Blogs That Make Me Think

Usually, i don’t care much about Awards.

Usually, Awards are something to earn money or to manipulate people – the Oscar was invented to push the sales of movies and the Mother’s Cross aimed at a high production in breeding.

So usually, i don’t care much about Awards.

But last week Miss Cellania told me, that she tagged me for the Thinking Blogger Awards. Needless to say, that i – immediately – had to look for it and to google if there is some hidden agenda to manipulate or to fool people...

because it sounds so good!

Too many blogs, not enough thoughts!

Sure, i wouldn’t be that specific...

it’s not only about blogs being meaningless – look around you, watch TV, listen to the news, pick up a paper! Then i guess you know what i want to say...

My aim with this blog is to offer content that is interesting, informative and things that could really help my friends who are reading it.

Ok, i’m not curios...

(and ok, no one believes me about that!)

so i browsed his site to understand, if he was serious about that:

It is called '5 Blogs That Make Me Think' and I am tagging the following bloggers for the first list:

Despite the fact, that he sometimes contradicts himself or sometimes seem to indulge in usual stereotypes, his readers are obviously quite witty and open minded – you know “show me your readers and i tell you who you are”. Besides that, there were some posts, convincing me – like Pictures Worth A Thousand Words.

So, i began to ponder about the five tags to chose...

because the participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

So, first, because the easiest thing to do (s. sidebar):

The second step is the link back – (and also to Miss Cellanias post) – to fulfill the chain backwards.

And last not least...

the continuation...

'5 Blogs That Make Me Think' – shouldn’t be that difficult, i guess...

alas, it wasn’t that easy...

should i tag Miss Cellania back? Seems to make no sense – not because she doesn’t make me think, au contraire, i like her humorous writing about not always so humorous things, but because, first, she is on my blogroll (Cellania - Thoughts for today) since years and, second, it would waste “meme-creation-power”...

and to be invited to support a meme linking between blogs that make you think, means much to me, being the maybe most Fiery Fan of brain.

So, who to tag?

There are many sites making me think like OpenDemocracy, the London based foundation “committed to human rights and democracy”, offering so many articles beyond mainstream media, there is The Club of Rome or The WhiteRose or The Smirking Chimp or TruthOut or In These Times (in memoriam Kurt Vonnegut) or The Brights or Independent Media or Haaretz or CounterPunch or Mother Jones – and don’t forget Buzzflash!

But that aren’t really blogs, are they?

There is also Edge or DailyKos or Fanatical Apathy or Take Back the Media or Opinions You Should Have or The Rude Pundit – they truly made me think, but there is something “Treasure Hunting” about the Thinking Blogger Awards and these blogs are always very well known, need no further “promotion”.

Then there is Warblogging or Voxfux or Impeach Bush or 400ml, the Girl from India, showing me, how similar life is far from here – RIP.

And Riverbend...

Baghdad Burning...

who nearly stopped blogging because of a criminal war and now has to leave her home...

i hope – from the bottom of my heart – that she will survive the escape, and not only for the sake of herself and her family, but for the sake of America...

because if you ever read her stories (“A Girl Blog From Iraq” ISBN 1-55861-489-3), touching, warm, humorous, then you know, why she is called the second “Anne Frank”...

and when she has to die because of despicable people not knowing what decency is, what humanity is or compassion, spelling “human dignity” as P-R-O-F-I-T...

then she will haunt America like Anne Frank haunts Germany.

So, if you love your children, Neocons, at least a tiny teeny little bit, and don’t want them to be spitted at – fall on your knees and pray for her life.

But back to the rules...

Ladies and Gentlemen, here i proudly present my treasures for the Thinking Blogger Awards:

Last Chance Democracy – because i love the stories about Zach and the Three Wise Men since years and because i learned something about the American Aristocracy, i never would have believed before..

Radar Contact – because he missed Warblogging, too, and because of all the interesting links you can find like this or that...

Believe in Your Visions (in German) – because the first thing, you read is: “You may have expected a web portal of a consulting company. Until March, 2001 it would have been like that. Then, in March 2001, Janalie’s leukemia (ALL) was diagnosed.” And believe me, that made me think about the true meaning of life...

Brutal Women – because her point of view is so unusual, that you have to think about her words - and because she writes Fantasy stories – and because of that quote: “Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads.” - Erica Jong

and

MoxxieGirl “I would rather someone was wrapped in the Constitution burning the flag than wrapped in the flag burning the Constitution.” – because her passion is unlimited, and because squirrels can fall asleep in her hand...

