A little background:
Any living form, be it a simple one cell organism or a form as complex as a well developed human being is bound by the limitation of its physical existence. However enlightened a living form might appear, fundamentally any will avoid obvious and purposeless danger of being hurt or killed. Physical pain is the utmost primitive damage to a living form. Instinctively any form will avoid physical pain if possible or try to minimize it. Fundamentally, if one used an advanced microscope to zoom into its surroundings or even to his own feet as certain point during this zooming process one would arrive a sub-atomic level where he/she could not pinpoint where his/her feet ends and floor begins. At this level all existence is interaction of energy which transmits in wave/vibrations.
Now, we do not operate at these levels of relative existence although interaction at this level goes on nevertheless. If all of human navigation tools (feel, smell, taste, vision all recorded into memory and if persistent or powerful enough developed into intuition) operated at these subatomic levels our organism would cease to to exist. Such view of relative existence defines the life of a living form. At a fundamentally sub-atomic level, nothing begins or ends. But on the outside (relative view where microscope is zoomed out to clearly identify distinct cells) you notice some cells dissolving while others continue on as before. You zoom out some more, and this turns our to be persons toe falling off because of frostbites. Clearly something is dying but overall organism (human organism as a whole) is continuing its existence. Relativity of existence is absolutely vital to claims of live and death.
When does a living form call himself "I" thus differentiating itself from the rest? You do not need to have a comprehensive self-awareness to see yourself separate from the rest. An ant can to certain degree identify its separation from other ants when it picks up a piece of wheat or when a kid brings a lit match to their trail and ants disperse to save their living forms. But such primitive self-awareness is only limited to expression at times of immediate danger to existence. The less aware a living form is of its self the more it will rely on physical limitation of existence thus living by hard-coded instincts of self-preservation and comfort.
It has taken millions of years and trial-&-errors for our physical environment to produce a form as complex as a human organism. Eco-environment of our planet is a largely defined by our planets gravitational force sicne its the most powerful of the ones our physical bodies experience. If one was to remove 20% of earth mass in an instance we would all probably feel much lighted as our supportive muscles had been previously used to carrying 20% more weight. A few 100s of thousands years with 20% less gravitation and we would probably become become taller and thinner. Our current physical form is 100% product of our physical environment. Our current physical form is the most suitable form of living given as much of evolutionary trial-&-errors as our ancestor one cell form has undergone. An argument that anti-evolutioners promote asking why there are still monkeys if we have originated fom them is too simple and clear for those "bible story used to" narrow-heads to become aware. From a pool of all monkey type living forms a certain type of monkey that was superior to other monkeys developed further as others were left in their "monkey stage". The same reason is applicable to any living form that has less developed ancestor living alongside. Why do fish only live in water but allegators can also live on land? Why didn't all fish developed into allegators if fish is to be considered allegator ancestor? Simply because, from a pool of all fish like forms certain fish types developed superior abilities through evolutionary trial-&-errors that led them to a more advanced living form, while others got stuck in their "fish form".
The more self-aware an organism the less it will rely on hard-coded instincts of survival. The ultimate result of development of self-awareness is surprisingly a point of absolute disregard to self and absolute regard to surrounding living forms. Why? Because the pinnacle of self-awareness is a moment of realization that self matters not and that self is a part of something much larger which is stupifyingly hard to imagine for our minds conditioned by physical existence.
Humans at current stage of evolutionary development are still too attached to hard-coded self-preservation instincts. Nothing guarantees that we will change much from our current state. The largest hurdles are donctrines that set rules for social behavior. Within those are religions that take advantage of human condition of fear of pain and death to initially scare you with horrow stories of hell and sin and then offer you a solution by introducing the notions of heaven and afterlive. All in all an effective methodology, but they seem to have underestimated side-effects that are also product of human condition such as how desperate you are to go to heaven (dying for religious cause), how empty is your current existence (anything short of dying for religious cause) and how much of a narrow-head you are while reading religious texts (killing others for religious cause).
Now back to the question of "To be or not to be":
1) Who gives a damn !?
One has to be such a ego-maniac drowning in his/her own grandious image to be asking such a question. In actuality, no one other than those who experience love/kinship/attachment (call it whateve you want) give a damn about you. 300,000 people die every single day for whatever reason. That is 200 poeple per minute or 3.5 per second. Who cries for them? Parents, relative and friends - all who had attachment to this person. So, the real question is: Am I such a eco-maniac to inflict unnesessary pain on those who love me, but taking my own life?
