On obsessive writing

I think I am a bit obsessive. ASD people just can’t let things go sometimes.

This particular Special Report, Rage, Rage Against the Machine, is a continuation of the previous two reports. I finished it once— at just over 3000 words.

Then I left it and came back. And rewrote and rewrote and rewrote. So now after about a zillion revisions, it is twice the length of previous special reports at over 7000 words.

When I wrote commercially, it was easy because I didn’t care that much. And time was then $$$. Now, it matters. Matters a LOT! I want to DO something that means something. Lost most of the $$$—but meaning is forever.

Two in one

This special report is really TWO special reports in one — driven by events that we are all concerned about — the rise of new civilizational models in the “Heartland”, and the decline of the Euro-America model, if not its disintegration—and the possibility of war.

In writing this, I referenced Dabrowski’s theory of Positive Disintegration, where response to apparently insurmountable challenge depends on disintegration, then creative development .

This applies to people, but also to culture.

In those terms, China could not be what it is today but for being almost destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. Russia could not be what it is now but for the disintegration of the USSR.

Pathocracy

Another influence was Lobacewski’s theories of “pathocracy” .

Never before did I realize that mental illness could have the aspect of power, power. Think of it: perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become. Hitler an example. Fair makes the old brain reel, doesn't it?

― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

If you think the West is mad —it is because it is.

And yes I read the novel again.

Wolin: “inverted totalitarianism”

But there is a qualifying point that comes from Sheldon Wolin, who has left us many interesting essays and works.

Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler did not just invent their personae; they literally built the organizations of their respective dictatorships. Each system was inseparable from its Führer, or Duce. Inverted totalitarianism follows an entirely different course: the leader is not the architect of the system but its product.   
― Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism - New Edition

Wolin was pessimistic about the US.

 Any prospect of revitalizing democracy in American should not assume that we can start afresh…It is not morning in America. Sheldon Wolin. Democracy Incorporated.

The challenge for me was to take these ideas and make them understandable and relevant, adding context in terms of recent events .

So I rewrote and fixed things again today.

It’s late and I am exhausted. I will look again at the last couple of paragraphs and convert it to epub and pdf to morrow to zip with the docx file.

I have assembled the mailing list. Tried to reply to all messages! Thank you all who wrote to me, offering encouragement. You make an old guy feel useful !

Is this Special Report good? Dunno. But I have to try to make each special report…umm…”special”.

Mind you, my old friend, the Zen Priest said, “Enlightenment comes whether you try or not. It is really very ordinary”.

Current Events

Lots happening in current events. Yes, I have seen the news about the “leaks” of Israeli war plans, including Larry Johnson’s article. Hint: the “leaks” may not be what they seem!

Also: the BRICS Summit may not be exciting— but its effects will be dramatic in the long term.

What I wake up to….

It is getting colder here in Tokyo so Ichi likes to sleep in armpit. Likes the smell I guess. LOL.

Special article will be going out. Buy a coffee for me and Ichi (and Chappy!). That will also get you on the mailing list.