Category Archives: Epistemology

FTAC: Dumb Americans and Racial Herding

24 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Extreme Brown vs Red-Green, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Appearing earlier on this blog: “FTAC: The American Quilt, the Confederate Flag and Southern Pride, and The Soviet-Style Erasing of History” (June 13, 2020).

Inspiration for this relay: I had said, “We were doing just fine with North-South peace and firecracker sales and southern rock” when the meaning of the Confederate flag was revived as a symbol of southern bigotry and secession (and slavery). My conversational partner said, “That works if you’re a privileged WHITE MALE! If you’re a Black Male it’s FUCKED!”

From the Awesome Conversation

That’s only if the Black Male thinks he’s Fucked.

Let me show you something about North and South —

Black and White?

Posted to YouTube by US National Archives, September 6, 2013 and narrated by Carl T. Rowen who was in 1963 Director of the U.S. Information Agency.

History walks slowly, and while slavery may have been done after Lincoln’s handling of the matter and segregation finished by the Great Society and LBJ, it’s understood that some evil currents and ruthless bigots hold out a long time even while time grinds them down.

With black and white bigots still at play in OUR country and some foreign agent provocateur interested in watching the United States of America come apart — and possibly just some dumb people, political simpletons, really, swallowing intellectual poison, the Confederate Flag laid to rest for war — it was created to clarify who was who in General Lee’s engagements — and made into a generalized American symbol of a rebellious spirit — has been re-contextualized BACKWARD as a living symbol of hate.

What the hell are we doing back with the mentalities of the 1930s and the 1950s?

A little more that might be associated with the now thankfully passed “Trumpian Detour”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Party_(1943)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith

This guy was a bigot — and it turns out a lonely one too:

I think we’re being moved around by forces that would like to herd us back into malleable medieval mobs and somehow inclined to Think Black! Think White!

Yeah, well, Think Integrated, Multicultural, Rainbow — that’s far more our Real Cultural Politic.

Just say no to historical revisionism from Far Out Left spoilers and Far White Right idiots.

Related and Live at Posting

Russia’s Active Measures programming has turned out a serious matter as has disinformation driven by domestic financial and political interests in the United States — just have another look at Donald Trump and check out the company his company has kept over many years (some Craig Unger and H. B. Glushakow might be helpful for that).

Live at posting, February 24, 2021.

–33–

FTAC: China’s Behavior, Our Military, and Calls for War — It’s Complicated

10 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, Political Psychology, United States of America

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

China’s Behavior: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2020/11/27/a-short-note-on-chinas-contemporary-political-sins/

United States Military: no other on earth works as broadly and as hard at establishing its Land Air Sea Space superiority in arms.

Calls for war?

US President Donald Trump has described the coronavirus pandemic as the “worst attack” ever on the United States, pointing the finger at China.

Mr Trump said the outbreak had hit the US harder than the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War Two, or the 9/11 attacks two decades ago.

His administration is weighing punitive actions against China over its early handling of the global emergency.

BBC. “Trump says coronavirus worse ‘attack’ than Pearl Harbor”. May 7, 2020.

The base nods its collective head, raises its fists, and shouts its opinion — always someone else’s ideas and words — on the social network.

From the Awesome Conversation

We appear to use our military superiority — and we have it in many areas — judiciously to alter geopolitical space in well defined ways, to hem in ambitious enemies (such as Russia where it has bogged down in Ukraine), and to dampen the spirit for aggression in places like the South China Sea. We don’t just pack our kits and go off to obliterate cultures, governments, and societies. Life just ain’t that simple. I have primer on the subject: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2020/11/27/a-short-note-on-chinas-contemporary-political-sins/ — anywhere one waltzes in, from Wal-Mart to the Thousand Talents program (our research departments have taken a lot of Chinese grant money, but the same has been also a setup for Chinese espionage) — the realpolitik gets quite tough (for affordable everything — add in the borrowing on the U.S. national debt).

Fair for web search: “China, Wal-Mart”; “Thousand Talents Program”; “U.S., China, Debt”, “Ukraine, American Anti-Tank Weapons”; “China, USA, South China Sea”.

