Ukraine | “Never Again” the World Once Said

For over 5,000 years, civilizations have repeatedly succumb to the desire to have more than they deserve and to dominate their neighbors. Instead of civilizing our species, civilizations have rather made us crazier and more violent than our most primitive ancestor.

Case in point: One year ago, Putin ruthlessly escalated his invasion of Ukraine. It is an invasion that began in 2014 when he ordered his Russian army to go into Ukraine and annex Crimea. With Putin’s dramatic intensification to bring the people of Ukraine back under the heel of his will, the illusion that all Putin wanted was Crimea was irrevocably broken into 10 million shiny shards of hate, ruthlessness, and horror. With his revulsive choice to bomb Ukraine into compliance, the idea that we live in a civilized world was also shattered. And, even more horrifying, we have not learned a thing about letting a monster like Putin have his way.

The Un-Civilizing Effect of Civilization on Man’s Psyche

Instead of civilizing man, civilization has provided man the means to destroy itself. Civilization is a tool that allowed groups of humans to channel this little ability our primitive ancestors figured out to focus consciousness into a stream of attention and think.

This ability combined with the invention of civilizations has allowed human beings to do unbelievable things and to create amazing things that never existed in the world before.

But there is a price for focusing consciousness into such narrow streams, and then creating powerful tools of destruction using our minds. A bloodthirsty ruthlessness has steadily been growing in the untended gardens called minds and men (and women) are increasingly getting lost in shallow, superficial thoughts that they confuse with reality. Engrossed in the jungle of thoughts, it is easy to see how people naturally gravitate towards thoughts of how to achieve more power, glory, and self-gratification.

Once lost inside the superficial jungle of one’s own mind, the snake of ruthless lies in wait. Once bitten, men and women will do anything to gain more power and status over others.

Some of Earth’s most hideous monsters are disguised as ordinary human beings. Expect for one crucial thing–they have become infatuated with themselves and their own self-importance and rather than using all their extraordinary gifts of consciousness for good and the betterment of all mankind, they use it to better themselves.

Individuals who possess an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance are cultivating a narcissistic mind. Individuals who possess a ridiculous need to have more than they need or deserve are growing a coveting heart. Such people believe their own lies (they are nurturing ignorance), and they will stop at nothing to get money, power, or whatever they desire (they are growing a malevolent soul full of venom, hate and malice).

Such people are extremely sick with a serious disorder called narcissism. But, civilization is sick too because we the people of Earth keep allowing such individuals to rise to the pinnacles of power within our systems of governance where they can terrorize others with  licentious abandonment.

In A World Ruled By Narcissists

The Same Beast | Music: Hey Putin! Go Fuck Yourself! | WiT | [1] Hey Putin! Go Fuck Yourself!    3:53

I wrote about the consequences for our collective failure to deal with narcissist who grab hold of power in a previous blog titled: Memory Wars: How Society Fails to Deal with Sin. The civilized world has a whole lot of sin to go around the world dozens and dozens and dozens of times. No modern civilization on this planet at this time is free of sin and the failure to deal with it.

Part of this failure to deal with our collective sin as a civilized species is that we, the people of Earth, are infatuated with narcissists. We worship them as heroes, great men, strong leaders… that is until they go too far… then we are shocked, shocked, that they turned out to be a monster!

There Are Many Types and Flavors of Narcissists… But All Ruthless Rulers Are Malignant Narcissists

9 of the Most Famous Narcissist in History

Alexander the Great -- exhibited all the characteristics of a raging narcissist. He believed that you were either with him or against him and he took his faithful soldiers on endless battles, much to their expense, solely for his own glory and personal conquests. He showed no emotion for the bloodshed of his generals or soldiers but believed in his grandiose visions.

Henry VIII -- was considered to be both charismatic and handsome, but he was also one of the cruelest and most egotistical leaders in our history. Famed for having six wives, two of which he had beheaded. He was known to show narcissistic traits such as a lack of empathy and being overly concerned with his appearance.

Napoleon Bonaparte -- The term ‘Napoleon Complex’ comes from Napoleon Bonaparte’s behaviour, which was to act in an overly aggressive manner to make up for feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem. Napoleon was considered a tyrant by everyone that knew him, who had grandiose thoughts and believed he was special. In fact, in his book entitled ‘Thoughts’, he wrote: “It was precisely that evening in Lodi that I came to believe in myself as an unusual person and became consumed with the ambition to do the great things that until then had been but a fantasy.”

Adolph Hitler -- is undoubtedly one of the cruellest leaders of the 20th century, led a campaign that saw the death of millions of innocent people. His actions also incited one of the largest wars in our generation, all due to his unwavering beliefs that he, and all other white Germans, were a superior race to everyone else.

His actions are typical of a self-obsessed narcissist in that he showed no empathy for the suffering of others, he spread his false propaganda about superiority in order to further his campaign and he demanded total acquiesce.

Narcissistic people are charming, charismatic, and magnetic people. They are people (women or men) who can read you (your soul) like normal people read books. They study and gather information about you sensing your vulnerabilities, dreams, fears, and rage.

Narcissists create glittery narratives about themselves using the intel they’ve gathered about you. They promise to provide you with the sun, the moon, and the stars, if only you sign on the dotted line giving them full access to your soul.

Using their glittery narratives, well-crafted to make you think and do exactly what they want you to do, they use the illusion of whatever it is you want to see in them to manipulate you. Once hooked, you become something they consume for entertainment or they use as a deviant character in their narcissistic nightmare.

Ruthless men and women rely on natural born instincts to gather information and calculate how to manipulate others for maximum devilment and self-gratification. We all have these instincts, narcissists are simply willing to use them to hunt people.

