Third Saturday Seminar 2011-2012
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom

It is now September 2011 and time for the Third Saturday Seminar to resume.  Whatever wisdom we may have released on the world as a result of our efforts it would seem to this observer that our world could still benefit from still more well-placed wisdom.

I can’t guarantee linked source accuracy, but I will say that to my knowledge the information I link to is consistent with my understanding of things.

   The evolution of the present age — The great changes in civilization are the consequence of changes in National thought — Modern belief in the power of crowds — It transforms the traditional policy of the European states — How the rise of the popular classes comes about, and the manner in which they exercise their power — The necessary consequences of the power of the crowd — Crowds unable to play a part other than destructive — The dissolution of worn-out civilizations is the work of the crowd — General ignorance of the psychology of crowds — Importance of the study of crowds for legislators and statesmen.

   THE great upheavals which precede changes of civilizations such as the fall of the Roman Empire and the foundation of the Arabian Empire, seem at first sight determined more especially by political transformations, foreign invasion, or the overthrow of dynasties. But a more attentive study of these events shows that behind their apparent causes the real cause is generally seen to be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples. The true historical upheavals are not those which astonish us by their grandeur and violence. The only important changes whence the renewal of civilizations results, affect ideas, conceptions, and beliefs. The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought. The reason these great events are so rare is that there is nothing so stable in a race as the inherited groundwork of its thoughts.

   The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation.

   Two fundamental factors are at the base of this transformation. The first is the destruction of those religious, political, and social beliefs in which all the elements of our civilization are rooted. The second is the creation of entirely new conditions of existence and thought as the result of modern scientific and industrial discoveries.

   The ideas of the past, although half destroyed, being still very powerful, and the ideas which are to replace them being still in process of formation, the modern age represents a period of transition and anarchy.

   It is not easy to say as yet what will one day be evolved from this necessarily somewhat chaotic period. What will be the fundamental ideas on which the societies that are to succeed our own will be built up? We do not at present know. Still it is already clear that on whatever lines the societies of the future are organized, they will have to count with a new power, with the last surviving sovereign force of modern times, the power of crowds. On the ruins of so many ideas formerly considered beyond discussion, and to-day decayed or decaying, of so many sources of authority that successive revolutions have destroyed, this power, which alone has arisen in their stead, seems soon destined to absorb the others. While all our ancient beliefs are tottering and disappearing, while the old pillars of society are giving way one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force that nothing menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the increase. The age we are about to enter will in truth be the ERA OF CROWDS. (And this was written in 1895)

If you are in doubt about this being the ERA OF CROWDS, review in your mind the events of “Arab Spring” in it’s many manifestations, all of which involved crowds. Most of which have deposed or threaten to depose much of the power structure which Western interests relied on to keep their country’s resources available and people compliant. None of these situations is anywhere near totally resolved.  Just the opposite.  Who would have thought that lightly equipped groups of insurgents could keep our modern army at unable resolve anything, ten years later

This evening, driving home, listening to Amy Goodman’s DemocracyNow.org. I heard them play a statement by presidential candidate Ron Paul… And actually, this issue of the reasons behind 9/11 came up in the Republican presidential debate on September 13th. Congress Member Ron Paul of Texas drew boos from the crowd and a rebuke from other candidates on the podium when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in discussing the roots of 9/11. Read the Democracy Now! article here.

REP. RON PAUL: We’re under great threat because we occupy so many countries. We’re in 130 countries. We have 900 bases around the world. We’re going broke. The purpose of al-Qaeda was to attack us, invite us over there, where they can target us. And they have been doing it. They have more attacks against us and the American interests per month than occurred in all the years before 9/11. But we’re there, occupying their land. And if we think that we can do that and not have retaliation, we’re kidding ourselves. We have to be honest with ourselves. What would we do if another country, say China, did to us what we do to all those countries over there?

