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Emails and articles of interest are posted here by John Ray to make them more widely available

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" -- Genesis 12:3
My (Gentile) opinion of antisemitism: The Jews are the best we've got so killing them is killing us.
I have always liked the story of Gideon (See Judges chapters 6 to 8) and it is surely no surprise that in the present age Israel is the Gideon of nations: Few in numbers but big in power and impact.
Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.
America is no longer the land of the free. It is now the land of the regulated -- though it is not alone in that, of course
The Leftist motto: "I love humanity. It's just people I can't stand"
Why are Leftists always talking about hate? Because it fills their own hearts
Envy is a strong and widespread human emotion so there has alway been widespread support for policies of economic "levelling". Both the USA and the modern-day State of Israel were founded by communists but reality taught both societies that respect for the individual gave much better outcomes than levelling ideas. Sadly, there are many people in both societies in whom hatred for others is so strong that they are incapable of respect for the individual. The destructiveness of what they support causes them to call themselves many names in different times and places but they are the backbone of the political Left
The large number of rich Leftists suggests that, for them, envy is secondary. They are directly driven by hatred and scorn for many of the other people that they see about them. Hatred of others can be rooted in many things, not only in envy. But the haters come together as the Left.
Leftists hate the world around them and want to change it: the people in it most particularly. Conservatives just want to be left alone to make their own decisions and follow their own values.
Ronald Reagan famously observed that the status quo is Latin for “the mess we’re in.” So much for the vacant Leftist claim that conservatives are simply defenders of the status quo. They think that conservatives are as lacking in principles as they are.
The shallow thinkers of the Left sometimes claim that conservatives want to impose their own will on others in the matter of abortion. To make that claim is however to confuse religion with politics. Conservatives are in fact divided about their response to abortion. The REAL opposition to abortion is religious rather than political. And the church which has historically tended to support the LEFT -- the Roman Catholic church -- is the most fervent in the anti-abortion cause. Conservatives are indeed the one side of politics to have moral qualms on the issue but they tend to seek a middle road in dealing with it. Taking the issue to the point of legal prohibitions is a religious doctrine rather than a conservative one -- and the religion concerned may or may not be characteristically conservative. More on that here
Some Leftist hatred arises from the fact that they blame "society" for their own personal problems and inadequacies
The Leftist hunger for change to the society that they hate leads to a hunger for control over other people. And they will do and say anything to get that control: "Power at any price". Leftist politicians are mostly self-aggrandizing crooks who gain power by deceiving the uninformed with snake-oil promises -- power which they invariably use to destroy. Destruction is all that they are good at. Destruction is what haters do.
Leftists are consistent only in their hate. They don't have principles. How can they when "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? All they have is postures, pretend-principles that can be changed as easily as one changes one's shirt
I often wonder why Leftists refer to conservatives as "wingnuts". A wingnut is a very useful device that adds versatility wherever it is used. Clearly, Leftists are not even good at abuse. Once they have accused their opponents of racism and Nazism, their cupboard is bare. Similarly, Leftists seem to think it is a devastating critique to refer to "Worldnet Daily" as "Worldnut Daily". The poverty of their argumentation is truly pitiful
The Leftist assertion that there is no such thing as right and wrong has a distinguished history. It was Pontius Pilate who said "What is truth?" (John 18:38). From a Christian viewpoint, the assertion is undoubtedly the Devil's gospel
"If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action." - Ludwig von Mises
The naive scholar who searches for a consistent Leftist program will not find it. What there is consists only in the negation of the present.
Because of their need to be different from the mainstream, Leftists are very good at pretending that sow's ears are silk purses
Among well-informed people, Leftism is a character defect. Leftists hate success in others -- which is why notably successful societies such as the USA and Israel are hated and failures such as the Palestinians can do no wrong.
A Leftist's beliefs are all designed to pander to his ego. So when you have an argument with a Leftist, you are not really discussing the facts. You are threatening his self esteem. Which is why the normal Leftist response to challenge is mere abuse.
Because of the fragility of a Leftist's ego, anything that threatens it is intolerable and provokes rage. So most Leftist blogs can be summarized in one sentence: "How DARE anybody question what I believe!". Rage and abuse substitute for an appeal to facts and reason.
