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* The Merchandising of Ideas
I’ve just posted a ‘comment’ on an ‘on-line’ Liverpool newspaper ( Liverpool Confidential ), its about ‘backstabbing’ in the labour party ( headline: ‘ I Left The Labour Party Because I Could’nt Stand The Backstabbing’ 1/12/15) however the ‘article’ does reference ‘todays’ most important political issue concerning the Syria Question, the Corbyn Leadership of the Labour Party, & the Syria Question i.e. calls to bombing. Its in this context that I felt ‘compelled’ to reply to the journalists piece, such an important issue ( the most ‘serious’ queston ie. 1000’s of human lives at stake! ) recognising that thats what its all about really, plus a self realisatin of what essentially drives me i.e. a deeply held ‘visceral’ urge to refute much of really amounts to ‘ the merchandising of ideas ‘!.
* My Comment ( Contextual Background – the Corbyn leadership & division in the Labour Party over the proposed bombing in Syria )
” I’m not a member of the Labour Party but as an ‘interested’ observer I would say that the problem for Corbyn Supporters is that the Parliamentary Labour Party ( PLP ) simply does not reflect as yet the ‘new’ membership. I would urge the newly elected Labour Leader to follow the recommendations ( strategy & advice ) uttered by George Galloway on Andrew Neils Sunday Politics programme last weekend.
That is he should take up the party ‘whip’ on his anti-war stance & warn any rebels that to vote against him on this issue could seriously jeopardise their ‘future’ careers. This on the grounds that they are riding roughshod over the ‘opinions’ of hundreds of thousands of ‘grass-roots’ labour supporters.
Political tacticioning ( tactics! ) apart, as for my ‘independant’ position ( view ) on the proposed Syrian bombing, I again do share ‘some’ of the views of Galloway on this matter, & as a ‘conscientious’ citizen my common-sense concerns are over the questions of eg. what is the ‘endgame’?, will we merely end up with more ‘innocent’ civilians killed in Raqqa than in Paris?, how about the ‘complex’ political roles of Turkey & Saudia Arabia in all this – what should future relations be with these important countries of the region? Should other gulf, arab states eg. Jordan, be playing a greater part in this i.e. in providing ground forces etc & again in relation to long-term political strategy & solutions? I really would like to see some of these questions clearly answered before the go-ahead for war is given.
As for Corbyns style of politics & anti-war stance in general ( his apparant ‘pacifism’ ) I state the fear & anxiety that I’ve had for a long time now concerning Socialism & that is the danger that it merely becomes a kind of watered down ‘secular’ Christianity i.e. corrupted by a kind of petty faux egalitarianism & christian type sentimentalism. What I’d like Corbyn & the like to be more open to ( Nb. it does’nt come across ) is the moral truth that there is such a thing as a ‘just’ War & recognise the ‘reality’ that sometimes war ‘is’ albeit tragically, sadly neccessary!.
* Nb
Of course the main ‘key’ battle is always going to be in the ‘educational’ field ( i.e. education ) & in tackling ‘irrational’ thought & belief. That includes ‘seriously’ facing up to what is again becoming a social problem eg. spurious religous thinking & its dangerous ideologies.
What is called for is a ‘new’ humanist enlightment, whereby schools, politicans & the media take up this ‘issue’ seriously & in turn take the lead in promoting the legitemacy & value of ‘liberal’ philosophical reason & ‘rationality’ as the just counterbalance to human emotion & feeling.
So important too in reminding us of the sheer terribleness & indeed ‘evil’ of turning ones back on reasoned ‘reflection’ & the unneccessary destruction ( self destruction ) that this sort of ‘moral’ complacency, mental ‘atrophy’ may bring. An essentially ’empty’ & meaningless human condition that so endangers the world & ‘us’ as a human species ”.
* Further Notes
Furthermore, an awareness of & ‘socialisation’ into good ole’ Freudian Psychonalyisis would’nt go amis here ( i.e. a proposed contemporary 21st century ‘educational’ programme ) & I do have in mind the ‘human’ infant age 4 or 5 upwards. You see I’ve long reached the conclusion that its ‘ego’ ( not just general ignorance & illogicality ) that tends to get in the way of ‘reality’ ( a peaceful one! ) too.
* Nb
I would also ask the Teachers of today to encourage ( & very much foster ) ‘everyday’ classroom talks on any interesting ( & relavent! ) topics & ‘themes’ that may ‘spontaneously’ emerge. Such as on eg. multi-culturalism ( its positives & its failings? ), the arms trade & the ‘free’ market ( what are the safeguards on for example powerful ‘assault’ rifles getting into the hands murderers & fanatics? should there be more stringent regulation? ), religion & contemporary democracy ( do the so called ‘freedoms’ of religion today in fact represent an ‘archaic’ form of privelage? ) etc.
Hopefully the kids of today may then grow up to be intelligent, curious, knowledgeable, ‘rationally’ & insightfully informed, responsible ( as well as ‘sensitive’ & compassionate ) social individuals! ( i.e. fully grown-up adults! ). Importantly also, ‘free’ of the Tyranny of metaphysical ‘other’ world ideology that has plagued mankind since Plato.
You know this guy was an amazing ( genius! ) cosmological system builder i.e. complete with Philosopher Kings, Cave Analogies, & theory of Forms etc, a gigantic ‘meta-narrative’ complete with its own complex ‘inner-logic’. His philosophy answers all the right questions alright, providing some ingenius answers to boot, the problem is, ‘ none of it corresponds with reality! ‘.
