The Psychology of a culture is revealed and perpetuated in how they relate to and treat their children and in how they relate to and treat the most vulnerable people within their society. Heal that and we can heal everything.
I make a distinction between the Institution and the person.
The babies born into the institution are always exploited to maintain the institution. The Institution of Monarchy is inherently adverse and corrupt - a hierarchy of power and wealth is an unhealthy cult, wherever it has emerged, it has caused more harm than any of the goods claimed can ever redress.
I wrote this poem to articulate my understanding of this.
_ Royal Babies _
Being born
Into a Family
that dictates
the parameters
of your entire life
in order to
meet the needs of
a thousand year old
Hierarchy of Power,
Wealth and Violence.
That
Is not an easy place to end up.
The person is not the Institution.
The Institution exploits the person.
Abolish the Institution,
free the family,
free their children,
free the people
and
let us
keep it humane
and
just.
Remember this :
when we dehumanise the person,
we maintain the divide.
~
_
Elevating or degrading a person for institutional purposes is the same thing - it is dehumanisation. Given the vast harms of violent hierarchies the reality is those harms are not in any way redressed by any of the claims of good done - they only way to solve those harms is to admit them fully, admit the need for accountability and reparations and admit the inherent corruption of Hierarchy of Wealth and Power, dismantle them and build egalitarian, democratic, deliberative, responsive governance structures that meet the needs of the people.
Kindest regards
Corneilius
Thank you for reading this blog.
"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."
This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.
Critique of a States violence is not a critique of religion, or ethnicity of its constituents, and should never be conflated with either. It is critique of State Violence.
Critique of violence is not a critique of religion, or ethnicity. It is critique of Violence.
We live within a hierarchy culture of wealth and power.
The Hierarchy culture is a dominator culture that deploys layers of violence protect Wealth and Power.
This is the most honest appraisal of our culture, and it's abhorrent militarism.
Here is a song I wrote, Expectations of Every Child, about the needs of all our children, needs which all too often go unmet within Dominator Cultures.
1. "The psychology of a given culture is both revealed and perpetuated in how they relate to and treat the children. Change that and we can change everything."
The choice is ours, collectively, to make.
Jeremy Corbyn speaks quite sensibly, to the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and beyond.
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In England, Suella Braverman is demoted, for her public description of homelessness as a 'lifestyle choice' and her public labelling of Ceasefire Marches as 'Hate Marches'. She was removed only because she was embarrassing the Westminster Government, who mostly share her views. She was fired to protect that Government, not to indicate any alteration in Government policy.
2. "The pathology of a given culture is both revealed and perpetuated in how they relate to and treat the children and the most vulnerable among them. Heal that and we can heal everything."
Angela Rayner, a mother herself, refuses to call, publicly, for a ceasefire, which she must know is essential to protect the lives of so many children, mothers and fathers and grand parents living in Gaza. She stands with Starmer. This does not hold her in the best light. She may well change her mind soon...
The Irish Government, a coalition of old civil war party oligarchs, Fianna Fail and Fianna Gael, with the Green Party responded to 'opposition' parties and independents call for a ceasefire in Gaza, which the Dail, the Irish Legislative Assembly, approved.
In recent days they have rejected a motion in the Dail to expel the Israeli Ambassador, who openly and publicly, whilst remaining in Ireland, supports and praises the commission of horrific War Crimes.
The Irish Government stance is to that to expel the Israeli Ambassador is to put Irish Citizens in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank at risk and to close the door to potential influence as a Government that has helped to bring about an end to militarised violence through negotiations.
There is some merit to their argument. Thatchers Government did have back channel discussions on ending the violence, even as they publicly claimed they did not negotiate with terrorists. Those back channels were part of the process of bringing peace, though the bulk of the work was done by women's movements in Northern Ireland.
However we now understand that there was collusion between British Security Forces and Unionist Paramilitaries which led to so much avoidable harm, which exacerbated the violence rather than quell it and that the British Government were well aware of this. Public face and private face.
That stance - of keeping the diplomatic doors open - was also the Irish Governments stance with regards the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, the War against Libya, the civil war in Donbas, and The Russian invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately the Irish Government also supported the movement of weapons and combat troops into those war zones, effectively contributing to the prolonging of each war. Thus the merit of the argument against expelling the Israeli ambassador fails on account that it does not reduce the avoidable harm to the people who are being harmed. There is also the potential of using the UN as the go between - where rather than a case by case basis, the matter is dealt with on a collective front.
