western - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T10:59:13Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/westernWe're Facing A Psycho-Spiritual Crisishttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/we-re-facing-a-psycho-spiritual-crisis2016-05-16T15:00:00.000Z2016-05-16T15:00:00.000ZJunious Ricardo Stantonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JuniousRicardoStanton<div><p><b> </b></p><p></p><p><b> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828584693,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828584693,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="192" class="align-full" alt="3828584693?profile=original" /></a> ~ From The Ramparts,</b> by Junious Ricardo Stanton ~ </p><p> <i>"Western consumer culture is creating a psycho-spiritual crisis that leaves us disoriented and bereft of purpose. How can we treat our sick culture and make ourselves well?"</i> John F. Shumaker The Demoralized Mind <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44653.htm">http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44653.htm</a> </p><p> Many Westerners are coming to the inescapable conclusion their culture is creating a psychological malaise that is metastasizing throughout the society, stifling empathy, enthusiasm and any sense of meaning, purpose or real fulfillment in our lives. We find ourselves like laboratory mice or hamsters on the proverbial treadmill going nowhere fast, depleting our energy and finances with nothing to show for it but tons of planned obsolescence stuff and suffocating debt. </p><p> There was even a mindset propagated in the 80's and 90's that said the measure of one's worth was the material things one possessed at life's end. They said "greed is good" which fueled consumerism, materialism and a dog eat dog winner take all mindset. The angst many feel today is a direct result of falling for the okey-doke of the "American Dream" which for far too many is really a nightmare.</p><p> If the measure of your being, your self-worth and success are based upon the amount of gizmos and gadgets you have, what happens if you lose them, they become obsolete or you can no longer afford them? Many Americans were devastated by the 2007-08 economic downturn. Millions still have not rebounded from the economic implosion brought on by the reckless and fraudulent activities of the big banks, lending institutions, insurance companies in collusion with government. Many folks owe more on their homes than they are presently worth, while millions have lost their homes and fancy cars to foreclosure and repossession.</p><p> Wealth inequality, homelessness, depression and despair hang over this country like a thick fog and many are succumbing to alcohol and opiate addiction as a way of numbing their misery and frustration. Opiate prescriptions are at an all time high in America and the suicide rate is the highest it has been in thirty years!</p><p> Many thinkers, philosophers and reformers have warned that America is heading in the wrong direction, is lost and about to plummet into an abyss of maladaptive, self-destructive responses to culturally and politically induced socio-economic circumstances. Social engineering is real, social programming and mind control are real. The US government has been working on them for decades. Do some research on the CIA's MK ULTRA, Operation MONARCH and other mind control programs and then look into what is going on at the Pentagon at its Department of Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It will blow your mind. It's science fiction mad scientist type stuff on the real! Then ask yourself what is the impact of six conglomerates controlling almost everything we see on TV, the movies, streaming, books, magazines and newspapers? Is this representative of free and open markets or is it more in line with monopoly consolidation?</p><p> But this is nothing new. American history is fraught with moral contradictions, blatant discrepancies between their professed creed and their actual deeds. How do you talk about "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while aggressively engaged in policies and programs of genocide, extermination, slavery and dehumanization?</p><p> These facts about America are undeniable and yet the ruling class has never, ever really attempted to remedy or reconcile those policies. In fact they are still negatively impacting the lives of people of color, Native Americans, African-Americans and others today! The only difference between now and back in the day is, the Black Codes, Slave Codes, and government sanctioned segregation are no longer on the books. However the consciousness and practices that created them still exist and remain in effect because the ruling class who created and uphold the cultures' institutions and systems have not purged themselves of that mindset and values.</p><p> Africans in America have long attempted to change the situation by urging America's leaders to repent, galvanize and organize to alter the trajectory of this nation's immoral and inhumane policies. The continuing consequences of the sins of the "founding fathers" are still being visited upon successive generations as the ruling class attempts to keep their criminogenic culture (a system, situation or place causing or likely to cause criminal behavior) in tact and expand its reach on a global level..</p><p> The European settlers arriving in this hemisphere came not as scientific explorers, seekers of freedom or with a plan to establish a new way of governing but as pillaging soldiers of fortune looking for bounty and booty to expropriate. Their history of genocide, slavery and crimes against humanity have never been reconciled, avenged or punished. A cloud of depravity hangs over America blotting out the sunlight of morality, justice and true civilization. Until this cloud dissipates America will never free itself of its consciousness of exploitation, plunder, greed and war.