THE BLIND POET’S EYE

[sooZen]

THE BLIND POET’S EYE (See dedication below…)
Journal Post by SooZen

Hypocrisy:
hy·poc·ri·sy
həˈpäkrəsē/
noun
noun: hypocrisy; plural noun: hypocrisies

“the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.”

O yeah. Perhaps that word should be tattooed on some foreheads (like a scarlet letter SooZ???) to show that it is okay to express collective sympathy for some tragedies and not okay (or just ignore) others.

IF you can afford to go to a soccer game, attend a concert, eat at a fancy restaurant, vacation in a foreign exotic place… and then IF some idiot with their stupid ideologies and beliefs decides to kill innocents at those venues, it becomes a worldwide (collective) coming together.

Some of the very same people that wanted to rename French fries to “freedom fries” (because France didn’t want to get involved in the Iraq war invasion (2003)) are now in “solidarity” with the French. (Cue a Alanis Morissette song here).

One of the cartoonist/writer’s at Charlie Hebdo (which was targeted almost a year ago) said:

“Friends from the whole world, thank you for #prayforParis, but we don't need more religion! Our faith goes to music! Kissing! Life! Champagne and joy! #Parisisaboutlife” and this:

“Terrorism is not the enemy. Terrorism is a mode of operation. Repeating 'we are at war' without finding the courage to name our enemies leads nowhere. Our enemies are those that love death. In various guises, they have always existed. History forgets quickly…”

O boy, does it ever… The hypocrisy in our “Democracy” is that when Al-Shabab (an extremist group also ruled by their ‘beliefs’) had staged numerous attacks in Kenya, including the 2 April massacre at Garissa University, (near the border with Somalia) and 147 students and teachers died or when they targeted Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Centre in 2013, when at least 68 people died the world didn’t get up in arms. Naw. Did they paint their faces with Kenyan flag? Did you?

It just goes to show, at least from this feeble platform that is my opinion, that Black Lives DON’T Matter (or perhaps I should note, Poor/Suffering Lives Don’t Matter).

Terrorism has done it’s job. Now, everyone is terrorized and arming themselves to the teeth. Revenge is the order of the day and “someone must pay!” Instead of seeking peace and compassion and most of all, understanding of why we big apes have come to this, we must all pray… as if religion and our beliefs hasn’t done enough damage. (O horrors SooZ, how can you say such “blasphemous” things??? I guess you will go straight to hell…as if hell wasn’t right where one chooses to put it.)

My problem isn’t that I don’t care. No, it is because I can imagine a world without borders, walls, demarcations… like a view from space looking back at this beautiful planet and what we are ultimately doing to it. What (you may wonder) really matters? Life, all life, and not for just a privileged few who can afford to stand back and give orders to the impressionable young to do their bidding in the name of their religion(s) or political belief(s).

In the meantime we are poisoning ourselves, killing things that keep us ticking like honey bees and trees. Are you (or anyone) gonna paint a bee on your face or perhaps a tree from the Amazon rain forest or an African lion or a Polar Bear? Nope. We are just going to ignore the essential because it is far away and not entertaining and besides, we big apes are made to rule, are we not? Hah!

So, I am saddened…and lighting a candle for the planet we call Earth and her eventual demise. I am not “terrorized” by anyone’s stupidity or lemming mentality. Let the talking heads talk. Let the media force your focus on innocent lives lost. Play the victims, curse the enemies, exact your revenge. We cannot hide from the obvious but in the meantime, we can pretend…

Susan Elizabeth Appleby Lee
Sunday, November 15, 2015
dedicated to: Lightning Rod & The Poet’s Eye
I am sure he is finally resting in Peace…

[Arcadia]

moving words, bravo Soo!!!!!!!

I´ll light a candle too...!

[sooZen]

Thanks Arcadia!

[mnaz]

Unfortunately, I think if we did a survey, most people would say they still believe in "justified" war, even if our side initiates it-- so this, in combination with the pervasive overarching Western military culture and economy, is dangerous and harmful enough to begin with for humanity's ever- multiplying challenges.

But when we engage in fraudulent military aggression, like in Iraq, we're just asking for serious trouble. The Iraq invasion was based on deliberate fraud, essentially the result of a "hostile takeover" by Cheney & his gang of reactionary neoconservatives who came straight out of far right-wing Likud think-tanks. Even respected military figures like Lt. General Scowcroft, a Republican with close ties to the first Bush Administration, warned that making war in Iraq would do more damage than good, create more terrorism than it eliminated. And these people were completely shut out, even ridiculed for their views. The Bush-Cheney years did more damage than most people realize, and I agree, a dramatic show of solidarity with France for attacks rising out of a situation that the U.S. played a not-insignificant part in helping to create in the first place is hypocritical, especially considering how poorly France was treated when they didn't go along with fraudulent war-making 12 years ago.

