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Date Posted: 12:22:11 11/08/02 Fri
Author: Don
Subject: Cycles: Theme and Variations
In reply to: BV 's message, "Re: Just a pair of greedy bastards." on 10:39:10 11/08/02 Fri

We all remember Santayana's warning about what happens to those who fail to learn the lessons of history. (Most Texans don't because they confuse him with the Mexican General Santa Ana who led the Mexicans at the battle of the Alamo which they do remember but remembering 2 similar things causes them deep confusion.) And there is the other saying about how history repeats itself first as tragedy then as farce (I've not been able to find out who said it first). So I'm fairly certain that we are in the midst of a very complex theatrical production consisting of a farce within a farce within a farce...all wrapped up in an outer layer of tragedy. The whole thing makes the novels of John Barth and Thomas Pynchon seem like a straight line running between the present and the future.

One of the farces is the theme of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Another is the increasing concentration of political power to the wealthy few who use that power to further increase their wealth and political power. Thus it was in ancient Babylon and Egypt. It reared its head a bit later under Alexander but he died too soon to concentrate his holdings and the West had to wait for Rome to come along in the next act. After Rome came the crowned heads of Europe each of whom met with some downfall or other. Now we have the Industrial so-called Democracies which are a new way to concentrate wealth and power.

Each act requires a larger stage. The damages done are on ever increasing scales as the needs of the few lead them to grab for more and more.

Does Korea have significant oil reserves? No need to get into a lather over them then. The only reason why anyone paid any mind to them in the 1950's was because they had the backing of the USSR and Truman had vowed to oppose Communism anywhere in the world. Now that the USSR is done we could easily find it within ourselves to ignore that area until a new Greater East Asian CoProsperity Sphere shows itself as a threat to our hegemony over world resources.

As for WF, it's in the low phase caused by a shortage of students who take themselves seriously. I've always been amused by the idea that students can go on strike, stop attending classes, and have any effect on anything except their own transcripts. (This from one who remembers....) But without something like that going on it will remain in the doldrums until the next person comes along and suggests that the students actually pay for their education or at least sign promissary notes. That will get their ire up.

I think it's all part of the current cycle. The world will undoubtedly be a healthier place to live once we humans finish killing ourselves off by pissing in our wells.

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