2) You can't take it anymore!?
One has to be such a delusional to assume his/her condition is so much different than those of 7,000,000,000 people go to sleep and wake up everyday. Whatever the hell you are experiencing is bound to be reflected in your personal and emotional development. So, if you are smart and positive you might not repeat similar mistakes in the future. The same status-quo (without anyone asking you) which which you were brought to life should be kept throughout your life. Your misery with the exception of physical pain, is all in your head. It starts and ends in your head. So, as Obama put it, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start rebuilding yourself (in his case America). You current state of mind is a combination of random events and people with time applied to it all. You can ask why it happened to you as that is a lgitimate questions. If you could understand the following you would not have been bothering with such questions. Think of religious a muslim who once found caught a fish that has patterns on it similar to word allah (god) in arabic. The next day it was washed photographed and all over the local news. He of course saw intention on this incident. He felt God was sending signs to him. Now, think of billions of fish that are swimming in oceans, seas, lakes and rivers. One fish in a billion happened to have that pattern means nothing statistically. The event is not even significant to a christian who would have made a nice grill out of the fish. So, think of yourself as that muslim who happens to have stumbled and gotten hurt by consequence of events and feels like its brought upon him/her and ask why. Statistically if you divide you life into hours of existence, then 99% of the time you are doing a routine stuff that you seem to be ok with and when some stuff happens in the other 1% that you are in contempt with. That 1% might be exceptional for you, but it is absolutely insignificant and normal considering 99% of the time "ok" stuff happens to you. That 1% can be considered an outlier event that is part of any normal distribution of events that is connected to natural/physical existence. In contrast Wall Street valuation models that cyclically fail to correctly value assets are dealing with even more outlier events (more like 10%) since those models can get pretty hypothetical and disconnected from natural/physical events. Nassim Taleb calls it "Black Swan" events that happen rarely but have tremendous effect on the system. So, the best thing you can do is stop thinking of the 1% as somthing incredibly unjust that has been put upon you and look at it with the remaining 99% in mind. So, the real question is: Is it really exceptional that something unusually painful and extraordinary has happened to you?
3) After you realize that by taking choosing "not to be" you inflict pain on other who are attached to you and that there is nothing unusual in that something very painful has happened to you, the question to ask is how to be!
The answer is you have to learn to make the best of it. We are hard-coded by our genes to be the way we are. If you have a bad sense of humor, it is becuase you don't find life as amusing as some one else does. It does not mean you are inferior to them. Traditional Japanese culture for example does not put as much value in humor as does American culture. Think of youself as part of something larger like the universe. However separate and significant your existence might appear, it is as significant as one ray of a star in a constellation of billions of starts. That is not to marginalize your share of the whole but to switch your focus away from the individuality of your human experience to something that is happenning some place to someone else in a similar fashion. This will help you wipe away notions of predestined faith, individuality of pain and free you mind to experience so much more that the universe will introduce to you in combination of random events in the future. Be ready for it! Stories of successful people like Buffet, Gates, Ghandi or Obama for that matter ignore millions of other who try and fail. No one tells stories of those who are uncessessful. Those who are successful will point to decision and efforts they made to succeed. That is normal. In reality they ignore 99% of others who did exactly the same but never succeeded because not all of the components were there. Consider three magnificent circle highways. One circle is time. The second one is composed of people. And the third environment. Each circle highway moves along their respective circulat paths. Each highway resident (person, time and environment) makes a complete trip around the circle in one second. All three circles cross as one point. Every second one person happens to cross the intersection, as certain time with certain environment which produces certain result. Well 99% of those results are marriages, daily lives, car accidents, graduations, famaily dinners and the other 1% are Microsoft, Obama victory and Buffet billions. For those who are siuccessful to claim that they could have done something else given certain conditions, but they made correct decision and thus are successful is ABSOLUTE bull crap. If they were put through exact same situation repeatedly, they would have acted the exact same way. Its human condition to be drawn to grandiousity (most famously Muhammed, Jesus and Moses who were delusional ego-maniacs [all went to meditate in caves and probably brought some hashish with them] enough to think they were so great to say what others should do). So, enjoy it! If you are drawn to grandiosity that brings others joy, do it! If do not, find something that would!