So, this whole idea that the whole Muslim world is responsible for this and they’re attacking us because we’re free and prosperous, that is just not true. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda have been explicit. They have been explicit, and they wrote and said “We attacked America because you had bases on our holy land in Saudi Arabia, you do not give Palestinians a fair treatment, and you have been bombing.”

I didn’t say that, I’m trying to get you to understand what the motive was behind the bombing. At the same time, we had been bombing and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis for 10 years. Would you be annoyed? If you’re not annoyed, then there’s some problem.
(Applause and BOOS)

Which would you do?

Continuing from our last meeting…

Everybody’s favorite question is: With bin Laden dead, will we be safer or will things be worse? (Do I dare say “Mission Accomplished!”)

The real answer is Nothing Really Changes. (Unfortunately)

The death of a star player will not cause the NFL to go out of business.  There is just too many interests, some conflicting, and too much  money in play on all sides of the Middle East Situation for those at the controls to bring these ships of state into port.  As a bonus, our captains of finance and industry and their toadies in Wall Street and Washington helped cause  the Great Recession and now it’s aftershocks which deepen the depths to which the good workers and honest middle class of the world will be driven as they try to satisfy an insatiable monster that demands  more and more of their diminishing personal resources.

Throw into this mix, a world of poorly educated, angry and exploited citizens who are being fed a plethora of Religious, Racial and Ethnic narratives intended nurture hate to block mutual respect amongst all peoples by a limitless supply of institutional and self-appointed leaders of  Religions, political and economic factions that have twisted their core philosophies to purposes exactly the opposite purposes to those for which they were created. (and they call it compassion, justice, stability).

Furthermore at the same time, we see an information and youth driven force at work in the Middle East and North Africa who wants the same civil liberties that most of us in the West enjoy so they can realize their own potential and the promises they feel should be naturally available to them in a modern, peaceful, free world.

Every crime is the product of Means, Motive, and Opportunity.  Means and Motive are freely available to the determined actor.  The only thing that will provide real security is when individuals are no longer motivated to commit acts of violence.

Of course those who presently hold the power and all its benefits and wealth in those countries, don’t, with very few exceptions, see any way it is possible for them to share with their citizens.  Further, many of those in power have been stewards of Western Interests in their countries since the end of WWI.  When those rulers are deposed there are some very, very real problems that will threaten those within the countries and well as outside interests, without some sort of enlightened authority and a population that is willing to respect it.

Way Forward:

What I suggest is that for the time being we need to think about how we have allowed  an otherwise unremarkable religious/nationalist extremest,  to dominate our lives and economy.  Where the very whisper of, “bin Laden” or, “al Qaida” has been enough to panic our leaders to think of a even higher state of alert that we can can raise the country to, and what new inconvenience can they impose on innocent citizens, instead of improving their own performance and techniques.

Sure bin Laden or his surrogates or franchisees have, in several criminal terror attacks, even on our own embassies, one of our naval combatant ships, a train in Spain and of course the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, doing billions of dollars in damage and killing thousands of people, not to mention the devastation experienced by their families, friends and neighbors.

And we are aware that there was a loose connection between al Qaida and the Taliban, but they have have different interests.  Al Qaida has many foreigners and they are committed to the oppression (purification) of the world through terror.  The Taliban are Afghans who believe they are fighting to replace a corrupt government.

The interesting thing is that we were well-aware of bin Laden’s reponsibility for the embassy bombings but somehow al Qaida were left free to continue on to the bombing of the Cole and 911.   The back story of the 911 hearings was that government agencies let territorial politics blind them to their mission, so the terrorists had luck on their side.  I’m not sure things are much better.

Wikipedia’s List of Terrorist Organizations There are easily hundreds if not thousands of groups here and around the world that call themselves freedom fighters, revolutionaries, terrorists, fundamentalists, nationalists, etc. etc.  They existed long before bin Laden and will exist after him.  It about time we took our lives back and that means “Unleashing our Wisdom!”

How about a Crowd of Wisdom?