These are dangerous people. They have become hollowed out by their bottomless selfishness and self-absorption. And they can become masters at whipping up crowds into mindless, hostile dummies who are willing to murder, maime, and destroy anyone or anything that doesn’t walk, talk, and quack like them (in other words, they hunt down and kill anyone who does not align with the narcissists).

I’m the Greatest Duck-Miester on the Planet! OFF WITH YOUR Head!” | Music: Barbra Streisand – Duck Sauce | Barbra Streisand (Original Mix)  

The Whiteness Myth

Hitler’s rise to power is a perfect example of what an unchecked malignant narcissists can do. Part of his rise to power included creating a compelling myth that aligned to the wishes, fears, and desires of the German people of his time. He manufactured a hostile myth of white power that epitomizes how hideous and heinous a malignant narcissists can charm a civilized people into becoming mindless monsters.

THROUGHLINE explores Hitler’s myth creation and how he used it to justify the most abominable genocide ever committed in modern times. It is a myth still resonating in the hearts and minds of people around the world to this very day. It is this myth Putin is drawing upon to justify his dramatic escalation of his invasion of Ukraine one year ago.

ARABLOUEI: On November 9, 1938, Nazi party paramilitary forces executed a coordinated, planned attack on Jewish businesses and synagogues across Germany and Austria. At least 91 people were killed, and thousands of Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Many historians believe that this event, Kristallnacht, began one of the most deadly phases of the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews and other people deemed racially inferior to pure Aryans by the Nazi party. That same year, Heinrich Himmler, one of Adolf Hitler's top commanders, sent a team of Nazi scientists on a mission.
PURANDARE: Himmler sets up a unit within the SS. The name of this unit is the Bureau of Ancestral Heritage. And what is its job? Its job is to find out the origins of the Aryan race. In 1938, he sends a team of five members of this unit to Tibet.
ABDELFATAH: Tibet. But why? The answer to that question makes this story even weirder.
PURANDARE: One of the theories is that there was this island called Atlantis somewhere between England and Portugal, and the Aryans lived there.
ABDELFATAH: Himmler thought the Aryans might be from the lost city of Atlantis.
PURANDARE: And one fine day, a divine thunderbolt hit the island. The island sunk. And the people of the island fled elsewhere. They swam to safety. And they looked for a more secure place to live in. These were the real Nordics, according to the racial theorists. And eventually, they moved to the Himalayas, specifically to Tibet. Why? Because, well, Atlantis had sunk, so you want to go to a place where you don't get a sinking feeling. One way of doing it is to get into the mountains, and the Himalayas are really tall mountains. And Tibet in particular is known as the roof of the world, so you'll be safest there.
ABDELFATAH: Himmler was searching for evidence of these Atlantis Aryans, and it was all part of a larger Nazi project to legitimize their racist views through, quote-unquote, "science."
PURANDARE: Himmler was hoping to come up with the exact definition of the Aryan race, the defining features that distinguish them from the rest of humanity, so that it would be so much more easier to identify those who are, allegedly, racially inferior. That was the whole idea. -- The Whiteness Myth, THROUGHLINE, 2/9/23

Another Insane Myth Used to Manipulated the Masses

This sounds about as insane as QAnon’s political myth story claiming former President Trump is facing down the shadowy cabals of Democratic pedophiles!

Signs referring to the QAnon conspiracy theory — with a Q —  appeared at rallies for President Donald J. Trump.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times | What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory? — Kevin Roose, 9/3/21

It Could Not Be Clearer What We Are Dealing With… Again

Putin told his people one year ago that he needed to dramatically escalate his invasion of Ukraine to De-Nazify it. But who is really the monster in this equation?

You Want It Darker? We Kill the Flame!” — Leonard Cohen | Leonard Cohen is telling us exactly what WE need to do in this moment of Ruthless Barbarity, the darkness Putin has plunged the world into once again, WE KILL THE FLAME... We (the Good People of Earth who honor life and respect freedom) WE kill the flame of EVIL Putin lit in 2014 and dramatically escalated last year! We don’t have a tomorrow to do this if we want OUR World Back.

Selfishness is not just something the super rich, celebrities, and ruthless rulers suffer from, all of us need to look in the mirror that we call the human soul and take a good long stare. As you look, ask yourself, are you being complicit in going along with a monster’s narrative and diabolical goals? And, if you are captivated and under the spell of a narcissist, it is your responsibility to wake up, now!

Putin is Not De-Nazifying Ukraine

Putin invaded Ukraine because Ukrainians were waking up. They were rooting out corruption and dysfunctional narratives imposed on them, first by Imperial Russia, then the Soviet Union, and now Putin’s deep desire to return to Imperial Russia, again.

How Ukraine’s Orange Revolution shaped twenty-first century geopolitics
By Peter Dickinson | 11/20/20 | Atlantic Council

Ukrainians were doing the hard work of getting rid of corruption imposed on them by Russia that filled every system with deceit, duplicity, and double-dealings. Corrupt ion is how Putin rewards his Flying Monkeys, mainly oligarchs in Ukraine. All good narcissists cultivate Flying Monkeys to do their dirty work–be they oligarchs, presidents, or stinking rich capitalists.

Look Mom! I’m A Monkey for Putin!” | Music: Wizard of the Hood (Collector’s Edition) | Violent J — Shiny Diamonds | Putin should be careful as Xi Jinping may very well turn Putin into his Flying Monkey!

This is why Ukraine was invaded. This and this alone. They were doing the hard work of flushing Putin and his shit hole corruption down the toilet bowel of history.

And we should do the same, right here in the Good Old USA. Yet, so many Americans seem intoxicated with authoritarianism and all the corruption that goes with it. These Americans seem to hero worship Putin and all the power and authority he has accumulated since ascending to the highest throne in his fatherland or motherland of Russia.

