Zombie / The Brain
Update/ Sat. 08.34
Ian Crane, September, 2019
Ian R Crane has died. A lover of humanity, who proclaimed truth and justice. Saw the strategic need to address, Fracking; took to the 'camps on the road side', disrupting the onslaught. The annual conference he ran, (with family and friends assisting), was the UK's one 'Truther' get-together.
A careful, critical' voice in our midst; a warm and open presence.
Tapnewswire comments:
Ian:
I’ve been feeling sorry for myself as my computer has been playing up, and dealing with telephone calls to try to get it fixed have had me swearing. This news however puts it into perspective. Poor Ian, bless him. A really decent man. Much respect.
Tapestry:
Ian Crane has been one of the earliest activists in the British alternative news movement, a great friend of Tap News, and always available for a chat on any topic. We all owe him an enormous debt, and I will miss him greatly. The father of Britain’s alternative news movement would not be an overstatement from my point of view. No doubt he’ll stir up yet more activity on his next scheduled mission…an unforgettable and lovely person.
Gordon Logan:
Very sad news. Ian has indeed been one of the first activists of the alternative news movement. I remember devouring his revelations about the oil industry years ago. As we transition into the asphyxiating new world of mainstream lies, people like Ian are desperately needed.
VINTAGE ART & ILLUSTRATION
Hope, and tears, watching this one. Re-title, and include, on 'Sunday School' post:
'The Small Window'
Dr Zareer Masani | The British Empire Is NOT A National Disgrace | Oxford Union
Casanova [update 24/02/21]: Freeway Ricky on Casanova 2X's Fed Case: You Have to be Way Smarter than Me to Get Away (Part 17), February 23, 2021.
For Christ To Come
BBC UNVEILS GEORGE ORWELL IN BRONZE, OUTSIDE THEIR FAKE-NEWS OUTPOST. HOW POST... MODERN OF THEM.
Now, November 07, 2017
Render your arms and not your garments /The truth is there for who have eyes to see /All charity has no place in this judgement /Remember the words of prophecy /I say: Children run, come, the truths and rights /That's what I'm about /You know the truths and rights /Teach it to the children /You know the truths and rights /Teach it to the children /'Cause they should know /Know, know, know, know /Children say a little prayer /Every night before you go to sleep /'Cause tomorrow is promised to no one /When you think it's peace and safety, Lord /It could be, it could be sudden destruction /Because we know, yes we know /Remember I say this few words to you /Remember the words I'm saying to you right now /And for tomorrow and hence for I say /Children say a little prayer /Every night before you go to sleep /'Cause tomorrow is promised to no one /When you think it's peace and safety, Lord /It could be, it could be sudden destruction /Because we know, yes we know /Children run, come, the truths and rights /That's what I'm about /You know the truths and rights /Teach it to the children /Run, come, the truths and rights /That's what I'm about /You know the truths and rights /Teach it to the children /Run, come, the truths and rights /That's what I'm about /You know the truths and rights.
/ SUNDAY SCHOOL White Man in Hammersmith Palais Pt. 3, June 27, 2020
BACK OFF
Dwayne Moore comments: 'Johnny Osbourne, the heavy weight champ is literally telling his opponent to "backoff." "No botta com wit da ringcraft," means there's need for tactical skill and positioning. "No botta com wit da steelcraft,"means you have no defense. Este é um clássicom ! This is a classic!'
Need to hear songs of hope. "Back Off, Back Off..."
—the psychological onslaught is upon us. We resist, or crumble?
What goes and..., SEEN?
Warnings and Encouragements:
1.
Most of the time, the alternatives, them pesky, 'conspiracies,/ theories', don't get a look in?
On Open Theism?
Centrally, open theists argue that God’s foreknowledge of future events is limited and that God sometimes changes his mind in the face of unforeseen circumstances brought about by his creatures. They posit that God has left the future open; even he does not know the future exhaustively, because the future has not yet happened. Therefore, there is nothing about it that can be known.
SAY, WHAT...? The issue and clanging, alarm bells is a failure to disclose and obfuscate. (Obscuratus, and Latin. Obscūrō; 'obscure, darken, hide.').
All, Straw Man-ing' their socks-off, until we hear/read/watch, someone, into it?
