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sz's avatar

I think the 'radical madmen' are real, not 'poor dupes', but they were carefully guided and placed where they were most needed by 'occult forces'. A simple example: Pope Leo dodged the attempt to place a rainbow flag in his hands. By someone who was front row and close to the Pope enough. Pure chance, you say? I think the leftist zealot was authentic, but was placed there to compromise the Pope. The gesture was ignored, but had a scandal erupted, the 'poor' zealot would get all the flak. Forget who placed him there, with millions ready to pay to approach the Pope that close. Last, the entire Israel thing is geopolitical like the issue of the twin countries of yore (Yemen/Germany/Vietnam/Korea etc). Plus, U.S Christian bigots play along because they want eschaton right away.

Dorian Vallejo's avatar

Hey John, I like your overview and agree about the dynamics. Somethings related to this and your extensive work that's been going through my mind is Mackinder's Heartland Theory and later Rimland Theory. It occurs to me that these struggles over control of the trade routes goes back further than the Trojan War (Rimland - The Hellespont sits right on this boundary, acting as the natural divide between Europe and Asia). Mackinder updates his theory for a modern society but the principle is still the same. A chokepoint that bridges the two halves of the world island together has always been a point of conflict for every empire. Regarding Israel, you know better than I do that people need a story that makes them willing to die - and no story is better than religion. Which is why Israel was put there and supported unconditionally.

So, a Gibbon observation... to the people equally true, to the magistrates equally useful. Whether it's Israel now or Constantine's Dream of a cross, the story serves the purpose of an agenda that contends with limited resources. God subdues Leviathan and it get's used for a purpose. God reminds Job that morality has nothing to do with "deserving". In the end, something must die for life to continue.

Perhaps the hard part for us is that we want to walk away from Omelas because the cost is too great. So there's a lot of real or pretend dissonance. But the truth is, that's life (bare nake Zoë as I've heard you say). God made it that way, which is why Schopenhauer viewed life as fundamentally monstrous.

-Thoughts?

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