These Americans make distributing rumblings about how the United States should NOT continue to support Ukraine in its fight defend itself from a monster, which is Putin. At first, I thought line of thinking was just coming from Tucker Carlson, a nighttime host on Fox Entertainment and well-trained Russian Stooge, along with some other entertainment specialists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Inside the Mind of Marjorie Taylor Green | Music: Big Boys (Speed Up) by SZA and other DJ Remasters #Marjorie#TaylorGreen #TheScream #spacylady

Apparently, they all feel sorry for Putin’s shit ass army and are trying to help him regain the upper hand as Supreme Demon on the planet. I suppose they hope if they rub his back, he’ll rub their back when the time comes.

But his US stooges are failing him just like his army is failing. So instead of fighting a real war, Putin simply kills innocent civilians, kidnaps children (6,000) and sends them to Russian indoctrination camps, and arrests its own citizens who dares to speak out against his war.

But then one of my friends shocked me with this same shit ass idea!

He is a flaming ass liberal… who are supposed to be against anything the Putin USA entertainment team is rooting for!

What the hell is going on?!!” I thought to myself.

Then, I found a possible explanation in this article: Why America’s Far Right and Far Left Have Aligned Against Helping Ukraine

It discusses the horseshoe theory of politics proposed by French philosopher  Jean-Pierre Faye.

He believed that the political ideological spectrum—traditionally construed as a linear progression from some form of socialism or democratic collectivism through a bourgeois-liberal center and on to some form of totalitarianism or fascism—was not a straight line between ever-more-distant political positions but rather something like a horseshoe, with the extremes bending almost magnetically into conjunction with each other.
Based on his observation of the alignment of fascist and communist parties in early 1930s German domestic politics and then on the Nazi-Soviet alignment in the international sphere, perhaps best embodied by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, he believed that the political extremes have much more in common than a traditional interpretation of the political spectrum might suggest.

But low and behold, here you see it happening right here in the US, right now, over the war in Ukraine. There is a bizarre and truly hideous union happening between the Far Right (including Tucker Carlson, Rep. Marjorie T. Greene, Sen. Josh Hawley and other MAGA supporting Republicans) and Far Left (including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and company).

And oh yeah…arrogant, ignorant rich guys are joining in too. You know that man… who owns too many companies… what’s his name again? He owns Tesla… SolarCity… SpaceX (which owns Starlink)… Neuralink (yes, brain chips to combat bad AIs)… The Boring Company (yeah, it’s pretty boring, they actually drill tunnels)… Wyoming Steel… and OH YEAH, Twitter.

The arrogant asshole who just cut Starlink off from Ukrainians, limiting their ability to navigate drones and make targeted strikes on the ruthless, aggression of Russia’s Imperial ambitions. He said he did it to prevent WWI, as if he ever could!

This man is Elon Musk-Rat, of course:

My little good boy” Putin says to Elon | Music: Good Boy by GD X TAEYANG

Strange Bedfellows Align

I found this article disturbing but helpful in understanding something I had not been aware of until my “friend” enlightened me.

Why America’s Far Right and Far Left Have Aligned Against Helping Ukraine– The discourse surrounding Russia’s war on Ukraine has created strange bedfellows was published on July 4, 2002 and written by By Jan Dutkiewicz, a policy fellow at the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School, and  Dominik Stecuła, an assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University.

Since Russia attacked Ukraine, unprovoked, on Feb. 24, the discourse surrounding the war that has emerged in the United States has created strange bedfellows. Although the majority of the American public, led by U.S. President Joe Biden, have thrown their support behind Ukraine, many on the left and right alike have rushed to defend Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime or, at the very least, have urged the United States not to intervene in Ukraine’s defense.
Tucker Carlson, the face of Fox News and host of the most popular show on cable news in the United States, has been spouting pro-Kremlin talking points for months (and is frequently rebroadcasted on Russian state television). Other right-wing figures regularly spew out anti-Ukrainian disinformation and rail against sending heavy weapons to the country.
Meanwhile, the luminary of the American intellectual left, Noam Chomsky, has invoked former U.S. President Donald Trump as a model of level-headed geopolitical statesmanship for his opposition to arming Ukraine. Left-wing sources—such as JacobinNew Left Review, and Democracy Now!—have hewed to a party line that blames NATO expansion for Russia’s invasion and opposes military aid to Ukraine.
Online, armies of left- and right-wing accounts find fault with Ukraine’s politics, policies, and president. In Congress, seven of the most fervent conservative Trump supporters voted alongside progressive champions Reps. Ilhan Omar and Cori Bush against banning Russian fossil fuels; even more surprisingly, Omar and Bush are joined by so-called squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib as well as the far-right fringe of the Republican Party in opposing the U.S. government seizing Russian oligarchs’ assets.
All of these developments highlight a bizarre alliance between the two ends of the political spectrum. The question is: Why?

Letter to A Misguided Friend

I sent this article with a note to my “friend”. This is what I said to him.