Their threatened egos sometimes drive Leftists into quite desperate flights from reality. For instance, they often call Israel an "Apartheid state" -- when it is in fact the Arab states that practice Apartheid -- witness the severe restrictions on Christians in Saudi Arabia. There are no such restrictions in Israel.
Because their beliefs serve their ego rather than reality, Leftists just KNOW what is good for us. Conservatives need evidence.
“Absolute certainty is the privilege of uneducated men and fanatics.” -- C.J. Keyser
"Almost all professors of the arts and sciences are egregiously conceited, and derive their happiness from their conceit" -- Erasmus
THE FALSIFICATION OF HISTORY HAS DONE MORE TO IMPEDE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THAN ANY ONE THING KNOWN TO MANKIND -- ROUSSEAU
"Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him" (Proverbs 26: 12). I think that sums up Leftists pretty well.
Eminent British astrophysicist Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington is often quoted as saying: "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." It was probably in fact said by his contemporary, J.B.S. Haldane. But regardless of authorship, it could well be a conservative credo not only about the cosmos but also about human beings and human society. Mankind is too complex to be summed up by simple rules and even complex rules are only approximations with many exceptions.
Politics is the only thing Leftists know about. They know nothing of economics, history or business. Their only expertise is in promoting feelings of grievance
Socialism makes the individual the slave of the state – capitalism frees them.
MESSAGE to Leftists: Even if you killed all conservatives tomorrow, you would just end up in another Soviet Union. Conservatives are all that stand between you and that dismal fate.
Many readers here will have noticed that what I say about Leftists sometimes sounds reminiscent of what Leftists say about conservatives. There is an excellent reason for that. Leftists are great "projectors" (people who see their own faults in others). So a good first step in finding out what is true of Leftists is to look at what they say about conservatives! They even accuse conservatives of projection (of course).
The research shows clearly that one's Left/Right stance is strongly genetically inherited but nobody knows just what specifically is inherited. What is inherited that makes people Leftist or Rightist? There is any amount of evidence that personality traits are strongly genetically inherited so my proposal is that hard-core Leftists are people who tend to let their emotions (including hatred and envy) run away with them and who are much more in need of seeing themselves as better than others -- two attributes that are probably related to one another. Such Leftists may be an evolutionary leftover from a more primitive past.
Leftists seem to believe that if someone like Al Gore says it, it must be right. They obviously have a strong need for an authority figure. The fact that the two most authoritarian regimes of the 20th century (Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia) were socialist is thus no surprise. Leftists often accuse conservatives of being "authoritarian" but that is just part of their usual "projective" strategy -- seeing in others what is really true of themselves.
Following the Sotomayor precedent, I would hope that a wise older white man such as myself with the richness of that experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than someone who hasn’t lived that life.
IQ and ideology: Most academics are Left-leaning. Why? Because very bright people who have balls go into business, while very bright people with no balls go into academe. I did both with considerable success, which makes me a considerable rarity. Although I am a born academic, I have always been good with money too. My share portfolio even survived the GFC in good shape. The academics hate it that bright people with balls make more money than them.
If I were not an atheist, I would believe that God had a sense of humour. He gave his chosen people (the Jews) enormous advantages -- high intelligence and high drive -- but to keep it fair he deprived them of something hugely important too: Political sense. So Jews to this day tend very strongly to be Leftist -- even though the chief source of antisemitism for roughly the last 200 years has been the political Left!
And the other side of the coin is that Jews tend to despise conservatives and Christians. Yet American fundamentalist Christians are the bedrock of the vital American support for Israel, the ultimate bolthole for all Jews. So Jewish political irrationality seems to be a rather good example of the saying that "The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away". There are many other examples of such perversity (or "balance"). The sometimes severe side-effects of most pharmaceutical drugs is an obvious one but there is another ethnic example too, a rather amusing one. Chinese people are in general smart and patient people but their rate of traffic accidents in China is about 10 times higher than what prevails in Western societies. They are brilliant mathematicians and fearless business entrepreneurs but at the same time bad drivers!
The above is good testimony to the accuracy of the basic conservative insight that almost anything in human life is too complex to be reduced to any simple rule and too complex to be reduced to any rule at all without allowance for important exceptions to the rule concerned
"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here. For roughly two centuries now, antisemitism has, throughout the Western world, been principally associated with Leftism (including the socialist Hitler) -- as it is to this day. See here.
