Hoarders

                                                                                                            written 22 May 2022

                                                                                                        published 29 May 2022

                                                                                                 

                                                                                               

            We sometimes watch the "Hoarders" show on TV.  Most of these folks have professional interventions resulting from family concerns, or public health legal actions due to unsafe conditions threatening the owner or the neighborhood.

            Garbage hoarding is the most extreme, with homes sometime filled to the ceiling with garbage, trash, body waste, and decaying food.  The house is not functional and the owner crawls over the piles to live in a nest is one portion of the building.  Animal hoarding is another variation, with dozens, even hundreds, of animals living in unhealthy and unsafe conditions.

            Not all hoarders are this disconnected from nominal health and safety.  Some are shopping hoarders, constantly ordering online, filling their house with unopened boxes, racks of new clothes, or multiples of every kind of appliance, toy, or gadget.  One man, with a good job, couldn't pass a yard sale without buying tools.  By the time his family intervened, he owned several houses completely filled with storage shelves holding his tools, which he never used, but couldn't pass up.

            Hoarding is not about being too lazy to clean, or having too much stuff, it is a mental health condition that affects your quality of life.  Dysfunctional hoarding behavior is often triggered by some past trauma that never got resolved, and "things just got out of hand".  

            Physician Gabor Maté, trauma specialist, says it is not just what happened to us, but also, not getting something we need, that can traumatize.  Consequently, most everyone is dealing with trauma, which disconnects us from our authentic self.  Importantly, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are as a result of the traumatic event, is what maintains our current dysfunction.  The past can't be changed, but our story can be, allowing for real healing.

            Extreme hoarding makes for television entertainment, and it is easy to wonder how someone could drift so far.  But hoarding might be a spectrum, with milder forms that aren't so cringe inducing.  We might not even recognize them as a dysfunctional response to trauma.  Consider extreme wealth as a form of hoarding.

            Narcissism, is a form of selfishness, a psychological response to trauma.  Selfishness is viewed as a mental health issue in many indigenous cultures, which honor compassion and empathy as social values, stemming directly from experiencing the unity of the tribe and the natural environment.  In the Northwest Pacific coast native culture, the concept of potlach is a tradition of sharing, making sure no one has too much and everyone has enough.

            The dominant American culture, deluded by the illusion of separation, has no such perspective.  Instead, our social stories are "greed is good"; "socialism is evil"; and a corporation's only goal is "maximum short-term profit for the shareholders".  This economic national religion, distorting even our self-proclaimed Christian values, has shaped our civilization.  We are the richest country on Earth, consuming 6 times our share of energy and natural resources, with extreme economic inequity.  The top 0.1 percent, 160 thousand households, own as much as the bottom 90 percent, 144 million households.  Jeff Bezos spent over $5B for his 10 minute suborbital joy ride, but fights against paying living wages to his employees.  Hoarding is a mental health issue which prevents a person from recognizing what is "enough".

            While wealth hoarding isn't as viscerally disgusting as living in a house full of rotting garbage, it is clearly a hazard to the neighborhood.  The climate deniers are heavily funded by wealth hoarders, who own and disproportionately benefit from the extremely profitable fossil fuel monopolies.  However, the economic destruction is increasing every year, threatening not just this country, but the entire planet.  Health care in America is more expensive, and less accessible, than in the rest of the developed world.  This maximizes profits for the hoarders, but makes life more difficult for everyone else.  Rather than sharing, wealth hoarders stoke divisive political polarization to distract from the real issues.  

            But demographics are shifting against the hoarders, not because of imaginary Democratic "replacement theory", but because people are awakening; realizing the system impoverishes the many for the profit of the few.  

            The sad truth is that even the hoarders suffer from their dysfunction, as their lives are filled with constant anxiety that they will "lose it all".  Ironically, climate collapse makes that a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Public health demands we change the story.

 

 

 

 

Personhood Of The Egg

                                                                                                            written 15 May 2022

                                                                                                        published 22 May 2022

   

            Once a month, most women of childbearing age release one ovum.  When viable sperm are present, the ovum picks which one to allow into its interior as the fertilizing partner.  Not the fastest, or the strongest sperm, but the one accepted by the ovum.  Life begins with a feminine choice.  

            The fertilized egg must attach to the uterine wall and then gestate for about 9 months before being birthed into the larger world.  This is a precarious process.  For every 100 fertilized eggs, as many as 90 fail to produce a live baby, with over a third failing within just the first week.  Less than 3 of the 100 die due to an abortion.

            While it is true that the single cell is the beginning of an individual, it is not functionally autonomous for months, completely at the mercy of the health and welfare of the mother.  Despite this fundamental reality, some people believe the fertilized egg should be considered a viable individual, with the legal rights we expect for an individual, without regard for the rights of the mother. 

