When Is Enough Enough?
These Librarians had an Ultimatum—and won! But it’s risky. McCain and Palin hunt for Un-American Americans, so watch your step.
If you vote for Obama and he loses, get ready to cover your tracks. It’s just a guess on my part, but spying by the US Government continues unabashedly. (And US spying implies deeper concerns.)
From Demoncracy-Now!
The Bush administration’s wiretapping program has come under new scrutiny this week. Two influential congressional committees have opened probes into allegations US intelligence spied on the phone calls of American military personnel, journalists and aid workers in Iraq.
From CounterCurrents.org
The potential for ubiquitous surveillance that emerges with Enhanced Drivers Licenses (EDLs) could only be imagined by the Stasi in Communist East Germany, but is a genuinely looming specter for contemporary North American democracies.
As it turns out, the government hunts kid-friendly folks too. The following video demonstrates the serious amazing nature of An Ultimatum.
Where’s The Ultimatum?
October 27th, 2008 at 5:04 am
The story about the librarians is truly amazing. In India, after a great deal of activism, The Right To Information Act has been passed and this has enabled ordinary citizens to ask for and obtain relevant documents and files from the government about decisions taken. This has led to a great deal of public interest litigation, sometimes including the ridiculous. That this legislation has enabled more responsible governance, however is indisputable. Many corrupt politicians and bureaucrats have been brought to book, thanks to this law and some public activists.
October 27th, 2008 at 5:06 am
That is quite an avatar of mine that you have put up there. It just needs a beard and a moustache to make it look realistic!
October 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
It must be tongue in cheek to go so slyly from the evils of the Patriot Act to Where’s Waldo. Although I must admit I was slightly bewildered at first, I think it’s a good reminder that tipping the scales to the right in this election could mean a headlong slide into the Fourth Reich, so to speak….
October 29th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
rummuser,
India, as I understand it, has a strong legacy of activism, including the Great Ghandi and also women’s opposition to Franken-Foods. The Right to Information is something we could use in the US about now, especially regarding the
Criminal RegimeExecutive Branch.Oh, the avatar is randomly generated wavatar, a choice for Wordpress installations…other choices include Identicons and MonsterIds for those without Gravatars. The little wavatar will take you to Gravatar.com for your own picture!
Person Number 3:
I’m glad you put your tongue in your cheek. I must keep mine there, lest I sound like some conspiracy advocate. Here’s a funny link to reasons to learn self-defense. My favorite is #3 (the first one).
October 29th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I’m all for self defense. And self-realization. What to do when the aggressors against sense of self are those closest to you? Or even your own self? Speaking of comedy, do you recommend practicing self defense on one’s own self?
As for conspiracy, and tongues, let us speak in one and bathe in the other. You decide.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Person 3.
Self-defense in a Great Extremes Boxing sense, is not self-defense at all; it’s much more aggressive and predatory. It’s a hit-them-before-they-hit-you, kind of feeling. It’s potent in the short range, vile in outcome, and mind-less in terms of rationale.
As such, Taijiquan (Baguazhang even more so) allows and requires an inner calm. Requires because you can’t tap animal nature without calm, and allows because calmness can utilize reflex mechanisms to provide safety. It requires no defensiveness, only engagement and awareness, and, some say, a peculiar and pleasantly sensual kind of perception. It’s a very real, not philosophical, sense. You can, therefore, not-react to pathetic attempts to sway your inner calm.
Own-self: gradual and consistent applications of realizing the inner predator leave no room for self-deprecation.
No joke…I recommend practicing full-on disciplinary actions (like doing Real Taiji Forms every day, twice) for the self…no one else can do it to you. In Baguazhang, we even strike ourselves! It is kind of funny, though.
Tongue bathing: my cat Carol offers it. It’s scratchy and weird; not really for me. I’ll keep mine in cheek. Does that mean I bathe in conspiracies?!
October 30th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hit them before they hit you reminds me of the war we were recently in — in that war it was called “pre-emptive strikes” — Maybe if we had hit — Iraq, Al Qaeda, perceived ‘evil-doers’– with something soft — like a pillow or a rubber chicken — we’d all be havin a big global slumber party right now.
Perhaps you mean ‘primal’ — not aggressive and predatory — not trying to sound grisly or vicious
October 30th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
No, I mean what I say. Your connotations load the words. I mean aggressive and predatory. It’s not a Politically Correct kind of word use. It’s accurate.
Primal is a nice, new-agey, psychological term that hints at what I mean.
It’s not like the war, either. They sold that at the war, but that’s not how we acted.
October 30th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
In some ways words are nothing but connotation — and to some extent it’s the ‘majority rules’ in whose connotations make the meaning. I’ll use Wikipedia to help me define aggression:
“In psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm. Aggression can be physical, mental, or verbal. Aggression is not the same thing as assertiveness.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggression
October 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Oh & by the way, although I demure to agree with your use of the words aggression, hostile, mind-less, vicious, grisly & meany pants — I would say that a reduction in the universal Miss Manners facade would be Ok with me.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I understand aggression in the context of defending one’s self or others from physical attack, but you’ll have to explain predation for me. I don’t understand the need to be predator in the context of being attacked. Predator strongly connotes a killer, or someone who attacks, kills and devours the weak, those who pose no harm, like little bunnies. It’s a word loaded with far more connotations than you intend, it seems to me, and therefore obscures your point.
