Obvious Truth

Recent events show that civilization in a free and open society is but a veneer just millimeters thick. — Anon.

Civilization

“There is such a thing as too much civilization.” — Anon.

Do you get the sense that the patina of the world’s civilization is wearing thin? Watching cable TV would certainly lead one to conclude that it is ... given the barrage of insults that one hears there.  Of course the obvious culprit is President Trump who is not shy about expressing his thoughts, however hostile. This encourages his haters to wade even deeper into the wallow ... and so the back and forth.

A validation of this swing toward vulgarity is that Trump’s VP, Mike Pence, possibly one of the most honorable politicians around, hasn’t a snowflake’s chance in South Chicago of taking over from his boss in the 2024 election.

But is Trump’s behavior  a cause or a symptom? I suggest the latter. Civility is disappearing all around the world ... Hong Kong, Paris, Ecuador, Iran, Chile, London, Iraq, Venezuela, the House Intelligence Committee, etc. And Trump is but a bystander to these events.

Perhaps it is because civility must run in cycles? As civilization’s veneer is built up layer after layer with fairy-tale memes, it finally becomes too ridiculous for commoners to tolerate ... and the people revolt ... and this precious pretentiousness is scuttled.

To me, kind reader, it seems that we have hit this silliness ceiling ... which has spawned a huge partisan food-fight ... at the obvious cost of our country’s comity. Things won’t return to sereneness until all the fops are guillotined.

Boundaries

Civilization involves the setting of boundaries. People who refuse to recognize these boundaries are either powerful reformers ... or dangerous sociopaths. — Anon.

Donald Trump is an example of the former; Kim Jong Un, the latter ... and George Soros, a bit of both

Headlines

GOP donors: Trump campaign lacks a strategy to win in 2020

Buffet, after last week’s stock plunge, says Berkshire Hathaway ‘overpaid’ for Kraft

Are we on road to civilization collapse? Scientists fear end to mankind ...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Democrat establishment, ‘We’re in charge’

Ex-Clinton staffers slam Sanders over private jet flights

Former Fed Chairman Paul Volker rips ‘culture of the financial system’ and its focus on profits

After Putin’s warning, Russian TV lists nuclear targets in USA ...

Harris: ‘Of course we can afford’ spending on Green New Deal

Warren shuts down donor dinners, insider access

Oil falls after Trump tells OPEC prices are too high and ‘world cannot take a price hike’

With 5G hype high, consumers risk disappointment ...

Report: Julian Assange receives Australian passport

Words to Live By

There is such a thing as too much civilization ...

There is such a thing as too much diversity ...

There is such a thing as too much sustainability ...

There is such a thing as too much money ...

There is such a thing as too much good food ...

There is such a thing as too much plastic surgery ...

There is such a thing as too much sunshine ...

There is such a thing as too much rap music ...

There is such a thing as too much hooking up ...

There is such a thing as too much inclusion ...

There is such a thing as too much Hillary ...

Civilization

Over the weekend I wrote a pithy comment on the Diplomad blog site which received some favorable comment. Here it is:

As a reaction to the intermural savagery of the twentieth century, it would seem that the EU and many of its holier-than-thou members have inadvertenly composed a new lesson for us all -- there is such a thing as too much civilization.

Then, this morning, I read the follow-on comment which more than supported my observation:

Thank you, DiploMad, excellent piece.We had a terror attack in Stockholm this weekend. Four dead, among them, an 11 year old girl on her way home from school. She was deaf, probably didn´t hear the approaching truck. There you have a victim and a story that, if MSM brought it up, could change politics , at least in our country. But MSM is quiet here , media is just very neutral, "four victims", that´s it. They collude with the progressive politicians. Compare this with the picture of the drowned boy that contributed to the open border policy that now torment us and cause our many problems. Progressive media and politicians with their insane ideas direct this. They have caused the situation in Europe, they, very protected themselves, preach that terror is now "part and parcel" of life, we have to adjust, society must remain open. We the people have another opinion about the solutions, that´s why , hopefully, another brand of politicians will appear soon. 

The patina of civilization in much of Europe is reactionary and delusional. Is there such a thing as too much civilization? I can give you a few symptoms of this societal malady -- a flight from common sense, "safe spaces" at universities, an unwillingness to utter the term "Muslim terrorist", a fanatical obsession with open borders, naming carbon dioxide as an air pollutant, spending national treasure on anything and everything but self-preservation, an unelected governerning body, a media that runs away from objectivity, a society obsessed with "diversity" and "inclusion" ... you can take it from here.

Perhaps the notion that President Trump is crass and uncivilized is not such a bad thing. And I am suspicious of those forces that are trying to "civilize" him.

My Cat

Norah is really my wife's and my cat, but she tends to favor me ... to my wife's eternal chagrin. When we first got this shelter kitten, she would sleep between our pillows in bed. But now that we, because of my recent back surgery, are sleeping in separate beds, the much older Norah bunks in with me. My wife, for a while, tried to alter this arrangement by kidnapping her and closing doors to preserve this nocturnal separation, but has since given up ... and now Norah is with me the whole night. (In case you are wondering, Norah was named for Norah Jones who was singing on the radio when our new kitten was being brought home.)

Anyhow there is a reason for this blog post ... and that is to try to understand the idiosyncrasies of life. One of the reasons Norah favors me is that I scratch under her chin and between her ears where she obviously can't groom herself. So multiple times a night I perform this ritual to a crescendo of her purring. However, occasionally, for reasons I have never been able to decipher, Norah will resist this favor and bite me. Not drawing blood, but a bite nevertheless ... which pisses me off to the point where I won't pet her again for quite a while. I also think that I am using Pavlovian conditioning to stop this annoying trait ... but no ... even after all these years she still occasionally does it.

I also equate this idiosyncrasy to that incident in Las Vegas where, after years of performing on stage, one of the tigers in Siegfred and Roy's act attacked and almost killed Roy.Why did this tiger do this? It is just one of the mysteries of life ... like why did a mother strap her two children inside a car and push it into a South Carolina lake? Perhaps this is all because civilization has not totally tamed the feral past of all animals ... even humans. This is certainly evident in some of the gruesome events seen daily in the Middle East.

So, back to Norah ... will she some night suddenly decide to rip my face off? This possibility keeps me on my toes.