            Extremist Republican "leadership" in some states has already declared abortion murder, while displaying no concern for what happens after birth.  This perspective will ban invitro fertilization and many contraceptives systems that prevent uterine implantation.  Focusing on the individual rights of the egg is symptomatic of our fundamental cultural dysfunction; believing the illusion of separation.  The denial of the dependent relationship between the mother and growing child is dangerous and ignorant.

            But let's pretend for a moment that this punitive birther fundamentalism is not just toxic misogyny wrapped in hypocritical self-rigorous morality.  If the fertilized cell deserves full protection under the law, then the mother should not be the only one prosecuted for damage or destruction of life.

            More than 80 percent of pregnant women are exposed to chemicals harmful, or lethal, to the fetus; in cosmetics, synthetic fragrances, plastic containers, kitchenware, paint, anti-bacteria chemicals, nano particles, and environmental chemicals in air, food, and water.  If we grant personhood to the fertilized cell, every company that produces these chemicals is guilty of serial assault or murder.  The companies, including all the executives and shareholders who profit from these crimes, as well as the workers, sales people, distributors, and retailers, should be prosecuted.  While they might argue that they didn't know, and the damage was unintentional, that is still second-degree assault or murder.  But many companies know the toxicity of their products, making them guilty of first-degree assault or murder. 

            Poor health care contributes to increases in miscarriages, which we are now calling murder.  To protect the unborn, all pregnant women must be provided with adequate and affordable prenatal care, nutritious food, and paid maternity leave.  Any politician, health insurance company, employer health plan, or state official that denies this essential care to pregnant women is guilty of serial murder for profit, and should be prosecuted.  

            Other contributors to miscarriage are diabetes, tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine.  Therefore, the sugar, tobacco, alcohol, and coffee industries, and all their employees and stockholders, are guilty of serial murder for profit.

            Maternal stress increases the risk of offspring developing cardiovascular, metabolic, or neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as lower birth weight of the baby and premature delivery.  Chronic stress can be caused by poverty and unemployment.  Any company refusing to pay a living wage to a pregnant woman, or their supporting spouse, is guilty of serial assault for profit.

            Finally, most of the death of fertilized eggs, now being considered as persons protected under the law, are due to "acts of God".  Therefore, God is a capricious serial killer.  While prosecuting God is difficult, all those who profess allegiance to this killer are accessories to this rampant murder spree, and should be held accountable in a court of law.  

            The above discussion demonstrates the logical absurdity of any attempted claim of personhood for the fertilized egg.  It is clear that even the most reasonable suggestions listed, such as guaranteed affordable neonatal heath care, living wages, and child support payments, are not being discussed by the Republican "leadership", despite their professed concern for the sanctity of the unborn.  This is not about morality, but about control of women, an attempt to renew centuries of entrenched misogyny, which is endemic within the Republican party.

            Will America submit to this insanity?

  

 

 

 

 

Tyranny By The Minority

                                                                                                            written 8 May 2022

                                                                                                      published 15 May 2022

  

            The US Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men (people!) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."  The US Constitution articulates how to accomplish that. 

            These goals were revolutionary when the country was formed, and are still noble today.  However, an honest appraisal of our history shows that we have struggled to apply them evenly.  The challenge has always been overcoming the tyranny of the rich and powerful minority.  An example is the upcoming Supreme Court decision banning abortion. 

            Republicans, knowing they are losing the demographic race, have spent decades deliberately packing the least democratic branch of the government; the Supreme Court.  In 2000, the Court intervened in the presidential election, declaring George W. Bush president, who then appointed two more Justices.  In 2008 the Supreme Court Citizen's United decision eliminated campaign finance limitations, claiming corporate personhood (not mentioned in the Constitution) made spending money a protected free speech, allowing floods of dark corporate money to distort elections.  In 2013, the Court gutted voting rights protections, claiming there was no longer any racial discrimination in voting laws, paving the way for extreme voter restrictions and gerrymandering.

            Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness require control over how many children to raise, and when.  Criminalizing abortion, destroying 50 years of established reproductive rights for women, goes against the will of over 65 percent of the population.  This isn't pro-life, but simple punitive birther fundamentalism.  

            But five unelected people, with lifetime tenure, have decided to impose their minority view on 334 million Americans.  These five (Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett), are all conservative Republicans, specifically selected for their extreme judicial perspective by the Federalist Society and the secret Catholic Opus Dei organization.  Three of the five were put on the bench by President Trump, who campaigned on destroying abortion rights in order to get the support of religious extremists, and still lost the popular vote. 

