Here we go again. Boris Johnson is a "populist," we hear. Donald Trump was too. Maybe even Scott Morrison and Bolsonaro.

NO, they AREN'T.

Populism originally meant the program of the Populist Party of 1892. I hold that this party's platform was foundational to American politics of our age and to the Democratic Party, which it virtually swallowed in 1896 with the candidacy of W J Bryan. It doesn't just mean appealing to concerns of the people who are "disregarded by elite groups" (and today's so-called elite groups that "disregard" angry white guys are not the actual elite; these supposed disregarded groups are the ones who PUT the elite in power over and over again, as they did in 2016). Populism means advocating putting actual political power back into the hands of the people, and that means wealth also, because wealth is power. So populism means redistribution and equalizing wealth and power, so that the people rule and not a small group of rich and connected big shots. 

Bernie Sanders is a real populist, and Elizabeth Warren is a populist; FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt were populists; Marie Le Pen, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump et al are NOT populists-- never were, and never can be. Trump is the opposite of a populist, because he is putting all power back into the hands of his own wealthy class, and reversing every regulation, tax and law that benefits people so that the wealthy class can make more money. This phony populism or actual anti-populism is usually sold on the basis of trickle down economics; the fable that if the wealthy do well, then the "job creaters" will make more jobs and opportunity available for the lower classes. And of course the other big fable is that we can blame scapegoats and those "alien others" for our own problems. 

If people who have economic problems are fooled by these ruses, that is their own problem. Some can be persuaded to support the real solutions offered by real populists instead. Real populism is NOT the political practice of taking advantage of the ignorance and gullibility that broadly exists among the populace-- particularly the less educated, and assuming that they can always be fooled, and that fooling them is populism because the common people are fools. But they aren't always fools.

It's too bad that this has to be constantly explained. The word populist is one of the most abused words around today. But, so be it. Intelligent people need to be around to clear up the baloney that exists all around.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) writes a beautiful op-ed in the New York Times:

Quote:“Having survived civil war in my home country as a child, I cherish these values. In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, I saw grade-school children as young as me holding assault rifles in the streets. I spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, where there was no formal schooling or even running water. But my family and I persevered, fortified by our deep solidarity with one another, the compassion of others and the hope of a better life in the United States.”

“The America we arrived in was different from the one my grandfather had hoped to find. The land of opportunity he imagined in 1992 was in fact full of challenges. People identified me in ways that were foreign to me: immigrant, black. I learned that these identities carried stigmas, and I experienced prejudice as a visibly Muslim woman.”

“But the beauty of this country is not that our democracy is perfect. It’s that embedded in our Constitution and democratic institutions are the tools to make it better. It was in the diverse community of Minneapolis — the very community that welcomed me home with open arms after Mr. Trump’s attacks against me last week — where I learned the true value of democracy. I started attending political caucuses with my grandfather, who cherished democracy as only someone who has experienced its absence could. I soon recognized that the only way to ensure that everyone in my community had a voice was by participating in the democratic process.”

I found the following article to be worth discussing here. But the question that should be considered is: have we really made a lot of progress in this area? Many have complained about being bullied at their workplaces, and while this is for certain a form of harassment, I don't believe it has been cracked down on with nearly the intensity that harassment of a sexual nature has.

I was so bullied back in public school days that my parents removed me from the school and hired a tutor for me until a private boarding school could be found. To a certain extent there was still some bullying there as well, and one of the other children thought that I should be in an insane asylum or sanitarium. As one of at least three self-proclaimed Aspies on this board, it was just something nobody really discussed at that time (the 1950s), as many of those who for whatever reason did not fit in to the larger society were sent to boarding schools as children or sanitariums as adults.

Do you think we have made progress regarding this issue, and has significant research been done into bullying's cause and effect?


https://www.air.org/resource/cautious-op...e-bullying

Here on this thread I plan to re-post "Silent of the Week" posts from my blog. The Silent generation is still around, and while we've got them, let's acknowledge them individually or in small groups and talk about how they are still making an impact.

Here's the first blog post: http://stevebarrera.com/introducing-sile...eek-posts/

INTRODUCING: SILENT OF THE WEEK POSTS

I’ve posted earlier about the Silent Generation (b. 1925-1942) and how they are still an influence in our society. They are the eldest of the current generations, and I thought I would pay tribute to them in a new kind of post, focusing on one or a few living members of their generation at a time. I’ll call them “Silent of the Week” posts, with no claim that I will actually publish one weekly.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing on July 20, 1969, the first Silents to be featured are the crew of the Apollo missions. Those missions were the culmination of the American High, led by the energy and ambition of the Greatest Generation, then in power. But the tough and dangerous work was done by the young adult Silent Generation, the test pilots with the “right stuff.”

