Re: English 2012: Word of the year?
am 13.09.2012 03:47:33 von RichAsianKid
On 12/09/2012 7:55 PM, Albert K. Fung wrote:
> RichAsianKid:
>
>> One humble poster would have thought that an esteemed poster let alone
>> America given the latter's impression would have taken Lao Tzu's
>> aphorism to heart to mind their own business:
>>
>> "Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they
>> know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is
>> done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it
>> ourselves."
>>
>> It appears an all-encompassing American empire is one last item ordinary
>> Americans would desire when parents demur at prospects of sacrificing a
>> son in Iraq and if lucky to only return to a homeland already invaded
>> and where job aspects are ever-increasingly bleak. Middle Americans ask
>> themselves, why is an utopian empire even worth pursuing defending
>> foreign soils for the world while unable to protect if not downright
>> forfeiting its own?
>>
>> And no, the whole notion of American exceptionalism has always been how
>> it led by example and leads by example. It's that sacred shining beacon
>> on the hill and light that draws; and where the only inconvenient
>> barrier stopping the whole wide world from embracing Americanism is only
>> when circumstances were right when these downtrodden people could only
>> be miraculously freed from those wicked evil oppressors. Not because
>> America is strong but rather because America is _the_ teleological
>> endpoint. By accepting America as now merely like the rest - that "might
>> makes right" - America is thus now not so unassailable, had lost an
>> all-important moral high ground, and yes, is now embarking on its first
>> step to being dethroned being dependent on circumstances which will
>> wispishly change.
>>
>> Homer Simpson's duh should be more accurately amended as a "nah". For
>> history never ends nor ever ended. It merely repeats itself. ;)
>
> AKF:
>
>> Both Han Feizi and Sunzi ....
>>
>> Just like the American founders, were devoted and respectful
>> students of Laozi. One was an influential thinker of China's
>> Legal school. While the other was a brilliant military stra-
>> tegist, highly skilled in the art of warfare. On recommendat
>> -ion of his brilliant and trusted lieutenants - after losing
>> battles after battles - General Washington, the Commander of
>> the Continental Army, read the works of the three gentlemen.
>> He couldn't put them down. Afterwards, he completely revamp-
>> ed his war plan.
>>
>> And adopted Laozi's wu wei strategy. The rest, was history.
>>
>> Leading the ragtag army of a backwater country, General Wash
>> -ington, now a convert of Laozi, did the unthinkable - he de
>> -feated the world's hyperpower, the reigning hegemony of his
>> time - the mighty British Empire.
>>
>> After he became president, he applied wu wei to politics and
>> accomplished a great deal in building his new country.
>>
>> To the lesser minds, of course, Laozi's wise words are aphor
>> -ism to do nothing. Han Feizi, Sunzi and General Washington,
>> OTOH, knew better. They heeded his admonition, the paradoxic
>> -al "wu wei er wu bu wei".
>>
>> And the Empire of Liberty was born .... :)
>>
>> PS: The American Empire rules the world, by not ruling - per
>> the wise admonition of Laozi. As evidence of its success
>> - even a two bit country like China can claim that she's
>> now a super power. Albeit with the per capital income of
>> an African country.
>>
>> And when the Empire's persuasive 7th Fleet knocks on her
>> door, there's no question that she will answer, fast. :)
>
> RichAsianKid:
>
>> To this humble poster, if verifiable - but please don't worry especially
>> if not - modern neoconservative America of empire is therefore not meant
>> to be.
>>
>> Yet Israelites or Jews may be one most esteemed poster's evolved
>> paradigm - quite sadly not quite for WASPs.
>>
>> Well? ;)
>
> AKF:
>
>> Jews and Israelites ....
>>
>> Are not one and the same. Hence the esteemed netter's assert
>> -ion is vague and ambiguous. Just like the Chinese Jews form
>> a global diaspora that is influential. An empire, it is not.
>> The American Empire, is influential in almost all spheres of
>> human endeavors.
