Francis Berger
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Why Am I Worrying About The Common Man?

3/31/2020

7 Comments

 
Over the past week I have come to the realization that I have spent far too much time  worrying about the fate of the common man - the John Q Publics, the Jane and John Does, the Mr. and Mrs. Nobodies, the Joe Sixpacks, and all the men and women of the street who have been, ironically enough, more or less banned from the street. 

The primary source of my concern is the impending systemic catastrophe barely anyone wants to acknowledge, let alone discuss. The birdemic panic has essentially knee-capped Everyman economically. The longer the lockdowns continue, the more acute the pain and suffering that follows will become. Some believe this will finally motivate the John Does to see the light. I imagine some of them will. Yet in my mind, the deeper the pain and suffering becomes, the more the material world crumbles from beneath the herd, the greater the chance the common man will recklessly hurl himself at the feet of the System and beg for mercy. (If, that is, there is any System left from which to beg mercy when all of this eventually comes to an end.)

In all honesty, I can't understand why I have been so worried about the fate of the average Joe these past two or three weeks. To begin with, I am not at all inspired by or inclined to the faux altruism and democracy that our civilization extols among its highest virtues. Secondly, though I acknowledge the existence of groups and masses, I don't particularly care for crowds and cannot bring myself to like or love abstractions like "the people" in any meaningful way. Finally, I know for a fact that I would not particularly like most of the people who make up that formless blob known as the common man.

Now, before anyone accuses me of misanthropy, allow me to stress that I feel no scorn or contempt for the common man. I am not one of those self-righteous bloggers who does little more than gloat about his own superiority while ceaselessly denigrating the masses as brainwashed 'sheeple' and the like. I accept the fact that most people are stupid, short-termist, selfish, vain, greedy, lecherous, and manipulable, but screaming this from the rooftops on a daily basis does nothing for me personally.

When all is said and done, I can think of many times in my own life when I have been stupid, short-termist, selfish, vain, greedy, lecherous, and manipulable. This does not automatically excuse these traits in others, but it does serve to remind me that I am human as well, and like all humans, like all common men, I have been prone to and will likely continue to be prone to shortcomings, failures, and yes, even sin. 

Hence, I have nothing against humanity, but I refuse to worship it. It is not an idol for me. I don't want to make everyone equal or ensure everyone's perpetual comfort and satisfaction in this world. To be frank, I have barely any socialist impulses at all. No, I think my concern springs from a different angle.

Though it's sometimes difficult to maintain, I tend to think of people as fellow children of God. We all have souls. We all have potential. We all have a purpose. We are all here for a reason. We are all here to learn from experience and to develop spiritually. Berdyaev once said that a single human soul is worth more than the whole of human history, and I suppose my concern for the common man stems from that sort of notion. 

I sense a great deal of evil behind the events currently unfolding all around us, and I cannot shake the feeling that these events are going to inflict a tremendous amount of material suffering upon the common man. This is bad enough in itself, but what really troubles me is the potential spiritual misery the material anguish may ignite. The near-future will likely become a mass winnowing of souls - and I get the sense that the souls of many common men will not make it through this process. 

And I guess that's where my concern is rooted. But then I remember that each person has his or her own individual journey, and his or her own individual choices to make. I can infuse my concern into prayer or attempt to communicate through this obscure blog, but when all is said and done, there's not much more I can do.

I can feel for the common man, but I have to recognize that this feeling can only do so much to save him - and nothing at all if he feels no inclination to be saved. I can attempt to communicate to the common man, but I must accept the communication will mean little if it is ignored. 

And I must force myself to remember that if what Berdyaev says is true, my soul is worth all of human history as well. On top of that, it is the only soul I truly have any semblance of influence over.

The rest is ultimately not up to me - and one way or the other, I simply have to accept that and loosen my grip of concern for the common man.
7 Comments

So Thankful To Finally Have The Opportunity To Live In A Diverse, Inclusive, and Equal World

3/30/2020

5 Comments

 
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For years the Left has done little more than agitate for diversity, inclusivity, and equality - or D.I.E for short. Fueled mainly by resentment, short-term careerism, and general idiocy, Woke SJW types the world over have vitriolically railed against perceived oppression, social exclusion, racism, sexism, ableism, and anything else to which they could attach the -ism suffix for the better part of sixty years.