Is is really necessary to use the word predator since the word is usually used in far different contexts than aggression directed toward an attacker?
October 30th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Taiji requiring inner calm is a fascinating thing to ponder and thing desired to be experienced, but as far as animal nature goes, is calm the ONLY way to tap animal nature? I think most of us tap our animal nature without any sense of calm.
I like the way you describe the calm component of Taiji:
“It requires no defensiveness, only engagement and awareness, and, some say, a peculiar and pleasantly sensual kind of perception. It’s a very real, not philosophical, sense. You can, therefore, not-react to pathetic attempts to sway your inner calm.”
I remember as post of your’s regarding calm as a way to cool potential aggressors, that such an approach may in fact cool the aggressor.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Yes: predator.
Have you ever pet a wolf? It’s different than stroking a poodle. A wolf insists that others use gentle and nice mannerisms, just by his or her presence. That’s what one does with Taiji! Become the wolf. The presence of Predator instills calm in others.
“…tap our animal nature without any sense of calm” is not animal in nature…it’s juvenile tantruming or drunken idiocy. It’s hard to understand without experience in it. Calm is the only way. Raging, frothing lunatics and belligerent, self-indulgent loved-ones are not predators….they are silly, mean children that never grew up, never got good parenting, never had solid boundaries.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:50 am
I’m not taking about raging, frothing lunatics and belligerent, self-indulgent loved ones. My Dad wasn’t calm when he tapped his animal nature of a raging, lunatic who ultimately took a swing at him. His adrenaline was pumped prior to the swing directed at his face, and he was confident. He yelled back at the guy before the fist came at his direction. It was animal in nature. What you’re talking about is also animal in nature, but something specialized through training. My Dad is often and calm, gentle person as well, by the way, just not when someone is frothing at the mouth in the way you describe. The fact that we wasn’t calm during this situation does not make him a raging, frothing lunatic, a mean child who never grew up. He tapped his animal nature just fine, without calm. It’s extreme to suggest that all those who tap animal nature without calm are idiots while those who tap it with calm are superior beings.
Trungpa defines fearlessness and warrior, in part, by telling us what he does not mean, which I found helpful and enlightening. Prior to reading his book, I thought such words were juvenile. Now I know that by fearlessness he doesn’t mean the total elimination of fear, which is good, because fear isn’t such a bad thing.
By predator, I’m sure you don’t mean preying on and attacking the physically weak, like the elderly etc. For those new to your site, perhaps the word predator is more like a word bomb. With more detailed writings about you mean and don’t mean by predator, the fog of misunderstanding lifts and your meaning shines with dignity.
I like your detailed description of what you mean by predator.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Calm is the better way, not the only way. Perhaps my Dad could have avoided being swung at if he had remained calm. If he had remained calm and the guy swung at him anyway, the tapping of his animal nature wouldn’t have been much different than his angry, adrenaline pumped discourse. Tapping animal nature requires no training. It’s automatic, thoughtless. Humans are animals, so there is really no way to avoid being an animal to begin with. We are always already tapping our animal nature, even when we’re using reason.
Also, there are examples of animal nature we humans can emulate and follow, but there are others too horrific too emulate. I would shudder in horror if people started devouring their young, for example.
Drunken idiocy is still animal nature, just not the kind we would wish to emulate and cultivate. Anger is animal nature, but rarely helpful.
I do prefer the better way: calm.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:41 am
I appreciate your comments on this subject. You help me realize that more thorough article could explain internal martial arts more thoroughly, for either you miss the meaning or you insist on mixing up terms.
For more information on tapping the animal-predator-warrior-power check out some methods for development in Pushing Hands and some goals related to such development in Way of the Warrior.
Ikigai suggests the animal nature I speak of when he refers to boldness that would impress anyone. Check it out.
November 1st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Panicked. Calm. Frenzied. Aware. Self-confident.
These are some different states that I think are easily seen in both animals & humans. I think preferable states of being for comfort & sustenance are — calmness, self confidence, and awareness. I’d prefer to have 99% of my life in one of those states — to avoid the panic and the frenzy.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I watched Cape Fear, the original film, last weekend. The prey became the predator in order to prey on the predator preying on him and his family. He was a lousy predator, until the very end where calm pervaded. The predator of the hero and his family was calm and collected.
The film helped me make sense of your recommendation to develop the inner predator.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Person#3, animals mature through stages (and we are animals), and I think the calm, self-confident, awareness emerges as maturity emerges. Our culture and its mass-consumerism neglects to help us mature, preferring, I suspect, simplistic, fearful ignor-anuses to manipulate. The task of developing maturity is an arduous and lonely task.
Jeff, Excellent! And thanks for the tip on a movie to reference where the prey turns it around.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:56 am
The movie No Country For Old Men is another fine example of predation in action. In this movie, however, the bad guy’s calm and calculated predatory behavior dominated the good guy’s distracted and undisciplined predatory plans to rid himself and his family of his evil predator. I can’t wait to read the novel!
The novel The Road is yet another fine example of the good predator versus bad predators.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I guess it’s safe now for those who voted for Obama.
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