</p><p> David Walker the son of a slave father and "free" mother was born in 1785 in North Carolina. Walker's father died before he was born. Walker was a passionate foe of the institution of slavery. He eventually fled North Carolina and moved to Boston. He taught himself to read and write. In his fiery <b>Appeal To The Slaves of the United States of America</b> written and published in 1829, Walker shocked the world when he denounced the cruelty and barbarity of the whites in his treatise. Writing about their history and character he said, , "But we will leave the whites or Europeans as heathens and take a view of them as christians in which capacity we see them as cruel, if not more so then ever. In fact take them as a body, they are ten times more cruel, avaricious and unmerciful than ever they were; for while they were heathens they were bad enough it is true, but it is positively a fact that there were not so audacious as to go and take vessel loads of men, women and children and in cold blood and through devilishness, throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kinds of ways. While they were heathens, they were too ignorant for such barbarity. But being christians, enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared for such hellish cruelties. Now suppose God were to give them more sense, what would they do? If it were not possible would they not dethrone Jehovah and seat themselves upon his throne?" David Walker's Appeal Article 1.</p><p> Walker's 1829 Appeal like the 1804 Haitian Revolution and Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831 sent tidal waves of fear and dread amongst the slave holding South because Walker encouraged Blacks to use violence to secure their freedom. When Walker's book was smuggled to the South it caused quite a stir. So much so, a bounty of one thousand dollars was placed on Walker's head if killed and ten thousand if captured alive. Walker died shortly after he published his work but it made a powerful impact on the whole country.</p><p> Would that we had men and women like David Walker and Ida B Wells Barnett who spoke truth to power and challenged the evil and wickedness of their day now. Would we be as comatose and apathetic as we are today if we had champions like them fighting on our behalf? What will it take to rouse us from our stupor and stiffen our backs to challenge our oppression?</p><p> The ruling class has more weapons at its disposal today than ever before. In 1830 they primarily used fear, the Christian religion with its narration about the bogus curse of Ham, a shame and guilt based theology, violence and torture to get the masses to submit to Catholic and Protestant dogma and control. Today they have a pervasive technological network that manufactures a reality that dumbs us down, disorients and discombobulates us, they poison us with GMO Frankenfoods, pump us with pharmaceutical and illicit drugs to numb our minds and push us towards stultifying addiction.</p><p> All this is designed to reduce resistance to their nefarious global agenda. As a result America faces a psycho-spiritual crisis of enormous proportions. The push back against the political candidates sponsored by the ruling class is not based upon moral indignation or a desire to transcend and transform ourselves and society. The current so called "political revolution" is not based upon spiritual enlightenment. Rather, it is based upon frustration because the materialistic consumer gravy train is no longer running and white folks feel betrayed. They are angry and anxious.</p><p> Black people are rudderless and lost. We have no real strategies to save ourselves other than foolishly coupling our hopes to a Democratic Party that has sold us out time and again. Neither political party has our best interests at heart we have to realize this and act accordingly.</p><p> What can we do to improve ourselves and our situation? We can come together, unify and develop a survival infrastructure, an information sharing infrastructure and action plans. We have to build values producing institutions: create and support our own schools, develop our own pedagogical theories and practices, expand economic networks and capital formation groups. Most importantly we must formulate a cosmology to substitute for the decadent Western values of selfish alienation, materialism, war and predation.</p><p> We can do this. We already have the model, traditional African values and cosmology. <a href="http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf%C2%A0">http://www.emeka.at/african_cultural_vaules.pdf </a>; We already have the concept, model and action of <b>Sankofa</b>, going back to retrieve that which is good, bringing it forward and adapting it to present realities. We were the first humans to do all this. We have done it many times in the past in our history, we can begin now to create a brighter future for ourselves and our children.</p><p> </p><p> -30-</p></div>Polygamy Is NOT The Solution For Black America?