If only the world were more fair and more accepting, they wailed. If only the powers-that-be were less discriminatory and less prejudiced, they cried. If only people would wake up and understand that everything was a social construct, they argued. If only people could understand that the only way to liberate chained humanity was to reject the very fundamentals of what it means to be human. If only, if only, if only. 

Well, I have great some great news for you, Woke comrade. The great struggle is over. The march through the institutions has ended. The emancipation you yearned for is here! Justice at last; justice at last! Thank the God you don't believe in, you have justice at last!

You see, the lockdown has achieved all of your noble aims in one fell swoop.

The lockdown has included us all and has rendered us all equal. Best of all, it has managed to achieve this under the banner of diversity. People of all races, colors, creeds, religions, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities have all been equally imprisoned. Social exclusion and privilege are of the past. Actually, society may itself be a thing of the past soon, but why mull on that now?

The entire planet has become one massive interconnected safe space!

Congratulations!

Isn't a wonderful feeling to see your life's ambition manifest in reality?

Hey! Why the long faces? What's that? This wasn't what you were aiming for?

But of course it was! You were just too blinded by resentment and virtue-signalling to truly understand that your ideology could have no other logical end. 

Well, it doesn't matter because your time is up anyway. The oppressors have no more use for you anymore. What's that? Oh, no, those guys were never the oppressors. No, no, it's them over there, the ones stomping on faces out in the street. You know, the people you were working for.

Now get this, they didn't really believe any of the stuff they pushed on you - they just used it as a means. The same way they used you as means. In fact, they thought most of the stuff was rather amusing, and they tended to get quite a laugh out of it. Look, I'll get right to the point - they have no further use for you. None whatsoever. 

Oh, and you want to hear something really funny? The real oppressors, the guys you worked for, believe in God! No, seriously! I mean, they don't believe in Him in the sense that they follow Him or love Him, but unlike you, at least they know He exists!

Yeah, that does hurt, doesn't it? Kind of makes you wonder what you were really working for all those years.

The planet? Sure, maybe you could chip in to help save that, but as far as I know, the oppressors are already taking care of it. I heard them saying something about people making supreme sacrifices.

Can you think of anything more glorious and just than that, Woke Comrade? Are you ready to make that sacrifice?

Maybe not?

Ah, if only we had a choice in the matter. 

If only; if only. 
5 Comments

The Establishment Starts Marketing Its Totalitarian Solution To Our Current Problem

3/30/2020

6 Comments

 
Note: This post includes excerpts from the mainstream news - those who averse or allergic to such things should probably skip this post.

Well, I have to admit - that didn't take long.

Excerpts from an article titled Gordon Brown calls for global government to tackle coronavirus, taken from The Guardian, March 26.

Gordon Brown has urged world leaders to create a temporary form of global government to tackle the twin medical and economic crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former Labour prime minister, who was at the centre of the international efforts to tackle the impact of the near-meltdown of the banks in 2008, said there was a need for a taskforce involving world leaders, health experts and the heads of the international organisations that would have executive powers to coordinate the response.

A virtual meeting of the G20 group of developed and developing countries, chaired by Saudi Arabia, will be held on Thursday, but Brown said it would have been preferable to have also included the UN security council.
. . . 


Brown said there had been resistance in 2008 to using the G20 as a vehicle for tackling the financial crisis, but that it should be clear to world leaders that there was no possibility of a go-it-alone approach working.

“We need some sort of working executive,” Brown said. “If I were doing it again, I would make the G20 a broader organisation because in the current circumstances you need to listen to the countries that are most affected, the countries that are making a difference and countries where there is the potential for a massive number of people to be affected - such as those in Africa.”


It's great to see all these people who saved the world in 2008/2009 are more than willing to step up to the plate one more time to save humanity from imminent disaster.

Bless 'em.

I love the inclusion of the word "temporary" when mentioning global governance there Gord. Very slick. 

6 Comments

The Roman Catholic Church and Lourdes - S.K. Orr

3/29/2020

0 Comments

 
S.K. Orr - a pen-friend, outstanding wordsmith, and recent Catholic convert - reflects upon the actions the Roman Catholic Church has taken in response to the birdemic crisis. 

The people in charge do not believe what they say they believe.

If the leaders in the Roman Catholic Church truly believed that the waters at one of the most important shrines in the Christian world are efficacious in the healing of the sick, they would have gone to war on this issue, declaring that the shrine at Lourdes would remain open, that pilgrims are welcome, and that the leadership would indeed die on this particular hill if need be.