Peri physeos

And the Goddess cordially admitted me,
with her hand my right hand held and thus spoke and addressed me;
Oh youth, to the immortal charioteers firmly raised
with the mares that bring you as you come to our halls,
be glad!
since you was not by evil destiny prompted to share this path
- for indeed is beyond men's feet -
but by Rightness as well as Justice.

And you have to know everything,
both the well-rounded truth's unshakable heart,
and mortals' opinions, empty of true faith.
However, these also will you learn,
that false beliefs like true must seem,
pervading everything by all means.

Parmenides, Elea, ca. 500 BC

Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Article 11

Annals of Congress, 5th Congress, 1797:
”As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

So...

when Bush burns little girls and rapes their mothers...

he can do it in the name of his archaic desert god...

but he does not do it in the name of America.

Period.

Dear Brothers – USA & China

The two…

now famous all over the world...

for being happily united in belittling the Climate Change...

Scientists, governments clash as report reveals dangers of climate change:
”The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised the most objections to the phrasing, most often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections...
Patricia Romero Lankao, a sociologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., confirmed to USA TODAY that delegates from the United States, China and Saudi Arabia forced the writers of the report summary to "downplay" the level of certainly about the damage to the environment and species by human-caused warming.”

And?

For belittling the catastrophes in their own countries, as the news told us.

Governments, NGOs call for urgent action on IPCC report:
”Sources said sections removed from the final text included one on the expected climate damage in North America. The draft had originally said that tornadoes, drought, flooding and fires would increase as a result of climate change but this was removed at the behest of the United States.
US officials sidestepped questions by reporters about whether the country had forced out passages that mentioned severe consequences for the US.”

I guess, for the Chinese position, i don’t have to find links...

USA & China...

brothers in greed – both care about their citizens just as long as they can pay for, can pay for justice, can pay for health, can pay for food. Hailed as “Social Darwinsm” they do not waste precious money for the help of “losers”, just enjoy the cheap manpower

brothers in carelessness – both ignore the warnings about the suffering and harm of their own people just for the sake of profits. Katrina? New Orleans? See it as a bless! New Orleans will be richer, cleaner – and whiter!!!!

Eased Out of the Big Easy:
”Jackson predicted New Orleans will slowly draw back as many as 375,000 people, but that only 35 percent to 40 percent of the post-Katrina population would be black. (Before Katrina, New Orleans was two-thirds black.) "I'm telling you, as HUD secretary and having been a developer and a planner, that's how it's going to be." Jackson revealed that he advised Mayor Ray Nagin not to rebuild the overwhelmingly black 9th Ward.”

brothers in lipservice – both call themselves “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. Yes! Actually, exact that is the “basic idea” of communism, too. In case of China, no one can understand that, isn’t it? It is so obvious, that an 2,000 year old empire will not be defeated by a simple revolution...

but in case of the young America?

It must be true, that the people are free here! All the movies and all the media tell us this story on and on and on (you know, who said: “Repetition is the lynchpin of propaganda”?) – so it must be true!

Noam Chomsky:
”Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.”

No!

USA & China can’t be brothers?

USA can’t be brother of a totalitarian regime using death penalty and social discrimination...

not allowing change: Tiananmen Square protests of 1989???

But there are some lonely warriors of truth, fighting against the invisible dragons of myths and movies and money:

Bill Moyers “Secret Government”:
”Or how do the people cry foul when their liberties are imperiled, if public officials can break the rules, lie to us about it, and then wave the wand of national security to silence us?
”Can it happen again? You bet it can. The apparatus of secret power remains intact in a huge White House staff operating in the sanctuary of presidential privilege. George Bush has already told the National Security Council to take more responsibility for foreign policy which can of course be exercised beyond public scrutiny. And a lot of people in Washington are calling for more secrecy, not less, including more covert actions. This is a system easily corrupted as the public grows indifferent again, and the press is seduced or distracted. So one day, sadly, we are likely to discover once again that while freedom does have enemies in the world it can also be undermined here at home, in the dark, by those posing as its friends. I’m Bill Moyers. Good night."

Published in 1987...

Changed???

Nothing.

The words are as true as 20 years ago...

or???

Who – in 1987 – had believed, that the USA would send soldiers to kill children for money, oil and power, based on only sloppily patched lies?

