A new kind of war

On occasion, mariner has opined that bullet wars are passé. The term ‘bullet wars’ means using explosives and physical destruction even to the point of genocide. In today’s headline news (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2024/12/03/romania-tiktok-and-the-future-of-democracy-00192427 ), a very clear example of a ‘modern’ war is occurring in Romania where the voting population has been swamped by political misinformation via TikTok. The result is that an anti European Union, anti NATO candidate likely will receive a winning vote in the upcoming election. That candidate is virtually unknown Călin Georgescu who, by the way, is a friend of Vladimir Putin. He may win the election despite the protests both of liberal and conservative parties in Romania. The weapon: social media – not bullets and not even much campaign cash.

The ramifications if Georgescu wins are troublesome. The map of the European Union below tells the story:

Note that Ukraine is sandwiched between Russia and Romania. Further, the EU and its military arm NATO are growing old and disruptions to that union could swing the general western world into a difficult situation.

In the United States, while Constitutional processes barely survived, there is no question that it was social media that undercut the liberal block of voters. What is different about the US is that this nation is much richer than Romania so big money had to play a role.

1. War is hell     2. Democracy starts in the local community, not on the smartphone.

Armageddon proceeds.

Ancient Mariner

Between gears

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Usually there is a sensation of rolling with gravity into the big holiday season with lights, parties, trips, going downtown to shop for gifts, and continuing on into the new year with sports, lesser holidays and finally crashing into one’s recliner to recover throughout Lent before the next life begins with Spring and taxes.

All this will indeed occur this winter but there seems to be a negative tone to it all. Maybe it’s an unpleasant odor in the air, or perhaps there seems to be a stumbleness throughout each day that takes its toll on “rolling with gravity”. In any case, there seems to be an overhead attached to rolling into 2025.

It must be that the liberating “fun and fantasy’ (mariner would say ‘gay’) experience has been dampened by the looming clouds of elections, wars and deprivation around the world.

Forget it. Treat this season like the prisoner facing the electric chair who can have any meal they want. Go big!! Féte is in our hands!

Ancient Mariner

It all started with small business

Mariner has noticed that a number of magazines, newspapers and other opinion-based sources are unifying behind articles about whose fault it is that led us into our social/political dilemma. Some in mariner’s family blame it all on Norman Rockwell whose art taught everyone how to live a Victorian life in modern times, that is, instead of using each homeowner’s yard for purposeful needs (everything from growing food to utilities for children and others who may need space) instead keeping precision lawns and trimmed shrubbery so they could pretend they are rich just like the Victorian oligarchs.

Others blame the Ivy League social structure which was a very clubby way to help the wealthier families possess the best colleges, get the power-linked jobs and live in the best neighborhoods (The Villages in Florida or huge estates in Hawaii) just like the Victorians.

Mariner’s regular readers know he blames the economic structure of the Federal and state Governments who squashed the ability for middle and lower classes to make a fair living amid all the plutocracy.

But things wouldn’t change without a growing imbalance, would they? Back in the earliest times, change was provoked when one army beat another army – killing and destroying along the way. Just as too many guns kill children in schools, too many guns around the world still provoke ‘bullet style’ wars in many countries when there are many other ways to disrupt a nation even more effectively (destroy computer networks, power grids, even influence elections, etc.)

History teaches that there is a finite link between change and consternation. The North American Indian blamed white people; Mayans and most of South America blame Spaniards; Biblical Jews blame the Greeks, Romans and Iranians; Formosans blame the Japanese and Chinese; South Korea could, if it chose, blame the United States.

But it all began when a few nomadic travelers left Africa to grow more wheat than they needed and traded or sold the extra so they could stay where they were, own property, and did not have to migrate from place to place to find supper. Now there were two classes: business and migrant.

Today there are many variations of each but they all started with small business around the Mediterranean.

Ancient Mariner

The experiment comes to an end

Mariner has spent the last ten days living alone. His wife went to California to help with our newest granddaughter. His wife returns tomorrow. Recent posts reflect what mariner observed during his own ‘shut in’ experience. Below are some firsthand observations.

• It was a good time to update mariner’s alter ego, Chicken Little. Contemporary history has eliminated innocence in daily life. No one is surprised at anything that happens today. But neither is there is any relief in looking forward. There seems to be no way back to cultural or governmental stability. The new alter ego is Nosey Mole – a survivalist. It is a time when one draws closer to the safe, close by values – neighborhood, family and helping to keep everyone alive.