I have found the holes in your wish-thought that Ukraine should stop fighting and ceded territory to Russia.  
This article provides some insight into part of your thinking problem.  I see your favorite philosopher and economist on the far Left (Noam) is in on this wish-thought.  
Sadly, he is falling victim to the very thing he so eloquently and valiantly fights against using his brilliant mind and words.
Words are weapons my dear friend. War is seldom fought solely with guns and bullets and bombs. War begins first inside the hearts and minds of men who want things to run in a certain way. The more you want things to run in a certain way, the more you seek explanations for why the world isn't working out that way.
Oddly, Trump's MAGA Republicans and Bernie's Radical Communist Liberals (I say this tongue-in-cheek) are aligning on the same side about what should be done (or rather not done) with Ukraine. All of it, and I mean man's ability to think itself, is a flimsy outline of reality. The more you grasp at it the more reality slips between the fingers of your mind.
This article explains why your thought-wish about what Ukraine should do is wrong. 
I understand your feelings. These are not wrong.  Feelings tell us when something is off kilter, when something is out of alignment, when something is dangerous! 
I wish there was no war in the world too.  
But wishing and seeing what is really happening to real people in real time are two completely different things. No amount of wishful ideas that have not dived nearly deep enough inside the human psyche can accurately articulate reality or make a thought-wish
Reviving a Yalta Conference mindset, but from the left, these ostensible progressives refuse Ukrainians agency, oppose U.S. armed involvement, and yet believe that the United States has the power and right to parcel out Ukrainian land in exchange for peace in Ukraine. In the heart of this perverse leftist anti-imperialism lies the un-imperial impulse to wield imperial power but only, ostensibly, in the name of peace—no matter the will of the locals. -- Why America’s Far Right and Far Left Have Aligned Against Helping Ukraine; The discourse surrounding Russia’s war on Ukraine has created strange bedfellows.

Righteous Rage

Rather than act like a grown up and have a discussion with me, this “friend” taunted and teased me about his opinions about Ukraine knowing how worked up I would get whenever he brought it up or the subject came up. He thought it was fun.

This “friend” is no longer my friend. I have decided he is a narcissists himself. In a nutshell, I exploded. In searching to understand myself, I encountered this meme about INFJs and Anger. I am an INFJ and this is exactly what happened, and for damn good reason.

From Quora INFJ Group
He’s a baby man who made the mistake of telling me (after coming to crash at our house without telling us far in advance that he needed to do this) that he did not support the US continuing to help Ukraine and wanted US to make Russia and Ukraine settle, being perfectly fine with letting Russia take territory and anything else Putin wants to take.
I could go on and list all the babyish qualities he clings to as a 70 year old man, but then I would fall ever closer into the category of a very angry (indeed raging) INFJ.
Let’s just say I tolerated him for 9 days and nights and my husband’s running away from the responsibilities taking care of this Baby Man under the auspices of helping our friends who are Ukrainian refugees. Yes, I feel very deeply the injustice of what Russia is inflicting on Ukraine. And, I feel this is not a time for the world to blink and look away.
We are right now (the entire world) staring down the glut of monster. We have seen this monster before… many times…Stalin, Lenin, Hitler… it goes back thousands and thousands of years.
Putin (and all Ruthless Rulers before him) embody the Beast of Greed, Selfishness, & Fascism... We feed the beast with our Time & Attention… The Beast is Driving Us All to the End of the World… We all know this! If we choose to be UNCONSCIOUS about this REALITY, then we feel it as FEAR, ANXIETY, DREAD. The only people HAPPY about the Direction Dictatorial Rulers are taking the WORLD are Narcissists… the same EVIL Creatures that Putin IS!
And yet, here we are again, and there are some of us (many of us) on this precious planet pretending it’s not there and let’s just get back to being play boys and business as usual…
This is how we lose the planet… because this is the same attitude preventing global action on climate change.
And, then we little, stupid INFJs have to make such a big deal about these injustices… that’s what my friend did… then I exploded. I scared myself!

All personalities (all people who have not been hollowed out by narcissism or turned into Flying Monkeys for a narcissists) are capable or Righteous Rage. If we can’t tap into it now, God help us all.

What Kind of World Do You Want to Live In?

So, I got rid of my “friend”. I’m not sure I can put Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are Rashida Tlaib into the narcissists box as my baby friend is, but the United States of America can surely walk and chew gum at the same time.

I think these individuals are falling victim to the narcissists’ game. Narcissists want us to believe there isn’t enough to go around.

They want us to think there isn’t enough money to deal with balancing the national budget and to help Ukraine fight the war. They want us to believe there isn’t enough money to feed all the hungry people in the US and help Ukraine fight the war. They want us to fear there isn’t enough money to fight racism and gun violence in the US and help Ukraine fight the war.

It does seem this way because every time Mitch McConnells or that guy who is Speaker of the House gets control of their body of congress, they are busy making policies and crafting legislations designed to stuff more money into their own pockets and the pockets of the rich friends (aka — Flying Monkeys).

Not having enough money is exactly what narcissists who are in power want you to think!

If you think this, they have won!

There is plenty of money to stop all wars and fed the entire world, if we wanted to do such a thing. We just need to dig is out of the claws of narcissistic billionaire like Elon Musk and Rage Entertainers such as Trump, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Steve Bannon.

The Narcissists Game

Narcissists all over the world play this stupid game. They play it with people’s lives. Lives and people are merely things to be used to get whatever the narcissist wants. And if the narcissist doesn’t get it, they go into rage mode.

That is really all they are good at doing… Raging like Toddlers or little ducks whenever they don’t get what they want.

What Is Narcissistic Rage?
Bouts of rage when not given the attention they feel deserve.
Screaming and yelling.
Angry or explosive outbursts.
Intense anger.
Sudden fits of anger.
Becoming verbally or physically aggressive.
Inability to control the rage.
Intentionally trying to inflict pain (emotional or physical) on others.

Do you want a toddler running your house?

We have to stop standing around wringing our hands, twiddling our thumbs, and wondering what to do whenever we hit global inflection point such as Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, climate change. We know what needs to be done.

We need to do it!

Black Panther Sirens + [Slowed + Reverb] + (Best Part Loop)

Rather than succumbing to the mesmerizing, hypnotic Call of the Sirens inside your mind–fear, confusion, trepidation–the things narcissists purposefully trigger with their double-speak and mythic narratives. It is all part of the illusion to fool you into complacency and into playing the narcissists game.

We all hear their songs: “There isn’t enough money. We’re going to start WWIII. This isn’t our war! It’s not our concern. Go away people in need.”