I think we (supposedly sentient) homo sapiens are a semi-enlightened and resilient bunch, so I try to remain as optimistic as possible, but it seems we're approaching a "crossroads" of sorts that will require "accelerated human evolution," for lack of a better way to put it, with more of an eye toward collective versus individual survival. If we destroy the mothership, does it really matter who conquers it? No. We're just fucked all-around. I hope we humanoids can make the necessary adjustments on the fly, because I think some pretty significant ones are required.

War needs to be greatly reduced and eventually phased out as a principal means of resolving issues, mainly because it far too often just doesn't resolve anything in the long run, and drains far too much energy and too many resources that humankind can ill afford to waste in taking on its expanding challenges. The hardest thing to get past here might be the collective psychology or belief-matrix ingrained into our psyche after centuries of history subject to periodic militarism-- the genuine belief in war as not just a "necessary evil" at times, but no less than genetically "who we are." And with the U.S. you can throw in ideological strains of American Exceptionalism and that old faithful standby, Manifest Destiny, now globally-directed, into the mix as well. One way or another though, extensive war and militarism needs to be phased out. At some point we just can't afford it. I mean, look at the massive arms industry and huge stockpiles of very dangerous weapons that the last century's escalated militarism gave us.

Our population explosion also needs to be contained, and sustainable consumption of finite resources needs to become our main emphasis. Sure, it's great if we "liberate" various economies to make them suitable for more efficient corporate extraction and increased consumerism (i.e. the Reagan doctrine), but this ideal taken to extremes can give us unsustainable planet rape.

Religious belief needs to be ejected from politics altogether; it has no place there, especially fatalistic doctrines such as various End-of-Days schemes. The human race is quite far-removed from Biblical times at this point; only the most universal truths need to come to the fore in religious experience and practice. In my opinion the Israel/Palestine conflict has done much more damage on a wide scale in this regard than most people realize.

As Cec would say ...
[Enough]

[sooZen]

Hah! Mark, I don't usually involve myself in the dirty business of politics (as you may know) but that is what came out on the page that day. You seem to have your history correct and that "accelerated human evolution" is an idealistic view IMO and doesn't fit the aggressive males (in general) of us humans. One can hope but... as I look into the face of the "6th mass extinction" (which is totally human caused) I KNOW that we are going into whatever future without species that we big apes are totally dependent on for reasons most don't even understand. I am becoming more and more a fatalist (maybe because my own end is near) and living without the beautiful diversity on this orb no longer appeals. BTW, Cec writes "Enough" but believe me, he never means it...

[mnaz]

True. We human types might be too prolific and tenacious for full extinction (short of the meteor, and maybe not even then), but all of the human-caused extinctions that have already occurred and go on give us a degraded, depleted biosphere that can't be restored, no matter how the future plays out. The issue of depletion is also true regarding finite non-renewable resources.

How bad the degradation/depletion becomes, and how negatively it affects overall human "quality" of existence is still in question, and I think our actions can still significantly influence where we end up in this regard, but you're right; it doesn't look very promising.

Maybe we're just not up to the challenge.

[tinkerjack]

"Likud think-tanks"
http://www.litkicks.com/Appomattox

I also liked this quote:
"Perhaps man's only true dignity is his ability to despise himself." Santayana

[mnaz]

Yeah Jack. To stay current, I suppose maybe I should leave those guys out of the discussion, since for several years now it appears that they haven't had nearly as much of a say as they once did in setting policy.

[still.trucking]

Jesus H Christ Mark I am going crazy thinking about the people that brought us that war, one of them is now the Secretary of State and another one is running for president. Keep on keeping on and don't forget them cause the Fix is In,

[mnaz]

True. Stay mindful and aware (as much as one can stand, at least). In truth, for the last couple years I've largely "unplugged" from world politics, but in general, for years now I've tried to look at the bigger world political picture, though I'm sure I miss a lot of things. Soo has always been very good at looking at the planet's bigger picture, and our place in it, and it's important to remind ourselves of these things.

[still.trucking]

"Non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere" Spinoza, quoted in The Faith of A Heretic.

https://archive.org/details/faithofheretic00kaufrich

[still.trucking]

Translation of Spinoza Quote:

“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”

or something like that

I kicked my car, broke my toe, don't tell me I am not a rational being. I can hardly understand myself. If only I could know myself, but who has time for that So I waste my time trying to understand life the universe and everything....

Sorry Soo just say HiJack.

[sooZen]

no problemo... Hi Jack!

[Artguy]

...and it's 1..2..3..4..what are we fighten for don't ask me i don't give a damn...

[Artguy]

perhaps if we stopped swatting the beehive with a stick...