Describe, instead; the discovery, people who adhere or consider, (here), 'God is Open':
Open Theism [is] the Christian doctrine that the future is not closed but open because God is alive, eternally free, and inexhaustibly creative.
The Ad Hominem Family
2.
Alec Ryrie, How to be an Atheist in Medieval Europe. In the midst of the talk is a shameful, weak-kneed' attempt, to disparage questioning the earth's shape, aka., a 'Flat Earth'-er.
In many ways counter-intuitive, serving to raise interest in the self-exposure: all-can-do is Rubbish 'em.
Plus, a Bonus Ball.
The classic "too mysterious and beyond...," and tricky to get y'head around?
What have we, deep foundations, in theology..., in reality? In a word: TIME. Add another? Evil. Top it off with; God Is Good.
Alec, got a hearty Amen from me as he tumbled into/crumbled, in one sentence.
(Not re-listened to find), attributes a belief in classic def. of 'omnipotence', to accepting God is (behind), said, 'evil'. Out of nowhere, a side-bar, ...thrown in.
Me and Truth 1, having a Jesus-loving ding-dong:
My miscommunication in suggesting ‘was not appropriate at this place and subject’. I was meaning my time-constraints to contribute. And yes, of course, ‘terms has to exist and limits and boundaries’. But described as an ‘agreement’ presupposes negotiation and this, raises questions about genuine freedoms and authorship. Intent, willingness, self-limitation – God’s character and ways. And to quote a book/title, ‘God’s Strategy in Human History’.
:
All together on: Jesus dies/to destroy evil/here/now/far as… Yet an open view / theism rejects the ‘agreement’ that Augustine to Calvin – we say – constructed. Yes, mainstream, ‘agreement theology’. Best we ‘talk about’. Not pretend there’s no-differences. These two views – Arminianism in-between – are a bedrock for ‘Who is God?’ And something James has kindly given me/us, space to/here and there, to dialogue about. Non-Classical-Theism ‘believers’ take issue with some of the ‘remarkable predictions’ claimed to be Biblical prophecy. But this one cares less about that with another Christian, than “you hold this and…” What productive mission, we all can do?
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/ Truth 1, June 19, 2016
3.
History, revised, and re-revised. The grown-up's version?
'There is a land beyond the spoken word,' from, Doll by Doll and, 'More Than Human'.
Yardy-Ya, "Real-ity? It's all a flux 'n flow".
Words?, be subjective, unto oblivion.
The NEW Religion: Stop Saying ...You + Know?
With persecution of dubbed, arrogance, following.
The heat of TV-induced' pandemonium. Our present threat is that Ideas Are Dangerous.
And 'ONE' is wonderful, and don't get any other one's.
The prevailing teaching on the web.
Cometh, with the conviction of an old-time uncouth and demented, God-basher.
Smiles in the new day, mysterious/unknown/anyone/anything... All United, else-wise seen for rejection. An inoculation, and intellectual virus... administrated with prophetic tones in hippy drapes. WE, ALL , Now; "Progressive" -or- Y'all, the Regressive, rest?
While hard-core and Shut-Down'rs, are few, the portrayal is they're wide-spread. The sexy and yet, sensible, tip.
'With It, and out young adults, and older one's who have... got, with it?
Noisy, and prone to 'NLP'-type, shifty assumptions and not-subtle, put downs.
Comes over, insistent..., instinctual...., we/ all/ know:
One = Everything = All, and Good.
"Please(?), let's not be with all-that, disgusting, tut-tut, 'Two-Talk'?"
Dualism? Near-on accepted as the redundant language of trouble-makers.
The trouble with -and- within, Religion. Something else is needed, and the projection, inference and sounds right
One -and- Two?
Can you feel it...?
Not at all. Our diversity in a unity is the world we see and know. We all merge and gel into one substance? What kind of problems with that, eh?
How about, sounding soft and amicable, when the conclusion-pushed are terror-filled. Why? The diversity people, i.e. opinions, are tagged not: 'Harmony, Equity, Unifying, Gentle, Holistic,' etc.
Hip? Is that: Fluffy or Spiky, or a combo.
Rise up time, and the middle class, and, back to nature, hippie, eastern influenced, crowd. Love them to bits on a good day, but like us all... strengths overdone, become weaknesses?
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Their outward tolerance and diversity can get captured by a 'positive' idol.