But the best way to do away with them, is to turn around and a face them straight in the eye. Under the scrutiny of a unified soul, heart, and mind, such hypnotic songs will fall silent and the hard work of routing out corruption can continue, everywhere, all at once!

Perhaps we are at the end of the story of how civilizations function in the world, but perhaps, this is just where we are supposed to be, so we can get down to writing a better story of Earth.

At the End of the World on the Very Last Day| Music: At the End — A mix for the end of the world (part. 1) The National Parks | Final Archetypal Animation for The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Tranströme, which was my Winter Solstice blog for December 21, 2021

This poem is actually a very fitting poem for this blog and subject matter dealt with throughout. We do need the world to end as we know it now. We need it to end, so we (the Good People of Earth) can starting working on and bring in a new story of Earth with new characters who are not hollowed out by narcissism, greed, and half-baked plans. There are after all, far more good people of Earth than evil people. That’s another game the narcissists play on us… they pretend there are more of them and they are bigger and badder than the rest of us… but that is just another big fat lie. They are scaredy cats. They are far more scared of us than we are of them. Ukraine is showing us that Good People of Earth! Listen and Learn and Live a Better, More Peaceful Life! After getting rid of the Monsters — there is no peace while they stomp all over our beautiful planet!
These Are the Creeps Who Want the US to stop helping Ukraine rid the World of a Monster.
They are Narcissists, just like the Putin Monster.

These are just a few of the Greedy, Dumb, and Selfish Fools, a bunch of shallow narcissists, who want the US to let Putin crush Ukraine. They want the WORLD to live in eternal darkness, just like Putin wants. They need darkness to maneuver and manipulate people. They need to maneuver and manipulate so they can have more than anyone else, more than they deserve. They steal from the helpless, the weak, the sick, the poor so they can have MORE, MORE, MORE of everything in the World, which of course inside their tiny selfish minds, was made for them to devour!

But they are a very small minority of the world, consisting of less than 5% of the entire population of Earth. This is what my friend from Ukraine told me (about these fools who are a very small minority), and I believe her. Indeed, I feel the truth in what she says. She is INFJ just like me.

The U Shaped Theory explained above is really our Super Polarized World right now. The Creeps on Either End of the Sphere all want the same thing (that is why they are aligning on the issue of Ukraine). They want deep down for the World to Walk, Talk, and Quack like they do. In short, they want the World to Look the Way They Want it to… which is the very particular way they have figured it ought to look and act (due to their particular brilliance) and calculated it should be arranged (based on their superior values). What they are failing to see is that they are acting like a dictator who is dictating to others how the World should be.

Now, there are latitudes to Polarization, so many people with passionate causes fall in varying degrees closer and closer to the middle, which is where most of the World lives… the Middle Way, a very ancient Taoist idea that we should all reacquaint ourselves with NOW. To live in the Middle, a person must not only think, but feel. Not only understand outer reality, but one’s inner reality. A person who lives in the Middle must be willing and able to Trust, Cooperate, Listen, Empathize, Share. This is how MOST People live, even today… BUT the Narcissists would have us believe otherwise, and they do incredible things (like invade other countries) to get us to believe the world is a Cruel, Dangerous, Hideous place…. but it is only that way because they are making it so!

Note about Mitch McConnell: He does not promote the idea that US should stop helping Ukraine. He has publicly said to his Republican Entertainment Specialists that they should wake up. But he does belong in the Polarized South because he has not spoken up against the lies, deceits, double-talk, and efforts of Trump and his Flying Monkeys to overthrow the 2020 election. YES, Trump is a Flying Monkey of Putin, and Flying Monkeys tend to be Narcissists or people who are well on their way to becoming Narcissists. Most little narcissists have their own little group of monkeys who entertain and help them bring about their EVIL plans.

The Beast of Fascism is RIGHT here in America with 30% of US population itching for the next Civil War… stupid, ignorant fools that they are convinced by the lies and deceptions of creatures like Trump, Green, Holly, Carlson, and many others!

Alan Watts said often (and it is an ancient saying): “The Path to HELL is Paved by the Stones of Good Intentions… All the Do Gooders in the World trying to make the world they way they want it to be… never able to deal with it the way it really is.”

If you missed my blog last year, you can read Ukraine Letters, here.

Comment from a friend about this blog:

What do we do when we see injustice, cruelty, inhumanity? What emotion would compel us to stand up and fight for what is right? What if not righteous anger?

My response:

You are absolutely RIGHT!
And I realized that Leonard Cohen in the last album he recorded before his death told us exactly how to use Righteous Anger in moments like these.
The entire world learned back in 1945 what needs to be done in moments like these.
Sadly, too many people have forgotten the lessons learned by our fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers (many of whom did not survive these ancient times; I say ancient tongue and cheek, given the speed at which our technology propels and forces most of us to live our lives in the world today).
Ukraine is showing us (the Free World) what to do if we want to stay free.
WE KILL THE FLAME... this is what Cohen sings in his song You Want It Darker...
I use this song in one of the Archetypal Animations shared above. The one with Putin sitting on a train staring at his reflection, which is Hitler. (Sorry whoever owns Cohen's collection. I see the copyright claim on YouTube, but I did use a free sample available on Spotify.  Supposedly, these samples are made available to market Cohen's legendary work?!)
Putin lite the Flame of Evil. Do you know what Evil is?
Evil is Live spelled backwards. It is anti-Live. He is a force that destroys the environment necessary to support life... that is evil. Nature can be evil, consider the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost by a destructive event of nature, which destroyed the conditions necessary for life.
Now days, we don't hold Nature responsible for Her actions... death is a natural part of life and when we are born into the world, there is no guarantees we will live a long life. Ever since we became conscious as a species, we have known this and it terrifies us.
However, when a person (who knows what is necessary to sustain life) takes away the environment and self-agency every living being needs to survive... now, we get to a conscious choice that has been made. We have called such choices and such actions EVIL for as long as man has been civilized.
Putin is consciously raining death, terror, and destruction daily on the beautiful people of Ukraine. He wants the World to Be a Darker Place. That's what Creatures like him need to feel powerful and in control.
So WE KILL THE FLAME of Evil, which is what he is manifesting in our world right now.  
To KILL a MONSTER, you need a MONSTER. Our version of MONSTERS in our Modern World is technology... yes, it is very scary... yes, Putin is such a man who could push the button... but WE must stare him down and match him punch for punch with EVIL... might I say Righteous Evil?!!
All this is pouring into the Book I write (been writing for too many years, as you well know)... it is too much to explain in a comment on FaceBook. I know I am coming across as scary right now. I do apologize, but I've been through my own Hell and Survived it. I am trying now to communicate and help others survive Hell when it comes to visit... and it is coming... if Putin doesn't get us... Climate Change surely well.