• When Trump won the election, it was like tearing the scab off a large wound too soon. Mariner had a good idea what would transpire over the next 18 months. Challenges, abuse of public trust, plutocratic spasms and the dismissal of any moral obligation to a national democracy. He stopped listening to the news from every source. To this moment, the affairs of the world are unknown to him.

• Left only with non-news broadcasting, it became obvious that, in reality, there wasn’t anything worth watching. Mariner turned off the television except for select gardening shows and a few British mysteries. In a rare moment, he may find a worthy documentary. These educational documentaries are lost among the mishmash of entertainment from the last century and new broadcasts one has to pay to watch, as if the viewer were going to a sporting event.

• It was not hard to abandon the television. Entwined with social media and deep fake technology, there is no interest by broadcasters to support the moral good of the viewer. So what to do with his time? Fortunately, he virtually is a full time gardener. Given a full day’s length of time, the garden provided some distraction. Still, he became aware of the blank space in which one has only empty time. Having too much of this non-dimensional space is like taking opiates – there is no reality. It’s as if a ship lost its rudder but keeps sailing.

• Being alone on a continuous basis also distorts meals, sleeping patterns and daily chores. Breakfast is a slice of spam; a nap may last most of the day; daily chores are put off. (Mariner must admit that he knew his wife would return shortly so he kept up his daily chores for fear of negative judgment).

• There were a few opportunities to visit other people. Neighbors and relatives fed him and checked to see if he was okay. Fortunately, he has the Blog to exercise emotional perspective and to express his opinions. His final observation, however, is that for the moment, Nosey is right in staying close to what is personally important: survival.

Ancient Mariner

Interview with Nosey Mole

Among the headers of his posts at the top of the post page, mariner had a description of who he was, the reason for writing and an explanation of how three alter egos would influence his posts.  This description has been deleted several times so mariner stopped repairing it.

Nevertheless, the philosophical futurist Guru remains with us as does the skeptical Amos. The oft-frightened Chicken Little has passed away and is replaced by Nosey Mole, a reclusive alter ego who lives underground but pops up now and then to see what is happening. Mariner visited Nosey to get an understanding of his view versus that of Chicken Little:

“Welcome to the blog, Nosey. Have you settled in?”

“Yes, I have a fine set of tunnels under the root stems of your iris bed and under the Pecan tree” Nosey replied. “There are lots of grubs and the clay soil holds up well for the tunnels”.

Mariner asked what the difference was between Chicken Little and Nosey. “The main difference,” Nosey replied, “is that Chicken Little was an alarmist. Say ‘Boo’ and he would race back to his hen house. I, on the other hand, am a survivalist. For example, if I lived in the Northwest, I would be baked by the wildfires; in the South, my tunnels would become sewer lines; God forbid I should live in the Middle East or Ukraine – bombs aren’t good for tunnels. So I took this job in Iowa where nothing extreme happens.”

“What current issues do you worry about most?” mariner asked. Nosey said he ignores all the brouhaha about Trump and the democrats and further that the social issues will not be resolved under any circumstances. “What I worry about is me. What’s going to happen to discretionary funding (Social Security, Obama Care, Medicaid, support for retirees, Childcare, etc.)?”

Nosey continued, “I keep a close eye on my savings and budget, stay out of debt and make sure my insurance policies are in good shape. “Further,” he continued, “I’m not confident about the US economy because no one controls it. I want to see more tax constraints on corporations and venture capitalists.”

“How do you feel about the working class issues?” mariner asked. Nosey replied, “Right now, the government has the largest deficit in history and there aren’t enough natural resources to go around so the government won’t help – those folks better learn how to make tunnels.”¹

Mariner thanked Nosey for his honesty. Nosey quickly dropped back into his tunnel.

Indeed, Nosey is a survivalist. Like Chicken Little, he has a constant fear for which there seems to be no solution. His solution is ‘every person is on their own’. No doubt this alter ego occasionally may color mariner’s posts.

¹Note mariner’s recent theme of participating in community, family and supporting both with one’s own contribution. As Nosey suggests, this model may be the only way out.

