What Democracy Means Today

The true forms of government therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the common interest; but governments which rule with a view to the private interest, whether of the one, or of the few, or of the many, are perversions.

-Aristotle, Politics [Bk. III: Ch. 7]

The reason I bring this up is because:

1. It is a good observation which is obviously equally relevant today as in ancient Greece.
2. In Macroeconomics we learn about central banking. A simple research will yield the fact that both the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve are privately-run corporations separate from government. The implication of this is the following.

Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild, founder of the famous Rothschild finance dynasty, is quoted as saying, "give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws."

If we now consider that it is the private corporation called the Bank of Canada or the Federal Reserve in the United States, which controls our nations' money, we may begin to understand the real democracy (or perversion thereof) that we live in. 

No Disclaimer: I am no conspiracy theorist. This is exactly what is happening if we investigate the matter (please do!). If you're reading this, you have an open mind and can make decisions for yourself.

Why No Posting?

This week has been crazy coming back to University. I've still been reading and getting ideas but there has just been no time to post. It'll be better once I get into the swing of things for sure.

Bear with me and all of you keep checking in! (image pun intended^)

Change Your Mind, Have Everything You Want.

If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich

-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (chap. 33, tr. S. Mitchell)

This is such a pervasive notion in Taoist and Buddhist beliefs. Certainly there is a counter-argument but I find this idea quite beautiful. We strive to get, achieve, acquire, own, but if you keep wanting more and are not content at some point, there is no end to it! Here is another quote along the same lines that illustrates my point:

The Master doesn't try to be powerful; 

thus he is truly powerful. 

The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; 

thus he never has enough.

-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (chap. 38, tr. S. Mitchell)

I think that's just great. The implication is clearly not that you will get what you want by being lazy. My interpretation is that if we don't set limits and don't release expectation then we risk never being satisfied.

What is the Tao Te Ching?

As Wikipedia will kindly inform you, the Tao Te Ching is a text thought to be written around 600 BC and is essential to the Taoist and Buddhist belief systems. Lao Tzu is traditionally attributed as being the author. The text is closer to poetry than anything else which makes it hard to absorb quickly. One must search for the meaning in every statement to get the most out of it. I read it in one sitting but I'll have to reread it many times to fully appreciate it. There are so many good quotes that I'm just going to drop one in here every so often.

Knowing others is intelligence.

Knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength.

Mastering yourself is true power.

-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (chap. 33, tr. S. Mitchell)

No commentary necessary methinks. Simple, elegant, incontestable.

"The Machine Stops": A Must-Read.

(Photo Credit: Randy Montoya) Photo not really related other than it is a big awesome machine designed to experiment with nuclear fusion (apparently successfully too) but it is kind of how I imagine the "nerve centre" for the machine in the following story.

In 1909 E.M. Forster wrote his magnum opus, "The Machine Stops". In his futuristic world people no longer have the need to interact personally yet they have thousands of virtual acquaintances similar to online social networking (remember when this was written and be amazed). People live underground in a global man-made life-support system thingy for the human race. Humans have become so advanced so as they no longer need their physical bodies for survival because the machine provides everything. Instead of work, people come up with ideas! Humans no longer have need for contact because of a "speaking apparatus" (like skype!).  Thus, they have forgotten the intricacies of the machine since it needs no human intervention. The real story is about Kuno, who has human desire. He wants to go outside again and do physical work. Kuno wants to rid himself of the machine. I won't go into everything because you should read it for yourself, but it is (to simplify horribly) about man's reliance on technology and the pitfalls of not knowing how to do things "the old-fashioned way".

Please read this story. I have no intention of babying you on this one. This is the best value for your time you will find when it comes to reading. Unless you are currently delivering a baby (bystanders don't count) the chances are that you can spare half an hour to absorb some culture.

You don't have to buy it or anything and I'm sure you'll be astonished at the foresight of E.M. Forster. Remember, this was written in 1909 before computers, television etc. If you are worth a grain of salt let alone your weight in it, you will read this story and you will thank me for it! 

The Machine Stops  (text)

If  you have the gnat-like attention-span of a spoiled 14-year old cell-phone wielding girl like I do occasionally, here, for your aural pleasure is the audio-book version.

The Machine Stops (audio)

Slavery. Is it ok?

