Once in Persia reigned a King,
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel, at a glance,
Fit for every change or chance:
Solemn words, and these are they:
“Even this shall pass away!” – Theodore Tilton
It has been my custom every Guy Fawkes Day (that’s November 5th for those of you outside the Commonwealth) to call for a rededication of the holiday from a time to burn rebels in effigy to a time to burn tyrants in effigy instead. As I pointed out the first time and repeated the second,
Governments need to be reminded (at least annually if not constantly) that they only hold power by the sufferance of all the people, not merely the majority, and that the overthrow of any government by a disgruntled minority is always a possibility. I would like to see most if not all politicians and their minions paying for their power and privilege by being forced to live in a constant state of nervous anxiety; maybe then fewer would choose that path and more would concern themselves with keeping all the citizenry happy rather than merely pleasing barely enough of the population to keep themselves in office.
Though the United States stopped observing the holiday after 1776, I think it might be especially meaningful here, considering that Election Day is always the first Tuesday in November and thus must fall within four days of the 5th (this time around, it’s tomorrow). It would be a good thing for newly-elected or soon-to-be-elected politicians to know that all across the country thousands were burning their images on bonfires, with all the threat that implies; those who believe such rituals would have no power would do well to consider how nervous politicians get when one of them is shot, or the lengths to which they will go to protect themselves from criticism.
Modern people tend to dismiss rituals as relics of the superstitious past, thus demonstrating not only a poor understanding of group psychology but also a startling lack of introspection. Any good anthropologist could give you dozens of examples of completely secular rituals which nonetheless have enormous power; the voting ritual is one (try saying “I never vote, it’s a waste of time” to a casual group and watch the irrational reactions; more on that tomorrow). Another is the annual holiday frenzy which stretches from the end of this month until Christmas; despite the claims of conservative Christians, it has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus and never really did. The lack of group rituals can also have deleterious effects on society; as I explained last Thursday, I think the main reason our culture has become afraid of its own collective shadow is that we no longer trouble to remind ourselves that all things must pass, and therefore ruin our lives in a vain attempt to avoid death.
That column addressed individual fears of personal death, but that isn’t the whole of the problem by a long shot; Western cultures in general, and the US in particular, have become so obsessed with the end of Our Way of Life, that we’re willing to discard everything good about it to avoid that end. Just as parents who fear the remote chance of their children being abducted establish a mini-police state which destroys everything they remember fondly about their own childhoods, so have Western countries fearing the changes brought by technology, immigration, new ideas and the information explosion established real police states which are rapidly destroying everything that made Western culture great. Countries which once accepted immigrants with open arms now brand them “criminals” or pretend they’re “victims” brought thither against their wills. Countries which once enshrined the rights of individuals in their legal codes now enact restriction upon restriction against speech, assembly, privacy, property, dress, food choices, business practices and even thought itself. In the United States, once the world’s greatest proponent of the freedom of expression, we’re now seeing a dramatic increase in both official and unofficial attempts at censorship, and even journalists and law professors advocating laws against free speech. The excuse tyrants use for all this is “safety” and “security”, and the reason the people accept it is fear.
The fear of cultural or national death is just as futile and unproductive as that of personal death because it is equally inevitable. All things die: organisms, species, habitats, cities, empires, worlds, stars and even the universe itself. It is literally impossible to stop the process; entropy increases, and the only way to slow that in one area is to speed it up somewhere else. For any given society, what that means is that governments fall, mores loosen, customs change, the genetic profiles of populations shift and the sum total of knowledge increases; the society ages and eventually dies, to be replaced by others just as individual humans are replaced by our descendants. Like a human, a culture is not judged after its passing by when it died, but by how it lived; its legacy is defined by what it achieved, how it interacted with other cultures and how it treated its people…and if most of the Western nations keep on our present path, I sincerely doubt the opinion of posterity will be a positive one.
