Relections XLVIII - Lessons from History

One problem with technology is that it can make stupid people and bad ideas seem reasonable. It has a seemingly endless ability to obfuscate.

China will make Russia in the contemporary seem relevant so long as it supplies it with resources and can be used as a cudgel against the west. For the Russian nation that has been in decline since the end of the Cold War any support is welcome. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Empires rarely last for a long period of time as they cannot resist the impetus to rot from within. Corruption motivated by self interest sits at the heart of human frailty.

The inherent flaw of globalism is that it is predicated on the notion of universally shared values. This is grounded in wishful thinking not reality.

Very few societies have performed better following the mass exodus of Jews, yet it is the unifying cry of many a bigot.

There should be a special Hades for those who deliberately choose not to see beyond their own  narrative of choice.

A question that is almost never asked is when does the marginal utility of formal education kick in?

The primary focus of many academics is to build linguistic word towers of nebulous quality to prevent outsiders from seeing the vacuum that exists from within.

No matter how evil an act is there will always be somebody who can rationalize it within the context of a greater good.

New Lists #2 - The 20 Greatest Characters that I most enjoyed Reading about in British Comics

1. Judge Dredd (2000AD and Judge Dredd)

2. Charley Bourne from Charley's War (Battle/Action)

3. Roy Race ( Roy of the Rovers)

4. Alf Tupper from Tough of the Tracks(Victor Comics)

5. Skid Solo (Tigers Comics)

6. Dan Dare (Eagle)

7. Tommy Barnes from Tommy's Troubles (Roy of the Rovers)

8. Johnny Cougar (Tiger Comics)

9. Joe Taggart (from Spinball in Battle/Action)

10. Jon Stark (Football Mercenary in Scoop Comic)

11. Hot Shot Hamish (Tiger/Roy of the Rovers)

12. Rogue Trooper (2000AD)

13. Numbskulls (Beezer Comic)

14. Bash Street Kids (Beano)

15. Billy Dane of Billy Boots Fame (Tiger)

16. Mighty Mouse (Roy of the Rovers)

17. ABC Warriors (2000AD)

18. Judge Anderson (2000AD and Judge Dredd)

19.Mike and his mini men (Roy of the Rovers)

20. Trigo (Trigan Empire Series)

New Lists #1 - The Top 100 Movies that I Personally like

These are movies that really resonated with me and that I would clearly watch over again (something I rarely do). I am not a film critic so I will not pass judgement and their production brilliance. This is all about personal taste and comfort. (Yes I know that Godfather should be #1 or #2.... Citizen Kane and Casablanca are on my list to watch as is Scarface and The Untouchables).

1. Back the Future (the first movie not the sequels)

2. Silence of the Lambs

3. Casino

4. Goodfellas

5. Interstellar

6. High Noon

7. Gran Torino

8. Raiders of the Lost Ark

9. Glengarry Glen Ross

10. Downfall

11. Pulp Fiction

12. Ten Commandments

13. Star Wars a New Hope

14. Schindler's List

15. The Unforgiven

16. Jurassic Park

17. Once Upon a Time in America

18. The Spy who Loved me

19. Dredd

20. Gone with The Wind

21.Blood Diamond

22. Apocalypse Now

23. Saving Private Ryan

24. Empire Strikes Back

25. Demolition Man

26. The Right Stuff

27. Sleuth (the original)

28. Trainspotting

29. Gladiator

30. American Beauty

31. Inception

32. The Party

33. Spartacus

34.  Grease

35. When Harry Met Sally

36. Goldfinger

37. The Matrix

38. Dodgeball

39. Gangs of New York

40. Fury

41. Where Eagles Dare

42. Rocky 

43.  The Chosen

44. Carry on Doctor (My favourite Carry on Movie)

45. Airplane

46. The Great Escape

47. In Time

48. There's only one Jimmy Grimble

49. Ford v Ferrari

50. Life of Brian

51. The Godfather

52. The Dark Knight

52. People v Larry Flynt

53. Whiplash

54. The Notebook

55. Amadeus

56. Wolf of Wall Street

57. The Red Violin

58. Platoon

59. Exodus

60. Jaws

61. Wild Geese

62. Karate KId

63. Princess Bride

64. American Pie

65. White Men Can't Jump

66. Full Metal Jacket

67. The Departed

68. Judgement at Nuremberg

69. The Holdovers

70. Escape to Victory

71. Rush

72. Ice Cold in Alex

73. Top Gun

74. Princess Bride

75. Donny Brasco 

76. Rear Window

77. Chariots of Fire

78. Seven

79. Rambo

80. Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939)

81. Boogie Nights

82. Fargo

83.The Doors

84. Angel Heart

85. The Hangover

86. The Secret of My Success

87. The Death of Stalin

88. Inglourius Bastards

89. Rocky III

90. Tropic Thunder

91. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

92. Home Alone

93. Annie Hall

94. Batman (1988)

95. Bohemian Rhapsody

96.  Higher Learning

97. Coming to America

98. Enter the Dragon

99. My Cousin Vinny

100. Superman II

Reflections XLVII - Making Sense of the Narrative

 The greatest weapon that the elites have in a democratic system is that they can almost always rely on the stupidity of the voter.

