russian Orthodox Church.
Dear Comrades #4 [March -
April 2009] More bailout (for the Capitalists); The Disarming Myth of the
Liberal Bourgeoisie
Dear Comrades #5 [July - August 2009] California draconian budget cuts—and more on the way;
Anti-religious views; Michelle Obama vs. Laura Bush.
Dear Comrades #6 [November –
December 2009] Karma or Complicity?; Mission to Mars: Fasten your seat belts?
9. March 2010
Updated 29. March
Reactionaries &
The Occult
Dear Comrades,
The mysterious & secretive
world of The Occult has always been copiously peppered with confidence
tricksters, the psychiatrically challenged, proto-fascists & a whole
gallery of people promoting purely personal agendas. People tainted with racist
views and the belief that most people were “evolutionarily incapable” of
governing themselves almost exclusively dominated the initial resurgence of
neo-paganism in the 20’s & 30’s of the last century. These occultists
needed a “Messiah” as a font man. Hitler easily stepped into that role—and
almost immediately had many of his “Prophets” liquidated.
3Emblem of Thelema
Groups
outside The Third Reich were waiting for “The New Aeon” and a Prophet of their own.
These groups mainly asserted 1 of 2 points of view: 1) they believed the Aeon
had been sparked by infamous Occultist Aleister Crowley. The Crowley factions
still exist & are self-described as “Thelema” and/or “Chaos Magick” disciples. Interestingly,
Crowley himself attempted to contact Hitler in order to convince the Dictator
to adopt Thelema (“Will”) as the religion of The Reich. 2) The second group placed their bets on the dawning “Age of
Aquarius” and believed its Messenger & Messiah (spiritual Avatar) to be a Hindu boy born into a
Brahmin family named Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986).
This latter group was primarily made up of Theosophists & Spiritualists.
See
also,
REVIEW: THE LAW IS FOR ALL Aleister Crowley
As stated above, Thelema groups still exist &
many of the organizations have a large—and possibly still growing—membership.
Krishnamurti was to shock the Order of the Star,
(an organization promoting Messianic pretensions) by publicly denouncing it. As
a matter of fact, he went on to develop a philosophy that was an expression of
a sort of a rugged, existentialist individualism that denied all reliance on
authority, particularly “spiritual” & political authority. In short, he got
out of the New Age racket altogether & rejected its “psychic” trappings as
being either worthless or delusional.
3Emblem of Theosophy
The
consciousness-expansion explosion of the 60’s was liberally fueled by the
popularity of ingesting psychoactive substances & an American generation in
rebellion against the materialistic
conformity
of the 1950’s social structure. There was widespread opposition to the Vietnam
War. This led to a politically active counter-culture that embraced &
extended the idea of The New Age. There was also a resurfacing of neo-paganism,
an interest in the occult & witchcraft (christened “Wicca” by practioners.)
Devotees who weren’t entirely comfortable being identified with a historically
questionable anachronism, i.e. “witches”, created Wicca and who also wanted a
more eclectic counter-culture religion to fit their life style.
3This photo doesn’t really illustrate anything in particular,
I just thought it was kinda cute.
You
hardly hear the term “New Age” any more, probably because it got so far out
that finally even its main advocates must have become just a little
embarrassed. The term New Aeon is still in wide use (well, obviously) but is
more restrictive & not an option for people who don’t want to be pinned
down by any philosophy too specific—and in some cases tagged as Satanic. People
who didn’t feel comfortable with the New Aeon milieu, either joined the Wicca
movement and/or became Conspiracy fanatics. Neither alternative had a clear
political focus, however, they share a general pro-capitalist, diffuse
libertarianism. In collusion with the Conspiracy Fringe, landlords & other
Right Wing, rabidly anti-socialist individuals, back Libertarianism in the U.S.
Wicca began as a pro-feminist, vague collectivist slant orientation. With the
shift of American feminism into a pro-capitalist & nationalist agenda, heaven
or hell only knows what Wiccans believe these days.
Some
occultists are conspiracy buffs, while many conspiracy theorists are
anti-occult, feeling an imperative to fend off evil designs of The Illuminati,
Freemasons, The Vatican, etc. (Well, they may be right about The Vatican!)
There
are several occult “themes” being promoted by the Conspiracy people:
·
The idea that there is a “crisis of infertility” (among
whites)
·
There is a dark force promoting the alien “Grays” and their
goal of creating an androgynous humanity.
·
The move to a “New World Order” (often personified by
Barack Obama)
·
666 represents micro chipping as a means to control the
population.
·
A belief that 2012 represents the “End Times.” Also, The
so-called Bible Code.