But they didn’t do that. Instead, they aped what every other group, religious and secular, has done in response to this mysterious virus. The leadership of the Roman Catholic Church does not believe what they claim to believe. Actions speak louder than words.

This is all very personal to me and has been for years now. When I was a Protestant, I used to inwardly gripe that many of my fellow churchmen didn’t truly believe what they claimed to believe. I could see it by how they lived, how they interacted with other people, how they conducted business, how they treated the people from the poor part of town. I see this same pattern writ large in my life today. Every person with whom I work is a professing Christian, some belonging to what I could call severe sects. All of them are losing their minds, worried about everything from sudden death to interstate highway shutdowns to bread lines to the mark of the Beast. When they catch me just staring at them, they tag on a “But God’s in control of all this,” or even worse, a “This is God’s wake-up call to America.” waving the holiness pennant from the pews or the office chairs.

Over the course of my life, I eventually came to see the Catholic faith as the surest and most consistent expression of the Christian message, and I came to this understanding by way of an arduous, jagged path. I am not a real Catholic, not an official Catholic. I see myself as a Catholic of the heart, living in exile. So I cannot even be comforted by the things that most Catholics can draw on. In fact, those folks do not see me as one of them. I say my prayers and attend to my devotions and cling to my lectio divina and correspond with a lively collection of monks and other Catholic clerics, and I say the rosary and observe the holy days, all to maintain a sense of the holy in my life, a taste of the mystery of the spirit, a sense of connection with the God Whom I’ve been chasing after all my life.
​

And then I see the leaders of the Church which holds my affection pull a stunt like this. It’s disheartening, in the literal sense of that word.

I found it disheartening as well. Read the rest of S.K's post here. 
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Not Forsaken; Not Destroyed

3/28/2020

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8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
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Uninvited Guests - Jakub Rozalski
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

2 Corinthians 4:8-12
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How Long Before "Go Viral" Is Declared Hate Speech?

3/27/2020

4 Comments

 
Craig, a reader of this blog, brought up an excellent point in a comment on yesterday's post. He was complimenting another commenter for an imaginative phrase, and in the process managed to unearth gold. 

"the powers that shouldn't be" is brilliant. It needs to go viral! (BTW, is it still acceptable for things to go viral, or is that terribly insensitive?)

I am of the opinion that the ultra-PC nonsense we have all had to endure is waning and will occupy a much smaller part of "public discourse" (I hate that term, really do) than it has in the past two or three decades. Nonetheless, I imagine many leftist types do currently find the term go viral a wee bit insensitive and "problematic." 

On the bright side, the anticipated campaign against go viral might end up being the swansong for SJW types the world over.

Note added: Kudos to SF for his "powers that shouldn't be" phrase as well. 
4 Comments

The Dark Side Does Social Distancing

3/26/2020

0 Comments

 
Vader over at Junior Ganymede posted this yesterday. I had quite the chuckle. Perhaps you will, too. 
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0 Comments

A Microchipped Population Is Suddenly Very Conceivable

3/26/2020

17 Comments

 
Although I am generally open-minded to the ideas conspiracy theorists promulgate, I end up rejecting most theorists and their theories for a variety of reasons. For example, one conspiracy theory I could never bring myself to take seriously was the notion of a microchipped population.

While I could comprehend why a ruling elite hellbent on totalitarianism might attempt to implement such a measure, I didn't believe the kinds of conditions that would make such an obviously tyrannical and intrusive program viable could ever manifest in the world. In other words, I didn't believe the circumstances that would allow the Establishment to convince the general population to freely submit to the necessity of microchipping could ever come about.

Well, I don't wish to alarm anyone, but the circumstances required to make the microchipped population conspiracy theory attainable are currently in play. 

So strap on your tin foil hats and humor me as I indulge in a little speculative conspiracy theorizing for your reading pleasure.

Before I wade into it all, I must make it known right at the start that I place myself among those who firmly believe that the Establishment is using the current birdemic lockdown as a means through which it can advance its totalitarian takeover. Simply put, this is a power grab. The Establishment seeks to further enslave its citizenry. I don't know how it will unfold exactly, but I am certain that when it is all over, they will have become far more powerful and we will have become far more powerless. I also must make it known that I view everything happening now from a primarily spiritual perspective - that is, I am more interested in the spiritual ramifications of material events than I am in the purely material aspects of these events themselves.

