INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY:

THE BANDS ARE BANNED:

Sometimes there are items of stupidity over and above the call of foolishness that leave me gaping with wide eyed wonder. Now appreciate that I am an anarchist and as such am privy to the occasional screed from those who want to "abolish civilization" (a mercifully small part of modern anarchism) and who also- beggar the imagination- delude themselves into thinking they have a way to accomplish this goal. You'd think I'd be enured to craziness. No such thing. The so-called "mainstream society" contunues to produce examples of insanity that equal or surpass the idea of "abolishing civilization", and it does it on a routine basis. What follows is one such example.

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Apparently there is a new 'tweenie' fad called 'Silly Bandz'. I guess that I may have seen them on the arms of young kids in the homes that I visit but I never paid any attention whatsoever- which is perhaps exactly the level of attention they deserve. I'd be hard put to think of anything that deserves less attention. Basically they are cheap rubber bands in the shape of various things-animals, mythical figures, princess icons,etc. that kids strap across their wrists. There's a website for them, and a Wikipedia note on them as well.

Considering the low cost of this item (which is, of course at least about 50 times the cost of production) I'm considering ordering a bunch to amuse the yard apes and keep them off my back when I visit homes. OK. If you can think of anything more harmless (but I'm sure you can think of things more silly) I challenge you to present it. Maybe nose picking in private? This, however, is not the opinion of various schools who have "banned the silly bands". I became aware of this while reading this week's Time Magazine. They have a more extensive article online. What on God's Green earth could be the problem here ? The teachers and the principals who put their insanity into policy claim that it is "distracting".

Pupils may "play with their bands" rather than sitting with bated breath until the next utterance from the god at the front of the room. I suggest they strip the little buggers naked so they will have nothing to "play with" while they imbibe the great wisdom from the front of the room. But maybe then they would still have "something to play with". Ooops !

The teachers have also claimed that the kids engage in 'trades' of the bands and that sometimes the partners in these trades "regret" the deals that they have made. This leads to "hard feelings", and, of course, the abolition of any feeling beyond loyalty to an ideology is a primary goal of modern education.

Teachers today are, for instance, under the illusion that they can "abolish bullying" by ramping up the control of the students by institutional bullying to such a degree that the students will not engage in "bullying" - other than of course informing the great bully (the teachers and the school administration) of violations of the code ie informing just like any good member of the Hitler Youth would have done.

The inculcation of ideology, however, while a primary goal of our education system is not the primary goal. That goal is pretty simple...to keep the little bastards babysat so that both their parents can engage in the wage labour necessary to raise a family today. In the last few decades the ideas of "progressive eduction" have been gradually corrupted such that today the idea that there are objective standards of knowledge would be considered evidence that you were a right wing fanatic. At the same time the school system, while it has gradually abandoned the real function of teaching ie the passing on of knowledge (the conservatives are right here) has taken up a Hitler/Stalin pact whereby, as long as you have the little lizards trapped in kid jail for a few hours a day you might as well "teach them to behave properly". In this desire to exercise control leftists and right wingers are equally enthusiastic.

The desire to "ban the bands" has to be seen in this context. Of course it is silly and absurd, but it means a lot to that portion of the working class whose product is social control. It comes close to being their reason for being. It is also taken up with enthusiasm by their bosses who are part of the ruling class and are very much in agreement with the idea that children should be controlled whether the control is rational or not. After all control is the major reason for the institutions that they govern. The irrationality is not so irrational once you understand that, aside from warehousing kids, one of the major functions of the schools are to discipline kids to "fit in" to institutions where the word of the boss and his point of view is divine.

That's how I personally see this incredible attempt to impose bureaucratic will on young children. I don't know how long a period of "physical reality" without the ability to control others would be necessary to reform people who want to increase their power by such evil acts. Canada has a huge area on Ellsmere Island for their colonies where they would have no opportunity to direct the behavior of anyone else. A compassionate society would, of course, provide the necessary food and shelter for the bare physical comforts necessary to philosophical contemplation on the nature of good and evil. No "political commissars" would be provided. Figure it out yourselves guys, and maybe some day you could rejoin civilized society.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-PALESTINE/ISRAEL:

ISRAELI PIRACY AND THE 'BESERKER CARD':

It's hard to describe the recent Israeli attack on the 'Gaza Flotilla' as anything but piracy. The legality of the Gaza blockade is disputed, but what is not disputed is that the attack too place in international waters (reports vary as to how far out it was). It is entirely possible that some of the Turks on board fought back against the assault, but the difference between Israeli pirates and Somali pirates can be seen in that the Somalis usually don't kill anyone even if the crews of the ships they attack also fight back. Reports on the total death toll vary, but it included at least nine people with many others wounded. Reports that are beginning to trickle out from people released from Israeli detention are, of course, wildly different from the claims of the Israeli military. The latter would be more believable if it wasn't sticking to its wild story that the soldiers boarding the ships began by "firing paintballs". Oh...I am really sure ! Perhaps forewarned by its intelligence services that the ships' cargoes had been thoroughly verified by independent observers Israel has not even tried to "plant" weapons in the seized goods. This, at least, would have been a more plausible lie than "paintballs". Once a silly claim has been made of ten enough , however, you have to stick to it no matter how absurd it is.

The world reaction has been immediate and vehement with demonstrations across the globe and condemnation from governments usually accustomed to toe a soft line with Israel. Those with residual sympathy for the Israeli government have reacted by claims that the military action was an ill-conceived mistake. Others have opined that the Israeli government is "insane".

I think both opinions are wrong. There are two countries in the world who have attacked US Navy ships and "gotten away with it". One is North Korea in 1968. The USS Pueblo is still held captive in North Korea. The other was Israel which sunk the USS Liberty in 1967- ironically in the same general area as the attack on the Gaza flotilla. Both Israel and North Korea have a long standing reputation for erratic and seemingly irrational actions, especially as they involve twisting the tail of the tiger. The only difference between world opinion of the two nations is that North Korea has no apologists (outside of tiny Stalinist sects- bizarrely enough most common in the USA). Nobody thinks North Korea makes "tragic mistakes".

Are Israel and North Korea "insane" ? Far from it. Crazy like a fox is a much better term. What both regimes want to project is the appearance of insanity, to give potential foes (and wavering friends !) the impression that they will lash out unexpectedly and violently with none of the usual considerations of costs and benefits. I call this the 'Beserker Card'. During the Middle Ages Norse warriors had a reputation for "going beserker" ie falling into a demented state where they would wildly attack without consideration of self preservation - or even of who was friend or enemy. They were certainly not the first to cultivate such a reputation. 'Celtic Fury' predated the Norse by almost a millennium. One has to wonder just how often this sort of thing really occurred and how widespread it as during military encounters because....the reputation of having such behavior is probably (certainly ?) a much more effective weapon in demoralizing an enemy than the act itself.

That is what I think is behind the Israeli actions during their recent act of piracy. I know it is impossible to prove, but it is a distinct possibility that the IDF were sent in with a deliberate tactical plan of creating an atrocity. It is at least more probable than paintballs. Whether such an action will backfire against its perpetrators is for the future to determine. To date the Israeli state has operated on a principle of "massive retaliation" ( or sometimes "massive aggression" )against its Palestinian foes. The relative death tolls say it all. This has failed to cow the Palestinians into submission. What the effect will be when the victims are internationals and the acts are group murder rather than individual murder I really don't know.