Ideology of Power

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces a no-confidence vote today. The forex market once again slips into a short lull, coming off of anxiety over Italy's political crisis; but all signs suggest Rajoy nears the end of his reign, as the Basque Nationalist Party which holds the crucial five votes has said that it will support the motion tabled by the Socialist Party - which may propel Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez into office. It seems Rajoy had his chance to resign as PM, but an official from Rajoy's People's Party has insisted no such thing will happen. Difficulties for the EU (and by extension its common currency the Euro) looks to be extended and while the currency seems like it might be on the rebound, this episode might augur further weakness.

North Korea – South Korea relations have historically been fraught with tensions. This is unsurprising, given that both countries have been embroiled in a 68-year long conflict beginning with the Korean War in 1950. The Korean War has never been formally ended (no peace treaty has been signed), with the actual fighting ceasing only by virtue of an armistice signed on 27 July 1953. This agreement created the famous Demilitarised Zone at the 38 th parallel (separating North and South Korea), a symbol of the bygone Cold War and a reminder of a conflict frozen in time. It is at this border that North Korean soldiers occasionally stage their defections ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq3CXm9zCy0 ), periodically putting the Demilitarised Zone at the centre of international tensions.

Star Wars continues its line of SJW movies with the most recent Solo: A Star Wars Story, riding on a purported wave of success starting from The Force Awakens. All signs point however to the fact that this wave is flagging, as the novelty of a “rejuvenated” Star Wars franchise wears off and weary fans lament the lack of faithfulness to the source material. Hardly surprising, given rumours of Kathleen Kennedy’s pronouncements dismissing the support of male fans. While it is unclear just how true these rumours might be, the fact of the matter is that these rumours have gained traction and caused a fan backlash. The first Star Wars movie in 10 years – The Force Awakens – might have been buoyed by fan anticipation and nostalgia, but that repository of potential sales has been progressively sapped by consecutive movies ham-fistedly pushing the well-worn narrative of inclusiveness and diversity. As I have discussed in previous articles, this is reflective of insidious politically correct...

In this third part to the series of articles on political correctness, I discuss what may be done to reverse its tide and its accompanying symptoms. I understand that this might be wishful thinking, but the preliminary to action is planning. In any case, there is much to be said for excising political correctness from one’s life – anyone willing to take the first, personal, steps to become more frank and assertive, rather than wallow in a culture of self-pity and victimhood, will reap dividends in terms of social capital. What I mean with respect to the individual is simply: let others take care of themselves; you should be independent and a little selfish, even if it risks offending others. This culture of personal responsibility is no doubt antithetical to the dictates of communal values, but it is most consistent with progress and personal advancement.

In a previous article (see https://ideationstartshere.blogspot.sg/2018/03/purely-speculating-influence-of.html ), I discussed the possible connections between the pushing of politically correct agendas and certain events (the Florida and Maryland school shootings, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s belated recognition of no-go zone areas and the wave of #metoo harassment accusations). In this follow-up, I will scope out more broadly why political correctness is detrimental on balance – ie, when one weighs up the potential and actual pros and cons, the stark conclusion is that political correctness enfeebles the minds of the population and bring out their destructive tendencies.

The brash 45 th president of the United States has been given many unflattering names in the time since he announced his running for the Presidency; but the fact of the matter is that Trump is president, which begs the question – what can one learn from him? If the reader feels that this very question is ridiculous, I venture to say that he is not alone. This reaction would be, however, a manifestation of pride, which proclaims that there is “nothing to learn”; open your eyes to the fact of Trump’s achievements and the importance with which the world holds his words (whether positively or negatively, it matters not – it is the degree of impact which matters).

This is by no means a comprehensive study; rather, it is an appeal to common sense, the common sense to avoid the rubbish which clutters up so much of the Internet. It is in the Internet where opinions metastasize without end, where false information is passed on with a speed and ferocity overwhelming the nuanced truth. Never has it been more important to exercise one’s own judgment – by “exercise of judgment” I mean the process of balancing considerations and rationalising decisions, with an eye to making considered, sensible conclusions. I emphasise this because it is all too easy to fall in with the opinions of others, determined perhaps by one’s predilections and no more. This way of making decisions is no better than those of the Islamic Fundamentalist zealots, the ones who ultimately end up as suicide bombers, nor is it better than the similarly extremist Crusaders who were fuelled by religious zealotry and expansionist ambitions. Unfortunately, this sort of mass thinking has...

Note: An individual who advocates a position for no other reason than that his immediate neighbour does so is no better than an automaton.

