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 randomly to provoke fear and to coerce.
Those who believe that you can sacrifice liberty for security, will find themselves without security, and less free
to kill randomly to provoke fear and to coerce.
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 random population, to produce fear, and at the same time undermine the public's trust in their government's ability to protect them.
Naturally, the killing we have just witnessed in Paris leaves the government with no choice but to go after the perpetrators and their sponsors with whatever force (mostly overwhelming) necessary to punish those who carried out these acts and their backers.
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 random 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 man 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 a decade of the curtailment of human rights and dignity, safety from random 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 and now terror.
The core problem has to do with the antiquated ways that our authorities, particularly in the US withe Trump, Hollande's France and Canada under Harper, approach these problems.
The loony right treats each of these problems like a moral issue and not like the medical, economic and criminal issues which they actually represent.
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 illiberals 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 like Macon, has a chance, but unless they address the culture within their government ministries and agencies, to which Trudeau has appointed women to head one-half of, and can stem the tide of bigotry that accompanies citizens like the new premier of Ontario, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
... the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Eric LaMont Gregory, 2020
Naturally, the killing we have just witnessed in Paris leaves the government with no choice but to go after the perpetrators and their sponsors with whatever force (mostly overwhelming) necessary to punish those who carried out these acts and their backers.
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 random 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 man 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 a decade of the curtailment of human rights and dignity, safety from random 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 and now terror.
The core problem has to do with the antiquated ways that our authorities, particularly in the US withe Trump, Hollande's France and Canada under Harper, approach these problems.
The loony right treats each of these problems like a moral issue and not like the medical, economic and criminal issues which they actually represent.
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 illiberals 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 like Macon, has a chance, but unless they address the culture within their government ministries and agencies, to which Trudeau has appointed women to head one-half of, and can stem the tide of bigotry that accompanies citizens like the new premier of Ontario, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
... the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Eric LaMont Gregory, 2020