Feature Archetypal Animation

Fantasy Planet Moon Light Magic Woman Hand | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #282

Silhouettes Man Psychology Shine Circles | geralt | Gerd Altmann  •  Freiburg/Deutschland  •  Member since Sept. 15, 2012  •  #30

Clock Pocket Watch Pendulum Commute Swing | geralt | Gerd Altmann  •  Freiburg/Deutschland  •  Member since Sept. 15, 2012  •  #30

Hand Flag Symbol Ukraine Kiev Ukrainian Kyiv | David_Peterson | David Peterson  •  Age 40  •  Canberra/ACT  •  Member since March 6, 2017

Putin and Missle — See blog April 2022

The End Of The World Walk On Water Young Woman Green | xusenru | Khusen Rustamov  •  Age 29  •  Samarkand/Uzbekistan  •  Member since Dec. 30, 2015

Music: End Of The World Ushuaia & The Wanderlust Orchestra [1] Prologue    0:36

Ducktators & Other Quacks of History

Image From:

Image From: Caesar Rubber Duck | Amsterdam Duck Store

Image From: Henry VIII rubber duck | Royal Armouries

Image From: Duck Napoleon — Daria Kolosova, Russia, 2022 | Singulart

Image From: Coming soon: The Adolf-Hitler Rubber Duck | Duck Planet

Image From:

Shenziholic's avatar

Adolf Hitler as a Duck — Published: Feb 27, 2007 by Shenziholic

Image From: Lenin Duck by

Mayana Nasybullova

Artist Mayana Nasybullova

Image From:

Sicksikmans's avatar

Joseph Stalin Duck — Published: Dec 29, 2013 by Sicksikmans

Image From:

TochFire79's avatar

Vladimir Putin the Duck Rider | Published: Mar 23, 2015 by TochFire79

Image From: Crying Fowl: Russia Mocked In Memes After Bulldozing Geese — August 17, 2015 14:42 GMTBy Anna Shamanska

Image From: President Xi pays visit to Inner Mongolia — China Daily

Music: Barbra Streisand – Duck Sauce | Barbra Streisand (Original Mix)   

Who Is The Monster

Image From: OPINION: Did we tolerate Hitler? How long will we tolerate Putin? | Kyiv Post

That’s a funeral in the mirror, And it’s stopping at your faceThat’s right, it’s come to thisYes, it’s come to this, And wasn’t it a long way down?” — These are the words of an early Leonard Cohen song aptly

Image From: Wagner head warns it could take two years to achieve Moscow’s objectives – as it happened The Guardian

Image From: Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 360 of the invasionThe Guardian

Image From: How Washington Can End the War — The United States is the only credible peacemaker capable of stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine. — Guy Sorman November 15, 2022 — CJ

Image From: In pictures: Six months of war in Ukraine | Reuters | The body of a soldier, without insignia, who the Ukrainian military claim is a Russian army serviceman killed in fighting, lies on a road outside the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, February 24.

Image From: What caused the war in Ukraine? 5 Oct 2022 | Joseph S. Nye | The Strategist

Image From: In pictures: Six months of war in Ukraine | Reuters | A woman fleeing the Russian invasion hugs a child at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, February 28. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Image From: In pictures: Six months of war in Ukraine | Reuters | A refugee child fleeing from Ukraine gestures when waiting for transport at Nyugati station, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Budapest, Hungary, February 28, 2022. REUTERS/Marton Monus TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Image From: In pictures: Six months of war in Ukraine | Reuters | A civilian trains to throw Molotov cocktails to defend the city, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, March 1.  REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

Image From: In pictures: Six months of war in Ukraine | Reuters | An aerial view shows a residential building destroyed by shelling in the settlement of Borodyanka in the Kyiv region, March 3. REUTERS/Maksim Levin

Image From: Can the Ukraine war now end only with Russia’s defeat? | The New Statesman

We should not assume that a quick conclusion based on mutual concessions is the best way to deal with an ongoing war.

By Lawrence Freedman

Image From: Russia-Ukraine War: What to know on Russia’s war in Ukraine — The Mainichi | A Ukrainian serviceman holds a baby crossing the Irpin river on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, while assisting people fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Music: Album: You Want It Darker Leonard CohenYou Want It Darker   

Putin’s Flying Monkeys

Image From: Coronavirus: Russia’s Putin gets vaccine but without cameras — Published: 23 March 2021 | BBC News

Image From: WILL WE EVER RETURN TO NORMAL AFTER TRUMP? | Vanity Fair

There is plenty of ugly fight left in Donald Trump’s presidency, which has already warped American culture. But it’s not too soon to contemplate a post-Trump challenge: tyrant-proofing the country, in case the next one isn’t such a clown.