CHOSE TO BE NOT BECAUSE THAT'S RIGHT THING TO DO. BUT BECAUSE, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO AT THE INTERSECTION AND BE THE OTHER 1%. 1% BEING WHATEVER YOU CONSIDER SUCCESS/COOL/GOOD/CONFORTABLE/NICE/HAPPY ETC...
That I think is worth the effort...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee - 2
BRUCE: Do not deny the classical approach simply as a reaction, for you have created another pattern and trapped yourself there; pg-25
Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
BRUCE: Thinking is not freedom - all thought is partial; it can never be total. Thought is the response of memory and memory is always partial, because memory is the result of experience. So, thought is reaction of a mind conditioned by experience; pg-20
ME: Memory is strong and vivid when the attention was intense at the time of experience. The attention is there when one cares/fears. So, largely human memory that is an engine of thought is a collection of experiences that one cared or feared.
ME: Memory is strong and vivid when the attention was intense at the time of experience. The attention is there when one cares/fears. So, largely human memory that is an engine of thought is a collection of experiences that one cared or feared.
Friday, November 30, 2007
A Great quote form Christopher Hitchens
"If the universe was found to be finite or infinite, either discovery would be equally stupefying and impenetrable to me."
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Evangelism and American foreign policy
The Four Great Awakenings
1st Great Awakening - 1730s:
- Emphasized power of immediate and personal religious experience
- "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - type revival of guilt mentality
- Hence, promotion of an immediate need for salvation from such intense revival of guilt
- Passionate and emotional involvement with one's "own" religion
- Promotion of severing ties with mother-Britain which would rededicate America to the making of God's Kingdom
2nd Great Awakening - 1830s:
- Eastern states evangelize the West
- Antebellum reforms
- Equating ones reformation-ary acts to being part of god's plan
- Christians comprehend their roles in society in purifying the world through individuals to whom they could bring salvation
3rd Great Awakening - 1900s:
- Driven/affected-by Protestant denomination - accompanied with strong social activism - crusade for prohibition of alcohol; womens right; child labor; compulsory elementary education
- YMCA, "Epworth League" (Methodist) and the Walther League(Lutheran) spread
- Gained strength from the postmillenia theology that the second coming of Christ would only take place after mankind reforms the whole of earth
4th Great Awakening - 1970s:
- Mainstream (moderate) Protestantism loosing members
- Evangelical, fundamentalist as well as traditional Baptist and Lutheran denominations grow rapidly and gain political power
======================================================
Who left Europe to colonize American continent? Mostly Puritans who were basically kicked out by the English. How crazy were these Puritans that got kicked out by the Brits? So, these puritans start calling themselves Yankees to piss of the English planting the seeds of American national mentality - being embarrassed of being embarrassed. So, what do religious Yankees do? First associate the educated elite with the Brits and call on people to severe ties with the motherland. They then cultivate the idea of eternal guilt which immediately implies the necessity for salvation and means of reaching it. How do they suggest people do it? Let's build the God's Kingdom around the globe - they say. This is when American colonism acquired divine purpose - a grandiose impulse from God himself.
Ok, hundred years pass and it is now 1830's. American society continues to nourish its national identity. Huge reforms take place. Things are getting better, despite some economic downturns. Looking at all that was accomplished since 1700's, Yankees realize that it will take a little longer than they had thought to construct the God's Kingdom. Having witnessed the power of religious doctrines in implementing social reforms, religious elite start pushing for further development of inner-self. How they do it? Well, now that they have firmly embedded the ideas of guilt and need for salvation, they start pushing for personal relationship with god and speak of one's acts as destined by god's personal plan for him/er. Yakees of course love being empowered by such phenomenal grandiose-ification of one's life path. And now that everyone is in personal relationship with god, they of course start speaking to him and seek answers - in random places such as collection of clouds, highlighted words in tabloids and occasional life-changing events like hallucinating by accidental poisoning from mushrooms. Such closeness to god feels so great that they naturally feel that others as well should get in on the game. So, now the preachers go on to set up missions to bring more people to salvation. Because, now it is not only about your inner-self, but about converting others which in turn helps you eliminate occasional doubts about god's destination for you when stumbling upon unfortunate events.