I owe this brief discussion to an extract from Roberto Mangabeira Unger's 'The Critical Legal Studies Movement' (1983), pg 331-343. In it, Unger scopes out a legal theory and describes a programme he says represents a 'superliberalism' which 'pushes the liberal premises [of various concepts] to the point at which they emerge into a larger ambition'. In this, Unger displays a gross misunderstanding of fundamental human concepts - shared concepts which have perpetuated throughout history. From birth to death, human life has been seen as a striving, a going-somewhere. No credible movement has upheld stagnation as the means to perfect society or utopia. Rather, 'change' has been the norm, and Unger does correctly point out that '[a]ll contemporary versions of the democratic ideal... share a minimal core: the government must not fall permanently hostage to a faction...' Yet his answer is to sweep away all established social constructs, subs...

A ‘modern’ life, steeped in so many distractions, is one which stays unfulfilled because it is unfocused. From the moment we enter into the world, we are beset by distractions of all kinds, sourced from technological marvels that steal the better part of life and vitality; and we think we make sense of it, but only superficially. Worthless information is processed in billions upon billions of man-hours – the wasted potential of a stagnating society bent on self-gratification. Those hours fill a void created by boredom. Here is a loveless world, where love has less meaning because life has less meaning to individuals. Ultimately, our ability to feel love - romantic love between people as well as love of doing things (which I call craftsmanship) - is ruined.

There are many reasons why one would kill oneself. Many, if not all, stem from this root – (1) the feeling of worthlessness. A symptom of the pervasive disconnect between ‘aspiration’, in the most general sense of the word, and ‘reality’ is this niggling sense of despair and melancholy that could alternatively be understood as a ‘feeling of worthlessness’. The simplicity offends some; it suggests to others that it is a problem easy to overcome. It bears noting, however, that if the world we live in, with its myriad technologies, cannot easily grapple with this most insidious emotion, then perhaps a simple solution is nowhere in sight at all. (2) Perhaps looking at this from a solution-oriented perspective betrays a misunderstanding of people caught in the web – it may not be a ‘problem’ they want to solve. For them, suicide might even be a completely rational solution to apparently irresolvable conundrums. It is emotional distress weighed up against, and overwhelming, the capacity ...

The eminent linguist Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, pours invective at the accepted political narrative promulgated by the then-Obama Administration. Written before the possibility of President Trump’s electoral victory cast its ominous shadow over American politics, Chomsky’s book peels apart the hypocrisy of the American government, evident (provided, that is, one had the requisite information) since the onset of the Cold War. In an incisive and searing analysis of contemporary American policies, Chomsky persuasively substantiates his point: that America, for all its talk of morality and freedom, actively works against the proliferation of the values treasured at home. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent end of the ideological conflict, America has found itself embroiled in one military quagmire after another, destabilizing and radicalizing the very regions and peoples it criticizes for harboring terrorist...

Contemporary politics has been rocked by the advent of ‘fake news’ and the relentless circulation of ‘alternative facts’. One cannot help but mention Donald J. Trump, loved and worshiped by some, yet hated and scorned by others; his election made liberal use of the penchant to believe whatever was said authoritatively, regardless of the truth, with little attempt by voters to discern the veracity of any piece of information they were fed. This perception of Trump by his votaries, as the final authority on fact, was only buttressed by the vitriolic backlash of the mainstream liberal media, who became so blatantly skewed in their representation of Trump and (more importantly) of his supposedly racist and supremacist popular supporters that it only served to ossify their obduracy. I do not claim that Trump falsified and sensationalized a narrative and imposed it singlehandedly on his unthinking entourage; rather, while the statistics presented seem no doubt cherry-picked and exag...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan is one of those books that has contributed saliently to daily vocabulary: the phrase ‘Black Swan’ is now pretty much standard fare when describing such events, which though were considered highly improbable before it happened, nevertheless occurred with blinding ferocity – throwing a wrench in the predictions of those handy but misleading ‘Gaussian Curve’ models. The Black Swan proves an intelligent read, and rather than forcing one to agree, it shows its conclusions through a transparent process of reasoning and substantiation. The analogies are as entertaining as they are invaluable in clarifying core concepts, and unlike many philosophers who dispense with making their work accessible, Taleb seems to place great importance in making himself understood by the layman.

A.C. Grayling shows himself the consummate rational atheist in The God Argument , arguing deeply and profoundly his stance. His book is broadly divided into two parts; the first is dedicated to scoping out the arguments for and against religion and religiosity – the notion of a divine being that suppresses men's baser inclinations, Grayling says, is superfluous, even unnecessary. The second proposes a shift away from religiosity, or the penchant to believe in some god that arbitrarily imposes precepts onto the denizens of the earth, and toward humanism. Humanism, he argues, presents one’s moral and ethical values as the conclusion of one’s own deliberation and considered judgments, arrived at through Reason. After all, ‘that is what is meant by living autonomously – taking responsibility, thinking things through.'