I Guess we’ll start bombing pretty much as soon as the votes done…..and unless there is an actual end “plan”….we’ll end up back where we started again. Cameron’s 70,000 troops claim sounds far too much like Blair’s 45 mins lie to me…..and as much as ISIS (or whatever they’re called this week) pose a serious problem (understatement) to the west, and indeed the whole world, unless we deal with the ideology as well as their violence we’ll get nowhere very quickly.
I suppose that puts me in Cameron’s “sympathiser” camp then……..can any of us sue for slander??
Noted your views Andrew & I’d say you’re very much in the camp of ‘reason’ & common-sense on this matter. I’m further surmising that your ‘last sentence’ & the ”Cameron Sympathiser” question is in this context a rhetorical one. You see one of the problems with our public schoolboy Tory Prime Minister is that for ‘ideological’ reasons he himself ironically essentially straitjacketed politically when it comes to dealing with the problem of religion & religous generated ‘irrational’ thought in our society at its root i.e. in the schools & through the provision of a decent ‘contemporary’ education.
You see as an old Etonian ( & like many of his pals in the established British ruling class ) David Cameron is himself fully ‘encultured’ religously, in his case into the Church of England ( the states Church! ). For proof on this matter ( I guarantee what I’m saying is not ‘libelous ) See the Guardian Article ” David Cameron: I Am Evangelical About Christian Faith ” 16/4/14, where he criticises some readers for failing to see that faith can give people a moral code. I infer from this statement that he consequently has little faith i.e. finds it a little incredulous that ‘rational’ thinking human beings can devise an ‘adequate’ morality outside of religion. Furthermore I reasonably assume that he is more than a tad sceptical about good folk developing there ‘consciences’ through the democratic liberal ‘education’ process ( * Nb I’m not an English Teacher but not the irony here! )
Yes, Andrew I agree with your ‘insightful’ ( & telling! ) conclusion that that there is a kind of ‘circular’ game being acted out here, i’d probe deeper & cite the existence of a ‘circular’ logic. To be frank to tackle the dangers of ‘extreme’ religious education in ‘our’ institutions & for that matter to give our ‘kids’ ( society’s not mine! ) ‘real’ freedom of choice over religion, I argue all ‘moral’ education would best take place in learning institutions independant & indeed ‘distant’ from so called ‘faith’ schools. Of course Cameron & many Tory’s ( Michael Gove included ) support the independant sector where such ‘ideologically’ centred education can ( doe’s ) take place.
I for one am not surprised by the existence of such ‘contradictory’ politics & policy when it comes to dealing with what Cameron himself might call religious ‘extremist’ brainwashing. Check the ‘circular’ logic, & you will see that its consistent in his & his party’s thinking eg. The Uk is a big arms supplier to Saudi Arabia, a country often cited by critics as one of the key source ‘ Arab ‘ countries said to be supplying ‘powerful’ & high-technology weapons to the Islamic State with whom we are now at war!. Saudi Arabia has been identified in ‘news’ media investigations ( convincing ones! ) as a key source of the supply of what could be described as ‘extremist’ educational religous material. paraphenalia, or propaganda even. Some of it deemed ‘racist’., aggresively anti-semitic & finding its way into Islamic schools in the UKs very own independant schools sector.
Heres one more for you, if Prime Minister David Cameron had won the vote a few years back in the houses of parliament to bomb the Assad regime in Syria ( not ISIS positions in the North ) then we may well have found ourselves at war today with President Putin & Russia. Of course you know what that means, yes World War 3 & the ‘possible’ obliteration of the whole planet. Now if thats not ‘circular’ logic for you what is! ( bytheway Andrew this is a rhetorical question! )
*Nb
Do I think Putin is crazy enough to have got into direct ‘military’ confrontation with Britain & her allies 2 years ago over Syria? Yes I do!. What do think the most likely solution to the existence of Assad & his regime now or in the near future, during or after the degredation or containment of Islamic State ( the ‘next’ possible stage of the game )?. A ‘negotiated’ regime change I’d say with Russia keeping her ‘influence’ in the region!. As for the long-term future of Islamic State? Well lets keep that a surprise shall we!.
* Further Notes
Of course I would argue that the ‘real’ long-term solution ( a political one! ) would be to find a way to end ‘economic’ colonialism of the region, whilst in turn creating ‘real’ democratic freedom for the Arab Peoples. We also need to keep on pursing a learning of the ‘historic’ lessons for mankind of war ( & its catastrophic effects ) & in the name of civilisation to urge whatever human focus there can be, on solving the still very ‘serious’ problems of hunger, want & poverty in the world.
* Further Notes 2
A final point, of course the worlds not perfect & just as we may never fully eradicate bloody ‘human’ conflict, we can’t fully contol what goes on in Churches or Mosques after ( & out of ) school hours. What we can do tho’ is recognise that more can be done to improve the situation in these areas. With regards the creation of a more open & ‘democratic’ education system for ‘all’ ( i.e. for those of all ‘ethnic’ groups & cultures ), this could mean using this ‘social’ institution as a reasonable counterbalance ( i.e. for strenthening the child, help creating a ‘healthy’ ego, a ‘rational’ thinking frame ) to the ‘ideological’ pressure bordering on abuse & tyranny by some families & parents with regards the ‘religious’ upbringing of their children.