            Trump could do this because Republicans control the Senate, which is skewed toward the minority.  The two votes from California represent 69 times more Americans than the two from Wyoming.  In the current Senate, Republicans represent only 44 percent of the population, yet can stop effective legislative progress.  

            This abortion decision is based on the idea that, since there is no specific mention of abortion in the Constitution, there can be no rights implied.  Despite being legally specious, it opens the door to denying the right to contraception, same sex marriage, and inter-racial marriage.  But these issues are window dressing to satisfy the religious fundamentalists, and distract the voters.  

            Our country faces serious issues.  Our air, water, and food are polluted, contributing to chronic health issues.  Real health care is unaffordable and/or unavailable to many.  Monopoly economics, resource depletion, and the expanding climate crisis are increasing the costs of everything, while billionaires fund space junkets instead of paying living wages.  The Republicans refuse to address these problems, because their donor base is doing fine.  Instead, Republican policy is to further minimize the federal government, and privatize everything.  All federal environmental regulations, and limits to address the climate crisis, should be banned.  The wealthy should own you and control your life.  

            I consider that an insane perspective.

            Republican "leadership", seemingly afraid of what has been unleashed, are trying to divert attention to the "breach of honor" the Supreme Court leak represents, rather than admitting that banning abortion has been their goal for decades.  Women are righteously angry, and the Democrats have a focus for this next election; don't elect more of these crazy people!

            Get involved.  Educate yourselves.  Send money to groups working in directions you support.  Make sure you are registered to vote, and then VOTE!  Communicate with friends, especially in other states, getting them to become active and vote as well.  Republicans are pushing an unpopular agenda, counting on apathy and discouragement from their opposition.  Even in the 2020 election, only 67 percent of eligible Americans voted. 

            We are living in a time when all the old dysfunctions, some enduring for centuries, are coming front and center, to be acknowledged, addressed, and healed.  Banning abortion is not about morality, but about disempowering people to increase control.  Speaking our truth is an act of empowerment.

 

Why Does Putin Need This War?

                                                                                                            written 1 May 2022

                                                                                                        published 8 May 2022

 

            Russian political scientist and human rights activist Ekaterina Schulmann, speaking at a roundtable discussion on Russian torture, answered a question from the audience; "Why does Putin need this war?"  The following is excerpted from her response.

            "He did this to halt time." 

            "We have noted that violence in society is decreasing; that crime rates are falling; that new generations have a new value system; that video games actually reduce violence, rather than increase it; that, in general, the younger the social stratum, the more pronounced the decline in violent crime and in consumption of hard liquor; that imperial nostalgia is fading into the past."

            "Now, turn this picture around, and imagine yourself on the other side.  There you sit and watch as the sands of time slip through your fingers.  You will inevitably be succeeded by -- let's use his language -- traitors.  Your children are traitors.  They do not share your view of life, they do not share your view of the world, they do not see that which you see with such clarity.  You are the last defender of the fortress.  They will surrender it to the enemy, because they do not even consider him an enemy, and no matter how much you try to convince them, they still won't consider."

            "The neighboring country is causing you unease.  It has somehow made progress, which is very disturbing.  And you realize that a little bit longer, and that's it, your historical time will end.  Your window will shut.  The next ones are coming, and they are unacceptable to you.  From your point of view, they are worse than useless, they will doom everything, they will ruin everything.  This is hatred for one's heirs; hatred for the living, simply because they shall go on living."  

            "A reasonable person can accept this, can caress a baby, understanding that while I will turn to dust, you will live on and prosper.  But if you happen to be constituted a little bit differently, and you also happen to hold a great deal of power in your hands, then you can do this trick; onto the heads of all these future generations, you will overturn a heavy concrete slab, which will crush them forever, or least in any foreseeable perspective.  That future that they wanted, they won't get.  Instead, they will get the future your way, even after you are no longer among the living, because you will do such a thing."

            "You are inside this fortress that you're guarding, you will figuratively detonate an atomic bomb.  True, there will be no life left in the fortress, but it will be radioactive and therefore unapproachable, and so it will forever remain unconquered, so to speak.  Anyone who can't accept the flow of time and come to terms with it, yet possesses power, could do this kind of thing."

            "It's only a working hypothesis, but that's how it is.  I do see confirmation from many sources, this sentiment of time flowing away.  The feeling that somehow history is not headed in our direction, this hatred and disgust for tomorrow, because it is not what I need.  What is hard to grasp is that someone would go to such ends in an attempt to drown out these apparently unbearable feelings."