Here is a photo taken for the 50th anniversary of 8 living Apollo astronauts. All would have been in their thirties at the time of the missions – at a peak age of youth and experience. They are Charlie Duke (b. 1935), Buzz Aldrin (b. 1930), Walter Cunningham (b. 1932), Al Worden (b. 1932), Rusty Schweickart (b. 1935), Harrison Schmitt (b. 1935), Michael Collins (b. 1930) and Fred Haise (b. 1933).

Now octogenarians, these men have a simple role in American society today – as revered icons of a glorious past. They make sporadic appearances in the pop culture, more so in the past week because of the anniversary. For example, Michael Collins narrated a recent Google doodle animation about the Apollo 11 mission. But for the most part, they are resting on their laurels – and who from a younger generation can match them in the daring of their accomplishment?

These men really were from a different age, and just to remind us of the generation gap, here’s a viral video you may have seen already. It shows Buzz Aldrin encountering an obnoxious conspiracy nut, and giving him a taste of old fashioned values.

I am planning to feature a new kind of post on my blog where I focus on one member of the Silent generation (or a group of people with something in common). It would be about living members of the generation, and there are many left still influencing the world. Of course I will share here.

This particular post is about the lack of a Silent Generation Sub Forum underneath the Generations Forum. I don't see a way to create a new Sub Forum; is this something only an admin can do?

This is my most recent blog post, from a couple weeks ago. Just thinking about the modern obsession with the end of the world. In addition to the Walking Dead, we are currently in the middle of Good Omens and The Umbrella Academy. This end of the world stuff is everywhere.

Generation X: Waiting for the Apocalypse
by Steve

My BFF and I started watching The Walking Dead again after a long hiatus. She just couldn't stand the show any more after a certain something happened at the start of Season 7 (if you watch the show you know what I mean). And so we stopped watching it. But in time she was ready to get back to it, and we have watched all of Season 7 and are now in the middle of Season 8.

When I watch this show, I can't help but think of how Gen X it is. The main characters are almost entirely from our generation or from the Millennial generation. There is a smattering of characters from older gens, but they tend not to last, and there are some token kid characters with no real story arc. The Gen Xers are always in charge of the different groups, and have to become ruthless enforcers and daring opportunists, always thinking on their feet and doing whatever it takes for the group to survive. The Millennials meanwhile are the hopeful and idealistic ones, whom the Gen Xer leaders are protecting. What stung so much about the opening of Season 7 was that one of the nicest Millennial characters was brutally murdered. As my BFF put it, "they killed the heart of the show." That made it hard to care about the series any more.

So on the show, each Gen X leader has their own unique way of leading, giving each group or community its own culture and political structure. The show ends up exploring questions of politics like what gives a ruler the right to rule, or how do you balance the needs of the many with the needs of the few. In fact, when one of our boys was taking a civics class and trying to understand the concept of "rule of law," I used an example from the show to explain it to him.

There was one not very nice group in an earlier season that had a rule where if you saw something before anyone else and called out "claim" then it was yours. I explained how even the leader had to follow this rule; if one of the others called "claim" on something really nice, the leader couldn't use his position to trump the subordinate and take that thing from him. If the leader acted that way, this basic rule that held the group together wouldn't work any more, and the group would fall apart. That was the idea of "rule of law" - the law has priority over the whims of the politicians. This applies even in the very simple polity of a group of people banding together for survival after a zombie apocalypse.

What's ironic about this show that explores politics being a Gen X show is that Gen X has actually eschewed political involvement our whole lives. It's like we would only do politics if absolutely forced into it, as would be the case if civilization collapsed. In fact, it seems like Generation X has been waiting for the collapse - it's our expectation after being told since childhood that the world is doomed. The popularity of end of the world shows like The Walking Dead is a manifestation of our yearning to see it all just go to hell.



I've even seen bumper stickers like the one above. You probably have too. We really do want to stand on the sidelines and watch the world burn. We don't want to choose between the lesser of two evils - we want all the evil to come out all at once. We want to find out how we would handle it. We want the ultimate freedom of a lawless world where the winner takes all ethos prevails. Because that is just so Generation X.