It has been a rocky journey since election night, where (now President) Trump shocked the world in a miraculous upset victory over Hillary Clinton. The writing had been on the wall, and the complacency of the media outlets had obscured the root of the problem, making it seem as though a Clinton win was inevitable – a supposed fait accompli . As is always the case, political analysts and strategists, with the advantage of hindsight, have perspicuously adduced myriad reasons and factors accounting for Trump’s win. Whatever transpired, our business is in the present, where Trump’s first days have been just as controversial as his presidential campaign. Now the target for much invective, the most entertaining of which has been the Women’s March, Trump’s executive actions have spanned almost the entire breadth of his campaign promises, his most recent one being a temporary ban on all immigration from seven primarily Muslim countries: ‘Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen’...

It is obvious that different individuals have different and sometimes widely varying predispositions to taking certain perspectives. Such perspectives have given rise to categorizations of people as 'Optimists' and 'Pessimists'; it is almost a given that optimism is considered a crucial deciding factor in the success, happiness and even longevity. Overweening optimism, however, often blinkers a person to the pitfalls of life. The straightforward answer that optimism is always better than pessimism needs greater thought.

The deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile as a result of police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota respectively has violently refocused the scrutiny of the press upon the issue of police brutality. The inflammatory nature of the situation has been greatly exacerbated by its racial element: both dead men were black, and both deaths have been broadcasted across social media as irrefutable truth of white supremacist elements in government. Activists emphasize the uncanny similarities of both situations in which white police officers 'murder' black men in situations that could ostensibly be construed as misunderstandings. Indeed it seems a 'race war' is brewing, with armed, white police officers apparently abusing the authority invested into them by the state to kill innocent civilians. Nowhere is the backlash of the situation more apparent than in Dallas, where two snipers had engaged in a shootout with officers, killing five and injuring many more; the race issu...

An 800-page report and $7 million later, the House Select Committee on Benghazi has found no new evidence on the circumstances of the attack: more importantly for the Republicans, they are no closer to indicting Hillary Clinton or diminishing her presidential prospects. This is telling, given that this has amounted to being, according to David M. Herszenhorn, perhaps one of the most 'bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history'. The committee was led by South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy, who among other things accused Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, and the Obama Administration of purposefully withholding evidence and stymieing earlier investigations into the culpability of the Defense Department, Central Intelligence Agency and State Department in their failure to protect the personnel stationed at the outpost. Taken in its entirety however, the report does precious little to substantiate accusations of negligence on the part of Clinton; it presents ...

Training The beginner fitness-aspirant is usually greatly motivated, focusing on his objectives with admirable single-mindedness. Whatever the case may be, this initial enthusiasm never lasts for long, eventually being submerged by tedious workloads and distracting relationships. Consistent effort always leads to greater success and achievement than does obsession interspersed by periodic withdrawals, in life as in fitness. Dogged focus and supreme exertion hardly works if it fizzles out after a short time. To this end, it is recommended to follow an already established program rather than specially designing a personal workout plan – at least initially. This saves time and energy, allowing one not only to jump straight to what matters but also to become used to the routine of fitness and health.

Frederick the Great (1712-1786) (also Frederick II and the King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786) perhaps epitomized the 'Great Men' of history, whose force of personality and charisma left lasting impression on the German legacy. Possessed of a mysterious character whose true nature cannot be fully discerned from his writings, Frederick was a loquacious yet mysterious persona. Frederick harbored personal animus toward his militaristic, controlling father (Frederick William), not least because of the trauma he suffered under his care. The conflict between controlling father and wayward son was a recurring theme in the story of succession of the Hohenzollern family. Yet even in light of the perennial tensions between Hohenzollern monarch and Crown Prince, according to the renown historian Christopher Clark, ‘never had the struggle between father and son been waged with such emotional and psychological intensity’.

M uch ado has been made about freedom in the past 70 years since the world emerged from the tragic conflagration of World War II. The relations between countries, dictated by the New World Order that emerged then, still reigns today, reflected and observed in multifaceted international issues, through massive financial crises and in the grating conservatism of international institutions, which have acted more as guarantors of Western hegemony than as impartial custodians of the international interest. The 'Freedoms' we are fed and consequently influenced to praise are derived from Western, or more specifically American, values. Due to the relentlessly pervasive iterations of the Western way of life portrayed on every media platform imaginable, every country must be willing to cede at least some cultural or spiritual authority to the West, no matter how authoritarian. This is inevitable given geopolitical realities, but more importantly also because of its almost universal reson...