Ancient Mariner

 

A new pet word

Seasoned readers know that mariner has a world class linguist as a friend. One of our pastimes is collecting words that catch our fancy. Most of them are American slurs like ‘jeetjet?’, or the word may be a ridiculously long and convoluted word like ‘hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia which happens to mean fear of long words. Mariner has a new one: peer. As an adverb, it is someone going to the bathroom; as a verb, it is someone looking with timidity; as a noun, it is someone who is equal to others; as a proper noun, it is the name of Gynt’s fancy hotel room. In British usage, being a peer suggests one belongs to an upper class rank like Duke or Lord; in the United States, it means that a person is accepted and equal in a group of others with similar circumstances – as in the democratic phrase ‘All men are created equal’ which, of course, has never been true.

Mariner came upon ‘peer’ nestled in psychological essays. The essays suggested that the desire to be a peer is a strong need to sustain the ego and is a core survival skill. One quickly can identify with this urge especially in school rooms; if classmates are not openly friendly, an individual may have doubts about their own worth in this peer group. A nuanced suggestion is that ‘peer pressure’ is at the foundation of human behavior in that it is a desire to have others accept the individual as a social member and to be part of the tribe’s protection against harm. So while the ego is sensitive to group acceptance, it also is the motivation for achievement AKA defender of the tribe.

Throw the word ‘peer’ into the political mixing bowl and one can see what drives social conflict. It has become common knowledge that MAGA emerged from a labor class that for half a century has been underpaid, lost guaranteed benefits and ultimately was not considered as successful as college graduates. Talk about peer pressure – from the white collar world!

To survive, the ego must be satisfied. it finds others who share the person’s disgruntlement and together launch counter attacks against those who deny their equality.

It turns out not all humans are peers and, will a computer ever be a peer to a human?

Armageddon proceeds.

Ancient Mariner

Where have all the humans gone, long time passing . . .

Evolution constructed a species that took 300,000 years to evolve into a super smart, super perceptive and superbly protective creature. With these sensitivities, humans were able to unite their efforts to develop civilizations far beyond the imagination of their ancestors. In this new century, however, where have all the humans gone? What has taken their place are argumentative Capuchin monkeys and threats of species diminution by computers. Is it time to begin another evolution cycle?

In the midst of today’s confusion, destruction and kleptomania, the future cannot be discerned. But there may be ways to apply a healing salve. Will our inherent sensitivities be heard?

The tools are at hand – literally. The future is in the hands of our hands. Suppose two families with intensely different political views, or two socially prejudiced views live next door to one another. One morning one family brings the neighbor’s trash collection can from the curb back to the neighbor’s house without coming into contact with that family. What does this gesture using the hands imply? Is it a salve? Will it promote a different tone between the families?

Suppose one neighbor learns that another neighbor has had expensive medical bills or has become incapacitated in some way. What happens if the hands make a gift dinner or cut the lawn? Is that a salve? Even if it is, will it reduce confrontation?

Suppose you have a sweet corn field. You harvest the ears, clean them, then drive around town giving them all away free to neighbors. Is this a salve? Will salves work?

An excellent example of hand-produced salve is the reputation the Amish have for building barns. The entire community gets together to help one farmer build his barn. That is a handful of hands! But just as good an example is Habitat for Humanity. It has been proven that both these building efforts, using many freewill hands, calms the waters of life for both sides – those assisting and those receiving.

Mariner is a personal witness to all the above examples.

Instead of focusing on differences, try using the hands. It’s magic! Instead of yielding to fomenting headlines, look for simple hand gestures that apply a salve to those around you. Become sensitive to fellow humans who will appreciate a helping hand. Let’s not regress to being Capuchin monkeys.

Ancient Mariner.

 

 

Retired and alone

There comes a painful time to many in life when the spouse passes on, the children are grown and away, and many friends are in retirement institutions or passing on as well. Perhaps ‘painful’ is the wrong word; perhaps depressed, melancholy, lonely and mentally unfocused may apply. There may be a strong sense that one is in a different time zone than the rest of the world may be. This is not an accident. It is in our genes: primates prefer to be among their clan, their family and have a desire to be recognized as a peer. Being among their kind perhaps is the strongest defense mechanism, a means by which to stay alive.