The obvious weakness of rationalism is that on a practical level it doesn’t scale as well as emotion.

The surest way to destroy an economy is to fleece the wealth of the job creation class in the name of a supposed equality.

Our biggest enemy at times is our own ego. If not kept in check it will pave out a dangerous road for us to take.

China has built itself into an economic power by systematically defeating every US Presidential Administration since Richard Nixon in the great game of trade. The US paved the way for its recovery from the disasters of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

If Americans took a break from their two party partisan politics model to objectively analyzing the aspects of specific policies they might see the improvements they would like. Unfortunately this aspect of their national landscape is unlikely to change. If anything it is more inclined to worsen.

Individual intelligence counts for little if you are prone to the hysteria of the masses.

The problem with management is that they have an innate need to complicate processes to justify their net being.

Progress (whatever that nebulous term means) only makes some sense if our trajectory is understood else it can very easily lead you along a course of self destruction. Progressivism as a political movement in the United States has erred in this regard many a time.

Reflections XLVI - Processing Time

The primary objective of the radical left is to convince the populace to hate itself, so that they can destroy the system from within.

Free Enterprise will build a national economy. Corporate Capitalism will help destroy it. A nation’s productivity centers on extending the dominance of the former and delaying the onset of the latter.

The sad truism of sport is that your latest result can temporarily wipe out your legacy.

For what it is worth the poverty of artistic quality in the modern makes AI all the less intrusive.

The challenge of modern physicists will be to liberate the discipline from the mathematical obsession that has engulfed it for the last five decades.

The biggest tragedy that has befallen the Palestinians is that their leadership evidently cares nothing about their well being.

Without the requirement to wrestle, question and struggle with God organized religion can very easily slip into cultism. This is why the Islamic notion of complete submission to Allah is particularly dangerous.

It is my personal observation that most political pundits remove wisdom and insight to a discussion instead of adding to it.

The self inflicted wound that much (not all) of Christendom has inflicted on itself is trying to justify the non-biblical concepts of the Trinity and Original Sin. Both open it up to easy attacks from external  polemicals.   

Reflections XLV - Glimpses of Reality

 A sad truism of university education is that it prejudices knowledge over wisdom instead of allowing the two to complement one another.

On the surface Trump was more successful in the Middle East than any of his predecessors as he understood that power speaks louder than mutual respect, with self interest screaming at the highest intensity.

How would the Arab nations look without oil? The answer resides with the poorer South American nations.

Mineral wealth is no substitute for incompetent leadership. This is the modern tale of South Africa.

The one systemic reality that fits all of Africa is the virus of corruption. It has an inertia that seems to defy most good will.

Revolutions rarely lead to democracies as most are brought in with violence and can only be controlled by added violence.

Democracy was never about giving the people the power. Its main driver has always been about creating the illusion of people power. Most so-called democratic leaders fear the public.

Since they are faithful to their doctrines, ideologues cannot be honest brokers in negotiating a compromised solution.

Reflections XLIV - Political Pontifications

 The reality of post-modernism is that it has elevated the insane to the normal. It has made permanent effigies to a lack of lucidity in thought.

South Africa’s ANC government ‘s sordid legacy was to demonstrate to the world that it could outdo the previous Nationalist administration in the realm of poor leadership.  In this it succeeded fully.

The main purpose of globalism is to destroy national identity in advance of an international hegemony. In this aim it has largely succeeded in Canada, is reaping rewards in Australia, the UK and Ireland and has been temporarily halted in the United States as of 2025.

George Galloway has worked consistently with maximum intensity to represent the worst that there is in British politics. In this regard he is successful.

Keir Starmer’s term in office provided a visual demonstration as to how weakness can transform into pathos.

Great nations can whither away. This is the story of Britain since World War Two. It is losing whatever charm it had left.

One of the key aims of globalism is to make the individual nation state stand for nothing.

Incompetency is in many a way more effective than evil in destroying a society as the majority of the population view it as less harmless.

The strongest indicator that Israel is a force of good is that it is universally loathed by Marxists, Communists and Fascists and generally supported by those who abhor such ideologies