I spoke recently at The Community Church of Boston about JFK's famous peace speech from 1963, which was the antidote to the dangerous ideological fundamentalism that George Kennan would later criticise in the 1980s.
Very true. Unfortunately, perhaps inevitably given the imperfect nature at the core of Humanity, Kennan's wisdom fails to be understood by AmeriKa's deaf, dumb and blind political leaders, no matter which party affiliation.
Glenn, I can only hope that more American citizens get to hear these remarks because we have no statesman, we have no diplomats, we have an oligarchy that worships money and power above everything. We are crumbling in front of our eyes and it appears that almost no one can see it.
Ideological fundamentalism is the conflation of a moral value with universalism. When that occurs, your virtue compels you to assert that value on everyone, whether they want it or not.
Do American leaders, and in particular the military guys, and the think tankers, really view the "Sovs" in such a buffoonish, puerile, and completely uninformed way? Are they that stupid?
I think not, I think that the caricatures, the cartoonish depictions; are not delusions or misapprehensions, they are literally war propaganda.
If your starting point is not grounded in understanding that America's raison d'être is world domination, then your analysis will fail.
My conclusion is that the abject proponents of exceptional American infantilism should get a thorough spanking on their epistemologically irresponsible behinds. Luckily you are able to put it more politely, but surely an important definition of stupidity is the inability to distinguish maps from territories, and I don't know what you call murdering people who won't swallow your subjective diktat as truth, now that we are supposed to have moved beyond the ignorance of the inquisition. Hence it seems patent that the real meaning of American exceptionalism lies in their freedom from the need to cognitively track actual reality, especially since, like omnipotent infants and divine imagos, they can " create it". Dear god, is the white house really the extended neocon kindergarten? Or a looney bin for over pampered ego's?
The stubbornness of the collective west in refusing to listen to all what could make an end to war, to what could change the false view on an in fact not existing enemy, that they use now to make a war "necessary" for the naive people who started to believe that they need indeed protection against the imaginary monster, in this case Russia, is unbreakable. It is a granite wall, as thick as a mountain. What will certainly help is the cause and effect treatment, that the collective west is clearly realizing, for itself, and what can have so enormous consequences for the entire planet that it is named Armageddon. The American Christian west is indeed praying for it. If this is the way to purify the earth, and to go on as a new humanity. in a multipolar world, and when it is really unavoidable, then we cannot do anything else than to let it happen and hoping to survive it.
Glenn, as usual, is acute and brilliant.
Very true. Unfortunately, perhaps inevitably given the imperfect nature at the core of Humanity, Kennan's wisdom fails to be understood by AmeriKa's deaf, dumb and blind political leaders, no matter which party affiliation.
True for EU too.
Glenn, I can only hope that more American citizens get to hear these remarks because we have no statesman, we have no diplomats, we have an oligarchy that worships money and power above everything. We are crumbling in front of our eyes and it appears that almost no one can see it.
Indeed, viewing and treating another as an enemy, forces the other to manifest as such.
I wasn't aware of this excellent piece from Kennan. Thanks Glenn.
Ideological fundamentalism is the conflation of a moral value with universalism. When that occurs, your virtue compels you to assert that value on everyone, whether they want it or not.
The western societies moral compass it is broken I believe. The Christian philosophy teaches to forgive in order to stop the violence circle.
Great quote. When will we grow up?
Do American leaders, and in particular the military guys, and the think tankers, really view the "Sovs" in such a buffoonish, puerile, and completely uninformed way? Are they that stupid?
I think not, I think that the caricatures, the cartoonish depictions; are not delusions or misapprehensions, they are literally war propaganda.
If your starting point is not grounded in understanding that America's raison d'être is world domination, then your analysis will fail.
My conclusion is that the abject proponents of exceptional American infantilism should get a thorough spanking on their epistemologically irresponsible behinds. Luckily you are able to put it more politely, but surely an important definition of stupidity is the inability to distinguish maps from territories, and I don't know what you call murdering people who won't swallow your subjective diktat as truth, now that we are supposed to have moved beyond the ignorance of the inquisition. Hence it seems patent that the real meaning of American exceptionalism lies in their freedom from the need to cognitively track actual reality, especially since, like omnipotent infants and divine imagos, they can " create it". Dear god, is the white house really the extended neocon kindergarten? Or a looney bin for over pampered ego's?
The stubbornness of the collective west in refusing to listen to all what could make an end to war, to what could change the false view on an in fact not existing enemy, that they use now to make a war "necessary" for the naive people who started to believe that they need indeed protection against the imaginary monster, in this case Russia, is unbreakable. It is a granite wall, as thick as a mountain. What will certainly help is the cause and effect treatment, that the collective west is clearly realizing, for itself, and what can have so enormous consequences for the entire planet that it is named Armageddon. The American Christian west is indeed praying for it. If this is the way to purify the earth, and to go on as a new humanity. in a multipolar world, and when it is really unavoidable, then we cannot do anything else than to let it happen and hoping to survive it.
Eisenstein wrote an impassioned article on this recently, Glenn.
BTW, love your work on the Duran. <3 Could you convince the two Alex's to start a substack as well?
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/an-us-that-requires-no-them?publication_id=427455&post_id=147507009&isFreemail=true&r=szqta&triedRedirect=true
And a more sardonic, religious view of the matter at hand, demonisation of the 'Other': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f14bCXFZIY