Smoke By Walrus

It is a dry autumn here at the farm and the air is full of smoke from controlled burns of the forests around us. From about 1830, Sea captains regularly reported thick smoke as they tried to close the Victorian coast in autumn. The Australian aborigines actively managed their tribal lands with fire – burning off the undergrowth to stimulate spring grasses that attract kangaroos and make it easier to hunt. The whole region was burnt out in a patchwork about every five years. These were “cool bushfires” because the fuel load on the ground was never allowed to accumulate too much. The Aboriginals sometimes even apologized to explorers for the state of the underbrush in unburned country, the way your neighbor today apologises for his unkempt lawn.

However, by the 1960’s we knew better. Green environmental activists backed by their academic supporters declared the Australian forests were “sensitive”, “pristine” "Threatened" and “fragile”. Burning was of course immediately stopped. Four wheel drives and horse touring banned, camping restricted and, cattle grazing of the high plains prohibited. The bush was to be a shrine to nature, ministered to by bushwalker acolytes whose tiny footprints left no marks. The great unwashed, campers, drivers, loggers, etc. were to be kept at a respectful distance.

One Hundred and Seventy Three people died in the bushfires that raged around Melbourne on 7th February 2009 as a direct result of the “no burn” policy of this “pristine” wilderness.. When blame was sheeted home to a lack of regular burning and a new policy announced, the greens announced that they would support it – provided the burning strategy was ‘sensitive” and “nuanced”. I almost threw up when I heard him. One Hundred and Seventy Three lives.

Today I hear about an alleged chemical attack in Syria. More smoke. No doubt President Trump is going to be pressured to apply a sensitive and nuanced no fly zone over Idlib province – for the children of course. The same type of useful idiots who corrupted our forest management policy are at work here – believers in the essential goodness of everyone, the same way they believed that nature is a weak virgin instead of a tough old bitch. They refuse to believe that human beings are not perfectible and that goes double for the jihadi inhabitants of Idlib. How many lives will be lost if the Russians, Syrians and Iranians refuse to accept our benevolent strictures?

Of course I am being charitable when I say “useful idiots”. Having worked in Academia, I know there is no cause that won’t be taken up, no point of view so extreme that an academic or two cannot be found to give it a gloss of scholarly imprimatur if sufficient money is offered. And that goes double again for think tanks. The net result of the last Thirty years of useful idiots work was summarized beautifully when Francis Fukuyama declared “the end of history” after the fall of the soviet union – meaning that market driven liberal democracy was the final highest state of humanity and we had just achieved it.

What has happened since should have had a salutary effect on the useful idiots beliefs; the abject failure of “responsibility to protect” wars, the fallout from globalization in terms of unemployment as evidenced by Brexit and the election of president Trump, the scandals over tax evasion by multinational corporations not to mention the mess that is illegal immigration in Europe and America, should have given the useful idiots pause for thought. Maybe not everyone wants to be an American. Maybe globalization has a downside and maybe, just maybe, humans are not perfectible? I am driven to compare the situation of todays useful idiots with their compatriots in Oxford and Cambridge around 1860. Up to then religious belief was taken as a given. It was an organizing principle behind philosophy economics and public policy. Academia was very happy with this situation. If you wanted to know what you ought to do, look no further than the bible for principles. Then Darwin published “On The Origin Of Species” and what followed was the removal of religion as an organizing principle and total collapse of established philosophical positions, culminating in the great war.

So where does that leave us today? The globalists / R2Pers are in disbelief at the election of President Trump, Brexit and perhaps the election in France of Marine le Pen. They are pushing back, generating lots of smoke, but will fail. It has become obvious that globalization has losers as well as winners and the losers can still perhaps vote against their destruction. The philosophical basis of globalization does not sufficiently allow for rampant corporate tax evasion nor the destabilizing effects it has had on national sovereignty to the point where the Westphalian principles are under attack. So much for “progress”.