Hence our society's apocalyptic mood, our deep sense of foreboding that we express in this dark genre of entertainment. We are in a fin de siècle phase of history - the American century is coming to a close, and there's no telling what come next. Possibly the Pax Americana is coming to an end as well. For some Americans, the wound to the pride has been too much.

Politics is driven by resentment. Long festering problems of economic insecurity and environmental degradation may have grown to the point of insolubility. It might seem that the only way out at this point is cataclysmic and violent change. To cut the Gordian Knot you need the sharp edge of a sword. Or a zombie apocalypse.

But remember it is the cycle that is coming to an end, not the world. Zombies are a fantasy. War, plague, climate change - those are real but of course we can survive them all. As we have before. History is inexorable and will take us into the next cycle whether we're ready for it or not. We don't get an escape hatch in the form of utter destruction. This craving for the end of the world is a cop out.

Consider the Greek roots of the word apocalypse: apo- ‘un-’ + kaluptein ‘to cover’. To uncover, to reveal. As in Revelations. The apocalypse is not a violent end, it is a moment of truth. It is the moment when the facade is swept away and the stark reality underneath is exposed, and we have to finally face the problems we have been putting off. It is happening now, shaking up and realigning our politics, pitting group against group.

Generation X can help lead us through this conflict. It won't be the sci-fi extravaganza we have spent our lives fantasizing about. It will be a messy, mundane effort to reconstruct our teetering old political institutions to deal with life in the new century. And I hope that what prevails is a community built on the principles of one of the good groups from The Walking Dead - one that is fair and kind and inclusive. One that taps into, to quote Abraham Lincoln, "the better angels of our nature."

But we can't avoid the reckoning. We can't avoid getting involved, hoping that it's all just going to end. Not my generation, not any generation alive today can escape the future. We must face, without fear, the world that is bound to come.

Quote:MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say police have filed sedition and other criminal complaints against the vice president, three opposition senators, four Roman Catholic bishops and a university president for allegedly conniving to destabilize President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

The Department of Justice says it received the complaints against Vice President Leni Robredo and several Duterte critics Thursday from the police’s investigation arm. Robredo and many of her co-accused have long denied the allegations.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra says he would form a prosecutorial panel, which may start serving subpoenas to the accused next week at the start of an investigation.

The allegations center on a formerly detained crime suspect, Peter Joemel Advincula, who alleged that he plotted with the accused to discredit Duterte and his family by linking them to drug syndicates.

Could society go back to 3T mood rather than proceed to 1T after an unsuccessful 4T?

I think it is a possibility, in the early 2010s there was some regeneracy with all the futurism going on and interest in reorganising the economy. But since about 2015 it mostly died down and 90s nostalgia became prominent. Sander's campaign was perhaps the last "progressive" event in America. Worst aspects of gen X culture seemed to vanish between 2006 and 2014, but with the wave of 90s nostalgia they are back. Fashion is uglier again, and the movies are increasingly dark and cynical. Is the Anglosphere heading back into 3T?

As some of you may know, I made a thread about how the length of a saeculum should be around 72 years last month. That thread ("Breaking the idea that saeculums are ~85 years") did not seem to get good reception based on the replies I saw and the poll I made. One question that I feel should be brought up is the length of a saeculum because I've heard so many different answers on it, with some being as early as 72 years and some going as much as 110.

The Kondratiev cycle and Michael A. Alexander in Investing in a Secular Bear Market say that a saeculum is 72 years.

Various users on here seem to think that saeculums can be anywhere between 80 and 88 years, with many saying, on average, that it's the span of Uranus' orbit (84.3 years).

S&H says that saeculums can be anywhere between 80 and 90 years.

Mike Ebert believes that saeculums are 90 years in length.

The Romans in the reign of Augustus believed that a saeculum was 110 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bl..._mythology

I've noticed the four "Zoas" into which Albion the primeval man was divided correspond quite well to the four generational archetypes:

• Tharmas: representing instinct and strength. - Nomadic
  
• Urizen: reason, conventional society - Civic
  
• Luvah: love, passion and emotive faculties - Artistic.
  
• Urthona, also known as Los: inspiration and the imagination - Prophetic.
  

• The sexual Enion is an emanation from Tharmas. - Nomadic "dangerous woman".
  
• The intellectual Ahania is an emanation from Urizen. - Clearly Civic.
  
• The nature-loving Vala is an emanation from Luvah. - Could be connected to the Artistic archetype, though she clearly is inspired by Artemis.
  
• The spiritual, musical and poetic Enitharmon is an emanation from Los / Urthona. - Prophetic again.