Leftists call their hatred of Israel "Anti-Zionism" but Zionists are only a small minority in Israel
Some of the Leftist hatred of Israel is motivated by old-fashioned antisemitism (beliefs in Jewish "control" etc.) but most of it is just the regular Leftist hatred of success in others. And because the societies they inhabit do not give them the vast amount of recognition that their large but weak egos need, some of the most virulent haters of Israel and America live in those countries. So the hatred is the product of pathologically high self-esteem.
Conservatives, on the other hand could be antisemitic on entirely rational grounds: Namely, the overwhelming Leftism of the Jewish population as a whole. Because they judge the individual, however, only a tiny minority of conservative-oriented people make such general judgments. The longer Jews continue on their "stiff-necked" course, however, the more that is in danger of changing. The children of Israel have been a stiff necked people since the days of Moses, however, so they will no doubt continue to vote with their emotions rather than their reason.
Who said this in 1968? "I am not, and never have been, a man of the right. My position was on the Left and is now in the centre of politics". It was Sir Oswald Mosley, founder and leader of the British Union of Fascists
The term "Fascism" is mostly used by the Left as a brainless term of abuse. But when they do make a serious attempt to define it, they produce very complex and elaborate definitions -- e.g. here and here. In fact, Fascism is simply extreme socialism plus nationalism. But great gyrations are needed to avoid mentioning the first part of that recipe, of course.
Politicians are in general only a little above average in intelligence so the idea that they can make better decisions for us that we can make ourselves is laughable
A quote from the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931–2005: "You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
The Supreme Court of the United States is now and always has been a judicial abomination. Its guiding principles have always been political rather than judicial. It is not as political as Stalin's courts but its respect for the constitution is little better. Some recent abuses: The "equal treatment" provision of the 14th amendment was specifically written to outlaw racial discrimination yet the court has allowed various forms of "affirmative action" for decades -- when all such policies should have been completely stuck down immediately. The 2nd. amendment says that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed yet gun control laws infringe it in every State in the union. The 1st amendment provides that speech shall be freely exercised yet the court has upheld various restrictions on the financing and display of political advertising. The court has found a right to abortion in the constitution when the word abortion is not even mentioned there. The court invents rights that do not exist and denies rights that do.
"Some action that is unconstitutional has much to recommend it" -- Elena Kagan, nominated to SCOTUS by Obama
The U.S. Constitution is neither "living" nor dead. It is fixed until it is amended. But amending it is the privilege of the people, not of politicians or judges
The book, The authoritarian personality, authored by T.W. Adorno et al. in 1950, has been massively popular among psychologists. It claims that a set of ideas that were popular in the "Progressive"-dominated America of the prewar era were "authoritarian". Leftist regimes always are authoritarian so that claim was not a big problem. What was quite amazing however is that Adorno et al. identified such ideas as "conservative". They were in fact simply popular ideas of the day but ones that had been most heavily promoted by the Left right up until the then-recent WWII. See here for details of prewar "Progressive" thinking.
The basic aim of all bureaucrats is to maximize their funding and minimize their workload
A lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is an example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here
Some ancient wisdom for Leftists: "Be not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself over wise: Why shouldest thou die before thy time?" -- Ecclesiastes 7:16
People who mention differences in black vs. white IQ are these days almost universally howled down and subjected to the most extreme abuse. I am a psychometrician, however, so I feel obliged to defend the scientific truth of the matter: The average black adult has about the same IQ as an average white 11-year-old. The American Psychological Association is generally Left-leaning but it is the world's most prestigious body of academic psychologists. And even they have had to concede that sort of gap (one SD) in black vs. white average IQ. 11-year olds can do a lot of things but they also have their limits and there are times when such limits need to be allowed for.
Jesse Jackson: "There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery -- then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved." There ARE important racial differences.
Some Jimmy Carter wisdom: "I think it's inevitable that there will be a lower standard of living than what everybody had always anticipated," he told advisers in 1979. "there's going to be a downward turning."

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason
Did William Zantzinger kill poor Hattie Carroll?

The "steamroller" above who got steamrollered by his own hubris. Spitzer is a warning of how self-destructive a vast ego can be -- and also of how destructive of others it can be.
