Bread and Circuses ...

The government is doing what we have hired them to do, give me my bread and circus, but know that on the way from the games, I will speak to my countrymen and decry their lack of civil fortitude, as they decry my own.
I just made that up, but isn't it what we are talking about?

great stuff...but can we philosophize our way out of this mess? I would love it if intellect would win out over unguiden emotional and reactionary behavior....but it seems like that kind of mentality is already so well entrenched in almost all societies...how does one counteract it?

I like that one part of Starship Troopers where the one girl said 'my mom always taught me fighting never solved anything' and the teacher asked the other girl what the Fathers of Nagasaki would have to say about that and she said 'nothing, cuz they were all dead'.

Point being...talk is talk....and we are all able to do it..and some of us are good at it....but in the end....just like the teacher says in Starship Troopers....almost all major decisions and historically significant events are decided by raw violence or threat of the same.....and what strikes me as both poignant, comical and very sad is...no matter how 'advanced' we think we are....or will be....we will never be so advanced that at some point it all comes down to the lowest common denominator....which is violence.

How does my garden grow?

By little victories, tiny spurts of root, at first, then branches, and finally, given sufficient water, care, and love, it bears fruit.

Weeds are often fiberous and not tender, however sometimes edible.

I'll tell you a secret: Sometimes the weeds cure disease. Of course, we rarely discover that, having a penchant for merely pulling them up,
spurning them for their lack of beauty.

We cannot foil the weeds by poisoning them, for we poison the fruits as well.

In the garden, berift of water, the weeds flourish. If we learn to see
them as a gift, they have purpose.

.........and the garden grows. again.

reply to post by ikonspyre

I get your point, but what is the lesson YOU take from that.
Are you of the mind we are doomed vis a vis our own predilictions (as a species) towards violence, or can we advance science, as we made leaps and bounds as a direct result of warfare, and therefore humanity without the horror of war?

reply to post by argentus


Chauncey Gardiner?

"Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."*

But the garden must be tended to ...

Good stuff.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Very potent OP, SD! I do strive to stay above it, but I do find myself caught up in the sideshow more often than I'd like. There are a great many of subjects one finds on ATS that I am not passionate enough to get sucked in, but there are some subjects where my passion runs deep, and it's in these threads that I have gotten sucked into the virtual poo fight. Tonight I read a thread about the increase in Ad Hominem attacks here, and the proper way to handle such things. The 'bread & circuses' tend to derail the conversation, thus decreasing understanding. Thank you for your insight!

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Oh well thanks JR ... yeah listen ...

Distractions are obviously not necessarily a 'bad' thing by definition. It's not like we're supposed to be in a state of alert 24/7/365.

This is more about recognizing when we are being played by the ptb so that we are not the enablers. Hey, some people even like or at least embrace having a ventriloquist's hand up their bottom.

The key here is that it is our individual responsibility not to be distracted all time, asleep at the switch, passive, lazy, selfish, etc, at all times. To know and be aware that often, the sophomoric and pedantic arguments which allow ourselves to get stuck in help no one but those who wish to distract us from noticing what is really happening in our world. Mostly they know that if we had enough time and energy to really think through or issues we might actually expect them to do something about it or even god forbid, do something about it themselves.

Instead, they toss a birth certificate (for example) out there and the people get busy scrapping over it, dividing ourselves over crumbs, while they get on with their agenda.

This thread appears to be bread for the self-indulgent.
Quite distracting .
Possibly out of place in a forum site that involves all sorts of diverse discussions ( yes , even expressions or opinions voiced which we , in our greatness ... consider to be stupid ).

[edit on 18-7-2009 by Skelkie3]

Star, Flag, Kudos, , Applause....

And now that we have all agreed that it is really our fault things are like they are, what would be the chances of doing something about it?

Oh, nevermind, I smell pumpernickel and the elephants are entering the center ring....

TheRedneck

So true - S&F. Might I also add the words of Nikita Khruschev when he was speaking to the then Secretary of Agriculture Esra Taft BenSon in 1962:

“You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright; but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have communism. We won’t have to fight you; we will so weaken your economy until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands.”

Seems like that day has come, but I agree - what are we going to do about it?

reply to post by schrodingers dog
You almost had me on this one,everything seems to be an argument these days...........like a bad marriage.Then you bring up the birth certificate.Some of us belive in the constitution Dog and if you don't thats your choise but don't cover it up with philosophy.

Crumbs,who is the real detractor?

reply to post by Battleline


Battleline, you are missing the point I'm trying to make ...

I don't wanna turn this into another BC thread, god knows we have enough of those.

It is not my place to adjudicate what is or isn't important to be addressed. Nor am I telling anyone else what to think, talk, or feel strongly about.

What I am doing is suggesting that it is a good idea to step back from the forest every once in a while, away from the trees, and get a true lay of the land.