Every time I see that latin phrase, I’m reminded of another from Horace that was treated ironically in the following poem by Wilfred Owen:
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Maggie,
Do you think the US really fears immigration? Or do people fear immigrants not joining the melting-pot, and establishing little enclaves of their own and not becoming part of our society?
I don’t think they fear enclaves as much as they fear the new ways that immigrants must inevitably add to the melting pot.
Republicans and their supporters – which is now about half of the population according to a CNN poll just released …
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/11/05/cnn-poll-all-tied-at-49/
Are AFRAID of immigration. It’s been said that the the GOP faces a crisis in it’s “demographics” because they’re mostly a white party and the white population is shrinking relative others – such as Hispanics.
Soooo … any immigration coming across the SOUTHERN border is bad – because, if those immigrants manage to work into the voting booths – they tend to vote for Dimmocrits.
This is precisely the reason that the Dims want to keep the borders as “pourous” as possible – and constantly push for issues such as DREAM. I support DREAM – but I support it because it’s the right thing to do. Dims only support it because they have something political to gain from the hispanics and GOP opposes it because they have something to lose.
That’s IT in a nutshell.
Actually, I’m an immigrant. I came here as a teenager. And neither of my parents were born here. I’ve gone back and forth.
Have I “melted” into American society? Well, I still treasure a cup of tea. I still eat my fish and chips with vinegar, and still haven’t found a place that serves them as good as back in the UK. I still maintain some “European” sensibilities, I abhor religion, see no reason why we should all freak out over sex, and truly wish we had the NHS here, and love the BBC.
But I have had the advantage of not being the immigrant that Americans worry about. I’m white, very white, I can speak English, and have an accent most Americans like. I don’t pray to odd gods, don’t try to keep goats in my yard, and don’t have many, many children. I’ve never been on the receiving end of the animosity towards immigrants.
I think it’s more of a thing that Americans are concerned about the immigrants who can’t, or won’t, fit in.
I think you are right with that last bit. They may be scared about people bringing in new ways, but are more scared when they don’t seem to be adopting some of the way things are here.
As for you. How could anyone dislike someone that craves bangers and mash, and might possibly be a fellow Stretford-Ender?
🙂
No, I’m , a Yorkshire lass, but I’ve lived in Manchester.
Not from Mancunia? 🙁
No, Yorkshire. But I did live for a while in Manchester.
</3 :'(
Totally Agree!
But … let’s be honest here … the rest of the culinary “faire” in the “jolly-old” is pretty bland. 😀
Happy Holiday, Comixchik, “A penny for the guy,” as I believe they say in your original country.
That’s right. As for food, well, I suppose we all treasure what we grew up with. My favourite is still bubble and squeak.
I’ve eaten fish and chips with vinegar. Sometimes I’m in the mood for it; other times I just use tartar sauce. And there’s this honey wasabi sauce I found in a Sam Choi cookbook that’s REALLY good with fish.
Me,
Enclaves are normal and have always been part of this country. It’s why you have “Little Italys”, “Little Dublins”, “Chinatowns”, “Jewish Ghettos”, etc. Hell, I thought Lawrence Welk was foreign born, given his accent, only to find he was a natural born from North Dakota (had to look it up, the town of Strasburg, ND, was almost entirely ethnic Germans who maintained their language locally at the time of his childhood).
“New” Hispanics, at last measure, become part of this society at roughly the same rate as any immigrant group before (the measure being how many generations which has an inherent problem of time thus scare quotes). However, I don’t think that will necessarily hold over this century.
Now I must straddle both yours and Maggie’s comment
First, major change in demographics will of course affect the culture of this country, but Hispanics have been part of the US since the Mexican-American War and the purchase of California and New Mexico territories. Their cultural influence is strong throughout the Southwest, a vast expanse of America from California through Texas. So I think that fear is unfounded but believed.