Many people hunger and thirst after righteousness. Some find it in the hatreds of the Left. Others find it in the love of Christ. I don't hunger and thirst after righteousness at all. I hunger and thirst after truth. How old-fashioned can you get?
Heritage is what survives death: Very rare and hence very valuable
I completed the work for my Ph.D. at the end of 1970 but the degree was not awarded until 1974 -- due to some academic nastiness from Seymour Martin Lipset and Fred Emery. A conservative or libertarian who makes it through the academic maze has to be at least twice as good as the average conformist Leftist. Fortunately, I am a born academic.
As well as being an academic, I am an army man and I am pleased and proud to say that I have worn my country's uniform. Although my service in the Australian army was chiefly noted for its un-notability, I DID join voluntarily in the Vietnam era, I DID reach the rank of Sergeant, and I DID volunteer for a posting in Vietnam. So I think I may be forgiven for saying something that most army men think but which most don't say because they think it is too obvious: The profession of arms is the noblest profession of all because it is the only profession where you offer to lay down your life in performing your duties. Our men fought so that people could say and think what they like but I myself always treat military men with great respect -- respect which in my view is simply their due.
Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean
It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.
I imagine that few of my readers will understand it, but I am an unabashed monarchist. And, as someone who was born and bred in a monarchy and who still lives there (i.e. Australia), that gives me no conflicts at all. In theory, one's respect for the monarchy does not depend on who wears the crown but the impeccable behaviour of the present Queen does of course help perpetuate that respect. Aside from my huge respect for the Queen, however, my favourite member of the Royal family is the redheaded Prince Harry. The Royal family is of course a military family and Prince Harry is a great example of that. As one of the world's most privileged people, he could well be an idle layabout but instead he loves his life in the army. When his girlfriend Chelsy ditched him because he was so often away, Prince Harry said: "I love Chelsy but the army comes first". A perfect military man! I doubt that many women would understand or approve of his attitude but perhaps my own small army background powers my approval of that attitude.
The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody. And I have NO investments in oil companies, mining companies or "Big Pharma"
UPDATE: Despite my (statistical) aversion to mining stocks, I have recently bought a few shares in BHP -- the world's biggest miner, I gather. I run the grave risk of becoming a speaker of famous last words for saying this but I suspect that BHP is now so big as to be largely immune from the risks that plague most mining companies. I also know of no issue affecting BHP where my writings would have any relevance. The Left seem to have a visceral hatred of miners. I have never quite figured out why.
Despite my great sympathy and respect for Christianity, I am the most complete atheist you could find. I don't even believe that the word "God" is meaningful. I am not at all original in that view, of course. Such views are particularly associated with the noted German philosopher Rudolf Carnap. Unlike Carnap, however, none of my wives have committed suicide
I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament. And my Scripture blog will show that I know whereof I speak. Some might conclude that I must therefore be a very confused sort of atheist but I can assure everyone that I do not feel the least bit confused. The New Testament is a lighthouse that has illumined the thinking of all sorts of men and women and I am deeply grateful that it has shone on me.
I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age. Conservatism is in touch with reality. Leftism is not.
I imagine that the RD are still sending mailouts to my 1950s address
Most teenagers have sporting and movie posters on their bedroom walls. At age 14 I had a map of Taiwan on my wall.
"Remind me never to get this guy mad at me" -- Instapundit
I have used many sites to post my writings over the years and many have gone bad on me for various reasons. So if you click on a link here to my other writings you may get a "page not found" response if the link was put up some time before the present. All is not lost, however. All my writings have been reposted elsewhere. If you do strike a failed link, just take the filename (the last part of the link) and add it to the address of any of my current home pages and -- Voila! -- you should find the article concerned.
It seems to be a common view that you cannot talk informatively about a country unless you have been there. I completely reject that view but it is nonetheless likely that some Leftist dimbulb will at some stage aver that any comments I make about politics and events in the USA should not be heeded because I am an Australian who has lived almost all his life in Australia. I am reluctant to pander to such ignorance in the era of the "global village" but for the sake of the argument I might mention that I have visited the USA 3 times -- spending enough time in Los Angeles and NYC to get to know a fair bit about those places at least. I did however get outside those places enough to realize that they are NOT America.
If any of the short observations above about Leftism seem wrong, note that they do not stand alone. The evidence for them is set out at great length in my MONOGRAPH on Leftism.
