Ron Paul on Glenn Beck, via Lew Rockwell:
“I think that there will be violence,” he explained. “I hope we don’t have to go through, you know, a very violent period of time, but that’s what happens too often when the government runs out of money and runs out of wealth, the people argue over, you know, a shrinking pie and, of course, the people who have to produce are sick and tired of producing.”
I disagree. My overwhelming impression is that people, more than ever before in human history, realize the futility of violence as an effective means for change. And I think it’s due to the incredible access to information and communication introduced by The Internet. Even the most cursory glance through the omniscient eyes of The Internet shows that violence has never achieved anything good. Ever. (In that past, it was far easier to manipulate history and erase all the vile side-effects — not so with a decentralized un-censorable internet.)
I find it quite shocking reading obsolete literature like George Orwell’s 1938 “Homage to Catalonia”, and his lust for violence and bloodshed against the “sinister monster fascists” — his level of ignorance (he didn’t really know who he was fighting, nor for exactly what cause) is almost unimaginable today. (Why can’t he just google-map his routes, and wikipedia his party’s platform, and start a flame-war on his opponent’s forums :b.)
(I think Ron Paul is becoming obsolete :|.)
Uh..read Norman Angell. Made the same excellent points you make…and then World War I broke out.
Im suddenly reminded of the movie The Ultimate Warrior
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Warrior_%281975_film%29
and one of the main actors, Baron (Max von Sydow). I think Baron took a, “we can find a peaceful way out of this” approach, until he found he couldn’t, and was forced to hire Yul Brynner in the open market. It’s not a lust for violence, it’s a lust for freedom that is only found on the other side of a mob of bully vampires. The struggle to live.
Judging by the number of wars, the number of military armaments, the popularity of violent TV, more than ever before in human history, people do not realize the futility of violence as an effective means for change.
The day I beat down a school bully, nothing but freedom and goodness resulted, many others were happy too from that point forward. There was no other way.
The world is a vampire.
Dennis, So Al Gore has brought us world peace. Now that’s a revelation that wouldn’t have occured to me.
You didn’t know Gore brought in world peace? And invented the internet too.
Kidding aside, when the state commits atrocities, don’t expect everyone to take it lying down.
As long as it’s OK to coerce teenage girls, why isn’t it ok to coerce anyone else, by the way?
From the sound of it, I don’t think Baron really tried to find “a peaceful way out”. That movie, like the past, seems to implicitly accept as fact a confrontational them-vs-us “barricaded and fortified” isolationist view of the world — all of which I’m pretty confident The Internet is quite successfully proving absurd. (Why couldn’t he just share the plague-resistant-seed technology with the other starving plague survivors?)
Ever since the Vietnam War, at least, wars have become incredibly unpopular things — blind patriotism and the sanctity of the state simply cannot coexist with The Internet (read: the truth) — whereas it did decades ago in darker more isolated times.
Also, I wouldn’t really compare bellicose adults to schoolyard bullies, tempting as it may be. With adults, except for psychotic rarities, there will probably certainly be an underlying rational grievance that can be addressed; that violence merely aggravates.
(Re: Polanski — do you have any evidence of coercion? No? Ok — than maybe stop assuming it? :b. (Of course coercion is wrong. Polanski did not coerce her. She was sexually active long before him. The relationship was her idea in the first place.))
My memory isn’t perfect, but I think Baron did indeed wish to share with the hoards. He was once friends with the bad guy who wouldn’t listen to reason, much like a bully, and very much like the world today. Survival forces the them vs. us condition. The, “them” wanted to eat the seed and destroy the fields, rather than share and save some seeds. Perhaps you should watch it?
A bully is a perfect example of the macro scale of war. Much like the market isn’t a whole, it’s millons/billions of individuals.
Bellicose adults are schoolyard bullies, where do you think they come from? The worst kind are the ones that were too chicken to do so when young and hide behind a desk when adults.
blind patriotism and the sanctity of the state simply cannot coexist with The Internet
Thats hilarious, if that were true there would be no Gulf Wars, or chemtrails, or mass forced vaccinations such as the one that killed the 14yr old girl recently.
It almost sounds like the end times:
Last week: Ron Paul sounding like Gerald Celente.
This week: The BIS sounding like LRC.
What next? Cats and dogs getting along?