Then of course there are the upcoming shocks to ordinary workers of Artificial Intelligence, robotics and other new technologies. I have just witnessed some of this first hand, the poor bastards who came to install my satellite internet service had to document and photograph every step of the process on their iPad – leading of course to a set of performance metrics. The latest from Sweden of all places is the injection of employees with RFID chips. Given the greed and short term focus of Wall Street and the aforesaid developing tools for micromanagement of staff, it is not too hard to speculate what life as an employee of a corporation is going to be like in say Five years time. We simply do not have the philosophical tools to construct a rational and humane set of philosophies and policies to manage this. The doctrine of “progress” has failed us. Clearly, at least to me, a major philosophical rethink of our existence is required. Even Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan has recently said “something is wrong”. To be clear, if there is not a rethink of the directions we are heading then Orwells prediction - a boot grinding the face of humanity, forever, will come true.

The doctrine of progress – the history of humanity as a journey to liberal democracy, as espoused by Fukuyama and even Hillary Clinton, is fatally flawed. The old world is dead, the new one is powerless to be born. We need a new debate over philosophical directions. Religion has failed us. The doctrine of “progress” leads to a dead end. Nationalism is a dangerous concept. We need to rethink ourselves before we are overtaken by events. I await the first academics and university to realise what has happened and start reappraising the situation, I think they will be richly rewarded 

Comments

[Peter AU]

I often think that the further people are distanced from the most basic needs of survival - procuring food and shelter - the further their philosophies are distanced from any basis in reality.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

Walrus,
Excellent analysis. Two points:

1-re: "I await the first academics and university to realise what has happened and start reappraising the situation".
I doubt this will happen w/out strife. The U.S. Democrats are still blaming Broomstick One's loss on Putin's interference...

2-IMO colonialism can be considered as the first attempt of elites at globalism. It led to the 1st World War, which led to the 2nd World War and I was afraid that, had Broomstick One gotten elected, the current globalist cabal would have started the third world war.

Pax.

Ishmael Zechariah

[Peter AU]

Sovereignty...?
Nationalism is equated with aggression. Patriotism - the last refuge of the scoundrel.
If there is no nationalism nor patriotism, not so much to a political entity, but to a countries independence and history, how can there be sovereignty?

[Swerv21]

Global capital, technology, financial transactions, manufacturing etc. ideally operate in a frictionless and seamless environment which is nonspecific, to the extent that you could be in Shanghai, Boston or Dubai- it wouldn't really matter, the operating environment should be the same.

Regional culture is informed first by the local geography, the climate, the play of light, terroir, topography. Out of this comes a 'rooted' set of cultural practices that represent a resistance which globalism ultimately has a hard time tolerating.

Globalism seeks to 'flatten' the ground on which rooted culture depends. Regional culture will seek to increase its resistance in response.

There can only be two choices here. Either these two forces reach an equilibrium or the conflict between them increases until they do. When and how this happens will. I think vary from reqion to region.

Ultimately I think that total victory by global culture is impossible because it would be intolerable for so many. Regional differences must be respected in the end, the alternative would be a banal, featureless technologically driven flow of material resources across the globe with nothing distinguishing one place from another, I think there is something in human nature that would resist such a fate.

[FourthAndLong]

Increasingly people of late are guided by Adam Smith's vile maxim: Everything for us and nothing for anyone else.

[Aristonicus]

Walrus,
I wonder how much blame for the fire-prone state of the contemporary Australian bush can be laid at the door of the relevant state governments underfunding their state national parks. I noticed this in relation to the Canberra bush fire of 2003 [I was living in the suburb of Banks at the time] where the enquiry showed that no fire trails were bulldozed, likewise controlled burns due to lack of funding. I have heard that farmers are hesitant to burn off anything due to the risk of getting sued by neighbours. There is a lot of short-sightedness in Australian politics and life, examples are too numerous to list here. When I think about the quality of soil when the native population was managing it, and what we are left with today it just frustrates me.

