Ideology...

is Theft. Selections from Howard Bloom's 'The Lucifer Principle'. Pure brilliance:

pg. 171 - Humans rally around ideas because they solve some of our problems, because they offer the biological blessings of the illusion of control, and because they are the threads that hold us together in the vast network of a superorganismic mind, weaving scattered individuals into a cooperative beast of awesome power and size.

pg 178 - Humans grab at ideas because ideas knit them together in groups of folks who agree with them. They provide the comfort of companionship and mutual aid. That's one way memes [a cluster of ideas] seduce humans into their power.

pg. 182 - Superorganisms [like the amoeba] are hungry creatures, attempting to break down the boundaries of their competitors, chew off chunks of their opponents' substance and digest and redistribute it as part of themselves. Human conglomerations have an advantage over those of other species, for in their voracity they are driven by two henchmen: the meme and the animal brain.

Egged on by its co-conspirators, the ravenous voice of a superorganism calls out to charismatic men and women. Disguised as revelation or inspiration, it has spoken to humans as diverse as Mohammed, St. Paul, Moses, Hitler, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, Saddam Hussein, Lenin and the Ayatollah Khomeini. Its message varies. But under the many disguises is one imperative: gather a group together and awaken them with my words. Take all those who find themselves in the condition which I describe and weld them into a mighty force which will impose its dominion on a large swatch of the world.

pg. 183 - Hans Morgenthau, the political theorist, has said that men don't willingly accept the truth about human nature, and especially about political nature. The aim of politics, Morgenthau says, is not to make people better or to alleviate their misery. It is to increase the power of one man or group of men against the power of another man or group of men. Morgenthau says our enemies are never as bad as we make them out to be, and we are never as good as we think. We're convinced we're moral. And we know damn well that our enemy is only out for power and resources, but has no morals at all. Yet we, too, are out for power and resources. And our enemy, like us, has a moral sense. He uses that moral sense just as we do, says Morgenthau, to narrow the aperture of his consciousness and ignore his lust for power.

pg. 184 - Ideas do more than merely bond a group together. They justify that group's expansion. Like the hungry amoeba, the superorganism is anxious to grow. It is anxious to feast on the flesh of its neighbors. Ideas dress the act of cannibalism in the garb of rectitude.

Perplexing

It's quite sad that one can spend the majority of their current existence in front of a screen and keyboard, but never quite find the time or inclination to post anything of any real value or meaning.

Finding time - I suppose the Merovingian said it best.

Ultimately though, it's choice, the question must indeed be one of choice.

Solitude

There's just too much good stuff out there, too much that already captures the essence of so many ideas far better written than I could ever do. Case in point:

"Do I know you?

No, I am but a stranger...

...as are we all.

Lonely inside our separate skins, we cannot know each other's pain and must bear our own in solitude.

For my part, I have found that walking soothes it; and that, given luck, sometimes we find one to walk beside us...

...at least for a little way"

The Phantom Stranger
Secret Origins: Footsteps
Alan Moore

Memories

They've always fascinated me. Here's one rather 'comically' dark way to deal with them:

"Remember? Ohh, I wouldn't do that. Remembering’s dangerous. I find the past such a worrying, anxious place.

'The past tense' I suppose you'd call it. Ha ha ha.

Memory’s so treacherous. One moment you’re lost in a carnival of delights, with poignant childhood aromas, the flashing neon of puberty, all that sentimental candy-floss...

The next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to go...

Somewhere dark and cold, filled with the damp, ambiguous shapes of things you'd hoped were forgotten.

Memories can be vile, repulsive little brutes. Like children, I suppose. Haha.

But can we live without them? Memories are what our reason is based upon. If we can’t face them, we deny reason itself!

Although why not? We aren’t contractually tied down to rationality!

There is no sanity clause!

So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there is always madness. Madness is the emergency exit.

You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away… forever."

The Joker
Batman: The Killing Joke
Alan Moore

Starting Over

Coming soon to a screen near you, a blog.