JR'S Free Thought Pages
No Gods ~ No Masters
~ No Bullshit
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JR'S Free Thought Pages |
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Burning the Canadian Flag Does anyone care? By JR, Oct 12, 2024 I’m always perplexed by delusional claims made by apparently intelligent knowledgeable people who believe we are losing our “democracy”. What democracy? It’s a farce. And what about political freedom; it’s also a farce. Just as my deceased mother informed me before she died about the RCMP knocks on the door late at night and the anti-communist hysteria of the Canadian version of the post-WW II McCarthyism and the relentless harassment they endured. This was simply because my mom's immigrant Swedish father and Norwegian mother’s socialist leanings. Not unlike the great folk singer Pete Seeger whose parents had been members of the CPUSA, a "crime" for which Pete was blacklisted for 15 years. This is called political freedom in our so-called fable of Canada’s “democracy”. It’s at best a cruel joke as Canada is at best a constitutional monarchy not anything resembling genuine democracy My strong willed highly intelligent mother with her grade 10 education told me all about this bullshit before she died in 2019 at the age of 94. I cannot think of a democracy typically construed as “the will of the people” as existing anywhere in the world; nor has there been one in recorded history. And why does the state exist? To provide a platform for the rule of what Adam Smith called the “masters of mankind, the infamous elite wealthy oligarchs that have ruled under every state that ever existed. It’s even worse today in which these corrupt conservative and liberal capitalist swine steal everything in sight as they did with the global financial collapse in 2007-09 and the covid-19 crisis in 2020 in which for both debacles trillions of dollars in the US alone bailed out the criminals. This became debt that was offloaded onto the masses and its ongoing austerity measures and grinding debt are still with us. The US is technically bankrupt with merely at the federal level alone they owe over $37 trillion. At the municipal, state and consumer level the situation is equally dire and will NEVER be FIXED. In the 1980s Ronald Reagan tripled the US national debt spending on the military and tax breaks for the like some out of control drunken sailor; ditto for Lyin’ Brian Mulroney and Maggie “The Douche Bag” Thatcher. These conservative bastards were no better than common criminals, never held accountable for anything. The 2007-09 bailouts were outright larceny with none of the perpetrators prosecuted but rather invited into the limousine liberal Barrack Obama’s cabinet. We have our medieval right wing conservative scum bag religious theocrats in Canada, but for the most part they pale in comparison to their fanatical Republican counterparts in the US. Even as a kid, although I didn’t fully understand why, I’ve invariably recoiled at national anthems, flag waving and other idiotic displays of patriotism, militarism and authoritarianism. I tried the Boy Scouts which is more or less a preparation for creating future cops (hired goons for the state which represents wealth and power) and military to supply cannon fodder for the rich man’s endless wars. Saluting, marching and singing “God Save the Queen” I thought was embarrassing puerile bullshit, part of the acceptance of authoritarianism for the masses. In any event I haven’t believed in God or the Queen since my early teens. Samuel Johnson was spot on when he declared that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” A simple observation that some people don’t even consider is that the origin of your birth is merely contingent and coincidental. How could it be otherwise? An astute former Prime Minister of Belgium was once asked if he was proud of his nationality. A strange question to a man obviously knew the sordid history of his Christian country that enslaved its people, plundered its national resources and committed genocide in the Congo during the late 19th century, Read Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost for a shocking account of the hideous Belgian barbarism. This nationalistic and patriotic drivel is of course a big part the entrenched indoctrination process in schools, churches and corporate controlled mass media that includes national anthems, displaying the flag and frequent military presence at pro sporting events. The capitalist masters of mankind rarely miss an opportunity to display raw power as the unthinking anaesthetized masses like sheep join in the singing of the banalities of the national anthem and in the US supplemented by “God Bless America”. Three or four years ago In Canada we still have the nasty residue of the anti covid-19 vaccination clowns, rednecks and know-nothing idiots who created havoc with their truck convoys blocking access to people’s homes, businesses and parliament in Ottawa. These lunatics and their copycat morons can still be seen with multiple Canadian flags flapping on whatever vehicle they happen to be driving. There are many of these dim bulbs in Chilliwack, the hub of BC’s Fraser Valley Holy Babble belt. What message are these mindless cretins attempting to convey? These behaviors go a long way to explaining how fascism emerged after World War I and despite a war allegedly against this vile ideology, fascism is back big time with moral monsters like Trump and others polluting the planet. It was the Russians who were our ally during WW II and who won the war against fascism with a loss of 27 million of their citizens – but now with the US-NATO proxy War in Ukraine, Russians are akin to the anti-Christ and either blacklisted, barred or not even recognized in both amateur and professional sporting events, many of whom are the greatest athletes on the planet but have absolutely nothing to do with the Ukraine War. In fact many of their top athletes have spoken out against all war, including the Israel genocide by Israel in Gaza. Who could not like a kind charming man such as Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, one the greatest NHL players of all time? In both ATP and WTA events, for which Russians have at least three in the top ten, there is no acknowledgement on television coverage of their country of origin. This hypocrisy is shocking, instigated by the US that has killed at least 25 million people since 1945.