[johnf]

Walrus

"Then Darwin published “On The Origin Of Species” and what followed was the removal of religion as an organizing principle and total collapse of established philosophical positions, culminating in the great war."

The mad theories of Social Darwinism were not only used to justify late nineteenth century capitalism and imperialism, but were central to firing the concept of racial superiority which drove the armies of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and enabled them to excuse to themselves the massacre of millions of civilians.

Today one belief system beyond all others continues to be inspired and driven by the mad racial theories of Social Darwinism - ironically justified by the results of a previous bout of Social Darwinism - Zionism.

Just because we don't believe in Him any longer does not mean that God is going to desert us. He has this mad love for us.

[JJackson]

Walrus
You missed Democracy as another much lauded system that has failed to survive attack. It has always had constraints put upon it through the limit of franchise and now, in the US particularly and the West more generally, we seem to be transitioning from 'one-man-one-vote' to 1-$-1-vote much as capitalism is now consumer-capitalism rather than social-capitalism. Like you I think we need a major overhaul to our political, economic, religious and social systems. Communication & Education also need a reboot with greater emphasis on critical thinking so that the crap we are spoon-fed is not swallowed prior to investigation.

[Virginia Slim]

Jacques Ellul's "The Technological Society" would likely be of interest to many of you.

[turcopolier]

Walrus

The Borg is now launched into a mutually comforting ascending spiral of war enthusiasm. The thought that the "gas massacre" may well be a fraud has been completely rejected in America. Air campaign plans are bruited about by people of limited experience Lindsay Graham, (a retired USAF reserve lawyer)and Adam Kinzinger, a wild eyed Air National Guard non-pilot who now sits in the House of representatives. When challenged by Bill O'Reilly over the presence of Russian forces in Syria, Graham replied that the Russian have to remove their forces from the country. Kinzinger said the same thing this morning. pl

[LeaNder]

Aristonicus, I found the burning interesting. It triggered images. Not least since not long ago I spent some time in my mother's garden. She meant to add a new area to the lawn, but the grass didn't grow there, mainly weeds. Could I have simply burned it instead of trying to get out all the roots? ... Never mind the more timid grass offshoots that showed here or there? ;)

that said: curious, do you feel the "Green Activists" are the central culprits Walrus suggests in Australia? Am I completely misguided that biological farming goes back to more traditional roots? Burning, it feels, surely isn't an easy equivalent to an antipathy towards chemicals in farming. But interesting that the Aborigines used it too, not only farmers. Who did and still seem to be doing it over here.

[ale bro]

although the non-existence of god as worshipped on earth was completely disproven by 19th century scientists, politicians in the uk are not able to acknowledge this fact. in the us "god bless america" is offered by all presidents without irony. in russia, there appears to be the start of some awful theocracy.

clearly the only sensible country in world is iceland!

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

Walrus, I read this post late yesterday. It made me think. Thank you.

Rather than thinking about current situations in the world, I prefer to think about what we do know about the history of Mankind (I am not sorry, Nazi feminists. I like that word.) and the philosophies, ideologies, religions that guided people in the past.

One book came to mind for me: The Alphabet vs the Goddess, by Leonard Schlain. I can't remember when it came out, but I remember reading it in the late 90's. I thought Schlain came to some very interesting conclusions about how human societies change from linear thinking societies (the alphabet) to a more artistic thinking societies (goddess) and back again and round and round. I am simplifying it, of course. Have you read it?

And since I loved my readings in Middle English literature, after reading your post,
I recalled the importance the concept of the Wheel of Fortune had for that time and which could still provide insight today.

I think of Newton and his ideas of centrifugal and centripetal forces. That came to mind because in the Wheel of Fortune meme, those on the outer rim are buffeted about all the time, while those who find their way to the center are the ones who find truth.

Anyway, your post started me thinking on those ideas and readings from my past readings.