It seems to be a losing argument to say that slavery can be acceptable. However, in Aristotle's time, it was commonplace. This is not to say that the ancient Greeks were barbarians because of this. While, for example, the oppression of slaves in the U.S. up to the last century was obviously unacceptable  Aristotle shows the conditions necessary for "just" slavery (an oxymoron in the eyes of many, particularly Plato [Polit. 258 E. 259]). At first I couldn't believe in a justification for slavery, knowing that all men are born equal, blah blah blah etc. but let me give you the quote and I'll leave it to you to decide.

The Quote:

They think that as men and animals beget men and animals, so from good men a good man springs. But this is what nature, though she may intend it cannot always accomplish. 

We see then that there is some foundation for this difference of opinion, and that all are not either slaves by nature or freemen by nature, and also that there is in some cases a marked distinction between the two classes, rendering it expedient and right for the one to be slaves and the others to be masters: the one practising obedience, the others exercising the authority and lordship which nature intended them to have. The abuse of this authority is injurious to both; for the interests of part and whole, of master, a living but separated part of his bodily frame. Hence, where the relation of master and slave between them is natural they are friends and have a common interest, but where it rests merely on law and force the reverse is true.

Aristotle goes on to say that this means that slavery is not a uniform relationship and that all aspects of it can vary between every example.

-Aristotle, Politics, 1255

What the quote says:

Basically what the quote is saying is that while nature has the best intentions of equality, sometimes it just doesn't work out like that. Some people are born slaves and some born masters. Having a master paired with a slave is natural where they have a common interest and are friends, according to Aristotle. 

My Infallible Opinion:

Slavery has a bad connotation and for good reason considering the many atrocities committed under it's name. For the most part I doubt that slaves in any number have this wonderful, friendly and cooperative relationship with their master. However, I will concede that under the conditions mentioned, slavery could be the best option. If so, maybe I should get out of blogging as a hobby and start a slave/master matchmaking service. There can't be any laws against that, right? On second thought people would probably just think it's kinky and it would turn into a hardcore dating site....not my scene, oh well.

EDIT: As Aristotle worded the "acceptable" conditions for slavery, I can't really object to it because it is in fact a mutual decision. I can't justify denying that humans should have an inate right to freedom and equality at birth. Yet as it has been quoted above, it is more like the slave is choosing to be the slave. That kind of defeats the point of the argument doesn't it? So I must conclude that slavery under the dictionary definition is not ok.

Physical Comedy At Its Best

The Scenario:   

Don Quixote, on one of his fantastical romps through La Mancha mistakes a herd of sheep for a great army. After wildly slaying a bunch of them, the sheep herders decide to get serious shepherd-style. Anyway, Sancho and Don Quixote get worked like marionettes and are left badly beaten. Don Quixote drinks a magical medicinal "balsam", read: some vinegar and random gross things, then asks Sancho to check if he lost many teeth in the scuffle. Sancho looks into his mouth only to get a face-first sampling of Quixote's stomach contents. Upon smelling the balsam that Quixote had ingested and remembering a previous event where he got very ill from it, Sancho proceeded to vomit all over Don Quixote. There they sat badly-beaten and vomiting on each other. Now that's comedy, seventeenth century-style!  

The Original: 

But go not just yet, for I want thy help and assistance; come hither, and see how many of my teeth and grinders are missing, for I feel as if there was not one left in my mouth." Sancho came so close that he almost put his eyes into his mouth; now just at that moment the balsam had acted on the stomach of Don Quixote, so, at the very instant when Sancho came to examine his mouth, he discharged all its contents with more force than a musket, and full into the beard of the compassionate squire. "Holy Mary!" cried Sancho, "what is this that has happened me? Clearly this sinner is mortally wounded, as he vomits blood from the mouth;" but considering the matter a little more closely he perceived by the colour, taste, and smell, that it was not blood but the balsam from the flask which he had seen him drink; and he was taken with such a loathing that his stomach turned, and he vomited up his inside over his very master, and both were left in a precious state. 

-Cervantes, 1605 (Vol 1. Chap. 18)

Why You Should Laugh: 

Rarely will you imagine you'll find a situation in classic literature where people are beaten and then vomit on each other. Not since Bob Saget's role in the documentary "The Aristocrats" has humanity been witness to such base yet outright funny vomit-humour.