Image From: “Trump In The Wild” Is The Nature Documentary We All Need | Sammiches & Psych Meds

The overgrown orange toddler has continued his mission to continually show his ass and embarrass America at this year’s NATO summit in Brussels. The news cycle has been a nonstop shit-storm of Trump’s bad behavior abroad.

Image From: Puppet Putin GIF | Tenor

Image From: Putin And Mini Trump GIF | Tenor

Image From: Putin taking his child out for a stroll… | Occupy Demorats

Image From: Total Control Xi Jinping | Cartoon Movement

Mr Xi has total control over China’s Communist Party, the state, and the Chinese military and dictates policy for the economy, development and foreign affairs.

Music: Wizard of the Hood (Collector’s Edition) | Violent J — Shiny Diamonds

Elon Musk Archetypal Animation

Image From: Elon Musk ‘donated’ Starlink terminals to Ukraine. U.S. taxpayers paid SpaceX millions for it. — SpaceX previously claimed the U.S. didn’t give them any money to send Starlink to Ukraine. (4/8/22) — Mashables

Elon Musk is a “Lair, lair… pants on fire!

Image From: Elon Musk: Starlink internet service now active in Ukraine (2/26/22) — KTLA5

The arrogant nerd can’t even make it a year.

Image From: Musk’s Starlink isn’t only option for Ukraine, Pentagon says — The Japan Times

Image From: Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it can no longer fund Starlink internet in Ukraine — Firm reportedly asks US government to pick up bill as relationship between Musk and Kyiv breaks down (10/14/22) — The Guardian

Image From: Male human anus close-up — WikiMedia \ Reference is to: “Everyone has opinions just like they have assholes.”

Image From: North Korea fires ballistic missile with warning to US, South Korea, JapanStars & Stripes

Image From: Musk Says SpaceX Will Keep Funding Starlink for Ukraine (10/16/22) — VOA

Lair, lair… pants on fire!

Image From: Twitter Misinformation Efforts In Danger with Musk Takeover New Scientist

Image From: Putin’s threat on nuclear capabilities presents challenges (2/27/22) — Boston Globe

Image From: In the 2020 Netflix movie, “The Midnight Sky”, what could be the cataclysmic event that decimates most of the Earth? — Bad Bart 2 on Reddit


Music: GOOD BOY GD X TAEYANG — GOOD BOY    4:05

American War: A Novel About How Damage Begets Damage

I was captivated by another Throughline that aired on January 19, 2023. This episode explores possible Extremist Futures as envisioned by Omar El Akkad in his novel American War.

Omar’s novel is about America’s second Civil War. He imagines 50 years into our future. A time when climate change has turned Florida into an underwater theme park and climate disasters devastate the world. His vision is very similar to mine in my novel Sapience: The Moment Is Now (not yet published).

In American War, the world finally understands that it has to stop burning fossil fuels and bands them–but it’s too little too late. The US is the last to band fossil fuels. All states agree to switch to more sustainable energy except Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. These three states take up arms, deciding they would rather secede than stop burning fossil fuels.

They lose, again, but what follows is a years-long insurgency. This is where his story is mostly centered.


Ignorance

Something Omar says in the beginning of this Throughline needs to be emphasized. He says, “We read to feel into another.”

This is how we come to know and understand each other. A country or a state (I’m thinking of you Florida) that bans books because they might be subversiveGod Forbid… they might give children ideas… is a system that seeks to keep its citizens in ignorance.

Break down the word: ig nor ance. States and countries that ban books are teaching their people to ignore what they see with their very own eyes.

And, people who are kept in ignorance are a heck of a lot easier to manipulate too!

He also says, “Story is the final act of Resistance!


Disturbingly Plausible

The New York Time’s describes his novel: “Omar El Akkad’s “American War” is a disturbingly plausible case in point — a tale of a future America torn asunder by its own political and tribal affiliations.

This is what caught my attention too.

Throughline plays some from the audio book of American War that includes sound effects. Had I not caught the beginning, I might have thought I was listening to real, on-the-ground reporting.

Omar’s story feels real, very real. It feels like it is already happening.

He grounds his story telling by his real life experiences as a boy in Lebanon where he was a witness to the devastation of war and what happens to people in refugee camps.

Omar says, “A society subjected by warfare is akin to moving backwards in time.”

Think of what Putin is doing to his people and to the beautiful people of Ukraine. Every image coming out of his sick ego trip is likened to images from WWI.

The Academy Award nominated movie All Quiet on the Western Front vividly paints the insanity of rich, powerful men who send other men to die for their personal power and glory. In this movie (and of course the book), Paul Bäumer and his classmates are just cannon fodder for a fatherland that has gone mad.

All Quiet on the Western Front | Official Trailer | Netflix

If you are having a hard time remembering the horror and senselessness of death of WWI, then watch All Quiet to remind yourself that quiet means dead. Watch as these young, gifted boys sign up for service and get pumped up by grumpy, old narcissistic men who stuff them full of overly romanticized, patriotic notions of war and how they are defending the fatherland. It’s on Netflix, so you have no excuse.


Euphemistic Fraudulence

Omar describes this souped-up patriotic messaging as euphemistic fraudulence.

Texas University’s McCombs School of Business published an article that was written by Robert Prentice titled: Euphemisms Inflict Collateral Damage on Integrity.

This article begins with the college admission scandal that caught up actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli in acts of fraud to get their children into the best schools.