>>
>> Such influence, is backed by unrivaled, unchallenged power.
>>
>> Its military has no equal in human history. In peace time it
>> acts as a world constabulary - with global reaches anywhere,
>> anytime. Per Laozi's implorations, its civilian and military
>> managers are keenly aware of its power, but are sensitive to
>> the feelings of world sovereigns and the faces of their thin
>> skinned leaders.
>>
>> Consequently, it's sternly admonished to adopt a low profile
>> - by staying out of reach and out of sight. But is war ready
>> - at all times - to flex the empire's muscle when needed and
>> to impose the empire's will when called. Borrowing a modern
>> aerospace engineering parlance:
>>
>> It is a fly-by-wire empire .... :)
>
> RichAsianKid:
>
>> In application of Godwin's Law variant, when a newsgroup conversation
>> degenerates into even attempted deconstruction - or when certain
>> newsgroups are deliberately and excluded - one still recognizes the
>> faint principle it's not falsehoods which matter but truth that hurts.
>>
>> On the question of Jews and Israelites, recall the case of one Yitzhak
>> Rabin. Yitzhak Rabin in June 1993 rather famously remarked: "But for me
>> a Jewish state means that at least 80 percent of its citizens must be
>> Jewish. I don't want a situation of four, five million Jews and two and
>> a half or three million Palestinians, because we are different. We are
>> different entities by religion, by policies. We are different nations.
>> Different by nationality. I see what happens all over the world nowadays
>> when there are large minorities that don't want to identify with the
>> destiny of the state in which they are a major minority."
>>
>> But as we know for one Yigal Amir, described as a radical right-wing
>> Orthodox Jew, Rabin (and his subsequent judgement wrt the Oslo
>> Accords)...just...wasn't...quite...good...enough.
>>
>> It appears the "modern" Middle Kingdom somehow managed to buck the trend
>> on Jewish matters that seem to plague WASPs and America in a macro as
>> well as micro sense. Macro in that China has not been pulled or pushed
>> into disastrous foreign policies especially in context of never-ending
>> warring but purported "universal" neoconservatism and endless wars;
>> micro where unlike WASPs China has not been domestically, well, being
>> just plain paved over. Not to mention the question of absorption where
>> WWII Jewish communities have effectively disappeared in Shanghai while
>> in America Jewish diaspora communities effectively _replaced_ WASPs as
>> new elite - in spite of and not because of relative phenotypic
>> similarities.
>>
>> So no, not only is one virtual empire incapable of winning petty foreign
>> skirmishes, it's incapable of even maintaining and protecting its own in
>> the long run - even on a simple Jewish front. ;)
>
> Two virtual empire's ....
>
> Were locked horned, in a global war theater, for the past de
> -cade. At this threshold of the 21st century, the writing is
> clearly on the wall. And, there is not any question that the
> Empire of Faith, Islam, is losing its war against the Empire
> of Liberty.
>
> Their turban heads are hiding in caves in remote mountains.
>
> The American Empire's unmanned drones, are picking out their
> leaders one by one as targets for its Hellfire missiles. And
> these mechanical warriors of the empire, are loitering 24x7,
> rain or shine, over their hiding places - rendering them com
> pletely and utterly impotent.
>
> Moreover, the American Empire's Treasury Department is flex-
> ing its considerable muscles to nudge them out of the global
> banking system. To the point that Iran has to resort to bart
> -ering, and the late Mr. Bin Laden bitterly complained about
> not having any money to spend, let alone mounting any operat
> -ion.
>
> It is safe to say, that the Empire of Faith, Islam, is now a
> toothless tiger, if it ever was one. Certainly, it can cause
> troubles then and now, here and there. Regrettably, Mr. Bush
> and the esteemed netter failed to understand that skirmishes
> are manifestation of well contained troubles, not wars. Win-
> ning them are not high-value endeavors. Form the big picture
> view, there is not any question that the Empire of Faith for
> all practical purposes, is down in the ditches and is not in
> any position to upstage or challenge the world order imposed
> by the American Empire.