Who – in 1987 – had believed, that the USA would openly and overtly use war, the foundation of mass murder, mass destruction and mass suffering, as an “appropriate tool” to feed the greed?

Who – in 1987 – had believed, that the USA wouldn’t even care to disguise the real reasons, but “offered” lies so transparent, that it was a slap in the face of any intelligent person all over the globe?

Noam Chomsky:
”The question is whether privileged elite should dominate mass communication and should use this power as they tell us they must -- namely to impose necessary illusions, to manipulate and deceive the stupid majority and remove them from the public arena.

And who ever had believed, that the USA would not care about each and every single American? Lost in Iraq, lost in New Orleans? Who could care less, when they don’t have money?

Who cares about tornadoes, drought, flooding and fires?

Governments, NGOs call for urgent action on IPCC report:
”The draft had originally said that tornadoes, drought, flooding and fires would increase as a result of climate change but this was removed at the behest of the United States.”

I guess, in the end even the “Hollywood”-sign might not be protectable...

Death of Democracy

No, it’s not the aristocracy which kills democracy…

it can be everyone.

Yes, aristocracy is a cancer – reducing the efficiency of a body for the own profit – but like cancer it is not viable on its own, because the self-imposed isolation of the “elites” leads to loss of reality, both in mind and in body. The first is based on the “buffer” of servants around them, forced to bear the consequences of wrong decisions of their masters – therefore “preventing” them from learning – and the second is based on the reduced gene pool of the “uber-human” aristocrats. So the first leads to more and more maladjusted activities, the second to inbreeding and after a while, revolutions or younger aristocrats of other societies will remedy those social deficiencies.

The problem of the democracy is the people themselves...

because the heart and the soul of a democracy is the respect for human dignity. Without respect for human dignity no self-discipline towards the rights of other humans, no voluntary self-restriction just for the sake of others is likely to last for long – and without these self-controlling democracy simply can’t work.

But we are all chimps inside our naked skins...

and chimps are self-focused. Evolutionary developed greed for food and sex controls their life and is directly in conflict with the willing giving up of something for the benefit of others.

So in a democracy each and every person matters in two ways: first as active member to follow the rules and respect the rights of others even though they may be in conflict with the own and second as passive member, as one deserving respect and so deserving this very important and actually very tought requirement of sacrifices.

And now look in the mirror, look around you...

how many people do you know who are just stupid or sociopathic? Who don’t care about anything else than their own little lives, who trampels on other peoples rights or feelings with perfect regularity, who loves to play bargain hunters without considering where the bargains come from and who was fired, whose home is poisoned and whose children are forced to work 16 hours, who steals and rapes as soon as avoiding of punishment seems possible?

You know many of them? A few of them, usually the more intelligent socially disabled, favored by luck or simply by the ignorance of their neigborhood, become rich and powerful, in clear words: awarded for their carelessness, so infiltrating the first decision making levels of egalitarian communities. They are the origin of aristocracies, their wealth and influence the object of admiration, envy and submissiveness.

But the rest? They are the greedy, selfish, even criminal losers, the excuse for any person who has to decide to give up something for someone else – “hey, why should i sacrifice it for them? They will never do it for me!”

And so, greed and selfishness increases and more people’s decency will be challenged.

Your boss in your company? Why should he fight for his staff and risk his career? “Hey, Mr. X or Ms. Y is only a shirker, lazy and lying!”

Your doctor caring for your health? Why should he defend you against the health insurance companies when you burn your candle at both ends just for money or power?

The fish rots from the head – the elites truly are a danger to each and every democracy...

as Aldous Huxley said:

BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED:
But the nature of power is such that even those who have not sought it, but have had it forced upon them, tend to acquire a taste for more. "Lead us not into temptation," we pray -- and with good reason; for when human beings are tempted too enticingly or too long, they generally yield.”

but the biggest danger are the 10-15% stupid or sociopathic people, who are not even willing to be worth the respect, which is the foundation of all relationships...

relationships over time, distance or differences, needing respect and self-discipline...

but those 10-15% don’t care about others, neither their well-being nor their respect – they simply are not able to be part of a democracy, of a “wise crowd”...

au contraire...

they turn wise crowds into mobs, democracies into aristocracies, where the lives of others is just something to get profits from...

where Zivilcourage, the bravery which allows a person to do the decent thing, isn’t even a known word...