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/polygamy-is-not-the-solution-for-black-america2016-01-27T04:35:37.000Z2016-01-27T04:35:37.000ZNana Baakan Agyiriwahhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/NanaBaakanAgyiriwah<div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"><b><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828579088,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="400" src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828579088,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="3828579088?profile=original" /></a>NB Commentary:</b> Let me preface my commentary with these words, yes, my commentary is biased, yes, it may have even been a little bit emotional, and yes, I may have been a little curt if not with a tinge of anger, but sometimes when someone gets on YouTube and provides "disinformation" as if they are an expert on a subject they are talking about... well it just rubs me. It is a particular rub for me in this case as this is a subject that I have explored, studied, understood it pros and cons across cultures, etc. So, jump into this opinion piece with that in mind. Nana is on a roll in this one. <a href="http://nanas-rants.blogspot.com/2016/01/polygamy-is-not-solution-for-black.html" target="_blank">Source</a><br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HMTU0oqrA/UbtAM0J-QqI/AAAAAAACUUU/gc-FKmje78A/s1600/WB01843_.GIF" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" height="23" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HMTU0oqrA/UbtAM0J-QqI/AAAAAAACUUU/gc-FKmje78A/s200/WB01843_.GIF" width="200" alt="WB01843_.GIF" /></a></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div>To the narrator of this video, first of all, I do not know where you are getting your facts about the so-called down side of polygamy (polygyny = one man, many wives) and I feel that if you have statistics then you should present them.</div><p></p><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;text-align:center;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;text-align:left;">Secondly, I am offended by your gross generalization of the so-called backwards African societies that practice polygamy. I am also offended that you think that women are so petty that they have no clue of what it means to build a nation, or that building a nation means having many children. These women are not that naive that they don't realize that nation building will take a long time with just one wife. To these people polygamy is not a matter of how much sex a man can have but how many children a man can help to produce and quite frankly getting pregnant does not require a lot of sex. It is the Western world with its suppression of the naked body that brought down shame on the indigenous people who were quite comfortable with their style of dress. Sexual implications based on what someone had on was not as overt as it has become in western hypocritically puritanical cultures.</div><p></p><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EGHuqtKJLMA?wmode=opaque"></iframe></div></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div style="text-align:center;"></div><div style="color:#000000;font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;margin:0in;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;"></div><br /><div style="color:#666666;font-family:tahoma;font-size:8pt;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;margin:0in;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;"><div style="margin:0px;text-align:center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGHuqtKJLMA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGHuqtKJLMA</a></div></div></div><div style="margin:0in;"><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-size:14pt;">If you want to point out backwardness of polygamous societies, then what about Saudi Arabia, The United Arab republic, Qatar, Sudan, Iran, India and others. These are predominately Islamic societies where Polygamy is practiced and they have booming cultures, technology and educational systems. None of which are "backwards" as you would define it.</span></div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I find your statement about African societies where polygamy occurs, and defined by you as backwards, to be quite disingenuous and falling way short of any valid study, survey or actual living in these cultures that you call backwards. The fact that you omit the ancient history of African Cultures, the Songhai Empire, the Mali Empire, the Great Kings and Queens who came out of Africa during ancient times and from a culture where polygamy was the norm shows the limit of your knowledge on this topic.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">You fail to mention the impact of the European hypocritical influence on indigenous African culture and the imposition of hypocritical Western ideologies upon the African experience. You even fail to mention the irony of these so called Christians whose early prophets were all polygamous.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">Your protestations are ill-founded even to this day when you do not understand the mechanism of the customs and culture of the society where polygamy is intrinsic to it. The in-fighting that you speak of hardly had to do with who was married to whom, and particularly, since natural selection had more women than men being in the world, then it is most advantageous for the women to be absorbed into a household or family unit, rather than having them left out.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">And what if the wife is barren through no fault of her own, should her husband go with out having a progeny because his only wife cannot bare him children?<br /> <br /> In strong societies where polygamy is the norm, many customs support it and encourage the family unit to work as a whole. The women and children are seen as resources and they help to build the community, take care of the children, teach and pass on the customs. The women are as industrious as the men and have markets, stores, farms and trading that increases the wealth of the family unit and community.