My final thought was about your comment about how Religion has failed us. I do agree that the institutions that claim "control" of various religious systems have certainly failed us. However, as a person raised in a Christian family and having attended Sunday school, Bible school, confirmation school and having joined a voluntary group of people during my MA program to read and discuss Christian mystics, I can say that my religious beliefs are about the only reason I am halfway sane in this current crazy space of time that we are on in the great Wheel of Fortune.

Last night I watched two shows late into the night: one on the experiences of the soldiers in WWI from the beginning to end, and a similar show on WWII. I cam away thinking how war brings out the most noble side of humanity while dealing with the most fallen, degraded side of humanity. A trite, thought, perhaps, but watching these shows keeps me searching for that center.

Again, thank you for posting your thoughts. I look forward to more from you.

[Sam Peralta]

Col. Lang

"The Borg is now launched into a mutually comforting ascending spiral of war enthusiasm."

Where does this "war enthusiasm" emanate from? What is driving it and to what end?

[Bill H]

You asked of Aristonicus, "do you feel the "Green Activists" are the central culprits Walrus suggests in Australia?"

I can't speak for Australia, but it is well documented that they are the central culprits here in the western United States. Their policy of not letting lightening-caused fires burn has resulted in forests choked with deadwood and dry understory growth, and fires that burn much, much hotter and faster than the fires that occurred when they were allowed to burn naturally. Today's fires are so hot and fast that they consume vastly larger areas and kill trees which formerly survived.

[Ferrell]

I'd like to see support for these claims about environmentalists and Rx fire in Australia. Until then I would put them under the same heading as claims about this "gas attack": horse-hockey.

The 1960s were precisely when federal land managers in the US began to apply prescribed fire as a management tool, often with the encouragement of environmentalists.

[Clwydshire]

Briefly: There have been plenty of academics who have realized these failures. I would include among them Janine Wedel, the "political anthropologist," if I may call her that, who wrote both "Shadow Elite" and "Unaccountable", books that explore the kind of corruption and group think that got us here (and I learned about her on this blog, by the way, Colonel Lang's firing by the Rumsfeld crowd figures in "Shadow Elite"). Before that, there was the historian Christopher Lasch, who excoriated modern leftist intellectuals for their actual contempt for ordinary people, described the connections between Progressive ideology and that contempt, and explored alternative perspectives with American roots. There is also Claes Ryn, who offered a description of just how much contemporary elites hate history, and distain historical particularity and local culture.

But what the hell, the problem is, those kinds of ideas have had very little traction. Fail, and fail, and fail again in war because you don't understand local culture? Fire all the Arabists in the Defense Department who actually speak Arabic?
It happens over and over.

It is institutions that have to change, or ideas will make little difference in our fate. Fake news? That's all the MSM really has to offer. The ruling party now believes all of its own lies. No remedy to that but an entirely new set of barriers to power and influence. I don't believe you can tell me how those could be erected without a terrible catastrophe, maybe a horrific lost war... A Carrington event and the collapse of civilization as we know it. A new Great Fear, like that that began the French Revolution? I don't think (and all over the world, ordinary people have been trying) we can ditch our current elites in time.

[turcopolier]

Sam Peralta
Walrus answered that for you this morning in "Smoke." The liberal left world order types believe that with the "end of History (Fukuyama) the old workings of world society had come to an end and that mankind had emerged onto a broad and open plateau of rule driven "progress" in which there would be a grand new world order, an eternal Pax Americana. This is religion for them. For there to be an uncontrollable war in Syria that does not answer to their phony baloney diplomacy and that must be actually won by one side is anathema. Before the Russian intervention it had become inevitable that the AQ and FSA factions backed by the US "supervisors" of the Syrian rebellion would triumph over the Syrian Government and order would be restored in the great age of mankind The Russians deliberately "screwed that pooch" to prevent such an outcome and now a great opportunity has been staged to allow a "correction" of Obama's refusal in 2013. The Borg rejoices in the possible achievement of their collective dream of world order. pl

[Ferrell]

This is not correct. In fact, it is almost completely bassackwards.

