Paul von Hindenburg
You know you are living in the preliminary stages of a Military Empire when people running for office feel they have to enlarge their military resumes, in some cases, going from "none" to "some". If the perception is growing that the only people capable of being trusted are military personnel, we are very close to the days when Paul von Hindenburg, hero of Tannenberg, was elected President of the Weimar Republic.
These misstatements are not deliberate attempts to deceive, for if they were, the candidate uttering them in this age of intense scrutiny must be considered out of the contest for lack of any semblance of good sense. No, they probably are believed by the individual, who wants very much to believe in them as his bona fides for high office.
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6 comments:
Unfortunately, you're correct. Glorification of all things military spurs all kinds of people to want to get on the train even if they don't have a ticket. This reminds me of the curious notion endlessly trumpeted by candidates of both parties that they have x number of years experience in business, as if this qualified one for elected office simply on that basis.
I have been reading a lot recently ( and all my life...) about memory and perception.
We can talk ourselves into changing our lives and believe it quite easily, only tripping up if contrary data is brought to light.
The Man of Business theme is an real oddity. I always say that I agree with it, the Business Model being Enron, BP, Bernie Madoff, etc.
It's a curious ailment, don't you think? This making up of stuff that you supposedly lived but weren't even close. Does this not reflect a terrible insecurity or is there something else at work?
We don't like our lives, so we're changing them. This business of faux military service is relatively benign.
I believe I've said that we create reality, and I believe you have resisted this odd notion.
What we are seeing here is the process of "creation of reality" becoming like a river in flood, so that it obtrudes upon our consciousness. Usually, the process is so slow - like mountains eroding - we don't notice.
Things are beginning to happen very fast around here.
Hmmm. Don't recall resisting this idea, but then I don't recall things as a matter of course. At least right now, it seems to be an idea I could not disagree with if I tried. :-)
Maybe I use you as my all-purpose "straw man" to set up and knock down.
The idea has an odor of Hume versus Berkeley about it that is no longer relevant: the fact is the "world" is a construct and a process, not a given state. There are givens, but they are our raw material.
What is God?
I'm not really interested in the nature of God. He has his own private life, and I have mine.
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