www.theoxfordscientist.com
Paris
- Elle est battue par les flots, mais ne sombre pas -
1358
- She is tossed by the waves, but does not sink -
. . . sanguinary excess, again
The attacks in Paris are not about politics, but the use of violence, sanguinary excess,
to kill indiscriminately to provoke fear and mistrust in government 's ability to protect.
Those who believe that you can sacrifice liberty for security,
will find themselves without security, and less free
to kill indiscriminately to provoke fear and mistrust in government 's ability to protect.
Those who believe that you can sacrifice liberty for security,
will find themselves without security, and less free
The attacks in Paris demonstrate the willingness of some to use violence against a civilian population, to produce fear, and at the same time undermine the public's trust in their government's ability to protect them.
Naturally, the killings we have just witnessed in Paris leaves the government with no choice but to go after the perpetrators and with whatever force (mostly overwhelming) necessary to punish those who carried out these acts.
Unfortunately, successive governments (mostly conservative leaning ones) have increased surveillance of their own innocent citizens, who have rather uncritically allowed those governments to curtail their constitutional rights as well as their inalienable liberties, the very foundation of our open liberal societies.
So much so that it is difficult to distinguish between the means used by governments to protect citizens from acts of terror, from those used by the terrorists themselves, which is the ultimate goal of the use of terror, that is, to undermine democratic liberal society.
Those who believe that you can sacrifice liberty for security, will find themselves without security and less free. I urge the citizens of France to resist President Francois Hollande's emergency measures and let the liberties for which they have fought for so long, stand as their ultimate line of defense against tyranny, whether it stems from home or abroad.
We would be better served, if our own governments were not such willing participants in the destruction of our constitutionally guaranteed liberties, which are easily lost, but very difficult to restore.
There may never be a right time to have this discussion, but it is long overdue.
Families have been suddenly and dramatically torn apart and loved ones lost forever, yet again. And, no amount of tough talk can restore what those families and friends have had ripped away from them.
Inconsolable grief lies at the door of too many, who had no other thoughts than to enjoy a winter's night concert, football match, sit and discuss everything and often nothing at a favorite place to eat, or stroll the avenues of the city of light, La Ville Lumière.
A city that is at the same time ancient as well as modern and who wears her motto, Fluctuat nec mergitur, it is tossed by the waves, but does not sink, endearingly and enduringly well.
Since Cyrus the Great first sought to extend rights (freedom) from the vestige of the few to humankind as a whole, the idea that everyone; woman, man and child, possesses fundamental human rights, the dignity of which must be universally and resolutely protected, has been the measure by which we judge the degree to which we have 'tamed the savageness of humankind, and made gentle the life of this world.
http://www.theoxfordscientist.com/human-rights.html
Progress has been often slow, and the setbacks to that relentless march are marked by all the places where the poppies grow, and they are many and they dot the globe.
Notwithstanding, we do not judge human progress by those who violate its most cherished symbols.
And, after more than two decades of the curtailment of human rights and dignity, safety from indiscriminate acts of violence is ephemeral, at best.
The system designed to provide that modicum of safety is not working, and as currently constituted, cannot work.
It is the folly of madness (the madness of folly) to think otherwise.
Our governments have decades-long wars being waged against many things, including drugs, poverty, inequality in all its forms, climate change, and now terror.
The core problem has to do with the antiquated ways that our authorities, particularly in the US with an illiberal Trump, Hollande's France, and Canada under Harper, approach these problems.
The loony right treats each of these problems like a moral issue, rather than like the medical, economic, legal and criminal issues which they represent actually.
In this case, we’re dealing with a crime problem that has known interdiction approaches and solutions.
In the meantime, criminal organisations and criminal acts go unaddressed and their attacks present more often and the scale of violence against innocent citizens grows worse.
Those inclined to carry out these criminal acts are not integrated into the societies in which they live, they lose family ties, and as their connection to normal life spirals downward, they employ more dangerous weaponry and in more harmful ways.
Bloodthirstiness, feeds upon self, like any other addiction.
We have to interdict them, before they kill and maim.
And, there is no question about that.
We cannot do so, however, by employing white-nationalists in our police forces, intelligence and security agencies and services. And yet, and unfortunately that is the legacy left to us by the likes of Le Pen in France, Harper in Canada, and now the tragedy that is Trump in America.
The situation in the US is dire.