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One or two people who engage with me, deepest and smartest on Geo-politics-for-real?
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Unashamed busker and bare feet hippies. On the other hand, who gets frazzled and upset?
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Over years?
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Same again, fashion, style, ethics, vibe, music, social life...
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Hippies. Grew up with a catchphrase and true-ism, "Never Trust A Hippy". Yep, upfront prejudice. Unless we knew them? The fluffy, or spiky, versions. To see an early Protest Song get out there is heartening.
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/ SUNDAY SCHOOL - Political Hot Potato by Mobius Loop, September 27, 2020
Not a prob., or every time, a source oppression?
How about?:
Believers-In-One/Good/and 'god'-ianity?
No need, stop someone, bold as love, going all-out for truths and rights, vis-à-vis; justice, and/or, mercy?
For all the right-going and doing. It was straight up and no question a crime. One of conscience and somewhat set-forth as something right, still an offence.
:
What screwed up with hateful enthusiasm was the 35-year sentence. Not enough and torture clear-as. Discriminate undertaking. Although the practice is widespread in US jails.
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Chelsea [Manning] is a wild idea one, a kind of hippy think-anarchist-ish and yet sought political office. She's had a crazy background and reacted with crazy-ness herself.
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/ Jailed Again For Protecting Journalism March 12, 2019
This record is fifty-three minutes and thirty-seven seconds of pure rebellion. And one that caused arguably more hardships for Fela and the people than the military would have caused had it not been made. At the time Fela Kuti had his Kalakuta Republic which was composed of his fellow musicians and family members housed in his recording studio. Well that would be no more after this record came out, as the Nigerian soldiers would see to that. This is how much this album infuriated the military, and how much it inspired the people of Nigeria to rebel against the forced oppression by the state. It made them walk the streets imitating the soldiers as if they were zombies every time the title track was blazed through the speakers.
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The first song “Zombie” does not have an epic build-up. It simply kicks off with the backdrop for a short amount of time and Fela and his saxophone are immediately thrust into the spotlight for five minutes of spine-tingling Afrobeat. About halfway into the song Fela and his choir start going back and forth. My favorite part here is at about seven minutes where Fela shouts out generic orders like a military chief and his choir repeats as if in a trance; “Zombie!”. This might be the most significant musical and social moment on the record and the one that might have infuriated the army the most. It basically makes them out to be caricatures that are all too real.
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“Mr. Follow, Follow” is more on the mellow side. It has deeper commentary and a clearer theme about conformity as it relates to the military and the state. It is all about how having power and influence is actually fragile to corruption and manipulation. ”Some follow, follow and close their eyes, some follow, follow and close their mouths, some follow, follow and close their ears”. This part sticks out to me the most. This album has two more masterful tracks each more than ten minutes and full of funky rhythms and scathing commentary. You should hear Fela Kuti’s music at least once in your life. If not this record then any of his forty-something albums. I recommend this one because it personifies the man very well. Aggressive in harmonies and causes.
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Abid, April 12, 2010
Iain's response might look odd to those not familiar with the ideas, so it's worth remembering what is at stake is the coherence and relevance of a grand theory that might (or might not!) help to inform how we understand and tackle some of the major issues of our time. In our report we focus mostly on climate change, mental health and education, but from the 14 response pieces we published, you can see it also has potential relevance to, inter-alia, Behavioural Economics, Art, The Patent System and NGO campaigning.
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The Divided Brain: Can we agree about where we differ?, Dr Jonathan Rowson, RSA, February 26, 2013
Another morbid symptom is Iain McGilchrist’s meandering and infinitely tedious non-argument that ‘the only genuine critical theory is that of no theory’. Mr McGilchrist is a fellow of All Souls and an upholder of that élitist culture which so angers Widdowson’s contributors. He appears to be highly cultured – he talks confidently of ‘the ornate, yet simple, splendour of Vierzehnheiligen’, notes the resemblances between Lu Chi and Alexander Pope, and sprinkles his text with impressive bits of Greek, Latin, Italian and German. He is, alas, fatally dull: ‘One could say of art what Lewis said of the Faerie Queene, that it is life itself in another mode.’ One could indeed, but one could, on the other hand, feel that those who want to re-read English are justified in their angry alienation from the vacuous and unintelligent attitudes which McGilchrist holds. His harmless Sitwellian waffle makes me wonder whether English studies will go the way of phrenology. Indeed, one could argue that it has always been phrenology in another mode.