Disease and physical maladies take their toll as well. Caring for others is a motivation found not only in primates but in most mammals, many birds and fish as well. Even community-based insects show signs of willing maintenance for the community’s wellbeing. Even so, many humans are left to go on their own – perhaps a cultural phenomenon among blended clans (e.g., large cities).

There are a few behaviors that may sustain the human spirit for those left in isolation. Most of them make sense but the challenge from within is the gumption to do them. What follows is a limited list of things to do to ward off those feelings of depression, melancholy, loneliness and mentally unfocused times:

⊕ When one arises in the morning and has dealt with bathroom issues, make the bed – neatly and every day. It is amazing how much this sets self-discipline for the rest of the day.

⊕ Have a specific morning routine, typically involving opening the house for the day and preparing a breakfast meal. The morning routine may include feeding pets, watering plants, etc. If you are fortunate, you have a daily newspaper to read. The trick is to perform the same tasks every morning; short term memory may benefit.

⊕ Check social media, including email, to see what friends and family are talking about; it would be highly beneficial if you could join in! Let’s face it, one of the great improvements in society is the internet. Every retired person should own an inexpensive computer tablet or (shudder) smartphone for no other reason than safety. If you have a tablet, a cell phone will suffice.

⊕ While it is still morning, walk outside for 20 minutes; do not stroll but take a healthy stride that will stir the circulation system. Inclement weather, except storms, is not an option. Taking on the weather will add to your gumption. Resist deciding to skip walking for any reason.

⊕ If you are fortunate, your walk may take you by one of the following: Visit a fellow loner – stop in a restaurant to meet a coffee group – pick up trash – on the way back home, stop by your next-door neighbor or good friend’s house. (This may feel awkward at first but quickly becomes a favorite part of your routine – it could include a short side trip with them to the store or some other diversion. Don’t forget to finish by walking home.)

⊕ Prepare lunch. Afterward, a nap may call your name; keep it under an hour and a half.

⊕ Pick an organization to attend regularly. Many will choose a religious institution; consider a wide variety of groups like reading club, garden club, VA meetings, exercise sessions offered by libraries, YMCA, etc., golf and bowling leagues, etc. It is important to attend faithfully.

⊕ Tidy one room so it looks clean and neat. On another day, tidy another room.

⊕ Prepare supper. If you can afford it, an occasional dinner in a restaurant is a nice break – especially if you can get a friend to go with you!

⊕ Develop a past time that makes you think, solve puzzles, or how to go about doing a complex task. Most common are crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, small shop projects or reorganizing a room. Mariner has a friend that had a career in an office then retired to be a contractor. A few folks may actually take an educational class just for the new knowledge and social activity. Another friend learned about investment and did fairly well. But here is a handy task: make your own sourdough bread or some other intriguing recipes.

⊕ This may be hard to establish: go to bed before midnight, maybe as early as ten.

* * * *

So there you have it – a full day’s example of how to avoid the doldrums. Mix and match any way you like to accommodate your circumstances. Note the theme throughout: talk to people as often as it is convenient; get daily exercise; do some chores; stay physically active; care for others.

Yes, it is damned hard to get started.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

 

The new world ain’t so bad

As many, many voters have done, mariner has shut down news in its entirety. Not only that, he has removed television in general from his options. He and his wife spend one evening each week on a ‘date’ to watch British mysteries together. Other than that, the television sits dark in its corner.

After a few days of dysfunction, one begins to fill in the space with other options – everything from talking more often with family members, to reading books, to crosswords, to reading magazines, even to stopping to talk to neighbors more frequently. Did the reader know they could still go to the movies?

Slowly, the brain turns to other things not thought of in a long time; there’s that attic door lock that has needed fixing for years; building a clear report of family assets, budget patterns and tax detail; tossing out one million four hundred pieces of 8½x11 paper that has been cordoned off for most of one’s life; gifted non-viewers may recall knitting, crocheting, painting and writing. Two friends of mariner make jewelry.

There is time to restart your attendance to community organizations and social events. If he wanted, mariner could go to a square-dancing club; even if he wanted to go, his knees and vertigo would make a mess of things.

How long has it been since the reader washed their dog? Does that trip to a lifelong friend nine states away seem more likely? The point one realizes is that an awful lot of life has been missed while opting for television to fill one’s day.