Are Far Right / Far Left Americans just plain lazy when it comes to looking into issues independently?

You tell me.

Too often online, one may come across the “Two Minutes Hate” entirely without legitimacy, sophistication, or substance.

This is not asking 320 million Americans to come up to speed in International Affairs in the way of, say, Belfer Center, but at least take in the best of available, valid, and reliable / clear, accurate, complete reportage. Citizens think; mobs mouth slogans.

In the tags section of this post, I’ve thought of a few dimensions that may need to be approached in some fresh way. I believe I have seen an ugly coarsening of competitive norms between China and the United States in the course of President Trump’s tenure. “Beat the other guy!” Well, we approach deals and games with that competitive zeal, but whether our partner in tennis or in trade, we’re generally not inclined to destroy the same without some related punitive motive. China’s “debt trap diplomacy” and the guile associated with the Thousand Talents Program indicates ambition to dominate more than facilitate healthy development and financial exchange.

###

Trump and the Question of Insurrection

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, North America, Political Psychology, United States of America

≈ 1 Comment

Here the speech —

NBC News, January 7, 2021.

Here is what took place beforehand —

In the days before Trump supporters’ insurrection, the Department of Defense placed major limitations on the tactics, equipment, and resources the DC National Guard could make use of in dealing with rioters, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Pentagon officials sent memos on January 4 and 5 barring DC guardsmen from receiving ammo and riot gear, engaging with protesters (except for self-defense), sharing equipment with local police, and using surveillance or air assets without explicit approval from President Donald Trump’s acting Defense Secretary, Christopher Miller, according to The Post.

Sonnemaker, Tyler. “The Pentagon blocked the DC National Guard from receiving riot gear or interacting with protesters without explicit approval from Trump’s defense secretary.” Business Insider, January 8, 2021.

There’s more to the Business Insider report and worth the time.

You heard him: “Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy . . . .”

That “egregious assault” will have included the most well observed election in American history as well as possibly the most secured.

For a look at claims against, well, reality, the Federal Government offers through its Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this page: #PROTECT 2020 RUMOR VS. REALITY.

The CISA page for the 2020 elections features guidance helpful to the nation’s election managers and has been designed to counter domestic false claims and rumors as well as foreign created or influenced disinformation.

###

FTAC: Reflection on the Political Power of the World Wide Web in America 14 Years After the General Uptake of ‘Broadband Internet’

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, Philosophy, Political Psychology, United States of America

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

I don’t really want to introduce this lift of my own words 🙂 because it’s telegraphed well as is. Let’s try this that way.

From the Awesome Conversation

The World Wide Web is in civilizational terms still a new communications technology, and about 14 years ago, broadband and the advent of powerful search engines and networks made it an ideal tool for political friends and enemies alike. Here is the program of one of our enemies — https://conflict-backchannels.com/2020/02/13/active-measures/ Another term (on which I haven’t worked): “Hybrid Warfare”.

I try to sustain our broadest American Freedom of Speech character across partisan lines, but we must be aware — or become aware — of sophisticated agitprop, disinformation, disingenuous information, etc. across partisan lines. The vast majority here are Americans whether Democratic or Republicans. We work things out. We don’t choke down political language or presentations without critical facility of our own and an immense treasure in research capability.

The BackChannels blog is mine and represents probably the most consistently semi-productive thing I’ve been doing for about a decade.

I would view the former politically correct fascists on campus and the emerged Far White Right in Charlottesville as projects that have simmered beneath the former political surface and simply amplified and coalesced their national political presence by way of both surface and “dark web” social channels. They’re the “violent radicals” of our day and most of us should want to repopulate the positions around the aisle.

We have had enough bullying from extremists Far Out Left and Far White Right.

Additional Comment

Unlike our Russian counterparts who cannot today choose between lives in a modern and vibrant authentic democracy, Americans may choose at this time to live with modern demand for integrity and responsibility in their speech and thereby inhabit an authentically modern and revolutionary ever new world.

