Why do so many resolute “defenders” of democracy and freedom seem convinced that freedom is a one-way street? Three examples from my own small community in recent years: • People should be able to say or display “whatever” in public places without restraint or complaint and if some don’t want to see or hear such […]
Get Thee to a Nunnery! Read More »
In a nearby rural community, there has been a vigourous, ongoing discussion in the local paper about the headlines and pictures that “grace” the “Magazines at the Checkout Counter.” The initial complainant (a young mother with several young children frequently in tow) has been immensely relieved and gratified that the grocery store chose to heed
The contraries of freedom Read More »
Recently, a popular news/entertainment commentator1 sought to disparage/discount a competitor’s criticism of his network by touting its/his ratings and mocking the ratings of his critic’s network—somewhat in déjà vu replay of grade-school standoffs. Oh, the “fame” of it all! When have popularity/ratings/celebrity ever been the paradigm? Does this host really think his network’s ratings serve
“More popular than you! So there!” Read More »
(From Esoterism & Symbol, written in 1947 by R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz1) When one beholds the emotional reactions of the animal—envy, hate, fidelity, love, joy, sadness, devotion to his master to the point of self-denial—one says that an animal sometimes seems human. This is a mistake: it is man who is still an animal. All
The Mentality of Merchants Read More »
(Lessons from the “GULF”1 between theory and practice; between words-then and words-now; between seeing and not seeing; between astute and stupid; between talking sense and talking points; between …; between …; between … . Oh! Déjà vu!) Yes, we get it.2 Oh! how WE GET IT! WE GET that deregulation exacerbates greed, corruption, cutting corners,
Corporations—those bastions of hierarchy, planned economy, command-and-control, short-term rationalizing, meritorious disparity, creative accounting, externalized costs/internalized profits, and enforced consensus—ARE emphatically (you will be pleased to know) none of the above. They have changed. Transformed completely. They now believe in transparency, in democracy, and in YOU, the free consumer. YOU dictate what they produce (via China,
Free Agents, One and All ! Read More »
Several years ago, my sister asked if I remembered the book, Who Ate My Cheese? Well, we had a good laugh for the book by Spencer Johnson was named, Who Moved My Cheese?1 Now, in light of our (cyclical) economic times, my sister’s mistake seems not so mistaken—that the real (déjà vu) story in this
Who ate my cheese?! Read More »