Despite the bluster of the Republican presidential nominee, it seems quite unlikely that recent poll results on the popularity and support of his campaign can universally be discounted. The recent ABC/Washington Post Poll brought matters to a head, showing an immense 12% lead for Hillary over Trump. Of course, poll results vary (probably a result of both sample bias or political maneuver, but in what proportion is anyone's guess), yet there seems to be a consensus no matter which poll one looks at: Clinton is firmly in the lead. Of course, with about a hundred days left till the start of the primaries, there is hardly any certainty about the results; the volatility of recent events attests to that fact. From the Orlando shooting to Brexit, to the resulting fallout in the financial markets where more than $2 trillion in equities was wiped out, the last few weeks has been spectacularly chaotic. Politics is a vast public undertaking, relying on mass communication to  galvanize  ...

Britain’s commitment to leaving the European Union (EU) was concretized today, legitimized by the democratic process. Having put the decision of whether to Leave or Remain to a referendum, the voting of which was held yesterday on the 23 rd of June, British Prime Minister David Cameron inadvertently opened the path to a British ‘secession’ from the EU; now the shockwaves of that decision are rocking the economies the world over, with Cameron announcing his resignation. A few minutes after the US markets opened, the DOW dropped 500 points, although the descent was arrested. The DOW Futures went down 700 points, and bank stocks have almost universally been adversely affected. There is no point in disputing the seriousness or the monumental nature of the ‘Brexit’. All the fears that accompanied the ‘Grexit’ scare attend to the current crisis as well, and perhaps even more, given Britain’s ostensibly more pivotal role on the international stage, at least in relation to Greece. There are fe...

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord was a French diplomat and renowned statesman who navigated the choppy and often lethal waters of international relations. His rare skill at diplomacy is even now feted by scholars and statesmen alike.

A large part of politics is concerned with advertising. It might seem slightly distasteful that candidates making a bid for leadership positions in society, supposedly people with firm moral fiber and incorruptible characters, could be involved in self-promotion. Yet it is a truism. The endeavor is steeped in accusations ranging from the extreme of racist or misogynistic, through hypocrisy, to lighter imputations of disingenuousness and lying. Self-promotion becomes self aggrandizement: promises to fix all the ills afflicting society from poverty to fundamentalism are made regardless of the capacity to fulfill them, made only to pander to the electorate. Grandiloquence must be held together by a minimum of coherence, but the good politician knows to control his rhetoric and avoid becoming entrapped in inflexible vows – in other words lying, but painting it in other ways.  That advertisement glosses over the truth or that it involves fabricating white lies and manipulating the prese...

The tragic event of the Orlando shooting, currently making waves around the world, poses grave but crucial questions to any person living in a heterogeneous society. Given that countries have been subject to the powerful trend of globalization since the 1970s and the corresponding large movements of people, technology and culture across borders, no country can ignore the implications of cultural and ethnic schisms. And that is exactly the issue afflicting America, that melting pot of cultures which has become polarized between the strengthening voice of radical reactionaries and the weakening moderate faction. The backlash is particularly marked against Muslims by virtue of the heightening fears of terrorism: the Orlando shooting, carried out by professed Islamic Fundamentalist (though it is not clear if he had official connections with ISIS) Omar Mateen, is the 'deadliest mass shooting in US history', according to Frank Bruni, and it constitutes 'attacks on freedom itself...

During my stint as an NCO in the military, I was tasked with the unenviable but essential duty of training soldiers' physical fitness to ensure that they were able to discharge their military duties.

The past weeks have been eventful in the way of celebrity deaths. Two in particular catch the headlines: Muhammad Ali’s death presumably from the medical complications of old age and Christina Grimmie’s murder by a ‘fan’ after a concert in Orlando. The latter is this article’s principal consideration, but both are important in scoping out the nature of fame and its relation to the media.

In the course of a life, one always manages to find certain recurring personalities. Whether influenced by the familiar rhetoric espousing liberty or rejecting its teachings, more people than ever seem committed to vociferous argument. It is unclear whether this is symptomatic of a Western litigiousness or a mere consequence of the knowledge revolution (courtesy of the Internet), but the clamour is undeniable. Where political correctness holds sway, people argue that they lack rights, that rights are contravened and that they have been victimized every which way. This argument is reiterated until people no longer think it, they believe it. This belief spills over into cultish behaviour, and sometimes morphs into zealotry. Such people argue to be given certain rights or success on a silver platter for no other reason than that they feel they deserve it. This is the excess of self-confidence that one is liable to find today. Yet the lessons of History teach us that balance - the abi...