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 »
After nearly four centuries of Republican government, Rome began its century-long descent toward tyranny1 beginning about 133 BC with the murder of the Gracchus brothers.2 Perhaps the chief facilitator of that descent was the conservative/traditionalist group of elites in the Roman Senate—a group that came to be dubbed the optimates (“the best”).3 They claimed to
Beware the Optimates! Read More »
(va: The Ann Coulter Conversion)Sondra’s telephone call came before I was ready to face the day. My clock read 5:21 AM. “I’m not here,” I mumbled into the receiver. “You will not believe what just happened to me!” she exclaimed. (The enthusiasm in her voice seemed unhealthy for such an early hour.) “Oh, I know