With that out of the way, let's focus on the topic at hand. As I mentioned above, I never gave the microchipped population theory much consideration in the past because I could not imagine circumstances that would allow for a successful and unresisted implementation of such a blatantly intrusive and dictatorial measure. Well, the birdemic has changed all of that. Now I'm not implying that microchipping will happen - I am merely pointing out that the circumstances that would allow for the implementation of such a program are currently unfolding all around us.

Those who promulgate the microchip theory claim the Establishment will employ the technology essentially as a means of enslavement and control via micro-surveillance. The basics of this theory are the following: each person will have an unremovable chip planted somewhere in their body; this chip will serve mostly as a tracking device; the chip will also be able to spy on individuals (hear conversations or see a person's surroundings); the chip will also collect data about a person's mood, health, habits, etc.; the chip will serve as a cashless payment device which will be the only way people can buy or sell goods or receive payment for work; the chip can also be altered and deactivated, thereby changing or nullifying an individual's ability to interact with the larger network; the chip could also be used to end someone's life; and so forth. 

In essence, a microchipped population would be somewhat of a living paradox. Though it would appear free on the surface, it would actually be the most monitored and unfree population that has ever existed because practically all of its movements and actions would be tracked, traced, and, potentially, influenced. It would basically be a population of prison-free prisoners.   

Of course for the average person in the general population, none of this sounds appealing or desirable. This immediately raises a question. What could possibly motivate people to freely, perhaps even gladly, submit to such a clearly tyrannical program were it ever attempted? In the following, I offer some points that could be applied to our current situation.

Health and Welfare
  • a chip could offer a means through which an individual's health could be monitored, both by the System and by the individual in question.
  • infections or contagious diseases could be quickly identified making quarantines and other public health measures more effective and less disruptive, making the likelihood of future birdemic plagues slim.
  • a chip could also monitor other everyday health issues and greatly improve everyone's general health and life expectancy.
  • chips could provide screening possibilities for entering buildings or participating in public events of all sorts. Those with detected illnesses would not be admitted thereby guaranteeing "healthy, safe spaces" where those present can enjoy their time without having to worry about catching viruses or bacteria.
  • chips would provide a means through which parents could very closely monitor the health of their children. The health of other loved ones could also be easily accessed.
  • chips could also prevent the spread of other diseases. For example, sexual partners would be able to scan each others chips for signs of sexually-transmitted diseases, etc. 

Safety and Security
  • microchips could greatly reduce crime and improve law enforcement.
  • monitoring movements could prevent terrorism and mass death events.
  • peace of mind through the tracking of children and other loved ones.

Finance and Economics
  • a microchip could serve as a cashless payment method, eliminating the need for cash which, as the birdemic is apparently proving, is a catalyst for the spread of germs.
  • tax fraud and other financial crimes would become virtually impossible.
  • robberies and muggings would decline.
  • microchip finance would spread greater equality around the world by lessening the discrepancies among various currencies/economies.

I could list many more potential 'benefits' of microchipping, but for the sake of brevity, I'll end the list there. I imagine these apparent benefits alone might persuade some portions of the population into accepting microchipping even during the best of times, but I suspect the majority would still oppose the idea despite the apparent advantages it offers.

And I assume this is why the Establishment has not made any major attempts to push this agenda through in any meaningful way yet. But current events could provide the catalyst the Establishment needs to successfully push microchipping onto the general population (if that is, indeed, one of the Establishment's aims). The ploy probably would not work in generally good conditions, but they just might work if the deteriorating conditions currently developing become bad enough. 
 
How? Well, the old saying 'desperate times call for desperate measures' immediately springs to mind. If the Establishments succeeds in exploiting the current chaos to its own advantage, it could succeed in making people desperate enough to accept microchipping as a viable relief/survival measure. It could also exploit the deteriorating conditions currently at play to reset their System in such a manner that would make mandatory microchipping a necessity in order to participate in the System. 

The considerations listed above and general altruistic/welfare considerations aside, assume the Establishment makes microchipping a prerequisite for the common things that form the foundation of everyday life. In other words, the Establishment retools its System in such a way that it would be impossible for individuals to attend school, find employment, obtain or make payments, receive healthcare, travel, get married, join organizations, etc., unless they were microchipped. What then? 