Redneck Twits who have no idea what “freedom” means. Take your phony patriotism and flag rags and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine. Pious politicians and other conservative and liberal patriotic jerks have condemned the burning of the Canadian flag to protest Canada’s shipping military equipment, bombs and financing to Israel to continue their genocidal massacre of bombing a helpless Gaza and now Lebanon into the Stone Age. Hospitals and schools have been flattened and hundreds of thousands of primarily women and children have been maimed or killed and why would anyone care if they want to burn a flag to protest this ongoing slaughter in the Middle East – a meaningless piece of cloth. One talking head government sycophant called it “terrorism”. Unsurprisingly authoritarian, anti-science, anti-vaccination, anti-climate crisis, homophobe and hyper capitalist Christian fundamentalist who wants to privatize everything, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said in a statement that the behavior is "completely unacceptable." This grim asshole is from my home town of Prince George whose family was in the logging and sawmill business raping, pillaging the forests and lakes (several lakes my dad and I visited were contaminated beyond repair with all the fish killed). My dad who loved fishing and the outdoors hated this family because of their “privatize profits and socialize losses” a standard capitalist MO. John Rustad, whose provincial Conservatives are in a contest with David Eby's NDP in the upcoming B.C. election on Oct. 19, said in his video statement that his party would "crack down on this type of hate" if elected. Fascism will come to America because America has brought fascism to so many other countries. - Bertrand Russell, comment made during the Vietnam War “They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; Steal a little and they throw you in jail; Steal a lot and they make you king.” - Bob Dylan, from “Union Sundown” Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons—Bertrand Russell Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy—George Bernard Shaw It is the patriotic duty of every man to lie for his country—Alfred Adler Article from earlier this year….. Wrapped in the Flag and Waving the Cross By James C. Nelson, February 29, 2024 James C. Nelson a retired Montana Supreme Court justice. He lives in of Helena.
It has been said that: “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving the cross.” And, this is happening in America right now! For example: At the Conservative Political Action Convention’s (CPAC) recent annual meeting, in a panel discussion, extremist, right wing conspiracy dimwit, Jack Posobiec, openly proclaimed: “I just wanted to say, welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.” He then held up a Christian Cross on his necklace, stating that: “We’ll replace it with this right here. That’s right, because all glory, all glory is not to government; all glory is to God.” Shocked? Well, the Christian nationalist convention-goers weren’t. Rather, Posobiec’s statements met with rousing applause and a hearty “Amen” from the panel’s moderator Steve Bannon.[1] And then there’s the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that embryonic cells waiting to be used as implants for in vitro fertilization are children and, if injured or destroyed, are subject to the State’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. In his opinion concurring with the Court’s decision, Chief Justice Tom Parker declared that Alabamans have adopted the “theologically based view of the sanctity of life” and that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.” In a Q-Anon interview Parker stated that “God created government” and that it was “heartbreaking” that “we have let it go into the possession of others.” Chief Justice Parker went on to espouse the “Seven Mountains Mandate” which dictates that Christians must take over the “seven mountains” of American life, including: religion, family, education, media entertainment, business and government. He further noted that “we’ve abandoned those Seven Mountains and they’ve been occupied by the other side. God “is calling and equipping people to step back into these mountains right now.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist, has stated that the United States is a Christian nation and requires a “biblically sanctioned government.”[2] In point of fact, however America is neither a Christian nation nor is Christianity our Country’s official, state-sanctioned religion. Indeed, the Constitution’s text and our Country’s constitutional history unequivocally support the opposite.[3] The First Amendment plainly states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free excise thereof. Montana has the same preclusions in our Constitution (Article II, section 5 states: “Freedom of Religion. The state shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”). Yet, Christian nationalist commentators, politicians and jurists proclaim these false ideologies and doctrines and ignore the truth that the Constitution not only does not support those, but was carefully drafted to ensure that America was birthed and would thrive as a religiously neutral Republic. So, why do these Christian nationalists peddle these lies and toxic ideologies? They do so to acquire power and wealth—the two most anti-Christian and corruptive ambitions in the cosmos. They do so because this is exactly what venal men and women do when they follow the script from the authoritarian’s playbook–in the vile tradition of Mussolini, Hitler, Putin and Orbán. They do so because they have given over their minds, souls and their very characters to a self-appointed dictator; to one who has proclaimed himself to be chosen by God, the new Messiah—the demigod before whom they must bow, seek his blessing, and genuflect to kiss his ring. Donald J. Trump, the third anti-Christ.[4] Indeed, these reactionaries, these faux patriots are infecting America with fascism; wrapped in the flag and waving the cross. Notes: [1]See:https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024; https://steady.substack.com/p/cpac-speakers-goal-ending-democracy [2]See https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-22-2024 [3] See my commentary: Mr. Speaker, https://dailymontanan.com/2023/11/12/mike-johnson-the-christian-nationalist-speaker/
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