###

FTAC on Trump, the Show Business President, and the Assault on the Capitol Building

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Journalism

≈ Leave a comment

The finger pointing between Democrats and Republicans and sundry others is, sadly, part of the nearly medieval chaos into which America has sunk throughout President Trump’s divisive tenure. Nonetheless, as Americans take notes from mainstream media, specialized press, and partisan presses of all kinds, the data simply compiles to suggest the deepest manipulation of public events by this one president.

Here are the first two bullets of four summarizing reporting in Business Insider —

  • The Pentagon placed major restrictions on the DC National Guard leading up to Wednesday’s insurrection, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
  • Officials curtailed the ability of DC guardsmen to deploy troops, receive ammo and riot gear, engage with protesters, share equipment with local police, and use surveillance without explicit approval from President Trump’s acting defense secretary, Christopher Miller, according to The Post.

Sonnemaker, Tyler. “The Pentagon blocked the DC National Guard from receiving riot gear or interacting with protesters without explicit approval from Trump’s defense secretary.” Business Insider, January 8, 2021.

Do Americans, no less than their Russian counterparts, really want to live in the medieval world?

Putin’s Russian pseudo-democracy is, for all intents, an authoritarian state devoted to the absolute will of its leader. By comparison, the United States of America has been an authentic democracy with political power distributed and checked and balanced down to the citizen / voter.

From the Awesome Conversation

I happen to have this on the clipboard — https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-hindered-dc-national-guard-response-to-insurrection-attempt-report-2021-1 . The data adds to the impression of staging from the top.

From the closely observed and possibly most secured election in American history to the courts rejection of multiple lawsuits without discoverable / reviewable basis in reality to the latest event, it’s hard seeing how patriotic and reasoning Americans can by the mythology of a go-it-alone President against the majority of the People of the United States. Add the character issues associated with the impeached President — and that from the longest list of high-integrity sources — and it just doesn’t wash. (Not surprisingly, Republicans in other races have lost seats: say whatever one may to further the demonizing of the Dems, if more ordinary Americans keep voting, it looks like more Republicans will keep losing until DJT is back in the wings and the Party recovers its integrity. The 2020 election (and so many RVAT testimonies) showed the Republicans were willing to vote for a Democratic President.

Ours has not been a medieval society from its founding forward. We want some integrity in public officials of either party and lots of information that can be corroborated and found valid and reliable with all of the modern critical facility and research tools at hand.

###

A Little Wisdom Having to do with Empiricism and Integrity

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

*

Only two words really matter with information — empiricism and integrity. Where we dismiss the former, people will entertain anything; where the latter goes missing, people will tell others anything — and they’ll do it for greed and lust expressed as money and power.

*

We know the characteristics of good information.

There is the reporter’s standard, “clear, accurate, and complete”.

The empiricist may want to know what is cogent, valid, and reliable — and in what precise measure against chance (probability).

Most of the time we want to know “how things work”, and we want answers we may rely on for making decisions, but in difficult times — or just with troubled machinery — we may want to know as well why things don’t work.

Agitation, disinformation, and propaganda fail always the two-part test: is it true? Is it honest?

Related on BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2017/10/23/fake-news-genuine-fake-news-the-real-fake-news-get-your-fake-news-here/

###

Hebron, Where the Mouths Go Off Before Investigation Begins

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Israel, Palestinia, Palestinian Territories, Political Psychology, Syndicate Red Brown Green

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Where are the gun and shooter?

How convenient for the camera to have followed the tug-of-war over the generator and not the assault (by whom) on Harun Abu Aram.

The unholy choir or practiced propagandists have weighed in with their headers – Middle East Eye: “Israeli forces shoot Palestinian in neck as they attempt to confiscate generator”; +972: “He grabbed his generator. They shot him in the neck” (note: the generator was far out of the victim’s hands when shots were fired); Al Jazeera: “Palestinian man left quadriplegic by Israeli shooting: Ministry” (at least the publication attributes the call — “A Palestinian man was paralysed from the neck down after being shot by the Israeli army on Friday in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said”).