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Faculty at War, Tom Paulin , TLS, June 17, 1982
McGilchrist argues for fluidity and metaphor (perhaps the feminine in symbolic terms), whereas Peterson calls for order and boundaries (a more masculine approach). However, it is not true that McGilchrist is against reason, only that he distinguishes it from mere rationality. The left brain ‘rations’ or reduces things into ‘bits’. Reason, as opposed to rationality, brings us a more holistic perspectives, which includes the metaphysical and the religious. Mere rationality cuts us off from the right hemisphere and leads to extreme scientific reductionism and cultural fragmentation. But reason, balanced with intuition, connected us to the whole, complex being.
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Peterson is not as conservative and order obsessed (or left hemisphere oriented) as all that however. He speaks of a need for a balance between order and chaos, conservatism and liberalism, the masculine and the feminine. Perhaps the difference between the two, is that McGilchrist privileges the right brain as the ‘master’. I wonder if Peterson would agree with his thesis?
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I sensed some friendly tensions in their preliminary discussion when Peterson suggested that it was unusual for McGilchrist to privilege the right hemisphere. Traditionally, the left brain rules the ‘right hand’ functions of tool-making, language, and generally making manageable order of chaos. McGilchrist, to counter this, suggested Peterson has leaned too much towards order rather than the richness of the right hemisphere. This may be a legitimate critique of some of Peterson’s ‘low resolution’ ideas, which can, at times, be overly reductive in the service of polemical statements.
This tension may also have to do with the differences in personalities of the two men. McGilchrist appears almost camera shy—he has admitted to a tendency towards melancholy — he is very connected to the bittersweetness of the heart, to put it poetically. McGilchrist appears to be an introvert and doesn’t seem to cherish the public eye; whereas Peterson is an obvious a combative extrovert and has taken to the public stage with a certain relish.
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Jordan Peterson vs. Iain McGilchrist, Andrew Sweeny , Medium, Feb 21, 2018
/ We Must Shout, September 24, 2018
The Top Two
What I like so much about the Bible is it fits and especially to those in trouble. Why like so much. For instance, having material and/or possibly social disadvantages, downtrodden -- in luck or otherwise -- is yet, a blessed opportunity. Low us becomes a form of exalted. Where failure becomes an entrance, humility the highest virtue.
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/ Even To The People Whom God Speaks Directly, November 04, 2017
[Antonin Artaud: works on paper; Edited by Margit Rowell.]
/ Manufacturing Terror, September 25, 2018
(Joe) Strummer, lays down a fitting intro for U.Roy.
China Mac Was Locked Up with Casanova 2X, Cas F***ed the Package Up
Rewind
Poem, title, and (first) line is from: THE HUMAN FACE by Antonin Artaud:
/The human face /is an empty power, a /field of death. /The old revolutionary /claim to a form /that’s never corres- /ponded with its body, goes off /to be something other /than the body. /So it’s absurd /to reproach a painter /for academically /insisting in his time upon /still reproducing /the featres of the human face /such as they are; for such /as they are, they haven’t /yet found the form they /point to and specify /to make more than a sketch; /but from morning to evening /and in the midst of ten thousand dreams /they churn as if in the /crucible of a never- /wearying passional throb. /Which means /that the human face /hasn’t yet found the face /and that it’s up to the painter /to give it it. /But that means /the human face, /such as it is, is till in quest of it- /self with two eyes a /nose a mouth /and the two auricular /cavities /which correspond to the holes /of the sockets like /the four openings /to the sepulchre of /approaching death. /The human face /in effect carries a kind /of perpetual death /with it /from which it’s really up to the painter /to save it /by giving back /his own peculiar features. /In effect after countless thousands of years /that the human face has spoken /and breathed /one still has the impression /that it hasn’t even begun to /say what it is and what it knows, /and I don’t know a painter in /the history of art, from Holbein /to Ingres, who has succeeded /in making the face of /man speak. The portraits /of Holbein or of Ingres are /thick walls revealing /nothing of the ancient architecture /supporting itself under the /arcs of the arches of the eyelids /or molding itself /in the cylindrical tunnel /of the two mural /cavities of he ears. /Only Van Gogh /has extracted from a human /head the portrait /that is the /rocket explosive of /the beating of a burst /heart. /His own. /The head of Van Gogh in /a soft hat renders null /and void /all the