my journal: various subjects, opinionating, CW at times

O tēpo consumatore delle • cose, e o invidiosa • antichit , per la quale tutte le cose sono consumate!

- Leonardo da Vinci

Translated: "O time! consumer of all things, and O envious age! by which all things are devoured."

Snapshot of my thoughts from this past June, before I deactivated my Instaspam acct. Dunno when I'll get it going again...

More & more lately, I'm convinced that all the things that people say make life worth living are just exercises in TMT.*

*stands for Terror Management Theory

For a few years now, I have argued that the United States is an empire in decline. To my way of thinking, we reached our peak sometime in the early 1990's after the fall of socialism with the USSR coming apart. At that point certain trends of decadence were at work within American society & more specifically within academia & business but overall, we had no real competitors then. We had the most capable military, our economy was strong, the Internet revolution was just getting started & China was emerging from its dictatorship under the late Deng Xiaoping into the current "state capitalist" (read as neo-mercantilist) nation it is today. We had no peer competitor of any kind.

That was 1991-93 or so. ⏩ to now &, well...isn't it amazing how much can change in 30-some-odd years?

I could go into evidence for my stance but that would take way more time & lines of text than any of you are going to read here. All I'm gonna post is the latest economic evidence of it. With our weaponizing the dollar to punish nation-states we don't approve of & most of the West going along with it, certain other countries have taken note of it & are looking to free themselves from dependence on the dollar as a reserve currency. The CCP regime--always on game--is taking full advantage & welcoming them with open arms. To wit:

de-dollarization

I just have one question: have any of the governments of these countries looking to free themselves from western/US hegemony thought about how they will deal with Chinese hegemony? Because China has been looking to be king of the hill for a while now...once we're knocked down a few pegs--& it will happen at some point. No empire lasts forever--the great dragon of the East is the most likely replacement. And her rule, I suspect, would (will?) be quite different from ours.

"The first panacea for a misguided nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists."

- Ernest Hemingway

So the volunteer overseers of 7Cups-Land started the Religion & Spirituality Forum.

I predict that forum will be very interesting indeed... 😒

No doubt they meant well, but if that "community" is going to survive then it will have to be the most heavily moderated forum here. Otherwise it will have as much lifespan as a cockroach when a pest control technician arrives with a mask on & a sprayer. Surely I don't have to explain why, gentle reader....but just in case, here it is:

When you're just starting out on your journey through this world one of the rules of thumb you learn, or should learn, is "when at work, do not discuss politics & religion." There are sound reasons for that. People root their dearest convictions in both realms; in the 21st century C.E. that may be more true of politics than in any earlier era for ordinary people, thanks to the age-old human instincts of tribalism, groupthink, & reasoning errors + modern communications technology. This is why every comment thread below a political post on any social media platform or political YouRube video is an inevitable s**tshow. What else could it be, when you bring together online tribes divided by intractable ideological &/or religious differences? More optimistic folks may not like it but the fact is, not every difference of opinion can be resolved by discussion. Examples of that are legion: abortion, immigration/border policy, gun control, crime & countermeasures to it, anthropomorphic climate change*, government regulation of business, etc., etc.

7Cups may not be a workplace for us (except for the volunteers) but it is a place full of people with mental & emotional issues, unresolved trauma, etc. That makes for a lot of sensitive individuals, some of whom are triggered by things the rest of us would either take in stride or barely notice.

In that forum, sooner or later some difference of doctrine will pop up & someone will feel (s)he must defend his/her position. Then the mudslinging will start, & the mods will have to step in.

I predict the above will happen more than once. I also predict that at least one of the members will wind up getting banned from that forum, if not from 7Cups entirely.

Also, there are a great many Christians & a few Muslims in the forum. Far as I know, I'm the only Jew here & not even a religiously observant one at that. I was into pro-Israel activism decades ago; in the late 1990's & early 2010's, I got involved in online clashes as much as anybody. I've also read quite a bit about the history of my people, particularly in medieval to early modern Christendom (Europe) & the Islamic empires of the Near East & al-Andalus^. If you know anything about us then you know our dealings with these faith communities up to modern times were usually unpleasant at best & deadly to us at worst. It's still going on to this day; the only difference is these days neo-N@zis & Muslims are our main enemies, not Christians.

The point is, I'm Jewish & in the Religion & Spirituality Forum, I am quite outnumbered. If I join & participate, I know how things will go.

So I gotta stay out.

*It's a clumsy phrase but also more accurate than "global warming". For the record, I consider ACC real & in need of solutions. However I hold that any solutions to the issue must be carefully thought out & not executed too hastily. To do otherwise may well crack modern society apart, & most of my politics are what you might call "orderist".

^transliteration of the Arabic term for Spain during its occupation by the Muslim "Moors" (North Africans) & their emirs, who were mostly Berbers with an Arab here & there.

Given the semi-regular aches & pains in my shoulder & elbow, plus the occasional flareup in my right wrist & the edge of my right hip feeling like it was on fire a couple days ago for the first time, I can't help but put two & two together. I think there's a chance my right side will be useless in 20 years.

If so, then I'd better do plenty with my right arm & leg while they're still functional.

When I went out tonight* to get some milk & a snack, I saw the communal bulletin board inside the convenience store. For the 2nd time, I read the ad for someone's lost German Shepherd dog...

When I was a wee lad, I was quite sensitive. Not the best quality for a boy to have, but that came with the creativity & everything else. I couldn't stand to see an animal in pain. Once got in trouble in grade school for yelling at a teacher who was clearing out a spider web with a broom, because I didn't want to see the spider get hurt. We had several pets as I went through childhood; every time one died, I grieved. I even buried our parakeets & my two hamsters in the back yard. When our dog died I took it hard like any boy would...you get the point.

Becoming an adult & living this life changed me as it changes us all. You learn that sensitivity is a curse in a world as misbegotten as this one, & gradually you toughen up. You'll lose some creativity that way but it's a fair trade, & a necessary one.

But every once in a while, I still feel something.

I don't know where that dog is. As far as successfully getting him back, I know the odds are not with the owner. The beast may not even be in the same town at this point. If that dog isn't already dead by now he most likely will be in one week, max. Domesticated animals don't do well when they run free because they lack the right instincts. There are so many ways for a stray dog to die in an urban landscape; in practically all of them, the creature will suffer terribly before he expires. I'm trying not to think about all the ways he could get killed...quickly or slowly...

Last year I was walking just below the county line when I found a canine corpse. It was mid-sized & had white fur...I couldn't tell the breed. It was one of those companion dogs that usually don't leave the house unless they go to a dog park or whatnot. This one had been hit by a car--no surprise, as it was by a major road--& made it onto the grass, where it laid down by a tree trunk. I took a snapshot with my phone...why I did, I don't know. Maybe I was attempting to rescue the creature from the oblivion of mortal anonymity. No, I will not post the photo here...it might be on my portable hard drive somewhere, who knows...

...thought about that poor thing on more than one night...

I'd like to own a dog. A shelter mutt, not too large & hopefully without any serious behavioral issues. It would be nice to have a furry friend...but I will never adopt one. Have seen too much innocent death in my life already; I don't need to see any more of it. And I do not need the possibility of the creature bolting out the door or off the leash, with the consequent grief & loss & futile search for the whereabouts of a dog that probably wouldn't even last 72 hours on the streets.

*last night, by the time you read this