<br /> <br /> When many of the wars and strife were started, believe me, it was not over woman and who had the best looking women or pick of the crop. It was over resources, land, politics and hegemony. It was the male desire to fight and conquer his competition which quite frankly, was not another woman but what her husband had. Wars are socio-economical-political ventures that take place between warring tribes all over the planet. And it is modern society with its monogamy that has had the absolute worse wars of aggression against each other while you, and many others, consider Western society civilized.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">I find your entire video disingenuous, insulting, linear in its presentation, and absent of the true facts and/or understanding of indigenous cultures and the how and why they participate in polygamy.<br /> <br /> If you believe it is not a viable option for Western men and women, I have to agree because the culture is not designed to support that type of marital relationship. Western cultures are selfish, self-centered, narcissistic and pathological. They have abandoned the extended family for the nuclear one and have isolated themselves through individualism and personal ownership, thus creating a cesspool of fear, insecurity, paranoia, co-dependency and toxic relationships which according to the latest statistics, leads to 50% of marriages end in divorce.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">There are a vast array of issues, concepts, nuances of indigenous cultures that you have blatantly ignored, therefore your conclusions, based on YOUR FACTS, can only be skewed and distorted. Western cultures create laws and regulations to manage their societies thus forcing people into unnatural relationship roles that sour, end, and foster mental health issues for all involved.</div><br /><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;">You do have the right to your opinion, but I think that if you are going to take on a subject such as polygamy, you either need to do better research or refrain from stating that cultures who practice it are backwards because that is patently incorrect, Sir.<br /> <br /> <b><i>ADDENDUM</i></b>: The most ironic thing of all is that those countries that prohibit multiple spouses will punish the participants with jail time, a fine or both. That is to say, that it is criminal to have more than one spouse in some countries. How is that even a criminal offense? Who are you hurting when all parties agree? Civilization at its finest.</div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HMTU0oqrA/UbtAM0J-QqI/AAAAAAACUUU/gc-FKmje78A/s1600/WB01843_.GIF" style="margin-left:1em;margin-right:1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HMTU0oqrA/UbtAM0J-QqI/AAAAAAACUUU/gc-FKmje78A/s1600/WB01843_.GIF" alt="WB01843_.GIF" /></a></div></div><br /><div style="color:#666666;font-family:tahoma;font-size:8pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="color:#494949;font-family:lato;font-size:26.25pt;margin:0in;"></div><div style="color:#494949;font-family:lato;font-size:26.25pt;margin:0in;"><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong><span class="font-size-5">Polygamy In Africa</span></strong></span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;margin:0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear:both;text-align:center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bn9-J-y2eAM/VqbyibmvZ7I/AAAAAAACV8I/enRwTPMpVfQ/s1600/Polygyny%2Bin%2BAfrica.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bn9-J-y2eAM/VqbyibmvZ7I/AAAAAAACV8I/enRwTPMpVfQ/s320/Polygyny%2Bin%2BAfrica.jpg?width=320" width="320" class="align-left" alt="Polygyny%2Bin%2BAfrica.jpg?width=320" /></a></div><div style="text-align:center;"></div></div><div style="margin:0in;"><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="https://www.polygamy.com/articles/89746509/polygamy-in-africa">https://www.polygamy.com/articles/89746509/polygamy-in-africa</a></span></div><div style="font-family:cambria;font-size:14pt;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;">Polygyny and polyandry around the world<span style="color:#555555;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Legal_status_of_polygamy&action=edit&section=4">edit</a><span style="color:#555555;">]</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><span style="color:#252525;">In most of the following examples, </span><span style="color:#252525;font-style:italic;">polygamy</span><span style="color:#252525;"> only refers to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygyny"><span style="font-style:italic;">polygyny</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">. Except when </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyandry"><span style="font-style:italic;">polyandry</span></a><span style="color:#252525;"> is explicitly stated, either all kinds of polygamy are forbidden, or the only allowed form of polygamy is polygyny.</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Africa</span><span style="color:#555555;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Legal_status_of_polygamy&action=edit&section=5">edit</a><span style="color:#555555;">]</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_France"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mayotte</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">: Considered to be de facto illegal since a referendum sponsored by France in March 2009, forcing the island to comply with the French laws.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#cite_note-22">[19]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#cite_note-23">[20]</a><span style="color:#252525;">However, pre-existing Muslim marriages are currently still valid.