·
Pseudo-scientific & “psychic” beliefs claiming that 1
segment of the population is on a more “evolved” plane of existence than
another.
The agenda of the political &
Religious Right is clear to see:
·
The “crisis of infertility” directly dovetails the
Fundamentalist anti-abortion Crusade. I need to do a little more undercover
investigation on this one. It’s related to the Gray Conspiracy (i.e. a class of
evil extraterrestrial aliens) in some way. The main point, I think, is that it
is a recent fabrication that dovetails with the release of a report that states
“minorities” are reproducing at a higher rate than whites in America. In fact,
whites show a rate of declining births. My guess is that whites have fuller
access to birth control & are less tied to religious ideas that place a lot
of pressure on people to reproduce. At any invent, lowering the birth rate of
EVERYBODY is a good thing. Gnostics call this a-propagation. The
Gnostics believed that it was cruel to bring children into a world of fear
& suffering.
See
also,
MINORITY BIRTHS ON TRACK TO
OUTNUMBER WHITE BIRTHS/SFgate
·
The androgyny theory is a barely concealed part of an
anti-homosexual agenda. This belief takes a number of forms. One that I found
particularly interesting claims that Gray ET’s hate mankind & are hell-bent
on neutering humanity. Homosexuals or bisexuals are perceived as evil products
of Grays tinkering with the plumbing. Bisexuality (as a metaphysical principle)
is one advanced stage of The Great Work (total psychic integration.)
·
The move to a “New World Order” really gets the Tea Party
participants up in arms. I think at the heart of this conspiracy theory (in the
U.S. at any rate) is a racist backlash to the Obama Presidency. At first I was
shocked at pictures of T-Party people with long, gray hair & wearing
tie-died shirts—old hippies! They denigrate the State, yes, but are the first
with their hands out should any need or catastrophe comes calling. For now they
join the libertarian chorus, calling for the collapse of an imagined “Socialist
State” by just about any means. Apparently many hippies have graduated from
peace to bombs.
Maybe when marijuana is de-criminalized,
they will nod off and shut up.
·
The 2012 thing (claiming “the Mayan calendar” predicts the
world will end that year) is a figment of non-Mayan imagination. The only
purpose it seems to serve is to scare people & to make $$$. The Christian
Right has its very own version of this same idea called “The End Times.” Like
the Mayan Calendar, the “End” is imminent (it always is.) Not to worry, Jews
have their “Bible Code.” This novel approach to The End claims that the Old
Testament contains embedded codes that can be deciphered by computer. The
messages are appropriately dire & frightening. Then there’s The Da Vinci
Code, etc. et nauseum. It’s telling that the Bible Code originated as a computer
program to predict the Stock Market for profit.
·
The 666 craze is probably the most familiar idea of the
lot. It all began with the ever controversial The Book of the Revelation of John.
Like all Apocalyptical writings, John’s
mean-spirited little treatise claims that The Big Disaster is scheduled to
occurr at any moment. Well, 2,000 years later we’re still holding our breath.
Approaching the year 1,000 CE a terrified segment of the population were
convinced that the world would cease on that date—and they had just as many—if
not more—objective reasons to believe it. It was a very hard time for humans.
Certain religious sects literally walled themselves into structures in order to
prepare for the end. They starved to death.
See also,
“666” and Historic Materialism
New ‘Last Supper’ theory
crashes Web sites
Amateur scholar claims Leonardo
painting reveals mysterious figures
An amazing
example of the pseudo-science method can be found in Stan Gooch’s book THE
NEANDERTHAL LEGACY. In it Gooch claims that homosexuals &
socialists are evolutionarily inferior to the more evolved heterosexuals and
capitalists. This is simply a new form of the highly discredited & racist
notion of eugenics. The Nazis
claimed eugenics formed the scientific
basis of their criminal racist policies.
Galton's
view of the British class structure was the basis and
emphasis of the eugenics movement in Britain.
One of
the things I find really interesting about these subjects is that some are consistent
with the others; others are exclusive, while some can be applied to Occultists
who are also Conspiracy people, as well as Conspiracy theorists paranoid of
Occultists! The only thing that is really clear is that proponents of these
ideas (whether or not they really believe in them) can be dangerous. When the
occult is mixed with politics & organized religion, the potential for
destructive behavior should be obvious. Certainly they distort the
intellectual/scientific waters.
All of these bedazzling “Codes”
and “Secrets” are claimed to present “hidden” or “ancient” wisdom historically
denied to us metaphysically backward dopes. Just what constitutes this Secret
Knowledge, and better yet, how can it improve one’s life?