            Unfortunately, we see the same insane fear and hatred of a changing future in America.  Some yearn for the past; when rich white men controlled everything and women were powerless, quiet, arm candy, simple breeders of the future generation; when people of color were actual minorities, and kept in their place through economics and police systems; when gender roles were rigid and limited by law; when the world was ripe for corporate plundering.

            But that was an unsustainable moment in time, because humanity is in the middle of an evolution of consciousness and the climate crisis is growing.  Those refusing to accept this, stoke rage against the changing reality.  The GQP, claiming Christian patriotic "leadership", while being neither, is working to destroy democracy and the rule of law to force the future into their distorted perspective.  This is similar to Putin's work destroying any notion of Ukraine, while risking Russian stability, which is why Fox News is such a Russian mouthpiece.  The question we have to answer is; will we allow this insanity to prevail in America?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Pass Fail Exam

                                                                                                           written 24 Apr 2022

                                                                                                        published 1 May 2022

                                                                                                 

            Albert Einstein said, "either everything is sacred, or nothing is".  The Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh said, "we are here to awaken from the illusion of separation".  Christ taught, "Love God and Love the Other".  From physics to metaphysics, the same truth emerges: reality is whole, one, interconnected.  The wise have long known this truth, but most of humanity has yet to learn the lesson.

            In 1970, Italian historian Carlo M. Cipolla, proposed a simple, four-part filter to discern wisdom, not based on tests or education, but by observing a person's actions with regard to the benefit to the individual and to the larger community.  When an individual’s actions benefit both themselves and others, he calls them Intelligent.  When the actions benefit themselves and hurt others, he calls them Bandits.  When actions benefit others but not themselves, he calls them Helpless.  When actions benefit neither themselves nor others, he calls them Stupid. 

            Life is intelligent.  Cooperation is more fundamental than competition.  Nucleated cells and multi-celled organisms were significant evolutionary advances, moving from individuals to vastly interconnected cooperative structures, exploding the complexity and diversity of life.  Humans are the thriving beneficiaries of both these evolutionary jumps.  Even the idea that we are "individuals" ignores the fact that for every cell in my body with my own unique DNA, there are ten other cells living in symbiotic harmony, both within "me" and on "my" surface, that are essential for "my" healthy functioning and moods.  Every breath I take and every scrap of food I eat is produced by other beings, upon which I am totally dependent.

            Bacteria of all types, share plasmids, bits of DNA that provide beneficial solutions to environmental problems.  Trees share nutrients, even between species, through interconnected root networks.  Plants produce more than they need to survive, allowing other species to live off of their bountiful harvest of solar energy.  The living biosphere is a sharing collective, where each part is nourished, and each part contributes back.

            Humanity is being called to emulate this and make it dominant in our civilization.  We are numerous, with consequences amplified by our powerful technologies, and our "taking" is out of balance with our "contributions", risking not only our complex and fragile economic systems, but even the possibility of human extinction: what Cipolla would call stupid. 

            During the pandemic, some people were so adamant in their defense of individual "freedoms", they risked making themselves sick, as well as their community.  Counties that had higher percentage of Trump voters also had higher death rates from Covid, actions qualifying as stupid.

            The current wave of guns laws, a boon for gun sales, allows anyone to carry a concealed weapon, with no training, licensing, or background checks, which is fueling a rise in suicides, accidental gun deaths, and mass shootings: bandit behavior trending toward stupid.

            Putin is an example of a bandit at the global level.  One of the richest men on the planet, his wealth comes for stealing, enforced by violence and terror.  The invasion of Ukraine is bandit tactics, but Russia has been thwarted, in part due to the endemic corruption of their military.  Putin's war is now morphing into stupid territory as the world reaction to the invasion threatens Russian stability.

            Corporate capitalism reveres competition, prioritizing short term fiscal gain for shareholders at the expense of all others: bandit behavior.  This economic model is exhausting resources and depleting the biosphere, risking total economic collapse as the climate crisis is rapidly building.   

            New scientific studies show the Arctic warming four times as fast as the rest of the planet.  Increased melting of the permafrost is destroying more of the economy of the region each year, while increasing the possibility of runaway methane releases that will completely destroy the global economy.  Avoiding this disaster requires immediate, massive, global cooperation, because we have already wasted too much time.  

            But the Trump-Putin Axis of authoritarianism, embraced by most of the Republican "leadership", denies the reality of this crisis.  We can't afford another four years of "know nothing" politics, from a party that has no coherent goals other than corporate greed and social domination through fear and hate: bandit tactics leading to long term stupid consequences.  The French just defeated their own authoritarian challenge.  The American midterm election will be a pass/fail exam for humanity.  Think, act, vote.  Your grandchildren will thank you.