</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Benin"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Benin</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">: Benin recognized polygamous marriages until 2004 when they were constitutionally outlawed. However, pre-existing marriages are currently still valid in Benin.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#cite_note-24">[21]</a></span></div><div style="color:#252525;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Burkina Faso</span>: Both Muslims and non-Muslims can join in polygamous unions under Burkina Faso law.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><span style="color:#252525;font-weight:bold;">Côte d'Ivoire</span><span style="color:#252525;">: Akin to the situation in Benin, polygamy and such marriages were outlawed, though previous marriages are still recognized.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#cite_note-25">[22]</a></span></div><div style="color:#252525;font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Gabon</span>: Both men and women can join in polygamous unions with the other gender under Gabonese law, although in practice only men do.</span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Ghana"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghana</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">: Illegal under civil law, but recognized under customary law and Sharia law.</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Nigeria"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Nigeria</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">: Recognized in all northern sharia states, federal law recognizes polygamous unions under customary law.</span></span></div><div style="margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_South_Africa" style="font-family:Cambria;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">South Africa</span></a><span style="color:#252525;font-family:cambria;">: Legal under </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customary_law_in_South_Africa" style="font-family:Cambria;">customary law</a><span style="color:#252525;font-family:cambria;">, and recognized for civil purposes in terms of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_Customary_Marriages_Act" style="font-family:Cambria;">Recognition of Customary Marriages Act</a><span style="color:#252525;font-family:cambria;">.</span></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"><span style="background-color:#eeeeee;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Kenya"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Kenya</span></a><span style="color:#252525;">: Polygyny legal under legislation passed in 2014.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy#cite_note-KENYA-26">[23]</a></span></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;"></div><div style="font-family:Cambria;margin:0in;">Read More: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy</a></div></div></div></div>Are Dictators The Only Alternative To Islamic Fundamentalists?https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/are-dictators-the-only-alternative-to-islamic-fundamentalists2015-12-03T17:48:48.000Z2015-12-03T17:48:48.000ZTheBlackList-Publisherhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher<div><div id="article-content"><p><a href="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/John-Powell_854023.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://ezinearticles.com/members/mem_pics/John-Powell_854023.jpg?width=350" width="350" class="align-full" alt="John-Powell_854023.jpg?width=350" /></a><em>By <a href="http://ezinearticles.com/expert/John_Powell/921287" title="EzineArticles Expert Author John Powell">John Powell</a><span class="author-divider"> | </span></em>It is becoming increasingly clear that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, has a more realistic approach to the crisis in Syria than the Western leaders. With the power of hindsight, it can now be seen that if President Assad had been supported, instead of the opposition, there would have been no Islamic State in Syria and probably not in Iraq either. It is now up to the West to accept the leadership of Russia and try to avoid Syria going the way of Iraq and Libya, where the removal of the strong men caused the countries to descend into chaos.</p>
<p>The stated aim of Western leaders is to give the Moslem populations of Middle Eastern and North African countries an opportunity to embrace democracy. However, given an opportunity to vote, Moslems have tended to elect an Islamic party to power which then establishes a permanent theocracy with Sharia law and effectively one party rule. Historically, the only alternative has been a take-over by a strong personality, usually from the military, who also imposes one party rule by dictatorial means. Both systems involve ideas and methods that are undemocratic and barbarous, with imprisonment of political opponents, torture and capital punishment.</p>
<p>The fundamental aim of democracy is to give people a choice of government. In a Western democracy, the choice is maintained by allowing general elections to be held at intervals of a few years. This system, with universal suffrage, is still relatively young in historical terms, even in Europe and North America. Before democracy, the leadership of nations was settled by civil war, with the strongest warlord surviving as ruler until a more powerful rival emerged. This is still the system operating in most Moslem countries. Even in a nominal democracy such as Pakistan, the leader is regularly changed by assassination or military coup.</p>