>
> As to the modern Middle Kingdom, it is merely a had-been em-
> pire with no might to lead, has too much pride to follow and
> far too much ego to get out of the way. Not wanting to punct
> -ure its puffed up ego, the American Empire is merely giving
> it a bit of the proverbial face. However, when push comes to
> shove, China will fall in line - if only kicking and scream-
> ing, and will certainly bend to the imperial will. Its ruler
> may not be very intelligent, but they are certainly persuad-
> able by the might of the US Pacific Fleets.
>
> Chinese Jews in HK, SH, BJ and Kaifeng, are doing quite well
> thank you very much. A few years ago a woman Rabbi in HK was
> hired to tender to the spiritual needs of China's Jewry. BTW
> - just a FYI - HK has the most beautiful, sublimely elegant,
> and majestically exquisite Sephardic Temple in all of Asia -
> if not the entire world. A Jewish HK governor, was the first
> to introduced modern urban planning practices to China. Jews
> are still the pillars of HK's upper crust today. That is the
> hallmark of strong, enduring global diaspora with not any re
> -gard for race or nationality but simply the humility to sub
> -mit, and the willingness to serve, the Hebrew God.
>
> Likewise, many WASP-ified descendants of of the Middle King-
> dom are serving the myriad needs of the American Empire. The
> likes of Dr. Steven Chu and the Hon. Mr. Gary Locke, the em-
> pire's Energy Secretary and Ambassador to China respectively
> are examples par excellence of a modern global, enduring em-
> pire, firmly anchored by the WASP values, based not on race,
> nor national origins.
>
> But on pure, unadulterated merits .... :)
>
> Regards,
>
> Albert K. Fung
> Rancho del Canto, Paso Robles, California, USA.
Perhaps it is this humble netter who then should again, in an Andersen
emperor-is-naked sort of way, "puncture its [America's] puffed up ego"
by pointing out the so-called neoconservative establishment with its
roots in Trotsky ( http://tinyurl.com/2rmquw ) has very effectively
displaced a once dominant WASPish establishment in the US in the 21st
century. And it is, of course of course, just absolutely coincidental
many neocons if not most somehow also so so very very coincidentally
happen to be....Jewish!! Sure!!!!!
One further reads: "Regrettably, Mr. Bush and the esteemed netter failed
to understand that skirmishes are manifestation of well contained
troubles, not wars. Winning them are not high-value endeavors. Form the
big picture view, there is not any question that the Empire of Faith for
all practical purposes, is down in the ditches and is not in any
position to upstage or challenge the world order imposed by the American
Empire."
No offense intended this is just laughable even on its own terms. Bush
II is the posterboy of neoconservatism which is no less the modern
projection of America's power. While, at the same time, and perhaps in
their last ditches, red-blooded WASP-descended Americans opt for their
sons not dying when stationed and pretending to defend in a foreign soil
which will end in misery anyway - and simply want them returning home.
No, to deride and rationalize the underlying dynamics let alone
importance of victory and defeat in wars or orchestrated skirmishes as
somehow inconsequential approaches threshold of dishonesty.
Furthermore, on this so-called "bigger picture view", Islam does not
have to conquer Europe or America by force or terrorist activity. It
quietly conquers by womb. Yes. And the birth-rate differential is
especially acute when the European birth rate falls precipitously. Yes,
it is certainly true birth rates of NE Asia is even lower than those
really fecund Europeans; but it's all the more reason when American
ideology failed when diversity is touted as some summum bonnum when
demography's ultimate destiny.(*) Perhaps it's something that WASPs
failed to anticipate, or even conceive - no pun intended. But those who
don't learn from history may be condemned to repeat it; and those who
never learn deserve the curses of those who come after. :)
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(*) Don't miss last minutes of video
http://tinyurl.com/9gvjapb