Second, however, the nature of the enclaves and size has changed specifically regarding Hispanics. Previous waves had to make a cleaner break with their old countries, including Hispanics. The mobility to move back and forth, and the ability to communicate, was much, much less than today, and came at a much higher price. The wave of New Hispanics keep closer ties to their old countries than previous waves. I think that will ultimately slow assimilation. The enclaves of New Hispanics are much larger than those of other early waves, at least in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and that will also slow assimilation. That’s my only reservation, and only with Hispanics.
My own view is we should welcome them whether as natural born, as naturalized citizens, and through easily gained work visas for those who wish to stay citizens of their countries.
>All things die: organisms, species, habitats, cities, empires, worlds, stars and even the universe itself.
“That is not dead which can eternal lie yet with strange aeons even death may die.”
Maggie, come on now, you’re as big a Lovecraft geek as I am.
In my childhood, “Bonfire Night” was one of my favourite holidays. I can’t say I totally understood the significance, but I loved the celebration.
Now, I mark Guy Fawkes Day by re-watching “V for Vendetta” every 5th November. That movie (I’ve got the comic book too) say what I think so well:
“People shouldn’t fear their governments, governments should fear their people”. It’s an amazing movie, for those who have not seen it. It addresses not only resistance against a fascist/religious government, but against dumbed down, trash culture as well.
Here in the USA we’ve become a debased people. Frightened of the world, of strangers, of each other. We’ve made a bargain with the devil, giving up our rights and freedoms as humans in return for security theater. You see it on all sides, in more and more ridiculous and restrictive laws, to where almost everything is illegal, draconian and militarized police forces, giving over all power to bosses and “leaders”, increased religiousity. We are a people not confident of our ability to face the future, and fearful of it.
So I may not be nipping off down to the pub for a bonfire tonight. But I will be watching V for Vendetta. I intend to share the movie this weekend, too. I’d suggest we all watch it, and take its lessons seriously.
I’ll probably rather reread the comic book, as it’s one of my favourites.
“Now, I mark Guy Fawkes Day by re-watching “V for Vendetta” every 5th November.”
We do this, too. It’s not particularly useful, but it *is* fun.
Nevetheless I like Maggie’s idea better. I’m not sure how one would go about getting reasonable effigies for large numbers of public figures, though. Maybe photographs would do? They burn just fine, and it can’t be that hard to get a picture of every elected official one suffers under. That’s what their websites are for.
…I think that’s my plan for next year. I wonder how many photo-burners would have to gather in one place before they bring out the tear gas to stop it?
Amen. Moreover, Americans have become spoiled children, constantly demanding more gifts from daddy government.
Cultures do die, once they abandon the virtues that define them. In America, this was individualism. Today, Americans have no idea what individualism is and, when they encounter it, they respond with epithets and obscenities.
A new avatar, for today.
Sic transit gloria mundi: not something that Ozymandias believed.
No, and look what it got him: his arrogant declaration repurposed by Kronos as a grim and ironic jest.
Great post today!
Certainly looking forward to tomorrow’s blog, then. I work among lifelong academics most of the time and the variability of political/ideological views is quite shallow. Whenever politics comes up over idle conversation and I mention either my non-voting policy or any nominally libertarian policies, I can almost hear the “burn the witch” sub-vocalizations. They appear to experience some combination of sheer bewilderment and outrage that anyone would dare disagree with them, and on a reasoned and principled basis no less!
On today’s post, there’s a reason elected officials don’t fear the public. Namely, either the public (despite what they say) actually quite likes what politicians do once elected, or they’re simply incapable of reliably dislodging said politicians once elected regardless of their thoughts.
http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php
Hang out with more whores – I’m finding that many of them have libertarian views – and it’s pretty refreshing!
They’re a lot more fun than stuffy old academics too! 😉
I’ve been a bit busy, so I missed the last discussion on death (I got married on Halloween) so I thought I’d use this post to put in my two sense on death
Fear of death is, as you say, a terrible, pointless thing, but, IMHO, a much more dangerous and pointless fear is that of Change. Death is, after all, a type of change, whether or not you believe in a continued existence after death.