Trudeau, and now Biden, like Macon, have a chance, but unless they address the culture within their own government ministries and agencies, to which Trudeau has appointed women to head one-half of, and a Biden administration built on meritocracy, can stem the tide of bigotry that accompanies citizens like the premier of Ontario and the leaders of the western provinces of Canada, a host of provincial officials in France and the white nationalist factions that govern over half of the state governments in America, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
... the more things change, the more they stay just the same.
- E LaMont Gregory, 2021
Naturally, the killings we have just witnessed in Paris leaves the government with no choice but to go after the perpetrators and with whatever force (mostly overwhelming) necessary to punish those who carried out these acts.
Unfortunately, successive governments (mostly conservative leaning ones) have increased surveillance of their own innocent citizens, who have rather uncritically allowed those governments to curtail their constitutional rights as well as their inalienable liberties, the very foundation of our open liberal societies.
So much so that it is difficult to distinguish between the means used by governments to protect citizens from acts of terror, from those used by the terrorists themselves, which is the ultimate goal of the use of terror, that is, to undermine democratic liberal society.
Those who believe that you can sacrifice liberty for security, will find themselves without security and less free. I urge the citizens of France to resist President Francois Hollande's emergency measures and let the liberties for which they have fought for so long, stand as their ultimate line of defense against tyranny, whether it stems from home or abroad.
We would be better served, if our own governments were not such willing participants in the destruction of our constitutionally guaranteed liberties, which are easily lost, but very difficult to restore.
There may never be a right time to have this discussion, but it is long overdue.
Families have been suddenly and dramatically torn apart and loved ones lost forever, yet again. And, no amount of tough talk can restore what those families and friends have had ripped away from them.
Inconsolable grief lies at the door of too many, who had no other thoughts than to enjoy a winter's night concert, football match, sit and discuss everything and often nothing at a favorite place to eat, or stroll the avenues of the city of light, La Ville Lumière.
A city that is at the same time ancient as well as modern and who wears her motto, Fluctuat nec mergitur, it is tossed by the waves, but does not sink, endearingly and enduringly well.
Since Cyrus the Great first sought to extend rights (freedom) from the vestige of the few to humankind as a whole, the idea that everyone; woman, man and child, possesses fundamental human rights, the dignity of which must be universally and resolutely protected, has been the measure by which we judge the degree to which we have 'tamed the savageness of humankind, and made gentle the life of this world.
http://www.theoxfordscientist.com/human-rights.html
Progress has been often slow, and the setbacks to that relentless march are marked by all the places where the poppies grow, and they are many and they dot the globe.
Notwithstanding, we do not judge human progress by those who violate its most cherished symbols.
And, after more than two decades of the curtailment of human rights and dignity, safety from indiscriminate acts of violence is ephemeral, at best.
The system designed to provide that modicum of safety is not working, and as currently constituted, cannot work.
It is the folly of madness (the madness of folly) to think otherwise.
Our governments have decades-long wars being waged against many things, including drugs, poverty, inequality in all its forms, climate change, and now terror.
The core problem has to do with the antiquated ways that our authorities, particularly in the US with an illiberal Trump, Hollande's France, and Canada under Harper, approach these problems.
The loony right treats each of these problems like a moral issue, rather than like the medical, economic, legal and criminal issues which they represent actually.
In this case, we’re dealing with a crime problem that has known interdiction approaches and solutions.
In the meantime, criminal organisations and criminal acts go unaddressed and their attacks present more often and the scale of violence against innocent citizens grows worse.
Those inclined to carry out these criminal acts are not integrated into the societies in which they live, they lose family ties, and as their connection to normal life spirals downward, they employ more dangerous weaponry and in more harmful ways.
Bloodthirstiness, feeds upon self, like any other addiction.
We have to interdict them, before they kill and maim.
And, there is no question about that.
We cannot do so, however, by employing white-nationalists in our police forces, intelligence and security agencies and services. And yet, and unfortunately that is the legacy left to us by the likes of Le Pen in France, Harper in Canada, and now the tragedy that is Trump in America.
The situation in the US is dire.
Trudeau, and now Biden, like Macon, have a chance, but unless they address the culture within their own government ministries and agencies, to which Trudeau has appointed women to head one-half of, and a Biden administration built on meritocracy, can stem the tide of bigotry that accompanies citizens like the premier of Ontario and the leaders of the western provinces of Canada, a host of provincial officials in France and the white nationalist factions that govern over half of the state governments in America, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
... the more things change, the more they stay just the same.
- E LaMont Gregory, 2021
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