The culture of Power, the political and social Hierarchy of Wealth, has always and is still layered with violences, to maintain its dominance. We see this undermining the potential of the UN when Security Council Members veto decisions and proposals made by the collective.
We, as the Decent People, must take up the political task of ending all of those violences from within our own polities. It is a political task, and it requires that we organise accordingly, en masse, to elect legislators who will pass laws to end all those violence, develop policies to effect that and pursue them to their final goal.
Intersectionality is the term used to describe how all these violences are part of a whole, and cannot be set as isolated and separate cases, if we are, as we must, to confront and end those layers of violence.
In Ireland, another aspect of that dominator culture was exposed over the past 30 years, through 6 public inquiries into the mistreatment of children and vulnerable adults within residential care systems. The Churches made a ton of money during that period, the state absolved itself of its constitutional responsibilities, and both State and Church covered up the crimes, repeatedly, which led directly to more and more horrific abuse. Seven decades of horrific abuse.
There is a collective change of consciousness and awareness occurring in Irish Society.
The historical crimes of Church and State are being looked at, but even still Church and State are evasive, and are delaying a full and honest accountability and reparations process that would finally resolve the matter.
The Dominator culture does not come from the womb. The Dominator culture does not respect the womb.
"All is born of Woman, no harm shall come to the children"
In short, Hierarchies of violence are evidence of dysfunction in human relationships, they are not innate nor are they part of the normal range of healthy behaviours which biological health mandates.
The work to confront this is a collective work, even as part of it starts with personal change in almost every case. When the healed work together, then change is more likely.
Follow the links on this page to learn more about this. It really does matter in terms of developing grounded political and social movements to confront the many abuses of Power inherent to the prevailing political and economic systems, which is the first step towards building an egalitarian culture, our true natural healthy birthright.
Here's my performance of the song, Universal Soldier, written by Donovan, during the Vietnam War, taken from one of my recent live stream shows on Facebook.
Kindest regards
Corneilius
Thank you for reading this blog.
I sincerely hope it has added something of value to your reflections.
"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."
This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.
Landing a lander on Mars whilst bombing Yemeni villagers is not progress, just as landing a man on the Moon whilst bombing Vietnamese villagers was not 'progress'' - there is an argument that it represents a technical progress, but that is all it represents, at best, and to hold it up as human progress or cultural progress is nonsense, irrational and an avoidance of the realities we all must face.
Man on the Moon 1969
Vietnam 1969
Yemen 2020
Mars Lander 2021
A poem, by Gil Scot Heron, might find resonance today in Yemen or Libya or Syria, and indeed within the United States even still, where Racist violence by Police is as common as pie.
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I was already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wasn't enough
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)
Whitey's on the Moon by Gill Scott Heron 1970
I was 14 years old, 1973, when I realised the tech spin-offs of war were not worth the harms that war causes. To claim the benefits is to ignore the meaning of the harms.
Infamously Madelaine Albright dismissed the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children over the course on a decade of warfare against Iraqi Ruler, Saddam Hussein, who was elevated to power by American influence on Iraqi politics "We think, we think It was worth it!" was her thoughtless commentary, when questioned about those deaths, the cost to Iraqi civil society and it was indicative of the cult she was a member of.
Madelaine Albright - "I think this is a very hard choice" - a choice made for the Iraqi children and their parents, not by them.
The culture of Violent Hierarchy, the culture of competing industrialised militarised powers as the dominant culture among modern human societies, is a cult. Generalised acceptance of any cult is typically based on false beliefs, misinformation, gaslighting and disinformation. I know this from personal experience, having been hooked into a number of cults in my life time.
Cultish Beliefs.
The Malthusiams of Boris Johnson are likewise cultish beliefs which are directing the disastrous management of the Corona Virus epidemic sweeping across Britain in successive waves - he obviously believes the costs of the 130,000 (and rising) fatalities, the 250,000 long covid cases, the disproportionate burden borne by disabled people are a price worth paying 'to protect the Economy' (which it clearly is not doing).
Those who in the UK compare the costs of the 'successful' Mars lander operation against the budget of the deliberately 'failed' UK Test and Contact Trace mission are missing the point.