Does it
really make any difference whether the Knight Templars had the mythical Holy
Grail in their possession? Were the majority of “Founding Fathers” (I dislike
that term, “Founding Generation” is more like it) really Freemasons? Who cares?
Is that really Mary Magdalene and not John the Beloved sitting next to Jesus in
The Last Supper? What difference does it make? None of these little New Age
& Occult gems of wisdom benefit anybody except their authors. They may be
interesting as an intellectual hobby—and I confess I continue to be fascinated
by the subject in general (again, obviously)—but they have absolutely nothing
to offer in terms of improving life in the real world.
See also,
DOES SPIRITUALITY REALLY
EXIST?
Tea party protesters in St. Paul, Minn. Palin stirs up tea party nuts
protest
the Democrats' health care
legislation
an epilogue (of
sorts)
The
Second Coming
W.B Yeats
Turning
and turning in the widening gyre
the falcon cannot hear the falconer;
things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
mere anarchy is loosed upon the
world,
the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is
drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate
intensity.
Surely
some revelation is at hand;
surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
when a vast image out of Spritus Mundi troubles my sight: somewhere in the
sands
of the desert.
A shape
with lion body and the head of a man,
a gaze blank and pitiless as the
sun, is moving
its slow thighs, while all about
it reel shadows
of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, and what rough beast,
its hour come round at last,
slouches
towards Bethlehem to be born?
Painting: The Ghost of
a Flea
William Blake 1757-1827
__________________________________
5. March 2010
Proud at Last!
[Photo Josh On/Socialist
Worker.org]
What a sight! Thousands upon thousands of young
people in America taking to the streets protesting the debilitating State
Budget Cuts. And not just college kids, but elementary school kids!
True,
the basic strategy & co-ordination of the mass protests involved college
students & adults, but this was no mere giving kids a day off to mug for cameras:
They were children having fun, yes, but they were children with a definite
purpose in mind. You could see it in their faces. They didn’t want to lose
after-school programs like 4H (various rural type programs that teach animal
husbandry & respect for animals from a working farm perspective.) The 4H
program has been a central program for years, often defining the nature of
rural community. Then there are after- school activities like sports, art &
music. Then there are also many favorite teachers getting the axe. The cramping
of classrooms and more. The students knew exactly what they were
protesting against.
If that wasn’t reason
to enough to feel proud, it was the most multi-racial actions I have ever seen.
Finally, there is a sense to hope that the new generation of American youth
really will represent something wonderful & collective—and they will
be instrumental in bringing down the Oligarchs and the capitalist system.
FROM SWO:
Check out our special coverage of
March 4 day of action...
A DAY OF ACTION JOURNAL
Throughout the day, SocialistWorker.org readers provided reports and photos
from the rallies, strikes and actions in California and around the country to
defend public education.
http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/05/day-of-action-journal
Comment: Andy Libson
HOW WE ORGANIZED THE WALKOUT
Staff and students at San Francisco's Mission High School worked hard to
forge the solidarity that made the March 4 Day of Action a success.
http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/17/how-we-organized-the-walkout
18. February 2010
Plugs pulled on free
websites?
Dear Comrades,
I had to
read this article (below) twice just to make sure I understood it correctly. If
the Obama Administration manages to impose an “opt-in” Internet policy, almost
all socialist & progressive groups can kiss their sites sayonara.
Regards,
JEFarrow
Tech industry warns that Obama administration seeks to kill free
websites
A coalition of Internet companies called NetChoice
warned today that the Obama administration's Federal Trade Commission is
angling for a new rule that would require web site visitors to "opt
in" to allow web operators to collect information for advertisers to
target ads.
Executive director
Steve DelBianco warned that such a rule would "devastate" free
websites -- including this one -- by eliminating targeted advertising.
Consumers seldom "opt in" to allow web sites to collect data on the
personal interests they manifest by clicking on articles or advertisements.
DelBianco used an
example of a reader named Grant looking at a golf article. "The web site
ought to be able to tick a box saying Grant likes golf and use that to serve
ads" and share "non-sensitive" data with Nike to buy the ads, as
opposed to selling blind and irrelevant ads for baby diapers.
The FTC won the broader rulemaking
authority it needs in the House-passed financial reform legislation but it is
meeting Senate resistance. DelBianco predicted that such a rule would up-end
the advertising model that now drives the Internet and require ad-supported
websites, including blogs, to find a new source of revenue. NetChoice members include
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Yahoo, eBay, AOL, and several web merchandising
groups.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=57469&tsp=1#ixzz0fuq4oOWe
