protests

It was always a paradox: John Stuart Mill, in his seminal (1859), On Liberty, never doubted that a universal civilisation, grounded in liberal values, was the eventual destination of all of humankind. He looked forward to an ‘Exact Science of Human Nature’, which would formulate laws of psychology and society as precise and universal as those of the physical sciences. Yet, not only did that science never emerge, in today’s world, such social ‘laws’ are taken as strictly (western) cultural constructs, rather than as laws or science.

Rod DREHER
A reader sends in a link to this nine-minute New Yorker documentary about a woke young couple raising their child to be gender-neutral. I had to stop watching it out of pity for this kid. These loons are going to screw him or her up terribly, and he or she will hate them:

Blank-slate utopians, man. So very many of our problems today come from a refusal to accept givenness as a natural condition.

Sensible people with a modicum of historical perspective are raising the question that until recently they dared only whisper: Quo vadis United States of America?

Fascists and their have, through history, been averse to the idea of communes. Communes always evoke in fascists their innate fear of popular uprisings against vicious statist governments. The popular musical “Les Miserables,” which is based on Victor Hugo’s eponymous novel about early 19th century France that saw the people rebel against resurgent royalists following the French Revolution, features a song about manning the barricades of a Parisian commune. The song, “Do You Hear the People Sing?”, includes the following lyrics:
“Will you join in our crusade?

As America separates into two distinct substances – one nation dissolving into two – we should perhaps pay more attention to the psychology underlying this segmentation, and not just to its ‘politics’. Clearly, the latter is vital to understanding the U.S. Furthermore, these two U.S. psychic states of mind are playing out across the Middle East and beyond – not so much in a strategic way, but as the projection of inner psyche.

Due to the Black Lives Matter protests statues around the world of “racists” are being torn down, but why?

Thanks to Peter Quinones for this meme

Mises Institute, June 23, 2020

Repealing Useless and Abusive Laws Might Do More Good Than “Defunding” the Police

by James Bovard

The rate at which events are accelerating makes prediction a fool’s game. But I’ll take a shot at it, since I’ve been called a heck of a lot worse than ‘fool’ in my life.
Since the rioting began after the death of George Floyd it’s been obvious to anyone with any experience in covering global politics that these have been a directed operation aimed at undermining the presidency of Donald Trump here in the U.S.

David STOCKMAN
International Man: Recently, massive riots have broken out in many cities across the US.
Despite the unrest—and the economic damage from the shutdowns—the stock market continues to rally.
It seems that markets don’t reflect earnings, economic prosperity, or growth. What is going on here?
David Stockman: It’s quite simple. The Fed has unleashed the greatest torrent of liquidity ever, and it’s finding its way into a relentless, massive bid for risk assets.

At my Quaker Meeting, occasionally someone will say, “Could we have some silence please?” especially during a business meeting, which we call Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. Someone may request silence when the discussion becomes too contentious, and we are not progressing towards resolution. We wait and listen.