COMMENTS: I have gradually added comments facilities to all my blogs. The comments I get are interesting. They are mostly from Leftists and most consist either of abuse or mere assertions. Reasoned arguments backed up by references to supporting evidence are almost unheard of from Leftists. Needless to say, I just delete such useless comments.
My academic background
My full name is Dr. John Joseph RAY. I am a former university teacher aged 65 at the time of writing in 2009. I was born of Australian pioneer stock in 1943 at Innisfail in the State of Queensland in Australia. I trace my ancestry wholly to the British Isles. After an early education at Innisfail State Rural School and Cairns State High School, I taught myself for matriculation. I took my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Queensland in Brisbane. I then moved to Sydney (in New South Wales, Australia) and took my M.A. in psychology from the University of Sydney in 1969 and my Ph.D. from the School of Behavioural Sciences at Macquarie University in 1974. I first tutored in psychology at Macquarie University and then taught sociology at the University of NSW. My doctorate is in psychology but I taught mainly sociology in my 14 years as a university teacher. In High Schools I taught economics. I have taught in both traditional and "progressive" (low discipline) High Schools. Fuller biographical notes here
MY OTHER SITES
DISSECTING LEFTISM
GREENIE WATCH
TONGUE TIED
AUSTRALIAN POLITICS
GUN WATCH
PC WATCH
EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL
FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC
EYE ON BRITAIN
SOME MEMOIRS
LEFTIST ELITISM
SOCIALIZED MEDICINE
IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL
RECIPES
OF INTEREST
Of Interest 3
There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here
Mirror for "Dissecting Leftism" China Mirror for "Dissecting Leftism" Alt archives Longer Academic Papers Johnray links Academic home page Academic Backup Page General Backup General Backup 2
Selected reading
MONOGRAPH ON LEFTISM
CONSERVATISM AS HERESY
Rightism defined Leftist Churches Leftist Racism Fascism is Leftist Hitler a socialist What are Leftists Psychology of Left Status Quo? Leftism is authoritarian James on Leftism Irbe on Leftism Beltt on Leftism
Critiques Lakoff Van Hiel Sidanius Kruglanski Pyszczynski et al.
Cautionary blogs about big Australian companies:
TELSTRA OPTUS VODAFONE AGL St. George bank Bank of Qld.
INTERESTING BLOGS
(My frequent reads are starred)
10 o'clock scholar 11 Day Empire 50th Star Aaron rants Abercrombie Chick About Politics Acidman Across Atlantic Agitator* Albion's Seedling* Also Canadian Always Right AMCGLTD American Indian Movement American Mind American Outlook American Thinker American Realpolitik Anal Philosopher* Anthropology & Econ ASTUTE BLOGGERS Baby Troll Bad Eagle Bearpit Beautiful Atrocities Belmont Club* Betsy's Page Between Coasts Bidinotto Bill Keezer Bill Quick Bits blog Bittersweet Blackfive Bleeding Brain Blissful Knowledge Blogarama BLOGGER NEWS Blogs against Hillary Blogwise Blood & Guts Blowhards Bob McCarty Booker Rising Brian Leiter scrutinized Brothers Judd* Bureaucrash Camp Katrina Campus Newspaper Confab Canadian Comment Candle in dark Catallarchy* Chez Joel Chomsky demolished Civilian Gun Self defense Classical Values Clayton Cramer* Climate audit Climate science Colby Cosh Cold Fury The Commons Common-sense & Wonder* Conjecturer Conservative Eyes Conservative Grapevine Conservative Philosopher Conservative Pleasure Conservative Voice Conservatives Anonymous Country Store Critical Mass Cronaca* Culture Battles Curmudgeon Daly Thoughts Damian Penny Dancing Dogs Danegerus Declarer Dean's World Deinonychus antirrhopus Democratism Dhimmi Watch Dick List Dick McDonald* Discover the networks Discriminations Dodge Blog Drink This Dr Helen Dr Sanity Drunkablog Ed Driscoll Eddy Rants Electric Venom Elephants in Academia Endiana Enter Stage Right Envirospin Eugene Undergound Evangelical Ecologist Everything I Know Fighting in the Shade Fourth Rail Free Patriot Free Rain Free Speech Frizzen Sparks Galvin Opinion Gates of Vienna Gay and Right Gay Patriot