But that is an individual choice that we all must make ... and it is not easy. After all no one wants to admit that they've been played or manipulated. It is a blow to the ego that most would rather avoid. So they stay in the forest, lest they make the uncomfortable changes the truth requires.

Now think about it, do you really think any of these lawsuits are going to be successful? Valid or not, surely you know that will never happen. So ask yourself why there is a push for them? Who is distracting you with crumbs? It surely isn't me.

In the end, like I said above, these things are a personal decision. And I am neither the arbitror not judge for what is inside another person, only they and their mirror know that.

I am merely suggesting, no matter on which side of the political or any other debate one finds themselves on, to be aware that there are forces that will use that conviction against us.

S & F

Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a magic act with this crowd in DC.


But this act has a sword trick that can cut the audience. Like the fact that dems today gave up on card check. Was that a trade-off for ObamaCare?

I appreciate this thread, it should help remind all of us to look at the left hand while the right is waving the flag.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

-Robert A. Heinlein

Originally posted by mikerussellus

I appreciate this thread, it should help remind all of us to look at the left hand while the right is waving the flag.

Thank you, and very well said.

We care, a lot of us wouldn't be ATS members if we didn't. Unfortunately it is because we care that we are vulnerable. Our virtue and passions to be used against us.

It is what it is but it isn't new.

en.wikipedia.org...

ATS is circus. ATS is bread.
==================
The science of social manipulation has a long history and it is A SCIENCE.
--------------------------------
If alternative reality is not presented, we only reinforce the reality presented - that is NWO. More we discuss it, more we fear it, more we draw attention to it, more real it becomes.

To get away from NWO and social manipulation, I (as well as everyone) have to focus on alternative future.

ATS has little to no interest in providing a different prospect for the future.

--------------
Because your post is focusing on "what is" and "how bad" it is, it reinforces current reality as opposed to alternative outcome.

================

I offer an alternative look at how things could be.


the green beautiful

Well presented, well put. You have my attention and my appreciation.

Thank your for presenting my heartfelt feelings so well.

Enigmalone

reply to post by schrodingers dog


I regret that I have but one flag to give.....

I hope you reconsider your vacation SD. You will be missed.

Originally posted by whaaa
In this instance the cure may be worse than the disease.

I don't know if this is cure or disease, but it coming toward us and
most do not even see it.

It has been confirmed by other news sources now that the
$134 billion in US bonds were likely real, and the japanese
men sneaking them around were likely japanese ministry of finance.

If that is true and they are trying to quietly dump them on the
market and other countries start doing it, we don't have long and
it is likely the trigger event for the Wall street journals mentioned
upcoming nationwide bank shutdown.

*** The two below say that the two japanese men stopped
with supposedly fake bonds were released...And if they
had been fake they would have broken the law and be
held on counterfeiting charges.
This says the japanese are dumping US bonds secretly
to get off the ship before it goes beneath the waves...

www.freerepublic.com...

market-ticker.denninger.net...

*** Below says US foreign Embassys are being told to horde
1 years worth of non-US currency due to a possible
lengthy banking shutdown.

www.marketwatch.com...

Speaking of shutdown, 7 banks in one day went poof...

www.fdic.gov...

FDIC top level official says bank closures to increase 10 fold.

moneynews.newsmax.com...

The unofficial troubled bank list as of 30 march 2009 ( 4 months old )
It is worse than the march list at this time.

bankimplode.com...

Prepare accordingly !

Good Luck to you all !

[edit on 19-7-2009 by Ex_MislTech]

Originally posted by Battleline
reply to post by schrodingers dog

 

You almost had me on this one,everything seems to be an argument these days...........like a bad marriage.Then you bring up the birth certificate.Some of us belive in the constitution Dog and if you don't thats your choise but don't cover it up with philosophy.

Crumbs,who is the real detractor?

I think the point might be better explained like George Carlin said it.

The game is rigged, right or left doesn't matter they are chosen
before they run for office. Two sides to the same coin.

Mc Same or Barry Sotero, it doesn't matter if they are just marionettes.

They get stood up as front men for a game that has been run for awhile
now, and we think we got democracy but it is all a lie.

The ppl of the US have been lied to for decades and it isn't going
to stop anytime soon.

The main game is to do away with the US, and that has been covered
on mainstream TV and ppl still deny it is coming.

We are being distracted with shiny baubles, it is like Houdini did
his tricks via misdirection.

We got financial disaster coming, and it did not matter what puppet
was sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania.

As for blaming it on the American ppl, maybe because they allowed
pirates and thieves to take over even after jefferson warned them,
but honestly I will blame the thieves and pirates that have looted
the country for trillions.

Hell Eisenhower warned us, and so did Kennedy.

You can watch both speeches on youtube like haunting ghosts of
wisdom speaking out of times past knowing full well what was coming.

Jackson, Lincoln, and Kennedy tried to extract us from the grip
of the central bankers and it did not work out.

So here comes the next round of robber baron screwing.











[edit on 19-7-2009 by Ex_MislTech]