<p>When a dictator is removed, as in Iraq or Libya, or even Egypt, and an election is held, the electorate divides along religious lines and the strongest Moslem sect seeks to impose its form of Islamic state. Apart from domestic abuses, problems arise when the regime seeks to export its ideology, destabilising the region and threatening to disrupt international energy supplies. From a Western viewpoint, a strong dictator is preferable to an Islamic state, although both offend susceptibilities with regard to respect for human rights and the rule of law.</p>
<p>As stated in the Constitution of the USA, Western democracy separates governance from religion, seeing the latter as a matter of individual conscience and thereby allowing a diversity of religious belief within the nation. In Islam, governance is determined by religion and therefore inseparable. So until a majority of Muslims can advance in political maturity, seeking to impose democracy seems doomed to fail. In the meantime, the West can follow Mr Putin in restoring stability to the region by backing the strongmen who have chosen themselves to rule.</p>
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<div id="article-resource"><p><strong><em>My novels set in Ghana: The Colonial Gentleman's Son and Return to the Garden City, as well as my children's book: Saint George: Rusty Knight and Monster Tamer, together with many pictures of Ghana are featured on the website <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ghanabooksjwp.com/">http://www.ghanabooksjwp.com</a> and the books are available on amazon at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Garden-City-John-Powell/dp/184624949X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442856892&sr=8-1&keywords=Return+to+the+Garden+City">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Garden-City-John-Powell/dp/184624949X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442856892&sr=8-1&keywords=Return+to+the+Garden+City</a> and other booksellers.</em></strong></p>
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<p><strong><em>Article Source: <a href="http://ezinearticles.com/expert/John_Powell/921287">http://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_Powell/921287</a></em></strong></p>
<p><span><br /><br />Article Source: <a href="http://EzineArticles.com/9239156">http://EzineArticles.com/9239156</a></span></p>
<p></p></div>fwd: THE BILDERBERGERS Paper Money & Paper Tigershttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/2055350-BlogPost-62232008-06-18T17:30:00.000Z2008-06-18T17:30:00.000ZBLACKWATCH - Dr. Brother Raheru Ptah Sun of Asaruhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/BLACKWATCHDrBrotherRaheruPtahSunofAsaru<div>In 1991, the Soviet Union and communism collapsed and now with the severe contraction in credit markets, capitalism is in similarly deep trouble; and. Fuller's 1981 prediction about the demise of the world's power structures certainly cannot be good news for those who attended the 56 th Bilderberg meeting held June 5-8 in Chantilly , VA.The Bilderberger are believed by many to be the world's ruling elite, those who determine the world's direction—at least the western world's, as attendees are overwhelmingly from Europe and the US ( Europe 2:1 US ).In truth, however, the majority of attendees at the Bilderberger meetings are not the ruling elites but their minions—the well paid servants of money and power who toil 24/7 on their behalf, the bankers and corporate CEOs who shepherd the collective wealth of their masters, thereby gaining position and power for themselves in the process.This fact, however, should not take away from their considerable influence in today's world. That world, however, is today in a highly precarious state; for, if Fuller's prediction is true, the Bilderberger's world is now about to collapse.<b>MARSHALL THURBER'S CHECKERBOARD GAME</b>Marshall Thurber who was a close friend of Buckminster Fuller recently unveiled his new Checkerboard Game at the Positive Deviant Network (the PDN <a href="http://www.posdev.net/">www.posdev.net</a> ). A gamesmeister whose Blocks Game (which literally “melts” the right/left brain into a unified state) is the foundation of his long-running Money & You seminar (now taught internationally including China), Thurber's new Checkerboard Game reveals the dynamics behind the formation of financial and power elites.The setting itself was rather extraordinary. The Positive Deviant Network was in Dunkirk NY to view one of four prisons where PDN member Dr. Cherie Clark (who received her PhD based on her study of Buckminster Fuller's principles of Synergistics ) co-heads Shock Incarceration <a href="http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/shockny.pdf">http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/shockny.pdf</a> , a course based on Buckminster Fuller's principles, the 12 step addiction program and superlearning techniques (80% of Shock Incarceration graduates starting with an average of 5 th grade education receive their GEDs (high-school equivalency) in 6 months with 12 hours of classroom time per week).Where the average prison program lasts only 2-3 years, Shock Incarceration is now in its 21 st year after having successfully graduated 37,000 inmates, significantly lowered New York State 's recidivism rates, saved the state of New York over $1 billion dollars and transformed countless lives in the process (Dr. Clark is also the president of Doing Life International, <a href="http://www.doinglife.com/company.html">http://www.doinglife.com/company.html</a> ).The connection between The Checkerboard Game and Shock Incarceration was obvious. The creation of financial elites such as the Bilderbergers creates a world where elites continue to coalesce financial and political power at the expense of others. The rich get richer and the poor now go to prison. The Checkerboard Game and Shock Incarceration reflect that simple but increasingly ubiquitous truth.If you have the chance to play The Checkerboard Game you should do so. And if you're ever incarcerated by the state of New York and have a chance to take Shock Incarceration (the US is now the world's #1 jailor so your odds are increasing) the same advice holds. Buckminster Fuller's influence in both is obvious.