Brain scientists say an inactive brain goes south faster than an active brain – that is, if the brain has to learn new facts or skills on a daily basis, the brain may likely go southwest – a longer trip.

Speaking from his own experience, gearing up a daily to-do list and be willing to execute it is as difficult as gearing up a heavy 18-wheeler.

But the good side is a feeling of being an independent person, not attracted and seduced by television and, if one is committed to becoming a busy individual, one may lose track of the smartphone once in a while.

Remember: psychologists say that happiness comes automatically if one is active in the community, loves one’s family and graciously works at supporting the least of us.

Ancient Mariner

Bats, Beavers and Bears

Regular readers know that in his younger years mariner spent some time as a preacher. One sermon he wanted to preach but never did because it would be confusing to the congregation, was a sermon about the common relationship between bats, beavers, bears and humans. Without needing to sustain a congregation’s comprehension, he may try to deliver it in essay format.

* * *

This topic rests upon the definition of survival, behavior and faith. They all are identical, come from the same set of brain cells and are managed in the subconscious mind except when rituals are performed. This phenomenon is identical in bats, beavers, bears and humans – and virtually all creatures in the animal world. If one is a zoologist, the common term is survival; if one is a psychiatrist/sociologist, the common term is behavior; if one is a theologian, the common term is faith.

Some explanation of brain function may be helpful. As a machine, the brain performs the same functions for BBB&H and other warmblooded creatures as well. The mastermind that induced brain function is evolution, a very slow operator that takes many, many lifetimes to change genome reasoning gene by gene to keep pace as environmental reality shifts. If one could watch long enough, they would see the subtle similarity as bats behave as bats, beavers behave as beavers, etc.

In the human brain, evolution took a strange turn and added a frontal lobe to the pre-wired, automatic decision maker housed in the subconscious. The frontal lobe has a brand new function: humans can imagine stuff that doesn’t exist. This puts a strain on the subconscious engine that actually makes human decisions. Humans can easily imagine that a fantasy actually is real and live by it even though it has nothing to do with survival. The bats, beavers and bears are fortunate in this regard.

The term ‘ritual’ is simply a visible, three-dimensional act executed by the subconscious decision maker. It is an act to sustain survival. A bat decides to look for a cave, a beaver decides to build a dam, a bear looks for a den. Humans, with their artificially enhanced reality will look for shelter as well, but with distorted judgment. It is only the destitute and very poor who know that their decision is based solely on survival.

The second perspective, social behavior, is a montage of experiences among family, community and core personality. The core personality is found in the genome and provides the primary actions for survival but how a human behaves in public, under stress, confrontation, and accountability is a montage of ingrained behaviors externally induced to survive.

So the human frontal lobe, along with the fantasy that each human owns the planet and its natural processes, that community bonding isn’t as important as driving the interstates to new fantasies, that money measures surviveability, has led to a third category needed to describe the ethics of surviveability: faith.

Bats, beavers and bears don’t need nor can induce faith beyond a simple behavioral principal that allows them to take advantage of unusual situations. For example, a bear may depend on a human. Humans, however,  can  interpret reality many different ways. Humans often have the imagination to leverage reality beyond the rules of existence provided by evolution.

The subconscious decision maker, for all it’s sophistication, is swayed by the constant barrage of confrontations caused by wishes for glory, adventure and self-serving behavior. Reality has become a circus of convoluted survival values. Which value is a genuine risk to survival?

Enter faith. In addition to subconscious survival decisions, humans have a tool called ideology to help separate the wheat from the chaff. Ideology has many concentrations. For example, there is theological, political, communal, economic and whimsy. The advantage of faith is that it lays an organized value system over reality by which to measure decisions that are genuinely about survival. Unfortunately, the subconscious decision maker doesn’t accept these decisions; ideology is strictly a preoccupation of the frontal lobes. Unless a human convinces themselves that their ideology is the actual reality, humans tend to drift in and out of ideological allegiance depending on its convenience. Hence the need for divine forgiveness for habitual sinners.

Given all these machinations, the subconscious decision maker doesn’t wander far from it’s genome instructions. Survival, care for loved ones and concern for it’s tribe are the core reality. The extent to which the circus realities of the frontal lobe cause nuisance and disruption to our subconscious survival skill places great pressure on the true interpretation of reality. Just ask the bats, beavers and bears how much.

Ancient Mariner