And what if the Establishment manages to foment conditions via some sort of partial or complete financial and economic collapse that would make microchipping not only tenable, but practically unavoidable for anyone wishing to restart their lives or improve their individual circumstances? What then? 

Until quite recently, I categorized myself among those who believed microchipping as a means of bureaucratic, totalitarian population control could never happen. Yet until quite recently, I also believed the total economic shutdown of the world over a virus scare could also never happen. Nor would I have given much credence to notions like international lockdowns and social distancing - but these things have become realities - realities we are all currently living through. In light of these developments, a microchipped population for the express purpose of Ahrimanic control is no longer inconceivable in my mind.

Once again, I am not suggesting this will happen. I am merely pointing out that the conditions for this sort of totalitarian micro-surveillance have been set in motion and are currently evolving.  

Okay, thank you for indulging me.

We can all take off our tin foil hats now and return to lockdown mode. I'm sure none of this will come to fruition and everything will be back to normal in two or three weeks time.

If it isn't, it wouldn't hurt anyone to keep this microchipping thing in the back of our minds - just in case. 
17 Comments

The Establishment Loves to Rub It In

3/25/2020

0 Comments

 
You got to hand it to the Establishment - they really know how to rub it in.

They have deliberately plunged us headlong into what will certainly be the worst economic and financial crisis in a century (one that will very likely end in some sort of collapse).

Against this backdrop, I come across an advertisement on You Tube. The ad is for something called Master Class - online courses offering a range of subjects taught by supposed experts in their fields.

The one below features Paul Krugman teaching - wait for it - economics and society.

A single choice quote from the esteemed Nobel Laureate reveals everything: 

"The crisis of 2008 wasn't as bad as the Great Depression. And if you ask why, well, it's because we learned something."

The bad thing is, we will now be forced to live through all the learning Krugman et al. did more than a decade ago because, like it or not, we're all enrolled in the course.

Krugman et al. are forbidden from learning from experience. That's the price one pays for serving evil.

We, on the other hand, can and must learn from experience.


Like it or not, it's a part of our individual and collective spiritual destinies. 

Learn from experience and you'll have the chance to return the rub in the most meaningful way possible.  
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Captain Coronakiller

3/24/2020

2 Comments

 
I'm sure mommy and family blogs on the net have covered this extensively, but I often wonder how the current plague of fear around the birdemic ceaselessly being pumped by the media is affecting children.

Thankfully, the subject has not been a major topic of discussion in my home, but my eight-year-old is quite perspicacious. He understands why he is no longer allowed to attend school and though my wife and I have made a point of keeping media to a minimum in the house, my son still picks up small snippets of information here and there via the television or radio. 

During our walk this afternoon, he asked me how dangerous the virus was. The question contained an unspoken crux; I sensed it immediately. You see, my wife works at the local bank here and she is among the few people in my village who have not ceased working despite the lockdown measures currently in effect. I paused on the dirt path for a second and briefly contemplated how I should address the question. 

"Well, it might be very dangerous for some people - like old people who are sick - but for others it probably poses very little danger at all. If they get it, they might feel a little sick, but they'll quickly get better."

My son nodded, "If mom got it, she would get better quickly, wouldn't she?"

"Of course she would," I replied. I said this calmly, but a jolt of anger toward the media worked its way through me all the same. "But mom's not going to get it because she's important and she's tough. If she didn't go to work, people couldn't get the money they needed to buy food. So what she does now is really important. And she's too tough for that virus. It wouldn't pick on her. No way."

I wasn't sure if I had said the right thing, but my son appeared comforted. We continued walking down the path between the canola fields. 

"And you're tough, too," I said after a moment had passed. "You'd scare that virus away before it even came within ten meters of you."

My son scoffed slightly, "But I wouldn't even see it!"

"You wouldn't have to. What's important is that it sees you. And when it sees you, it's going to think twice about tangling with you."

"Why?"

"Because it would be able to detect your hidden superpowers."

"What hidden superpowers?"

"Well, I can't tell you what they are because then they won't be hidden anymore, but believe me, you've got the power to scare that virus away, and so does your mom."

"So I'm some kind of superhero?"

"As far as the virus is concerned, yes," I said. "So what's your superhero name?"

My son paused on the road again and furrowed his brow. "Captain Coronakiller!"

"A touch on the vicious side, but I like it." 
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