Gene Expression* Ghost of Flea Global warming & Climate GM's Corner One Good Turn Gold Dog GOP & The City GOPUSA Alaska Grooveswitch Grumpy Old Sod Gust of Hot Air Hall of Record Happy Carpenter Hatemongers Quart. Heretical Ideas R. Hide MP Hitler's Leftism Hoosier Review Horsefeathers Hugh Hewitt Hummers & Cigarettes Illumination Inc IMAO Icecap Inductivist Infinitely Prolonged Instapundit Intellectual Conservative Interested Participant Jackson's Junction Jim Kalb Junk Food science Junk Science Just One Minute Keeping it Simple Kim Du Toit Knowledge is Power Kommentariat Ladybird Deed La Shawn Laudator Let it bleed Liberal Wrong Liberty Cadre Little Green footballs Logical Meme Lost Tooth Soc Lone Wacko Lubos Motl Luskin R. Mandel Mangan Market Center Mark Nicodemo Maverick Philosopher Medicine World MedPundit Miami Review Michelle Malkin Midwest by DC Misanthropyst Moderate Voice Moorewatch More Sense than Money Moved Truth Mr Minority Mrs Blessed Museum of Left Lunacy My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy National Center National Security Neo Con Blogger Neo Neo-Con Never Yet Melted New Media Journal News Buckit New Sisyphus New Victorian New Zeal Pundit No Credentials Norm Quantum Weatherby Northeastern Intelligence Network Not PC OC Register blog On the Right Side Orator Overlawyered Pakman Pajama Editors Panic Watch Parable Man ParaPundit* PC Stupidity Pedestrian Infidel Pejmanesque Petrified Truth Poli Pundit Political Psychology Political Theory Review Pragmatic Libertarian Prof Bainbridge Promethean Proportional Belief Publius Pundit Qando Random Observations Rand Simberg Random Jottings Ravenwood Raving Atheist Reagan Baby Red State Redwood Dragon Regions of Mind Rhodey Rhymes with Right Right Faith Right Nation Right Reason Right Spin Rightwing Troll Right Thinking Right Wing news Roadkill Ron Hebron Rottweiler Sayet Right Schansberg SCSU Scholars* Sean Lafreniere Seitelplasm Sharp Blades Sharp Knife Should Know Silflay Hraka Silent Running Sine Qua Non Smallest Minority Spartac.us Spelled Sideways Squander 2 Stephen Frank Steve Sailer Stop and Think Stop the ACLU Stuart Buck Talk Climate Change Talking Head Tim Worstall Townhall C-log Truth Laid Bear Two-Four Net Unca Dave Urban Conservative Vdare blog Verbum Ipsum Viking Pundit Vodka Pundit Voices in Head Watt's up with that Western Standard Bill Whittle What If Whym Rhymer WICKED THOUGHTS* Winds of Change Wizbang World of Reason Write Wing Warrior You Big Mouth Zero Intelligence
Education Blogs
Early Childhood Education Education Wonks EducatioNation Eduwonk Homeschool Blogger Joanne Jacobs* Marc Miyake* No 2 Pencil Weary Teacher
Economics Blogs
Adam Smith Arnold Kling Chicago Boyz Cafe Hayek Econopundit Environmental Economics Environmental Economics & Sust. Devel. Innocents Abroad Jane Galt S. Karlson D. Luskin Marginal Revolution Mises Inst. Robert Musil Truck & Barter
Australian Blogs
Aussie Political Report Tim Blair A E Brain Brookes news The Bunyip Catallaxy Chrenkoff Currency lad Daily Constitutional Emotional Rex Evil Pundit Fortress Australia Kev Gillett Hissink File L. Hissink's Crazy World ICJS* Little Tin Soldier M4 Monologues M Jennings Mangled Thoughts Media Dragon Oz Conservative Pommygranate Rational Thoughts Slattery Tao of Defiance Troppo Voice of Pacific Wog Blog WESTERN HEART* The Yobbo
Bastards Inc
Paul & Carl
It's A Matter of Opinion
Cyclone's Sketchblog
Niner Charlie
Greyice
The Dog Blog
Welcome to the Asylum
Grinder-Com
Chris Berg
England
Anglo Austrian Blimpish Blithering Bunny BNP and Me Briffa Britain & America British Interest Burning our Money Campaign Against Political Correctness Campaign for English Parliament Conservative Comment Cynical Libertarian Daily Ablution England Project EU Serf Norm Geras House of Dumb IQ & PC Liberty Cadre Limbic Nutrition Majority Rights* Melanie Phillips NHS Doctor Oliver Kamm Policeman Mike Power Right to be Free Samizdata Sean Gabb Natalie Solent Sterling Times Walking the Streets Wayne Smallman Rich Webster Englishman's Castle
Scotland
Freedom & Whisky Highland Warrior A Place to Stand
Wales
Brit Nats in Wales
Ireland
Conservative Dubliner Tangled Web Hot Air Forum
