Great piece Kevin. I'm from Australia but have been barred from returning for a year because of the paranoid psychopaths in govt. I sure hope this tyranny gets a whipping soon.
Oh great, thanks for the heads up Kevin. Will definitely be watching. Love your work, props. I have been working on the Free Assange campaign so been putting the time to good use.
Delightful piece on a devastating subject. Thank you!
(There are many visionary thinkers generating a more "universal" conceptual framework for an up-to-date, holistic, *realistic* paradigm for conscientious eco-social cultural guidance. However, (obviously) working out the "languaging" for "unity consciousness " is as challenging as peacemaking. Those good ol' apex predators write most of the script.
Kevin, I agree that neoconservatives and soulless psychopathic predators are responsible for destroying our society. I'm just not sure if they are secular-materialists. Who are those who inhabit the apex of our civilization? Bankers, billionaires, and CEOs? Aren't a lot of them Judeo-Christian? Appreciate your comments. Thanks.
Yes, general decline in religion. But, Neo-cons and bankers "non-religious"? I don't buy it. They have loyalty to a certain state. Some are evangelicals, and some may be secular Jews. Many are orthodox and even rabbis (Dov Zakheim for example). Smearing "secular materialists" is misdirected. Sounds like secular humanists who are most of the best people I know. I agree on "soulless psychopathic predators", but they are just as likely to be religious as secular, if not more so. I agree with you 99% of the time, but disagree on this one. cheers.
Neocons are followers of Leo Strauss. The central tenet of Strauss's philosophy is that there is no God, so therefore there is no moral good, only selfish power and pleasure; the happy man is the one who looks like a morally "good man" on the outside, but is utterly selfish on the inside. But this hard truth, he says, cannot be shared with the masses, who must have their myths and religious opium. So the neocon elite can enjoy being Nietzschean supermen by writing the (religious and nationalistic) myths for the masses and projecting those myths on the walls of Plato's cave.
I believe Strauss and Dostoevsky are right: if there is no God, then all (selfish, psychopathic behavior) is permitted.
Woe be to me to debate someone so knowledgable about Neocons! Good point! But I also read Laurent Guyenot's "From Yahweh to Zion", and his claim is somewhat different, that regardless of what the masses believe, it is the jewish theology (and god) that drives them. Also, if you know about Frans de Waal (https://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_moral_behavior_in_animals) he proves that ethics and morality are present in animals and precedes religion. Are they religious or not? I guess it depends if you believe Strauss or Guyenot. Personally, having been indoctrinated into "pre-traumatic stress disorder" in Jewish religious school until age 11, then quitting in terror and never going back, these people sure seemed religious to me and talked about god all the time, as well as how we should all meet in Jerusalem "next year". At least we agree it is the neo-cons. I am fine with that.
What a marvelous headline and an article! However, just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean I'm soulless. And I do like material things. Like being able to go out and get a meal, which is now no longer possible in West Hollywood.
Great piece Kevin. I'm from Australia but have been barred from returning for a year because of the paranoid psychopaths in govt. I sure hope this tyranny gets a whipping soon.
Hope your year of exile goes well, Alison. You might be interested in tomorrow's live interview with Australians Peter Myers and Gideon Polya.
Oh great, thanks for the heads up Kevin. Will definitely be watching. Love your work, props. I have been working on the Free Assange campaign so been putting the time to good use.
Delightful piece on a devastating subject. Thank you!
(There are many visionary thinkers generating a more "universal" conceptual framework for an up-to-date, holistic, *realistic* paradigm for conscientious eco-social cultural guidance. However, (obviously) working out the "languaging" for "unity consciousness " is as challenging as peacemaking. Those good ol' apex predators write most of the script.
Great writing Kevin. Thanks.
Kevin, I agree that neoconservatives and soulless psychopathic predators are responsible for destroying our society. I'm just not sure if they are secular-materialists. Who are those who inhabit the apex of our civilization? Bankers, billionaires, and CEOs? Aren't a lot of them Judeo-Christian? Appreciate your comments. Thanks.
The Western elite has been vast-majority-nonreligious since at least the mid-to-late 19th century. https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Funeral-Decline-Western-Civilization/dp/0393047458 But of course there are exceptions that prove the rule.
Yes, general decline in religion. But, Neo-cons and bankers "non-religious"? I don't buy it. They have loyalty to a certain state. Some are evangelicals, and some may be secular Jews. Many are orthodox and even rabbis (Dov Zakheim for example). Smearing "secular materialists" is misdirected. Sounds like secular humanists who are most of the best people I know. I agree on "soulless psychopathic predators", but they are just as likely to be religious as secular, if not more so. I agree with you 99% of the time, but disagree on this one. cheers.
Who destroyed the world for the last 20 yrs? Secular materialists? No, neo-con zionists.
Neocons are followers of Leo Strauss. The central tenet of Strauss's philosophy is that there is no God, so therefore there is no moral good, only selfish power and pleasure; the happy man is the one who looks like a morally "good man" on the outside, but is utterly selfish on the inside. But this hard truth, he says, cannot be shared with the masses, who must have their myths and religious opium. So the neocon elite can enjoy being Nietzschean supermen by writing the (religious and nationalistic) myths for the masses and projecting those myths on the walls of Plato's cave.
I believe Strauss and Dostoevsky are right: if there is no God, then all (selfish, psychopathic behavior) is permitted.
Woe be to me to debate someone so knowledgable about Neocons! Good point! But I also read Laurent Guyenot's "From Yahweh to Zion", and his claim is somewhat different, that regardless of what the masses believe, it is the jewish theology (and god) that drives them. Also, if you know about Frans de Waal (https://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_moral_behavior_in_animals) he proves that ethics and morality are present in animals and precedes religion. Are they religious or not? I guess it depends if you believe Strauss or Guyenot. Personally, having been indoctrinated into "pre-traumatic stress disorder" in Jewish religious school until age 11, then quitting in terror and never going back, these people sure seemed religious to me and talked about god all the time, as well as how we should all meet in Jerusalem "next year". At least we agree it is the neo-cons. I am fine with that.
OK, you win, I admit there is "bad religion" out there. (And good people who aren't traditionally religious.)
Good article. Regretably many people do believe mainstream media.
Finally!!! Thank you, Kevin.
What a marvelous headline and an article! However, just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean I'm soulless. And I do like material things. Like being able to go out and get a meal, which is now no longer possible in West Hollywood.
Thanks, John! No major problems with soulful atheists like you, it's the soulless ones I worry about ; - )