Something for your Xmas Stocking

Odds and Ends

The Christmas thing!

It is Christmas Eve here in Tokyo-- which means it's a day like any other. Nobody except the foreigners are celebrating today. And not all of them either. At least not the ones who have to work tomorrow. Most will do as the Japanese do and wait until Friday when they can drink and party without inhibition.

Executive level corporate foreigners are another matter.

All of you who are celebrating Christmas--whenever it is in your part of the world – Merry Christmas.

If you are not celebrating, just love one another. That’s what it’s supposed to be all about.

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die. WH Auden

Auden hated this poem, particularly the last line. He was profoundly pessmistic.

I am not.

A note on Romania.

Democracy is as old as mankind itself.

We think of it as a governmental system but it predates governments— at least governments of the kind we have today.

The founders of the American Republic —who distrusted liberal democracy – borrowed heavily from Indian societies-- which did not have governments as we understand them-- but still had highly functional democratic customs and traditions making tribal leaders accountable and determining policies that affected the tribe as a whole.

The Six Nations societies were highly egalitarian with women's councils —as well as men's councils-- a level of participation that Western societies could not even approach for over a century later.

As I have explained in my special articles, which you can access if you buy me a coffee, what we call "democracy" in the Western world is system of representation which, among other things, served to ameliorate social atomization and regimentation of people at the bottom to create docile workers for Blake’s “dark satanic mills”

This was not the democracy that the Greeks or Romans knew. In an case, they distrusted electoral democracy.

Nor was it the democracy that dominated group decision-making for the first 50,000 years of mankind's existence on this earth.

Instead….

Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Ambrose Bierce

Liberal democracy evolved to soften the harsher realities of inequality and exploitation. It purpose was not to free people but to harness them to pull the carriages of the rich. .

Putin's year-end address

Ismaele -- whose site you really should visit-- pointed me to Karl Sanchez’s site-- which is also a site to keep up-to-date on-- for translations of the last part of Putin's year-end address— still available on Putin’s website So I've managed to get through the whole thing now. Yes, all four and half hours.

Since my current Special Article for coffee buyers is devoted to the concept of leadership and focuses on Putin and Xi as examples of specially gifted leaders-- whose unique abilities are defined by various forces, this year-end address is important for understanding not just Putin's character – what defines it – the driving forces – the core concepts and influences—but also why so few people fall into this “great leader” category. What other leader could do a 4 1/2 hour event like this - -unscripted without a teleprompter.

Beat perception

Human beat perception aint just tapping your toes to the music - it is a primary cognitive ability…In fact, it distinguished us from all other primates….

Putin’s speech has a beat —that tells you a lot about the heart that generates it….

There are two words that occur over and over again in the most recent year end address. They interpolate in way that reminds me somehow of jazz—a rhythm.

Heroes

One of those words is “hero”. Putin talks about “the time of heroes” for Russia. Not just heroes in the military – but in all walks of life. Not just men— but women—even children and old people — mothers, workers, doctors, grandparents, kids– all those who meet challenge and go beyond.

Maybe it’s because when Putin was growing up –he always dreamt of doing something “heroic” – of meeting a challenge, overcoming it, and contributing something of value to others.

Family

]The other word is “family”. Of course, he is talking about traditional families – mothers, fathers, children, grandparents and relatives – core groups in any society. The MSM suggests that Putin just wants woman to stay home and have babies. This is not the case at all — he wants programs to provide support so that women can have jobs and go back to school as well as have families. The USSR pioneered gender equality for women . But since its dissolution, things have been slipping.

Putin’s “family” concept is expansive. He also seems to be talking about entire communities as families –towns, cities, states, nations.

Yes, BRICS is a “family” concept. “Family’ connects us. We are not “pack” animals. We are “family” animals.

To understand the emotional import of all this you have to understand Putin’s background. “Family” figured large in his development.

Oddly enough, this concept of community overlaps with that of Xi Jinping’s.

Hopefully I can make sense of this in the Special Article— now over 4000 words long!

Cat Heroes

Xmas Eve tonight.

Please buy Ichi, Chappy, and What's His Name a Christmas coffee! Click HERE or on the photo.

The coffee will get you on the mailing list for the special article and you can get previous special articles on request in docx, pdf or epub formats