Of course, The Jerusalem Post hedges —

“The claim that a Palestinian was wounded by live ammunition is known and the incident is being investigated,” the IDF said.

Channel 12 reported on Friday night that an initial investigation indicated that Abu Aram was shot unintentionally when the weapon of one of the soldiers at the scene discharged accidentally.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/eu-demands-probe-into-idf-shooting-of-palestinian-during-generator-brawl-654074
Screen capture at 0:31 seconds on January 3, 2021.

The generator and its owner had been separated, albeit not entirely in the IDF’s direction. Still, what would have been the point?

I’m inclined to leave the original header in place on this post even while changing its course, a reminder to myself to have the hard independent look first and shill neither Left nor Right.

While “Palestinian Resistance” picks up with its habitual protests — and those are certain to draw others toward injury — the facade covering Iranian involvement (backed by Moscow) will slip mightily as Sunni Arab states further cement their both new and strategic relationship with Israel. Those that have done that are no fans of Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood. They’re not behind the Red-Green Far Out Left either. That pack of howling hyenas has worked as hard as the Palestinian “leadership” to encourage and sustain Palestinian self-destruction via abuse and corruption, disingenuous (the fix is always in!) speech, old Soviet communist (KGB) alliance, and deep exploitation (from use as “Pallywood” actors to child tunnel diggers to human shields).

In the Middle East as well as elsewhere across the world’s conflicted regions, appearances may be deceiving. Here, however, I would be surprised if IDF investigation were to refuse IDF fault in the injuring of Harun Abu Aram. The case now seems other — at least at this desktop — than a my-side-your-side thing. Still, states and territories have their agreements and understandings for the everyday working of their respective societies, and the suspended Palestinian semi-state and its residents should know better than to build where Israel has refused permit.

If there’s another fact irrefutable on the Palestinian side, it is just exactly that.

Posted to YouTube by polka23dot, March 22, 2012.

What kind of person would want to see Palestinian misery sustained in service to his own aggrandizement?

Have a look at the Middle East’s chief sponsor of extraordinary Palestinian discontent —

Stecklow, Steve, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Yeganeh Torbati. “Assets of the Ayatollah: The economic empire behind Iran’s supreme leader — Khamenei controls massive financial empire built on property seizures.” Reuters Investigates, November 11, 2013.

No one understands self-serving impositions of injustice and theft quite like Ali Khamenei.

###

Premier: Ibtidah Education News & Views

30 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Pakistan, Political Psychology, Religion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Posted to YouTube December 29, 2020

On Facebook and on YouTube, Ibtidah (The Beginning), the presence appears to represent the modern argument for intellectual freedom and integrity in states in which politics have been bound to religion and the state and others control education in the cause of medieval intellectual enslavement.

Personal Note on the Issue of Education in Transitioning Medieval Societies

I shared this note with the editor of Ibtidah —

Broad spectrum of choice should yield toward reason in the dissemination and uptake of information, but as some societies remain medieval in relation to power and worldviews, the medieval within societies may choose to cling to what becomes with greater knowledge simply archaic information. That doesn’t help anyone and least of all fanatical adherents to reactionary political or religious dogma.

Our species boasts the possession of about 4,300 religions with atheism quite low in percentage against believers in God or gods. Having become conscious as human (see Genesis chapters two and three as depicted in the Tenach and read without presumptions), we appear to have come equipped with imagination and moral sense that reliably, far more than less, extends into metaphysics. If we hadn’t, we would handle bodies — or perhaps presence — as we do animal nuisances and trash. That we don’t speaks to greater consciousness in the way of awareness and self-awareness: within our separable cultures, we wish children to be born and ourselves married and buried in customary ways fit to sustained cultural and social precepts.

With such ways, we take cultural form.

We may even believe ourselves beautiful by doing so.

🙂

By comparison, science may be crude in its marriage with reality and practical issues, but given the want of a compassionate modern world, the accurate conveyance of scientific information becomes all the more important for the broad and broadly distributed services we may bring to ourselves globally.

###