The Organization - April 2001

"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici" - "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe" - Faust

April 1 2001

Truth, Ego and War

I've been reading a book about the second world war. Its pretty good, doesn't seem to have too much of a bias one way or the other, tho i'm woefully under equipped to judge that. One of the things that has struck me the most is the mind set's of the different participants. The why of how it all happened and how people, leaders, got their countries into the war. I was struck by how... different it must have been to contemplate war in a pre-nuclerar weapon age. This is not a new or original thought, i know, but i'd never spent any time thinking about it before.

I was also amazed by how much willful self deception went on. During the battle of Britain, both sides were reporting untruthful numbers, regarding the number of planes shot down in each battle. And this was not just to the public, but to superior officers as well. This seemed to happen a lot. Crazy. Its one thing to fight a propaganda war, but to deceive yourself is inviting defeat.

I guess it all seems so... driven by ego and not by rationality. I know that i sometimes put to high a regard for rationality, but to start a war where untold numbers of people may die, on the basis of ego is madness. And, of course, today with weapons of mass destruction, the ultimate price could be the destruction of humanity. I still don't think we are prepared for these responsibilities! I'm amazed that we've managed to walk the tight-rope for so long without falling off! I guess i should not be so cynical about human nature.

Disappearing Foot Holds

What happened to the foot-holds on telephone poles? Has anybody else noticed that they are gone? It was only this week that i was reminded that they used to be on all poles in the city! But they, slowly, have been disappearing from our telephone poles. I'm sure its because there are more cherry picker vans available, so the workers don't need to actually climb up the poles anymore. But it was weird to be reminded of something that i didn't even know was gone.

After writing this, i actually started to notice that they are still there, but not in the numbers that they once were. I also wondered if the reason i didn't notice them was that i'm not really all that interested in climbing them anymore! Is there a word for items that we see so often they become invisible? Any Sociologist or Anthropologists out there that know?

Another item that has disappeared, but i think is still in the collective memory (certainly of bike riders) is the straight sewer grates. Remember those? But we have the funky angled ones now. Just something else i was thinking about.

FTAA and Death

Is anyone else alarmed about the goings on in Quebec City? The FTAA summit? You know its pretty fishy when they are so scared of any kind of dialogue that they cordon off a section of the city with chain link and barbwire fence, enact laws [1] forbidding the carrying of something that could be used as a mask, and emptying out jails to make room for all the people they are going to arrest.

In addition to the (literally) thousands of police, RCMP and military officers that are going to be on scene, to make sure nobody gets to hear, see or interact with any of the summit goers. I just don't understand that if this 'deal' is supposed to be good for us, why cant they discuss it in public? Why all the secrecy? Could it be because its maybe not as good for us as they claim? I'm sure we will find out if and when it passes, which i sincerely hope does not happen!

I'm also scared of the violence which is sure to happen there, just as it did in Seattle. And, while there will be propaganda, from both sides, i'm sure that their will be folks going who's only thought is to "fuck things up", same as i know that some of the police folks are going to cause some pain and suffering to somebody that did nothing to provoke it. They are going to be so 'prepaired' for violence, and tensions are going to be so high, i really worry that someone is going to die. And, because it will be so political, and so chaotic, we may never know, really how it happened.

No justice, no peace. Indeed.

[1] lawsuit against the government
- Stop the FTAA
- Good resource for sites and events
Thanks to secretlair.com for the links.

Bits n Pieces

Photo's from SUMO 2001
assassination politics. http://jya.com/ap.htm
Peter Singer's Solution to World Poverty, New York Times Sunday Magazine

Shoutouts

Thanks to folks that have gotten back to me, both about the font issue (which will stay serif), and about the new look and format! Again, sorry for the delay is getting it all going, but i hope that you all will keep checking in once a week or so! Thanks again!

jos