Well, it is 1900's now and preachers are very disappointed by the progress made in constructing the God's Kingdom. Things need to speed up, otherwise they will not get any credit for all the work that has been done. Thus, another wave of social reforms sweep through America. While the Europeans are busy duking it out in Serbia which eventually turns into WWI, Yankees are envisioning any major war as an opportunity for the second coming of Christ. They also understand that "the coming" will only take place if the whole world is reformed. By now, a little more educated Yankees realize that reforming the world should be taken a little more conceptually. WWI ends with Europe in shambles. Seems like a good time for Jeshua's coming, but no-one shows up.
Early XX century America turns into the most industrialized country in the world. Industrialization implies lots of construction, transportation and electricity usage- which needs a lot of oil. Turns out most of the world easily extractable oil is with the Arabs, but the Gulf oil fields should be enough for next 30-40 yrs. The Great Depression comes around and preachers are speaking of God's wrath intensifying because of lack of progress in building his Kingdom.
Now, the WWII kicks off. And the massiveness of the conflict has preachers swearing of the Armageddon. Something short of that takes place. Lots of people get murdered and no show from Christ to head his un-reformed Kingdom. Now, here is arguable the most interesting 10 years of human history.
Here are the three main forces that resulted in the US foreign policy as we know it today:
1) Hitler - being the nut case that he was almost manages to eliminate all Jews in Europe. Allied European nations devastated by the war have no response mechanism to deal with the the consequences of Jewish genocide. Britain having had a tough military experience in the Middle East - is now looking for a partner to push Western interests among Arabs. Who better to turn to other than the Yankees. By then evangelical ideas are well represented in American political life and especially in its foreign policy. So, something needs to be done about the Jews. They need to be put in some place to live, preferably away from Poland and Germany at least for a while.
2) The evangelical movement has been gaining members as well as political force in the post-WWII USA. While the idea of separation of church and government had now become the DNA of American legislative and judiciary branches, its application in regards to the executive branch - the president and his administration - lacked any effective implementation mechanism - other than popular opposition. After all any president's marginal authority to act on a matter is a function of effective presentation and support of his arguments. Although I hesitate to call Harry Truman an evangelist, he indeed as a devote baptist knew the bible almost by heart and was a member of American Christian Palestine Committee and advocated Holocaust survivors' immigration into Palestine. Thus, disappointed with Christ's no show after the Armageddon of WWII, evangelists start popularizing the idea of God's Kingdom starting and ending with a reformation/restoration of Jewish state.
3) Meanwhile, the WWII demonstrated the potential of energy resources in conflict and peace time. Although back in 1940's the US economy was not as dependent on foreign oil, nevertheless production in the Gulf had its limits and import form the Middle East were growing. Britain was facing harshening relations with the Persian government regarding its oil profit sharing from operation in Iran. Russian communists could never be counted on for stable supply of oil. The north sea fields of Europe were yet to be discovered. In other words, the US economy needed oil like water. When Israel declared its independence and looked up to America for recognition, the State Department basically said this to Truman - if we recognize Israel, Arabs will cut off our oil, undermine America's economy and protection of Europe from communism and eventually force us to send troops to protect our Jews from massacre. Truman nevertheless recognized Israel as an independent state. An act of implementation of Biblical prophesy against national and economical interest of America. This is how powerful evangelical beliefs have and will continue to be in deciding America's foreign policy.
It was the most logical solution for all involved parties with the exception of Arabs of course. You often hear these days that Europeans do not like Jews. Well, I do not know how much of that is true today. All I know is that Jewish immigrants in Palestine were the only ones attacking British authority and troops in Palestine prior to 1948. The Jews ever since the Roman occupation were given a special status of "the other - non-pagan religion" which was allowed to be practiced to some degree. The fact that Old Testament is shared both by Jews and Christians does help them find some common ground on major questions. Nevertheless, it is extremely easy to understand the Muslims of Palestine. It is as if some neighbor that has been around for as long as you can remember shows up the next day with his newly arrived relatives from Europe and tells you that they got this book called Torah which says your house and backyard belongs to them. You of course laugh and soon realize that these guys are serious. Then you grab your baseball bat and chase them off. The next day they show up with American rifles and make you a refugee in your own country. Although Ben Gurion did promise for arabs "full representation in all governmental organs of the state". Nevertheless, it has been under 60 years since the Israeli occupation and the local Arab still can't get their heads around the idea of living in Israel.
