Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Animal Cultural Loans: Animal Totems. Wolf Politics, Wolf Religion

Gristmill. By Dint:

KNGDV. Dominion. Worst Concept in the World. The Wolf Totem. 
"Dominion" equated with force and entitlement. No. Go back to old transliterations and find words for mild guide, reciprocal coexistence.  From that concept, one of responsibility and care, see animal behavior as model for the human. Animal totems. What totem would drive the force-dominion idea. Try the Wolf. But is that necessarily so. What is behind the predatory nature of the human wolf?

Sassafras Tree. Natural Pragmatism. Washington's Majority Wolf Pack. Defenses. 
Animal totems, models for human behavior, a globally recurrent cultural theme.  Here, use the Wolf's own behavior patterns and rigid social structure to explore how those non-wolves can possibly counter it.  Ask: Must a non-Wolf become Wolfish in order to survive; what constructive can be done by non-Wolves to woo the Betas, the lower rung wolves, away; how to better the lot of the picked-on Omegas in the pack. Can nonwolves hope to 1) engage in effective defense, and 2) educate for, and offer, alternative systems to the cyclical predatory Wolf.

Joy of Equivocating. The Lame Duck, Wolf Pack, Bestiary Ball 
Meet the guests. Whose Totem is now in charge? Wolf Totem Pack illustrated. A quasi-monster mash in our capitol.

Bellwether Haiku, DC Totems, R-Strategist Predator and K-Strategist; T-Strategist
Animal survival.  Human survival. Each has strategies.  The R-strategist (not a party designation) means smaller animals in unstable environments, whose way to survival must be the rate of population growth to counter the deaths. The K-strategist means large animals in stable environments whose behavior is not focused on population growth, but turns to perpetuating its power structure by raising only a few high-born babes to compete.  There is no altruism from the K's to the R's; but there is altruism, to a degree, within the R's -- to their same group.

Vetting Roots. President's New Banquet Filled by Others; Wolf Pack Declined 
When the President invited Republicans to dinner and informal wheel-greasing among all, the Republicans had better things to do, they said. Invitation issued, declined. We hoped the President would hold a dinner anyway, for others -- perhaps the struggling middle class.  At least he did not offer a dinner again. A Brekkie at the Blair was all they got.

Studying Wars: Western Ethnic Violence Timeline.
The Wolf Totem mentality in Western religious expansion.

NATIVE AMERICAN -

I Sing a Song of Sitting Bull.

Sing this to an old hymn melody, the essential points of the life of Sitting Bull, who defeated Custer at Little Big Horn, and in defense of lands granted to the Indians through the Treaty of Laramie.  Buffalo totem:  follow the footnote for the characteristics of the Buffalo Totem. Compare to the White's long-standing apparent emulation of the Wolf.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Correct history's rewrites. Recognize Forms of Welfare and Their Function

Capitalism starts with welfare: William Bradford, Plymouth; and getting started.
Thanksgiving. Give thanks for welfare.  Plymouth's government started welfare by passing out parcels of land. The freebie got people out working when they could keep for themselves, mostly.  But it took the original boon to get it going.  Other welfare forms:  Inheritance, or the right to change your name for your own economic benefit (choose something less ethnic). Government lets you do that.  Something for nothing. Government welfare..

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Pragmatic Secularism - A Golden Mean. Law over Revelation

Isms. Pragmatic Secularism 
A golden mean.

Primacy of law over revelation: process of enactment
One group's revelation cannot bind another.

Western Ethnic Violence Timeline
Aggressive religionism has produced disastrous results.  Aggressive secularism is equally combative. Apply pragmatic secularism to public life, interactions between people and groups; and religion remains the purview of the individual within his or her own life.