"NIGHT CAFE" BY VINCENT VAN GOGH
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Patriotism is a religion, the egg from which wars are hatched.": Guy de Maupassant
"Politically speaking, tribal nationalism [patriotism] always insists that its own people are surrounded by 'a world of enemies' - 'one against all' - and that a fundamental difference exists between this people and all others. It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man." -Hannah Arendt, The Origins Of Totalitarianism p.227
"Seas of blood have been shed for the sake of patriotism. One would expect the harm and irrationality of patriotism to be self-evident to everyone. But the surprising fact is that cultured and learned [socially conditioned and indoctrinated] people not only do not notice the harm and stupidity of patriotism, they resist every unveiling of it with the greatest obstinacy and passion (with no rational grounds), and continue to praise it as beneficent and elevating." -Leo Tolstoy
"Blind patriotism has been kept intact by rewriting history to provide people with moral consolation and a psychological basis for denial." -William H. Boyer
The above quotes I have copied from a website which I find helpful on a daily basis. It is called The Information Clearing House & was created & run by Tom Feeley who is not connected with any political party or organization.
He describes the site as one of WORLD NEWS DAILY: NEWS YOU WON’T FIND ON CNN OR FOX NEWS & as An alternative independent non-commercial source for news, information and insight.
And further he says that:
This web site has grown out of my personal frustration and anger at the failure of traditional commercial media to inform the American public, especially as it relates to US foreign policy.
And here is the address:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/index.html
I subscribe to his free newsletter which daily contains several pertinent quotes by various historians , philosophers , academics , journalists & politicians from Plato to Noam Chomsky to Ghandi to Martin Luther King to Oscar Wilde etc. It also includes news articles about contemporary issues gleaned from the Internet , Newspapers, TV & radio etc.
Anyway I hope some of you will check it out as it is for the worthwhile cause of getting more of the truth out there. It is also convenient for those interested in the subjects presented who do not have hours each day to spend looking in vain for more in depth coverage of today's headlines.
And so I wish Tom Feeley the best of luck.
Another site which I want to direct readers to which is rather informative & has grown in leaps & bounds is THE HUFFINGTON POST founded by writer & journalist Arianna Huffington. There are always some provocative articles & posts written by a number of regular contributors which include journalists & academics.
The site also covers issues of science & religion & the daily grumblings & bumblings of the Bush administration as well as entertainment & sports news etc.
The site is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
For instance one of the top stories on the site today is :JUST IN Associated Press | March 14, 2006
"Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on his live news-and-talk program ''The 700 Club'' that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are ''satanic.''
Robertson's comments came after he watched a news story on his Christian Broadcasting Network about Muslim protests in Europe over the cartoon drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. "
You see I can’t pass this one by without adding my two cents and so...
Anyway a news headline like this is due for some controversy since Pat doesn't just see the radical Islamic terrorist as bad guys but working hand in glove with SATAN himself & not just some lowly IMP or second rate Demon. As I have said it is this sort of on-going attack on Islam which just creates more pissed-off Muslims. But in his world of Religious Right Fanatics all of this is great stuff to bring on the end days & so bring us all closer to the day of Jesus's Second Coming & Heaven Help Us All from The Christian Religious Right & the Fanatical Taliban . To me they are cut from the same cloth but the question is who is praying to the right god or is neither of them on the road to salvation.
Anyway I mentioned the writer & wannabe philosopher Ayn Rand in my last post which was probably because I just recently read several of her books though they are rather dull & plodding & I have been reading articles on various websites dedicated to her philosophy which she called OBJECTIVISM. Even the word chills me to the bone. I had met many people over the years who treated Ayn Rand as if she were some kind of GURU or Prophet & I found much of her thinking to be unsound or impenetrable . The thing of it is that she believed in America & Capitalism & she believed all religion to be a lot of wishful thinking & nonsense so she spent years developing a philosophy to support her beliefs. She has a large following of people who seemed to have found a non-religious religion as it were that they could believe in totally .
so here is the rather large main website of her true believers:
THE AYN RAND INSTITUTE
www.aynrand.org/
Here is a sample of what this stuff is all about from the Institutes Introduction to the site:
Introduction
The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), a 501(c)(3) educational organization, was established in 1985 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. ARI has a distinguished Board of Directors and a staff of about 30 employees.
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was an ardent advocate of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and free-market capitalism.
ARI seeks to promote these principles, spearheading a "cultural renaissance" that will reverse the anti-reason, anti-individualism, anti-freedom, anti-capitalist trends in today's culture. The major battleground in this fight for reason and capitalism is the educational institutions—high schools, and above all, the universities, where students learn the ideas that shape their lives.
Ayn Rand's philosophy—known as Objectivism—holds that historical trends are the inescapable product of philosophy. To reverse the current political and economic trends in America and throughout the world requires a reversal of our society's fundamental philosophy.
Victory in this war of ideas will ultimately mean the defeat of the widely held, pernicious ideologies that dominate contemporary culture and threaten our liberty—ideologies such as statism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, racism and mysticism.
AND AS THEY GLEEFULLY ADD THAT THEIR NUMBERS ARE GROWING - ( AT AN ALARMING RATE I MIGHT ADD)
The Ayn Rand Renaissance
Ayn Rand's visibility—and interest in her philosophy—have increased dramatically in recent years.
500,000 copies of Ayn Rand's books were sold last year alone—more than two decades after Rand's death. Total sales of Rand's fiction and nonfiction now exceed 23 million copies. ----
So here is a group which I believe to be as dangerous as the more radical members of the Christian Religious Right. Note unlike Ayn Rand I do not hold such a disdain for all religious beliefs since I take such beliefs as being just part of what makes us human for better or worse. This should raise a few eyebrows. On the other hand just because someone calls themselves an atheist or agnostic or humanist doesn't mean I think any less of their opinions. But Ayn Rand & her pontificating Neo-conservatives give me the creeps. One of the main things they hate is the whole idea of ALTRUISM which even Humanists usually think of as a good thing. Instead her motivation is profit & one's own selfishness & the desire for personal happiness & to Hell with everybody else.
For more on Ayn Rand I recommend two of her books;
ANTHEM pub. 1945 which is a novel nice & short
& her attempt at philosophy : FOR THE NEW INTELLECTUAL; THE PHILOSOPHY OF AYN RAND, pub. 1961
Anyway that's all for now,
Here's hoping they don't drop the big one soon-
GORD.
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