<b>THE BILDERBERGERS & THE PAPER BOYS</b>A fortune composed of paper is like a house built on sandAt the very same time the Positive Deviant Network was meeting in northern New York in early June, the Bilderbergers were meeting in northern Virginia; and, while the PDN was looking at ways to alleviate the problems of the powerless, the Bilderbergers were looking at ways to extend the power of the already powerful.In attendance at the Bilderberg meeting were Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, Henry Paulson, the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geither, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, and Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank.It is no coincidence that so many high ranking “public servants” were openly attending a private meeting of the western world's financial elites. Public servants in name only, public bankers are the handmaidens of the private elites, and in so doing serve their own interests as well.It is also no coincidence that bankers play such a prominent role in the affairs of the Bilderbergers, the western power elite. Prior to the introduction of the bankers' debt-based money in England in 1694, the east and the west were “separate but equal”. The bankers, however, were to significantly change that dynamic.After central banking was introduced by the Bank of England, the relationship between the east and west shifted dramatically. England in its Faustian pact with the bankers was able to fund its navy and military with debt-based money and in a version of national gang violence, sic imperialism, imposed its will on much of the world.The 18th , 19th , and 20th centuries reflected this great shift in power. The 21 st century, however, will not. By the end of the 19 th century, England 's time as the preeminent world power had run its course.In 1870, England 's balance of trade went negative and its Treasury had increasing difficulty in paying the enormous bills of the British Navy and the bankers took careful note of this turn of events.So, in 1913, the European bankers extended their operations to the US via the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the US version of the Bank of England's central bank. The Federal Reserve System, a consortium of private European and American banks, would issue the same debt-based money in America as had the Bank of England in Britain and the bankers would continue their power and influence in America as they had in England and Europe.Now, however, in the 21 st century, America 's run at the table of fortune is coming to an end as did England 's one century before. In 1970, America 's balance of trade went negative (as did England 's in the 1870s) and again like England , its military budget would consume more and more of its national wealth.In 2008, the world of the Bilderbergers is now suddenly and unexpectedly threatened. The western power base built on the foundation of central banking has encountered an unexpected problem. <b><i>The <u>debt-based</u> western world of the Bildebergers has now collided head-on with the savings-based world of the east (or as I would call it, Africa, Asia, and other non-White/Western people: the 91% of the rest of the planet.)</i></b><h2>CAPITALISM IS NOT COMMERCE</h2><b>THE COIN OF THE REALM BECOMES THE CON OF THE REALM</b>Capitalism is the description of the wholesale introduction of credit into the world of commerce. Prior to the introduction of the Bank of England's debt-based money, the words “banker” and “capitalism” did not even exist. The previous description of banking was “money-lending”, an avocation made possible by the charging of interest on the lending of gold.The utterly brilliant ascent of the money-lenders was made possible by their pact with government, first with King William of England, wherein private bankers would be allowed to issue public currency on which they could charge interest just as they had previously with gold—and government could then spend whatever it wished of the public's money, usually on war.The advantages are obvious, at least to the bankers and governments. Over time, however, the credit based “money” turns into debt on which compounding interest is levied. In this system, time is the enemy as time compounds debts as well as the amount of paper money causing a continual debasing of previously issued currency.<b>THE MORE PAPER MONEY PRINTED THE LESS ITS VALUE</b>The ultimate seduction of credit lies in its ability to deceive the debtor into believing that it is real money he or she has. It is not. Credit and debt are two sides of the same coin, albeit a coin of highly dubious origin.The two-sided coin of credit and debt was substituted for gold and silver in an arrangement that served bankers and government, not producers and savers; and, much to the chagrin of the Bilderbergers and their bankers, the rest of the world, sic producers and savers, are now beginning to catch on to this increasingly obvious truth.The recent rapid rise in the price of oil is a reflection of the intention of oil producers to no longer automatically trade their limited supply of oil for an unlimited and continually devaluing supply of paper money.</div>