Comparing one success of the abuse system against another failure of the abuse system, without calling to mind that it is an abuse system, without acknowledging in full the harms caused by the abuse system and without putting the harms front and foremost for attention, accountability and prevention is irrational, it is a non sense.
Crowing over the success of one element of the abuse system to highlight the failure of the other is illogical, dismissive and deeply, profoundly disrespectful and callous..
The same 'family' system that landed the lander on Mars is waging illegal, amoral wars that are killing families, destroying communities, crushing entire civilian infrastructures of whole countries.
The same 'family' system that landed the lander on mars and photographed the landing from above the lander, in live real time, from the drop modules angle, an 'amazing feat' which 'has never been seen/done before' is engaged in wars that cause wholesale slaughter, and is deliberately mismanaging epidemics that are killing hundreds of thousands of people.
The UN called for a total ceasefire of wars in April 2020. Their call for common sense was ignored by the primary war mongers.
"Freedom!" people cry. "We have such great Freedoms!"
Others claim: "Our Freedoms are being imperilled! Don't wear a Muzzle!"
Both of these are lies. Cultish lies.
In the UK and USA there is no public domain discussion of zero community transmission strategy. We know that News Media in co-ordination with the political hegemony of the ruling faction are censoring any discussion of zero-covid strategies. There is no freedom. The temporary need to stay indoors is not a loss of freedom, as some idiots claim. It is common sense. Stopping the spread is spreading the love.
There are lobbyists who are deploying the harms caused by bad management to argue for opening up, which is worse management, rather than argue for better management as in a zero community transmission strategy. They too talk non sense, they adopt an irrational and holly unjustifiable position.
Vulnerable Peoples Lives Matter.
Vulnerable people such as the disabled, people with 'learning disabilities', people with chronic disease are subject to 'rationing' of healthcare resources and doctors are ordered by Government to adopt 'do not resuscitate' orders as a rationing policy for these vulnerable people, who cannot dissent let alone consent to such a decision, simply because the Government of the day refuses to adopt a zero community transmission strategy.
Between 24 January and 20 November 2020 in England, the risk of death involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) was 3.1 times greater for more-disabled men and 1.9 times greater for less-disabled men, compared with non-disabled men; among women, the risk of death was 3.5 times greater for more-disabled women and 2.0 times greater for less-disabled women, compared with non-disabled women.
We do not, as ordinary people in England, have the freedom to prevent the State, the Government and the News Media from ignoring the science. We do not have the freedom to prevent the State, The Government and the News Media from deliberately ignoring the proven established public health mandates for handling an epidemic, just as we have no freedom to prevent the State from engaging in war and pursuing deliberate harm causation policy.
Boris Johnson lied in Parliament about the efficacy of zero community transmission, which we know is protecting the lives and economies of 1.8 billion people across East Asia and Oceania. It's not rocket science, it is best public health epidemiological science. He claims his policy is led by data, not dates and yet he coerces 10 million school children to attend unsafe schools on an arbitrary date even as community transmission is well above levels recorded prior to the first lock down two weeks short of one year previous.
Johnson lies in Parliament.
Tony Blair is still a free man.
Tony Blair also lied in Parliament.
When Prime Ministers lie in Parliament why must millions of innocent people pay the price?.
Progress? What Progress?
Landing a lander on Mars whilst killing hundreds of thousands of citizens with bad management of an epidemic is not progress. Removing Saddam Hussein at the cost of 600,000 Iraqi lives was not bringing democracy to Iraq, it does not represent progress.
We need to have one - progress - without the other - avoidable harms to vulnerable citizens -to be able to say that we are a safe and functional Democracy. That would indeed represent human progress.
We need to be able to land a lander on Mars and not be waging war, not be deliberately mismanaging an epidemic to be a safe and healthy Democracy.
This system is a cult. It is not a culture, it is barely a society, it is a nasty, violent hierarchical cult. we the ordinary citizens are caught in it's grip, stuck between a wall and a hard place, doomed by the cult's desire to retain, maintain, enhance and project it's power above all other considerations. I do not blame ordinary people - we are all victimised and dehumanised by this situation.
When a person has internalised the cult, that person cannot see it for what it is.
When a person has de-colonised from the cult, that person can see it for what it is.