Robert writes, and this is important:

In an earlier blog post we suggested some reasons, grounded in behavioral ethics, that might help explain why reputable people and loving parents became involved in these frauds.  The conformity bias, the self-serving bias, and incrementalism all may have contributed. The evidence disclosed in the indictment offers additional clues.
A euphemism, say’s Webster’s, is “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.”
Famed Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura writes of “moral disengagement,” suggesting that people, such as Loughlin and Giannulli, who think of themselves as good people can do something bad so long as they can selectively suspend morality for their activities. One way people do this is by use of euphemisms.  Bandura notes:

“Language shapes the perception of events and the thought patterns on which people base many of their actions. The personal and social acceptability of given activities, therefore, can differ markedly depending on what those activities are called. Euphemistic machinations are used widely to detach and depersonalize doers from harmful activities. Cloaking detrimental activities in euphemisms can be a powerful weapon.”

“Working the System” – Euphemisms Inflict Collateral Damage on Integrity
Examples of the “sanitizing and convoluted language” (Gambino) of euphemisms that have helped people make their peace with wrongdoing include the following:
  • Dead civilians = “collateral damage”
  • Mass firings = “right-sizing”
  • Lies = “alternative facts”
  • Burning down villages = “pacification”
  • Fraud = “creative accounting”
  • Genocide = “the final solution”
Empirical studies indicate that “euphemistic labels can psychologically sanitize unethical practices, facilitating our participation in them.” (Moore & Gino).

The World is Either Good or Evil

This is a lie. Every modern human being born today is told this lie.

Omar talks about how this idea is used to twist us into doing all sorts of evil things. It is a notion, an idea, a belief drilled into us since the day we are born until the day we are dead.

It is this very idea that the world can be cleaved into a good side and a bad side that allows us to be manipulated.

I would add it is precisely splitting the world into Good and Bad parts that lets us justify just about any abominable violence we can dream up.

It is also what allows ruthless rulers to turn plain, ordinary, decent human beings into killing machines and monsters.

Ruthless Rulers are already monsters and include men such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong-um, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Abdullah Aziz Al Saud, Bashar al-Assad, and there are many more (see the list of Current World Dictators).

World Dictators In 2022 By Location

We live with these monsters right here, right now on our planet. And they are pounding our world straight back to the Stone Age just as fast as they can.

This is a comprehensive, up-to-date list of the current world dictators and authoritarian regimes. In 2022 there are 57 dictatorships in the world. We define a dictator as the ruler of a land rated “Not Free” by the Freedom House in their annual survey of freedom.

What do you think? Are they winning? The Red countries that is… are there more red countries than yellow or green?

That is exactly what they want you to believe. But, perhaps you are beginning to sense out it is precisely this idea of division that is the problem.


Empathetic Liars

One of Omar’s characters is an empathetic lair. He is the character that goes into the refugee camps and radicalizes the kids there.

Omar says there is no such thing as exotic suffering, but empathetic liars make you believe there is. Empathetic liars parse the fine threads of what we do and what is done to us. Empathetic liars play upon the lack of self-agency in a place like a refugee camp (or one of Putin’s prisons) and use it like a gleaming lure to hook their targets–kids (or Russian prisoners) whom they plan to turn into cannon fodder.

Omar says, “People go to bad place when their self-agency is taken away from them.” And the more damaged a person is, the more their circle of Trust closes in, making them extremely vulnerable to empathetic liars

And that is exactly what autocrats, dictators, and pretty much most of the Republican Party in the United States are doing. Whoever they are…all close ranks around their strong man, hype their followers up on Fraudulent Euphemisms, and close the circle of Trust until only one man can be trusted.

And, there sure are a lot of want-a-bee dictators who desire to be the one and only man the entire human race can trust–Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong-um, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Abdullah Aziz Al Saud, Bashar al-Assad, or pick your poison.

Yes, Omar is very right to envision the coming of America’s Second Civil War! Heck, we might be staring down the path to WWIII.

I think Empathetic Liars is another name for Dark Empaths. Dark Empathy is not a good thing. Dr. Ramani does a very good job in this video explaining why all of us need to be on the look out for Dark Empaths and Empathetic Lairs.

The Dark Empath VS the Narcissist: The Signs | Med Circle

Reality? What Reality!

Omar talks about when a group of people believe anything they want to believe is real… you’re living in a very dangerous place and time.

Add the element of violent insurrection being a central part of a country’s narrative, and you have a tinderbox waiting to explode.

He admits he’s been amazed how reality has out did his fiction.

He warns, “There is a particular Force that when it emerges within a group of people, it must be stared down directly.”

I would add that when this Force is encountered: You cannot blink. You cannot turn away. And, if you falter, it will destroy you.

I’m writing about such a force too. I was reminded of a prologue I was playing around with to describe my story. I realize it is exactly what Omar is warning us about.

The Last DJ on Earth | I wrote and read the beginning of this video. My husband plays the Last DJ and my friend Brain (who has since passed) plays the Persuader

Will we listen? Can we listen anymore?

Feature Archetypal Animation

Image from: American War by Omar El Akkad, book review: Should be read as a cautionary tale | The Independent — This impressive debut imagines a second American Civil War set from 2074 to 2095 and is set apart from other dystopian novels because of the fully realised plausibility of the scenario 

Image from: Penguin Random House Audio | “Powerful . . . As haunting a postapocalyptic universe as Cormac McCarthy [created] in The Road, and as devastating a look as the fallout that national events have on an American family as Philip Roth did in The Plot Against America. . . . Omar El Akkad’s debut novel, American War, is an unlikely mash-up of unsparing war reporting and plot elements familiar to readers of the recent young-adult dystopian series The Hunger Games and Divergent.”
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Image from: The American Civil War, a Summary | AAREG

Music: 1865: Songs of Hope and Home from the American Civil War Anonymous 4 | [15] Home, Sweet Home / Polly Put the Kettle On   

First Archetypal Animation

Music: Heaven Or Hell | Don Tolive | [1] Heaven Or Hell