attempts of abstract /painters that could be /made, from his time to the /end of eternity. /Because that avid butcher /face, thrown out like /a cannonshot on the most /extreme surface of the canvas /and which all at once /finds itself stopped short /by a void eye /and returned to the inner world, /thoroughly drains all /of the most specious /secrets of the abstract world /where the non-figurative painter /can delight,- /in the portraits /I have drawn /I have above all avoided /forgetting the nose the mouth /the eyes the ears or /the hair, but I’ve sought /to force the face that was /talking to me to reveal /the secret /of an old human story /which was /taken for dead in /the heads /of Ingres or Holbein. /Occasionally I’ve summoned /object trees /or animals to come near /the human heads because /I’m still not sure /of the limits by which the /body of my human /Self may be stopped. /Moreover I’ve definitely /broken the art /style or skill in /all the drawings that one /will see here. I mean /there’ll be trouble for those who /consider them /works of art, /works of aesthetic /simulation of reality. /Not one /properly speaking is a /work /All are sketches, /I mean /soundings or /gropes /in all the directions /of accident, of possibi- /lity, of chance or of /destiny. /I haven’t sought /to take great pains with my lines /or their effects /but rather to inventory the /kinds of patent /linear truths which /are as valid /through words, /through written phrases, /as through the graphism /and perspective of lines. /It is in this way that several drawings /are a mixture of poems and /portraits /of written interjections /and plastic evo- /cations of fundamental /materials of human /beings or animals. /And in this way you have to accept /these drawings in the /barbarism and disorder /of their /graphic manner ‘which is /never preoccupied with /art’ but the sincerity /and the spontaneity /of the stroke.
Opening Hymn/ Chant-Up/ Do ya thang.
A Crit.
I have some sympathy with McGilchrist’s claim that there is a growing tendency to decontextualise knowledge, to think of the parts as more important than the whole, which is often regarded as no more than the sum of the parts, to substitute information for knowledge. But this is only one side of the story. Another trend, equally important, is the downgrading of reason, the celebration of tradition, intuition and myth, the glorification of the holistic, the organic and the local. If we are forced to use McGilchrist’s terminology and imagery, we might say that the problem is not that the left hemisphere has control over the right but that there has been a tendency to develop both ‘left hemispheric thinking’ and ‘right hemispheric thinking’ in isolation and that both are, in isolation, equally troublesome. Or to put it anther way, the problem is increasingly that reason has become mechanistic, contextualisation anti-rational.
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Kenan Malik, February, 21, 2013.
...Iain, replies.
[ ... ], it is not about thinking versus feeling, but about two kinds of thinking. The difference is similar to that made by Aristotle between phronesis and techne: I have never heard Aristotle accused of being a New Ager. Just because I believe that certain questions do not have answers that could ever be proved to be true does not mean that I think anything goes, and that we are condemned to the realm of the purely subjective. Absolutely not. I could not have made this point clearer in my writings. On all these matters I am KM’s ally. I am also a defender of the proper use of language in an age where both reason and language are too often travestied. But, in turn, it would be sloppy thinking to assume that that meant that there were no limits to what language can precisely express.
:
Analysis itself shows the limits of analysis, reason shows the limits to reason. As Pascal said, ‘the ultimate achievement of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it. It is indeed feeble if it can’t get as far as understanding that.’ This famous mathematician also wrote: ‘Plenty of things that are certain are mutually contradictory; plenty of things that are false contain no inconsistency. Contradiction is not a sign of falsehood, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.’ He also wrote: ‘it is equally excessive to shut reason out and to let nothing else in’. The mistake that some readers make is to think that I see no place for reason if I argue the case for carefully nurtured intuition (people who reason well have better intuitions, people who have good intuitions reason better) in a world that has ceased to respect it. We need both. One hemisphere difference KM would read about in my book is that this black and white, either/or, ‘if it isn’t this, it must be that’ attitude is characteristic of the left hemisphere’s exclusive, precision-directed outlook, when compared with the ability of the relatively inclusive right hemisphere to see more than one option and to hold them together.
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Kenan Malik, December 2, 2013.
Bonus Ball