Iceland
Ice & Fire Great Auk
ISRAEL
Israel Pundit IsraPundit Not A Fish Steven Plaut Rishon Think Israel
The Portuguese connection
A Razao das Coisas Avaliando o mundo Blasfemias Blogoesfera Internacional Boticario de Provincia De Direita Direita Impertinencias Jaquinzinhos Nadando contra a mare Nortadas O Intermitente O Reacionario O Blog do Alex Portugal Liberal Super Flumina Ser Portugues Tempestade Cerebral Valete Fratres
Other Europe
Daily Bork Davids Medienkritik European Family Health HispaLibertas No Pasaran Le Guerre Civili Tommy Funebo
AFRICA
Almost Supernatural Ethiopian Pundit
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Friday, October 21, 2005
AN INFANTILE CULTURE
By: "Just an old man"
In the USA, we have the answer. It is used as a slogan for a famous national retail firm: "I don't want to grow up. I'm a Toys R' Us Kid!"
That is the answer. Or you could listen to The Wall, a famous protest song in which the singer whines that 'we don't need no education'. In a world where life is easy, it is a sore temptation for many people to reject all notions of 'growing up' or 'assuming adult obligations'. Of course a part of this phenomenon is to engineer an educational system that leaves out all of the essentials that kids should be learning in order to deal even fairly well with daily life when they are on their own.
The result is quite clear - at least on my street. it is a typical suburban street in a town near a small city. The neighbors are mostly young couples. They avoid each other. They judge each other by appearances. They not only have no sense of living in a community but work hard at remaining isolated so as to have all their time to devote entirely to their own personal interests.
This is why I don't cut my lawn. It drives these kids crazy. While they work hard at shaving their lawns down to bare dirt, a weekly chore that produces vast patches of dead grass during the frequent droughts and luxuriant growths of weeds, my lawn is tall, superbly green, and a delight to walk on. Of course it would help if these kids knew something about lawn care - but that would mean taking time away from shopping or television or something else they value dearly. They sometimes spend hours driving around to buy cooked food because they can't be bothered even heating up a frozen dinner - far too crude and plebeian.
The US economy is driven by consumerism. The less people know about usefulness, value, and need for such things, the easier it is to sell MP3 Ipods that play music of such low quality that it makes my skin crawl. Of course it is nice to have a cellular telephone. Then one partner can call the other right from inside the supermarket to discuss what to buy. While Japan moves toward much higher quality digital sound systems that play 96 kHz sampled music, the rest of the world downgrades its music source quality to below cassette quality. After all, the unit fits easily into a shirt pocket.
As far as the food situation is concerned, the human animal is evolved to crave very specific foods to satisfy the body's systems. A bit of butter (horrors) triggers a satisfaction sensing system, as does meat fat, in ways that nothing else can. So I cheat. I buy 'natural' peanut butter, mix in a stick of real butter, and use the resulting mixture. but don't tell anyone. Its a secret. Yes, this mixture must be refrigerated.
Why do modern foods fail to satisfy and cause people to eat far too much? Its the use of hydrogenated vegetable oils, synthetic compounds that the body does NOT recognize as 'food', in so many things. Burger King is careful to add meat fats to its frying oil blend just to satisfy the body. And such natural foods satisfy even when far less is eaten.
People just don't learn things these days. They get a bland, often mostly false, education that is based on memorizing the contents of books and then regurgitating that information. Governments mandate national tests based on this notion. Its good enough to create a non-thinking class of workers who will never quite understand why life fails to satisfy them. posted by JR
7:20 PM

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