The sad reality of today's Arab world (in someways for the exception of Lebanon) is the fact that no constructive/liberal government mechanism has emerged even with, or specifically because of trillions of petrodollars flowing from all over the world into "Arabia". Saudis today are more corrupt that even before. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, etc. generate 70% of their GPD through oil exports and will go back to growing figs once they run out of only in 30-40 years. Citizens of "Arabia" to this day continue to put-up with corrupt regimes while relatively newly created Jewish state has managed to surpass them in all fronts. Now they throw rocks at Israelis and the IDF soldiers take every chance to snipe them down. The Jews have developed one of the most entrepreneurial and liberal economies of the world. And the West continues to successfully implement its double-standard foreign policy by bashing Iran for human right violations (where woman drive taxis, vote and elect to parliament) and blindly ignore more severe problems in Saudi Arabia (where women are not allowed to walk closer than 5 feet behind their husband).
It is 2007 now and here is what I see happening in the US and the world in the next 20 years. As long as the US has attorney generals like Ashcroft who publicly slips out claims like "America has no king but Jesus", American troops will not ever leave Iraq completely (remember the State Departments warning to Truman of mandatory protection for Jews). Ever. The reason Saddam was brought down was not because of WMD, but because he was stupid and arrogant enough to speak of Israel's destruction. The same will happen to Ahmedineejad, sooner rather than later, if he continues to threaten Israel. And it is has never been about simply Palestine's Arabs. The Palestinians have always been the scapegoat of larger Arab entities in duking out territorial problems. They have allowed themselves to become a channel for larger powers to push foreign interests in the region. It is not something exclusive to them. That is what happens with all small nations who can either side with one of larger powers or maintain neutrality. The latter is only attainable with a civil society and flourishing democratic institutions. Neither of which is part of recent Arab history.
As long as the US with all of its riches manages to graduate uneducated youth and allow business interests to get in the way of reasonable foreign policy, evangelists will remain the only mobilized force in the country thus pushing their interest by electing the likes of G.W. Bush to implement the divine plan of restoring the planet for Christs second coming. It is no wonder why Bush openly speaks of World War III when referring to Iran and Israel. All I know is that if enough people are brought to believe some crazy idea and act upon it, then their sheer act will make the intended plan unfold. Not because it was meant to happen, but for they force it to take place. The only difference is the disappointment when no Christ shows-up when all is said and done. And then, just like after every major world conflict, with a short lasting disappointment evangelists will just say - well, this is a sign that the world needs further reformation and go on constructing the God's Kingdom. And all this will continue as such until Jews, Christians and Muslim realize that their books are nothing other than collective wisdom of 4000 years of human existence with a hint of juvenile mysticisms.
KM
1st Great Awakening - 1730s:
- Emphasized power of immediate and personal religious experience
- "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - type revival of guilt mentality
- Hence, promotion of an immediate need for salvation from such intense revival of guilt
- Passionate and emotional involvement with one's "own" religion
- Promotion of severing ties with mother-Britain which would rededicate America to the making of God's Kingdom
2nd Great Awakening - 1830s:
- Eastern states evangelize the West
- Antebellum reforms
- Equating ones reformation-ary acts to being part of god's plan
- Christians comprehend their roles in society in purifying the world through individuals to whom they could bring salvation
3rd Great Awakening - 1900s:
- Driven/affected-by Protestant denomination - accompanied with strong social activism - crusade for prohibition of alcohol; womens right; child labor; compulsory elementary education
- YMCA, "Epworth League" (Methodist) and the Walther League(Lutheran) spread
- Gained strength from the postmillenia theology that the second coming of Christ would only take place after mankind reforms the whole of earth
4th Great Awakening - 1970s:
- Mainstream (moderate) Protestantism loosing members
- Evangelical, fundamentalist as well as traditional Baptist and Lutheran denominations grow rapidly and gain political power
======================================================
Who left Europe to colonize American continent? Mostly Puritans who were basically kicked out by the English. How crazy were these Puritans that got kicked out by the Brits? So, these puritans start calling themselves Yankees to piss of the English planting the seeds of American national mentality - being embarrassed of being embarrassed. So, what do religious Yankees do? First associate the educated elite with the Brits and call on people to severe ties with the motherland. They then cultivate the idea of eternal guilt which immediately implies the necessity for salvation and means of reaching it. How do they suggest people do it? Let's build the God's Kingdom around the globe - they say. This is when American colonism acquired divine purpose - a grandiose impulse from God himself.