The desire to overcome death, however, when not rooted in fear, is NOT a dangerous, amoral, or pointless thing. The desire to continue to live (and by live, I do mean live, not just play act at it) is a natural consequence of life. I want to live exactly as long as I feel like living, and I want (and hope) technology to facilitate my desire. I believe death should be a personal choice (and that, I think, is something that can apply now, also)
If death is conquered, the fear of it will take on a whole new level of pointlessness. I also strongly believe that there are very few people who would actually have the stomach for an extraordinarily long life, and so the ability to be immortal would not be all that detrimental to society. We’ll consume ourselves into space long before there is a Apocalypse caused by not enough people dieing.
Change though, is what people really fear. The fear the loss of what they have, the fear the unknown, and they fear the disillusionment of the lies they tell themselves. The need to silence people who speak freely is a direct result of people being afraid of hearing things that challenge their world views.
What people want is to be free from fear, but no one can give another person freedom from fear. Those too stupid to realize this end up selling their souls (their freedom) and the freedoms of others in an attempt to buy what cannot be bought.
As you say, its the current tragedy of western culture that its members expect the government to keep them safe from themselves, and that they are willing to give up their freedom for a safety that cannot be given to them.
Best wishes on your marriage! 🙂
Is it legal to burn images of politicians in this country anymore? I was thinking it wasn’t. I mean, I can’t go to the target range and shoot at an Obama target – and I doubt I’d be able to shoot anyone else’s likeness either (except for Osama Bin Laden and he sleeps with the fishes already!).
I know COPS can use the images of private citizens for target practice without the slightest repercussion …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108366/Deputies-use-reporters-face-target-practice.html
There were for the Navy
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-07-03/news/32527405_1_target-range-muslim-women-seal-teams
Eh … well it’s HARD for SEALS to shoot a woman (it would be almost impossible for me to). I can see them using it to “condition” them to do so – since the Islamists ARE using women in the jihad.
Actually, the ONE SAFE TARGET at the range with the image of a living individual would prolly be …
LANCE ARMSTRONG!
The U.S. government is on a crusade to destroy that poor dude … utterly, and completely.
Which is the reason they started using the target to begin with. However, PC rules the day and they were pressured to stop using it. Unfortunate when PC pressure overrules a legitimate decision.
I agree with you on Armstrong. For years they couldn’t prove anything, but now everyone is out to destroy him.
oh well…
This, above all ought be remembered.
http://youtu.be/VzjrIk05YyU
Maggie wrote:
That’s a decent restatement of the laws of thermodynamics.
0. You are in a thermodynamic system.
1. You can’t win.
2. You can’t break even.
3. You can’t get out of the game.
Laws 1-3 theoretically can be violated by Maxwell’s Demon, which would make perpetual motion machines possible. But so far nobody has observed or created one that does not depend upon energy from outside the system in which it operates. Thus all demons discovered so far are still subject to the laws of thermodynamics, and must cause a net change in entropy in the universe.
But I am more optimistic than those fuddy-duddy scientists. I am searching for a specimen Maxwell Demon as the primum movens behind the perpetual jawbone and typing finger motions of certain editorialists, reporters and moral crusaders. On the other hand, the wreckage and rubble they leave in their wake suggests that they increase entropy quite drastically, so my search is likely in vain.
Right on Maggie. You are indeed a wise woman with a sense of history.
Many people live fear-based lives, and some societies have large fear-based
elements. They then tend to bring about the things which they fear. Better to be fearless and unafraid of the things which are inevitable, and live life to the fullest while we have the opportunity. Otherwise we just waste the chance for fabulous experiences…
If Guy Fawkes had pulled his little op off, it would have been one of the most incredible terrorist strikes in all of history. Just sayin’.
I remember skipping this one.