Full-suppression of all wildfires goes back to the 1910 Big Burn.

There are several other reasons which, taken together, account for our situation. None of these were caused by "environmentalists." Here are a few:

(1) Over-planting by CCC crews during the Great Depression
(2) Aerially-delivered firefighters extinguishing lightning-caused fires in remote areas which should have been allowed to burn
(3) Priority placed on parochial economic considerations (aka "getting the cut out" to keep local mills going) instead of healthy forest management
(4) Resistance by private landowners fearing for property values due to "aesthetic considerations"
(5) Hypersensitivity to air quality concerns blocking Rx fire.

Many of these can be traced to a tendency to see trees only as timber (i.e. dollar signs) rather than part of an ecosystem - hardly an expression of green fanaticism.

What environmentalists ARE doing is trying to block the harvest of bug and drought-killed stands throughout the west. This is bad, but it is only compounding a problem that they did not create.

[Babak Makkinejad]

The Liberal Left is aided and abetted in their delusions by the self-styled and self-proclaimed Conservative Right - such as the US Senator of Arizona.

I think Borg is a trans-national and trans-factional outlook that permeates and dominates many. It also silences dissenting voices by not giving them any scope to express any opposing view.

Per your own observation, US Ambassadors are universally absent from popular TV programming; the same obtains in UK and indeed across Europe. People with knowledge are sidelined in favor of fantasists.

[Jack]

Sir

Wow! We've reached an amazing level of delusion here. It seems the only thing we can do is wait for the final denouement.

Do you think McMaster will be the Dempsey this time and arrest the slide to catastrophe? Or is he a Borgist too?

[turcopolier]

Clwydshire

I left the government in late '94. Were the neocons already scattered around DoD under Clinton responsible? Wolfowitz would be an example. Clapper was Director of DIA then, a USAF person. He was under a lot of pressure from the USAF intelligence establishment to stop my consolidation of armed forces HUMINT under DIA. So, who knows, not me? pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

In Spain, the Iranian Government funded Hispan TV has been severely restricted while the Wahhabi channel, Cordoba International TV has had been left unfettered.

Fortress West has made her choices and you cannot expect anyone to be able to protect it against the consequences of its own choices.

[AK]

Swerv21,

"...the alternative would be a banal, featureless technologically driven flow of material resources across the globe..."

I believe the end game of the globalists is clearly a technologically driven flow of material resources in a vertical direction, as in up the ladder of economic prosperity, where the ever shrinking, but ever enriched, .01% amass more and more wealth unto themselves, while simultaneously doing away with any cultural features around which the unwashed masses can rally themselves. This is especially true of white European culture. It's the only culture that has ever come under attack from so-called "multi-culturalists". Homogeneous cultures in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are at least tolerated and sometimes exalted. Why? These are not yet a direct threat to globalist aims. Nor are the various minority sub-cultures in the western world. However, it's a very dangerous thing for globalists to have white, European-descended peoples remember that they too are an identity group, far more dangerous to them than the various smaller minority groups asserting their own identity interests. Far easier to control those minorities through lip service to their various pet grievances, without actually giving them anything. You can see clearly in our current politics the backlash of the globalist elite and the fear that a re-assertion of white European cultural identity instills in them.

[Sam Peralta]

Col. Lang

Thank you! Very clear.

It seems Howe & Strauss's Fourth Turning theory may be vindicated here with a major war and I suppose the destruction of the Pax Americana "world order". We live in very troubling times with many latent destructive forces coming to the surface. I am very curious how the ascendant power, China, will play this turn. They haven't yet reached the threshold of economic & military strength to go head on with Pax Americana.

My gut instinct is that Putin will back down and Assad will be sacrificed, if Trump is hellbent on getting out of the "Putin's stooge" squeeze and risking direct conflict with Russia. Not that it will matter. If he bends to the Borg, they will taste weakness and go after him with even more vigor.