Ok, hundred years pass and it is now 1830's. American society continues to nourish its national identity. Huge reforms take place. Things are getting better, despite some economic downturns. Looking at all that was accomplished since 1700's, Yankees realize that it will take a little longer than they had thought to construct the God's Kingdom. Having witnessed the power of religious doctrines in implementing social reforms, religious elite start pushing for further development of inner-self. How they do it? Well, now that they have firmly embedded the ideas of guilt and need for salvation, they start pushing for personal relationship with god and speak of one's acts as destined by god's personal plan for him/er. Yakees of course love being empowered by such phenomenal grandiose-ification of one's life path. And now that everyone is in personal relationship with god, they of course start speaking to him and seek answers - in random places such as collection of clouds, highlighted words in tabloids and occasional life-changing events like hallucinating by accidental poisoning from mushrooms. Such closeness to god feels so great that they naturally feel that others as well should get in on the game. So, now the preachers go on to set up missions to bring more people to salvation. Because, now it is not only about your inner-self, but about converting others which in turn helps you eliminate occasional doubts about god's destination for you when stumbling upon unfortunate events.
Well, it is 1900's now and preachers are very disappointed by the progress made in constructing the God's Kingdom. Things need to speed up, otherwise they will not get any credit for all the work that has been done. Thus, another wave of social reforms sweep through America. While the Europeans are busy duking it out in Serbia which eventually turns into WWI, Yankees are envisioning any major war as an opportunity for the second coming of Christ. They also understand that "the coming" will only take place if the whole world is reformed. By now, a little more educated Yankees realize that reforming the world should be taken a little more conceptually. WWI ends with Europe in shambles. Seems like a good time for Jeshua's coming, but no-one shows up.
Early XX century America turns into the most industrialized country in the world. Industrialization implies lots of construction, transportation and electricity usage- which needs a lot of oil. Turns out most of the world easily extractable oil is with the Arabs, but the Gulf oil fields should be enough for next 30-40 yrs. The Great Depression comes around and preachers are speaking of God's wrath intensifying because of lack of progress in building his Kingdom.
Now, the WWII kicks off. And the massiveness of the conflict has preachers swearing of the Armageddon. Something short of that takes place. Lots of people get murdered and no show from Christ to head his un-reformed Kingdom. Now, here is arguable the most interesting 10 years of human history.
Here are the three main forces that resulted in the US foreign policy as we know it today:
1) Hitler - being the nut case that he was almost manages to eliminate all Jews in Europe. Allied European nations devastated by the war have no response mechanism to deal with the the consequences of Jewish genocide. Britain having had a tough military experience in the Middle East - is now looking for a partner to push Western interests among Arabs. Who better to turn to other than the Yankees. By then evangelical ideas are well represented in American political life and especially in its foreign policy. So, something needs to be done about the Jews. They need to be put in some place to live, preferably away from Poland and Germany at least for a while.
2) The evangelical movement has been gaining members as well as political force in the post-WWII USA. While the idea of separation of church and government had now become the DNA of American legislative and judiciary branches, its application in regards to the executive branch - the president and his administration - lacked any effective implementation mechanism - other than popular opposition. After all any president's marginal authority to act on a matter is a function of effective presentation and support of his arguments. Although I hesitate to call Harry Truman an evangelist, he indeed as a devote baptist knew the bible almost by heart and was a member of American Christian Palestine Committee and advocated Holocaust survivors' immigration into Palestine. Thus, disappointed with Christ's no show after the Armageddon of WWII, evangelists start popularizing the idea of God's Kingdom starting and ending with a reformation/restoration of Jewish state.
3) Meanwhile, the WWII demonstrated the potential of energy resources in conflict and peace time. Although back in 1940's the US economy was not as dependent on foreign oil, nevertheless production in the Gulf had its limits and import form the Middle East were growing. Britain was facing harshening relations with the Persian government regarding its oil profit sharing from operation in Iran. Russian communists could never be counted on for stable supply of oil. The north sea fields of Europe were yet to be discovered. In other words, the US economy needed oil like water. When Israel declared its independence and looked up to America for recognition, the State Department basically said this to Truman - if we recognize Israel, Arabs will cut off our oil, undermine America's economy and protection of Europe from communism and eventually force us to send troops to protect our Jews from massacre. Truman nevertheless recognized Israel as an independent state. An act of implementation of Biblical prophesy against national and economical interest of America. This is how powerful evangelical beliefs have and will continue to be in deciding America's foreign policy.
It was the most logical solution for all involved parties with the exception of Arabs of course. You often hear these days that Europeans do not like Jews. Well, I do not know how much of that is true today. All I know is that Jewish immigrants in Palestine were the only ones attacking British authority and troops in Palestine prior to 1948. The Jews ever since the Roman occupation were given a special status of "the other - non-pagan religion" which was allowed to be practiced to some degree. The fact that Old Testament is shared both by Jews and Christians does help them find some common ground on major questions. Nevertheless, it is extremely easy to understand the Muslims of Palestine. It is as if some neighbor that has been around for as long as you can remember shows up the next day with his newly arrived relatives from Europe and tells you that they got this book called Torah which says your house and backyard belongs to them. You of course laugh and soon realize that these guys are serious. Then you grab your baseball bat and chase them off. The next day they show up with American rifles and make you a refugee in your own country. Although Ben Gurion did promise for arabs "full representation in all governmental organs of the state". Nevertheless, it has been under 60 years since the Israeli occupation and the local Arab still can't get their heads around the idea of living in Israel.
The sad reality of today's Arab world (in someways for the exception of Lebanon) is the fact that no constructive/liberal government mechanism has emerged even with, or specifically because of trillions of petrodollars flowing from all over the world into "Arabia". Saudis today are more corrupt that even before. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, etc. generate 70% of their GPD through oil exports and will go back to growing figs once they run out of only in 30-40 years. Citizens of "Arabia" to this day continue to put-up with corrupt regimes while relatively newly created Jewish state has managed to surpass them in all fronts. Now they throw rocks at Israelis and the IDF soldiers take every chance to snipe them down. The Jews have developed one of the most entrepreneurial and liberal economies of the world. And the West continues to successfully implement its double-standard foreign policy by bashing Iran for human right violations (where woman drive taxis, vote and elect to parliament) and blindly ignore more severe problems in Saudi Arabia (where women are not allowed to walk closer than 5 feet behind their husband).
It is 2007 now and here is what I see happening in the US and the world in the next 20 years. As long as the US has attorney generals like Ashcroft who publicly slips out claims like "America has no king but Jesus", American troops will not ever leave Iraq completely (remember the State Departments warning to Truman of mandatory protection for Jews). Ever. The reason Saddam was brought down was not because of WMD, but because he was stupid and arrogant enough to speak of Israel's destruction. The same will happen to Ahmedineejad, sooner rather than later, if he continues to threaten Israel. And it is has never been about simply Palestine's Arabs. The Palestinians have always been the scapegoat of larger Arab entities in duking out territorial problems. They have allowed themselves to become a channel for larger powers to push foreign interests in the region. It is not something exclusive to them. That is what happens with all small nations who can either side with one of larger powers or maintain neutrality. The latter is only attainable with a civil society and flourishing democratic institutions. Neither of which is part of recent Arab history.
As long as the US with all of its riches manages to graduate uneducated youth and allow business interests to get in the way of reasonable foreign policy, evangelists will remain the only mobilized force in the country thus pushing their interest by electing the likes of G.W. Bush to implement the divine plan of restoring the planet for Christs second coming. It is no wonder why Bush openly speaks of World War III when referring to Iran and Israel. All I know is that if enough people are brought to believe some crazy idea and act upon it, then their sheer act will make the intended plan unfold. Not because it was meant to happen, but for they force it to take place. The only difference is the disappointment when no Christ shows-up when all is said and done. And then, just like after every major world conflict, with a short lasting disappointment evangelists will just say - well, this is a sign that the world needs further reformation and go on constructing the God's Kingdom. And all this will continue as such until Jews, Christians and Muslim realize that their books are nothing other than collective wisdom of 4000 years of human existence with a hint of juvenile mysticisms.
KM
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)